Goin' to Kansas City! Kansas City Here We Come!

Actually, the "Genealogy Girls Gone Wild" weekend in Kansas City was two weeks ago and what a weekend it was! Back in 2010, I met fellow bloggers Diana Ritchie who writes the Random Relatives blog and Jenna Mills who writes the Desperately Seeking Surnames blog. We met as geneabloggers at the Family History Expo in Kansas City that year and became fast friends.

Diana and Jenna at the Midwest Genealogy Center
Independence, Missouri March 2014

A reunion has been in the works for quite a while. I actually got to see Diana in 2012 when she and a friend visited Lincoln in conjunction with John Colletta's appearance at the Greater Omaha Genealogical Society conference. I didn't make it to Omaha that year since I was looking after my Dad, who just had a stroke. But Diana, her friend Nancy and I got together for brunch, went by the home and business owned by Nancy's grandparents and then on to Wyuka Cemetery where Nancy's relatives are buried.

Jenna had all of the advance info on a conference that would be held at the Midwest Genealogy Center in Independence, Missouri on March 8. She assured us that the speaker was one of the genealogy rock stars we would want to see, so we began making plans to attend. Also included in what we referred to as March Madness was Susan Clark of the Nolichucky Roots blog. You might recognize her by her "right eye" profile photo on Facebook. Honoring her desire for relative anonymity, I'm not posting a photo of her here!

We were in touch via Facebook messaging daily, deciding what hotel to stay at, times of our arrival in the Kansas City area, extra curricular activities, and a research day at the Midwest Genealogy Center. Jenna was dubbed the cruise director of the Lido deck since she made arrangements for a Saturday night dinner with the conference's main speaker, Lisa Louise Cooke of Genealogy Gems, and Kathleen Brandt of A3 Genealogy. (yes, Jenna finally let us know who the speakers would be!).

On the Road Again

I made a leisurely drive to Kansas City, stopping in Nebraska City for lunch at Parker's Smokehouse. I can now say that I've eaten at all three of their locations! I arrived at the hotel late afternoon on Thursday, got unpacked and had snacks and beverages until Diana's arrival. While we all kept in touch with each other via Facebook messaging, I was ostracized by the others by having texting blocked on my wireless plan. Yes, I gave in to peer pressure and added unlimited texting to my plan once I got home!

Diana and I had a nice BBQ dinner out that evening. One HAS to have BBQ when visiting Kansas City.

Library Day

We met up with Jenna on Friday morning for our research day at the Midwest Genealogy Center, which is part of the Mid-Continent Public Library. Jenna had been telling us that we had to get a library card for remote access to the library's vast assortment of databases we could access from home. The card was $20 for six months and has already paid for itself. I haven't counted the number of databases, but I'm sure there are more than 100 available. Being the newspaper archive junkie that I am, I'm going wild in the archives of the Kansas City Star, New York Times and other old papers. There are also databases of history resources, maps, books. I'm a kid in the candy store!

Diana and Susan pretending to do research.
Photo copyright 2014 Jenna Mills, used with permission
We had to refrain Jenna from ripping off the map of Germany!

Jenna knows her way around the library already and knew we would want a tour. So we got a quick tour of the facility. What a library! An entire building dedicated just to genealogy. Okay, I admit it, I don't get out much, so this was the most impressive genealogy collection I've seen. (ACPL and the LDS library in Salt Lake are still on my "to do" list).

I didn't go with a research plan in mind - I just like to get acquainted with a place first. So I looked through some books with Nebraska connections and found a few items. One of my favorite discoveries was locating a photo of the drugstore in Lincoln, Nebraska that was operated by my great grandfather's brother in law. It was late in the day when I discovered several feet of shelf space dedicated to Blair County, Pennsylvania where my Pecht/Peight ancestors lived (for those who have been following the story, that was where my third great grandfather, the axe murderer, lived). That guaranteed another visit to the library later this year.

Susan Clark arrived and checked in with us and spent most of her research day looking at microfilm records. This was my first meeting with her and as with Diana and Jenna, I felt an immediate connection. Well, heck, we've been friends on Facebook for years, so it's not like we were strangers. Susan has one wicked sense of humor, which I like!

As you can see in the photo, we were wise enough to get a private research/conference room since we knew we would be chatting and didn't want to disturb other library users. The library is really user friendly. There are desks and work spaces throughout the facility, shopping carts so you can gather up the books you want to use. There's plenty of electrical outlets to keep your laptop or tablet charged. Microfilm readers and copy machines are set up to save images to USB flash drives. I will definitely come more prepared on my next visit!

Friday evening, the four of us had a nice dinner and talked quite a bit about DNA and genealogy.

Conference Day - Saturday

The "genie tech" conference brought us back to the library on Saturday morning. I hadn't met Lisa Louise Cooke before, so it was a kick for me when she spotted me in the registration line, waved and said "Hi, Susan!" Amazing what online social networking does! It's like we already know each other. Genealogy friends from Lincoln and Omaha were also in the audience and I touched base with them.

Lisa's topics included newspaper research, Google Earth, and using iPads/Tablets for genealogy. I had viewed her webinars on these topics before, but it was really nice to see and hear her in person. Lisa is a fantastic presenter and if you get a chance to attend one of her presentations, do it!

And Kathleen totally rocked it with her presentation on DNA. Wow. This was the first time that DNA was explained in a way that really made sense to me.

Saturday evening, we enjoyed dinner at a Mexican restaurant with Lisa and her daughter; Kathleen and her friend from Jet magazine; and Beth Foulk of Genealogy Decoded. I'd met Beth last year when she spoke at the Nebraska state genealogy conference. Sadly, my hearing isn't the greatest in noisy restaurants, so I only got in on about half of the conversation, but even so, it was a great evening!

