Saturday, June 9, 2012

Southern California Jamboree - day 2

I am not a morning person so I am not sure why I signed up a early morning breakfast event but I did it twice - today and Sunday morning. Shoot me now!!

Breakfast was ok but the presentation with Curt Witcher was great. He is a good speaker, certainly knows his stuff, fabulous sense of humor and just a great outlook on life. If you every get a chance to hear him, don't hesitate, sign up. If you are ever in Allen County Library in Indiana, you may see him and say HI. Allen County Library is his home base.



The topic of the presentation this morning after breakfast was "And the Rockets' Red Glare: Online Resources for War of 1812 Research" of course it is, afterall this is the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812.......  and it is the second war of independance. This war tested us as a nation, there was more participation throughout the country. Curt recommends the book: \"1812- The War that Forged a Nation." it is readable, sourced and accurate. PBS is showing "The War of 1812" I am told that it is downloadable from the website and then you can watch it anytime. Curt showed many many websites that are featuring the War of 1812, and new information coming all the time, just need to Google "War of 1812" and gooooooooooooo.

He shamelessly promoted a program that he is passionate about....... Digitizing the War of 1812 Pension Application Files Project. The Federation of Genealogical Societies, the National Archives, and the genealogical community have started a project to digitize the War of 1812 pension files—a fitting beginning to the bicentennial commemoration of this important war. Ancestry.com has stepped up and will match every dollar that is donated. These images will remain free. You can go to Federation of Genealogical Society for additional information on the project.

Caught the last 20 minutes of Elyse Doerfinger "Conquering the Digital Monster" .......  She is a very together young lady, very composed, and very dedicated to genealogy, technology and blogging. Last night at the Gala Hollywood Event she was recogniized and awarded a $500 cash prize. CONGRATULATIONS and keep up the great work you are doing.  I will need to read my syllabus for her information and pearls of wisdom.

Next I attended a class with Daniel Horowitz, MyHeritage talking on "Mobile Devises and Applications for Genealogists"...  I was surprised how much I  already knew and understood. NOW THAT IS SCARRY!!  He did speak to APP's for the iPhone & iPad and the Android. There is Mobile Family Tree app for the Reunion Software. There is the Families app for Legacy Software for both the iPhone/iPad and the Android. (I am using this on my iPhone and is truly good and useful). MyHeritage has an app, Family Connect, Traces of the Past app from Family Search (not sure if you need to be a member of the church to use it). Ancestry.com has a  their app (I use it and really like it too). Family Search has their indexing tool for the iPhone/iPad (not sure about Android) but you can do only just snippets of indexing. Better than doing nothing. Did you know that Find a Grave, Billion Graves and Resting Spot all have apps.  Now there are plenty of Podcasts to download and listen too......  Family History Expo, Family Tree Magazine Podcast , Genealogy Gems, Genealogy Guys and so many more. All to educate you, and keep you up-to-date on the latest and greatest.  Southern California Jamboree was the first genealogy conference to add  an app for its participants......... that was last year so this is its second year with a terrific app. RootsTech in February had an app available for their conference and now NGS and I think FGS has apps for their conferences, but Southern California Jamboree was the first........  CONGRATULATIONS!! More uses are cemetery locations GPS from your phone, recording for interviews or whatever from your phone, SKPE calls from your phone, web navigation, emails, and so much more all from your phone. Life is good.

Next was Jana Sloan Broglin  (I just met her at the NGS Conference in Cincinnati- what a small world) This presentation was "Understanding the Probate Process: from Death to Disbursement" Jana says that the courthouse is your friend. OK I'll try to remember that. Very important to know the parent counties and the history of the county you will be researching.....  borders shift, counties disappear and reappear again, sometime counties are in other states and then back again. Learn the history of the area, then you will know where the records are kept (well, most of the time). She recommends "Family Tree Resource Book" - haven't found it yet but haven't look too hard either. We went over all the definitions of many words - probate, testate, intestate, with in depth looks at each one with many of the other documents that come along with it in the packet. Examine all document carefully for clues.

LUNCH was quick and I dashed into the Tech Center to check out alot of the programs available free BUT it was full with others waiting............ hopefully another time.Not much free time.

Got locked out of the next two sessions I picked - Megan Smolenyak-Smolenyak for Reverse Genealogy: Finding the Living.......  and then Drew Smith forDNA 102: Understanding and Using Test Results. I am hoping that the syllabus has some good handouts for these two sessions....   JUST FULL SESSIONS. If there is no chair available you cannot stay.

Back to the room, get straightened around, refresh myself and off I go to the Saturday Evening Banquet with speaker Hank Z Jones Jr "How Psychic Roots" Became an Unsolved Mysterry. It was a sold out affair. Dinner was very good, a spinach salad, thick steak with mushrooms and vegetables, ending with chocolate wrapped cheesecake. All of it was so gooooood!! Then Hank took the stage and remeniced throughabout his acting, singing and song writing career and then onto genealogy.Read more about  Hank's activities  Hank is also a genealoical author.......... The Palatine Families of New York- 1710 AND  More Palestine Families AND Even  More Palestine Families  AND Palestine Familiies of Ireland AND Westerwald too America AND Psychic Roots: Serendipity & Intuition in Genealogy AND More Psychic Roots: Further Adventures in Serendipity & Intuition in Germany.......................

So far I have run into 4 other Root Cellar SGS members ... Kim vonAspern Parker,  Barbara Cox,  Marilee Marceau and Kathleen Shannon. 

Let me introduce you to Kathleen Shannon.This is the first time I have met Kathleen. I am certainly glad to meet you and it would be far from home. I wondered why we had not met yet. Well it is because she has a conflict with Wednesday evenings so now I don't feel quite as bad. But she did attend the Spring Seminar (along with 200 other attendees)  Kathleen is an active family researcher. She has been a member of Root Cellar for about a year and a half. A special welcome to Root Cellar Kathleen. .. now we have eaten dinner together and will meet for breakfast in the morning........




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Good Night All.................

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