Genealogy Goals for 2012

Ok, I'm joining in on the fun.

Stephanie, over at the "Corn and Cotton" blog has a group of us "gathering together" to cheer each other on and keep the motivation ramped up while we conquer our genealogy goals during the new year.

So the first step is to post our goals. Oh MY!!!!!

It's a scary thought to put it out there in the open for all to see but, gulp, if my friend Shelley Bishop can do it over at "A Sense of Family" blog then so can I. The worst thing that can happen is that I don't meet all my goals, right?

So here goes.

My first goals involve ORGANIZATION:
1. Clean out my e-mail files/folders
I was real good about setting up the folders but I've gotten into the very bad habit of just dumping mail into the folders without looking at it. Not personal notes, mind you, but the stuff I'm on mailing lists for. I started on this today, so already I have accomplished something.
2. Finish organizing and color coding my personal (vs Client) genealogy files.
I am about a quarter of the way through with this, and I hope to have it done by the end of the week.
3. I have some data on a database program that did not gedcom transfer well to my other database programs, so I need to clean that up.
4. Scan (documents, photos, everything) I'm not saying I'm going paperless, but I think I need to heavily reduce.

My next set of goals involve WRITING:
1. I would like to say I will post to my blog 3 times a week, but most weeks just don't work out for that kind of goal so my goal will be to post 6 or more posts per month.
2. I would like to put my journalism degree to work. So with that thought in mind my goal is to write for and be published in my local genealogical society's magazine.

Goal set number three is all about EDUCATION:
1. I plan to attend SLIG, RootsTech, NGS, FGS, Jamboree (S. CA) and hopefully Elizabeth Shown Mills class at Samford (IGHR). This one is easy for me, just time consuming, and costly. I'm an information junkie, and a conference addict.
2. I will finish up my NGS Home Study Course.
3. I will complete at least 5 classes through National Institute of Genealogical Studies (GenealogicalStudies.com)
4. I will attend at least 4 (or more) Webinars in 2012

Then there are my RESEARCH goals:
1. I want to jump into researching my husband's family. His father is 85 (this month) and still sharp. But you know what happens if you don't ask the questions in a timely fashion; so this is the year for the Parker research. For 2012 I will be doing the interviews and artifact gathering.
2. Theaux: this is the family focus for my attempt at my certification (haven't started the clock yet.) I want to devote more time to this, so I am setting the goal of 15 hours (or more) a week toward this family and my certification. (I may adjust to devoting more time here part way through the year as other goals are completed)
3. Technically this isn't research, really it is more in line with analyzing, but I need to develop some "Time Lines." So I will create time lines for the paternal grandparents and maternal grandparents of the Parker line, the Theaux line, and the von Aspern line.
4. I don't know if this goal falls under "writing" or "research" but I've decided to put it here. I plan on getting better at my research reports. I got better during 2011 at keeping my research logs but fell down consistently on writing up my research reports. Maybe if I talk into my digital recorder, talking myself through the analysis and plans for further research and then just transcribe the recording. I've just got to find what works for me. I find writing reports tedious. I'm just not disciplined enough I guess: who would have thunk it.

And lastly my BUSINESS/PROFESSIONAL goals:
This is the BIG category. Last year (2011) I started lecturing and I really enjoy it. I still take on clients too, and I've got a couple of side projects going on. So this year I have quite a bit of work to accomplish towards establishing my business.
1. Name change
2. Website
3. Business License (under new name)
4. Advertising
5. Business Cards
In addition, I have some goals professionally:
6. To develop 15 more lectures
7. To increase the amount of times in the year I am hired (paying gig) to speak/teach. (In 2011 I lectured 10 times; I got paid 3 times)
8. Continue working with my clients (currently have 4 clients) don't really want to increase that number for now, there are just too many other things in the works.

Well, I think that is about it for my genealogy goals. I'm sure I've forgotten something, and I have many more goals for 2012 but those are my personal goals and are not for publication.

RootsTech's Ban On Book Vendors

I have been posting to Facebook like a crazy woman ever since the news was made public.

