More from the NERGC – MyHeritage, Ancestry and the NEHGS

Today we visit with MyHeritage, Ancestry.com, and the New England Historic Genealogical Society.

We talk with MyHeratgie about their collections and MyHeritage DNA – www.MyHeritage.com


We talk with Crista Cowan, The Barefoot Genealogist, about Ancestry’s new – Genetic Communities – www.Ancestry.com


I am pretty sure that I had not had enough coffee yet for this interview… it’s the New England Historic Genealogical Society – not Association. Gah! Anyway, we talk about their new expansion and their collection of Historic Catholic Records (which astute viewers might remember from Episode 4 – here.) – www.AmericanAncestors.org


On a side note, I may not be able to get any more videos posted before next week but stay tuned just in case.


Four more from the #NERGC2017 Hall

Today we will visit with Evidentia Software, the NextGen Genealogy Network, the Drouin Institute and the American French Genealogical Society.

Evidentia Software is a unique beast. I’ve known about it for some time and its something I really want to try. It focuses on the source information which you then connect to a name(s) of the person(s) in your tree it belongs too. I really recommend heading to their website and taking a look at their tutorial videos. https://evidentiasoftware.com/


 

NextGen Genealogy Network is a network of young genealogists building connections and promoting engagement in the genealogical community. http://www.tnggn.org/


 

The American French Genealogical Society is out of Woonsocket RI and is a great resource for all things genealogy, not just American French ancestry http://www.afgs.org/


 

Lastly, The Drouin Institue is the home for Catholic certificates of baptism, marriage and burial of Quebec and the Protestant marriages.  They are two different sites with a few different things to offer.  Check them out at https://www.genealogiequebec.com/en  and https://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca/en/home

NERGC2017 Exhibitors Hall

Today’s videos venture into the Exhibit Hall of the 2017 NERGC.

Hearthstone Legacy Productions produces a ton of historical maps. I am sad that I never had a chance to go back and browse some more. – www.HearthstoneLegacy.com


The General Society of Mayflower Descendants – Are you descended from a Mayflower Ancestor or do you want to find out?  The General Society of Mayflower Ancestors can help! We’ll find out more about the Society, 400th Anniversary, and the Silver Books. – www.TheMayflowerSociety.org


Publishers of Internet Genealogy Magazine and more, Moorshead Magazine speaks to us about their publications – www.internet-genealogy.com


Need some German records translated?  SK Translations seems to be the place to go! (Her contact information is within the video itself – as it’s an e-mail address I don’t want her potentially getting hit with a bunch of spam.)

 

Four more Videos from the #NERGC2017 Society Fair

We have the last interviews from the NERGC Society fair which include The Welles Family Association, The Towne Family Association, and The Association for Gravestone Studies.

First though, we caught up with Dave Robison, Co-Chair of NERGC 2017 in Springfield to talk a little bit about the conference itself, what to look forward to in 2019, and a bit about his family story.  www.NERGC.org

 


The Welles Family Association
www.wellesfamily.org

It is open to all descendants of Gov. Thomas Welles. The purpose of the Welles Family Association is to honor our common ancestor by striving to emulate his sterling qualities; to foster an interest in the study of his life and activities; and to cement a closer bond of unity among his descendants in fellowship and service to each other.[1]Excerpt from www.wellesfamily.org


The Town Family Association

Dedicated to the descendants of William Towne and Joanna Blessing, who were married at St. Nicholas Church on April 25, 1620.[2]Excerpt from townefolk.com


Association for Gravestone Studies
www.gravestonestudies.org

Our mission is to foster appreciation of the cultural significance of gravestones and burial grounds through their study and preservation.[3]Exceprt from www.gravestonestudies.org

Next up – We take a tour of the exhibitor’s hall.

Notes   [ + ]

1. Excerpt from www.wellesfamily.org
2. Excerpt from townefolk.com
3. Exceprt from www.gravestonestudies.org

Three more videos from the NERGC 2017

Today we’ll be visiting the Thomas Stanton Society, The Society of Middletown First Settlers Descendants, and the Pioneer Valley History Network.

The Thomas Stanton Society
www.StantonSociety.org

We wish to honor the life and work of Thomas Stanton, colonial founder of Hartford and Stonington, CT.[1]www.StantonSociety.org

The Society of Middletown First Settlers Descendants

www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ctsmfsd/Index.html

Our goal is that the site serves as a useful starting point for those researching early Middletown, Conn. ancestors [2]www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ctsmfsd/Index.html

The Pioneer Valley History Network
www.PioneerValleyHistoryNetwork.org

The Pioneer Valley History Network is a resource for local history organizations in western Massachusetts—and the public they serve. [3]www.PioneerValleyHistoryNetwork.org

Notes   [ + ]

Live from the NERGC 2017 – First of the videos

Well it has taken longer than I had wanted but over the next several days I’ll be pushing out some of the videos from the 2017  New England Regional Genealogical Consortium Conference.  If you watched us live there’s not much new for the first couple of days but, since we didn’t get to go live on the third day… All sorts of new stuff! Of course if you did not get to watch the live stream – Well here is your chance to see some of what we got to see at the conference.

