Coming up at the end of April, an all day seminar with Cyndi Ingle (of Cyndi’s List) and myself hosted by the Tacoma-Pierce County Genealogical Society. This is a VIRTUAL seminar so you can join us from the comfort of your own home! There will be two lectures by each of us.
Cyndi’s Topics:
Smarter Searching: Refining Search Parameters for Genealogists
Off the Shelf: The Unexplored Potential for eBooks in Genealogy
Cari’s Topics:
Using Timelines to Analyze Your Research
The Heart of it All: A New Hampshire to Ohio Migration Case Study
Seminar Schedule – Pacific Time, so convert for your time zone:
Hello friends. You may have noticed (or maybe not) that my blog went a bit silent there for a bit. That’s because I’ve been in writing overdrive preparing for my newest course “Not Just Farmers: Records, Relationships, and the Reality of Their Lives” that will occur at the NGS GRIP Genealogy Institute (formerly the Genealogical Institute of Pittsburgh), virtually, June 23-28., 2024. Registration is now open. Of course, I’m not the only instructor. I am being joined by Cyndi Ingle and Paula Stuart-Warren as well.
I get tired of hearing genealogists of all kinds say “oh my ancestors weren’t that _____ (interesting, important, etc.) because they were ‘just farmers.'” There is a commonly held belief that they did not lead interesting or important lives, and that they just didn’t leave many records. So, this course is designed to defy all of those misconceptions. There is nothing more important than providing food and other necessary supplies to your family and community.
The focus of our course is on North American farming and agricultural ancestors and their families. The course will dispel the myth that our ancestors are “just farmers” without a rich and documented life. Farmers have often been dismissed by the assumption that there is not much to find or to learn about their lives and the issues they faced. The variety of records–often underused or undiscovered–give depth and breadth to the lives of our ancestors. Understanding the history of farming and learning about the unique records of the people, products, and land, will give a deeper picture of what hearty families we descend from. Students will build an “agricultural profile” for their farming ancestors by the end of the week. This profile can help to craft a robust background of their “just farmer” ancestors.
My Grandpa Karl Miller on His Tractor
The full breakdown of the courses and who will be teaching those can be seen on the GRIP website. My topics include:
Inventions and Ingenuity: Advancement in Farming Over Time
Get Along, Little Doggy! The Agricultural Contributions of Ranches
Historical Side-Hustles: Other Income Streams of Our Farming Ancestors
Farming Outside the Law: Squatters, Tax-Evaders, and Bootleggers
Female Farmers: Women’s Issues in Agricultural Families
Taking Care of the Farmers: Social Programs Benefitting Our Farming Ancestors
A Case Study – Building Your Ancestor’s Agricultural Profile
I am going to share tidbits that I’ve been writing and collecting for this course on my blog over the next several months. So, break out your bibbed-overalls and work boots, and hang on to the tractor’s steering wheel and let’s go for a hay ride through farming lives and their records. (Did I get enough farming metaphors in there?)
Cyndi and I have finalized our plans for 2024 and wanted to share the schedule with you.
2024 NGSQ with Mastering Genealogical Proof Principles – There are four session times to choose from (limit of 25 per session). This course runs for 11 months (January – November) and we study one National Genealogical Society Quarterly (NGSQ) issue per month. Due to copyright, we cannot provide copies of the articles. You need to be a member of NGS or be able to make copies at a local public library. We read the articles ahead of students and create a list of unique questions for each article to discuss along with some standard questions we ask of all NGSQ articles. We don’t have the article list yet, but will post it as soon as it is available.
Writer’s Workshop Group 2024 – This writing group will work together to improve a piece of your own writing over 8 months (we January through August). The meeting times will be on usually the third Thursday of the month at 7 pm Eastern. Our overall focus will be genealogical writing. We will be mostly focusing on writing aspects but will also touch on genealogical issues such as meeting the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS), looking at Genealogical Standards that are relevant to writing, and using citations. This is a participation required group. We will work on a piece of writing over the 8 months. You will be paired up each month with a partner to give feedback on that month’s topic. Participation is a must, and if you are looking for a hands-on writing group, this may be the one for you!
Mastering Genealogical Proof (MGP) – a seven-week beginning principles course. There will be two sessions, Wednesday daytime at 3pm Eastern and Saturdays at 1pm Eastern (so adjust for your time zone). This is for those who have never studied this book before. We will be studying this from a beginner or slightly intermediate level. If you’ve done one of these groups before and want a refresher, that’s ok too! We will take 25 students in each class. This year, all classes will be taught by Cyndi Ingle. This is for those who have never studied this book before. We will be studying this from a beginner or slightly intermediate level. If you’ve done one of these groups before and want a refresher, that’s ok too! We will take 25 students in each class.
