SCGS JAMBOREE 2019 ~ It was a fun time with friends and lots of learning

This is the third year that I’ve been fortunate to attend Jamboree in Burbank.  This conference is hosted by the Southern California Genealogical Society, of which I am a member.

I first went in 2016 with my friend Debby Warner Anderson.  She and I attended again in 2018.  This year, along with Debby, I invited my long time friend, Pam Mohrman Paxton to join us. She flew in from Colorado.  Now there were three of us to exchange ideas, laugh and learn.

 Each time I attend a conference I learn.  Whether I get one new piece of information from a class or a dozen new things, it’s always worth it.  This conference is well run (all by volunteers) and well attended.  They also invite many nationally known speakers.  Such as Cyndi Ingle of Cyndi's List and Thomas MacEntee of Abundant Genealogy shown below.

I cannot say enough positive things about attending these conferences.  Whether you can attend every day or only one of the days, you will always come away with new info.  Being there for the entire time allows you to network with other genealogists, meet new people, reconnect with those you haven’t seen in a while and in my case, meet a new cousin. 

Some of the classes I attended were:

WHAT ARE THE ODDS (WATO) WORKSHOP – presenter was Leah Larkin, PhD

FOLD3 – DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE MISSING – presenter Anne Mitchell

GENEALOGY PIT STOP – RESEARCH IN 15 MINUTE INCREMENTS – presenter Thomas MacEntee

MINING THE CANADIAN CENSUS – presenter Dave Obee LLD

THE CASE OF THE BROKEN LINK, DECODING THE URL – presenter Cindi Ingle

ONLINE LIBRARY CATALOGS, A GENEALOGIST’S BEST KEPT SECRET – presenter D. Joshua Taylor, MA, MLS

BORDER-WHAT BORDER? OUR ANCESTORS WHO CALLED BOTH CANADA AND THE USA HOME – presenter Annette Lyttle, LLC

It would take me several pages to write about what I learned in these classes.  Suffice to say, I came away with new information and more knowledge than when I got there.  I’m a better researcher because of the many classes, seminars and conferences I’ve attended over the last 16 years.

Here’s some blog posts I’ve written where I’ve shared my experiences and in some gone into more detail about what I learned.

The i4GG Conference in San Diego is over for this year ~ here’s a quick take away–What a GREAT 2 days!!

ROOTSTECH PREPARATION ~ MY FIRST TIME ATTENDING
ROOTSTECH IS OVER BUT ~ We had fun……..meeting other bloggers, wandering the Expo Hall, enjoying the classes and researching at the Family History Library

TAX & ESTATE RECORDS ~ What I learned at a seminar featuring Michael Lacopo

OTHER POSTS THAY YOU MAY FIND OF INTEREST

SEMINARS, WEBINARS, SOCIETIES–WILL THEY HELP YOUR RESEARCH?

Happy hunting and I hope to see you at the next conference or seminar,
Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2019   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

JAMBOREE 2018 ~ DAY 2 AND 3, A GREAT CONFERENCE - and SEE YOU THERE IN 2019

On Friday morning my friend/roomie/fellow blogger, Debby Warner Anderson and I were up bright and early.  We had a 7 a.m. breakfast event with speaker Thomas MacEntee.  The breakfast was a small buffet and was well attended.  But, then Thomas is always an excellent speaker.  He talked to us about “How Do I Know What I Don’t Know?”  I picked up several good tips, as I always do when listening to Thomas.

• In the 1940 census if there is a circle with an X next to a name, that is the person who was the informant and gave information to the enumerator.  I had heard this before, but had forgotten about it.  Good reminder
• JSTOR is a website for journals and books.  They can often be obtained via inter-library loans.  “JSTOR is a digital library founded in 1995. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now also includes books and primary sources, and current issues of journals. It provides full-text searches of almost 2,000 journals” 

With such a wonderful line up of speakers and classes, it is sometimes difficult to choose which class to attend.

NOTE:  Be sure to go to the Southern California Genealogy Society website for Jamboree to learn how you can view live streaming of some of these classes

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Here are the classes I attended on Friday and a few of the things I learned:

DNA and Digitization in Irish Genealogy by Brad Larkin, MBA, MCSE

I learned more about the Tithe Applotment books available for locating your ancestors in Ireland.  These are available on Ancestry.com

There were original Catholica Parishes and also Church of England parishes.  The parish records generally began in the 1830’s. 

Rootsireland.ie is a subscription site with Irish records

Family Search – The other 70% by Jill Morelli, CG

Jill reminded us that 70% of the records on Family Search.org are NOT indexed.

She gave the class many tips on browsing those unindexed records

Reconstruct Your Ancestor’s World with Google by Lisa Louise Cooke of Genealogy Gems

This was one of my favorite classes. Lisa gave us MANY hints for using Google search to our full advantage in our research.  I ended up purchasing her book The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox, 2nd edition (Revised and Updated).