The first group are all from the society fair and today we’ll be going live with:

The Southington Genealogical Society
www.southingtongenealogicalsociety.org

The Southington Genealogical Society Inc., founded in 1984, is a non profit organization located in central Connecticut that promotes the accurate recording, research and preservation of family history.[1]www.southingtongenealogicalsociety.org

The Harriman Family Association
www.harriman-family.org

An Association Of the Descendants of Leonard and John Harriman
Immigrants to Rowley, Mass., and New Haven, Conn. c. 1638[2]www.harriman-family.org

The Maine Old Cemetery Association
www.moca-me.org

The Maine Old Cemetery Association was founded in 1968 to foster interest in the discovery, restoration, and maintenance of Maine cemeteries, and to preserve records and historical information which relates to them. [3]www.moca-me.org

Look for more as the week continues!

Notes   [ + ]

Home from the #NERGC2017

It was late by the time we got home and sleep called to us. Today’s tasks are going to include unpacking and offloading the footage which we shot along with a brief wrap up of our third day. 

I’ll try to keep my nose out of the internet, researching probate records, or any records for that matter so I can focus on a few other items first.

I did however find it appropriate that these were in my mailbox when I arrived home last night.

I’ll add one more errand to my all ready busy day but this one will certainly be worth it.

NERGC 2017 – Day 2 is in the books

Oh my!  Today was another eventful day at the New England Regional Genealogical Consortium Conference. We did some live streaming, we attended some lectures, and we did more browsing around the exhibit hall. I do wish I had the time to do a full recap but sadly it will have to wait.

I will leave you all tonight with one quote from the day.

I understand a record better, after we’ve been friends – F. Warren Bittner

In this case he was referring to really taking a record at more than face value. Sometimes, some things won’t make sense until you’ve made sense of other things.

Saturday we’ll do one last burst of filming and streaming and enjoy more lectures during the later half of the day.

#nergc2017

 

NERGC – Day 1

Today was an eventful day at the New England Regional Genealogical Consortium biennial conference.

After we checked in, our first stop was the Exhibit Hall… you know, to check it out for filming later.  We met a lot of great people and saw many great items. Friday we plan to return with the camera and live stream what we can.  We stopped into the blogger center and connected with Heather Wilkinson Rojo from ‘Nutfield Genealogy‘ blog, and she promptly introduced us to Thomas MacEntee of ‘High Definition Genealogy‘ who felt that video blogs / TV Shows were a great idea.

The ‘Conference Welcome’ was well attended and included chairs and co-chairs of the event as well as the Mayor of Springfield, MA who absolutely nailed his speech.  It was immediately followed up by the talk, ‘What Can Our Ancestors Teach Us About Genealogy?’ presented by the amazing, Mary Tedesco (www.originsitaly.com). This was pretty much a history of Genealogy Societies, Libraries, Computers, and other innovations over the years.

We returned to the exhibit hall for a few and then our separate ways for the afternoon of workshops and lectures.

I’ll split off a moment and introduce the other part of the ‘we’ I’m referring to over the past couple of days.  Dick Gagnon is a fellow genealogy buff with many American Canadian ties.  He’s been heavily involved with the ACGS over the years and, he’s the station manager for Access Nashua, home of Discovering Your Past.  He’s also my camera man for the weekend as well.

I attended a workshop on Paleography led by Edward W. Strickland. This was a very informative workshop filled with tricks and tips. The second half included the class translating old records and doing our best at it. I teamed up with the woman sitting in front of me and we struggled together, made some breakthroughs, and learned quite a bit. I’d love to have Edward on the show someday to chat with us about this sometimes difficult task.

The second lecture for me today was ‘Treats and Treasures: New Jersey Repositories.’ Michelle Chubenko had a lot of information to cover and she only scratched the surface.  While we may have heard about 10 or so sites, the syllabus contains over 100 links!  I learned quite a bit about New Jersey History through the short hour (and a bit.) While today it is divided into North, Central, and South Jersey, back in the day before reliable land transportation, New Jersey was divided into East and West.  The Coastal routes of the Atlantic Ocean to the East was that days Garden State Parkway, while the Jersey Turnpike to the west was the Delaware River. I’d like to spend the remainder of the night searching sites off of the list but alas, it is indeed way to late as it is.

The society fair was next and it was a great time.  We pulled out the camera, connected to the internet, and viola! Live to YouTube. (The geek in me finds this technology just amazing!)  We spoke with as many of the societies as we had time for (I will try to actually list them out soon,) and one of the co-chairs of the NERGC Conference as well. While I’ll go through at a later time and edit the footage down, you can see our raw – very much so at times – footage directly on our NERGC YouTube playlist.  Thank you to all that participated – Including Investigative Designer, David Seah.

Last up of the evening were the Special Interest Group round tables.  I chose to attend the one for Bloggers led by the aforementioned Heather Wilkinson Rojo. We shared a ton of ideas and stories.  It was a great end to the day.

Today’s Score from the NERGC 2017

So much for keeping this short…  Tomorrow brings another packed day.  We should be live streaming around 9:00am to noon or so from the exhibit hall. With the delay in chat, and the difficult time keeping it open on the cell phone, I’ll probably have to skip that portion though I encourage all of the viewers to chat together on the YouTube page. If I get a break I will try to check it. Oh, and if someone knows how to see the chat from a mobile device please please let us know (I’ve hacked my web browser on it right now to display the desktop version of YouTube, but it’s not great.)

In the immortal words of many a post card – Having a Great Time, Wish You Were Here!