Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Wild & Wooly Wednesday "Gone to Texas" FGS Conference - Society Day

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






Conference begins for me today.........FGS offers Society Day each year and they do an excellent job, Each year they offer new material. The only other conference that I have attended that offers a similar day is the Southern California Genealogical Society at their. Jamboree-they have done an excellent job also. At both conferences these series of Society classes are offered free. Thank You!!
 it is Society Day.......

You know me, I am a proud Root Cellar SGS member, wearing my Root Cellar SGS t-shirt, my name badge & swingers plus carrying my tote bag.......I am ready for Society Day. Again I had people asking me about the name badge  & swingers. They want to know where to get them, unfortunately I don't remember and I don't think it is on the website, They have always been a great ice breaker.

Opening Remarks, and all sessions including the luncheon is geared towards societies, society leaders, and anyone interested in learning more about society  - lots of ways of helping or getting more involved.

Josh Taylor (Root Cellar SGS 2015 Spring Seminar speaker)  gave the Welcoming remarks on Focus on Societies.

The rest of the morning was Strong Business Strategy= Sound Society Strategy with David Rencher and Ed Donakey. In the half day session we talked about understanding the need to plan sources of income/expenditures, understanding the cost of every great idea, working through social media constructs, forecasting results based on plans, embracing the written plan, supporting your society and leaving it better than you found it,

LUNCHEON: Focus on Societies - The State of Our Societies with Josh Taylor and others. FGS held its Annual Business Meeting - required. Then they held a Society Shout-Out........  Society leaders got up and let others know what their society is up too - the good and bad. The bad thing is only about 10 people got to speak and unfortunately it wasn't me........  I tried but didn't get picked.
Survey was taken and here are some of the results: 48 US states are members of FGS plus Canada, , Virgin Islands, Ireland, & now New Zealand, (Maine and West Virginia are the missing states); the average FGS society has 345 members; 34 % increased their membership over the year; 20%  membership decreased; 35% membership remained the same; 81% renewal rate; 40 new members
per society this year. 20% of the FGS societies have a first family/first settler program; 58% of societies in this program remained the same - 27 applications yearly. Library- 50% of FGS societies with libraries partner with other organizations (other library's, city & county organizations ); 23% rent or own their library building; 26%have NO library , Publications: 88% have a public newsletter; 65% have electronic or postal publication, 20% electronic publications only, 15% paper publications, 64% of growing societies offered only electronic publications. Josh concludes that Societies are stronger than ever but it is just more challenging.
.
Embracing Technology: Tools You Can Use Today to Move Your into the Virtual Space with panelists Jen Baldwin, Josh Taylor, David Rencher, Rory Cathcart,  Cindi E.  These people have created a totally virtual genealogical network called NextGen Genealogical Network. There are over 1500 followers and about 100 paid members but it is growing quickly, They do everything in  virtual world. They use Google+ hangout on air, google drive, dropbox, facebook and others. This seems to be the way of the future........  board meetings could be held in the virtual world. I am finding that a lot of societies large (FGS & IGS) and small hold their board meetings in the virtual world. A lot of committee meetings are being held in the virtual world also. It really is something to think about......  it could be that more members might participate.

"Dinner in a Cemetery or Dinner with the "Dead" with Mark Lowe (remember him from a couple of the Who Do You Think You Are?  shows) ......... all about fun, finding the people and their history and using it to educate the public and maybe a fundraiser. It is different but not totally crazy. I think it would be a fun project and possibly an ongoing project.

"Virtual Presentations for Genealogical Societies" with our friend Thomas MacEntee.......  we learned how we can expand our genealogy speaking opportunities to virtual presentations from the comfort of your home or for your members only- webinar's .........Go to Webinar and Go to Meeting are tied together when you make a purchase.Thomas says that the Illinois Genealogical Society has doubled their membership since they have started their webinar program. Always an interesting idea to keep membership and to increase their membership.


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Wild Wednesday "Gone to Texas" FGS Conference

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

Tuesday continuation...................

Tuesday evening I attended FamilySearch Media Dinner Gathering. FamilySearch has sponsored this blogger/media dinner for a number of years and is held the night before the Conference begins.This gives FamilySearch an opportunity to talk to the media/blogger group one on one, letting them know what is new, what is coming, what is in the works.



David Rencher spoke about FamilySearch Family Tree. Dan Call gave us an a look at last years RootsTech2014 and a look ahead at RootsTech 2015.There were 5250 paid attendees in 2014 and then the count goes way up with all the special events - Kid's Day, LDS Training and others. The dates for 2015 are February 12-14 & the Innovator Summit February 11. 

REGISTRATION OPENS AUGUST 29 @ $139 (lowest price for about two weeks and then it will go up). So if you are considering attending do it on the 29 August or within 2 weeks of that, As you may know or not, 2015 RootsTech and FGS Conference are both being held at the same time, in the same place.They will be sharing the Exhibit Hall, registration and some other things but it will be separate conferences ........one technology for genealogy and one strictly genealogy sessions.You can register for one or the other OR you can register for one and pay a little extra for a 3 day pass to the other.

