My Week at SLIG

This was the most amazing week! I got to visit with old friends and made a bunch of new ones. In addition I took several great classes and learned a lot.

Thomas W. Jones Ph.D., CG, CGL, FASG, FUGA, FNGS

In case you didn't know, this week I attended the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy held January 23 to January 27. SLIG is set up in "Tracks." There are six tracks. You choose a track and all the classes you take, all day long (from 8 in the morning till about 5 each night) are focused on one subject area. I attended Course 9 "Advanced Genealogical Methods" My instructor was Dr. Thomas Jones. Dr. Jones is a highly respected, very knowledgeable and slightly evil man. I say evil because I think he gets a kick out of trying to stump us. We had some very challenging cases to solve. Yes, there was HOMEWORK. He's a wonderful teacher and I had the best time.
Some of the other tracks offered were: Midwest U. S. Research; Swedish Research; Advanced New England Research; Advanced Research Tools: Land Records, and that's just a sampling.

For all of my genealogy pals out there, you should absolutely think about attending SLIG next year. The tracks are geared at all different expertise levels, so even if you are a beginner there is something for you. (For more on what SLIG is all about see: Susan Farrell Bankhead's blog, and Valerie Elkin's blog) Extra bonus, it is held right before a HUGE genealogy conference, RootsTech.

Christy Fillerup - Coordinator Extraordinaire 

That's right I'm still in Salt Lake City. I had five days of SLIG then I get four days of research at the Library to end all genealogical libraries (at least in my opinion) The Family History Library and then RootsTech will start. That's almost three full weeks of solid genealogy (plus eating and socializing with friends.) I'm in heaven.

Good Company at the banquet

The next SLIG will be held January 14-18, 2013. Registration opens on June 2, 2012. Sign up early to get the "early bird special" that's when prices are lower. (Sign up at www.infouga.org) Next year's tracks have already been announced (they may add some more "extra" classes as well.)  They are:
1) American Research and Records: Focus on Localities with Paula Stuart-Warren
2) Bridging the 1780-1830 Gap: New England to the Midwest (and points in between) with D. Joshua Taylor
3) German Research with F. Warren Bittner
4) A Genealogist's Guide to the Internet Galaxy with Thomas MacEntee
5) Researching in Washington, D. C. Without Leaving Home with Rick Sayre and Pamela Boyer Sayre

All Smiles

6) Hanging out a Shingle: Genealogy Marketing and Business Practices with Crista Cowan

Hope to see each and every one of you there.

Grandma Theaux's Letter - Page Three

This is the continuation of the transcription of my Grandmother Theaux's letter "to the younger generation." As you can see she wrote her letter(s) to my cousin Peggy on any available paper. This piece of paper was from an address book. Sometimes the letter(s) was written on the back of a grocery list or on an envelope.

For page one of this letter go here, and for page two go here. 

Here is page three. I know my family is enjoying reading these letters, I hope you do too. 

3

was it, we could not see are [or] con-

tack [sic] in any way. Only when 

my Dad was out of town, but 

belive [sic] me if he left town we 

would meet. Now one thing did 

happen one time I thought dad 

was out of town so I did contack [sic] 

my boy friend and as he was 

taking me home I saw the old 

man home, belive me I started 

praying. I prayed in french and 

the hail Marry I said upside 

down when I got to holy merry 

mother of god. In french I said 

st. Marrie Marde de Dei  

and belive it or not but I got home 

and he did not say a word. I did 

not get my [word striked out] beating. 

I had that faith in my B mother 

and from then he was my 

boy friend untill we married 

I never had a boy fri sweet 

heart But him. And I can 

vouch the same for him. 

I knew he loved me and he 

knew the same of me. Yes 

I had boy friend real friend 

some that would [conect?] me 

and my sweet heart when ever 

we could be together. That is what 

you call friend, they never tried 

to go out of [struck out word] line. Now they 

were just comond [sic] every day boy

To be continued. 

How To Keep It All Straight

Today I got an e-mail notice telling me that this was my last chance.  Apparently I had not responded to several e-mails telling me my membership dues were overdue. (Except that I have been cleaning up all those e-mails from last year, and there were no notices from this group.) I digress.

One of the things on my goal list was to check my memberships to see if they were all up to date. This would not be an issue if I could just check my bank statements or check book and see when I paid for aforesaid memberships. But that would be too easy, right?

See the problem is with hundreds or maybe thousands of members (depending on the group and whether or not it is local or national) who join at various times. It's a bookkeeping nightmare. You wonder why nobody ever volunteers to be the treasurer? So in answer to the problem most (if not all) organizations just note that you have paid and you are a member for "their year." That means if they designate their year as running from June to June your membership is good from whenever you paid till the next June. So if you paid in January, your membership is good till June. If you paid in October, your membership is good till June. If you paid in March your membership is good and paid up till June. Catching on?

Problem is, unless they pro-rate the dues, you pay the entire membership cost and are only paid up for 5, 8, or 3 months (respectfully.)

I don't have a problem with the math. I'm ok with supporting my societies and professional organizations. My problem is that then I don't know when I'm due to re-up. Every society and professional organization has a different due date. How to keep track?

There are a lot of organizations to remember to pay dues to:
Genealogical Speakers Guild
Association of Professional Genealogists
National Genealogical Society
Utah Genealogical Society
Sacramento Genealogical Society (Root Cellar)
Genealogical Association of Sacramento
California Genealogical Society
Southern California Genealogical Society
Lafayette Genealogical Society
Southwest Louisiana Genealogical Society

They all have different due dates.

How do you keep track? Anybody have any ideas on how to keep track? Is there an app that will alert me to due dates? You know like a alarm or something? Come on Techies, help a girl out.

Follow Up Friday - A Day Late and A Dollar Short

My mother always told me I ran, "A day late and a dollar short." I guess that's true. I'll probably be late to my own funeral. So the fact that I am a day late with this blog is not surprising. At least not to those who know me well.

So in a nutshell, here is how I did this week with my goals:
The update is:
Biz Cards and Website/Blog changes. Didn't happen. I am so disappointed. My printer did not deliver my cards to me before I left and did not return my calls. (When he is your brother-in-law what do you do?)
So I won't have my cards (or the art work for the site) till I get back in Feb. So the completion of this goal is put on hold.

I viewed/read and re-read the notes/homework for the class at SLIG (Advanced Methodology with Dr. Thomas Jones) My head is swimming.

I viewed/attended Marian Pierre-Louis webinar (presented by Legacy) on Massachusetts Ancestors. It was so good that I ordered the CD/DVD so I could hear it a second time.

I sent for two succession records for my Landry/Theaux line.

I ordered my films to be viewed when I get back.

Tomorrow I have a quiet day with nothing on the schedule except the welcome meeting for SLIG. So tomorrow I will work all day on my NGS Home Study class and my National Institute for Genealogical Studies classes.

Time to "fess up"
I didn't get the Organization of my genealogy files done. (or clean the house...you should see it...total disaster.)
I didn't get the Rhodes line "revisited" this will just have to go on the list for Feb.

All in all not bad for a "short" month. I only had 20 days in January. The rest of the month I am at conferences in Salt Lake City. While I am here I hope to get some of my classes done so the fat lady hasn't sung yet.

To all my goal buddies out there, see you next week.

New To RootsTech? Conference Newbie? Join Me

Hi, are you going to Roots Tech for the first time? Never been to the Family History Library? If you want to have a ready made friend waiting for you at RootsTech or want someone to show you around the Library. Let me know. Or if you know someone who would like to meet up, just tell them to contact me via Twitter (Kimmyvon) or FaceBook (Kim von Aspern).   I would be happy to meet up with you/them.

Looking forward to making many new friends and seeing some great friends from times past. (didn't want to say "old friends," not in this profession.)

