As of March 28, 2017, we have moved to new digs. See you at Your Genealogy Matters!
Chchchanges
Sometimes, the best of intentions don’t work out the way we would like them to.
“It’s that genealogy blog, again” is, as it turns out, one of those things.
This blog has been up and running for about a month, and a couple things have become pretty clear:
- Except for a couple diehard fans, this blog isn’t reaching very many people.
- Except for a handful of diehard fans, there is little or no feedback on the blog. And,
- I really, really hate working with the interface that WordPress has designed. I am sure it is a lovely interface, but I can’t get it to do what I need it to do.
The other thing is, though the information was good, I was trying to be someone I am not in order to impress people. I can’t continue to move in that direction because it makes me feel very uncomfortable.
SO, I am faced with two options. I can either shut the whole puppy down, or I can move the content over to “blogger” where the interface works the way I need it to, and will make the blog more functional for everyone.
I am opting for the move.
So this will be the last post on this blog at this site.
THAT SAID, the new blog, renamed “Your Genealogy Matters“ will up and running on Wednesday, March 29, 2017.
What you will find is pretty much what you have found here, but in a different format, with easier access to back posts and better “linkification”. I will also be moving the content from this blog back over to the new blog a little at a time.
Again, thanks for your kindness and encouragement. Time to move on to bigger and better things. See you at the new place.
Roots Tech: The Expo Hall
So this is my last in a series of posts on how to make RootsTech work for you. And today, the topic is how to work the expo hall, which is my favorite part of any Conference.
If you have ever been to a car show, where all the manufacturers roll out their new cars, then you have been to an expo hall. At RootsTech, its genealogy vendors and service providers that buy the booth space, set up shop and want to talk to you.
They want to talk to you because they want your business. And you want to talk to them because 1) It’s a chance to see what they are offering, and 2) You may need a product like this now, or in the future.
The expo hall has hours of operation, and you need to set time aside to walk the floor. Time spent in the expo hall counts as education in my book. And its a lesson in resources.
The Salt Palace’s hall was set up a giant backwards L shape. You enter through the lower leg, and can work your way to the upper shank – but there is something about that upper shank that you need to know: At the very top are the meal providers and the tables for eating. If you are on site and get hungry, that upper area is the closest to real food, on site, that you come to if you are NOT programmed for an event meal. I am telling you that up front because if you stumble upon that area at the noon hour, the lines are long and slow. Get there either before the rush or after the rush.
So lets go to the overall layout. Generally, in any trade show or EXPO floor, the big sponsors with deep pockets get the prime real estate. That means upfront, showy booths. At this year’s show the big five were FamilySearch, which hosts the event, Ancestry, My Heritage, Find My Past and FOREVER.
As you work your way back, and then up the spine of the “L” shaped room, the vendors booths get more intimate in size, from small house size up front to 10×10 size.
This year, the area along the left wall was reserved for Innovators. These booths represent emerging technologies and products. Its fun to walk down the area and see what is being developed and for which markets.
The main area also reserves a sizable area for media, which is roped off, and its some place you want to be, but you cannot get into it if you are not carrying the proper credentials.
There is also a large area given over to the one on one sessions you can sign up for with people who might be able to help you break through a brick wall, or look at a research issue. I signed up with a Jewish genealogy expert who helped me better understand information I was missing when reading the Ellis Island paperwork for my grandparents. You’ll reserve this time after Thanksgiving through the RootsTech web site. It is available on a first come, first serve basis.
Off to the far side of the “Spine” of the backwards “L” is a stage for product presentations. RootsTech is one of the few conferences that doesn’t let its speakers turn their sessions into overt sales presentations. There are presentations that will tell you how a site works, but there are no hard sell presentations. So many of the vendors can opt to Demo their products in the stage area, which also comes with comfy seating.
Once last thing, the size of a booth doesn’t correlate to the quality of the product being offered. There were some amazing people with great products in the area opposite the expo hall stage. A big booth is a big booth, but remember, look at the quality of the product.
MY SUGGESTION for make the expo hall work for you is to walk through it when it isn’t busy, see who is there, make some mental notes, and then go back later. Obviously, the hall is a total zoo during the lunch hour. Mornings are always best, in my opinion.
EXPO BONUS! It isn’t uncommon for a vendor may choose to run a special during the show – remember, they believe that their products are the best able to help you. So they will special price their products. This year the BIG deal was Ancestry DNA kits at 50%, limit five. And yes, they take credit cards.
I loved my time on the floor, and I loved meeting with all of the vendors.
When you are one the floor, you want to watch your spending. Yes, $50 here and $100, all start to add up. But this is why I tell people to walk the floor first, get the lay of the land, then go back. My example is the Epson printer I wrote about last week. Had I bought it from the Epson rep, I would have paid full price. But by waiting and buy it from MicroCenter, I saved a good deal of money.
