Category Archives: Genealogy General

Don’t Stop Digging: BLM GLO Records Tip

Genealogical Persistence, , , ,

I wanted to share a tip that recently worked out nicely for me. It has to do with the previous topic of “genealogical persistence.” I’ve been working on disambiguating two men of the same name of about the same age in the same county in Ohio. Last post I talked a bit about some military records. The “other” George Long obtained a War of 1812 pension and in those records, it noted that he also obtained 120 acres of land through a military warrant.

The land for a military warrant could have been located just about anywhere in the U.S. And George Long is a pretty common name. The Bureau of Land Management’s General Land Office (BLM GLO) database and online images is a fantastic resource for people researching ancestors in the Federal Land States (Public Land States). This database holds land records of many types, among them are military warrants.

A wide-open search for “George Long” in any state returns way too many results to find the record efficiently. George’s pension packet shows that he obtained this land after 1871. I know from other research that he died in 1880.

In the “Search Documents By Type” tab, there are a lot of options for narrowing down your search. I tried several. Again, I didn’t know where the land might be located so narrowing down by location wouldn’t work. There is the option to narrow your search down by “Authority,” or by the law/program that the land was disposed under. It is a very long list, and I didn’t see one for “military warrant” or something similar. There are several “Scrip Warrant Act” authorities, but offhand, I didn’t know which one might have applied. (And if it should have been obvious, well, what can I say…sometimes the obvious eludes us.)

The BLM GLO Records Website

My tip is that I used the information I found from his pension packet to narrow down the search by what I know.

First, I tried looking by warrant number. In his pension packet, there is this note:

George Long’s War of 1812 Pension, 120 Acres, Patent #41868

Searching by that number in the “Search Documents By Identifier” tab did not return any results:

I tried that number in a couple of different fields, on the “Search Documents By Identifier” tab, and could not locate the correct entry.

I ultimately found it by narrowing my search down by date. From the pension I know he obtained the warrant in 1871, and he died in 1880, so I narrowed by search by those dates.

I then also noticed the “Document #” field in that same “Miscellaneous” section (see, the obvious doesn’t always jump out at you).

Here is “other” George Long’s entry:

The entry shows the correct militia: Captain Brown’s Company Maryland Militia. The document number and the number of acres match. I would never have known to look in Nebraska.

If I had to try every option on this database, I was going to, because I knew this record had to be in there. I have the feeling that some people are going to write me and say something like “I knew that” or give me some kind of tip for using the site… and if you do (or are tempted to), you are missing my point.

My point is, we don’t know everything … not about every website and how they work and how the data was cataloged. And if you ever encounter a site that’s not as familiar to you, you have to figure out how to work it to your advantage. This is an example of taking known information and narrowing down results to find what you need… It’s not about using the BLM website per se. This is an example of genealogical persistence.

Long story and many screenshots to say keep looking, trying, clicking, and searching! Something will eventually work, I’m certain of it.

Don’t Stop Digging: Graves Registration Cards, Ohio

Genealogical Persistence, , ,

I have been working on a project to identify the correct George Long to be my ancestor. There are about a hundred to choose from in Ohio (ok, it is a slight exaggeration, I have identified 12 candidates in the right time and places).

I was working on one particular candidate who was living in the right county at the same time as my George Long. So in this case, I am proving that there are indeed two George Longs in Hancock County, Ohio at the same time. Two important record types I’m using to prove this are land and military records. I have gone through the deeds for the county and pulled out those that belong to “my” George and those that belong to “that other” George. Turns out the “other” George has a LOT of deeds in the county. He was buying and selling and making a profit. “My” George Long, bought one piece of land and lived there until his death in 1855.

While work on this project, I have found TWO “Graves Registration Cards” created as a project by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), one of each of these Georges, but attributing the same service to BOTH men!

Graves Registration Card for the “other” George Long
Graves Registration Card for “my” George Long

They are both attributed to Lieutenant Robert Harvey’s Company during the War of 1812, same enlistment and discharge dates. Examining the book Roster of Ohio soldiers in the War of 1812, there is only one George Long in this particular company. They are from “probably Ross County.”

Digging a bit more about the Graves Registration Cards, I asked an archivist at the Ohio History Connection about the cards. She replied that there is no way to know where exactly they obtained the information on the cards. As I imagine it, now that I’ve done more research, they possibly went through the cemeteries, found tombstones or cemetery records of men of about the right age, looked for them in the Adjutant General’s list, and made them a card. (I could be wrong but that is my best guess.)

