My very
first! And I was in a genealogy happy
place! I had no idea how thrilling it
would be. I felt like I was viewing the red carpet at the Academy Awards and
seeing star after star. Even as I walked
in, not only did I see Mary Tedsco, from Genealogy Roadshow, she
actually held the door for me, and we exchanged small talk. My heart did a little pitter patter. What a start!
Why is this my
first big conference? Although I’ve been
researching since 1996, only in the last few years, since my children have left
home, I have the time to go out into the genealogy world. I’ve joined genealogy societies, and done more
volunteering, and now teach and lecture.
I’ve only attended a couple of local conferences. The 2016 FGS
Conference was in Springfield, just a few hours from home but it comes at an
awful time for school secretaries, the start to the school year. Thanks to an
understanding principal, I managed to take Friday off work. I drove down Thursday night so I didn’t miss
a minute of the conference Friday and Saturday.
When I walked
in Friday morning, (did I mention I saw Mary Tedsco walking in ahead of
me?) I picked up my packet (excellent information) with nametag and walked into
a world I had previously only dreamed of.
There in front of me, the exhibit hall, Familysearch and Ancestry having huge demonstration
areas right inside the main doors. I
walked around in awe – findmypast, MyHeritage, Internet Genealogy, all with
computers set up and ready to try out.
Around the
outside was the society showcase, with many Illinois societies and other states
represented. Up and the aisles, more
than 100 booths with friendly people explain their product or service or
selling books or jewelry, or programs, or offering advice or or or …I spent
every 30 minute period between lectures in the exhibit hall. Even when they were breaking it down on
Saturday afternoon, I ran in and asked “one more question”. I bought books from Maia’s, and good things
from Fun Stuff from Genealogists. I bought books directly from the authors –
autographed. My RootsMagic download was
waiting for me when I got home. I talked
to all sorts of people who helped me with questions I’d encountered while using
their website and tried out all sorts of databases.
At the exhibit
hall I ran into friends from CAGGNI, a genealogy society I belong to in the
Northwest Suburbs. We had a table, and I
volunteered for a couple of sessions to “man the booth”. One person joined the club during my watch
and the group was happy about the number of new people who joined. Members got together for several photo
sessions for our newsletter.
The lecture
schedule was packed. Many times I’d want
to see two or three, which were held at the same time. Eight delicious one hour lectures, five times
a day. I printed out the syllabuses ahead
of time, but I added many notes to what was already written. I saw rock-star genealogist’s lectures and
the not-so-famous, but excellent-in-their-field give fantastic information and
in some cases insider information on what is coming soon to your favorite
websites. Either in lecture or along
the way, I saw Crista Cowan (ancestry.com), Cyndi Ingle (Cyndi’s
List), Thomas MacEntee (Geneabloggers), Melissa C. Tennant (Discovering
Female Ancestors) Diahan Southhard (DNA) (she did a cartwheel right in
front of me!), Juliana Szucs (ancestry) . I probably saw others, there were so
many!
My two
favorites were John Phillip Collletta (They Came in Ships) who spoke
about the facts and myths of Ellis Island.
Incredibly good information to help write the immigrant story. Tidbit –
his book was written to be sold at Ellis Island for tourists. It turned into a classic!
My other
favorite, well I’ll admit I didn’t see him, I only heard him. Michael D Lacopo’s lecture on German
internet genealogy was so full, I had to stand outside the room with others to
hear it. His information was fantastic,
along with his bits of humor. But he did
not give any hints on this week’s cliffhanger.
I had pre-ordered the speaker lunches. (Thank
goodness because they were sold out.) When lunch time came, I saw on the ticket that
we were eating at the Windham. “Where is
that?” I wondered. But I saw hundreds of
people heading out the south door, and followed the herd. In front of me, across the street, was the
Windham! Nice little walk on a beautiful
day. Sat at tables with perfect
strangers and had delightful conversations.
At one
luncheon, I saw the presentation of one of my favorite bloggers, Michael D. Lacopo,
(Hoosier Daddy) who walked us through his journey to becoming a premier writer
and blogger. Very entertaining and
funny! (No hints about his most recent
cliffhanger-darn!) Saturday, I went to
the luncheon given by the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. I didn’t know the subject but hoped I’d learn
something about New York research, since my husband Fred’s family is from
Buffalo. I was pleasantly surprised that
the subject was PERsi – which I used man times at its previous website. The
introductions were made by genealogy rock star, D. Joshua Taylor. He showed the utmost respect for the speaker,
previously, unknown to me, Curt B. Witcher, Manager of The Genealogy
Center at Allen County Public Library.
Yikes! Curt was part of the team
that “invented” PERsi and his talk was wonderfully insightful. (In a
few weeks PERsi will only be available at findmypast.)
At these
luncheons, just like us regular people, who eat and want to learn more, were
other famous genealogists. Two who come
to mind were Judy G. Russell (Legal Genealogist) and Thomas W Jones
(Mastering Genealogical Proof).
I saw my biggest rock star late in the day on
Saturday. Lou Szucs, attended late
Saturday, a surprise to many. FGS was
basically started in her home 40 years ago. She was this year’s recipient of the Rabbi Malcolm H. Stern
Humanitarian Award. She was honored
again, by FGS, when it was announced that the Lou
D. Szucs Service Award was created for all of her service. She’s a sweet lady
and deserves it for all of her work. Where
did I see her? Just like many of us, walking down the stairs to the lectures!
Family support was very
helpful in my attending this wonderful conference. My husband held things down at home. In the three days I was gone, he did many
things that are normally my responsibility.
Unfortunately his car was side swiped (hit and run) so he dealt with
insurance and body shops. He and our son
spent one day together, doing errands.
He even attended a baby shower and wrapped the gift! He also worked two
days, and watched daughter #1’s two children.
Meanwhile, my other daughter’s family lives a short distance away from
Springfield, so I stayed with her and (Bonus!) spent time playing with our
other grandbabies.
I’m home now, and still star
struck! Can’t wait to get started using
all the new information I learned.
Looking forward to next year’s FGS conference in Pittsburgh.
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