Ferndale Genies, a place where friends
gather to talk about genealogy. That’s
us. At our July meeting, we learned that
many of our members are in the middle of canning and putting up yummy
jams. Still, ten of us gathered.
Let’s start with announcements. Our Genies’ August meeting is Monday, August
19. 1:00 at the Ferndale Library.
At the August meeting, the Northwest
Genealogical Conference in Arlington will be a hot topic. We will bring back
new ideas to share at the meeting. We
are so lucky to have such a wonderful resource close to home. The free beginner’s class is on Wednesday,
August 14 from 1:00 until 4:30. The
speaker will be Janet Camarata, a local favorite of mine. Previously Thomas MacEntee was scheduled but
Thomas has torn his Achilles tendon and will not be able to travel out
here. I will be driving each day and my
offer to drive still stands. The agenda
for Beginning Genealogy is at the end of this post. Complete conference info at http://www.nwgc.org.
Our RootsMagic meetings are continuing
monthly. Our next meeting is on Saturday, September 7 at 1:00. We will be viewing another basic RootsMagic video
and followed by discussion. If you intend to come, you will want to
download at least the free version of RootsMagic ahead of time from
rootsmagic.com.
We had a lively discussion at our July
meeting. Writing our stories is an
ongoing theme with us. Suzie is enjoying
One Memory at a Time by D.L. Fulford. Fulford says just start writing and don’t
worry about spelling and punctuation.
You will revise later on. I also brought
the library copy of To Our Children’s Children by Bob Greene (Fulford’s
brother). This is a book of hundreds of
questions/prompts you can use in your family history writing. The content is so rich I decided to buy a
copy. There are many in excellent
condition at Amazon. I paid $5.62
including tax and shipping. Astounding!
Linda L. said she keeps going back to
author William Zinsser, a journalist who also writes about writing. He tells us not to decide in advance how your
memoir will be organized or what will be in it.
He is a talented writer and I fell in love with this statement from his
book Writing About Your Life. “Be
ready to be surprised by the crazy, wonderful events that will come dancing out
of your past when you stir the pot of memory.”
Masterful!
Personally, I am sure that it’s the
stories about my family that will interest our children’s children. So let’s get started.
Several of us are
piloting a group based on the Research Like a Pro genealogy research
process. Some of the benefits we’ve
found are keeping organized, focusing on a question and objective, and not
revisiting the same sources over and over.
David R. was here and he reminded us that sometimes it’s just fun to
poke around and go down a few rabbit holes.
Point well taken. We will be
starting a group on September 22. It
consists of seven weeks of practicing the seven research steps. You will receive an email each Sunday,
describing the step and an assignment.
You will choose something in your own tree to research. If you think you might be interested, you can
learn about the process by tuning in to the earliest episodes of the Research
Like a Pro podcast; looking at their website and blog posts at https://familylocket.com/; or finding the Research
Like a Pro book by Diana Elder at the library or on Amazon.
Also at the meeting, questions were
raised about the X chromosome. This is
diving deep but here are some tips. One
of the best resources is Roberta Estes at DNA-Explained.com blog. You will also need to use the X-Chromosome
Inheritance Pattern Charts developed by Blaine Bettinger and found here: https://thegeneticgenealogist.com/2008/12/21/unlocking-the-genealogical-secrets-of-the-x-chromosome/ For this, note that there are different
charts for male and female. Lastly, if
you want to educate yourself further, I suggest using Genetic Genealogy in
Practice, a book by Blaine Bettinger and Debbie Wayne. For each different kind of DNA test, they
give problems to solve, fortunately with the answers in the back. I will loan you my copy.
Extreme Genes, a long-running podcast hosted
by Scott Fisher, has a surprise for us every Monday. At the time of our meeting, episode 290
featured interviews about the Georgetown University Memory Project. The Project was originally called GU272 when
they thought 272 enslaved people were sold by the university in 1838. It turned out there were 314 people from the
Jesuit-owned Maryland plantation sold to three plantations in Louisiana. This saved the university from going out of
business. The project researched family
trees and identified descendants of which there are now more 4,000. They traveled to meet descendants and
recorded many personal interviews. Details here: https://extremegenes.com/2019/07/14/episode-290-the-georgetown-memory-project-lambert-on-researching-revolutionary-ancestors/
Back to the podcast, you can sign up
for an email on Mondays, listen to the podcast and, if you would rather, read a
transcript which is available on the website.
Last week on Extreme Genes CeCe Moore was
featured in episode 291. CeCe Moore’s first Law enforcement DNA case has ended
with a conviction in a 1987 double murder in Washington state. They
discussed the trial, other cases, the situation with GEDMatch, and
the re-growing of the database that’s so necessary for this kind of work. This week Fisher, or Fish as he is known,
interviews Paul Woodbury in Episode 292, starting with beginner DNA and becoming more
complex. Paul is a lesser-known top-tier
genetic genealogist.
I’ve
skimmed over a number of topics today.
If I left you scratching your head, bring your questions to our meeting
or send me an email to ferndalegenies@gmail.com. Happy hunting!
_________________________________________________________________________
Wednesday,
August 14th, 2019
From 1:00pm to 4:30pm
Featuring:
*Regretfully,
due to injury Thomas MacEntee is unable to fly; Janet O'Conor Camarata
has very kindly stepped up and stepped in to provide our Beginning Genealogy
Class....
|
|
Janet O'Conor Camarata |
Are you interested
in your family’s history, but not sure how to get started? Are you completely
new to genealogy research or a seasoned pro, there's always more to learn or
to review. In this session of Beginning Genealogy, the following will be
covered:
·
Are you a Genealogist or Family Historian?
·
The Basics of the Genealogical Hunt
·
Organizing Strategies for Genealogy Success
·
Locating Genealogy Records Online and Off-line
·
Techniques and Tools to Transform your Approach to
Research
·
Resources and References for Improved Research Results
·
Tips to avoid Genealogy Traps, Confusion, and Overload
·
The Next Steps as a Genealogist
|
____________________________
