Sharing and Preserving our Memories

We all have memories. They are personal. They tell the story of who we are, and consequently of our family. The 2013 Rootstech Conference which I have viewed online has enhanced the evolution of my participation in genealogy. The preservation and sharing aspect is critical for taking our histories to the next generationMy  and the future. Rootstech this year had a great section of the conference dedicated to sharing and preserving with story telling and other tools. It was amazing.

About a year ago, I began the very gentle tip toe into sharing and preserving. It began with my first attempts at blogging. I have since then modified and enhanced it. And then with influence from Thomas MacEntee have found the path I think is best for me....for now. One of my blogs is about all things genealogy EXCEPT my family trees.My feelings, opinions, activities, goals, you name it. I am the president of my local genealogy society, so that always has its own perspective that I can share. The other 7 blogs are on family lines for both my husband and myself. Genealogy, photos, documents and hopefully stories that I can remember or discover for these family trees.

Just recently before I had even investigated the line-up for Rootstech, I had a  moment with my 3 year old granddaughter. I love listening to what she is thinking and she asked me to tell her a story. I think she meant from one of her Disney Princess books. But, I went "off script" with my first attempt at story telling her about two children, named Andrew and Jessica (her daddy and aunt - my children) and how they learned to ride their bicycles. She loved it, and this activity will continue as she grows. Hopefully, I can get her grandpa, and others to have their own "story times" with her. We also take out the scrapbook I created for the first year of her life...and use this as a prompt for story telling for her life. The book was given to her  as her baby present at the birth of her younger sister. She loves it and we use it to tell "her" story. Each of us has that need for validation. Our definition of self first comes from others. Later we learn how to define ourselves based on these earlier experiences.

Years ago, before I even thought of all this, when my mom and dad were still with us, I gave them each an assignment; a journal to write some of their memories while down south for the winter. It was their first extended trip away from family, and knowing them like I did, could not imagine that they would know what to do with their time. [They seemed to have trouble anticipating all the free hours that they would have upon retirement and how to fill them.] So, I bought them the journals and I have their writings from that time. Only wish that I had followed up with them, using the journals as a prompt for more questions. But, I have their photos from teen years and at least the little that they wrote. After their passing, I asked my Mother's 2 sisters to do the same, providing them with journals too. I have had one returned and will need to transcribe it from the hand written for easier reading and try to get time with her to ask further questions from her. Nothing I really can do to enhance my Dad's except through my mom's sisters, my brother, sister-in-law, our children and myself. But again, better than nothing. Since Dad's two remaining siblings were both younger than he, not sure what they could add, but will try to gather some information from them. Mom had numerous journals, but shortly before she died, she asked that they all be destroyed. I have the last one, saved by my dad and given to me. The last time she wrote in it was the day she was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Personally, I am horrible at staying with a journal about myself. So, the blogs will have to be "my story".

So my newest goal is this. Each time I meet with  my family I want to take the time to get them to add one new memory/story to our family history. Short, long, sad, happy whatever. Just one story. Will need to remember something to record it...wonder if my smart phone has anything? Then will have to best determine how to best preserve them and share them....need to think that one through.

The Front Line For Genealogy

I am just back from Rootstech 2013. No I did not attend in person, but rather am taking advantage of their marvelous commitment to sharing some of the presentations in live streams and then archived videos at their web site at www.rootstech.org for no charge. Love them for their updates, education and entertainment. This is the conference that has gone onto my bucket list and is now in only its third year the largest genealogy conference in the USA. It is where genealogy meets technology or in other words where traditional genealogy conference meets trade show. With teenagers invited for a special session on Saturday, the 3 day conference had almost 9000 people go through the gates and more watching online. At last report representatives of 49 US states attended, and 17 foreign countries! Wow.

Learning experiences and not just database searches make you a better researcher which in turn improves the data you can obtain about your family tree. This is why I believe that family historians need to improve their skills. Better questions lead to better answers. There is one aspect of genealogy that I have not, as yet, seen advocated at the conference. They have a call out for encouraging more people to be working on their family trees, and more people telling their stories. The conference advocates for search skills, organization skills and preservation activities. Great. But, who is on the Front Line in these efforts? Who is the Entry Point for new/beginning genealogists ? Who holds their hand through brick walls, use of technology both old and new? Who identifies local records, and then can seek to preserve them?

