My First Genealogical Conference (NYSFHC 2015)

My conference bag and name tag
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I attended my first genealogical conference, the New York Family History Conference 2015, on Friday, September 18 and Saturday, September 19, 2015. It was very interesting, very well organized, and the attendees and presenters were friendly. I had a good time – actually, a better time than I had honestly anticipated.

As the classes started early on Friday, I only worked a half day Thursday and then drove to Syracuse that afternoon to check into the hotel where the conference was held. The organizers were obviously dead set on no one getting lost, as the conference venue/hotel was directly across the street from the end of the exit ramp off of I-90. I spent part of the evening wandering around the vendors/exhibitors hall (where I bought quite a stash of books over the course of the next two days), stopped into the evening reception and chatted with a few folks who have come to the conference for years, and then went to find dinner before heading to my room for the night.

It’s a good thing that I remembered to set my alarm clock on my phone as a backup since the motel alarm clock did not work. The first class each day was at 8:30 AM. Now, folks who know me know that I normally work 10:30 AM to 6:30 PM (medical accommodation) so I’m not remotely used to being presentable for human company and interaction at 8:30 AM. ;-) That being said, two of my favorite classes were held at 8:30 AM, so it was well worth being up and about at that hour.

I really needed to be three people, though, as the conference offered three classes at the same time throughout the day, and I often wished I could attend all three. I developed a methodology for choosing when I just couldn’t choose, and attended the choice for which the syllabus was the least detailed and hoped that I could learn just from the syllabus for the other class(es) I had wished I could also attend.

I ended up attending on Friday: “Fingerprinting Our Families: Using Ancestral Origins As a Genealogical Research Key” by Curt Witcher (which I found completely fascinating and inspiring); “Introduction to Family History Revealed in Maps” by Matthew Knutzen (– unfortunately I received a call I had to take and had to leave the lecture early); “’No Person Shall… Gallop Horses in the Street’: Using Court Records to Tell the Stories of Our Ancestors Lives” by Judy Russell (a totally fun and fascinating lecture), lunch with a talk by Dick Eastman on finding genealogical books online (I do both e-books and regular books); “Colonial New York Research” with Henry B. Hoff (which covered in an amazing amount of detail/possible sources); and “Tips for Using FamilySearch.org Most Effectively" (I use FamilySearch.org for research, but I really appreciated learning ways to use it better). There was a bonus session offered at 4:45 PM, but at that point I was so exhausted that I just went upstairs to my room and stared into space for a while. I did come back downstairs for dinner and a talk by Judy Russell, “Blackguards and Black Sheep: The Lighter Side of the Law” – I don’t remember when I have laughed so much as during that talk; it was great!

I had dinner with a very nice woman from Hastings NY, who I had sat beside at lunch by happenstance and we hit it off, another nice woman from the Capital Region Genealogical Society who I’d been speaking to in the buffet line, and a gentleman who turned out to be the speaker at one of the sessions I attended the next day and his wife.

On Saturday, I attended: “Hidden Gems at FindMyPast: PERSI, Newspapers and More” by Jen Baldwin (she’s convinced me: I really need to join FindMyPast, I would love PERSI.); “DNA and the Golden Rule: The Law and Ethics of Genetic Genealogy” by Judy Russell (fascinating and thought-provoking); “What Is the Genealogical Proof Standard?” By Thomas W. Jones, one of my dinner time table-mates (I also found this fascinating and thought-provoking – it’s a bit like how I have to think in my day job as an ALJ, only on a more drawn out scale – and it hit two of my passions, research analysis and jigsaws. I really liked this class. I know that I don’t have the time/stamina to meet this standard before I retire, but the lecture really drew me in.) D. Joshua Taylor spoke at lunch on “Crossing the Pond: Finding Those Elusive English Origins” (I really need to join FindMyPast … even though I’m not certain I have any English ancestors.” In the afternoon, I attended “Using Autosomal DNA to Explore Your Ancestry” by Blaine Bettinger (who was a good speaker but it was a difficult topic, particularly right after lunch, and I’m afraid I got a bit lost) and the last class I attended was “Finding American Women’s Voices through the Centuries: Letters, Journals, Newspapers and Court Records” by Jane E. Wilcox (this lecture was presented with examples based on her own family research, which sparked ideas of places to look for details about my female ancestors as I go back in time, to bring their stories to life).