2024 Dates for MGP:
Wednesdays, February 7 – March 20 – Noon Pacific/3 pm Eastern
Saturdays, February 10 – March 23 – 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern
Wednesdays, August 7 – September 18 – Noon Pacific/3 pm Eastern
Saturdays, August 10 – September 21 – 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern
Registration will open 4-6 weeks before the class begins.
Mastering Genealogical Documentation (MGD) – a seven-Week beginning principles course – There will be two sessions: Wednesday daytime at 3pm Eastern, and Saturdays at 1pm Eastern (so adjust for your time zone). Each class will be about an hour. This is for those who have never studied this book before. We will be studying this from a beginner or slightly intermediate level. It is recommended that you have studied the book Mastering Genealogical Proof, but not a requirement for taking this class. If you’ve done one of these groups before and want a refresher, that’s ok too! We will take 25 students in each class.
2024 Dates for MGD:
Wednesdays, February 7 – March 20 – Noon Pacific/3 pm Eastern – Coming Soon
Saturdays, February 10 – March 23 – 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern – Coming Soon
Wednesdays, August 7 – September 18 – Noon Pacific/3 pm Eastern
Saturdays, August 10 – September 21 – 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern
Registration will open 4-6 weeks before the class begins.
Visit the Classes and Study Groups page at any time for most recent information. We hope to see you throughout the year!
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).
We are about half-way through the latest round of our study groups for the book Mastering Genealogical Proof, by Tom Jones. Therefore, registration is now open for the next Mastering Genealogical DOCUMENTATION study group. (The titles and book covers are very similar so I’m trying to avoid confusion.)
The study group is designed to be a beginner/low-intermediate level class to study the book. We will cover the principles outlined in the text as well as discuss the workbook questions.
This go-round we will be offering three sessions: Wednesdays at Noon Pacific/3pm Eastern led by Cyndi Ingle of Cyndi’s List, 4pm Pacific/7pm Eastern led by Cari Taplin, and 10am Pacific/1pm Eastern led by Cyndi. (Please adjust for your time zone). Groups begin on September 27, 2023 and run 7 weeks, (plus optional 8th week). Each class will be about an hour and we will meet using Zoom.
We have had a little delay in the blog posts lately. Last week I was course coordinator for the “Spirit of the Inland Seas: Research in the Great Lakes” along with Cyndi Ingle (Cyndi’s List), Paula Stuart-Warren (Genealogy by Paula), and Judy Russell (The Legal Genealogist). It was a fantastic week with a great class! In that course, I taught eight lectures, and I also taught two lectures in Paula’s “Digging Deeper course.” As you can imagine, the weeks leading up to it and last week were quite busy with preparations and teaching! Therefore, a bit of lag on the blog. I will continue the current series next week.
Cyndi and I also opened registration for our next Mastering Genealogical Proof study groups that are beginning in August. Here are the details:
This will be a beginner/low-intermediate level class to study the book Mastering Genealogical Proof by Tom Jones. We will cover the principles outlined in the book as well as discuss the workbook questions.
Details of the course (PLEASE READ):
There will be THREE sessions: Wednesday daytime at 3pm Eastern, led by Cyndi Ingle (of Cyndi’s List), Wednesday evenings at 7pm Eastern led by Cari Taplin, or Saturdays at 1pm Eastern, led by Cyndi Ingle. Times are in Eastern so adjust for your time zone. Beginning Wednesday August 2, 2023 or Saturday August 5 (for 7 weeks). Each class will be about an hour.
We will meet on Zoom.
Cost for the course: $75
You will need to have the book, Mastering Genealogical Proof. It can be purchased on Amazon or through the National Genealogical Society if you don’t already have it.
There are questions in the book that we will use to guide discussion. Reading the chapter and answering the discussion questions will prepare you for each week’s class.
For the first half (or so) of each class session, we will present/recap the principles for that week (we’ll have slides).
The second half will be going over the discussion questions.
There will also be a private Facebook group for this class only so you can ask questions and discuss issues in-between class sessions.
Class size is limited to 25.
Sessions are NOT recorded. Please plan on attending in person.
Choose one of the following times, click the link to register:
We look forward to studying with you! However, if this session does not work for you, we will be holding the next session in early 2024. To be notified when registration opens for the next session, please click this link to sign up for the waitlist. (This waitlist is just a way for us to collect your email so we can notify you of registration and is not a guarantee of a seat in the class.)
Before I start the next series of my blog, I just wanted to give a quick update for me and the rest of the year and some exciting things starting next year.