Whether you use quotation marks, asterisks, or a minus sign, you can increase the chances of having your search produce websites that pertain to your ancestor.

Don’t forget about Google Books, Google Scholar, Google Patents, Google Alerts and YouTube when looking for your elusive ancestors.

Me with Lisa Louise Cooke and Debby Warner Anderson

And in the afternoon, Debby and I attended a Visual Phasing Workshop by Blaine Bettinger.  I had attended a class on this subject, last year at the i4gg conference.  Visual Phasing allows you to use siblings and sometimes cousins, to recreate the DNA of your grandparents.  What a concept!  It is a very complicated process so attending this workshop was meant to help me understand the process better.

Here is a link to Blaine Bettinger’s website explaining visual phasing.  There are many other website links you can visit to learn more.

Debby, Blaine and Me

The Expo Hall was filled with vendors who shared all kinds of information and goodies with us.  It was abuzz most of the time.  It’s always one of my favorite parts of any conference.

On Friday evening, Debby and I relaxed with dinner and adult beverages in the bar/restaurant right there at the Marriott.  They had great food and we always ran into a bunch of other conference attendees to chat with. In the photo below you can see Brad Larkin and Blaine Bettinger in the foreground.

 

On Saturday we were up early again to grab breakfast and then head to class.

 

I attended the following classes on Saturday?

Did I Get Everything? – Creating a Checklist for Genealogy Research by Thomas MacEntee

Thomas gave us some great ideas for being more organized and focused in our research.

USING EVERNOTE FOR CAPTURING NOTES AND IDEAS by Drew Smith

Drew covered a lot of basics in this class.  I’m pretty well informed on using Evernote since I use it daily.  But, I did pick up a tip about stacking tags.  I always new we could stack notebooks, but stacking tags was new to me.

Me with Drew Smith

DIGGING PENNSYLVANIA ROOTS FROM YOUR DESKTOP by James M. Beidler

James covered the many resources available for researching Pennsylvania ancestors. 

USING HOMESTEAD RECORDS TO TELL YOUR ANCESTOR’S STORY by Michelle Roos Goodrum

I haven’t found an ancestors who were homesteaders, yet.  But, I figured I would go to this class and learn something new.  I wasn’t disappointed.  Michelle was an excellent presenter.  The story she told us about her homesteading ancestor was fascinating.  I hope one day I can find an ancestor who decided to homestead.

GRANDPA WORKED FOR THE RAILROAD by Janice Lovelace, PhD

I have many ancestors who worked for railroads in one capacity or another.  Dr. Lovelace presented an interesting review of the history of the railroad in our country and also some tips on where we “might” locate records for our ancestors who were employed by the railroad.

It was now 4:30 in the afternoon and Debby and I decided to head home.  It’s a 3 hour drive back to Ramona from Burbank.  And, many of you know how bad that L.A. traffic can be. We arrived safely at 9:30 p.m.  Exhausted, yes.  But, so happy that we attended this informative event.

 

To all the volunteers, speakers and exhibitors a HUGE thank you for a wonderful conference.

NEXT YEAR IS THE 50th ANNIVERSARY FOR THIS CONFERENCE.  It should be even more fantastic than ever.  I know I’ll be there, will you?

  

Here are a few more photos of me with my genealogy friends.

Lise Harding and me	Randy Seaver, Debby & me
Me & Devon Lee	Just about to head home - me & Debby

Happy hunting and see you next year at Jamboree 2019!

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2018   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

THURSDAY SURPRISE ~ I won a Free Southern California Jamboree 2018 Registration–Oh boy!

It’s always exciting to win something.  In this case I just won, by random drawing, a two day FREE registration to 2018 Southern California Jamboree.

THE BLOGGER BADGE CONTEST WINNER IS......Diane Gould Hall of Michigan Family Trails.

My friend and fellow blogger Debby Warner Anderson of Debbie’s Family Genealogy Blog had already registered for the conference and have hotel reservations.  We attended the conference in 2016 and had a great time.  During that conference Debbie won a free registration to the 2017 conference.  She was able to attend, but I was on vacation and couldn’t go.  We are excited to being going again this year.

There are many wonderful speakers and also workshops you can attend.  I always learn so much at conferences and seminars I attend.  It helps me to be a better genealogist.

Here are a couple of posts I wrote when I attended the 2016 Jamboree. 

Southern California Jamboree 2016 ~ Day One - My first time at Jamboree

Southern California Jamboree 2016 ~ The last two days were fantastic and my brain hurts!

If you haven’t registered for the conference yet, there is still time.  Check out the line up of speakers and subjects.  So many wonderful learning experiences.  Click here to visit Jamboree 2018 website.

I look forward to seeing many fellow bloggers and genealogists.  Please let me know if you’ll be there, so we can get in touch at the conference.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2018   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION