Wordless Wednesday- NERGC 2019

Wordless Wednesday- Random Scenes from NERGC 2017

NERGC 2017 in Springfield

Well, I am exhausted. My head is in a whirl. I’ve written a “To Do” list that is one notebook page long for just genealogy projects. And I am anxious to work my way down all of this! What produces all this you might ask? A genealogy conference!

A scene from the exhibit hall

We returned home Sunday evening tired, but happy from the New England Regional Genealogical Conference (NERGC) in Springfield, Massachusetts. This was a three-day conference with a side trip to Old Sturbridge Village thrown in. For a genealogist, it is like a child being let loose in a candy shop!

The conference, rather obviously, concentrated on New England research and resources, particularly those in western Massachusetts where it was held. However, there are a lot of classes on various topics and they don’t all restrict themselves to this area. There were classes as well on general research methods, Irish research, writing, DNA and military amongst others.

One presenter, Jennifer Zinck, had agreed to do a workshop on DNA. Shortly after registration opened, she agreed to do a second, as the first one had sold out almost immediately. I attended many classes that talked about writing your family history and others that dealt with various areas of the region. One in particular that I enjoyed by Dave Robison talked about the repositories of western Massachusetts. Although I have no ancestors in those places, mine lived across the border in New York State and created at least a few records across that artificial line. There were New York State resources as well. I didn’t get to attend, but I understand that Jane Wilcox did a wonderful whirlwind tour of the various repositories available throughout New York State giving specific examples of each.

One that created many items on that “To-Do” list of mine was a talk by Michael Strauss on World War I records. I’m not that interested in military, so hadn’t thought much before about the various records that might be available for my grandparents who served in this war. His talk definitely kept my interest and gave me several places to look for records.  Luckily, I had a notebook with me to scribble down all those ideas as they occurred!

This is just a small sampling of the courses that are available in different sessions. One of the best parts for me is the networking. I get to see people that I know only through the virtual world of email lists and Facebook. We get to actually talk with each other and share what we are working on. We get to laugh and joke and hang out with each other.

To attend this conference again, we have to wait two years. It is a bi-annual conference and the location rotates around New England with a few restrictions on locations. The planning committees need to choose a place that has a large enough conference center and enough hotel rooms available nearby to accommodate it. I understand that they can no longer go to Vermont, as there is no place large enough for it. On the flip side it is not quite big enough for some of the bigger conference centers. Therefore, it seems to rotate between cities in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire at the moment.

So where to next? Well pull out your calendars and mark April 3-6, 2019 down. If you don’t have the route plotted out already, pull out the maps and find Manchester, New Hampshire. It’s just a short drive outside of Boston, and if you don’t want to drive in Boston (I certainly don’t), you just take some of the interstate highways around the far, far edge of it. We have our calendars marked already and I hope I’ll see you there! Now I got to get back to work—where are those forms to request records...

New England Regional Genealogical Conference

And yet another news release arrived in my inbox. The early registration ends this month, so if you're planning on going and haven't registered yet- why not? The little countdown on my computer says 2 months and 17 days until we leave for the conference!

“Using the Tools of Today & Tomorrow to Understand the Past,” the 14th biennial NERGC Conference, will bring together 75 leading genealogy speakers and over 900 genealogists from around New England and the US at the MassMutual Conference Center in Springfield, Massachusetts. 

Additionally, approximately 70 vendors of genealogy related products, services, software and books will be in the Exhibit Hall. The program includes not only the individual presentations but workshops covering DNA, Italian research, paleography, Portuguese genealogy, photo identification, and more.

Featured speakers are Thomas MacEntee, F. Warren Bittner and Kenyatta Berry, a co-host of the PBS series, Genealogy Road Show.  The remaining schedule of speakers will cover genealogy at all levels, from beginner to expert.

NERGC is a regional, volunteer organization supported by 23 genealogy societies, all of which will be represented by their members. The program begins on Wednesday, 26 April 2017 with a schedule of specialties in 5 main areas: Librarians, DNA, Society Management, Professional Genealogy, and Technology as well as four stand-alone workshops on Getting Started, Family History Books, Military Records, and Deeds. 

The main conference begins on Thursday, 27 April with a presentation by Mary Tedesco, another co-host of the PBS series, Genealogy Road Show, and continues through Saturday, 29 April 2017.  During the conference, registrants can choose to spend time with a professional genealogist at the Ancestor Road show, walk through the Society Fair, participate in a Special Interest Group discussion, or enjoy the sites of and resources of Springfield, MA.

