CVGS Spring Seminar is Saturday, 30 March - Featuring CeCe Moore on DNA

Time is running out and we are nearing capacity! 

If you are in the Southern California area, please join us on Saturday (30 March) for an exciting all day genetic genealogy seminar in Chula Vista. I hope to see you there! 

Chula Vista Genealogical Society

 Spring Seminar

  "Do Your Genes Fit? Discover Your DNA"

Featured Speaker: CeCe Moore

 

Do you want to know all about DNA genetic testing and how it can help you learn about your ancestors?  On March 30, 2013, CVGS will present renowned genetic genealogist CeCe Moore for a lively and informative day-long seminar.  We'll learn about the various DNA tests available, how to read and understand the results and how they'll apply to researching our family trees.  Adoptees are encouraged to attend.

You're encouraged to bring your test results to the seminar so CeCe can help you interpret them. 

The seminar will be held at the Chula Vista Golf Course in Bonita from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday and includes a catered lunch.  The fee is $40.  Door prizes include a 23andMe kit,  two $30 Family Tree DNA coupons, and an Ancestry.com 6-month subscription.

Walk-ins will be accepted!

Register: http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e6ur0x8w8adfb9a7&llr=ioiduvhab
Or contact Karen Yarger at khy13@hotmail.com 619-426-0834, or Gary Brock at gary@cyber.net 619-475-4054

 Where:

Chula Vista Golf Course
4475 Bonita Rd.
BONITA, CA 91902


Driving Directions 

Note:  The Chula Vista Golf Course parking lot is to the north of Bonita Road.  Turn north onto  Billy Casper Way (a stop light) and the gold course parking is on the right.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/cvgs-spring-seminar-is-saturday-30.html

2013 About.com Readers Choice Awards in Genealogy

The 2013 About.com Readers Choice Awards for Genealogy have been awarded - see the complete list at http://genealogy.about.com/od/best_of/tp/readers-choice-2013.htm.

Some of the vote spread in different categories include:

1)  Best Windows genealogy software:

2)  Best Mac Genealogy software:

3)  Best Subscription Genealogy Website:

4)  Best Free Genealogy Website:

5)  Best Online Family Tree Tool:

6)  Best Genealogy Education or Learning Experience:

7)  Best Online Genealogy Tool or Mobile App:

There were several other categories - read the whole list.

Congratulations to all of the winners.  

I am not surprised by any of the choices, but I was surprised by some of the vote spreads.  I do think that there is an anti-Ancestry/Family Tree Maker bias in the genealogy community (although they did vote for Ancestry as best subscription site).  I think that websites like Family ChArtist and Steve Morse should be separated from Mobile Apps.  I think that Conferences and Institutes deserve their own category, and that online learning experiences should have a category (that includes YouTube channels, the FamilySearch Research Wiki, etc.).

I hope that About.com continues to run these Reader Choice contests every year.  I hope that there will be more publicity about nominations for the contest (e.g., why was MyHeritage left off the best subscription site?) and the voting time of the contest.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/2013-aboutcom-readers-choice-awards-in.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Treasure Chest Thursday - 1860 U.S. Census for Ranslow Smith Family

It's Treasure Chest Thursday - time to look in my digital image files to see what treasures I can find for my family history and genealogy musings.

The treasure today is the 1860 United States Census record for my Smith 3rd great-grandparents  in Town of Oak Grove, Dodge County, Wisconsin:

The Ranslow Smith family enumeration:

The extracted information for the family, with an enumeration date of 3 July 1860, is:

* Ranslow Smith - age 55, male, a Farmer and Inn Keeper, $7800 in real property, $930 in personal property, born in State New York
*  Mary Smith, wife - age 55, female, born State New York
*  Devier Smith - age 21, male, a Farm Laborer, $1232 in personal property, born State New York
*  John Eaton - age 42, male, born State New York
*  Lewis Eaton - age 25, male, Blacksmith, born Hanover
*  Frederick Yankee - age 24, male, a Shoemaker, born Hanover
*  Elizabeth Cole - age 28, female, Domestic, born State New York
*  John Ely - age 26, male, Farm laborer, born Vermont
*  William Hampf - age 20, male, Farm laborer, born Germany

The source citation for this census record is:

1860 United States Federal Census, Dodge County, Wisconsin, Population Schedule, Oak Grove; Page 745, Dwelling #704, Family #701, Ranslow Smith household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com); citing National Archives Microfilm Publication M653, Roll 1406.