My Calling Card - isn't it pretty?
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In the course of the classes, I met and spoke with several very nice people. I even got to exchange cards with a few of them.  (The Olive Tree Genealogy Blog had run a post in the week before the conference, “How to Introduce Yourself to Other Genealogists at a Genealogy Conference”, in which she suggested that each person should have their own calling card/business card listing their website, email address, and Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest/whichever social media information desired on it. I had calling cards made up at Staples in one day prior to going to the conference – I have enough to last the rest of my life, LOL!) Two women, from Central Square and Hastings, helped me figure out my next adventure of finding my third great-grandparents graves after the conference, which I wrote about earlier in the week. And I bought a bunch of new books at the vendor’s hall. This was a very worthwhile conference.

Epilogue:

I may do this again next year. With that thought, I thought to look at their website again and discovered that they already have information up about the New York State Family History Conference for 2016, to be held concurrently with the annual conference of the Association for Public Historians of New York State (registrants to the NYSFHC conference will be able to attend lectures and field trips organized by APHNYS, and vice versa) and they’ve already listed discount pricing for early registration. Amazing!

Books Bought at Vender's Hall
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Crestleaf.com’s 12 Months of Fascinating Family Finds: September 2015 –Finding the graves of Franz Joseph and Phillipina [Blank] Henn, mythird great grandparents

Graves of Edmund Henn (1838-1861), Franz  Henn (1800-1863), and Phillipina Henn (1805-1890)
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I am participating in the Crestleaf.com "12 Months of Fascinating Family Finds" contest (see Crestleaf.com’s 12 Months of Fascinating Family Finds Challenge for details) and my most exciting find of September 2015 is finding the graves of Franz Joseph Henn (1800-1863) and Phillipina Blank Henn (1805-1890), my third great grandparents, who had immigrated to the United States in 1853 from Doerlesburg, Baden, Germany.

I’m not the first to find the cemetery. I found directions to the cemetery they were buried in on findagrave.com, but I’m still quite happy and excited to have found them myself and spent time there with them. (Yes, “found”, even with directions the cemetery is still in the middle of a very rural area, in an area I’ve never been before. A very pretty drive, but still…)

I spent the weekend at the New York State Family History Conference (and I will be writing a post about that experience, too). It was held in Syracuse, which I knew put me in the same general part of the state that my third great-grandparents, France Joseph (later “Francis”) and Katharina Phillipina [Blank] Henn lived after coming to the United States. I’d decided to try to find their graves after the conference, having copied the directions to the St. Francis cemetery that were online at findagrave.com: “St. Francis cemetery. Route 49 East of Central Square, approx. .2 mi., turn north onto Co. Rte. 37, go approx. .5 mi. cemetery is on east side of road (approximately 2000 feet south of Co. Rte 84) it sits off the road quite a bit.” [Don’t try to follow those directions; they aren’t entirely accurate because the punctuation given screwed up the actual distance.]

Fortunately, I met two people at the conference who lived in the area where I would be going to find the cemetery, who clarified the directions, which was very helpful (I’m more of a visual person and the directions I give tend to say things like ‘turn left at the gray barn’, and things like that, and I don’t have a compass in the car). I got lucky again as I got closer to the Central Square exit off of 81 North and discovered that the cemetery was in Google Maps (iPad app) under the local name of Little France Cemetery. I followed the audio directions given by the nice lady at Google maps, which amounts to: Take North I-81 to exit 32 (Central Square exit) for NY 49. At the bottom of the exit turn right onto NY 49. You’ll pass a Mobil station and the Good Golly restaurant on your left (if you need gas get it there, I don’t recall passing another one). Go 6 tenths of a mile (.6) on NY 49, and then turn left onto County Route 37. It winds through some very scenic country, with cows and barns and horses, and a good chance of a slow-moving combine on the road in front of you.

Combine on Co. Rte. 37
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View from Co. Rte 37
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Stay on County Route 37 for 4.2 miles (start slowing down when you hit 4 miles in). You will see a small brown sign hanging off a post by a dirt road into the woods on the right-hand side. The sign says, “St. Francis cemetery. Est. 1848.” If you cross County route 84, turn around; you’ve gone too far.

