SCGS Jamboree 2012

I will be speaking at the Southern California Genealogical Society's 43rd Annual Jamboree this year. Their theme is "Lights, Camera,  Ancestors!" and centers on the glamour of Hollywood.


On Thursday, I will be helping out at the Kid's Family History Camp, so be sure and bring your children for this free and fun event! Then on Sunday, I will be teaching you about publishing your family history to DVD. Also, I will be helping solve your brick walls. You can sign up here to be seen by me, or another consultant, free of charge.

Join me on the red carpet Friday night at a special event hosted by Ancestry.com, the Hollywood GALA (info on all special events can be found here: http://scgsgenealogy.com/Jamboree/2012/SpecialEvents.htm ). Watch the SCGS Jamboree blog for more details about this and the other special events that are planned.

I'm looking forward to hearing my fellow genealogists speak on a number of topics. It should be another great Jamboree!



Happy tree climbing!

100 Years Ago This Year

1912 was a very busy year!

On January 1, the longest consecutively run foot race in the world, what is now called the "Bay to Breakers," took place in San Francisco. It was won by a paper boy named Robert J. Vlught who attended St. Mary's College at the time.

Robert was born in Michigan December 2, 1890 to parents William and Jennie (Baker) from Holland. His family came to California and settled in Oakland sometime between 1895 (Robert's brother Leonard was born in MI in 1894) and 1902 (his sister Jettina was born in California in 1902).

Legacy Family Tree's Genealogy Idol

Most of you know about or watched Legacy Family Tree's first ever Genealogy Idol contest, hosted by Geoff Rasmussen. The finalist were Marian Pierre-Louis, Michael Hait, Elizabeth Clark, and Elyse Doerflinger.

There were three rounds in which the contestants had to "strut their stuff". At the end of all three rounds, the audience got to cast their vote.

My Genealogy Bucket List; A Meme by Geniaus

Jill Ball (Geniaus ) has created The Genealogy Bucket List meme. Here are the rules, the list, and my responses: The Bucket List GeneaMeme The list should be annotated in the following manner: Things you would like to do or find: Bold Type  Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type You are encouraged to add extra comments after each item

Using Circumstantial Evidence as a Springboard for Further Research

I recently watched an archived webinar by Marian Pierre-Louis entitled Cracking the Case of Nathan Brown's Parents, hosted by Legacy Family Tree. In this webinar, which was fabulous, by the way, Marian uses indirect evidence to support her supposition of who Nathan Brown's parents were. One thing she discussed was using naming patterns as evidence to include or exclude possible family groups from your research.


Today I was happily throwing away bricks from my recently demolished wall when I came across a stumble in the road; who were the parents of Hersey Gilbert? Doing the usual Ancesty  and Google search brought me limited information about his birth. Everything seemed to point only to his marriage and subsequent children. I did come across someone who posted their family tree with parents assigned to my Hersey Gilbert, but as usual, I noted this in the back of my mind since there was no source citation.

How Do You Let Go?

I was seventeen and a half years old when I found out I was pregnant. There was no question as to whether or not I would have the baby. Over the months I watched my tummy slowly swell, and I felt the bumps and kicks as my baby grew. She would stretch her arms out and I would be able to see two little nubs, one on each side of my belly; a position that is still one of her favorites while sleeping.

I'm Speaking at the Northern California Family History Expo!

I'm very excited to be a speaker at the Northern California Family History Expo in San Mateo tomorrow. A bit nervous, but hopefully all goes well. I will be presenting "How to Publish Your Family History to DVD."

The Tech Savvy Genealogist's Meme

Found this posted at Thomas MacEntee's Destination: Austin Family Blog.

Another great meme this time about genealogy and technology and originated by Jill Ball of Geniaus.

The Tech Savvy Genealogists' Meme

Best Internet Resources for African American Genealogy Webinar

Geoff Rasmussen of Legacy Family Tree hosted a webinar by Angela Walton-Raji entitled Best Internet Resources for African American Genealogy. I am truly grateful that I took the time to watch this production. Angela is an engaging speaker who has fun written all over her voice. Her explanations were thorough, and the material she presented was very content rich.

A Cool New Genealogy Tool by RestingSpot!

I was approached via email by Brett Atlas, co-founder of Resting Spot, about the new smartphone application he and his friend Scott Kroeger have developed. I've invited him for a Q&A to tell us more about this new tool. and website.

Give us some background on how Resting Spot came to be: