Posts
Saturday at the SCGS Jamboree, Burbank, California has passed. It was a busy day, and I didn't get a chance to really get breakfast or lunch, but did buy a banana every couple hours! Trail mix came in handy too. The first thing I did when the exhibit doors opened is to go to the FamilyTreeDNA booth. I'd just received an e-mail from the company that my recent autosomal DNA test had a match. I couldn't remember that I'd been sent a password for the test kit results, I went right to the top and asked founder and CEO Bennett Greenspan, how to see the results. He is a very nice and patient man. He helped me with my two submitted kits, one of my brother's DNA for the Y-DNA test (submitted since 2005 with few matches HAGUE) and the new one in which I hoped to find a match with other testers in the WALLACE project at FamilyTreeDNA. On hand to help was Katherine Borges of the ISOGG - International Society of Genetic Genealogists. She was all smiles as she and Bennett Greenspan unveiled my results and a possible 3rd cousin relationship with Don Wallace, the administrator of the Wallace DNA Project on FamilyTreeDNA. That is good news for me as Don and I have been corresponding for many years about our genealogy research and documentation, trying to make the last little final and critical connection of my Joshua Wallace with any of the well documented Wallaces in Delaware in the late 1700's. Now it looks promising that there is indeed a connection. We are going to review all the data again to see how Joshua can fit in. Don Wallace told me that there are eight others of Wallace lineage in the project that should show a close relationship with me. Yipee!!
At 10am I went to the session given by D. Joshua Taylor: " A Broader Context: Using JSTOR for Family History. JSTOR is a institution-available-online source of manuscripts, reviews of articles, etc. that seems really extensive and where these obscure resources are now indexed. One can't get a private subscription, but can access them through libraries and universities, etc. I saw Drew Smith in the crowd, and maybe he'll talk about it on an upcoming podcast of The Genealogy Guys.
At 11:30 I attended John Bacus' presentation: "What Does it Take to Get a Good Result? Inner Workings of the Ancestry Search Engine". The Pavilion was packed with interested people. The talk was very informative and definitely John is an Ancestry.com employee that knows the subject.
Getting lunch was not an option for me as I attended the "special brown-bag lunch presentation" by Gregory Paul Williams: The Story of Hollywood - An Illustrated History". What a great presentation of the history of Hollywood. I was amazed at his knowledge of the earliest land deals in Hollywood. He mentioned Colegrove - the very tract of land that I just discovered my great-grandfather, Frank Blanding, bought into in 1904 for " $350 gold - cash in hand" for Block 9, in the El Centro Tract. I really wanted to talk to him afterwards, but so many people were talking to him with interesting comments about their early connections with Hollywood. I very much want to talk to Gregory Paul Williams. He was supposed to be selling his book there, but I failed to find him anywhere afterwards. I guess I'll have to try to look him up on the internet.
The final three sessions included Megas Smolenyak2: "Reverse Genealogy: Finding the Living;" Crista Cowan: Tips and Tricks for Successful Searaching on Ancestry.com;" and Barry Ewell: "30 second Genealogist - How to Find Genealogy Answers You Want Now (describing his new website www.MyGenShare.com". All the speakers were great and I learned loads from each one.
Many people asked me about the New Orleans style beads Thomas MacEntee gives out to all the GeneaBloggers in attendance. He said that Chart Masters donated the beads. Quite classy!
Every extra moment was spent in the Exhibit area. However, this year I didn't go to the Saturday Banquet, so my room-mate, Lenore, and I decided to get a good and convenient meal at the hotel. Later Lenore lulled me to sleep while she was practicing on her ukulele. I told her she should go outside to the patio where evidently "The Voice" contestants were gathering and playing guitars. We could hear either the American Idol winners, or the Voice contestants practicing in their hotel rooms in the evenings.
Leaving tomorrow for Denver, before I return home to Honolulu.
At 10am I went to the session given by D. Joshua Taylor: " A Broader Context: Using JSTOR for Family History. JSTOR is a institution-available-online source of manuscripts, reviews of articles, etc. that seems really extensive and where these obscure resources are now indexed. One can't get a private subscription, but can access them through libraries and universities, etc. I saw Drew Smith in the crowd, and maybe he'll talk about it on an upcoming podcast of The Genealogy Guys.
At 11:30 I attended John Bacus' presentation: "What Does it Take to Get a Good Result? Inner Workings of the Ancestry Search Engine". The Pavilion was packed with interested people. The talk was very informative and definitely John is an Ancestry.com employee that knows the subject.
Getting lunch was not an option for me as I attended the "special brown-bag lunch presentation" by Gregory Paul Williams: The Story of Hollywood - An Illustrated History". What a great presentation of the history of Hollywood. I was amazed at his knowledge of the earliest land deals in Hollywood. He mentioned Colegrove - the very tract of land that I just discovered my great-grandfather, Frank Blanding, bought into in 1904 for " $350 gold - cash in hand" for Block 9, in the El Centro Tract. I really wanted to talk to him afterwards, but so many people were talking to him with interesting comments about their early connections with Hollywood. I very much want to talk to Gregory Paul Williams. He was supposed to be selling his book there, but I failed to find him anywhere afterwards. I guess I'll have to try to look him up on the internet.
The final three sessions included Megas Smolenyak2: "Reverse Genealogy: Finding the Living;" Crista Cowan: Tips and Tricks for Successful Searaching on Ancestry.com;" and Barry Ewell: "30 second Genealogist - How to Find Genealogy Answers You Want Now (describing his new website www.MyGenShare.com". All the speakers were great and I learned loads from each one.
Many people asked me about the New Orleans style beads Thomas MacEntee gives out to all the GeneaBloggers in attendance. He said that Chart Masters donated the beads. Quite classy!
Every extra moment was spent in the Exhibit area. However, this year I didn't go to the Saturday Banquet, so my room-mate, Lenore, and I decided to get a good and convenient meal at the hotel. Later Lenore lulled me to sleep while she was practicing on her ukulele. I told her she should go outside to the patio where evidently "The Voice" contestants were gathering and playing guitars. We could hear either the American Idol winners, or the Voice contestants practicing in their hotel rooms in the evenings.
Leaving tomorrow for Denver, before I return home to Honolulu.
3 comments:
I'm glad you found my presentation helpful. For those who were not able to attend, they can see a streaming version of the presentation on the Ancestry.com website. To access it, click on the Learning Center link in the header and choose 'Webinars'. You can also access the page directly here.
Wish I had been there again this year. I would have brought my ukelele, too! I love your comments about Bennett Greenspan. He spent at least one hour with my husband last year, going over his DNA results, which were completely surprising. I'll have to blog about it someday.
Yes, Heather, Bennett Greenspan was wonderful. Hope to see you again soon.
Post a Comment