I don't see any errors in the enumeration for Ranslow, Mary and Devier Smith.  

Ranslow and Mary owned the Four Mile House in Rolling Prairie, very near the railroad station there.  Devier ran the livery business - feeding and watering horses, providing transportation service to the area with stage coaches, buggies and the like.  I think that is why Devier has a fairly significant personal estate - he had a fairly large stock of horses, livery vehicles and supplies.  

I'm curious about the other persons in the household - the blacksmith and shoemaker probably worked in the livery stable, the domestic probably worked in the Inn, and the farm workers worked on the farm producing food for the inn and fodder for the livery stable.  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/treasure-chest-thursday-1860-us-census.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

How Can I Resolve This Evidence Conflict?

I was so happy last month when I found the Find A Grave memorial pages for Samuel Vaux and Mary Ann (Underhill) Vaux because they provide birth and death dates.  I wrote about it in Tombstone Tuesday - Samuel and Mary Ann Vaux.  The Find A Grave memorial for Samuel Vaux looks like this:

Because there was no image of the gravestone, I requested one through Find A Grave.  I have not heard back from them.  

I figured that the Find A Grave entry might be from some sort of catalog or list of burials housed at a cemetery, so I checked the Family History Library Catalog for Concordia, Cloud county, Kansas, and found this entry:

As I surmised, the Pleasant Hill Cemetery burial index cards were on microfilm, FHL US/CAN Film 182,799 Item 1.  When I was at the Family History Library last week, I checked out this microfilm and found the index cards for both Mary Ann and Samuel Vaux:

Wait a minute!!  The death date for Samuel Vaux on the cemetery card says 9 October 1890, while the death date on the Find A Grave memorial says 9 October 1880.  Concordia, we have a conflict!  

The Find A Grave information was probably derived from the index card, but we don't know when the index card was created.  Was it immediately after the death, or was it sometime later?  The handwriting on the two index cards above looks to be identical, so the cards were probably made out well after the deaths.  They may have been made at some time before 1958, when the GSU filmed them.  Where did the information on the cards come from?  They may have come from a careful transcription of gravestones, or they may have come from contracts or forms in the cemetery office.

From what I know, both pieces of evidence are Derivative Source, Secondary Information, Direct Evidence, so they are equally weighted.  But the Find A Grave entry is probably derived from the index cards, so, to me, that makes the index cards the more authoritative source.

What can I do to find additional information about the date of the death of Samuel Vaux?  Here are my ideas:

*  A gravestone photo will probably help - if there is a gravestone.

*  A newspaper article in a Concordia area newspaper may provide an obituary and a death date.

*  There is a book in the FHLC listings:

Marilyn Johnston, Louise Ganstrom, and Cloud County Genealogical Society, Early Deaths, Cloud County, Kansas, before 1903 (Concordia, Kan. : Cloud County Genealogical Society, 1994)

It's on the shelf at the FHL, and also available on microfiche.  I'll add this to the To-Do list for my next FHL visit!

The Notes for this item in the FHL Catalog says:

"Information taken from county records, funeral homes, newspapers, and cemeteries."

If the record for Samuel Vaux in this book is from the cemetery index cards, then it may say 1890.  But there may be other records that corroborate one date or another.

*  A probate record for Samuel Vaux would probably clear this up quickly.  Unfortunately, the Cloud County, Kansas entries in the FHLC indicate that no probate records (or land records) are available on microfilm from Cloud County.

An 1885 Kansas State census search for Samuel Vaux (or a Sam* born 1816 +/- 2 years in England) yields no record.  D.J. and Abbie (Vaux) Smith resided in Clyde, Cloud County, Kansas in the 1885 Kansas State Census and the household does not include Samuel Vaux.

