My Genealogy Plans for Wednesday, 29 October

This is our last full day at sea on the Wholly Genes Cruise aboard the Caribbean Princess. Here are the planned conference events:

8:15 am - "Advanced TMG: Customizing Reports" by Bob Velke in Club Fusion.
9:30 am - "Advanced TMG: Customizing Charts" by Bob Velke in club Fusion.
10:45 am - "Second Site for Advanced Users" by John Cardinal in the Palm Dining Room
12 noon - "Femme Covert or Femme Sole: Women and the Law" by Barbara Vines Little in the Princess Theater.
3:00 pm - "Irish Genealogy Online" by John Grenham in the Princess Theater.
4:15 pm - "Beyond Pension Research: You stopped too soon!!" by Craig Scott in the Princess Theater.
5:30 - "Finding Your Ancestors on City Directories" by Tony Burroughs in the Princess Theater.

Sounds like another great day of lectures, doesn't it?

Tuesday on the TMG Cruise

Tuesday morning had two lectures by John Cardinal on “TMG Utility” (a stand-alone modification tool that fixes TMG database problems using rules and filters – it’s useful for fixing problems that affect many persons) and “Second site” (a stand-alone program that creates web pages from a TMG database). These appear to be powerful tools, especially the Second Site software if a TMG user wants to create a web site with linked pages between people and events in a project database.

Megan Smolenyak presented “Right Annie, Wrong Annie” about the search for Annie Moore and the ensuing family reunion, NYGBS presentation, the plays in DC and Ireland, and the dedication of the monument in Calvary Cemetery in Queens. Megan showed the research performed to prove the wrong Annie wasn’t the right one, and the research done by several contributors to find Annie Schayer in Manhattan, and her unmarked cemetery plot. This talk was the SCGS Jamboree dinner talk that I missed, so I was happy to hear it. Linda came to this talk and was moved by it. This talk really brings out the best in genealogy, I think. This was in the Palm Dining Room, so everyone was gathered in close to the small screen. Here is a photo of Megan discussing the Annie Moore statue at Ellis Island:


Megan wore her Annie Moore T-shirt and I got a picture with her:

John Titford was next up with “Migrants on the Move: “Bounce Backers.” This title refers to English ancestors of John’s that traveled within England, but always came back to the Bratton, Wiltshire and Frome, Somerset ancestral homes. John used five examples from his own research from 1547 to 1757. The lesson here, for me, was that people were not always static – they moved about, up to 100 miles or more sometimes. In addition to the standard parish registers and wills, he showed that there are other resources that can be used to find information about persons in this time frame. Here is Bob Velke introducing John in the Princess Theater:

After lunch, Elizabeth Shown Mills was back for “The Identity Crisis: Right Name, Wrong Man? Wrong Name, Right Man?” She used seven case studies to illustrate her points that names can change for a number of reasons – including step-fathers and liaisons, patriarchal reasons, borrowed or alias names, taking a father or husband’s given name as a surname, patronymics, “dit” names, and translated or transliterated names. The case studies are fascinating – many of them are from NGSQ or TAG articles.

Craig R. Scott presented “Researching Your Revolutionary War Ancestors.” Craig is an expert in military records, and it shines through in this talk. His counsel was to check all of the papers in Compiled Military Service Records and Pension Applications – including those of other members of the soldier’s company and regiment. He noted that not all soldiers have a Compiled Military Service Record, and that there may be records in State Archives, the Library of Congress and the National Archives. Craig noted that http://www.footnote.com/ has the compiled military service records, Continental Congress papers, RevWar rolls, and RevWar Pension files online. Indexed and searchable. He warned that HeritageQuestOnline has only selected pension papers online – not the complete pension file.

The last presentation today was by Tony Burroughs on “Did Your Ancestor Serve in the Civil War?” He started out with an excellent summary of how to find if you have a Civil War ancestor – to use interviews with relatives, family papers and records, cemetery records, birth, death and marriage records, and census records to work your way back to 1870 in order to determine which males might have served in the Civil War (essentially those aged 23 to 53 in 1870). Then check the 1910 census (Column 30), the 1890 Union veterans census and the online NPS Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System at www.nps.gove/cwss/soldiers.htm to determine if they were Union soldiers. The Compiled Military Service Record and Civil War Pension applications index can then be used to find records for the soldier. The records will have to be found on National Archives microfilms or at Archives centers and copied for a fee. Tony mentioned that State Adjutant General Reports can also be used. Tony covered records available for Union soldiers and seamen, Confederate soldiers, and African-American soldiers. He provided an excellent bibliography.

We went to dinner and sat with several TMG Conference attendees, and then went to a forgettable comedy and singing show in the Princess Theater. I felt better today.

My Genealogy Plan for Tuesday, 28 October

We are still at sea, about midway between New York City and St. Kitts in the eastern Caribbean.

