Year End Post ~ 2020 - A Look Back–What were the highlights of my family research?

This blurry image is kind of how I will look back at 2020

None of us will ever forget this year, will we?  Nothing like we ever expected or ever thought of.  I have to say that I wish I’d have kept a journal.  If not a daily journal, at least a weekly one.  It would have made great reading for future generations.  Did any of you keep one?

As a blogger I have not written as many posts as I like to.  When all of this began, I couldn’t concentrate and had no desire to write at all.  I barely wanted to research.  I think many of us were disconcerted and unsettled as all of this unfolded.  At least I know I was.

Thus, I ended the year with my fewest posts since 2013.  Only 56. But, I must think of it as 56 stories that might never have been told.

The first part of this year (before we were all staying home), I had such fun at Rootstech.  My friend, Pam and I were in Salt Lake City for a week, from Feb 23 – Mar 1.  About 30,000 people attended this conference and just two weeks later, we were all told to stay home and isolate.  I’m so glad we got to go and cannot wait to go again.  

Here’s a link to my summary of Rootstech

Here I am writing on the Rootstech Story Board

This was the 10th anniversary of my blog, or as we call them blogiversaries.  I started the year by celebrating that milestone.  Celebrating my 10th Blogiversary

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS YEAR WERE:

• Some very interesting FRIDAY FINDS – included was the ever so elusive marriage record of my great grandparents, William V. Gould and May E. Thorp,   The Hospital Register for Death of Volunteers in the Civil War,   The 6th child of Rev. George Hall & his wife Almira
• My journey to join the Mayflower Society.  From FINALLY finding the record I needed for my 3rd great grandmother, Olive Doten Hart, linking her to her father, to my application process and finally receiving my certificate.  It was a longtime dream of mine and to have finally “made it” was incredibly rewarding.  My Mayflower Society Journey
• And the final highlight from this year would be the incredible gift of receiving my husband Ron’s great grandmother’s scrapbook.  A cousin sent this treasure to me for safe keeping.  What a treasure it is.  Here are the posts I’ve written so far, with many more to come Cora's Scrapbook.  There are newspapers from 1800-1865, personal correspondence, a photo of a wedding cake from 1877 and so much more, so stay tuned.

I can see from writing this post, that, although it wasn’t my most prolific writing year, it was certainly one filled with many great finds and lots of family stories.

I hope you’ll all stay with me as we welcome 2021 and hope for a much better year for all of us.

THE VERY HAPPIEST AND HEALTHIEST OF NEW YEARS TO ALL OF YOU – Here’s to a great 2021!

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2020   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

ROOTSTECH 2020 ~ The classes I took and scenes from the conference–See you next year

Most of you know that, like other conferences, Rootstech provides an app for your mobile devices.  It’s a great way to keep track of your schedule, your friends, what’s currently going on at the conference and provides interactive maps to help you navigate.

I can look back at My Schedule now and see which classes I attended and review my notes.

 

For me, the conference isn’t necessarily about going to as many classes as I can.  I will choose the ones of most interest to me and spend the rest of my time either in the Expo Hall or over at the Family History Library.  It’s kind of like when Ron and I cruise.  We don’t like to be wall to wall busy every day.

Here are the classes I attended.  Each one was excellent.

QUICKLY FINDING COMMON ANCESTORS THROUGH DNA – Speaker – Robert Warthan

KICKING DNA UP A NOTCH TO UNMASK UNKNOWN ANCESTORS – Speaker – Roberta Estes

THE LEEDS METHOD: GROUPING DNA MATCHES TO IDENTIFY SHARED ANCESTORS – Speaker – Dana Leeds

ATTACKING 18th and 19th CENTURY MYSTERIES WITH DNA – Speaker – Blaine Bettinger

DNA CLUSTERS: POWER IN NUMBERS – Speaker – Randy Whited

3 COOL CASES SOLVED: HOW TO IDENTIFY YOUR PHOTOS – Speaker – Lisa Louise Cooke

You might be saying, “you were at the conference for 4 days and only attended 6 classes?  Yup!  And I have no regrets about that.  Why?  Because many of the classes are available via the Virtual Pass that my friend Pam and I purchased.  We will be able to watch them at home, at our leisure.  When you been doing genealogy for many years and have attended a great many classes and conferences, you find that you can pick and choose the subjects that are most important to you.  In this case, it was clear that I wanted to learn as much as I could about working with my DNA matches.  In that respect, I succeeded.

During my free time I had a lot of fun visiting with friends and exploring the Expo Hall and revisiting the FHL hoping for one more good find.

My thanks to Pat Richley-Erickson & her husband, Gordon, for inviting me to their home.  What a wonderful group of people.  We sure laughed a lot.