I have an interesting conflict - does any reader have another idea for finding the actual date of Samuel Vaux's death?

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/how-can-i-resolve-this-evidence-conflict.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

FHISO and GEDCOM X Musings

In my post, Post-RootsTech 2013 Musings on 25 March, I stated:

"I went to the FHISO panel discussion and was disappointed by the information provided there."

I received an email soon after, and comments on the blog post, asking why I was disappointed, and I replied to the email correspondent:

"I was disappointed because my expectations were higher than reality. It seemed like the FHISO panel had nothing to say about actual nuts and bolts work on any standard. They all spoke in general terms and platitudes about the members of FHISO, how much had been accomplished getting into the standards world, and that they were working on a Call for White Papers. Robert Burkhead was the only panelist who said much about anything. I asked a question about what the "vision of FHISO" was and Bruce Buzbee was the only one who actually answered the question. Part of my question was that it seemed like GEDCOM X was going to be the GEDCOM replacement by default.

"My expectation walking into the meeting was that I would hear about progress toward a GEDCOM replacement and the other standards that would be created.  My expectations were too high, obviously.  My fault... There is no list of projects - only a Call for Papers that might eventually form a list and actual standards down the road a bit.  There was no mention of a GEDCOM replacement except that Ryan Heaton is talking nice about FHISO and vice versa.  I learned later [in a private discussion] that the GEDCOM X beta is due in May 2013, and that the FamilySearch Family Tree (FSFT) API uses it.  Bruce Buzbee didn't tell me that, but told me that the FSFT API does not includes Sources, Notes or Discussions yet, but that it eventually will.

"Reading the tea leaves, GEDCOM X will be what FSFT uses, and perhaps will be one of the white papers offered, and perhaps they will apply for FHISO approval.  A cynic would say "GEDCOM X will be the GEDCOM replacement since no other alternative was developed."  The interesting thing will be if GEDCOM X is accepted by the FHISO members and the other software providers and online tree companies. It may be that GEDCOM 5.5 and GEDCOM X have to be accounted for in any genealogy data exchanges."

My hope is that the Family History International Standards Organisation (FHISO) effort will result in a GEDCOM replacement that is open, understandable, complete, can be modified, and will be utilized by every genealogy software program and online family tree.  I was an early member of the BetterGEDCOM effort, but dropped away when I knew that I couldn't offer much to the discussion.  I have been, and still am, impatient for progress to occur towards this goal.

I did not attend the GEDCOM X session at RootsTech 2013 given by Ryan Heaton of FamilySearch.  There is a GEDCOM X web page at http://www.gedcomx.org/ with more information about it. The Requirements document for GEDCOM X is at http://familysearch.github.com/gedcomx/2012/08/14/requirements.html

Other RootsTech 2013 attendees have weighed in on this issue, including:

1)  Michael McCormick wrote a summary of it in My RootsTech 2013: Day 1 - FamilySearch reveals website beta and vision, BillionGraves tech plans.  The paragraph about this issue says:

"In the FHISO (Family History Information Standards Organization) class at 3pm, many of us voiced the community's opinion that FHISO was working too slowly and we wanted to see FamilySearch working with them. To the credit of both FHISO and Ryan of GEDCOMX (FamilySearch), they mentioned each other in a friendly manner. The points in the FHISO discussion seemed not to be answered to the satisfaction of many present. For example, it was asked what we have to work with today regarding a better GEDCOM model. It was asked where we might read more specifics of a suggested model for any particular standards. 

"While the answers there seemed soft and tentative, the GEDCOMX vision discussed in the next hour was well defined--an example of a modern and live (within FamilySearch) model that could be used by FHISO and altered to the community's needs. Ryan was enthusiastic about the idea of working with FHISO to adjust the 'open' GEDCOMX. The complexities were interesting. It was mentioned that the name GEDCOMX is owned by FamilySearch and requires a citation crediting them, but the things needed to implement it are all open and may be altered without permission. When we asked Ryan about why FamilySearch had not officially joined FHISO, Ryan told us that he wanted the same thing and we should take it to upper management because his recommendation was previously dismissed. We do not know why the choice was made, so it is our job to try and find contact information for the right person (that isn't easy) and tell them we want to see an official partnership."