To see where it all began go to  Leland Meitzler's post HERE. 

RootsTech now scares me for a whole new reason. 

Old School Genealogists already fear that the New School Genealogist relies too heavily on internet and digital creations for sourcing or just plain old "doing" their genealogy. In other words some fear that genealogy done by "New School" "Techie" genealogists might be limited to online research. That would be incredibly stupid. The vast amount of genealogy information can not be found in the digital world. 

So why would RootsTech, want to ban books in their vendor hall? Is this not a genealogy conference? Yes, it is a genealogy conference with a focus on techie stuff for use in the genealogy world but it is still a genealogy conference. Right?

Some genealogist, especially the beginners, might only pick one genealogy conference to go to in the whole year. Hopefully RootsTech would be that conference. How sad if that new genealogist could not find the one book that sends them down the road to discovery because RT doesn't have book vendors. 

When I first started doing genealogy I used "The Idiots Guide To Genealogy," I still recommend it to beginners. I would like to know what beginners guide RootsTech would recommend? And why can't I find it at RootsTech?

When technology catches up to (and contains) all the genealogical information that I use that is in print...then they can quit selling books. And don't tell me...well you can order that book, or buy it at one of the other national conferences. What if I want to look through the book first and decide if it pertains to my needs? What if I can only attend one national conference a year? I guess, if I can't buy books at RootsTech, and I know that good genealogy is based on using other sources in addition to digital ones, and I can get digital ones online...well then...hummmmm...my money is better spent going to NGS or FGS.

Not to mention that I can see all those techie things you're trying to sell me at FRYS or BEST BUY. Or I am sure my blogging buddies will tell me of the newest gizzmo I've just got to have...(can you say Flip-Pal). 

Personally I don't go to the vendor hall to look at all the new gizzmos. There is usually too big a crowd, or it's a demo of how a BOOK is digitized, or some such thing. While I am glad some books are being preserved by digitization...I don't need to know the How of it. I like to drive my car but I don't need to know how the car's electrical system works to take a drive.

And I don't spend hundreds of dollars to play pool or chess or Wii or pong or whatever else is in the "game room."

I go to RootsTech for the lectures when I do venture into the vendor hall (and don't get me wrong, I spend hundreds in there too) I mainly go for books. That's one of the reasons I drive to most of the conferences...so I can haul back books. If I fly I have to ship them. 

And RootsTech...don't you remember last year after Lisa Louise Cooke spoke there was a run on the Book Sellers to buy her book. Now tell me...do you really think speakers such as Lisa Louise Cooke come to speak at your conference for what you pay? What do you pay...I've heard it is the price of admission to the conference...if that's it then I would venture to guess that the speakers are counting on selling some of their books. So why would they want to speak at your conference if they can't get their books sold there?  Wake up! You're speakers sell books. They are your vendors. See this blog. 

It was my understanding that this was a genealogy conference that embraces technology not a technology conference that embraced genealogy. Or are we just a new market for the sales team?

Sharon Sergeant, in a Facebook post, said it so well, this conference is supposed to be "the marriage of genealogy to technology, not a divorce."

Come On RootsTech....think...it's not hard....who is your audience? Genealogists who use Technology or Techies who do genealogy?

NGS Home Study Course

At the FGS (Federation of Genealogical Societies) conference this year I purchased the NGS (National Genealogical Society) Home Study Course.
I finally took it out of it's folder and began work on it today.

Surname Saturday: Duchamp

My second great grandfather was Eugene Auguste Duchamp De Chastaigne he was born in July of 1837 in Morris County, New Jersey. His family had come to this country from Martinique Island in the Caribbean. In 1860 he married Marie Amelie Sandoz in St. Martinville, Louisiana.

The name is shortened to Duchamp when speaking about the family but the full "correct" and legal name was Duchamp De Chastaigne.

His father was Jean Baptiste Eugene Duchamp De Chastaigne and his father (my 4th great grandfather) would have been Jean Baptiste Matthieu Duchamp De Chastaigne.

