Saturday Recap- SCGS Jamboree - 2014

Almost one week ago.  I can't believe it.
Three sessions this morning.  Again I had so many choices.  I am going to watch Warren Bittner’s “Elusive Immigrant” later since it was streamed and will be on the SCGS site for members.  I heard him speak, I think in Las Vegas, about searching for ancestor and the story and process were great.  This is as good a reason as any for you to join SCGS, even if you never go to Jamboree.

So I heard Paula Stewart-Warren speak about research reports for ourselves.   This is a practical approach to presenting information and keeping track of my research that I know I can do.  I just need to become a little more organized and actually get started.  Thanks Paula. 

Next, to stay out of trouble.  Yes, Judy Russell’s presentation was “Staying out of trouble: Rights and Responsibilities of Today’s Genealogist.”  Some basic steps are to understand copyright laws, at a basic level so we don’t infringe on someone’s rights.  We must carefully determine "fair use” if we want to even quote any part of a document.  AND, we really must read and understand “terms of service” with all of the websites we use.  Not knowing the law isn’t an excuse.  I appreciate Judy’s thoroughness in providing resources and references for each of her talks.  This time period I missed John Colletta’s talk on the state archives and presentations about Ancestry, newspapers.com, FamilySearch.org, and using a Mac for genealogy. 

Right before lunch I heard Daniel Horowitz talk about MyHeritage.  Not everyone knew that you could make our family site private if you wished.  There are many ways to connect with other researchers using “Smart Matching” and ways to find records with “Record Matching.”  And, there is the free Family Tree Builder software also.  I missed Randy Whited’s session on photos and documents organization, John Colletta’s talk on “Seventeen Repositories, One Life:…” and the blogger summit, which is always fun.

This was just the morning.  Perhaps you can believe my head was spinning.  I’m so glad we had 1 ½ hours for a break.

Right after lunch, there were sessions on Mind Mapping by Thomas MacEntee, Elyse Doerflinger and Josh Taylor on Tech that Isn’t Scary, and Bennett Greenspan  on “The Future of Genetic Genealogy.”  I went to the session on LegacyFamilyTree since I wanted to learn some new tricks.

How can you choose between Josh Taylor’s “…Advanced Internet Researching” and Janet Hovorka’s “Back to Basic Research Practices…”?  A real dilemma.  I chose Josh’s because Janet’s was being videoed and I then bought the video.  If you have Irish ancestry, I think you would have wanted to hear Dr. Maurice Gleeson on “Researching Your Irish Ancestry Online and at Minimal Cost.”  Fortunately for you, this was another session that was live-streamed and will be available at SCGS in the future.

One more time period and then collapse.  I went into another session on DNA and genealogy.  Unfortunately, my mind wasn’t up to functioning at this point and I left early.  I went across the street for an early dinner and to my room.  I looked over Sunday’s schedule, starting organizing for packing, and went to bed early. 

So, another great day at SCGS Jamboree.  Only one more to go.  And I’m only going to be there for the morning.  But that’s another story for another day.

Friday Recap - SCGS Jambotree 2014

Even though sessions at SCGS Jamboree don’t begin until 1 p.m. on Friday, there are plenty of things to do in the morning.  Some of the activities have small fees and/or you must register for them because space is limited in the workshops.  BUT, Round Tables are set up for different topics for discussion.  This is an opportunity to learn from other researchers or share your expertise.  It is also a great time to ask questions, because there are ten or fewer people at each table.  Some of the DNA tables had enough knowledgeable people that you could have time to ask questions and get answers.

Judy Russell spoke on “Dowered or Bound Out: Records of Widows and Orphans.”  I found out that parents could choose to have their children “bound out”; usually for financial reasons, but I’m sure there were possibly other reasons also.  If the widow had money of her own, as well as children, she had to have a legal guardian appointed for her children: a male.  Judy has so many great topics that it’s difficult not to attend sessions where she speaks.  However, I missed, to name a couple, “Genealogy Cloud Computing” by Thomas MacEntee and “Effective Use of Wills and Estates in Your Research” by Jana Sloan Broglin.

I missed Judy Russell’s next presentation in order to hear Lisa Louise Cooke speak about Google search strategies.  I looked at the syllabus in advance and she had even some new ideas.  I missed Denise Levenick’s “How to Scan an Elephant: Digitize Your Family History” and Blaine Bettinger on DNA and the GPS as well as others.

I had to hear Paul Stuart Warren next.  She spoke on “Manuscript Finding Aids: Locating Migrating Family Records.”  I know I should be looking at NUCMC as well as using the Library of Congress, but I haven’t.  Paula showed what great sources these are, although the catalog isn’t as straight forward as a normal library catalog.  During this same time period there were talks about African-American genealogy, Why Take a DNA test, Eastern European research, and obituaries.  What a difficult choice!

Fortunately, I’ve heard as MacEntee speak on “7 Habits of Highly Frugal Genealogists”, and many presentations on city directories (and I use them regularly), so I went to Warren Bittner’s “Proof Arguments: How and Why?”  Oh, does he make them seem easy to write.  He really took us step-by-step: finding a record, analyzing the record, writing about the evidence found in the record, finding another record, analyzing the record, writing about the evidence found in the record, etc.  It just makes soooo much sense.  Now I just need to apply it. 

Now the day is over.  And it’s only 6:45.  I forgot to add that the exhibit hall was open from noon to 6:30 today and then there was a social hour (1 ½ hours) for those who were interested.  I passed on that, went across the street for a light dinner, and went back to the room to look at the Pink Sheet and the syllabus and determine what I wanted presentations I wanted to go to on Saturday.  And, I just can’t believe that 2 of my 4 days are already over.

Some of the sessions were live-streamed.  For your info, most of the sessions that were live-streamed will be available to SCGS members, possibly beginning in July.  AND, in addition at least one session during each time period was video-taped.  These will also be on the SCGS site in the future.  AND, the company,     Conferences Resources   http://www.myconferenceresource.com/recentlyaddedproducts.aspx     taped most of the sessions; some video and some just audio.  You can go to their web site and order those you are interested in and you will then get this special shipment in the mail.

DNA Day Recap - SCGS Jamboree 2014

Wow!  What a great start to SCGS Jamboree.  This is the second year for a DNA day.  I attended last year but didn’t understand very much.  Since then I did my DNA tests, both mitochondrial and autosomal.  I had my results.  I just didn’t know what to do with them.  Well, now at least I know where to start.

The session I watched with CeCe Moore explained DNA mapping to help discover your ancestors.  Now I know why I want to have my mother and sister tested. 

Diahan Southard gave case studies for Y-DNA, mtDNA and atDNA.; those were very interesting, although I need to find some more people connected to me before I can use some of the techniques.

Lunch was fun.  A friend from Mesa who flew in for the DNA day was at the table.  And, then across from me was a woman I was sure I knew.  But I just assumed it was from Jamboree sometime in the past.  Well, Ellen was from Maryland, and we had met originally at GRIP.  And we’re going to be in the same DNA class next month.  What fun!!

With the keynote session beginning at 8 am and the last speaker session ending at 6 p.m. with a one-hour open discussion period for an hour after that, it was a long, but stimulating day.

Thank you Southern California Genealogical Society, SCGS, and the International Society of Genetic Genealogy, ISOGG, for cohosting this event and providing such a wonderful educational opportunity.