2)  Michael Dorsey Iams commented on my earlier post and said:  

"I also attended the FHISO panel meeting and I think there was much frustration in the room regarding the lack of a plan of action. While there is consensus that GEDCOM 5.5 is insufficient for today's needs, there seemed to be no sense of urgency among any of the panel members toward resolving the situation. The words from RootsMagic, BrightSolid, & Ancestry were that they don't have any particular agenda, but would like a seat at the table. Understandable, but that does not sound like any of them are looking to take a leadership role, or at least do it publicly in front of the small number of people in attendance. 

"What I take from the FHISO tagline 'It begins here, it begins with you' is the goal of FHISO is to only facilitate the creation of the standards, and maintain neutrality, to the point of passivity. Is it not possible for a standards organization to set a goal of defining a standard by a set time? The hope seems that coalitions will coalesce out of the "Call for Papers" and drive the process forward. Given the minimal of progress over the last several years, more concrete plans are desired.

"What I wanted to see from the meeting was a statement of goals for the organization and a presentation of the strategy to get there over the next year. I don't believe any goals or commitments were made at the meeting. Although I would prefer goals for creation of a successor GEDCOM standard, I would settle for goals regarding the organization itself and building the necessary capabilities. What sort of budget and membership is required? What marketing will be done to get the word out? What skill sets are needed in the organization to make this happen? And most importantly, how are we going to get there?"

3)  Russ Worthington commented on my earlier post and said:  

"I wasn't going to jump in on this topic, but I find that I must.  There are two words that WE, the end users, need to understand. 'International' and 'Standard'. Short translation, 'VERY SLOW'.

"The current leaders of FHISO are ALL volunteers, NO corporation is provided the resources to "produce" something. As I listened to the community gathered, I came away with that community was expecting a product, or something, or progress from RootsTech 2012. The FHISO volunteers meet weekly, from around the world. I don't attend them, but [they] are attempting to pull the right folks (People and companies) to get a new standard started.

"I have been involved with Standards before. I helped fund several people to write Papers, as in Call for Papers. Taking those papers to an end product, took far too long, but the end product, when the Working Groups took those working papers and created a standard, was something that the everyone can use.

"'Upgrading' / Updating the current GEDCOM has been discussed since the Better GEDCOM days, but to me that is creating limitations on the standard, based on the change in the technologies that we have today.

"Michael Dorsey asked about funding. I am not sure that the Organisation can determine that, as it is not clear to me just how big this project is. The call for papers, I think, will help the companies involved, determine the funding level within those companies.

"My take on this presentation was positive. What I saw was some of the right groups at the table at the front of the room. Software companies, genealogists, and end users.

"What I didn't hear, and would have like to have heard, was What does a Call for Papers mean to End Users and companies who FHISO needs to sign up for this project. How can an End User participate directly with FHISO. To me, the End User can be involved in TWO ways. Part of FHISO and to be talking with my software vendor, encouraging them to be part of FHISO.

"My two cents on this topic."

Thank you to Michael, Michael and Russ for your helpful comments.  

If other attendees to either the FHISO or GEDCOM X presentations have comments, I would greatly appreciate them in Comments to this post and will edit this post to include salient comments.

I did receive a followup email from my correspondent who said that the FHISO panelists were working on a response about issues raised at the FHISO panel session.  I look forward to that, and thank the FHISO panelists for their patience and efforts.  I will try to be more patient.  

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/fhiso-and-gedcom-x-musings.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 249: Randy and DearMYRTLE at RootsTech

I'm posting family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but they aren't Wordless Wednesday posts like others do - I simply am incapable of having a wordless post.