It is my belief that the local genealogical societies, those that people can attend regularly are that Front Line. And, to date, I have seen little dedicated effort to supporting or promoting their missions from anyone on the large stage, except for FGS. As a president for our local society, I have given introductions to our society, to a local Kiwanis, Rotary, Fortnightly, public libraries, museum events, and Leadership groups in the county in the past 11 years. We begin each spring with a Brochure Blast, getting our brochures out in the libraries, Senior Citizen Centers, Museums, local FHC and County offices. This year we will have a booth at the 50+ Challenge to Live Well, The 2013 Farm Technology Days, and our Pioneer Village Heritage Days. Our research room is open and free to the general pubic, for about 27 hours each month and our Monthly Programs (with speakers or other events) are also free and open to the public. (Our Annual Banquet and General Membership Business Meetings are for members only.) Our Free coaching classes for Beginners, or those applying for Society Ancestor Certificates, or use of genealogy software, and beginning bloggers, are all open to the general public. We advertise our events and programs in our society bi-monthly newsletter, on our society web site, Facebook pages, and monthly in local print media and radio stations. So, it seems to me that our small society is doing pretty much all that it can to get our "face" out to the public. What we need in the genealogical community is a re-dedication to an old concept. We need to encourage membership in genealogical societies. Rather than a relationship with ones computer, we need to advocate for recreating genealogical communities through the small local societies and then supporting their missions.

So what is it I would like to see? Actually something very small. I want everyone who is active in doing their family history or who is involved in preserving local records to belong to their local society. Historical Societies are great, and ours maintains our local museum. But they collect, preserve, and present artifacts. They do not do family history research nor are they open as many months of the year as we are. But if your Historical Society has a Genealogy committee, get involved with them. I would like to see each of my members (now numbering just under 100) to invite guests to our programs and to membership. Generally, family historians know others who share their passion. And, whenever someone is asked, how do I begin? Direct them to their local society.

And what can those societies do? Meet your members needs. No one wants to belong to a group that is not inviting or knowledgeable and excited about their subject! Attracting new members is an obligation of the society. You know...."if you aren't growing...your dying." I certainly would not want to attend an event, where I felt left out of it, and not welcomed....and it was simply a "kaffee klatch" for a clique of friends. Activity is a critical ingredient to attracting, keeping, and involving your members. You gotta be DOING something!

Are you a member of your local society? Get involved!

Love That Blogging

One of the obligations of a family historian or genealogist is to preserve and share their research. This can be a daunting expectation since in my experience the majority of those out there doing this type of work, are beginners. Source citations, creative writing, research skills, all come into creating a genealogical product that the experts will approve.

So, I am not going to appeal to the experts. I want all those family historians out there to consider sharing and preserving their family stories on a blog. Now, I know what you are thinking.....how will I know whether the information on their blog is accurate? You don't. But like so many records that we use, such as "Mug" books (aka County History Books), obits, tombstones, and others research, we have to use the information as a clue to find further documents and evidence that may support the information. And one thing that the experts will not have is our family tales and traditions. I have journals from family members of their memories, and in some cases some old letters. These are going to make my "stories" really become their story.

I have been inspired by Thomas MacEntee to blog. I use Google Blogger and find it so easy its almost painless. I separate my blogs by surname and geographical origination, cause that is how I separate my family trees for ease of researching within a given area. At present I have 8 blogs;  GeneaGunkie about All Things Genealogy but not my Trees, AbbottAncestry, ErvastiTree from Finland, JuhlinFromSweden, MyLarueLinks, PloegerPast from Germany, RiedellRoots from Prussia/Silesia/Posen, and StreseStories from Germany.

This is how I also have scanned and saved to files those photos, documents, etc. that will pertain to the blog. I named these Scanned Files the same as the blog. Makes it so easy to go back and find what I need for the blog.

Remember this. A blog is personal and expresses my personal opinions and experiences. You may want to disagree with my opinions, and that is your right. But, my experiences are uniquely mine, and you cannot disagree with them, as "they are what they are, and they are mine!"

I'mmmmm Baaaaack!

I know. I have been gone too long. Busy with family, society, job etc. And I thought I had nothing to talk about. But, after a Winter Recess from my Blue Hills Genealogical Society-Barron County, Inc. found a new burst of creative energy! Amazing what a break can do for you.

BHGS is getting things re-organized to better serve and spread the work around to more member-volunteers. A really great genealogical society, in today's world needs to be inclusive, relevant, and ACTIVE!!!! If you are not growing....you are dying.