On Becoming 'Maxine'

My "real life" friends know how much I b----, I mean complain, about the uncomfortable chairs and seating at conferences. I've left entirely too many conferences early because I could just not tolerate the horrible chairs! Yes, I am turning into the cartoon Maxine! I came prepared for Kansas City and ordered a "butt cushion"! I was surprised, but it really worked! If you are a fellow rear and back pain sufferer at conferences, I definitely recommend this! I will put up with the teasing I take, but I'm not going to any more conferences without my cushion! LOL.

GG Gone Wild!?

Well, we genealogy girls had a fantastic time, even if we seem to be the "early to bed" types! I had a blast and it was a great reunion with my blogger buddies. We all said that Kansas City is a pretty quick drive for all of us and we vowed to do this a few times every year. Next time, I'm definitely going with a research plan in mind.

Lincoln-Lancaster County Genealogical Society's New Blog

It's now official. The Lincoln-Lancaster County Genealogical Society has a blog!

The blog will include information about upcoming events, genealogy news, projects sponsored by the Society, links to research resources and much more.

The LLCGS blog is just one more method of connecting with members, potential members and the public. The society has a web site at llcgs.info with many resources and searchable databases. The Society's library collection (nearly 5,000 titles) can also be searched online.

Please visit the blog and sign up to follow.

Disclosure: I'm the publicity director for LLCGS and maintain the LLCGS blog.

LongLostRelatives.net is Two Today!

It's really hard to believe that I've been blogging for two years! A lot has happened in my genealogy world since I made my first query-type post on LongLostRelatives.net. My first post was certainly intended to be cousin bait to find any descendants of my mother's first cousin, Evelyn Bellinger Gibbons. It took a while, but about a year and a half later, her great granddaughter posted a comment on that blog post. I will never underestimate the power of the internet.

I've blogged a little less in 2011 than in 2010, but logging 214 posts in 2011 shows I haven't really been slacking - I've just been busy mining new online resources to aid my family history research and I've managed to get to a few genealogy conferences this year.

The year in review:

• This year I began giving some speeches/presentations about genealogy - primarily genealogy blogging. What's interesting is that this is something that I had been wanting to do, but hadn't really intended to get started for another year or so. The speaking engagements I had this year were all from people who approached me to speak - not from my soliciting any "gigs." I got started in March by speaking to a class of University of Nebraska-Lincoln teacher's college students. They were tasked with the assignment to do their own family history and learn how to create a lesson plan for their future students once they become teachers.
• In July, I was asked to speak about genealogy blogging at the Land Records and Genealogy Symposium at the Homestead National Monument of America in Beatrice, Nebraska. My friend and fellow blogger, Thomas MacEntee, spoke at the conference about using social media for genealogy. Don't think that I wasn't a little bit nervous talking about genealogy blogging with the genealogy blogger ninja in the audience!
• In August, I had a blast talking about blogging with a group at the Omaha Public Library. I even got to meet a potential cousin who is researching the Pecht family from the same county in Pennsylvania where I'm researching my Pecht line.
• In January, I submitted my DNA sample to 23andme. While I received some correspondence from potential cousins in the early weeks of using the web site, I've been more than a little disappointed with the lack of response from people I've contacted. I don't understand why someone would register for the Family Finder and then not respond to inquiries to see if and how we are related. Perhaps the "aha moment" is still in my future.
• I attended the Spring and Fall conferences of the Greater Omaha Genealogical Society, which were great fun. I'm enjoying those even more now that I'm getting to know a few more people.
• In October, I was a table host for the Family History Fair sponsored by the Lincoln-Lancaster County Genealogical Society. I shared my experiences with blogging and demonstrated the Flip-Pal mobile scanner.
• Also in October, I attended Gail Blankenau's workshop at the Cass County Historical Museum in Plattsmouth, Nebraska. As always, I learned a lot from Gail and even found some information on my Cass County kin!
• I recently learned that I have been named the publicity chair of the Lincoln-Lancaster County Genealogical Society for 2012. I'm looking forward to some new challenges with this responsibility in the coming year.
• In March, I attended a workshop on caring for family photographs at the Nebraska State Historical Society. It was great to meet up with my genealogy and Facebook friends Judy Shutts and Kathy Wait Myers.
• In June, I started sharing some images from a tiny photo book that belonged to my grandmother, Sina Bellinger Kelly. This is an ongoing series on LongLostRelatives.net.
• In July, I marked my 500th blog post.

It has definitely been quite a year; a year of new discoveries and new friendships. While others are faced with brick walls, I have been faced with the genealogy tsunami - so much information, paper and photographs that I am completely overwhelmed at assimilating, cataloging, archiving and sharing it all. But isn't that what makes genealogy great?

Around the Blogosphere - November 27

It's been a while since my last Around the Blogosphere post, but with the holiday weekend, I've had time to catch up on my blog reading. The following are my selections of some of the best genealogy blog posts of the last two or three weeks.

Genealogy's Need for Curators by Thomas MacEntee on the Geneabloggers blog.

More on Organizational Systems and Genealogy by James Tanner at Genealogy's star. Also of note is Why You Have To Pay For Free Government Documents.

Why I Want to Remain an Amateur by Greta Koehl on Greta's Genealogy Blog.

My Views on Family History Have Changed by Elyse Doerflinger on Elyse's Genealogy Blog.

Family Discovery on eBay by Deb Ruth on Adventures in Genealogy. Deb also shared some great resources for maps.

The Big Genealogy Blog Book by Amy Coffin on We Tree Genealogy - buy Amy's new book! Amy also shares her experiences in self publishing.

Kathleen Brandt writes about Mayflower research on A3 Genealogy.

Tips on Decoding Family Photos by Susan Farrell Bankhead on Susan's Genealogy Blog.

And perhaps the best news - Season 3 of Who Do You Think You Are premieres on NBC on February 3

Around the Blogosphere - October 16

Here are several of my favorite blog posts from around the blogosphere this week. While some of these are not specific to genealogy, they do offer topics of relevance to genealogists.

