Conferences – Page 8 – International Institute of Genealogical Studies

Graduation 2015!

It’s that time of the year! Congratulations to our graduates! They’ve worked hard and it’s time to celebrate! Please join us as we honor the Class of 2015. You can join us in person or virtually. Attending the Ontario Genealogical Society conference in Barrie, Ontario? Join us there as we conduct the graduation ceremony live. Or, join us online at 4:30 PM EDT on Friday, May 29th to celebrate the achievements of your fellow students . Everyone is welcome. Time zones: Friday, May 29th – 4:30 PM Eastern; 3:30 PM Central; 1:30 PM Pacific; 9:30 PM in London, England; Saturday, May 30th – 6:30 AM in Sydney, Australia MEETING LOCATION: http://genealogicalstudies.adobeconnect.com/graduation/ (NOTE: No user name or password required. Please type in your first and last name; then click “Enter as a Guest”.) Show your support for the graduates of 2015! See you there!

Ulster Historical Foundation Lecture Tour, 2015: Yakima, Washington

By Deborah Dale, student Whether or not three brothers on my paternal side really did make the journey from Ulster to Maryland during the seventeenth century is beside the point. The point is that I recently traveled to Yakima, Washington to attend several fantastic lectures hosted by the Yakima Valley Genealogical Society and presented by Fintan Mullan and Gillian Hunt of the Ulster Historical Foundation, who were winding down their 2015 genealogy lecture tour. I arrived just in time for the introductions of the speakers and the first lecture. After giving my name at the registration area, I picked up my conference packet, which included pages and pages in a spiral-bound book created by PRONI (the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland), which began with a section on How to Trace Your Family Tree and continued with sections on the 1901 and 1911 Irish censuses, census substitutes, wills and probate, church records, valuation records, national education records, and much more. The room was full with only a few seats still open. I sat down at a table at the back of the room as Fintan Mullan started speaking, and as I noticed various flyers of family history resources lying on the table, which apparently complemented my conference packet and included a nice heritage map of the Ulster Plantation, large enough to hang on a wall. Also included was a flyer from the Irish Manuscripts Commission, a public body established in 1928 that promotes access to sources of Irish history and culture. At its website, one can find out of print titles and even digitized editions. I made notes of things I hadn’t known, such as the average size of a townland (about 325 acres) in Ireland and the size of the largest townland (over 7,000 acres) and the smallest (about 1 acre). I also didn’t know that the reason some townlands like Lower Aghaboy in County Tyrone is actually north of or above Upper Aghaboy is because their distances were measured from Dublin, so that lower Aghaboy appeared farther away. During a lecture by Gillian Hunt, I made notes on interesting, humorous tidbits found in Irish censuses such as the occupation of a 6-year-old as “He torments the house,” or the occupation of an 8-month old as “sinner,” or the reporting of a wife with a “loose tongue,” or the more serious occupation of a woman as “militant suffragette.” I also…

My Time at FGS2015

By Lynn Funk, Student Salt Lake City, Utah is considered by many to be the “Mecca for Genealogical Research” and it was never more so than this February 11-14 when the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) combined their conference with the annual RootsTech Conference. Over 22,000 people crowded into the Salt Palace to learn, share and enjoy speakers, workshops and exhibits about their shared passion—family history! My conference experience opened Wednesday night with a social featuring sandwiches and desserts and a panel discussion about Family History and Television. Participants included FGS president and Genealogy Roadshow host Joshua Taylor; Genealogy Roadshow host, genealogist and lawyer, Kenyatta Berry; George Ott from ProGenealogists; genetic genealogist CeCe Moore and Jennifer Utley from “Who Do You Think You Are?” The panel discussed the impact shows such as Genealogy Roadshow, Finding Your Roots and Who Do You Think You Are? have had on the growing interest in family history and genealogy. The next three days I attended sessions presented by both FGS and Rootstech, however most were FGS classes as they seemed to focus more on research methodology. In these classes I learned about cluster genealogy, resources for tracing U.S. ancestors between 1780-1840, using tax records to solve genealogical problems, and finding ancestors in between the censuses. One of my favorite classes was taught by Michael Lacopo and was entitled: She Came From Nowhere: A Case Study Approach to Solving a Difficult Genealogical Problem. Since I have several “difficult genealogical problems,” I found this class very helpful. It was fun to see how, step by step, he took down this brick wall and it reinforced what I have been learning in my courses at the National Institute for Genealogical Studies. In between classes, I roamed the exhibit hall with my husband (who shares my love of family history). We wanted to buy lots of things but limited ourselves to a book about genealogical writing from NEHGS and a DNA test kit from Ancestry.com (for my husband—I got a free one last year for participating in a focus group). We also attended a few short presentations by FindMyPast and FamilySearch about upcoming innovations the two are planning. We checked out the Family Discovery Center and learned that my husband is distantly related to several celebrities, LDS church leaders and even some famous inventors and Mayflower arrivals. All in all, it was a great conference. Bonuses included free-for-life membership to a new family online tree called Family.me for being one of the first 10,000…