I can go a couple of more generations back but I did not do the research on this family. My cousin Eric did. Tragically all of his research was lost in Katrina. Luckily he had sent gedcom files and printouts to many family member...a good reason to share your research and to keep back ups somewhere safe.

Because we had the basics, pedigree charts and family group sheets, we were able to recall the information but not where he had got the information. That's right...he didn't record his sources when he put the information on Ancestry.

This has been a valuable lesson to me. You never think that tragedy will strike you. But it can. Mother nature is like that and fires happen. I urge everyone...don't wait...share your stuff today and make sure it is sourced so you can find those documents again.

Ok, enough about that....

It occurred to me today that because I don't have any source notes to go by that I'm not sure which Duchamp owned the plantation.  I know that Eugene Auguste was the owner of the town house. And I have always thought that he owned the plantation too. But it is possible that cousin Eric may have merged the ownership of the plantation and the townhouse into one man. (I've just recently discovered on another line where I suspect he merged two different men because they married two different women with the same name....but that's another story.)

So I have work to do on this line to determine which Duchamp owned the pharmacy, the opera house, the plantation and the townhouse ...or if they were all owned by different Duchamps.

RootsTech Scares Me-Tech Tuesday

I have to confess Roots Tech scares me just a little. Why? Because I learn how much I don't know.

I am by no means a "Techie." Just ask my friends who are. I am always asking them how to make this program work or, "how do I do this?" I have (tongue firmly in cheek) "bragged" about my techie prowess on this blog. And hopefully y'all know I'm laughing at myself.

I am also a little scared of RootsTech because, "Ignorance is Bliss."  For example: If I don't know that Nitroreader will make my life "easier" then I don't feel the need to go and learn how to use it. BLISS
But then when my friends start talking about Tweet Deck, Nitro Reader, Dropbox, Cloud Computing, SMS, RSS Feed, and the like....and I feel so left out...and I want to know the latest and greatest. I feel like I'm running behind...a day late and a dollar short, that's me.

The learning curve, is another reason I'm scared of Roots Tech. I'm still just catching up to last years brain overload. I still have not mastered Twitter or Tweet Deck. I barely know how to do this blog (as is evidenced by the many blogs that get posted before they are ready.) So when you tell me that the next RootsTech is just around the corner I start having anxiety attacks. WHAT!  I'M NOT READY YET!

All that aside; I love RootsTech. It's only a year old. And it is already one of the most (if not THE most) popular conferences in the Genealogy World. With good reason, too. Like I said...brain overload. You learn tons. You learn how to incorporate the techie world into your genealogy. Of course you can still do genealogy the "old fashioned" way, and you should. You don't want to be abandoning the careful research methodology we have all worked so hard to learn. However, adding the techie stuff to it complements it. It adds a new dimension to our genealogy. Like adding geocoding to our grave photographs. Even blogging adds a new dimension. By blogging about our research we find were our "holes" are and we get to practice putting our research into a narrative form.

So even if you're a non-techie like me RootsTech has something for you. You can become as Techie as you want or choose not to. But you should go at least once and find out what your missing and why you should try to work it into your genealogy world. And like me, I bet you'll find that you want to go back. And if you're already a techie, then join the other "tech geeks" and improve the techie world of genealogy for the rest of us.

Hope to see y'all there.

Shopping Saturday: Grandpa Duchamp's Pharmacy

Grandpa Duchamp's Pharmacy (that's it with the green awning)
Duchamp & Sons Pharmacy 1853-1881

Leeches used in medicine

I wish I had been able to see what my 3rd great grandfather's pharmacy was like.

The first picture is of the pharmacy building as it is today...it's the one with the green awning.






The other pictures are from the Pharmacy Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana.

These photos give me an idea of what the inside of Grandpa's pharmacy might have looked like.
(used with permission of the photographer Theresa V.)

Funeral Card Friday: Flavie M. Landry aka Mrs. Laurent Theaux

This is the same Grand mother who wrote the letters  I am  transcribing.