Anyhow, looking for other proof to determine if either George Long served in the War of 1812, I did the obituary for the “other” George which stated he was in that war. I also found a pension for him. I know it is the “other” George because it names his wife which I had already identified in other records as being the wife of the “other” George. It also shows that his service was in Captain John Brown’s Company of the Maryland Militia. (Also, record for “my” George never mention War of 1812 service, not his obituary, nor an entry in a county history.)

So, both Graves Registration Cards are incorrect, but one is more correct than the other.  You might ask why I put so much effort into researching a man who is not “my” George Long. Well, to meet the Genealogical Proof Standard, you have to resolve conflicts, you can’t ignore them. So, in this case, I have to identify and disambiguate two men of the same name (not just the same, but a common name at that), of about the same age, in the same county.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again I’m sure… but don’t stop looking, asking, and clicking. There’s always more to find!

Congratulations, Cyndi Ingle, new ED for IGHR!

Genealogy General, Genealogy Societies, ,

I received the following announcement from the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR):

I am delighted to share with you that Cyndi Ingle has been appointed as the Executive Director of the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR). As an internationally known genealogy educator and innovator, she is well positioned to lead the Georgia Genealogical Society’s IGHR into the future of genealogy education. She will have the full support of GGS leadership as she does so. 

Cyndi Ingle really needs no introduction, but for those of you not familiar with her work over her 40-year genealogy career, please see below. 

IGHR 2023 was a great success, and I thank the volunteers who made it so, particularly the Advisory Council, the Course Coordinators, the faculty and staff, the Steering Committee volunteers, and the members of the IGHR 2023 Executive Committee, Lisa Delgado, Cynthia Harrison, and Karen Molohon, for their dedicated and selfless service. 

We look forward to welcoming you (and your friends) to IGHR 2024, which will be held virtually the week of 21-26 July, 2024. The course list will be announced later in the fall, and registration will begin in the spring. If you have feedback or suggestions for GGS or IGHR, please email me at president@gagensociety.org.

Let us all give Cyndi a warm welcome!

Madelyn Nix
GGS President

INTRODUCTION TO CYNDI INGLE

Cyndi Ingle

Cyndi Ingle created the award-winning and globally recognized CyndisList.com, a free categorized list of more than 320,000 online resources for genealogical research. She is an internationally-known guest lecturer for genealogical society meetings, conferences, seminars, institutes, webinars, and study groups.Cyndi is a past member of the board of directors for the National Genealogical Society and has also served in several capacities for local, national, and professional genealogical organizations.

Her particular interest is combining traditional methodology with organization, computers, software, and the Internet. She is one of the co-creators and admins for the popular Facebook genealogy group, The Genealogy Squad. Cyndi, currently a columnist for the Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly (APGQ), has authored numerous articles for genealogical publications and three books. She coordinated courses for the Genealogical Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP) and the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG). She has attended dozens of conferences and institutes including the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR), the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG), the Genealogical Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP), and the National Institute on Genealogical Research (now Gen-Fed).

Another Genealogy Friend Gone

Genealogy General, ,

This week, I’m pausing my discussion on county histories to remember a friend with a shared love of genealogy that we lost too soon.

My good friend and genealogy buddy, Annette Sands Botello died on 17 November 2022 at about 1:30 in the morning. I was able to visit her on the 16th in her hospice bed. She was not really “there” though she looked at me once, accidentally kicked me when she moved her leg and she uttered a “sorry,” and smiled occasionally as I chatted with her husband Ys about good times we’ve had and our fond memories. It was only about four weeks between diagnosis and her death. It was quite sudden and none of us were prepared for it.

The last trip Annette and I took to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City in 2018.

Annette and I took a couple of genealogy trips together, usually to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. We would research all day, take a sack lunch to eat outdoors in the beautiful gardens of Temple Square, and work on our findings in our room at night. One time, we went to Charleston, South Carolina for an NGS Conference. One afternoon we played hooky and took a little drive to visit some ancestral lands of some folks she was researching. We also stopped at a beach and put our toes in the ocean.

Just two girls from Colorado with our toes in the Atlantic.
Annette with her feet in the ocean.
Annette on the wooden walkway that leads to the ocean.
Annette and I on one of our many visits to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.
From left: Henrietta Christmas, Denise Miller, Me, Ruth Ratliff, and Annette Botello. At one of our trips to the Family History Library, this time in June 2010.

