Day Three from the FGS Conference in Birmingham Alabama

Up bright and early NOT! Dragging a little this morning, torn between watching the RNC and going to bed, I chose RNC.... oh well we all make the wrong choices at one time or the other....  but it only seemed wrong this morning when getting up. Weather seems to be the same and no rain.

First session: Getting the most out of the census: Finding Ancestry Clues in Census Records: 1790-1930 with Frazine K Taylor.......  I have to admit that talking census at 8am is not something I really want to do. This session moved forward very slowly. Frazine handed out sheets with just the headings of the 1820-1930 census (no the 1940 was not incluuded) and then we went over each year, the differences, how to interrupt each one and comparisons between them all. And then she discussed the 1940 Census. The one thing I took away was it may be immportant to transcibe each census you find so that you are aware of all the information on each census.

Second session: Railroad Retirement Board Application Files, 1930's-   1960's with Connie Potter and Maureen Hill.- both Archivists in Washinton DC and Altanta GA respectfully ........ I have been really looking forward to this session. My Grandfather worked on the Pennsylvania RR starting around the 1910's through retirement in 1955. I have not been able to find out anything about his railroad career except through the census records.  l found out today that all Railroad Pension records are now located at the Archives in Atlanda Georgia AND I have made friends with Archivist. I have my grandfathers social  security number which falls into the '700-729' numbering reserved for employees of the railroad. Now I just need to send an email which includes certain imfornation and she will look up his file and contact me before making copies. YIPPPPPEY!!! Score!!!

Third session: Smiths and Joneses: How to Cope with Families of Common Names with Elizabeth Shown Mills......... well what can I say when you are in the presense of the master. Alot of discussion because everyone has a Smith o Jones OR both on the family tree. It is just a matter of elimination. JUST? ha ha

LUNCH: sponsored by National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)- 'The 1940 Census and the Great Depression' with speaker Connie Potter (name sound familiar remember the railroad presentation earlier)....... What a great sense of humor. Alot of fun. She used examples from the 1940 census to  show the differences and different questions asked in the 1940 census. Very entertaining.

Next session: this is a two hour session (which actually turned out to be almost 3 hours) with Pamela Boyer Sayre and Riichard G Sayre titled 'Apps Galore for Genealogists.........learning about many iPhone and iPad applications that will increase productivity for all genealogists. Wow, where do I start, it was great. So many ways of using your smartphone along with the ipad. They presented the session as a normal day in their lives. Excellent!! (airport remote; board the plane; adobe photo shop express; bar code scanner, quick scan; good reader; PDF pro; google earth; keynote; quickoffice; printer share; skype; cardstar; dragon dictation; billion graves; mocavo; last names & last names Canada; puffin web browser; Yelp; ibooks; qr code and som much more)

Last  session of the day: German Resources and Beginning Basics with Sonja Hoeke-Nishimoto..... learning about German resources on microfilm, in books, the internet and other media. (sponsored by FamilySearch) ......... I did find out alot about FamilySearch Wiki, FamilySearch catalog, Meyers online gazetter, Hessin online gazetter, Sachsin online gazetter, Passenger lists for Hamburg, Bremen & Stetten & Genealogy.net .....  one thing that is always stressed for German research is you HAVE to know the town./village your German ancestor was born in. AND SO FAR I DO NOT KNOW THIS LITTLE PIECE OF THE PUZZLE YET!!. George & Caroline Dietz, from Bavaria./ Hesse Darmstadtr  - they are a mystery.  

.........and then there was the extended hours of the exhibit hall and a party like feeling, with lots of prizes and more drawings......  and my name was not called at all - disappointing but not the end. They had hundred's of frosted cupcakes and 1940 t-shirts and 1940 bags for everyone or while they lasted. FamilyTreeDNA is giving discounts during the show time (wow, what a surpirse) so I upgraded my brothers DNA from 37 markers to 67.  Results will take 4-6 weeks. This is my direct line so I will be anxious to see if the upgrade will make a difference. No reeal hits so far. What a mystery this DNA thing is to me.

........... another full day of sessions and going back through the exhibit hall too. ........ I need to call my DH, watch the news and get to bed. Nite all.

posted for your enjoyment by Sandra Gardner Benward