9 Reasons to Publish an eBook by Ben Barden on Quick Blog Tips. If you are a blogger and aren't reading Ben's blog, you need to be.

Another post that focusing on writing has to do with NaNoWriMo - on The Ginger Jewish Genealogist. Do you think you can write a book in a month's time? That's what NaNoWriMo is about - and November is the month. Maybe your book doesn't have to be a novel, but about family history. The idea is to get it in gear and write!

Paula Stuart-Warren offers a perspective on Budget Choices in Life and in Family History on Paula's Genealogical Eclectica.

Dan Curtis is a professional personal historian and has a blog that genealogists and geneabloggers should subscribe to. This week he provided links to 20 articles about interviewing techniques. I always lament the fact that my college journalism coursework focused on reporting, writing and editing, but in four years, there was no mention or instruction on how to conduct an interview. It's certainly a lot more than writing out your questions ahead of time.

Randy Seaver is my genea-angel of the week with all of his posts about the new 2012 Family Tree Maker. While I haven't read every one all the way through (yet), I will - because, for a change, I want to avoid some mistakes by just clicking through a lot of buttons and not know what I'm doing. Randy provides a compendium to all of his articles about FTM 2012 in one post.

And - another Nebraska genealogist has joined the blogging world. Please visit Marcia Stewart's blog about her Turpin family on Turpin Traces. Marcia teaches beginning and intermediate genealogy classes at Southeast Community College here in Lincoln. And as a former student, I can tell you she is very good at it!

Around the Blogosphere - October 10

There have been so many great and informative genealogy blog posts recently - so many, in fact, that I've really had to just skim the surface in my blog reading. Truth is, I've read three books this week, so the blog reading took a bit of a back seat. However! Here are some of the blog posts that I enjoyed recently.

I enjoy reading about and seeing how other genealogists organize their work. While done out of necessity, Greta Koehl shared her story and photos of drying out some documents after having 26 inches of water in her basement. I think I would have just run away! See A Proper Place for Sentiment on Greta's Genealogy Blog.

Another peek in a genealogist's closet as provided by Michelle Goodrum of The Turning of Generations. Her post: Progress on the Archival Closet on Sorting Saturday.

My friend, Diana Ritchie, of Random Relatives is working on her goal of 15 minutes of writing every day. Her goal was inspired by our other friend, Lisa Alzo, at the FGS conference this year. Read What I've Been Doing for 15 Minutes Every Day! Diana also wrote another great post called I Just Received a Letter From My Great-Great Grandfather.

Another of our mutual friends (thanks to the Family History Expo in Kansas City last year), Jenna Mills, has been on a long time search for her grandmother and great-grandmother, who have been elusive for quite some time. I've been following Jenna's progress and took an interest since they were in Amherst, Nebraska for a while. Jenna reports the latest update on her Desperately Seeking Surnames blog.

Archives.com posted an article that I enjoyed about U.S. Presidents in the Census. In the census, they were just like everybody else, except for their occupation: President of the U.S.

If you haven't seen this yet, you definitely need to check out Joan Miller's gynormous family tree on Luxegen Genealogy and Family History.

Paula Stuart-Warren has laid the groundwork for what could evolve into the next genealogy meme. With October being Family History Month, Paula makes some suggestions for activities we can all do to help further our research. Read Paula's blog post and come November 1, post on your blog what YOU did during Family History Month. I've done so much already that I had to relax and unwind a couple days before the next group of activities begin!

After seeing the photos of DearMYRTLE (Pat Richley-Erickson) wielding a pitchfork at the FGS conference, I could hardly wait to read the rest of the story. She shares it (and more photos) in Back Story: Get Off the Fence and Start Writing.

Being able to "meet" other genealogy bloggers whether in person or in the virtual world is always great fun. Barbara Poole of Life From the Roots met up with bloggers who were on the Legacy Family Tree cruise at the New England Historic Genealogical Society last week. She shared her experiences and photos in Meeting Bloggers I've Not Met Before.

Around the Blogosphere - September 11, 2011

I am still outrageously behind in reading everyone's blog posts from the past week, but I have managed to select a few for inclusion in Around the Blogosphere.

Since so many folks attended FGS in Springfield, Illinois this week, I kept up on those activities via blogs, tweets and postings on Facebook. Rather than single out any of these posts, I suggest you take a look at the blog roll and tweets from the conference that are available on Geneabloggers.com

The best photos to capture the event were posted by Linda McCauley. My favorites were Abe Lincoln listening intently to Thomas MacEntee, and Dear Myrtle wielding a pitchfork. I hope someone shares the story about that! I think Abe really wants to get his hands on some geneablogger beads!

Good blog reading this week came from:

Labor Day Isn't a Good Day For Me - Debi Austen's beautiful tribute to her father on Who Knew?

Deb Ruth shared how she made use of her electricity-deficit time in When the Lights Go Out on Adventures in Genealogy.

Beatles fans will get the reference in Everyone Knew Her as Nancy, but her name was Agnes by Jean on Bluegrass and Buckeye Roots.

It's a short list this week, but as I get through my Google Reader, perhaps more of this week's posts will show up in next week's list.

Around the Blogosphere: September 4, 2011

Fall means the return of our favorite television programs, football season (maybe for you, but not for me), and also marks the return of Around the Blogosphere here at LongLostRelatives.net.

Summer activities have made it difficult to keep up with all of the genealogy blogs, but here are a few of my favorite posts from recent blogs:

The story of Sarah Alexander Lawton from On the Trail of Hillhouse by Jan Eloise Morris. I'll admit I'm a bit prejudiced since Jan is a long time friend, but a new blogger. She's a gifted writer and photographer who melds the two into fascinating pictorial essays about her family.

Greta Koehl always manages to bring a smile to my face. She does it again with Things I Don't Care About in Genealogy on Greta's Genealogy Blog. I can also relate to Greta's post Sometimes You Just Need to Clean House.

