One final look at FGS 2011

I've had a few days to catch my breath and reflect upon my first national genealogy conference. I'm still dazed by the experience. So this is going to be one of those pick your superlative posts. Toss in a few adjectives for emphasis and you have my slack-jawed, newbie perspective.

Conference chairs Paula Stuart-Warren and Josh Taylor put on an outstanding conference and weren't a bad stand-up act either. I'm sure they had help from hundreds of people. I thank them all. Hard to see how FGS 2011 can be topped (and yes, I do know about RootsTech, and yes, I do want to go someday).

The courses were and always will be the main draw for me. I may be new to conferences and blogging, but I've been researching for decades and have well defined objectives and obstacles. I'm not interested in broad topics or even case studies (unless Thomas Jones is speaking). There were enough narrowly focused courses covering topics of interest that I could have attended two courses each session and still missed a few I wanted to hear. And they were really, really good!

As it was, I crawled out of Springfield exhausted, but thrilled to have gotten introductions to records that may hold information I've been seeking for many years. The syllabi will be a fabulous resource. I even purchased recorded copies of several classes I could not attend.

That said, I can't imagine doing this every year. The costs, while reasonable, are a factor. If it comes down to visiting my family (the living ones) or a genealogy conference, family wins. It was enormous fun to meet virtual friends and make new ones. But this was so big, with so many options, that I was frustrated at not being able to do it all. Six classes were scheduled on Friday and Saturday. I managed to get to five on Friday and three on Saturday before I surrendered and headed back to St. Louis. The pace was grueling. There are people I truly wanted to meet that I didn't. My fault for not seeking them out.

Next time I'll do better. For there will absolutely be a next time. I'll whip myself into shape (maybe even lose a couple pounds in the process). I'll make a point of connecting with the people I really want to meet. I'll have more realistic expectations, a better grasp of the pace. 160 class offerings over four days - I'll only schedule 4 or 5 each day. Throw in a couple breakfasts, luncheons or evening receptions and I should have at least 12 minutes free each day.

Here's to Fort Wayne in 2013!  

'Tis the season - Wordless Wednesday

My great-uncle Phil Sawyer played football

at Milligan College near Johnson City, TN, c. 1919.

Samuel Doak - Tombstone Tuesday

1749             1829
Samuel Doak
Founder
Salem Church, 1780
Washington College, 1795

Samuel Doak Chapter, Daughters
American Revolution, Morristown, Tenn.
Assisted in Erecting this Monument

This monument, standing in Salem Cemetery on the grounds of Washington College, southeast of Jonesborough, TN, was erected in memory of the Rev. Samuel Doak, an early Presbyterian minister in East Tennessee and the founder of the first college in Tennessee. Rev. Doak is twice my uncle by marriage, having married first Margaret Houston McEwen, sister of my 5th great-grandmother Alice Houston Stephenson, and second Esther Houston Montgomery, Margaret and Alice's aunt.

He was a towering figure in the early history of East Tennessee -  preaching at Sycamore Shoals to the Overmountain Men, founding Salem Church, two schools and a staunch abolitionist.

The last day - FGS 2011

I had an ambitious schedule laid out for the last day of the FGS conference - six classes before driving home to St. Louis. I got to three.

Part of the problem was the time it took to recover from spending Friday evening parked in the deep freeze masquerading as the northwest corner of the Springfield Hilton Ballroom. Never go there. The chandelier crystals were blowing horizontally over our heads. We complained. Repeatedly. Those of us staying at the Hilton ran to our rooms and brought down sweaters, hoodies, wraps and coats. Only my deep respect for FGS organizers stopped me from bringing down the bathrobes and blankets. I have never been colder. It took two hours huddled under blankets sipping hot water to recover. I slept in the next morning and missed the first class.

I did attend Jay Fonkert's class on midwestern geography Porkopolis to Bonanza Farms. The topic was a bit ambitious for one hour, but his bibliography recommendations and syllabus were superb. It would be great to hear this broken into two classes. His discussion on the rise and fall of the midwestern cities was marvelous. An aside - I've long wanted the National Geographic Society's Historical Atlas of the United States, but Fockert convinced me it's a must have.

Next, I went to Linda Woodward Geiger's Evidence: Guidelines for Evaluating Genealogical Sources. This was the one course I took that was a refresher course for me, but I'd been to two of her earlier classes and completely enjoyed them. As I did this one. Don't blame her if I talk about primary sources or derivative information. This is one of those areas I need a cheat sheet in front of me to keep the terminology straight.

After a quick lunch with Geneablogger buddy Margel I headed back for Dean Hunter's Locating American Scots-Irish Families in the Records of Ireland and Scotland. I've not crossed the pond with any of the colonial lines I research but if I do, Ireland and Scotland are where I will land. Hunter's overview (and again, bless the wonderful syllabus) was a peek into an area I've feared to tread. Completely new records to explore. Estate records there mean land, not what's passed on after death.

It was three o'clock when this class finished and whatever spongelike qualities I had when the conference began were long gone. I looked at the schedule, looked at the map, grabbed two candy bars,  a caffeine ladened soft drink and headed for home.

I don't think I moved for two hours once I got home. I wouldn't have moved then except the dog peed all over my suitcase still parked in the front hall. He missed me!

Photograph by future15pic

I remember

I never liked the World Trade Center towers. They were built while I was growing up outside New York City. They were out of scale with the rest of the Manhattan skyline, dwarfing the skyline of my childhood where the Empire State building reigned.

But these last ten years, all I can see when I look at that skyline is the spot where they stood. And I wish so very much that they and all those who perished that day were still standing.




Photograph by Jeffmock (Own work) [GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0 or CC-BY-SA-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons.