NGS 2014 Conference: Day 2

Day 2 of the National Genealogical Society 2014 Conference started at 8:00 a.m. with Diane Florence Gravel's T201 "When the Trail Turns Cold:  New Strategies for Old Problems".   Diane discussed many overlooked locations where info on your ancestor may be hiding including the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections http://www.loc.gov/coll/nucmc/index.html.

At 9:30 a.m. I was off to T211 - the BCG Seminar where Elissa Scalise Powell, Judy G. Russell and Debbie Parker Wayne discussed various pathways to certification through the Board for the Certification of Genealogists and how to begin the process.

By 11:00, I was at T226, "Wild, Wonderful West Virginia" with Barbara Vines Little who reminded us that research in West Virginia actually requires knowledge of records in TWO states and shared with us the basics of Virginia and West Virginia.

At noon I attended the BCG Luncheon with Master of Ceremonies for the BCG Panel, Warren F. Bittner. The former and current BCG presidents recapped the past 50 years of the Board for the Certification of Genealogists.  My vegetarian entree was worth the wait.

By 2:00 p.m. I was in the room for the 2:30 p.m. T241, Elizabeth Shown Mills' "Using Evidence Creatively: Spotting Clues in Run of the Mill Records".  By 2:15, all the chairs in the large room were filled and Ms. Mills played to a packed house!  She taught us how to use creative-thinking principles to stimulate genealogical solutions.

My final session for the day was T251, "Finding Thomas's Father".  Pam Eagelson explained how her thirty-year quest for the identity of the parentage of Thomas Stone who died in 1791 in Prince William County, Virginia was solved by searching extant records, patent surveys, and DNA.

After my final session, I met with members of the ProGen Study Group who had the chance to pose for group pictures and break into groups to discuss various topics of interest.  My group discussed the BCG certification process and how graduate of the ProGen Study Group have a higher certification success rate than non-members.

Day 2 ended with a bang!  As we were leaving the Marriott to return to our hotel, a police chase was under way.  A police car was chasing a car as it hit an Omni Hotel van, ran right through the Marriot entrance area and out to 5th Street where in car turned the wrong way on a one way street. It plowed into another car and continued down the street out of our view.  No genealogists were harmed.

More fun tomorrow during Day 3!

NGS 2014 Conference: Day 1

This morning was the much anticipated opening session of the National Genealogical Society 2014 Family History Conference in Richmond, Virginia. Approximately 2,200 people registered for the conference this year.  Sandra Gioia Treadway, the Librarian of Virginia and State Archivist, spoke on "The Evolving Library:  Planning and Adapting to Meet the Needs of Twenty-First-Century Researchers." Next year NGS 2015 will be held May 13-16 in St. Charles, Missouri and it was announced today that NGS 2016 will be held May 4-7 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The exhibit hall with it's 76 exhibitor booths was mobbed after the opening session by a swarm of convention participants in search of "take aways" and conference ribbons provided by the vendors.  If you are here at the conference, stop by the Colonial Roots booth #615 and see Debbie Hooper, my ProGen 22 mentor.

Since my highest priority at this time is my certification through the Board for Certification of Genealogists, I am following the BCG Skillbuilding Track.  My first session was Elissa Scalise Powell's W121 - "Problems and Pitfalls in a Reasonably Shallow Search" where we were reminded that assumption is not part of genealogy.

Next I went to Thomas W. Jones' session W141 - "New Standards or Old:  Guidelines for Effective Research and Family Histories" where I learned about newly revised genealogical standards and how to apply them to research, compilation and writing.

I finished the day with David E. Rencher's session W151 - "Mining the Destination Data" and how to use all the data available to identify your emigrant ancestors.  Many of the sessions are being recorded and can be ordered through Jamb-Inc.com.

Well, it's the end on Day 1 and tomorrow I get to do it all again!