Early bird registration ends on 28 February 2017. Visit www.nergc.org to register, select the programs you’d like to attend, and, optionally, the lunches and dinners, most of which are sponsored. Luncheon speakers are Thomas MacEntee, NEAPG Table Topics, and Jane Wilcox while the banquets include presentations by Kenyatta Berry on Friday and Thomas MacEntee on Saturday.

Saturday Challenge- New Year's Goals

Randy Seaver’sGeneaMusings gave us the following:

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible! music) is to:

1) What goals do you have for your genealogy research, education and writing during 2017?  

First, before I start looking at goals for 2017, let’s see how I did last year. This is from the blog about a year ago:

“• Continue organizing my stuff. Kenneth helped me identify some pictures today that I hadn’t been sure of.

• Get copies of stuff digitized and organized to send out to the cousins

• Get at least one line solidified enough to write a booklet about them so that I can publish it and get it in various repositories

• Return to IGHR again this year and take the Law Libraries and Government Documents course

•Attend Syracuse’s New York State Family History Conference

• Attend Professional Management Conference at Fort Wayne, Indiana”

Okay then. How did I do?

Continue organizing my stuff- it’s a lot better then it was a year ago, but still needs some work. I think I’ll call it accomplished with the caveat that more needs to be done.

Stuff digitized. That’s also very much an ongoing project. Although I got a lot done, there’s a lot more to go. It didn’t help either of these goals that I got a lot of craft stuff from Mom. Patterns scattered all over the place and yes, in amongst them, there is family stuff. Pictures and newspaper clippings and such that are of a genealogical nature are interwoven amongst the patterns. It is all slowly coming together.

A booklet written. I didn’t accomplish much of anything on this one. I am basically where I was a year ago.

IGHR. Accomplished.

NYS Family History Conference. Accomplished.

Professional Management Conference. Accomplished.

So, three out of six goals accomplished and two others work in progress. I don’t think that was too bad an accomplishment for 2016. I will continue with the first 3 goals again this year. Additionally, I want to get to the New England Regional Conference in Springfield, Massachusetts and do more research in local repositories across the state.

The registration and reservations are in for Springfield and there’s a pile beside the scanner ready to go, so I guess I’m not off to a bad start for 2017 either!

Saturday Challenge- Genealogy Presents

The Saturday Fun Challenge from Randy Seaver's GeneaMusings:

1)    What gift that you received for Christmas is your favorite for genealogy purposes? Book, magazine, hardware, software, website subscription, research time, DNA test - what was it, and how will it affect your genealogy research?

Well, I didn’t really receive anything for Christmas that pertains to genealogy. In part, that is because I don’t really exchange presents with anyone except my husband and we do just a few little things. However I did receive a few things through the Christmas season that are wonderful genealogical items!

First, my husband and I figured out what dates we will be taking a trip in the spring. This trip is to NERGC (New England Regional Genealogical Conference) in Springfield, Massachusetts. Our registrations are in for the conference and we have our hotel room booked. I think that might count as a present? I’m excited to see everybody in New England that week and to learn a few new things as well. I have many ancestors in New England and enjoy researching that area, so there will be various classes related to specific places that I will be aiming to get to. Additionally, there is a Writing Track at the conference that I expect to take full advantage of.

There are a couple books that I got on Christmas Eve that might be considered genealogy as well. Both of them weren’t actual presents, but items that were in my late mother’s house.

The first is something that she has kept careful care of since 1970 when her mother died. It is a Bible that my Grandma owned and that was presented to her in her Sunday School class in the Church of Ireland. This Bible, originally received by Alice V. Jennings Wooster in 1905 won’t help my genealogy. I have already looked through it carefully to extract any data it might contain of a genealogical nature years ago. However, it is a tangible item of the only grandmother I was lucky enough to know.

The second book is a cookbook from 1950. The Levanna Community Church in southern Cayuga County, New York compiled it. This is a typical church or community cookbook that was compiled by the members of that group and sold presumably as a fundraiser. I noted that it was produced by a mimeograph machine in the Sherwood High School, which has long since been condensed into the bigger, consolidated school district of Southern Cayuga Central Schools. Flipping through the pages, many of the names are familiar to me. A few of them belong to people that are various  degrees of cousins of mine. Again, this book will do nothing to expand my genealogy research. However, the recipes are representative of that area in that time period. An area very near (a few miles of) where my direct ancestors lived; written by contemporaries of them, that were relatives, friends, neighbors or all of the above. Are these not the recipes my grandmother and mother would have been cooking with or very close to them? I do already have many of my mother’s recipes, but they are mostly of a later time period. These are, of course, from before there were so many convenience foods available. They are what those recipes of hers evolved from. It is nice to look through and maybe, make a few of the ones that most appeal to us.

