Thursday, June 19, 2008

Meet Guest Blogger Sheri Fenley

After laughing very hard while reading her APG and TGF mailing list posts, I asked Sheri Fenley if I could share, on my blog, her experiences at the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research, which was held at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama during the week of June 8-13, 2008. You can see a description of the courses offered this year at IGHR here.

First, let me introduce Sheri Fenley in her own words (provided by email in April, 2008 to her colleagues in one of the groups in the Professional Genealogy Study Group - Sheri is the discussion leader of the group in which I participate monthly):

"I live in Stockton, California, which is in the San Joaquin Valley east of the Bay Area and south of Sacramento.

"I have been researching since 1988. Five years ago I decided I wanted some sort of formal education and have just finished two years of family history studies that I took entirely online at Monterey Peninsula College. Karen Clifford is the instructor.


"I make it a point to attend most genealogical events in Northern California. The National Archives in San Bruno offer excellent workshops once a month on how to use their facility and the records that they hold. The California Genealogy Society always offers great programs at their monthly meetings as well as special events.

"I have completed the NGS American Genealogy Home Study course as well as the Transcribing, Extracting and Abstracting Course. I attended the week long Family History Conference at BYU last summer and will be at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama for a week in June. I am taking the Land Records - Case Studies course which is being taught by Birdie Monk Holsclaw.

"I recently took over the job as editor for the San Joaquin Genealogical Society's newsletter. I am chapter registrar for El Toyon DAR here in Stockton. I am a volunteer for the Missouri State Archives transcribing land records as well as for Brigham Young University's Immigrant Ancestor Project where I transcribe ship passenger lists. I am a member of NGS, California Genealogical Society, DAR, my local genealogical society, and am days away from sending in my application to BCG to start the clock to become certified.

"I have three sons, ages 30, 23 and 21, four cats and one husband."

As you can see from her genealogy resume above, Sheri is experienced at genealogy research and has made a serious effort to further her genealogy education as she pursues becoming a board certified genealogist. I admire Sheri for her dedication to improving her skills and appreciate her forthrightness and sense of humor.

This will be a serial set of posts that will capture Sheri's day-by-day experiences in her own words as she attends IGHR in Birmingham, one of the pre-eminent educational courses in the genealogy world. These posts were originally submitted to the APG and TGF mailing lists during this last week, but I thought that genealogists who are not on those lists would learn from them and enjoy them.

Fasten your seat belts!

1 comment:

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