I found this poem the other day and just had to share…

Come walk with us,
Back through the vista of the years,
Which our ancestors knew.
We seek the trails which once they trod,
To find the spots where they once dwelt.
And while we search about our hearts,
Read weathered stones,
And turn musty pages of the past,
Their spirits come alive and walk with us.
We learn of them,
Their lives, their loves, their hates.
And with their knowledge,
Learn to understand ourselves,
For each of them has given to us a past.
We owe them this -
That they shall be remembered for that gift.

~ Fern Stokes Eller

Genealogy is like sex:

• You think about it most of the time
• You get funny looks when you buy a magazine or “how to” guide about it.
• Your partner tries to look enthusiastic when you say that you want to do it.
• You become irritable if you go too long without doing it.
• The older you get, the more you appreciate it.

gedcomologist: noun. Someone who is capable of manually reading and interpreting a GEDCOM file. Top gedcomologists can read a GEDCOM file faster than leading genealogy software.

genealogify: verb. to slowly and imperceptibly turn a conversation towards the topic of genealogy.

Ahnentafelagilisticexpialidocious: adjective. a Fantastic Ahnentafel

obititis: noun. A strong, uncontrollable compulsion to check the obituaries every day in the vague hope that you will find someone related to you.

I’m lovin’ this conference!

The first session this morning that I attended was Why is a ‘Reasonably Exhaustive Search’ So Important to the GPS? presented by Laura Murphy DeGarzia, CG. She gave examples of how a ‘reasonably exhaustive search’ may not be ‘exhaustive’ enough — it needs to be as exhaustive as what a seasoned profession genealogist would research a case. That’s pretty darn “exhaustive”!  She mentioned that just using online resources or just using a couple of repositories or document types is not enough. Check even the primary source documents too… they can contain errors like any other document can. Bottom line: be as thorough as possible without driving yourself nuts.

My personal note on exhaustive searching: if you get bogged down in research so much that it’s not “fun” anymore… then you need to document what you’ve done, what you’ve found as well as what you haven’t found, and put it away for awhile!

The second session of the morning which I attended was Tales from the Editor’s Desk by Michael J. Leclerc.

Are you going to RootsTech 2012? I will be!! I can’t wait… I love genealogy conferences, and it’ll be the first time I have ever been in Salt Lake City. I plan to take a few days before the conference to do some research at the Family History Library — the largest Genealogy Library in the world! If you’re going to RootsTech, let me know and I’ll hook up with you there!

One of the good things about having my job is that I get to travel once in a great while. The week after Thanksgiving, I had the chance to go to Washington DC on a business trip, and while I was there, I just had to stop at the National Archives! I love this place, and could spend a month or more researching records for family history. But alas, I only had a few hours, so I made my list, checked it twice, tried not to be naughty, and it turned out… nice! (I should be a poet).

Because I had only a few precious hours for NARA research, I decided to go for the records that are not yet on microfilm or digitized — that would be the Civil War Pension Records, known at NARA as “RG 15″. I wanted to get as many pension records as I could get in the time allowed, so I made a list, made sure I had my digicam charged up, my back-up batteries charged, and my memory cards all empty and ready to go. And “fly” I did. I went through 6 pensions in three hours and took 625 photos of documents! Whoo hoo!

Now all I have to do is read through them all at my leisure and record what I find. THAT’s the hard part!

Ah, June… I love this month, mostly because I’m taking a 10-day vacation for a genealogy trip! Whoo hoo! I love genealogy road trips!

I left after work on Wednesday, June 8th, and drove from Chicago-land to Southern Illinois to do some genealogy sleuthing.  My research target for this trip is to find more information on the Goddard family who lived in Johnson County, Illinois. My first stop, however, is Nashville, Illinois, where I spent the night. On Thursday, I ventured through four county courthouses in Washington, Perry, Randolph, and Franklin Counties.  I found some information on Denton Lawhorn’s family in Washington County; I found a death certificate on William B. Pierce in Perry County; I found a birth certificate for my great-aunt Freida Lawhorn Tubbs in Randolph County; and a couple of marriage records for the Coates and Shinall families in Franklin County.

On Friday, I spent the entire day in Johnson County looking for Goddards. I went to the Johnson County courthouse and dove into the probate files looking for anything that would tie my 2nd-great-grandfather John L. Goddard to any Goddards in Johnson County. I didn’t find any real evidence, however I did get a lot of Goddard records. I still need to go through it all to glean out anything I can on my Goddard line.

The next day I spent at the Metropolis Library, still looking for anything to do with Goddards. I didn’t find much information at all.

Next stop was Birmingham, Alabama! A word of caution: if you ever drive to IGHR in Birmingham, do NOT speed in Alabama!!! I got a little too excited about 10 miles north of Birmingham, and got caught speeding — their tickets for going 10 MPH over the speed limit is $200!! Yowzah!

 On June 12-17, 2011 I attended the The Samford Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR) ”Advanced Methodology and Evidence Analysis” course, instructed by Elizabeth Shown Mills, Thomas W. Jones, Richard Sayre, and Craig R. Scott.  This course was FABULOUS, although I must say it stretched the ol’ brain quite a bit. Elizabeth Shown Mills, of course, is the ultimate authority on Evidence Analysis, and she is a wonderful instructor. I learned quite a bit of methodology and research strategy, but the #1 lesson I learned for advanced research: “Get the FAN club”… which means when researching, also look at your ancestor’s “Friends, Acquaintances, and Neighbors”, as they may provide more information!

It certainly was a great trip, and was well worth the time and money (even the $200 unexpected speeding ticket)! Now all I have to do is go through everything I found in Southern Illinois and get it into my database!