Hmm. . . is a theme emerging from the posts I've bookmarked as favorites? James Tanner of Genealogy's Star writes about Dealing With the Piles and Boxes - Genealogy in Quantity.

Apparently, I'm in the mood for humor as I also loved Amy Coffin's take on If Genealogists Were in the Tabloids on her We Tree blog.

I posted this link to Facebook, and it bears repeating here. This is a nice video about memories of the North Platte (Nebraska) canteen during World War II - from the Nebraska Outback blog.

Barbara Poole from Life From the Roots has a knack for seeing things through her camera lens. I love the way she shared a painting done by her grandfather at age 80, along with a photograph of the subject of the painting. You must take a look!

I also suggest you take a look at another new blog by a new friend (and potential cousin) of mine, Evelyn Pecht. Evelyn is off to great start in her geneablogging career at IowaGirlMemories. If you're at least my age, you'll appreciate her story about the outhouse!

And . . . the post that has become my Favorite Blog Post of the Year: All I Really Need to Know About Genealogy I Learned in Kindergarten by Elizabeth O'Neal on Little Bytes of Life. This is one I know that I will re-read several times and have it permanently marked as a keeper.

Follow Friday: Iowa Girl Memories and On the Trail of Hillhouse

It seems as though life has gotten in the way of regular blogging this summer and some may have noticed that I haven't been keeping up my usual "Around the Blogosphere" posts. But, I've still been tagging my favorite posts in my Google Reader and if you scroll down this screen, you will see a blog roll of my favorite posts from other bloggers.

That being said, this week, I'm returning to a Follow Friday post because I feel a great sense of pride for these two people who started blogging about their family history this week.

On the Trail of Hillouse - This blog is written by my long time friend (since 1983), Jan Eloise Morris. Jan is what I would consider a true Renaissance woman with many varied interests. What I sometimes only dream of doing, Jan actually does. She has recently returned from Paris, hosting a tour for fans of The Doors and Jim Morrison and a pilgrimage to Pere-Lachaise cemetery, where Morrison is buried. We became friends through our connection to country music and have had some great times in Nashville together. I also had the most wonderful 50th birthday weekend a few years back when I visited her while she was living in Los Angeles. As much fun as L.A. was, I'm glad to have my friend back in Nebraska.

I've been talking about genealogy blogging with Jan for months and after she heard me speak about blogging last weekend and using this format to share family history that she came home and within 24 hours had her blog up and running. Jan has an eye for graphic design and she also is able to weave her research into fascinating stories. Jan has also organized and conducted town tours in southeast Nebraska.

I love what she has already done with her Hillhouse blog and look forward to reading more.

Iowagirlmemories - The other blog I want to share this week is written by Evelyn Pecht. Evelyn was also in the class I taught on blogging last weekend. Evelyn and I had been in contact with one another before since our Pecht families come from the same area in Pennsylvania. We are most likely related - it's just a matter of discovering how. Evelyn started her blog this week and it is really taking shape.

One of Evelyn's posts this week is about her Grandma. This really struck a chord with me, as I have similar memories of visiting the hen house for eggs! Evelyn is an eloquent writer who is able to paint pictures with her words. I'm looking forward to reading more from her and watching her evolve as a blogger.

I hope you'll find Jan and Evelyn's blogs as interesting as I do. Please pay them a visit and welcome them to the genealogy blogging community.

Land Records and Genealogy Conference - Day 2

Day 2 - July 16, 2011


Yesterday began with me picking up Thomas MacEntee at his hotel and taking the "scenic route" to Beatrice. My perceived "shortcut" through my home town hit a roadblock when I realized the street I had selected did NOT go directly through to the highway we needed to be on! Thank goodness for the GPS, although she made us go in a circle, but we arrived in Beatrice fairly close to our original ETA. And thank goodness that Thomas is a good sport.

Thomas MacEntee
Genealogy Ninja
2010

Once sustained with some hot coffee, the second day of the Land Records and Genealogy Symposium was off to a good start. It was a day with an emphasis on the use of online technology for genealogists.

Thomas MacEntee gave two excellent presentations: Social Networking: New Horizons for Genealogists and Google for Genealogists. Even though I've known Thomas for about a year and have attended many of his webinars and listened to his weekly Geneabloggers radio show, this was the first time I'd heard him speak in person.

Both sessions were excellent and I picked up several new tips that I intend to use.

Thomas is, of course, the force behind Geneabloggers, a member of the Genealogical Speaker's Guild, His business is High Definition Genealogy and one of his many blogs is Destination Austin Family. Thomas' sessions were very well received by the audience and it seemed like a lot of folks had a new insight for using social media for genealogy.

Gail Blankenau gave an outstanding session on Dating and Identifying Your 19th Century Photos. She took us on a trip through fashion history with great ideas on how to narrow down the time frame when photographs were probably taken. Her photo examples were great illustrations of what to look for in our own photographs.

Our luncheon entertainment was provided by Marla Matkin, who reenacted the stories of strong pioneer women. She is available for presentations via the Nebraska Humanities Council.

I was the final speaker of the conference and my session was about Blogging Your Family History: Sharing What You Know. I gave an overview of how blogging can be advantageous to furthering your family history research and making connections with "cousins" who are researching others lines of the family. The second half of my talk was about the technical aspects of creating and designing a blog.

If you heard my presentation and liked what I had to say or learned something new, please write a review and leave feedback for me on the SpeakerMix web site (link below). I would appreciate your comments!

Have you heard me speak?

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Find me here: Genealogy Speakers, Internet Research Speakers, Social Networking Speakers, Blogging Speakers, Nebraska Speakers, Lincoln Speakers, Technology and New Media Speakers, Under $2,500 Speakers

Giving Back to the Blogging Community

As I stated in my remarks at the conference, I am willing to help beginning genealogy bloggers get started by answering your questions and giving advice, if asked. You can email me at sooznebr@gmail.com.