Annette was very passionate about her family history. She gave several fantastic presentations here in Colorado, usually case studies on the work she’d done with her ancestors. She facilitated a Mexico genealogy group in Denver and helped many learn how to work on their genealogy. She always had time to meet up at a coffee shop and talk genealogy. Most recently we met up at Starbucks on a warm summer day and she shared with me her plan for an upcoming trip to West Virginia to meet up with many cousins she hadn’t seen in a long time. She really wanted to find a particular cemetery and conducted all of this research in old and modern maps to locate it. She had a fantastic trip and shared her stories with our little genealogy group when she returned.

This is our little genealogy club at our favorite coffee shop. From left: Annette, Deb, Me, Birdie, Denise, and Ruth. This was taken in February 2010.

I met Annette near the same time I met Birdie Holsclaw. Most of us attended the Boulder Genealogical Society. Denise Miller wanted to start a “support group” for those of us interested in getting our genealogy certification. Our group consisted of Birdie, Denise, Annette, Deb Skoff, and Ruth Ratliff. We met about once per month at a little local coffee shop. We did that until I moved to Texas for a while. During that time we tried to do Skype calls but it was too noisy in the coffee shop and the internet wasn’t great so it was a bit frustrating for myself to try to attend remotely. Then came the pandemic and we all started meeting on Zoom and our group was restored! It may be the only great thing that came out of the pandemic, me getting to meet with these ladies on the regular again!

I know for a fact that Annette was not “done” with her genealogy, nor was it in a state to be left for others to pick up. She was always working on it. She always had plans for more. And she thought she had more time. I am taking this as a sign that I need to get my genealogical affairs in order so that if the end came suddenly for me, all of my hard work would be in a reasonable state for someone else to take over or benefit from the work I’d done.

Annette hasn’t only been a genealogy friend. Her family has been so welcoming to my family over the years. Her husband Ys helped my son one school year with his math class when he did homeschooling. My son was not really a math person and having someone other than mom help him with a difficult subject seemed to do the trick. I’m forever grateful for Ys helping us through that year of school! When we moved back to Colorado in August 2020, we moved in two stages. Our daughter Ellie and I came to Colorado so she could get started in school while my husband stayed behind in Texas to get the house ready to sell and to pack up the remainder of our stuff. We lived in a rental for the first part and we kept our lawn mower in Texas so Seth could keep the yard looking nice. Ys kindly came once a week to lend his mower and his labor to help us keep the rental house lawn mowed until Seth got there. I got to know their daughters and have watched them grow from young teens into fine young women each with their own interesting path, yet always a close and loving family. It was a real blessing to have the Botellos in our lives. As they move into this new phase of their lives, I can only imagine the hole they must feel without Annette by their sides. And I know they all had a very strong faith and know she is in a better place.

I just imagine her hanging out with Birdie again, taking genealogy and movies and technology, and it makes me smile.

You will be missed, Annette.

There is a fundraiser to help the family with expenses, if you are so inclined.

Three Things About My Grandma

Genealogy General, ,

When I learned about the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), and more specifically their useful online databases for genealogy, I discovered that my patriot ancestor was “red lined.” Being “red-lined” means there is something about the applications previously entered that needed more work before someone new could come in under that ancestor. In my guy’s case, the only application submitted was from so long ago that the document and proof requirements weren’t as strict. And so one of my genealogical goals was to fix that. Which I finally did (with the help of a DAR friend). I am a member of the DAR under my ancestor Samuel Dimmick (A032219).

My grandmother, Margaret (Dimick) Miller, is also in his direct line and so this year I got her into the DAR as well. At my local chapter’s DAR meeting, was asked to share three things about my grandmother and these are the top three things that come to mind.

First, she was such a hard-working farmer’s wife. She plowed, planted, and combined with the best of them! She drove tractors, farm trucks, lifted heavy stuff, and all the while being a wife and mother as well.

IMG_0668.JPG
Grandma enjoying LOBSTER on our trip to New England in 2008.

Second, she loved us with her food. She kept such a large garden and none of that food went to waste! She cooked and canned. My favorite thing she made, her homemade ketchup! The store-bought stuff barely comes close, except for Annie’s brand (fancy organic ketchup) which is more expensive but so worth it to me. She also made homemade noodles. Her lovely farm-life dinners that usually included mashed potatoes. And when we’d come to stay, we had Schwann’s ice cream with chocolate and peanuts on top while we watched TV in the evening. And when we left, she always had an individual size bag of M&Ms for us to eat on the ride home.

Third, she had an amazing 60-year marriage with my grandpa, Karl Miller, who died in 2005. I’ve never seen two people more devoted to each other. They were a team. Always having fun, laughing, and being together. As an example, we would go camping with them in their camper, which made room for about 8 people inside. Every night, when they’d go to bed you’d hear them give each other a quick peck and quietly say “I love you” as we were all going to sleep. I cannot for the life of me remember one time when a cross word was said.

My grandma’s DAR application was approved on November 5 and she passed away on November 18 at the age of 93. I am so glad I took the time to get her application in, even if she was a member for only a few days.

You are already missed, Grandma, but I know you are so happy to be with Grandpa again!

Gift Certificates Available, Order Today!

Genealogy General,

Once again, I have gift certificates available for those of you who put off gift purchasing until the last minute! Give the gift of genealogy this year!

Gift certificates are great because they allow the gift receiver to get a more customized gift! These certificates allow the recipient to choose which project they’d like to work on.

GenPantsGC

I am offering gift certificates for a 10-hour research segment or a 3-hour consultation.

To purchase a gift certificate, click here.

APG Seeks Nominations

Genealogy General, , , ,

As a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, a board member, and a member of the Nominating Committee, I want to highlight the fact that the APG is seeking recommendations for eligible persons to serve on the board for 2019-2020 terms. I have served 1 1/2 terms and have learned so much, not just about APG or about serving on a national board, but also about being a professional genealogist and networking with others.

I believe that if you have ideas, opinions, and generally want to enact change in or support this community that we all interact in and benefit from, then perhaps serving a term (or more) is a great idea. (This applies beyond genealogy, of course!) And I can’t stress enough about the relationships I’ve formed and colleagues I’ve gained, as well as the work I’ve supported that the APG does to serve and make better the professionalism of our trade.

For recommendations please contact admin@apgen.org and read the details below.

The official release reads thusly:

Call for Recommendations for APG Board of Directors. Deadline: 31 Aug 2018

WHO WILL HELP RUN APG, THE WORLD’S LARGEST ORGANIZATION FOR PROFESSIONAL GENEALOGISTS? The APG Nominations Committee invites members to recommend candidates for the APG Board of Directors, and the Nominations Committee. Deadline for nominations to any of these positions is 31 August 2018.

Under our bylaws six persons will be elected to serve at-large to a two year term on the Board of Directors beginning on 1 January 2019. Two of the three-person Nominations Committee are elected to nominate candidates for the 2019 election.

Send your recommendations (they can include yourself) to the Nominations Committee at admin@apgen.org. Please include each recommended person’s contact information and their consent to be recommended. A statement of qualifications would help but is not required. Deadline: 31 August 2018.

Board members must be APG members in good standing who joined before 1 August 2017. Board members should have some knowledge of the association’s goals and procedures and a strong interest in the welfare of APG and professional genealogists worldwide.

See https://www.apgen.org/contacts/index.html for a list of current board members. The Nominations Committee will prepare a list of candidates by September 15. The election will be held in late October. Board members should:

* be familiar with bylaws, policies, and procedures;
* make an effort to attend at least one of the two annual in-person board meetings plus the two or three virtual board meetings;
* come prepared to board meetings, having read all minutes and communications;
* respond in a timely fashion to email votes;
* serve in at least one capacity besides that of board member;
* when in attendance at a conference, volunteer at the APG booth; and
* communicate with the membership in some of the following ways: talk to members seeking out opinions, concerns, ideas; contribute to the APGQ or the APG eNews; participate in APG List discussions; join a chapter or Special Interest Group.

2018 Nominations Committee:
Cari Taplin, CG
Melanie Holtz, CG
Elizabeth O’Neal

Genealogy-world News

Events, Genealogy General

I have had a VERY busy summer which has resulted in a very inactive blog. However, there have been several happenings in the genealogy world that I wanted to share. You may have already learned about some of these, but if not, check them out:

1. From the FGS Voice Website: “The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) and the National Park Service’s Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park announce a partnership to develop a searchable database of more than 130,000 soldiers of the U.S.-Mexican War…The database will allow descendants of U.S. soldiers to connect to their personal history and help Palo Alto commemorate and tell the stories of these soldiers. After the database is developed, unit histories, digitized documents, and information on U.S.-Mexican War soldiers will be added. Efforts will also be made to include names and information about Mexican soldiers in this war.” This is going to be another fantastic partnership from FGS for preserving records.