Here are some scenes from the conference

The Family History Library with it's new sign

In front of the Salt Palace Conference Center holding the bag we all received

Dana Leeds

They had this wonderful story wall that all of us could write on

Devon Lee of Family History Fanatics

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings who received a Lifetime Achievement award from his "tribe" the Geneabloggers

Jonny Perl, creator of DNA Painer

Me standing next to the Mayflower replica - I've applied and am hoping to receive my official certificate of approval to the Mayflower Association in the next few months

The Expo Hall not long after it opened on Thursday - such a busy place

Pam Mohrman Paxton, Thomas MacEntee of Abundant Genealogy & me

Geoff Rasmussen from Legacy Family Tree Software and me

Marian Pierre-Louis, me and Pam

Randy Whited

Blaine Bettinger

Blaine doing what he does so well - teaching

At Pat Richley-Erickson's house - Judy Russell makes her entrance

Nathan Dylan Goodwin - author of The Forensic Genealogist and Mrs. McDougall Investigates series

Gathered in Pat & Gordon's basement 

A view from our room the morning I left.  It finally snowed.

Home sweet home - flying into San Diego with a view of the Coronado Bridge and the ocean

If you’d like to see a bunch of photos from the conference (way more than I took), please go to Roberta Estes blog Roots Tech 2020 - It's a Wrap

Until next year Rootstech – see you then.

All photos have been used with permission

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2020   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

ROOTSTECH 2020 ~ We arrive in Salt Lake City and explore at the Family History Library

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This was my second time attending the Rootstech Conference in Salt Lake City.  My friend, Pam and I went in 2018.  You can read about that experience here RootsTech Is Over But We Had Fun

To tell you the truth, after we had attended in 2018, we thought “well, we’ve done that and now we don’t need to go back.”  WRONG!  When 2019 rolled around and we weren’t at the conference we immediately regretted our decision and determined to go in 2020.

 

ARE WE EVER GLAD WE DID!

Sunday – Feb 23rd - I flew in from San Diego and arrived around noon.  Pam didn’t arrive from Colorado until later in the day.  I was able to check into our room at the Plaza Hotel and get unpacked and settled in.  FYI – I made that reservation in July 2019, to make sure we were able to stay at the Plaza.  We enjoy the convenience of the location of that hotel as well as the very friendly staff.

I had the afternoon to wander around so I went over the the FHL to check out the new layout on the first floor.  That’s the only floor open on Sundays.  It is a very interactive area and excellent for families or for someone wanting to learn about the library, Family Search and all the offerings available.

 

Pam arrived about 5 p.m. after her trolley ride from the airport.

My view on the plane and me & Pam outside Squatter's Pub

Monday – Feb 24th – Let the fun begin.  The conference doesn’t begin until Wednesday so Pam and I have two full days to research at the Family History Library.  We planned our trip so we would have the extra days at the library.  We’ve both been there before (me 3 times and Pam twice), but there is always more to find.  STAY TUNED FOR A POST ABOUT WHAT I WANTED TO LOCATE AND WHETHER I SUCCEEDED OR NOT.

In front of the Family History Library and all set up at the tables on the 3rd floor - Pam is pondering.....I wonder what about?

Tuesday – Feb 25th – Another day to spend at the FHL.  This time instead of sitting at the tables that we’ve always sat at, we were able to enjoy the new area on the 3rd floor.  WOW!

Check out this set up.  They have stations with either 2 or 3 monitors and tables that raise up and down.  So much more comfortable than just the usual tables.  We always bring our own laptops and you can see in the photo with me waving, that Pam and I were sharing the station.  We were eventually able to set up at separate stations, but it was quite a busy place, so getting to the library as soon as it opens is the key.  The upgrades are very impressive and more are on the way.

This was the day I went to the European floor of the library and made a discovery in German records for my husband’s family.  It was, according to those around me, a genealogy miracle that I even found this record.  I’ll tell you about it in my “What I Found” blog post.

A sample of one of the new stations with 3 monitors and me in my happy place 

Pam and I have a couple of favorite restaurants we like to go to.  On night one we went to Squatter’s where they have a great atmosphere, wonderful food and good service.  We Ubered over and took a Lyft back.  I had never used either of those services (yes, I know, I need to get with the times).  It was a very good experience and I was impressed.  The Blu Lemon is another favorite restaurant and they have very good food.

Oh, I forgot to tell you one more thing.  I have had an iPhone SE for 4 years.  I liked the size of my 5c and bought the SE because of that.  I've been reluctant to upgrade because I didn't want to pay the price and felt the phones were too big.  Well, for the past 6 months or more, I've been having terrible problems with the battery not staying charged.  It's irritating to say the least and could be dangerous if I was in need of assistance.  

On Wednesday, the first day of the conference my phone was going dead, yet again.  I had a break between classes and walked over to the Apple store, which I knew was in the mall nearby.  I had done my research and knew which phone I might want.  I'm SO happy that I purchased the iPhone 11.  I can't tell you how much easier it was for me to stay in touch at Rootstech and how much better this phone is.  As much as we all use technology, we do need to stay up to date.  That will teach me to upgrade sooner.  Lesson learned.

Isn't this pretty?  The phone is a lovely light teal.

So, that was the first 3 days of our week in Salt Lake City.

 

I’ll write about the conference in my next post.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2020   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION