Hanging from the Family Tree: The Final Day

Sunday, August 31, 2014

The Final Day - FGS2014

Since this was the final day of the conference, I started the day at the 8:30 with Craig Roberts Scott and his presentation of "Epidemics and Pandemics: Their Impact on our Research". Craig defined the differences between epidemic and pandemic and explained why we should consider these when people disappear from records for no apparent reason. Knowing when and where these happened may shed some light on our brick walls. You can Google for epidemics as well as check the CDC, National Archives Application Guide to Federal Records and Hooper's Medical Dictionary. Craig is very knowledgeable and opened up a new area of research to me,

Craig Roberts Scott

Following Craig's I kept my seat in the same lecture room to listen to Amy Johnson Crow explain "Timelines: The Swiss Army Knife of Genealogical Tools. Amy explained that using a database spreadsheet like Excel or the spreadsheet format in Google Drive allows more flexible sorting than the timesheet lists found in most genealogy software programs. Dates should be entered as yyyy/mm/dd for maximum sorting capability. With timelines you can more easily spot holes in your research. Entering all the details you know may help to suggest areas for further research.

Amy Johnson Crowe

Following Amy's talk it was time for the lunch break. I chose a box lunch with a beef, ham or turkey with cheese sandwich with chips, cookie, fruit and ice cold water. With 2 different speakers to choose from, I attended the session with the presentation "From Texas With Love: Six Points for Spicing Up Your Family Stories" presented by Juliana Szucs Smith and sponsored by the Genealogical Speakers Guild and International Society of Family History Writers. Unfortunately I had to leave shortly after Juliana began speaking. I had a vouluteer commitment at the Exhibit Hall. I enjoyed what I heard and that it was very good by someone who was able to attend the entire luncheon.

Lisa Louise Cooke

Because of the timing of my Exhibit Hall the next session I attended was the 3:00 lecture with Lisa Louise Cooke on "Tap Into Your Inner Private Eye: Eight Strategies You Need To Find Living Relatives". Lisa gave inside tips she learned in talking with Private Detectives she has visited with and explained the methods she used to find her husbands first cousin in an effort to learn more about her husband's father and grandfather. Among other search engines she used Pipl, Spokeo, and Dogpile. Don't forget social media as a finding aid.

The last session to the conference that I attended was with Thomas W Jones and
was about "Genealogical Documentation: The What, Why, Where, and How" using examples of correct citations, Tom illustrated the creation of a correct and complete citation and also showed a simplified version of citing sources both digital and physical.