Read about Day 1 of the conference

Social Networking at the Conference

My 500th Blog Post - Thank you, Thomas MacEntee!

It was back in December 2009 when I started blogging on LongLostRelatives.net. I had only intended to use the blog for queries in hopes of finding some long lost relatives. It didn't take long for the blog to take on a life of its own.

I really hadn't thought about Post Number 500 being anything special until earlier this week. I read on Bill West's West in New England blog that he had achieved his 1,000th blog post. Then Derek Jeter hit his 3,000th hit - and a home run, at that! Number 500 took on a significant meaning.

So, it seems rather fitting that I pay tribute to my blogging mentor, my friend, the head Geneablogger himself, Thomas MacEntee.

Midwest Family History Expo, July 2010
Diana Ritchie, Thomas MacEntee, yours truly, Jenna Mills
photo copyright Jenna Mills 2010
used with permission

When I first discovered Geneabloggers.com early in 2010, Thomas welcomed me to the geneablogging community with open arms, support and advice. When I think of how Thomas gives of himself to the blogger community, it's easy to see that he is one busy man.

When I met Thomas at the Midwest Family History Expo in Kansas City last summer, I really felt as though I already knew him. If you've not met Thomas, he's just the same in person as he is on the 'net.

I mentioned to Thomas that I was interested in doing some public speaking on genealogy at some time in the future. Thomas was very encouraging and I'll never forget his words, "There's room at the table for everyone."

That simple piece of advice has guided me as I've started to dip my toes in the water of genealogy speaking. I have done hundreds of workshops and training sessions for my day-job, but I admit I was a wee bit nervous the first time I spoke in front of a group about genealogy. It went fine and I really enjoyed myself.

This coming weekend, I have the privilege of speaking at the Land Records and Genealogy Symposium in Beatrice, Nebraska. The symposium is sponsored by the Homestead National Monument and Southeast Community College. I'm going to be sharing the podium with several noted speakers, including the one and only Thomas MacEntee. Since my presentation topic is genealogy blogging, do you think I'm a wee bit nervous about Thomas being in the audience? Maybe a little bit, but not really - because I know that Thomas will be there to support me and encourage me, as he always has.

And I am REALLY looking forward to being Thomas' chauffeur and personal Nebraska tour guide next weekend. I know we'll have a great time, visiting about genealogy and blogging.

If Thomas has provided some inspiration, encouragement or support to your blogging activities or if you have attended one of the many free webinars he has conducted, I encourage you to show your support by visiting the Geneabloggers web site and make a donation as a way of saying "thank you" to Thomas for all he does for geneabloggers and genealogists around the world. And, no, Thomas did NOT ask me to make this pitch!

Can't wait until next weekend, my friend!
 

Open Discussion Weekend: Non-blogging Genealogists

While bouncing around the social networking sites, it occurred to me that the majority of my online genealogy colleagues are bloggers. We read one another's blogs, we follow one another on Twitter and we are friends on Facebook.

That made me think about something . . . are the majority of genealogists who I associate with bloggers? Do I even know any non-blogging genealogists?

In "real" life, of course I do. There are those people I meet at genealogy conferences and classes who seem a bit perplexed when I mention that I blog about family history. Sometimes I wonder if they know what a blog really is.

So, on this Independence Day weekend, I thought it would be fun to hear from readers, whether a blogger or not, for Open Discussion Weekend. Who makes up your online social/genealogy circle? Do you mainly hang out with other bloggers, do you hang out with "normal" genealogists or is it a nice balance? Do we get so wrapped up in our blogging that we forget there are genealogists who don't blog?

If you're a blogger, what do your non-blogging genealogy friends and associates think of that? That goes for real life as well - what do your friends and spouses think about your blogging?

Have fun with this one and leave your comments below!

Open Discussion Weekend: Blogging - What's in it For You?

As I'm making the final tweaks on a presentation on genealogy blogging, I've been wondering about what motivates genealogists to blog.

Why do you blog? Here are some possible reasons:

• To document your research journey and discoveries?
• To share information with other family members?
• Hope that distant cousins will discover the blog and contact you?
• To provide a forum for family members?
• To promote your genealogy-related business?
• To connect with other genealogists?
• To plan and promote a family reunion?
• To earn extra income through affiliate links?
• To write scholarly articles about genealogy or history?

I'm sure the answers are different for every one of us. In the comments section below, please share the primary reason why you blog.

Also feel free to share why you read and follow genealogy blogs.

Be as brief or as long winded as you like - I'm just very curious about all of the different reasons that bring us to the genealogy blogging community.

Thank you for your input - I look forward to reading what everyone has to say!

Genealogy Webinars Making Your Head Spin?

With the topic of webinars on the agenda for tonight's Geneablogger Radio show, I'm certain that Thomas MacEntee will be talking about the new blog and webinar calendar, GeneaWebinars. There are so many opportunities for online genealogy webinars these days. Among some of the best are from Legacy Family Tree. Now the Southern California Genealogical Society has announced that many of the sessions from the upcoming Jamboree will be available in the webinar format so those of us who don't attend the conference can make use  of the genealogy education experience.

My head spins from the idea of trying to keep up with all of these opportunities for classrooms in your home! I emailed Thomas MacEntee earlier this week and asked if Geneabloggers could provide a master calendar of all of these events. Well, he told me that DeartMyrtle (Pat Richley-Erickson) was already on top of such a project. GeneaWebinars showed up with a Facebook page yesterday. And this morning, the GeneaWebinars blog is now officially launched!

Another Reason to Blog About Your Family History

Earlier this month, I posted an obituary on Agnes Welch Garrigus, who was the sister of my great grandmother. They were the daughters of Mark Welch and Sarah Conneally, who lived in Waterbury and Litchfield, Connecticut. My great grandmother made her way to Nebraska and Agnes remained in Connecticut, married and raised a family.

The obituary included a reference to Rev Roy G. Pavy, who conducted Agnes' funeral service.

