Monday, June 10, 2013

Monday Madness - "Final Day of Jamboree"

Editor's note: Today's post was written by Sandra Gardner-Benward


I cannot believe that this is the last day of Jamoboree. It has been alot of fun, alot of socializing, and alot of learning and growing. I have so many newer ideas to help me break through some brick walls and extend the generations and my research. When is that happening? Soooon, I always say soon.

"Records of the Poor in England" with Kathy Warburton......  it would seem that there were more poor in England than we want to know about. It seems that it was a norm in the 16th - 18th centuries. Very sad circumstances. Records of the poor of England, created by church and government institutions, can reveal fascinating details about the lives of our ancestors. AND believe it or not, the poor and paupers created quite a numbers of documents. You really need to know your history, do the research and read up on the period of time you are interested. The records are in Parish Chest Records, depostied at county record offices, try www.genuki.org.uk . search Family History Library Catalog, try www.workhouses.org.uk



"Elizabeth: The Story of a German Immigrant" with Jean Wilcox Hibben PhD, MA, CG
This first person narrative is followed by an explanation of how the inforamtion was located. Elizabeth, in 1864, left Germany (Prussia) and her husband and her 5 children. We learned why she left, how she left, and what happened when she got to American at the end of the Civil War. During the narration of Elizabeth Huberta Thenee Mueller Wolbert (1828-1895) by her great-great granddaughter, Jean Wilcox Hibben, slides of how the story was peiced together.

This was awesome. Jean was dressed in the part, and period of time, language period and told the story as if she was Elizabeth. And the informaiton that followed the story showed all the research she did, showing documents and proof of all points in the story. Good Job Jean!



"Aye, it's a well known fact Sonny Jim":  Getting the most out of ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk  given by Dan Poffenberger AG. Dan works for FamilySearch and you may run into him on the International Floor - specializing in Scotland. This website is a government website managed by the General Register Office of Scotland. There are a number of other excellent sites and current projects that are making Scottish research easier. It is a paid site - paid in credits. At this moment in time 30 credits costs 7pounds (about $10-$11 US dollars). This covers a 1year period of time. When the credits run out of course you will need to purchase more if you want to continue. If your year runs out before your credits, you will need to purchase more credits (and you will still have the remaining ones too) which will give you another year to research.  Your searches are free, it costs credits to look at pages and of course it costs a little more to order whatever the document is. However, whatever searches you do and have paid for are always there to view at later dates. So search wisely, think about how you can narrow down your choices before you feel you need to view the page and pay one credit. When I do return to Salt Lake City for research at the Family History Center I will be looking up Dan Poffenberger for assistants.



"Future Family Historians: Engaging Younger Generations with Josh Taylor, MA, MLS (current President of FGS) The future of family history depends largely upon encouraging yournge genreations to particiapte. It is a matter of leveraging technology tools such as Facebook, Twitter, and blogging and traditional methods to develop and foster interest among future family historians. Other ways of engaging the younger people (sometime referred too as 21sters) are through games, through Google hangout, through technology.........  do things differently at meetings or special events. A first step might be to create a special taskforce of leaders, members and volunteers to launch an initiative that examines way to interact with and engage 21sters. Now who are these 21sters......  according to Josh, who is definetely a 21ster himself but not a typical one......it is difficult to put an exact age on this new generation. Many are younger than a sterotypical genealogist, usually under 45 years of age, and overly capable of using technology. He says "genealogy without technology is as foreign to the majoirty of 21sters as the idear of genealogy without printed books is to many traditional genealogical society members or library visitors." We need to rethink Genealogy 101, have a one on one interaction, involve the community, mentor - create a mentoring program  drawing on the strength of long time genealogists. The age of digital resources can fully entice 21sters to become engaged, far more than printed publications. The key is to achieve a balance that will work for both audiences. Always great information from Josh. We all need a Josh in our own organizations.



 Denise and Scott Richmond and myself got our table set up for Sunday Society Day. Each day 3-4 different societies were able to show and shine with their own materials, resources etc. Sunday was our day.........  We collected all we needed and the Richmonds carried it down in their car. Denise made some great purchases while traveling for our table - table runner with leaves on it, business card holder also with leaves hanging from it, and flyer holders. (great choices Denise) We set up the table early Sunday morning and between the three of us tried to man/woman it throughout the day. We did have alot of traffic inbetween classes and at the lunch break. It was a good experience.




Final Day......  it was a good conference. Weather was really great (I hear that we missed 104 & 108 degree temps in Sacramento over the weekend - thank goodness). The special DNA day brought 352 participants and speakers. The Jamboree attracted just under 1200 participants. The numbers were down (probably due to NGS Conference in Las Vegas less than a couple of weeks before) but it sure didn't feel like it. The rooms were comfortable and you didn't have to fit for a seat in any class. That was a good thing. Denise volunteered some of her time as a room monitor for several classes througout the weekend. I volunteered some of my time helping with the California State Genealogical Alliance table in the exhibit hall.

A big thank you to the Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree Committee also Paula Hinkle and Leo Myers, chairs of the Southern California Jamboree. (sorry that I did not get a close up picture of Leo - the woman in blue is standing in front of Leo - sorry Leo)



Looking forward - mark your calendars for June 6-8, 2014 for the 45th Annual Jamboree 2014 at the Mariott Burbank Hotel. I will be there since my conference fees are paid for. Thank You!!

                                                ..........the end for another year..........


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