First, the last Mastering Genealogical Proof study group for 2022 is starting next week. You only have a few days left to register if you are interested. (The 2023 schedule is still being formed for both MGP and MGD so stay tuned.) You can check the webpage for all class schedules or follow my Facebook page or subscribe to this blog to be kept up to date. (At the bottom of each page is a place to enter your email address to get updates to my blog.)
Scroll to the bottom of this page to find the location for getting emails when a new blog post is published.
Second, I am starting a new group focused on WRITING in 2023. It is called the “Writer’s Workshop Group 2023” and will be held once per month to allow for attendees to work on various aspects of their writing. More information and registration can be found here. The class size is limited so do not wait to sign up!
Third, Cyndi Ingle (of Cyndi’s List) and I will be holding our NGSQ study groups again next year. If you have not participated, but would like to be notified when registration happens, please sign up on the waitlist here.
Fourth, I will be participating in the Ohio Genealogical Society Conference in April 2023. I am going to present the keynote on Thursday titled “The Virtue of the Great Lakes: Contributions to Westward Expansion,” as well as several other lectures.
Fifth, I am excited to be coordinating our Great Lakes course again at GRIP in June 2023. The instructors are myself, Cyndi Ingle, Paula Stuart-Warren, and Judy Russell. We had a blast last time and many good comments so we are excited to do it again. It is one of my favorite topics.
I am always providing webinars throughout the year. Between living through the pandemic and now having a full-time job, I have decided to limit my in-person speaking. So, I will mostly be found at online events. (No gas money, driving through stressful traffic, not to mention the time commitment for travel. Not only is that easier for me and less expense for the societies I’m speaking to, it is better for the environment.) My speaking calendar can be found at the bottom of my webpages or click here. I hope to see you at any of the events above.
Can you believe it is only a couple of weeks away until 2022? I can’t. This year has gone so slowly that I’m shocked to find us at the end of it.
Our NGSQ (National Genealogical Society Quarterly) study groups are forming for 2022 and we still have a few seats left! These discussions are run by Cyndi Ingle (of Cyndi’s List) and myself and between the two of us, we offer 4 different time slots.
We have worksheets that help us breakdown and discuss the articles. Also, each month you get 5-6 unique questions for that particular article to help lead the discussion. We focus on principles found in the book Mastering Genealogical Proof so we are covering the elements of the Genealogical Proof Standard from each article. We also host private Facebook Groups to facilitate discussion between sessions.
I cannot stress enough the importance of continuing education for genealogists whether you consider yourself a beginner, a hobbyist, a professional, an advanced researcher…whatever. There is always more to learn! And different people have different ways of doing things and their ideas or variations on methodology may make more sense to you and help you break through research challenges.
My setup at one of the genealogical institutes I attended.
If 2020, and it looks like a large portion of 2021, have done anything, they have brought genealogy education to our fingertips. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many educational opportunities, both large and small, have been made accessible to participants across the world. With our digital world and platforms like Zoom, we have had so many opportunities than we have ever had before. With so many week-long institutes, multi-day conferences, and day-long seminars going virtual, so many more people have been able to participate. Think about those who can’t travel for whatever reason (disability, finances, family obligations, etc.) and those who want to attend everything but can’t due to travel and time and finances. I do hope we keep offering virtual options as our world returns to whatever “normal” is after this.
My advice for genealogical education has several steps or layers:
Identify where your skills and knowledge are lacking. This could be a long or short list, but determine where you’d like to grow, and write it down.
Identify places that have classes, webinars, institute courses, etc. that cover those topics.
Make a plan as to when you can attend those classes. Some things are available all the time (webinars at Legacy Family Tree Webinars, for example, are available 24/7 by subscription). Some are available only once per year, or rotate every couple of years. You might find books or articles on the subject(s) as well.
Join a local genealogical society. EVEN if your research is not in the place where you live. Most genealogical societies offer classes, monthly lectures on various topics, and a social network of other genealogists that can help you. Many local societies are offering virtual meetings currently so see what is available in your area.
Join the genealogical society (societies) in the places where you DO research. You will benefit from their newsletters, journals, blogs, monthly meetings (if they are virtual), and any other member benefits they offer. But they have the local knowledge!
For a complete list of genealogical education opportunities, visit Cyndi’s List: https://cyndislist.com/education/ where you can find so much information on genealogical classes, course, study groups, institutes, webinars, books, and so on.
Family history is an important part of our identity; the more we understand our heritage, the more we understand ourselves. And I hope, whether you are a beginner or have been doing this for a long time, you found some useful items in this Beginning Concepts series.
Genealogy Pants 