Shortly after posting the obituary I heard from my fellow blogger, Barbara Poole, who writes Life From the Roots. Rev. Pavy is in her family tree. Barbara wrote about this in her blog today.

Many of us who blog about our family history and who are part of the genealogy blogging community subscribe to many blogs written by our colleagues. When I see that 300 new blog posts have accumulated in my Google Reader over a day, I often think that I'm too tired to go through all of them and am tempted to mark them all as having been read and start over again. But I don't. The reason why is because of what happened when Barbara read my post. There is always that chance that another blogger is writing about an affiliated family and maybe, just maybe, that little tidbit of information, that little gem, that little clue that has been elusive for so long might show up in my Reader.

No, I do not read every blog post that shows up in my reader. But I scan through each and every one of them. Why? Because I believe in synchronicity. I know that there is always a chance that some long lost relative or other researcher is going to share that little piece of information that I'm looking for to add to the tapestry of my genealogical quilt.

My Favorites Posts from 2010

Yesterday, I shared the list of the LongLostRelatives blog posts with the most readership in 2010.

Today, I'll be a bit more indulgent and share the list of my favorite blog posts that I wrote during the year. As expected, most of these are more personal and family-related.

Family Stories and Memories

The Women in My Family Tree - Patricia Landon Kelly Petersen - a tribute to my Mom, who died in 1983 at age 55.

What If Your Ancestor Was an Axe Murderer? - it's always interesting to find those skeletons in the closet. This year I discovered that my 3rd great grandfather killed his daughter and then committed suicide. I know there is more to the story and I need to track down some more newspaper articles on this event from Valentine's Day, 1851.

Success Stories: When the Pieces Come Together  I had some photographs in an album of my great grandmother, Minnie Welch Kelly. By continuing my attempts to decipher the handwriting on the photos and entering numerous variations of a surname in Ancestry.com, my work finally paid off when I discovered that her sister Agnes married Clarence Garrigus, which led me to a lot of information on Agnes and Clarence's family.

The Bellinger Family History as Related by John Bellinger - this is the transcription of a letter originally penned by my great grandfather, John William Bellinger, about his revolutionary war ancestors. The family lore doesn't quite match up with what really happened, but it's an interesting story anyway.

Batter Up! the baseball players in my family - if there's a theme among my ancestors, it's farming, carpentry and baseball!

Success Story! Jeremiasen - Petersen immigration record - One of my brick walls came tumbling down once I upped the ante and got the World membership at Ancestry.com. My Petersen-Jeremiasen family immigrated via Quebec and I was finally able to make the connection to their roots in Denmark. To date, this is my first and only solid jump across the pond to my European ancestors.

Sunday Supper - homemade ice cream - it was fun reminiscing and sharing the story of the Great Ice Cream Scandal of 1959.

If You Can Read This, Thank a Teacher - Miss Bess Bowen - not a family member, but a woman who contributed to my education and love of learning - my teacher for kindergarten and grades one and two.

Create Your Own Genealogy Conference - I was a bit jealous of the folks attending the Jamboree in California last summer and was living vicariously through their Facebook messages and blog posts. So I came up with the idea of doing a Create Your Own Genealogy conference using resources and learning tools available on the Internet.

Those were my favorite posts of the year. What will 2011 bring?

Most Viewed Blog Posts of the Year

As 2010 draws to a close, all of the media seems to be doing a "year in review" and I thought it would be interesting to see what blog posts on LongLostRelatives.net had the most views during the year - at least since the time that Blogger began tracking this information in May.

It was no surprise to me that the posts that were most popular with my readers were not those about my family or my discoveries or success stories, but rather those posts that were of more general interest to the genealogist-at-large. Product reviews seemed to get the most readership on this blog.

Coming out at the top of the list, tied with the same number of views, were the two-parts of my review of the Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner. About one fourth of the people who viewed these posts were referred via the link to this blog from Flip-Pal's official site.

Flip-Pal Review - Miracle in Minutes - Part 1

Flip Pal Review - Part 2

Several weeks ago, I changed the focus of my Follow Friday blog posts to what I call "Around the Blogosphere." Each week, I label my favorite posts in my Google Reader, review each of those posts on Friday and select the ones I enjoyed the most to share in this feature. The post receiving the most views in this category was from the December 24 edition. This was clearly due to the fact that Randy Seaver of Geneamusings took the week off from his "Best of . . ." series and referred people over here and to Greta's Genealogy Blog. Thanks, Randy! I also appreciate it that Randy always spells my last name correctly! A good trait for a genealogist!

The next two most viewed posts had to do with my enthusiasm for using the Kindle e-Book reader for genealogy:

The original post, Kindle for Genealogy appeared in September and last week, I posted Kindle for Genealogy Redux when I discovered another use for the Kindle so that I can carry my charts and family group sheets - and photos - on my Kindle.

Another Follow Friday post that received a lot of traffic was my review of five of Family Tree magazines best free web sites. That was a fun task for me - to test drive some web sites I had not visited before, see what they had to offer and share my findings with blog readers.

Next on the list was an article I wrote about managing and organizing digital files. I need to re-read that one myself because it seems like I have files and folders all over my various computer drives the last couple months. I need to take my own advice!

Another in the most visited list was my post on the first blogiversary of LongLostRelatives.net. I worked on this post for several weeks because I knew it would be a one-time post and I really wanted to include the highlights of the year. So many incredible things have occurred this year in my genealogy and blogging world and I wanted to share my excitement and enthusiasm with my new found friends. My thanks to everyone who read the post and left their congratulatory comments. Those really meant a lot to me.

A post I wrote called Why Do Singles Do Genealogy? also created some great discussion among blog readers.

Where do readers of LongLostRelatives.net live?

Don't worry. Blogger doesn't tell me WHO you are or specifically where you live. It just provides statistics on the countries of origin of site visitors. Also not surprising is that the overwhelming number of blog readers reside in the United States, followed by the U.K., South Korea, Russia, Germany, Australia, Netherlands, Slovenia, and Malta.