This photograph was taken last Saturday at the RootsTech 2013 Conference in Salt Lake City:

While I am not blood related (that I know of) to Pat Richley-Erickson (aka DearMYRTLE, author of DearMYRTLE's Genealogy Blog), we are bonded as geneabloggers in a cousin-like relationship.  We see each other occasionally, we read each other's blog posts, I watch and sometimes participate in Pat's webinars and Hangouts on Air, and we laugh and commiserate with each other's jokes, booboos, joys and struggles on social media.  I got to meet Pat's daughter, Carrie Keele, and Carrie's children, at RootsTech.  Carrie took the picture above of Pat and me at the Media Hub on Saturday.

Pat is only one of my many "geneablogger cousins" and this is the only picture I have from RootsTech of me with one of them.  I enjoy every "geneablogger cousin" relationship I have (there are hundreds of them!) and I appreciate the knowledge, talent and energy that each person in my "geneablogger family" shares with the genealogy world.  

As my geneablogger cousin Tom Kemp says, "it's a great day to be a genealogist!"

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/not-so-wordless-wednesday-post-249.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

First Look at Legacy Mobile App for iOS - FamilySearch Family Tree

One of the announcements that got my attention at RootsTech 2013 was the Legacy Mobile app for iOS (iPad, iPhone) that is supposed to synchronize with the FamilySearch Family Tree.  The App was created by Otter Creek Holdings, LLC, which is also the creator of the Billion Graves app.  Legacy Mobile was released this week - the description page for the App is at https://itunes.apple.com/app/legacy-mobile/id616755093.

Obviously, you have to have a FamilySearch registration and credentials, and have identified yourself in the FamilySearch Family Tree.

I downloaded the App to my iPhone, registered, signed into FamilySearch on it, and the app found me in the FamilySearch Family Tree.  Here is the screen shot of the "my" page:

There is space on the screen for my name, a photo of me (not available), a map for my Life Events, a listing of my Life Events, an area for Spouse, Children, and Parents.

At the bottom of the screen is a button for the "Dashboard" and three icons - for "Edit," "Tree," and "Search"

I clicked on the "Edit" icon and saw:

On the screen above, I could edit the name and the Events already listed.  I could add an Event by tapping the "+" button on the "Events" title line.  I tapped on the "Birth" event and saw this screen:

I could edit or add more information for that event.  There is a "Delete" icon at the bottom of the screen if I want to delete the event.  I didn't want to, so I tapped on the "Done" button at the top of the screen to get back to "my" page.

I was curious what would happen when I clicked on the "Tree" icon at the bottom of the first screen above.  It took awhile, but a portion of my family tree loaded (from the FamilySearch Family Tree):

 I think that the bottom pair is me and my spouse, although no names are provided for them.  My mother's name "Betty" and grandfather's name, "Lyle" are shown on the screen above.  If I had pictures in the FS Family Tree of the persons, they would show up on the screen above instead of the generic "placeholder" blue (male) and red (female) images. The iPhone screen is apparently too small for the fixed height of the names in the "portrait" view above..

I rotated the iPhone to get a landscape view of the tree, and the first names of the four generations appeared:

From this view, I could tap any of the persons on the screen and see their information, or tap the "Tree" icon to see their ancestors.

It takes awhile to download a set of three generations of ancestors - the information box on the screen says:

"Downloading data from FamilySearch.  Please be patient, this may take a few minutes."

It did, but then every time I hit the "Tree" icon, the data downloaded without the message.  However, I get the message every time I open the Legacy Mobile app.

The App works, and navigation from child to parent, parent-to-child, works pretty well.  The Events provided in the App are the events in FamilySearch Family Tree.  I don't think there are any Sources provided on the App even though I have sources in the Family Tree.

On the iPhone, the "portrait" view is best for everything except for the "Tree" view - you can see and access more information.  To see Life Events, you have to tap the small blue arrow to the right of the Event.  To see a Person's data, you can tap the person's name.  I struggled to get back to the Dashboard - finally navigated until I got back to my page, then tapped "Dashboard" and saw that I now had 129 people in the App from FamilySearch Family Tree.

There is a "Legacy Tec" link to another part of the app that says:

"Take a picture of a headstone that you would like to know more about."  