My genealogy day at the Wholly Genes Conference looks like this:

8:15 - "TMG Utility" by John Cardinal in Club Fusion.
9:30 - "Second Site" by John Cardinal in Club Fusion.
10:45 am - "Right Annie, Wrong Annie" by Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak in the Palm Dining Room.
12 noon - "Genealogical sources for migrants on the move within the UK" by John Titford in the Princess Theater.
3:00 pm - "The Identity Crisis: Right Name, Wrong Man? Wrong Name, Right Man?" by Elizabeth Shown Mills in the Princess Theater.
4:15 pm - "Researching Your Revolutionary War Ancestor" by Craig Scott in the Princess Theater.
5:30 pm - "Did Your Ancestors Serve in the Civil War?" by Tony Burroughs in the Princess Theater.

I am really looking forward to all of these lectures. I will report on my day in a later post.

Monday on the TMG Cruise - Part 2

The first Monday afternoon presentation was “Genealogical Problem Solving” by Elizabeth Shown Mills. Elizabeth used real life and imaginary (humorous) case studies to illustrate her 13 research tips. Basically, she said follow the trail of people and paper work – what records exist, who did the people associate with, and do research in original records, not just gather names, dates and places. Research is not looking up the answer in books or databases, research is tracking down the answer, since nobody else has solved the problem. This was a fun and informative presentation – she’s the expert, of course! Here is Elizabeth with her opening slide - I sat in the middle of the first section for this talk:

Next up was Barbara Vines Little, with “Working the Land: Tracing Land Ownership.” She also used case studies to illustrate the methods. Barbara covered deed terminology and some inheritance laws and noted that the researcher needs to know what laws apply when. She suggested using an in-out chart to track land transactions by a person, paying attention to parcels that are not bought but are sold by the person, and using platting techniques to find parcel locations and neighbors. She noted that indexes may have only names that affect land titles, and some property exchanges, or leases or mortgages, may be in the deed books but not in the indexes. A good lecture.

I missed the last lecture of the day – John Grenham presented “The Naming of the Green: Irish Place Names and Surnames.” The syllabus has an excellent text for this lecture.

I was fried by this time; the jittering of the boat made me nauseous in the morning, and I was sleepy in the afternoon. We went to dinner at 6 pm on formal night. We didn't ask for a table with others, so we stared at each other eating for two hours. Dinner was good, though! We went to the "Do You Wanna Dance" show in the Princess Theater after dinner.

Monday on the TMG Cruise - Part 1

We were up early for breakfast, and I went off to the 8:15 a.m. presentation by Bob Velke on “Introduction to TMG.” I had downloaded the trial TMG before we left home, and had uploaded my database into TMG in New York. Bob led us through TMG terminology, screen layouts, Tags, searching for people, and didn’t have time for basic data entry and sources.

The second talk was “Filtering with TMG” and Bob showed us how to use filters to create groups of people (e.g., all those born before 1800, or all those born between 1800 and 1900, all those with a certain source, all those with an event in a certain location, etc.). I learned a lot from these presentations, and can see how TMG can be used effectively using Tags and Filters.

At 10:45 a.m., John Titford presented “How to Write Your Family History.” He covered the different excuses we use to avoid writing the book (e.g., I’m not finished…; I’m a poor writer; My family story is so ordinary; etc.) He noted that writing a book requires you to make decisions on content and format, to organize your work so that you can focus on writing the book, and writing the book, which will be essentially a series of biographies in a logical order. John recommended using geographical, social and historical context to place each family in a place and time experiencing local or national events. John is a funny and enthusiastic presenter.

The 12 noon presentation was “Beyond Y-DNA: Your Genetic Genealogy Options” by Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak. This was the first presentation I’ve heard from Megan. She described the basics of mitochondrial DNA, Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNP), Ethnic DNA tests, BioGeographical/ Admixture (DNAPrint), the Genographic Project, SMGF tests and studies, and Multi-Purpose DNA Tests (deCODEme and 23andme). Megan is an excellent speaker and presenter. Here is a photo of Bob Velke introducing Megan - I sat at the front of the second section for this talk - you can see the first section of the Princess Theater in this photo (there were about 100 attending this talk):

I’ll put the Monday afternoon events in a separate post.

My Genealogy Plan for Monday, 27 October

If all has gone well, we are "at sea" heading from New York City to St. Kitts in the eastern Caribbean. The genealogy highlights of the day include the start of the Wholly Genes Conference, including:

8:15 am - "Introduction to TMG" by Bob Velkje in Club Fusion.
9:30 am - "Filtering with TMG" by Bob Velke in Club Fusion.
10:45 am - "How to write your family history" by John Titford in Palm Dining Room.
12:00 noon - "Beyond Y-DNA: Your Genetic Genealogy Options" by Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak in Princess Theater.
3:00 pm - "Genealogical Problem Solving: Professional Tips for Everyday Success" by Elizabeth Shown Mills in the Princess Theater.
4:15 pm - "Tracing Land Ownership" by Barbara Vines Little in the Princess Theater.
5:30 pm - "The Naming of the Green: Irish placenames and surnames" by John Grenham in the Princess Theater.

