GenealogyClassBlog

At the Cherokee Ancestry Conference on Saturday I described the critical part of family history research — the evidence — and I identified some resources for understanding how to cite sources. The title of the talk was, “How Do You Know? understanding Evidence and Source Citations,” because we really do need to know what we can believe about ancestors.

I told the attendees that I would be posting some additional information here on the GenealogyClassBlog. I hope that it will be helpful to all genealogy students, whether in attendance at the seminar or not.

Realizing that there are mistakes in online family trees, and even in published genealogies, we discussed the importance of making sure that our work is correct before we share it with others. Standards for Sound Genealogical Research, from the National Genealogical Society, may be found here. Note that the document is in PDF format and requires Adobe Acrobat Reader or Apple’s Preview to read it. At this same site, there is a link to download another related document developed by the National Genealogical Society, “Guidelines for Genealogical Self-Improvement and Growth.”

The Genealogical Proof Standard is described at the web site of the Board For Certification of Genealogists. The Genealogical Proof Standard is the current standard genealogists should use in determining whether the evidence supports a conclusion, especially when there is no direct evidence. This page also provides the process you would use to determine how to reach a conclusion based upon the Genealogical Proof Standard.

I would also recommend reading a Skillbuilding article, called “Guidelines for Evaluating Genealogical Resources,” by Linda Woodward Geiger for an explanation of how sources provide the information that becomes our evidence.

I will be presenting this same program for the Tulsa City County Library on Saturday, July 23, but expanded to an hour and a half, beginning at 1:00 pm. Following that lecture, I will be introducing a new program I am calling “Genealogy Using DNA: First Steps” from 2:45 to 4:15.

I will write again soon with links to genealogy blogger discussions about source citations in genealogy software programs and about additional genealogy programs. Here is a link to the downloadable flyer for Family History Month at the Tulsa City County Library. This form will also require Adobe Acrobat Reader or Preview for viewing.

Gene Norris, CG, the genealogist for the Cherokee National Historical Society, Inc. in Park Hill, Oklahoma, has organized a two-day seminar with seven interesting lecture topics – four on Friday, June 10 and three on Saturday, June 11. The location for this 10th Annual Conference will be the Osiyo Training Room, located eight miles south of downtown Tahlequah at the Restaurant of the Cherokee and Cherokee Nation Gift Shop.

2011 Cherokee Ancestry Conference

Download the 2011 June Genealogy Conference brochure pictured above (requires Adobe Reader or Preview to view).
Download the Cherokee Ancestry Conference Map (requires Adobe Reader or Preview to view).

Speakers will include Roy Hamilton (Cherokee Historian and President of the Cherokee Arts & Humanities Council), Featured Speaker Ryan Mackey (Language Curriculum Specialist, CN Immersion School), Elizabeth Walker (Genealogy Library Associate from the Tulsa City County Library’s Genealogy Center) and Gene Norris on Friday; and Gene Norris and myself on Saturday.

For specific lecture titles and times, download the 10TH Annual Cherokee Ancestry Conference itinerary (in Microsoft Word format).

On Saturday afternoon at 1:30pm I will be ending the conference with “How Do You Know? Understanding Evidence and Source Citations.”

You can see from the photos of the Osiyo Meeting Room on the conference brochure that it is a state-of-the-art facility. The speakers (and I have heard all except Ryan Mackey) are engaging and well informed. I recommend that you take this opportunity to learn about Cherokee ancestry research. I hope you can arrange to attend.

Desmond Walls Allen will be in Tulsa to present a workshop for the Tulsa City County Library on Saturday, 23 April, and I am very excited. I had a chance to meet Desmond at the FGS Conference in Little Rock in 2009, and I have always been a huge fan. She is a very witty and bright speaker and she has such a wonderful depth of knowledge about any of her topics that I always learn when I attend one of her lectures. Desmond is a professional genealogist from Arkansas, who has published numerous books for genealogists to use to find Arkansas ancestors. I found 42 in the library’s catalog, most of which can be found at the Genealogy Center. She is the author of First Steps in Genealogy: a Beginner’s Guide to Researching Your Family History, which is available for check-out to library cardholders at several of the branches.

by Desmond Walls Allen

The workshop will be at the Hardesty Library, in the Frossard Auditorium, from 9:30 to 4:30. I hear that she will be taking questions at the end about Arkansas research among other topics, but the focus for most of the day will be digital images, which we all need to understand better. Here is a description from the library’s Event Guide:

Discover how you can use your digital camera to document your family history research. Learn how to photograph records, cemeteries, heirlooms and old photographs, as well as touch up old photographs to make them a great addition to research notebooks and scrapbooks.

I haven’t heard whether she will have any of her books for sale, but you might want to bring some money along, just in case. I look forward to seeing you there.

National Archives Countdown

Comedian Bill Cosby did a wonderful show yesterday at the PAC in Tulsa and my husband and I were there. During his two-hour description (although likely exaggerated) of life as a grandfather and someone who is now one of the “old people,” he mentioned that he is now 73 years old. So, Mr. Cosby has almost lived long enough to find himself on the census.

If you have been hoping to use the census to learn more about someone who, like Bill Cosby, was born between April of 1930 and April 1 of 1940, you will have your chance, beginning 2 April 2012, of using the United States Federal Census, taken 1 April 2012. The additional one-day delay is because 1 April 2012 falls on a Sunday.

I will be writing more later about what you can expect — that the images will initially be released online instead of only on microfilm for instance — but for now you can visit the National Archives website for more information — even a countdown (the image I’ve pasted here was the countdown as of 4 April at 8:35 am).

Constance Potter, Archivist, has written about the release, here and in a Prologue Magazine article online.

FamilySearch Home Page April 2011

Have you tried FamilySearch? It’s a large, free website for genealogists, provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is somewhat complex, and is currently undergoing some very serious updating. So, you may find it challenging to try to locate the information you need, and to know whether you have found everything there is to find. Want a list of genealogy terms in French? Want to find online lectures? Want to find which roll of microfilm might have your ancestor’s will? Or maybe you want to find published genealogies on the surname of your ancestor? Let me help you.

I will be presenting an even newer “What’s New” lecture on Saturday, April 9, from 10:30 to 12:30 at the Tulsa City County Library’s Genealogy Center. This is a free, two-hour program, and is an update to what I’ve presented previously. The objective is to help explain where FamilySearch has been, where it’s going, and how to use it now. I will be available afterward to answer questions, too.

The Genealogy Center is located at 2901 S. Harvard in Tulsa. See other TCCL events at this link.*

I hope to see you there. Please tell me that you learned about the program from reading my blog post!

* When you click the link, you’ll be downloading a pdf brochure, which may be opened using Adobe Acrobat Reader.