I get by with a little help from my friends

Many blog readers wind up here by clicking on a link from another site. Topping the list of referring URLs is my own domain, LongLostRelatives.net - no surprise there.

Next, I once again give a tip of the hat to Randy Seaver of Geneamusings for sending visitors my way. I appreciate that Randy includes a link to my Around the Blogosphere list each week, but even more exciting is when Randy selects one of my posts for his "Best of . . ." lists. I've made that a time or two this year, so getting Randy's seal of approval is always a thrill. Thanks, Randy!

I've already mentioned that the Flip-Pal mobile scanner web site's link to my review of their product brings a lot of traffic to the blog.

The next site that sends readers my way is Geneabloggers. I am forever grateful to Thomas MacEntee for all he does for the growing community of people who write genealogy blogs. He is always available to answer my questions - especially those having to do with his area of expertise - technology and social networking. He is also a lot of fun in person. Thanks, Thomas, your support has really meant a great deal to me this year.

Last, and certainly not least, in the sites sending traffic here is Family History Expos. I was honored to have been selected as a blogger of honor for the Midwest Family History Expo in Kansas City in July. It was an amazing opportunity to meet my fellow bloggers and make new friends. Holly Hansen and her team do a great job with these regional genealogy conferences and I'm looking forward to meeting up with the gang again in Overland Park in 2011. Thanks, Holly, and FHE!

2010 has been a wild ride and I am thankful for everyone who reads LongLostRelatives.net - whether it be on a regular basis or for that one post that strikes your fancy. It's truly a labor of love and I'd do it even if I was the only one reading it. Knowing that something I've written has helped inform or educate another person makes this truly rewarding. And, of course, there were those numerous long lost relatives with whom I connected this year. That was the best part of all.

Thanks again to readers of this blog. I look forward to another eventful 2011!

First Blogiversary of Long Lost Relatives.net

Breaking Through Brick Walls
Is Like Icing on the Cake

It hardly seems possible that I've been blogging about my family history quest for a year.

My original idea about the blog was to post queries or "looking for" messages about ancestors and long lost relatives who had become brick walls. My first post, one year ago today, was a query searching for my mother's cousin, Evelyn Bellinger Gibbons. I still have not tied up the loose ends on that search. But I have found the source of her husband's obituary and his burial location, so I'm not too far away.

It didn't take me long to begin sharing the old family photographs, stories and obituaries on the blog. Then I added information about genealogy events in Nebraska. As my Tombstone Tuesday postings increased, I decided to start another blog of my tombstone photographs with a title that aptly describes it, Nothing But Tombstones.

Shortly after I started my blog, I discovered the Geneabloggers blog, managed by the one and only Thomas MacEntee. I was welcomed with open arms by the geneablogging community, and LongLostRelatives.net had about a dozen followers sign up within the first few days of my blog being announced by Thomas. Then I got hooked on following my fellow bloggers to see what they were writing about - and learning more and more about genealogy resources and research.

I had dabbled on Facebook before, but decided to focus my Facebook presence primarily on genealogy. I sent friend requests to a few people who I already knew, introduced myself as a genealogist to others with the same interest and my online network started to grow.

The Year in Review


Looking back over the past year, my genealogical world has literally exploded with new found friendships, contacts and distant (and not-so-distant) relatives.

Some of the highlights of the past 12 months:

• Selecting some of my favorite photographs from my personal collection to share on the blog. Every picture tells a story (remember the old Rod Stewart album of that name?).
• In January, I took a risk and posted What if Your Ancestor Was a Axe Murderer? - a rather disturbing tale of my 3rd great grandfather killing his teenage daughter and then committing suicide.
• Genealogy hit mainstream television with NBC's Who Do You Think You Are? and PBS' Faces of America. We all tuned in and it seemed like the number of people researching their family history at least quadrupled overnight.
• Through shirt-tail kin who I had "met" online, I first saw a photograph of the tombstone of my great-great grandparents, Mark Welch and Sarah Conneally in Litchfield, Connecticut. By deciphering some penmanship and discovering the correct spelling of a surname, I connected one of Mark and Sarah's daughters, Agnes, to the Garrigus family and a wealth of stories and discoveries on FindAGrave emerged.
• The floodgates opened once I made the connection to my great-great grandfather's brother, Daniel Kelly, whose family remained primarily in St. Paul, Minnesota. A research trip to Ramsey county and a stroll down Summit Avenue is definitely in my future.
• In March, I took a two session class taught by local genealogists Marcia Stewart and Cynthia Monroe. Tips from the class helped me get out of my comfort zone and try additional research methods.
• Spring came and that meant some field trips to Wyuka Cemetery and Calvary Cemetery in Lincoln (Nebraska) and Rose Hill Cemetery in Waverly. Later in the summer was an excursion to Sheffer Pioneer Cemetery between Greenwood and Ashland, Nebraska. The cemetery had not yet been added to the FindAGrave site, so I added the cemetery to their database and added the photos of the graves I was able to document. My photographs on FindAGrave became the largest collection of photos of Sheffer Pioneer Cemetery to be housed in one online location. Since then, I've been able to transfer several of the memorials over to the direct descendants of some of those pioneers buried there.
• On St. Patrick's Day, I attended a wonderful presentation by the Ulster Historical Foundation on Irish and Scots-Irish research.
• In May, I attended the two-day conference of the Nebraska State Genealogical Society in Norfolk, Nebraska, featuring two fantastic days of lectures presented by Paula Stuart Warren, who immediately became one of my genealogical heroes.
• In May, I also made my first jump across the pond. Who would have ever thought that my Danish ancestors would be my first European connection? In Danish naming tradition, the surname changes every generation! I had resigned myself to never being able to go back to a prior generation. The Jeremiasens had been elusive to me in immigration records and passenger lists on Ancestry.com - until I splurged for Ancestry's world membership and within a few days, I found the Jeremiasens arrival record via Quebec! Shortly thereafter, I found the Jeremiasens in the Danish online database.
• Enter the power of social networking. I was following William Smith's Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories blog and we are Facebook friends. He had commented on a photograph of the Midwest Genealogy Center in Kansas City that was posted by Jenna Mills and a reference to the upcoming Midwest Family History Expo in July. Within a day I was registered to attend!
• I was invited to be a Blogger of Honor at the Midwest Family History Expo. Wow! I would be blogging and posting to Facebook about my experiences at the Expo.Within ten minutes after the opening session, I found myself at the Beacon of Bloggers area and my Facebook friends suddenly became my real life friends - Thomas MacEntee of Geneabloggers and Destination Austin Family, Jenna Mills of Desperately Seeking Surnames, Diana Ritchie of Random Relatives, the previously mentioned Dr. Bill, Lisa Alzo, Cheri Hopkins (aka You Go Genealogy Girl #2), Gena Philibert Ortega of Gena's Genealogy. That weekend went by entirely too fast!