RootsTech 2015 Recap

By Lynn Funk, Student I always look forward to February. You may be asking yourself “why February?” Well, the holidays are over, the promise of spring is in the air and, at least here in Salt Lake City, it means the opening of the annual RootsTech Conference. This year’s conference was held February 11-14 and was combined with the Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference which made it an even bigger and better conference than ever for family history enthusiasts. This was my third year attending the conference and as always it was an enjoyable experience. The theme this year was Celebrating Families Across Generations. Keynote speakers included Dennis Brimhall CEO of FamilySearch International; Mike Mallin, CPO MyHeritage; Tan Le, found of Emotiv; former First Lady, Laura Bush and her daughter Jenna Bush Hager; D. Joshua Taylor, Director of Family History at FindMyPast; author A. J. Jacobs, and singer/entertainer Donny Osmond. All had fascinating stories to tell about their ancestors and what family and family history means to them. You can watch many of these addresses as well as some of the workshop presentations online at rootstech.org/video. RootsTech has something for everyone from workshops by top-notch genealogical lecturers to the latest innovations in technology that aid in researching, organizing and preserving your family history. There were several hundred classes to attend and an expo hall filled with everything from books to software to genealogical education and online storage. The International Institute for Genealogical Studies even had a booth there. I stopped by and had a wonderful conversation with managing director. While many of the classes at RootsTech were geared to beginning genealogists, I did find some gems that would definitely be of interest to the more seasoned genealogist, such as Judy Russell’s lecture entitled How Old Did He Have to Be? This lecture focused on the importance of knowing the law at the time and in the place where your ancestor lived. There were other intermediate and advanced classes that dealt with genetic genealogy, creating online research plans, deciphering old handwriting, and self-publishing tips for genealogists. I took a couple of fun (and helpful) classes taught by Thomas MacEntee. One was Pinning Your Family History which gave suggestions for how to use the popular social media sites Pinterest, History Pin, and even Google Maps to share family history photos and also to connect with others who may be researching your line—”cousin bait” as Thomas called it! The other class…

We Have a Winner!: APG PMC

We have a winner! You may recall that we had one registration to the Association of Professional Genealogist’s Professional Management Conference to give away to one lucky student. That lucky student is Lynn Funk. Lynn was understandably excited, “The reason I wanted to attend was that I looked at the amazing line-up of speakers and topics being presented and knew there were things that I could learn from them that would make me a better genealogist. For instance, Thomas Jones has several workshops including You’ve Got Options: Many Ways to Cite Right. I know that citing sources is a weakness for me and I look forward to hearing what Dr. Jones has to say about this so that I can turn this weakness into a strength.” Lynn is also looking forward to hearing Billie Stone Fogarty and National Institute course author James Beidler. ” This was a great opportunity for Lynn whose goal is to become a professional genealogist. She says, “I try to take every opportunity that is presented to me to learn more about genealogy and family history.” About herself, Lynn says, “I have been researching family history for over 35 years, off and on–more on now that my children are grown! Right now I am involved in several projects: 1) Researching my Smith line with a cousin who “found” me through AncestryDNA. We have never met in person or talked on the phone– in fact up until a few months ago, I didn’t even know she existed. But we are hoping to get together sometime in the next year to see what we can find on this elusive line. 2) I am working on The National Institute course, Analysis and Skills Mentoring II . 3) I am trying to organize my genealogy in preparation for putting together a history of my family that can be passed down to my children and grandchildren, etc. and 4) I am preparing to teach a beginning genealogy class at my church.” Congratulations Lynn and good luck with your research! If you wish you had been the winner you can still register for the 2015 APG PMC. Check out the conference website.