When the Genealogists Come to Town

I admit that I haven't been blogging much this year. It's been a period of transition following the death of my father, moving and adjusting to my new life. That doesn't mean that I haven't been doing genealogy, however!

My last post was last spring when I wrote about meeting up with Dear Myrtle and Mr. Myrt, Pat Richley-Erickson and Gordon Erickson. Since then, I've met up with two more genealogists who came to Lincoln. I still find it fascinating that we genealogists are able to get acquainted on social media, so once we meet IRL (in real life), we are already friends.

In August, one of my Facebook genealogy buddies, J Paul Hawthorne of Escondido, California was in town for business so we made plans to get together. 

Susan and Paul at the Nebraska State Capitol

We had a nice dinner, during which we talked nonstop genealogy. I gave Paul the ten cent tour of Lincoln, which included a photo op outside of the Nebraska State Capitol and the statue of our city's namesake, Abraham Lincoln. The next afternoon, in nearly unbearable heat, we toured Wyuka Cemetery, visited several of the points of interest on the self-guided tour and stopped at the memorials for 9/11, the Nebraska firefighters and the Nebraska Holocaust Memorial. We also made a stop at my Dad's grave in the veteran's section. A serviceman was there, placing pennies atop the stones of the veterans. He told me that he comes as frequently as possible to pay his respects.

This past weekend, Laura Prescott was making her way across the country as she is moving to Utah to work for Ancestry.com. She posted on her Facebook page that she was hoping to meet up with other genealogists along Interstate 80 to help break up her trip. I first met Laura when she spoke at the Nebraska State Genealogical Society's conference a few years ago. So, along with my fellow Lincoln genealogist, Gail Blakenau, we made plans to have breakfast on Sunday morning.

Gail, Laura and Susan

One thing you can count on when you get together with other genealogists, it's non-stop talking about family history and research. And I always learn something new! It was great seeing Laura again and to learn about her new adventure with Ancestry - developing online education classes. This is definitely something to look forward to in 2015.