FGS Part 5

Saturday was the last day of the FGS conference.

The first morning session that I attended was "The Land Grant Processes of North Carolina and Tennessee," taught by J. Mark Lowe. I've seen him speak before and I know he's very knowledgeable on the subject. He gave a brief history of the states to help us understand how the records came to be. Then he showed how to access various catalogs and information online. I was pleased because he used Davidson County for some examples and I have a research interest there (Williamson <1830).

Session number two for me was "The Anatomy of a Will and the Records it Spawns," taught by Christine Rose. She's a big name in my book and was on my bucket list of genealogy speakers I want to see. She was great and naturally knew her subject. We looked at various portions of wills and analyzed them for clues that might indicate the existence of other records. I even learned a couple terms I had never heard.

On this day, I was able to have lunch with several bloggers and a couple of their husbands. This is one of the perks of attending a conference. Sessions are swell, but these meals with friends are all about the memories.

When everyone went back to the convention center, I played hooky and walked around Knoxville. It's a great town. There was a farmer's market, so I bought I cookie. I also took some pictures of historical buildings.

In the early evening, I attended the last session of the conference. I decided to go to Paula Stuart-Warren's "Railroads in the South: Locating Their Records and History." My interest is in Midwest railroad history, but I knew the speaker would be of benefit to me and she was! She provided lots of great leads on where to find information. She also gave a couple of web sites that my son will be interested in so this session was win-win.

For dinner, I went to a party at Missy Corley's sister's house. I hung out with some genealogy friends and met some new people, too. Missy made her grandma's taco meat recipe and a good time was had by all.

When I returned to the hotel for the night, most of the genealogists were gone from the lobby and a new crop of unfamiliar people were checking in. The conference was over.

FGS Part 4

Friday at the 2010 FGS conference was a busy day. I attended a session titled, "I've Been Tested: Now What?" which had to do with DNA tests. It was taught by Terry Barton of WorldFamilies.net, who taught the mtDNA class I attended yesterday.

The pre-lunch session I attended was "The Genealogist as CSI," taught by George Morgan. It was interesting, and a good reminder on how to analyze records and document properly.

Through a nice coincidence, I ran into Lori Thornton at lunch. She is a dedicated conference volunteer, so I was surprised and pleased that she actually left the conference venue. We had a nice chat about genealogy (what else?).

Next up was a session with an intriguing title: Murder at the Sawmill. Pamela K. Sayre led us in a case study involving a 1937 murder in her family tree. The story in itself was worth the price of admission, but I actually learned some new strategies for researching the murder at the sawmill in my own family.

I skipped the next session block so I could scour the exhibit hall. So many things I want to buy and no room in my suitcase for them.

Friday evening was the big prize-drawing time. I dutifully filled out all of my tickets and stuffed the boxes, but I didn't win anything. Better luck next time.

On to part 5.

FGS Part 3

After lunch on Thursday, I attended the session " Exploring Our Maternal Ancestries with Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)" with Terry Barton of WorldFamilies.net. This was a very informative presentation, and I was able to follow it just fine. Sometimes DNA sessions are complicated, but the speaker was clear and concise. The last section of his session dealt with "success stories." He shared the family tree of his wife, and I realized that it included the brother (Josiah Jones) of my 4th great grandfather, Wiley Jones. Our common ancestor is their father, Ebed Jones (1774-1848). It was a nice surprise, and I will be in contact with her after the conference.

Thursday afternoon, I also attended the Genealogy Guys' live podcast. I went out of curiosity, but I'm glad I did. George and Drew took many questions from the audience, and we all were encouraged to provide assistance on the genealogy problems as well. It was a great learning opportunity. The Genealogy Guys are truly professionals, and the podcast was great. Be sure to check it out when it comes online (#208).

I did some browsing in the exhibit hall and entered some vendor drawings. So far I haven't been told I've won anything.

For dinner, I went out with Missy Corley. We of course talked about our day's experiences and genealogy in general. It was a nice time.

I turned in early Thursday night and wrote some blog posts, which is why I'm not too behind on my FGS reports. Next up....part 4.

FGS Part 2

After the FamilySearch breakfast, I headed over to the keynote session. J. Mark Lowe (TN) and Kent Whitworth (KY) were excellent and funny co-speakers. Their theme was a friendly Tennessee vs. Kentucky rivalry speech. The event ended with "Rocky Top" and the dang song is still stuck in my head.

At 9:30 a.m. there was a quick Geneablogger gathering. I got to meet several bloggers I know online, and now I know them in person as well.

The first session I attended on Thursday was "Solving the Mystery of the Disappearing Ancestor," by Thomas Jones, Ph.D., CG, CGL, FASG, FUGA (yeah, he's big time). His talk circled around the 7 reasons one might have a missing ancestor. He cautioned against having too much confidence in home records (like those produced by family members, which aren't always as accurate as we think), and published records (such as genealogies, books, etc.). He also said not to stop searching after you've found a vital record. Keep on searching for more records. What impressed me most about Tom Jones talk is that he finished it at 12:00 on the nose. Guess that's why he has all those letters by his name.

For lunch, I enjoyed a meal with the authors of Bayside Blog, Gen Wish List, and Tonia's Roots. And you know what? We all ordered the same thing. Mr. Gen Wish List was there, too, being a good sport.

After that, we went back to the Knoxville Convention Center for the next sessions. Something incredible happened, but you'll have to wait for the next installment of my conference log to find out what it was. Go to part 3 here.

FGS Part 1: Breakfast with FamilySearch

This morning I had the pleasure to attend a breakfast hosted by FamilySearch at the FGS conference. The subject was product updates to the various arms of FamilySearch.

One of the sub-themes dealt with "2010 and beyond." According to this portion of the presentation, you can expect better integration between sections of FamilySearch such as the forums, indexing and blog. This includes easy log-in that fits all the parts.

Also, what we see at beta.FamilySearch.org will eventually be FamilySearch.org, as is the case with most things in beta.

Folks in attendance at the breakfast also got a brief website tour and sneak peek of things to come at FamilySearch. From a user standpoint, I liked what I saw. Searching for records will become easier with more drop-down menus. Also, refining searches will be WAY easier than I've seen in this and other companies' tools in the past and present. The librarian in me is very excited about such a development because I don't like irrelevant results popping up and clouding what I want to see.

We were then asked for our feedback on certain issues and possibilities in the future of FamilySearch. I kept by genealogy friends and blog readers in mind with my answers. I'm a genealogy database user first and foremost.

The FamilySearch breakfast was a nice start to the FGS2010 day. I thank them for their invitation, hospitality and peek into the future. It's a great time to be a genealogist.

Part 2 of my FGS adventures here.

(Disclosure: I attended this session as a guest of FamilySearch. The provided breakfast, a FamilySearch DVD and a cute little USB hub. I did not receive monetary compensation at the session or in relation to this blog post. Also, they had bacon. And it was good.)

Are You Going to FGS?

Are you going to the FGS Conference in Knoxville? The reason I ask is because I'm going, and I want to meet others who are going.

After weeks of super-busy, non-stop family life (summer does that to you), I've finally found the time to sit down and look at the FGS schedule. There are lots of good sessions and I am going to have to make some tough choices. Now I am filling up my dance card with after-session dinners, appointments, freebies, etc. So if you're going, let me know.