The Camera app on the iPhone opens and if I had a tombstone in front of me, I could have taken the picture.  I'm not sure what would happen after that!  I'll have to experiment more.  Maybe I can take a picture of one of my gravestone pictures on my computer, since I don't have any nearby.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/first-look-at-legacy-mobile-app-for-ios.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Good Genealogy News from RootsTech 2013

Some of the important genealogy and family history news that I learned at RootsTech 2013 included:

*  The FamilySearch website will be revamped - see https://www.familysearch.org/whats-new/ for screen views and videos.  I suggest that you watch the two-minute video at the top of the page.  Check out the Family Tree fan chart also - it looks like a great navigation tool also (but it's not available yet).

*  Ancestry.com will partner with FamilySearch to digitize and index 140 million U.S. probate record pages from 1800 to 1930.  FamilySearch is digitizing them state-by-state, but they are browse-only collections at this time.  I'm guessing that Ancestry will be able to access the images, and will do the Indexing task.  I figure that the index (country-wide, they said) will be available on FamilySearch as part of the partnership.

In my humble opinion, the indexing of probate records will open up many more research results for American researchers.  Probate records are one of the richest sources for relationship information, but are difficult to access in person or on microfilm, and very few probate record indexes are currently online.  I'm concerned by the year range - there is a wealth of probate records from before 1800 available in the American states.  Then there's the land records - the other major rich source that may solve relationship problems.

*  The MyHeritage announcement that they will have the complete 1790 to 1940 U.S. census collection images and index is a big deal - it will make MyHeritage second only to Ancestry.com in U.S. record collections, and fills a big hole in their database collection.  Record matches will help researchers find census records while they sleep.  The census records are not yet available at this writing.

*  The Legacy Mobile app is now available - I just downloaded it to my iPhone and logged in with my FamilySearch credentials.  It's beautiful, not sure how good it works yet.  I'll review it soon on Genea-Musings.

*   RootsMagic is the first program that has incorporated the API for the FamilySearch Family Tree, and it works great to match persons, upload events and relationships.  However, it does not yet include sources, notes, photos or discussions.

*  GEDCOM X, the GEDCOM replacement tool being developed by FamilySearch, may be available in Beta release in May 2013.  This may be the only GEDCOM replacement we get.

What other significant news from RootsTech 2013 did you hear about?  Tell me!

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/good-genealogy-news-from-rootstech-2013.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Tuesday's Tip - Watch RootsTech 2013 Videos

This week's Tuesday Tip is:  Watch videos from RootsTech 2013 on your computer.

Here are the options available to you:

1)  FamilySearch has all of the sessions livestreamed from Hall 1 at RootsTech on their website - www.rootstech.org.  You can watch a whole days worth of video on the page:

Or select any one of the segments from the menu below the video screen:

At the time of this writing, the Saturday sessions were not yet available.

2)  Several genea-bloggers have YouTube channels with links to videos made during RootsTech 2013 - many are interviews from within the Media Hub "glass cage." The "glass cage" videos were professionally filmed by FamilySearch and provided to the interviewers on a flash drive.  The interviewers are responsible for uploading them to YouTube.  Here are several genea-videobloggers offerings:

*  DearMYRTLE's YouTube Channel:

*  Jill Ball's YouTube Channel:

*  I found a YouTube video for David Pogue's "I Want an iPhone" piano piece here, posted by Veronica J.  Watch this!

There may be other genea-videobloggers on YouTube that I haven't found yet.  Some may post their interviews later - I will update this post if they do.  If you know of any others, please make a Comment to this post.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/tuesdays-tip-watch-rootstech-2013-videos.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Post-RootsTech 2013 Musings

What an information and fun-filled three days of the RootsTech 2013 conference.  Here are some semi-random thoughts as I recall the week:

1)  Hats off to FamilySearch for organizing this conference and making it run smoothly.  With over 6,700 registrants, over 250 learning sessions, and over 100 exhibitors, this is a yearlong endeavor.  Thank you to Dennis Brimhall and his team for outstanding Keynote speakers, and a positive presentation of genealogy, family history and technology.  The emphasis on Stories and Photos was very evident in the FamilySearch exhibit and presentations, and there were many exhibitors that promoted combining stories and photos or video.

2)  My thanks to Paul Nauta of FamilySearch, and his team, for treating the Official Bloggers well - the Blogger Dinner, the special tour at the Mormon Tabernacle, the Media Hub food (fruit, nuts, water), electrics (wifi, Ethernet cables), video and audio booths.  Excellent work!

3)  I enjoyed meeting at least 60 GeneaBloggers (I didn't write them all down and I'm not sure I can match faces with names), and some of them I had not met before (Alona Tester, Helen Smith, Rosemary Morgan, Michael Hait, Lynn Broderick, Ginny Sommarstrom, Denise Olson, M. Diane Rogers, Amy Crow, Laila Christensen, Michael Maglio, LisaM from Billion Graves, GeneDocs Wetpaint (Eric Jelle), and many more!).  This group is friendly, fun and energetic - it's like we're instant cousins when we meet.

4)  In addition to the "official" events, there were many fun times over breakfast, at dinner, and in the Radisson bar with genealogists - stories, laughs, etc.  Then there was Thomas MacEntee's birthday party - see all of the pictures on Facebook!  I think there were more spouses/partners at RootsTech this year, and Linda and I had fun sharing with them.

5)  The Keynote talks every day were great - excellent variety and messages.  I loved Syd Lieverman, Jyl Pattee and David Pogue - the "non-genealogy" folks - if you missed those on the RootsTech.org streaming video, I encourage you to go back and watch them at your leisure.  The information about FamilySearch, FindMyPast, Ancestry and MyHeritage broke some news and put these four major genealogy players in the forefront.  I thought that James Tanner did an excellent job as a last-minute replacement for Gilad Japhet in the MyHeritage keynote talk - that's difficult to do and he succeeded.

6)  I wandered around the Expo Hall quite a bit, seeking and finding familiar faces and new faces and products.  The Ancestry, FamilySearch, FindMyPast, MyHeritage, Story@Home and Mocavo displays seemed to be well staffed and always busy.  Some smaller companies had only one person to staff the booths, and some did not have handouts to take away and read.  I was surprised that 23andMe did not have an exhibit, but FamilyTreeDNA and AncestryDNA did.

7)  Guess how many presentations I attended other than the Keynote talks?  One!  I went to the FHISO panel discussion and was disappointed by the information provided there.  I figured that I could see the Hall 1 talks on video after the conference, and that I can read the syllabus material for many of the presentations I am interested in.  That's not the same as being there, of course.  Due to the high number of attendees, and the limited room sizes available for many talks, the rooms were jam packed.  Access to many of the rooms was hampered by the crowds and the stairs and the single working elevator at times.

8)  I did go to the poster session of the Family History Technology workshop, and met Ben Baker and Randy Wilson who had interesting white papers and posters.  I discussed their concepts with each of them, and appreciate seeing relatively young minds working on future concepts.

9)  I watched as DearMYRTLE, Jill Ball, Lisa Louise Cooke, James Tanner and several other Official Bloggers made video interviews in the Media Hub of the Keynote speakers and other important people in genealogy throughout the days.  These interviews were recorded, and many should be available on YouTube or on the interviewer's blog in the near future.  Jill asked to interview me, but we got bumped at the appointed time.

10)  Thank you to all of my readers that came by to say hello and discuss the events of the day with me at the Media Hub and on the Expo Hall floor.  

11)  I need to spend more time at the Family History Library in order to get my To-Do list done before I am too old.  A research trip to SLC with SDGS or another group may be the answer.  I tried going paperless this time, and found that I need a paper To-Do list, and more complete information on the To-Do list.  For some records sought, I had to use the Ancestry app on my iPhone to get a date or place for a specific record.

12)  The weather report before the conference week said it would be high temperatures in the 50s and lows in the 30s with just a little rain.  It was colder than that - high's in the 30s and lows in the 20s, with three days of snow flurries on the morning walk to the Salt Palace.  Linda was in the pool one day, saw the snow, and went out to catch snowflakes in her bathing suit and coverup.  We ventured out thrice in the evening for dinner - and these West Coast kids were not prepared for the cold wind.

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Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver