Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

Who’s going to Midwestern Roots?

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The Midwestern Roots Family History and Genealogy Conference, sponsored by the Indiana Historical Society, is being held next weekend (July 19-20) in Indianapolis. I’ll be there. Are any of you planning to attend? I’ll be driving with my friend Vickie, whom I met through this blog. I’m always thrilled to meet blog readers at conferences!

I attended the 2016 Midwestern Roots conference and thought it was terrific. It was very robust, with lots of great educational opportunities.

This year looks like it’s going to be equally good. I’m excited to hear Joshua Taylor speak, both as a keynote and in breakout sessions. I didn’t get the chance to hear him at the NGS conference because of competing priorities. (I’ll never forget the time I heard him speak at the Genealogy Society of Southern Illinois conference five years ago and discovered we were cousins. I told that story in this blog post.)

I’ve downloaded the syllabus and saved it to both Evernote and my hard drive. (If you’re registered, the password to access the syllabus was emailed to you on July 3 in a message with the subject line “Midwestern Roots 2019!”) I’ve also downloaded the app. I love conference apps, which are so much easier for me to look at than a printed schedule. I was glad to see that this conference has one. I love that I can select my sessions now and see a streamlined version of the agenda (as well as the full one) so I’m not making last-minute decisions or fumbling around trying to figure out where I’m going next.

If you’re attending, please let me know if you’d like to meet up. If you’re interested in registering, it looks like there are still spots available. The deadline for registration is Saturday, July 13. Go to the registration page for the conference to buy a ticket. If you’re not able to attend, you might consider following the hashtage #MRoots2019 to see what you’re missing!

Looking forward to next weekend’s Midwestern Roots conference

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On Thursday, I head to Indianapolis for the Midwestern Roots Family History and Genealogy conference. I’m very excited. I see that it’s sold out! I’m sure it will be a stimulating, educational experience. I love conferences in general and especially love  genealogy conferences. I haven’t been to one in almost a year, so I feel past due!

The syllabus was posted yesterday and I just checked it out. I’m all the more excited! It looks like a terrific program. I see that there are a couple of sessions that will help me make the most of my week-long research trip to the Allen County Public Library next week. I’m so happy about that.

I saved the PDF of the syllabus to Evernote for easy access during the conference on my computer and phone, so I feel like I’m all set. (Hint for people who have registered: The password to open the syllabus is in the reservation acknowledgement email, with the subject line “IHS Confirmation.” It took me a minute to find it so I thought I’d save you the trouble.)

When I registered, I posted here and heard from a few readers who are also attending. I’ll be getting in touch this week to arrange to get together. If you’re attending and you’d like to meet (and we haven’t already communicated about it), please leave a comment or send me an email.

I’m very excited about this learning opportunity. And I look forward to multiplying the benefit by meeting readers of this blog!

Raise your hand if you’re going to Midwestern Roots 2016!

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Two years ago, I had planned to attend the Midwestern Roots Family History and Genealogy Conference in Indianapolis. But then I had a work conflict that meant I had to cancel. (I had to lead a team to unpack and organize a beloved client’s new home and the movers did not care about my schedule!) At that time, I was thrilled that several Organize Your Family History readers were planning to attend and hoped to meet them.

This year I hope to have no such conflicts. I have registered for the conference, which will be held July 15 and 16. It looks like a terrific conference. I’m especially glad to be able to go, since I made the tough decision not to attend the National Genealogical Society’s conference this year, which is being held this week in Ft. Lauderdale. It’s too close to my annual organizers’ conference and I didn’t want to be away from home that much this month. (That turned out to be a great decision as we subsequently decided to remodel our kitchen and demolition starts this week. I need to be home to share the misery with my husband.)

If you’re planning to go Midwestern Roots and would like get together for coffee or sit together at a session, let me know. (I promise not to pressure you to become my BFF.) Just leave a comment and I’ll contact you via email or just email me through the Contact form. I posted a similar note before I went to RootsTech for the first time and ended up starting a wonderful friendship with Lori Krause, who reads this blog.

I’m really excited about attending the conference and learning so much. Getting to meet a blog reader or two would be icing on the cake!

Step away from the desk

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Leaving the house can make you a better genealogist

Thomas MacEntee and me

When I started doing genealogy research, I did all my research online, from the comfort (and isolation) of my desk. I was able to find a huge amount of information. Twenty-first century genealogy researchers are truly fortunate.

But I’ve learned that getting away from the desk and researching at other repositories can be really beneficial. When I was researching at the Midwest Genealogy Center, I was reminded of the benefits of scanning a section of books. Titles jump out that I wouldn’t have thought to search for. Friendly librarians pointed out resources I didn’t know existed. At the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, a professional genealogist on staff gave me a mini research lesson as she helped me confirm that a person I’d found was actually my great great grandfather.

There’s another way to learn by stepping away from the desk: Going to conferences. Last Saturday, I attended a one-day conference sponsored by the Genealogy Society of Southern Illinois. It was in Carterville, Illinois, two hours from my home in St. Louis. I learned about it from a blog reader, Vickie Sheridan, who commented after I expressed my disappointment over not being able to attend the Midwestern Roots Family History and Genealogy Conference in Indianapolis as planned.

The conference was terrific! I am so grateful to Vickie for telling me about it. There were at least four ways it benefited that made it well worth the time and (somewhat minimal) expense:

  • I learned a huge amount of information that will help me in my research
  • I got ideas for blog posts
  • I met Vickie
  • I met Thomas MacEntee, the conference speaker (he did four talks!), whom I’d been looking forward to meeting in Indianapolis

I’ll write more in a future post about some of the great research tips and tricks Thomas presented, but I’ll whet your appetite with this one. Tom has created what he calls a Genealogy Research Toolbox in which he has organized a huge collection of over 150 valuable genealogy links. He encourages people to use it and share it. Here it is: Genealogy Research Toolbox.

In discussing the value of curating links such as these, Thomas made a very cogent point.

Why should I spend 30 minutes looking for a link when I could spend that 30 minutes looking for my ancestors?

That’s just another way that being organized can help us be more productive researchers. I’m so glad I left my house in an effort to become a better genealogy researcher!