Just when I begin to make progress on learning how to use my computer for something beyond a word processor, my system goes capute!
So I called my provider and got these discouraging words: “We are experiencing internet difficulties in your area. Sorry for any inconvenience.”
Well, to chronicle my enhanced computer skills, I…
- Typed my sales letters, announcement flyers, handouts
- Updated book and price lists for mailings, conferences, and classes
- Completed the entry of names for the “1790 Census” for Tennessee
- Prepared an updated Table of Contents for our Tennessee Research
- Burned cd’s so I could do all the printing at the Family History Library (which I also know how to do)–75 miles away
The purpose of this blow-by-blow description is to create a Perils of Pauline picture–for sympathy and for appreciation of the super-human effort I expend for each and every genealogy event I participate in.
You don’t get the same speech I gave last week. You get a whole new pitch. You don’t get the worn-out examples from past genealogy sharings. You get my current research challenges. And you get the resources I use to resolve these hard-to-find ancestors–those ancestors hunted for 20 or more years by others.
Let me share something I learned by teaching genealogy classes for more years than I want to count–I used to create hypothetical research problems with real documents and made up ancestors. No one cared. My class attendees were unmoved and often bored by someone else’s ancestors. They wanted to learn about their own family members. So I have changed my ways–
As examples in my current genealogy class, I looked up the surnames of my class members–with resounding success.
One class member was so excited he almost shook. “I don’t want to attend any more meetings.,” he said. “I want to go right home and start looking up my names myself!”
“Hooray”, I said under my breath. “At last, this is the key to action–their own ancestors.”
Now, I can’t guarantee that your own ancestors appear in the illustrations I plan to use at the Loveland Colorado Family History Expo. What you can expect is something challenging based on real documents and real ancestors and real solutions. Drafted with attendees from Colorado and surrounding places in mind–You just might find your own ancestor on the screen. Many persons who attend my genealogy sessions do. And if your surname pops up on the screen, I am happy to make you a copy of the record when I get home.
Do you have any idea how many stopped pedigrees have been jump-started in my sessions?
- Naming Patterns of American Families. (10-11 am, Friday 25 June) With key selections from Scots-Irish, Irish, Scottish, English, and Welsh families. Salted with a little Italian (from Virginia) and a little New York deep in the heart of Tennessee!
- American Church Records. (3-4 pm, Friday 25 June) Bet you’ll see church entries that you never dreamed were kept in churches! How often are the witnesses related to the child in a baptism?
- Migration Patterns into the Central US. (9:30-10:30am, Saturday 26 June) This is one of my most requested topics. Prepared with a Colorado twist for your consumption and modelling.
- British Migrations to America Before 1850. (2:30-3:30 pm Saturday 26 June) Persons you thought were Huguenot came from the British Isles to Virginia early on–and into South Carolina and Maryland as well. Not from France. Originally from the Netherlands! But the pattern of movement in between will make your eyes pop!
So come and get your “EASY Button.” I have prepared one just for you. Your favorite genealogist, Arlene Eakle http://arleneeakle.com
PS Register early at http://www.fhexpos.com and access the syllabus handouts–a jumpstart ahead of everybody else at the conference.