Now, remember, the previous pieces in this series are:
RootsTech, The best event that you are missing, and that isn’t good
“Mom, it’s Conflict on the phone, again. It’s saying it’s created something…”
There are essentially six types of “information” in my book. Now I am not a lawyer, I do not pretend to be a lawyer, I am not a graduate of a law school, I am not licensed to give legal evidence. You would look to Judy Russell’s blog, The Legal Genealogist, for that information.
My take on these rules, simplified, fall into the following definitions:
- True information. And there is sound evidence that it is true. Verified primary source material.
- Partially true. There is evidence that it is true, but sometimes that evidence needs to be verified for its own sake.
- Mostly true. This is the type of information that is based on fact, but the details are modified by adjectives of aggrandizement. John Smith was a farmer, TRUE, according to census records, contemporary news accounts, court records and his journal. BUT ” John Smith had the bestest farm in Columbia County, Pennsylvania?” Well, how do we define bestest? You can’t. It may have been a “nice” farm, but even that is a value judgement. And value judgements aren’t evidence unless there is an established way to measure them. So this “bestest” is nice, but it isn’t proof of anything.
- Mostly untrue. Most family legends have a thread of truth. It can be a be a loose thread, but there is a thread, never the less, that can be either be cut out, or followed to the real story. Think about cutting through whale blubber with embroidery scissors to get to the point. There may be something there, but if its hiding under all that fat…?
- Patently false. Not a bit of truth about it (“Lord Smitherines was born in 1650 and died at the end of the 16the Century) – and –
- Oh, Hell, no way. Something so far off the charts that only the stupid, the uninformed the crazy will believe it. Like my great aunt who used to insist that my Grandmother’s family descended from “the great Kings of Roman Lithuania.” Or the woman who stood up at one of my sessions I taught in Ohio and announced that “I have my family tree all the way to Adam and Eve.” Really? Really? Really. If your common sense alarm goes off, call bullshit if you must.
Now some people confused “contemporary” information, that is to say information from the time period that the person or person(s) lived in to be “True Information” because looks like “primary source information”.
Only one thing is true about information that is contemporary to the subject – and that is that it is, at face value, contemporary to the subject. Contemporary information, such as “established” magazines and “esteemed” journals (non-professional) can fall into to that “Mostly true” category. Let us look at this example, from The American Monthly Magazine, published by the Daughters of the American Revolution, January – June, 1909.
Lets look at the article with the highlighting, which is an announcement on Mrs. Elizabeth Dey Clark Little, the surviving daughter of Revolutionary War veteran Sargent Israel Clark. Israel Clark’s line is well documented in the 17th century, and Israel Clark did his best to ensure that his line would continue, marrying four times, widowed three, and fathering fourteen children during his life. The Youngest, Elizabeth, being born when her father was approximately 62. Elizabeth’s middle name “Dey” is her mother Margaret’s middle name. Elizabeth died on October 27, 1908. There is no standardized Ohio Death Certificate for Elizabeth because the county didn’t start recording the form, which was mandatory beginning in 1909 in all 88 counties until December, 1908. We are pretty sure that she died in Marion, Marion County, Ohio because the local paper, The Marion Star, ran her death notice stating that she died at the home of her daughter Mary Little McPherson, on Leader Street in Marion. And we know that in 1908, the McPherson’s lived on Leader Street, near West Fairground Street, then the Garden City Pike, in Marion, Ohio, based on city directories. So we have no real evidence of her birth, or her death other than what we can get off of her death notice. We can send away for a copy of her DAR paperwork to see what it tells us as well.
But there is the another problem with this article, which was probably submitted by the Findlay (Ohio) Chapter to the DAR for its magazine. And it contains one sentence that no one seemed to catch that contradicts one of the article’s main assertions. Go back and see if you can find it.
Did you find it?
Yes? No? Huh?
Well here it is: “Mrs. Little came to Ohio at the age of eight years.”
Did you just have a “Hello? Mom, it’s Conflict on the telephone, and it says it has done something…” moment, right?
The conflict is that somewhere after she was born in Ohio (“…and was born in Delaware County, Ohio, March 16, 1819.”) this article would lead you to believe that she came to Ohio in 1827 for the first time.
How can this be? It’s can’t. People simply didn’t capriciously travel in 1819. And if it were true, where did she go, and why?
And I should note that Marion County, Ohio, where Israel settled for the remainder of his life, was “erected” (Yes, that is the proper term) from Delaware County, Ohio in 1821. So she quite possibly could have been born in what is now Marion County, instead of what is now Delaware County proper.
But it does tell us that we can’t build a conclusive case with this article alone, even though it comes from a respected source, and just because it is a contemporary source to the subject.
What we need to find is either a definitive document – for 1819 that would be a letter, or a family bible entry, or a journal entry or some other type of sworn instrument that could resolve this conflict.
So when Conflict arises, it means rather than just ignoring it, it wants to be recognized, and resolved.
It's that genealogy blog, again 