2. The Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) has partnered with Legacy Family Tree Webinars for their monthly webinar series. From the news release: “The Board for Certification of Genealogists and Legacy Family Tree Webinars are excited to announce a new partnership. Legacy, host of the webinar series at FamilyTreeWebinars.com, will now also serve as host, producer, and publisher for future BCG webinars. This arrangement will produce and promote high-quality education in genealogy standards and methodologies by one of the leading creators of genealogy webinars.” The first webinar under this new partnership will be “Another Kind of Navigation: GPS for Genealogy” presented by Shellee Morehead, Ph.D., CG on Tuesday August 16, 8pm Eastern and can be registered for at: http://familytreewebinars.com/webinar_details.php?webinar_id=477

3. PERSI (the PERidocial Source Index) has a new landing page on FindMyPast. From the PERSI webpage: “The Periodical Source Index enables you to easily locate key information about people and places. It contains over 2.5 million entries from thousands of historical, genealogical and ethnic publications, making it an invaluable, comprehensive family history resource.” PERSI is one of my favorite resources. I will be giving a lecture on the subject at the Association of Professional Genealogists Professional Management Conference September 22-24, 2016 at the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

4. “Refining Internet and Digital Skills for Genealogy,” a new SLIG course being offered by Cyndi Ingle (of Cyndi’s List), is sure to be one of those courses you think you might not need but you really do. We all get really comfortable with our computers, and our data and research processing systems, but we don’t know what we don’t know about how to be better or more efficient researchers. From Cyndi’s List Facebook Page: “There are still some spots open for SLIG 2017, the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy. My course is, “Refining Internet and Digital Skills for Genealogy.” We will focus on getting your digital research organized, performing more productive searches online, locating records and repositories necessary to move your research forward, using tools that help you analyze data in your research, and the final output of your research efforts. If you’ve been spinning your wheels for a while and want to take full control over your computer, please join us in SLC next January. Sign up for the course here: http://slig.ugagenealogy.org.”

Those are four things that I’ve been excited about in the genealogy world. I hope you check some of them out and can utilize, donate, or benefit from them! Happy summer!

Thoughts About Online Trees

Genealogy General, , ,

IMG_3012In our time as genealogists, we have probably uploaded a GEDCOM file or two (or a dozen). It seems that every month a new site (or an old one) has a system for uploading and managing your family tree on their website. The most popular site today for building a tree is probably Ancestry.com. There are others:

Each of these has their advantages. Ancestry.com probably has the best system for locating hints from their databases as seen by the “shaky” leaves that appear. FamilySearch’s Family Tree is more like a wiki where you don’t actually “own” the individuals in the tree but instead collaborate with other researchers and have the ability to have discussions or post proof arguments.

Family information didn’t trickle down the family tree evenly. My cousins probably know more about my Businger ancestors than I do because they lived nearby whereas my branch of the family moved “out west.” They most likely have more family photographs and papers than I do stored in their attics or basements. I happen to have a lot of information on my Miller ancestors simply due to the relationships formed and the relatively small “competition” pool to get old photos and papers (there’s me, my brother, and our one cousin Andy). However, think about those families not so many generations ago that bore eight, ten, twelve, or more children. There were a lot of children to pass these treasures down to, and it didn’t all flow evenly. If there was a rift in the family, these artifacts may have followed one line only. If there was estrangement, these might have gone to a family friend, or not have been saved at all.

Just like family information, online trees today are not all located on one site. Some people only put their tree up in one location. I happen to have mine in a few, but not “all” of them. Posting your tree online can be an exceptional research tool, especially if you are looking for collaborators; people who may have been on that side of the family tree where the information flowed more fully. By posting your tree online, and in several locations, you can cast a wider net and reach more potential cousins who are researching the same or connected family lines.