St. Francis Cemetery, Town of West Monroe NY (Little France Cemetery)
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On the narrow dirt road leading to the cemetery, there is a gate across the road with a sign on it that says open 9 to 4, Monday through Sunday, May 1 through September 30. The first time I saw that sign was at 5 o’clock on Saturday, and yes, the gate was closed and chained. As I could not see the cemetery from the road I did not feel comfortable walking in, and about that time it started to rain anyway. I found a hotel in the area and came back the next morning, and the gate was open by the time I got there about 10:00 AM.

The cemetery is off the road, but not that far off. The road is very narrow and very green. When you get to a Y in the road, there is a wide spot in the road off the left side, park your car there (it’s about a football field length in from County route 37). You will be able to see the graveyard off to the right, up a little hill. It is very well-kept by the Knights of Columbus. And, while you’re there, remember to go over to the big cross on the right side and pull out the drawer. Inside is a visitor sign-in book and some pens inside two Ziploc containers (if everyone who visits the cemetery signs the book, it has gotten about eight visitors a year, since 2006). It is a very pretty little cemetery.

Looking back at the road I drove in on to the County Road
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Looking up the hill at the right fork
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The graves of my third great-grandparents, France Joseph and Phillipina, and their son, Edmund, are close to the front and can be seen from the little road in front.

Franz Henn, closeup
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Phillipina Henn, closeup
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[Edmund's grave is even more illegible in closeup -- almost totally black-- so I'm not posting the photo.]

They have a great view through the trees.

from the back
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view
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Walking further into the graveyard, on the right side of the road, near the large cross, is a big more modern looking gravestone that belongs to my third great uncle, Frank J Henn (1843-1928) and his wife, Rosine Besanen Henn (1853-1929).

Frank and Rosine Henn
(the picture is bad, but the best of those I took)
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I spent about an hour in the cemetery, before driving home. I told them how brave they were to come to this new country with their whole family, and that it had been a very good decision, as their children, and their children’s children, and their children’s children’s children, and so on, had good lives, with many opportunities, and grew into being good people, and it was all because they’d taken this huge leap of faith in moving here.

ANTICIPAY-YAY-YAY- YAY – YAY- TION…

(So did you sing it?)

It’s the night before!

Tomorrow I’m going to go to work, but I’m only going to work half a day. And then, I’m going to drive to Syracuse (NY)! Where I will check into my hotel, and register my attendance at the New York State Family History Conference!! My first ever genealogy conference!

I am so excited and so looking forward to this! They are running three tracks of classes on both Friday and Saturday from 8:30 AM until 4:15 PM (plus lunch sessions and dinner sessions and a bonus session on Friday between the end of classes and dinner), and there will be a vendor / exhibitor hall as well. I downloaded the syllabus it’s about 200 pages long (more with ads). I don’t know how to choose! In some time periods, I want to see two classes that run at the same time, and sometimes I want to see all three! (I have to figure out how to choose. I really have to.) 

I am going to take lots of notes!

There will be presenters who are experts in the field. There will be presenters whose blogs I have followed for months or years now – sometimes two of my favorite bloggers/television and /or Twitter personalities are scheduled at the same time. (Drat!) Some of the presenters whose names I recognize are: Judy Russell of The Legal Genealogist blog -- she’s a genealogist with a law degree and teaches on the interplay between genealogy and the law at several venues with lots of initials as well as genealogy conferences; D Joshua Taylor, is a professional genealogist who blogs at his own blog and an occasional column for the JSTOR Daily called The Genealogy Factor  – he is also cohost of the PBS series, genealogy roadshow, and has appeared on “Who Do You Think You Are?” (both the NBC and TLC versions) and teaches at family history events worldwide; Curt B Witcher is the manager of the genealogy center at the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne IN - which I think is second only to the Mormon genealogical library at Salt Lake City in importance of genealogical collections in the USA; there will be people from the NY State Archives; and, at lunch on Friday, Dick Eastman of Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter is speaking (HUGE genealogy blog, read by more than 75,000 genealogists all over the world).

I don’t think that I will know anyone there. So if you read this and will be there, and we happen to bump into each other, please say “Hi!” (I assume there will be name tags – aren’t there always name tags at conferences?)

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Other updates:

I had intended to put up a new NoteWorthy Reads post last weekend, but, obviously, that didn’t get done. I did work on it, but the authors of the genealogy blogs I follow came back from summer vacation all rested and restored…and tripled their normal output! Over 700 posts in two weeks! (Maybe I’m following too many genealogy blogs….) Since I will be at the conference this weekend, it won’t go up this weekend either; so it looks like NoteWorthy Reads will appear once this month, on or about September 26, 2015.

I’m also working on adding a whole new branch to my tree, and tracing them down a generation or two (before I see if it helps me go up, too), due to the very kind assistance of my new cousin-in-law who is granting me access to her private tree. I’ve done a blog post on her husband’s and my common ancestors, my third great grandfather, George Taylor and his wife Ann McArthur, in which I indicated that I knew virtually nothing about their daughter Margaret and would like to know more. My new cousin-in-law’s husband descends from Margaret and that branch has a lot of people. I’m looking forward to introducing you to some through blog posts when I get caught up. Thus far, that branch has remained largely in Canada (new history to address, oh boy!), although I know some eventually emigrated from Canada to the USA.

And now, I need to get back to packing. In an effort to save time, I did a large load of laundry – too large, now I need to iron whatever I decide to pack. Sigh.

NoteWorthy Reads #21

Image from Pixabay.com

For me, Noteworthy Reads are articles, websites, or blog posts I found recently which are fascinating, interesting and/or helpful, and occasionally “wacky” or “wonderful” will likely sneak in as well. When I have the time I’ll review the posts to determine which entries should be put in my Resource pages; the rest will remain available through the blog's search function.

Note: Just because I list an article does not mean I endorse its contents. It just means I want to be able to find it easily in the future when I may want to consider the issue in more depth.

Survey: In order to have time to actually do some genealogy research, along with some other projects I really want to start, I’m considering making my Noteworthy Reads posts monthly or bimonthly (2x a month), do you have any preference?

CANADA

Presbyterian Churches of Lower Canada North Shore and Gaspe Peninsula from the Genealogy Ensemble blog – list of the towns and villages settled by the English-speaking colonists of the late 1700s and early 1800s and the churches or missions that serve their spiritual needs.

COPYRIGHT

The Limits of Ownership from The Legal Genealogist blog – discusses the difference between owning a thing and owning the copyright to that thing. Read the comments too.

GERMANY

Johanns and Marias Everywhere! Naming Traditions German Genealogists Should Know from the Genealogy Insider, the Family Tree Magazine’s blog  

GREAT STORIES

Beatrice White, the girl who killed half 1 million flies for Toronto from thestar.com – Come on, how can you not read something with that title?

Civil War Dog Who Never Left Wounded Soldier’s Side from HNGN.com

My Canadian Branches – Jane Solely Hamilton’s 776 Babies from the Digging Down East blog – fascinating story of her ancestress’ life as a midwife in rural early 19^th-century Nova Scotia.

Family Feuds or The Spice of Genealogy from the Moore Genealogy blog – terrific story and great find!

HISTORY

The Irish Fenian Invasion of Canada from Irishcentral.com – an interesting bit of Canadian, Irish, and U.S. history that I somehow wasn’t aware of.

“Heroes come with empty sleeves” from O Say Can You See? Stories from the National Museum of American History blog – how the post-war psyche attempted to explain the wounded veterans of the U.S. Civil War (apparently we've never been very good at that) 

Niagara Falls: The Grandest Site Imaginable from The Journal of the American Revolution – Travelers’ descriptions of Niagara Falls in the 1700s. I found it fascinating, especially since I have discovered that I have ancestors who lived in the area in approximately that time frame. 

INTERESTING ARTICLE

Thankful Thursday – Look What I Found!! New Places to Look for Records from The Sum of All My Research – how she found more about her ancestor, 444 miles away from where she expected him to be!

Sometimes Life Hits You like a Ton of Brick Walls  from the Genealogy Soapbox - Chasing Paper Trails & Genealogy Clues blog – interesting story of tracking down her second great-grandmother and placing two orphaned brothers within her family history.

SCOTLAND

Tying the ‘Knot’ In the Borders – A Look at Regular & Irregular Marriages in the Scottish Borders and Dispelling the Myths by the Borders Ancestry blog – quite interesting

  

The Joys of Scotland’s People Website from the Michigan Family Trails blog – what you can find on there and how to use the website, with screenshots

TIPS

Where to Find Digitized Books Online by the Empty Branches on the Tree blog – several very helpful sources, including one I hadn’t realized was nearly so extensive.