Saturday Challenge- Dear Santa

Randy Seaver's Genea-Musings Saturday Fun Challenge this week:

1) Write your Genea-Santa letter. Have you been a good genealogy girl or boy? What genealogy-oriented items are on your Christmas wish list? They could be family history items, technology items, or things that you want to pursue in your ancestral quest.

Dear Genea-Santa:

I’ve been a good girl this year. Well, at least I’ve tried to be good. I haven’t always succeeded, but when I fail, I’ve tried again. I think that counts, right?

I’ve tried to keep my genealogy research organized. Although a lot of it is still a mess, I’ve gotten it in better order and can find more things than I could last year.  I’ve even got a number of things scanned so that I can find them easily and all my scans backed-up in various places.

I attended the IGHR in Samford and completed my course on Legal and Government Records. I’ve also put this knowledge to use in doing some research and intend to do more next year. I also attended the New York State History Conference and went to various sessions to learn about new things. While attending these I saw and talked with many different people

I also did some on-site research and expanded my knowledge of Dennis Wooster’s family. We don’t know if my great-great grandfather, Barclay, ever visited his brother after he moved to Indiana, but I have gone to several of the places he was in that area.

Okay, so I didn’t do so well with the Professional Management Conference. That wasn’t my fault, really! I did attend one of the three days of the conference and networked with a few people before I got sick.  After I returned home I also purchased some of the sessions that I missed and listened to them. So, overall I don’t think I did so badly with that conference. And, Santa, later I found out it wasn’t because I didn’t drink enough water, but rather that I was allergic to a new medication. So, really you can’t blame me for being dehydrated and missing out on 2/3 of the conference.

So, since I did good with my genealogy overall this past year, won’t you send me a few Genea-presents this year? I won’t ask for much. I’m not going to ask for the restoration of the 1890 census, although that would be cool if you could tuck it in my stocking somehow! How about a DNA test kit, registration for New England Regional Conference and maybe a few little research trips? A day or two in Albany or even the Connecticut State library would be great, but whatever trips you can find tucked away on your sleigh will be made good use of here. Please Santa. I promise I’ll try to be good again next year!

NERGC Looking Back and Forward

Portland, Maine Headlight from 2015

Providence Rhode Island last year, Manchester New Hampshire 2 years before that, and Springfield Massachusetts next year. At regular intervals, my thoughts have turned to New England vacations in the spring. Yes, New England is a beautiful place to visit in the springtime. I have many ancestors that lived there. But why is there a theme about the time of year developing?

The reason is that every two years I can combine a trip to New England to research and tour an area with some education and meeting up with other great genealogists. A year ago this morning we were heading home from the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence from that year’s The New England Regional Genealogical Consortium, Inc. (NERGC). It consisted of two and a half days of over 95 lectures in total. Many of them were geared towards research in Rhode Island itself, but they covered subjects all over New England and general topics as well.

 

Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts

It wasn’t just about the lectures either. In just about every class, I sat next to somebody I had met before. Walking between classrooms and in the vendor hall I ran into people that I know. Genealogists from all over New England, New York and beyond were gathering there to learn and discuss genealogy. There is huge serge in energy at such a place. If you’ve never been to a conference, you really must go to at least one to see what it is like. I always come home from such a conference exhausted, but with renewed eagerness to dive into more genealogy.

Next year we will be headed to Springfield a little later in April. The theme for the conference is: Using the Tools of Today & Tomorrow to Understand the Past and will be held April 26-29 at the MassMutual Convention Center in Springfield, Massachusetts. Although I don’t personally have any direct ancestors that lived in the area, I am sure there will be many lectures that I will look forward to hearing. 

Old town hall or schoolhouse Exeter, Rhode Island

The call for papers has closed, and they are still working on deciding which lectures will be presented. Some of the categories included repositories across New England, and many areas of technology. Other topics on the call for papers included: genealogy research focused within social, cultural, racial, or ethnic groups; and family history writing and publishing in print and on the web. So, there will be quite a variety of topics presented no matter which people are selected to present.

The website at http://www.nergc.org/ is still mainly giving information about last year’s conference, but it should be updated before long. Many volunteers are working behind the scenes to get everything ready for Springfield in 2017. Until then, we will just sit back and dream of New England and next year’s conference. I hope I will see many friends old and new there!