Blogger Get Together at Family History Expo in Kansas City
Diana Ritchie, Thomas MacEntee, yours truly, Jenna Mills
photo copyright 2010 Jenna Mills
used with permission

• October was Family History Month and that meant a full day with John Colletta at the Lincoln-Lancaster County Genealogical Society fall conference  and another full day at the Greater Omaha Genealogical Society fall conference two weeks later. It also marked the beginning of a six week course on the history of Lincoln (Nebraska) taught by local historian Jim McKee. It was very insightful to be able to place my family in context with local history. I suppose I'm one of the fortunate genealogists who lives in the same county where my family has planted roots for nearly 140 years. The streets where my ancestors worked and lived are all around me.
• October also marked the arrival of what I believe is the best product to hit the marketplace for genealogists in ages - the Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner. I've made no secret of my enthusiasm for this product. I'm a scanning fool! My other product recommendation this year is to use the Kindle e-reader for genealogy. I'm now carrying thousands of pages of local history books in my purse all the time. I'll confess that I also use my Kindle for some game-playing - probably more than I should!
• November brought a new adventure when I decided to have my DNA tested at 23andMe. Fellow bloggers Joan Miller and Carole Riley and I decided to become DNA testing buddies. We'll be blogging about our experiences and serve as support for one another as we go through the process. Of the three of us, I probably have the most to learn, since I know nothing about the science of this process. We are located in different countries - Joan in Canada, Carole in Australia and me in the United States, so I think it will be interesting to see what kind of migratory patterns emerge for each of us. You can keep up on our adventure as well as read other pertinent blog posts on the subject by following this RSS feed.
• I love reading the blogs written by other genealogists and recently made the Follow Friday theme a regular feature on this blog with Around the Blogosphere - a review of my favorite posts from the geneabloggers from the previous week. I have learned so much from the rest of you this year!

It's been a fun-filled and eventful year in my genealogy and blogging world. My heart-felt thanks to everyone who has posted comments on this blog or personally contacted me. The genealogy community is by far the most friendly and helpful group of people with whom I've ever been associated. My thanks to my blog readers, followers, my Facebook friends and Twitter followers. Who would have ever believed I'd be using Twitter after my "Bye Bye Blue Birdie" post!

So, is this post a bit self-indulgent? Of course! It's okay, I'm only going to have a First Blogiversary once. Many thanks to all of the wonderful people I've networked with during the past year. You helped me get here.

Follow Friday: Around the Blogosphere - December 10

I'm sure that some of you will be relieved to know that none of the Advent Calendar blog posts will be included in this week's edition of Around the Blogosphere. Nothing personal, I just quit reading these about six days ago. In between those posts, there were quite a few posts that I would like to highlight:

Deb of Adventures in Genealogy had a good Follow Friday post last week in which she provided links to several genealogical and historical societies - all worth checking out and bookmarking.

DearMYRTLE shared an update of all of the latest newspaper records to GenealogyBank.com.

The Saving Stories blog has a nice piece on the history of social media and using it for genealogy.

Ian Kath advises folks to take a break from their life stories on the Create Your Life Story blog.

A story that needs to have a follow-up posted is the Groom is Sick on the Oakland Genealogy Items blog. You've GOT to read this one.

The photo shared by Debbie Parker Wayne on Deb's Delvings in Genealogy is a magnificent comparison between old and new. Be sure to check it out.

These photographs of an Irish famine ship were also quite interesting and emotional as I thought about my ancestors from Ireland. These are from the blog 'On a Flesh and Bone Foundation: An Irish History'

Follow Friday: Around the Blogosphere - December 3

It's Friday once again and that means it's time for Around the Blogosphere - a look at my favorite posts from the genealogy blogs from the past week.

Lynn Palermo of The Armchair Genealogist recommends getting a wider audience for your genealogy book by getting an ISBN number.Not sure what that is? Read Lynn's post.

Tips for telling your life story are shared by Ian on Create Your Life Story.

My friend, Diana Ritchie, tells about her family's connection to Colorado with her post, Every Family Has One, on Random Relatives. Diana has also decorated her blog for Christmas, so check it out.

Another friend, Barbara Poole, shares some good information in her post about the history of the Eastern Townships on Life from the Roots.

James Tanner of Genealogy's Star makes my list once again with his explanation of dpi, ppi and scanning documents for genealogy purposes.

Paula Stuart-Warren of Paula's Genealogical Eclectic reminds all that we need to leave behind our own life stories for future generations.

Michael John Neill's story, Cleaning Mother's House, a reprint from 2002 is a wonderful piece of satire. However, as I learned from sharing this on Facebook, the experiences he describes have hit a little too close to home for some people. This is definitely one of the "must read"s for this week.

I hope you'll find these posts as interesting and informative as I did. To read previous Around the Blogosphere posts, click here.