  

Names: Why Can’t I Find My Name? from the MyHeritage blog – many hints on how to find your ancestor’s name in documents and why it may have changed over the years. 

Why You Can’t Find a Death Record (and Some Things That Might Help) from Amy Johnson Crow’s blog

4 Tips to Identify Unknown Family Photographs from LisaLisson.com

BLM Searches for Military Warrants from the Genealogy Search Tip of the Day site  

The ONE Absolute BEST Way to Find More Ancestor Articles in Historic Newspapers Online from theAncestorHunt.com

TOOLS

“YouTube’s Historical Footage Expands, Both Serious and Silly,” by the New York Times  – a newsreel archive is uploading nearly 17,000 hours of historical footage to YouTube dating back to 1895. Read more about it in this article.

Where Are All the Photos? from the Genealogy’s Star blog – finding photos of your ancestors in the Memories section of FamilySearch.org

USA

ILLINOIS

 Archives of the Chicago Tribune (beta version) – archives of the newspaper dating back to 1849, currently free but that may change in the future - read the FAQs

  

OHIO

 3 Sparkling Ohio Genealogy Research Gems from Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems – helpful sources for northern Ohio genealogy research.

Maternal Ancestor Charts ... to Date (Direct Line)

As I explained yesterday, I thought I had previously posted the direct line ancestor charts for my maternal side, to the extent I've found them thus far, but when  I looked for them, I only found one side posted and I'd screwed up the image posting somehow. So I'm going to post the charts for the maternal side of my family (to date) tonight.

I'm only doing direct line charts because there are too many people in most generations to post readable charts if I were to include entire families. And I'm only including the people I'm pretty sure of -- so yes, I might have others on my working tree ...trying them out, so to speak. But not here.

Vertical Pedigree Chart for Clarence Weldon Snyder (1910-1984)
My maternal grandfather
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Vertical Pedigree Chart for Mabel LeRe Erwin (1910-1990)
My maternal grandmother
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If you think we share any ancestors, please contact me. I'd love to hear from you! You can leave a comment or email at the address on my Contact Me page.

Paternal Ancestor Charts ... to Date (Direct Line)

While I was visiting family this summer, I realized that I had never posted my direct line ancestor charts for the paternal side of my family (to the extent I've found them). I thought I had for my maternal side but when  I looked I discovered I'd screwed up the image posting somehow. So I'm going to post the paternal side (to date) tonight, and then tomorrow I'll update and post my maternal side (to date).

I'm only doing direct line charts because there are too many people in most generations to post readable charts. And I'm only including the people I'm pretty sure of -- so yes, I might have others on my working tree ...trying them out, so to speak. But not here.

Vertical Pedigree Chart for Owen Carl Henn (1906-1988)
My paternal grandfather
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Vertical Pedigree Chart for Anna Mae Bennett (1898-1977)
My paternal grandmother
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If you think we share any ancestors, please contact me. I'd love to hear from you! You can leave a comment or email at the address on my Contact Me page.

Intentions Derailed

Image from Pixabay.com

I had intended to re-start my NoteWorthy Reads posts this week, but my intentions were derailed as I've been utterly wiped out by the office intestinal bug. I've missed several days of work and haven't done any genealogy research this week, haven't responded to emails (sorry - I'll start catching up soon) or even read much.  :(   This thing has to go away sometime soon, I'd think. (I hope.) So now I intend to re-start the NoteWorthy Reads posts next week. Thank you for your patience.

During my hiatus, I have relaxed, read, traveled, spent time with family, attended a beautiful wedding and welcomed a new person to the family. I have talked some aunts and an uncle into submitting DNA tests. I figured out how to watch the back seasons of the UK version of  "Who Do You Think You Are?" on my TV via YouTube.  And I updated the resource pages on this blog adding the source links I've found since January (there is more of everything but there are a LOT more links for Ireland, for some reason).

I've also met (via email) a new distant cousin-in-law, whose husband is also descended from George Taylor, Sr (my 3rd-great-grandfather on my father's side). I descend through George Taylor's daughter Elizabeth and her husband descends through George's daughter Margaret, about whom I knew virtually nothing until now --and now I'm learning so much more! Or I was, until this week; perhaps tomorrow I'll have the energy to get back to it - I sincerely hope so.

I just ran out of energy again, so I'm going to make this a short post now, and be back next week. Have a good weekend, everyone!