I have a few ideas on what I think are some best practices for posting your tree online:

  • Make sure your email address or other contact information is up-to-date. You could even include your social media contacts if you have them, your Facebook profile, Twitter handle, or other social media of your choice.
  • Make sure you keep your tree at least moderately updated. The problem with having many trees online is that there is not an easy way to keep them all updated at the same time, no syncing across sites. If you are not doing any attaching of documents like what happens at Ancestry.com, you could simply delete an old tree and upload a new GEDCOM periodically. However, I don’t recommend this if you do a lot of attaching from the host site. One solution: you can post a “skeleton” tree with basic information in order to “catch” those collaborators, then invite them to your better tree, wherever that is hosted, once you’ve made contact.
  • Attach as many source citations to your trees as possible. If you keep one main tree and then post skeleton trees to a variety of sites, make some mention of this in your profile information. Something like “This tree does not contain many sources, but if there is a name or family group you are interested in, please contact me for more information.” This will at least let them know that there are sources available.
  • There are other more obvious “rules” I like to follow such as not posting personal information of my living relatives, not spreading gossip or rumors about living people, or the recently deceased, and not copying the trees or work of others without their permission (and I mean by asking them directly, not just clicking “add to my tree” because of the “well, if it is out there, they must not mind sharing” attitude to sharing.

If you do not know how to make what I call a “skeleton” GEDCOM file, I recommend reading some of the help files and/or video tutorials that came with your genealogical software. But in a nutshell, there is usually a way to mark a line of people you’d like to create a GEDCOM for. For example, if I only want to post a tree for my Kindervater ancestors, I can choose to begin with one particular person and then in Reunion (for Mac) there is a command to mark all ancestors of said person, and I can also choose whether to include all children or not, all spouses or not, etc. What you choose here will create a larger or smaller file to post.

These are just some thoughts I have about online trees. I have been working on a project trying to identify the parents of a female ancestor. I have been combing through many online trees, most of which have no sources and appear to repeat the same information that I am not sure is correct. It is a lot of time-consuming work. Most trees have no sources, they don’t all have working emails, and not everyone responds to emails when they are working. Online trees can offer many useful clues and hints and send you in directions you may not have known to go, and perhaps some of the people posting these trees online were on the side of the family tree where the information flowed down more freely than mine. I will keep investigating.

Some helpful articles or resources I found online:

http://lisalouisecooke.com/tag/online-family-tree/

http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2014/10/01/6-tips-to-get-your-family-tree-off-to-a-good-start/

http://enchantedfamily.com/blog/family-tree-tips/

http://www.archives.com/experts/breland-claudia/online-family-trees.html

http://www.cyndislist.com/family-trees/online-family-trees/

*I love the Find My Past site a lot, and it is growing on me more and more with every addition and update. This is the only like of which I am an affiliate. If you click through this link and sign up with Find My Past, I will get a small amount of compensation. This is one of the ways I try to supplement my income and to allow me to provide educational opportunities for low cost. Many of the things I do are pro-bono. So consider using an affiliate link (from me or any other generous genealogists who are in the same boat I am).
**Please know that I am not affiliated with any of the other above links and do not receive any compensation from them when you click on their links.

A Quick Update

Genealogy General

It has been several months since I’ve managed to post on this blog. I have plans for several new series topics so stay tuned. In the meantime, here is a quick update on what I’ve been up to.

I have been asked to give a lot of NEW lectures this year, which means I have a lot of work to do to get prepared. So I’ve been working on all of the leg work required to create an entirely new lecture for many lectures! This is a blessing but it has taken time away from blogging, but will no doubt give me ideas on blog topics to share with you later.

My 90 year old grandmother came to visit for 2 weeks last month. This too was a blessing, but one that kept me from my typical work schedule. (This is not a complaint at all, just letting you know that what’s happening in the “real world” is often much more important than what is happening in my computer world.) We had a great time visiting, touring Austin and surrounding areas, and trying to come up with things that a 90 year old may not have done yet. (We took my grandma to a Roller Derby. There was a fist fight, just like in hockey. That did the job!)

IMG_3864
Me on the left, grandma on the right, Roller Derby in the middle!

I have recently been appointed the Education Chair for the Austin Genealogical Society and have had a great time developing and teaching Saturday classes for the group. I have also been asked to speak at local societies and so my speaking schedule is picking up since moving to Texas about 1.5 years ago.

Not to mention all of the other projects I do such as writing articles, curriculum and Quick Guides.

I haven’t even mentioned that my 15 year old son has gotten his learner’s license and we take drives on the weekends. He has gotten better each time and so I no longer feel like I might die each time we go out, only sometimes, typically when he drifts across the shoulder line because he is not sure how big the car is or when he takes a 90-degree corner without slowing down enough. And my daughter was in basketball and the school musical and in band…

The list could go on and on. But I wanted to let you know, I’m still here, still working, and am hoping to be back on a regular blogging schedule soon.