Bryce Roper  manager for Family Tree spoke about the FamilySearchTree and FamilySearch Memories mobile apps. FSTree is ready and is great for doing research on the go. If you have a family tree on FamilySearch Tree the app allows you to access it, but it does a lot more than that. FS Memories mobile app deals with pictures and other things. The android app will be ready very soon. I have not downloaded either one so I can't tell you much more but it looks very good.

Robert Kehrer went wild and did a live presentation and it worked. Q&A was good and lively.


We sure appreciate their insights and all the behind the scene stories. The evening was very
well attended. Dinner was very good........  thank you for the nice gift
(travel trio- adaptor, charger and case)

My Heritage sponsored the blogging beads for this years conference  colorful beads with larger cowboy boots and cactus, Very appropriate for Texas............  thank you Mark.


Now it is time to walk back to the hotel, when suddenly thunder, more thunder and then a down pouring of rain...... very unexpected!  It is bad enough that it is still up in the upper nineties- now it is raining and making it so sticky and humid. Oh! a break, so I took off and barely up the street and it continues to rain......
...... I kept going-- rain, humidity and all.........  finally made it to the hotel soaked - my sandals were soggy, shirt is totally wet and hair dripping..... .I am sure I was quite a scary site.

A nice and to bed............  it has been a long day and I need sleep. 7am comes around much too quickly...... nite! ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!


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Travel Tuesday "Gone to Texas" FGS Conference Tuesday August 26, 2014

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

Off to FGS (Federation of Genealogical Societies) Conference in San Antonio Texas.  Tuesday August 26- Up at O dark hundred this morning and off to Las Vegas first and then onto final destination of San Antonio Texas and the Marriott Riverwalk Hotel.

As I said I am staying at the San Antonio Marriott Riverwalk Hotel..... by the way my room is on the 23rd floor  (out of 30 floors) overlooking the riverwalk, the river and foresty area with the city of San Antonio in the background. I can observe all of this from my wicker chair on my huge outside balcony. AND yes it would be very nice if it wasn't sooooooooooo hot and humid, so I watch from the inside of my air conditioned room through the glass, best I can do at the moment. The temperature today is 98 and I believe the humidity level is the same, HOT much too humid or hot for me. I know I know I live in Sacramento and it is hot there too but DRY not humid.



The Henry B Gonzales Convention Center is directly across the street on the other side of the hotel. Beautiful building and very large, We were able to pick up our packets at registration Tuesday evening 3-7p. I had forgotten that Tuesday is Librarian Day so there were a lot of people who already attended a day of conference as the rest of us are just arriving. Lois I thought about you when I was visiting with some of the Library attendees.  

Nice bag sponsored by FIND MY PAST with all sorts of goodies, papers and promises of help & resources. The catch phrase is "Gone to Texas" and you can't get too much further into Texas than here.


So now that I have my bag, name tag & tickets for various events, packet of goodies and now that I feel a little more organized and of course cooled down quite a bit......  I am off to a dinner presentation sponsored by FamilySearch for the blogger and media community. Free food/dinner is always good. 


Shop and Support Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society.
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Sunday, August 17, 2014

Sunday's Obituary - What Will You Include in Your Obituary?

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

What will you include in your obituary? 
What do you want family and friends to know about you? 
What do you want future family to know about you? 

Have you written a draft of your obituary? 
NO! Why not? 

I have mine written my obituary and update it from time to time and tweek it too..........  what is important today may not be important to me a year or two from now.

I am including my dad's obituary ...... he wrote it, continued to update it and then I finalized it. It is a lengthy obituary and I wanted a picture with it so it became even longer. NOT FREE either like it use to be for a community corner in the newspapers.


In Roseville, CA, Feburary 7, 2006, 9:20pm, born August 17, 1917 in Alliance, Ohio, age 88. Resident of Roseville, CA, and a long time California resident, 1957. Survived by his wife of 63 years, Mary Jane (Little) Gardner. Loving father of Sandra Lee Aberle-Benward & son-in-law Charles David Benward of Citrus Heights, CA and Robert Michael Gardner and daughter-in-law Nancie Grogan of Castro Valley, CA, 3 grandchildren, Michael John Aberle & his wife of Kristi Athena Aberle of Galt, CA, Jason Gardner Aberle of Roseville CA & Kimberly Ann Sheffield of San Lorenzo, CA. One great granddaughter, Ashlyn Makayla Aberle of Galt, CA. Son of John Patterson and Margaret Evelyn (Branfield) Gardner formerly of Alliance, OH, Del Ray Beach, FL and San Carlos, CA; Brother of Lois Ann Seidner and brother-in-law Richard John Seidner of Surprise, AZ and brother of Vancil Roy Gardner (deceased) of Alliance, OH. Graduated from Beaver Senior High School, Beaver, PA in 1935; attended Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh, PA. He served with Battery C, 1st Battalion, 135th Field Artillery Regiment, 37th Division, Ohio National Guard prior to World War II, Attended Officer Candidate School #23 at Ft Benning, Georgia, 1942. Served with the 385th Infantry Regiment, 76th Infantry Division during World War II; Army of Occupation in Germany with 33rd Field Artillery Battalion 1st Infantry Division, 867th Field Artillery Battalion (280mm Gun); Korean Military Assistance Group (KMAG) as Artillery Advisor to II Corps Artillery (Korea); attended military schools at Fort Monroe, VA, Fort Lee, VA, Fort Sill, OK, & Fort Bliss, TX. He retired from military service in 1962 at Fort Winfield Scott, Presidio of San Francisco, CA in the grade of Lieutenant Colonel, Artillery, after serving with the San Francisco-Travis Air Defense Command. Awarded the Expert and Combat Infantry Badge, awarded the Bronze Star Medal twice, the Commendation Ribbon with Medal Pendant. Retired from San Mateo County Assessor's Office in 1977 and El Dorado County Assessor's Office in 1983. Life member of the Military Officers Association of America, life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7889, life member of Disabled American Veterans, life member of National Association for Uniformed Services, member of the 76th Infantry Division Association. At Lieutenant Colonel Gardner's request, no services will be held. He was a wonderful husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather and a friend to one and all. He will be interned in Arlington Military Cemetery, Wash DC. The family requests that any remembrances be made to the American Cancer Society.

Published in the Sacramento Bee [Sacramento, California] on 2/12/2006. 


I am impressed about how much information and details are in this obituary. I am grateful for the details and hopefully if someone is searching for information about him in the future they will find his obituary and know a lot more about him.

How about you? Write a draft first and then put it in order. Let someone else know that this is available and where. 


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Saturday, August 9, 2014

Society Saturday - HOT off the Press!!!! Sheriff's Mug Book

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




Hot off the Press!!!  


Another completed publication for sale  ($25). Root Cellar's extraction committee has another winner. Really interesting extraction , some are lifers, some with multiple offenses, some have been to many jails, notice the hat- we think it is the same hat on each person. If it wasn't so sad it would be funny. 

A very big thank you to Marilyn Ulbricht, our fearless chair. She is very dedicated to getting this type of information out to the public. She has an amazing group of members behind her - you can find them every Friday morning (9-noon) down at the Center for Sacramento History hard at work..........  thank you to all for their dedication. I know Marilyn always welcomes members to come down and experience the excitement of the finds and the completion of another book.  . 








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Friday, August 8, 2014

Follow Friday - AncestryDNA Kits Discounted

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

Yes, it is true, AncestryDNA Kits are discounted 20% ($79) good through August 27th. 

AncestryDNA has launched a new price promotion: $79 AncestryDNA, a 20% discount. The offer will be running until Aug 27, 2014, 9pm PST.    
 
Take advantage of this great offer now.........  and isn't this convenient for our Daytime Workshop DNA Series given by Jim Radar. (next: August 20 Wednesday) Root Cellar Ramblings Blog

Click on the AncestryDNA icon on the right panel.................

 

Shop and Support Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society.
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Saturday, August 2, 2014

Society Saturday - Reminders! Reminders!






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





BIG reminder especially for our newer members 

There is NO general meeting in August
.....continue to travel, research and enjoy the summer
See you in September

However............ mark your calendar

and don't forget about the 
Root Cellar SGS's Daytime Workshop

Wednesday  20 August 2014 -part 3 (see below for more)
1pm - 3pm 

Sylvan Community Center
7521 Community Drive, Citrus Heights, California

Special Summer Series (turning into the rest of the year series) continues with Jim Radar and DNA - YEA!!!!

What a great opportunity to learn about this DNA thing. Ask your questions and get answers. Decide whether you want to take the test. And then do it. If you have the results (or are waiting for them) find out what is next? What does it mean?

Jim sent me this schedule for the remainder of the year.......  so I hope that you all will take advantage and come and learn.............

Aug 2014 - What do you get from an Autosomal test at each of the big 3 companies                          Intro to 3rd party tools 23 and Me
Sept 2014 – Advanced SNP Y-DNA tests (Big-Y, Geno 2.0, Chromo2,  Full Genome Y-DNA                        http://www.isogg.org/wiki/Y-DNA_SNP_testing_chart
                  -3rd party tools from GEDmatch  http://www.gedmatch.com

Oct 2014 - Y-STR Y chromosome DNA tests Y-STR testing                                                              http://isogg.org/wiki/Y-DNA_STR_testing_chart
                 – more 3rd party tools 


Nov 2014 - working with a course designed to help people get started using Autosomal DNA results http://moodle.dnagedcom.com/


I will be there hanging on every word, YES, I am a novice when it comes to DNA and what to do with the results and I want to know what I have, and what to do with it. Thanks Jim.


Shop and Support Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society.
Click here for details.