I had a wonderful time Saturday at the Escondido (CA) Genealogical Society meeting at the Escondido Public Library. I got there about five minutes before opening, and was greeted by the Program Chair, Ray Raser. We went up to the meeting room, and I got the projector and laptop set up on a table - just the right distance from the large screen. There were about 25 in attendance.
After a short business meeting, I was introduced by Ray and presented my "Genealogy is Fun! Seriously!" talk. This presentation is basically a humor talk, but there are lessons to be learned in the examples - for instance, the 1880 census is the only one with the occupations indexed as keywords on Ancestry.com. It covers names, epitaphs, wills, obituaries, place names, census records, occupations, database oddities, cartoons, some of The Genealogue's Top 10 lists, and the I'm My Own Grandpa video, followed by my homemade relationship chart for the song. I ended with some wisdom and comments about what is fun for me. The audience laughed in all the right places, and seemed to enjoy it.
I provided a handout with "fun" genealogy web sites (humor, videos, merchandise, etc) on one side and some of my favorite research sites on the other (indexes, databases, links, lists, boards, etc.).
After the talk, I met Peggy and Vince Rossi (Peggy is a professional genealogist in the area, and both of them are writers), and with Ray and his wife, we walked over to a nearby deli for a sandwich and conversation (thank you for lunch, Ray!). This was a lot of fun - getting to know other genealogists is fun for me.
After lunch, we went back to the Pioneer Room, which is a local history repository that is part of the Escondido Library. It is open 16 hours a week, and I got a chance to check out the holdings, and talk to the archivist. They have a good collection of San Diego records - probably the second or third best in the county.
I had a great genealogy Saturday - so much fun and excitement that I came home and took a nap to recover!
My thanks to Ray and the Escondido Genealogical Society for inviting me and sharing some fun.
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