This is going to be such a great conference day! Fortunately, they give us from 1 pm to 3 pm to have lunch, kiss our spouses, and maybe take a walk or take a nap.

Sunday on the TMG Cruise

We took a car to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal at noon, arriving at the terminal by 12:30. We quickly checked the luggage and registered for the cruise, then waited in the entry hall. Since Linda had her walker, we were the first ones up the gangplank and had our pictures taken in our Geneaholic shirts. We went up to our room on the 14th deck, freshened up, and went up to the Lido deck and had lunch. Conference registration was between 2 and 4, and we met a number of conferees there. I talked to Bob Velke and he said there were about 200 for the conference (which includes non-genealogy spouses, I think). Here's the only picture I got of the Sunday TMG events - it's the registration table:

I went down to the room and watched some of the Chargers game, while Linda checked out the pool area. We met for the emergency briefing at 4:15, then came back to the room, and went to an early dinner. We have the Anytime plan, where we can go to several dining rooms and eat when we want to. We met some interesting people and had a good discussion at dinner.

We were late to the TMG Welcome Cocktail Party but we spent some time talking to Dick Eastman, who shared some of the TMG cruise history. We stayed late talking to some folks from Tucson. We went back to the room to watch the baseball game, and at 9:30 I went up to Café Caribe for David Lambert’s round table talk about military records. Craig Scott shared quite a bit also, and between the two of them answered many questions from the floor. I talked to Claire afterward about Philadelphia records that my colleague Joan is seeking – Claire had some good suggestions. Then it was bedtime on our rockin’ ship – we’re in the top aft portion, and the motion is disconcerting – some side-to-side and some up-and-down – no pitching or rolling, though.

"Images of America: Chula Vista" is CVGS Program on 29 October

The October Program Meeting of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society will be on Wednesday, October 29th at 12 noon in the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street) in the auditorium. The meeting is Free for all attendees, and guests are welcome. After a short business meeting hosted by Gary Brock, the program "Images of America: Chula Vista" will be presented by Peter Watry.

Peter Watry was born and raised in the Los Angeles area, and came to Chula Vista in 1961 as one of the original teachers at the new Southwestern College. He taught accounting and economics at Southwestern College from 1961 until 1996.

Peter has been active in the Heritage Museum, founded by Frank Roseman in 1993, for about ten years. He wrote the "Save Our Heritage" newsletter for the Heritage Museum for six years. He created and has presented the "History of Chula Vista" to third-graders in Chula Vista schools for the past four years.

Peter has been involved in each of the six "Historic Home Tours" of Chula Vista, and was primarily responsible for the twelve historic pedestals located along downtown Third Avenue, and for obtaining the Rohr drop hammer mounted next to the Heritage Museum. Most of these have been accomplished with Frank's help.

Peter Watry and Frank Roseman co-authored "Images of America - Chula Vista" a pictorial history of Chula Vista just published by Arcadia Publishing Company.

Please join us for this free meeting. Guests and visitors are welcome at all CVGS meetings. We request that you enter via the Conference Room door near the East entrance of the library in order to register, gather handouts, buy an opportunity drawing ticket and have a snack. We will start the meeting in the auditorium at 12:20 p.m.

Playing tourist in New York City

Sheri in a comment asked for more pictures...so enjoy Randy's visit to New York City:

From the Empire State Building observation deck - looking south down Broadway toward the Financial district:

At Ellis Island, a "word river" of ethnic Americanisms. It looked like a family tree to me!

Here is the view from Ellis Island back toward the tip of Manhattan.

The Ground Zero construction site. I was surprised that there was only one view spot to see this - you walk about 100 yards down a slope to a break in the fence:

At the Statue of Liberty, Jonathan Livingston Seagull showed up in more than one picture.

The skating rink at Rockefeller Plaza:

I have lots more, but we are leaving in an hour for the cruise terminal. I doubt that I will have any more posts until next Sunday, except for the daily schedule on the cruise ship.

My Genealogy Plan for Sunday, 26 October

Finally, the first day of our genealogy cruise from New York City to the eastern Caribbean. Here is the agenda for the day:

12 noon - check out of our hotel and take a cab to the Cruise Dock in Brooklyn.

1 pm - board the Caribbean Princess and register, check out our room.

2 pm - register for the Genealogy Conference, see if I can meet someone I know or many people I don't know.

5 pm - the ship leaves the dock - stand on the rail and take pictures of everything I can. Eat dinner sometime.

7 pm - welcome cocktail party for the conference attendees in Club Fusion.

9:30 pm - Group discussion with David Allen Lambert on "Military Records (colonial to 21st Century)" in Cafe Caribe.

I will have reports for every day of our genealogy cruise, but they may be posted after the cruise, due to limitations on Internet access while on the cruise.