Lisa Louise Cooke Interview Part II

Part Two of my Interview with Lisa Louise Cooke.

Even though Lisa's three daughters have not followed in her footsteps as a "computer geek" or a "genealogist" they have a deep respect and love of the family history. When they were young, Lisa told me, "they used to race to see who would find the tombstone first," when they visited a cemetery. And now, "all three have, at some point, been involved with my business as well." They have helped edit the books, run the booth at conferences, edit the show, and even hosted the show when Lisa couldn't.

When Lisa remarked that her oldest daughter says, "I know my job, when Mom dies I'm in charge of the tombstone and I know what's going on it. Her maiden name will be there."

So I asked Lisa, "speaking of tombstones, what goes on your tombstone?"
She laughingly responded, "I haven't thought about that in a long time. That I was a mother and a wife, and of course my maiden name. I haven't figured out beyond that, the frilly words that go with it." "But," she went on to say, "as deeply driven and passionate, I do think that I have actually found my life's purpose." Lisa feels extremely lucky to have her life's purpose tied up in her chosen career. However, she emphasized that, "the memories and the relationships I'm forging right now with my children and my husband trump all of that ten times over." She feels that it is important that you not get so connected to your ancestors that you ignore your descendants.  "My number one job is to create the memories for tomorrow to create these stories for the descendants to hear about."

More in my next post. Lisa discusses her special talent for taking technology, genealogy and family memories and merging them.

Interview with Lisa Louise Cooke Part I

What happens when a non-techie (me) and a techie (Lisa) sit down for a chat? I was a bit worried that we would run out of things to talk about. I shouldn't have worried. Lisa and I talked for hours. I have so much to tell you about, I may have to break this blog up and do several posts. There's just that much.

First off, I just want it duly noted that I can keep a secret. You see, Lisa told me all about her upcoming book when we met for lunch in December. I promised I wouldn't let the cat out of the bad. But now she has announced it so...

Check out her new book: Everything You Need To Know About Finding Your Family History in Newspapers. You can find out more about it by going here.

So, on with the story.

The first thing I asked Lisa was how she got started in genealogy. It seemed the logical place to start. Now, you may have heard the story, but I had not. Lisa related to me how when she was eight or nine years old she visited her grandparents in the Stockton, CA area and became intrigued with some scrapbooks she found.

She brought one of the scrapbooks to her grandmother and asked her to tell her who the people were in the photographs. Her grandmother, "stopped her work, threw the kitchen towel over her shoulder, wiped her hands on her apron" and began to write down on the back of an old envelope the names of Lisa's great grandparents. She spelled the names as she had heard them using the phonetic spellings. Lisa still has that envelope and is still gleaning clues from the information her grandmother provided all those years ago. That was it, Lisa said, "I was bit by the bug."

She spent the rest of that summer going through the photos with her grandmother. She learned about her grandfather's side of the family which was "American" back to the Revolutionary War. From then on Lisa "dabbled" in her family's history. She would write back and forth to her grandmother asking more questions and exchanging information. Lisa even saved her allowance to send off for death records and birth records. (Ok, teenage genealogists are a different breed.)

Genealogy took a back seat for a while as Lisa married and raised her kids. Then the internet "hit." It was perfect timing for Lisa, her kids were older and Lisa found her passion, her groove. She relates how she jumped into it "full boar" and adds, "I probably didn't come out of my home office for a month."

Did you know that Lisa is a "farmer?" Lisa learned that her great grandparents came to America with the dream of owning their own land to farm. Although they never fully realized the dream, Lisa feels that her "need" to "dig in the dirt" and "plant things" comes from that genetic code handed down from them.

Lisa also attributes her interest in that "family connection" to the fact that she grew up in a small family, with only one sister and divorced parents. "It's easy to grow up feeling like you're by yourself." she said, "I've always yearned for more bothers and sisters." (I offered her a few of mine, but she declined.)

More on the Lisa Louise Cooke Interview in the next post. Stay tuned.