So, we have worked on my mantra about committees. NO COMMITTEES OF ONE. Ask someone to work with you. Get volunteers to work on one simple aspect of your committee. If someone is a new chairperson, help them to develop a goal and agenda with procedures in place.

For Example, I have been serving as the Program chair for our society. This is not the way to do it, as I am as President an ex-officio member of all committees and that has me spread way to thin. A program chair basically only needs a computer and a phone to set up the programs. Therefore, they actually can be a member who lives out of area. Which is what we got. A member was transferred out of state but agreed to serve as our 2013 Program Chair. It did not hurt that of the 10 Monthly Programs for 2013 I had already planned 8 of them. [ I am a big fan of planning way out in front of an event, so that we can better advertise it.] All we needed on her committee then was a couple of people to announce the Program the night of, arrange any film, screen or projector needs for the night, and print out any handouts that a speaker may wish to provide. The new chair actually recruited her own committee members so that is all set. Wahoo!

Got a new arranged committee for the Newsletter, which made our Editor really happy. And all this reorganizing should lessen the load for our volunteers. Which left me with some time on my hands, so I have gone back to advocating for sharing and preserving ones family history/genealogy through blogging.In case you did not know, Thomas MacEntee is one of my heroes!

I had already created 2 blogs. This one, and MyLaRueLinks about my paternal line. I have now added 2 new blogs for my maternal line. My mom's paternal line is at http://RiedellRoots.blogspot.com and her maternal line is my newest blog, at http://PloegerPast.blogspot.com.  I am excited to share this new aspect of genealogy with my society members. I use Google Blogger. An easy template and free. Great way to share with others interested in any of my lines. Cheaper than printing a book. And a lead in to more complicated sharing and preserving formats such as Google Sites where I have put out 2 first websites on my Juhlin line and my husband's Ervasti line.

There are so many avenues to pursue in genealogy! Such fun and so rewarding.

Working Alone or in Groups?

I love genealogy. I love everything related to genealogy. I love traveling for research, attending conferences, old photos, you name it. But, maybe what it really comes down to is that I love associating with other people who also love genealogy. They simply have similar interests, experiences, and I always come away with some new piece of information that will improve my genealogy.

Just recently I read the book, the Journey Takers by Leslie Albrecht. It was recommended by a member of my local society. Lovely use of her genealogy to describe her ancestors in humanizing terms. Not just the data a genealogist collects, but the stories, descriptions, and "what ifs?" of her family. This all lead me to remember to include the stories, memories, newspaper articles, letters, and personal writings of my family into my PAF files on family. I can get so involved in finding the hard data, that I can forget to include those things that will make my ancestors more human. So "Note to self"...tell the story; do not only record the data.

If you read my blog, you will notice that I have a bias. It is that for the best results and rewards of this hobby, that you should find a local genealogy society to join. If they have a few meetings that are open to the public, attend a couple. See what the general atmosphere is going to be. While I love love love doing my own research. And generally speaking it is not a team sport. I have found some collaborators through the Internet over the years. But, it is through my local society, that I have made friends for weekly walks, travel, visiting museums, sharing gas, going out to lunch etc. and yes, talking about genealogy. If you feel that their programs are not relevant, then maybe you can help them develop or implement some programs that will be useful/entertaining to members.

Now I have to get back to seeing who else would like to share gas to this years Gene-A-Rama. And maybe share a room? Could save us both a bundle!

Great Programs.

Since I am the President of my local genealogical society, I have my hand in a number of our programs. Planning and implementing them is always an issue. But, the most important ingredient is having your antennae up and listening and looking for what your membership and the public WANT.  I am a firm believer that a large number of members and non-members who attend our regular monthly meetings, generally want tips to improve their research results. And, I have found that where ever we can actully lead them through a hands-on process they tend to obtain better results.Where ever you decide to hold your monthly meetings, make sure you have wireless capabilites. It will allow for so many more meeting program possibilities.

So, at our last meeting we invited everyone to bring their laptops. If they did not own one, we would sit them alongside someone who had one. Then, our program speaker, who is also a member of our Society and the Director of the Local FHC began. I have a projector, so was able to hook up to her computer, while she got FamilySearch.org up on the screen.Then we showed only one part of what FamilySearch can do for their research. Finding the catalog and looking at what films can be ordered was the focus. There simply are to many items available through the FHL loan to FHC's that any researcher who wants any kind of results, simply cannot ignore this resource. Then, since the ordering and paying for microfilm rental must now be done from the patrons home/computer, we helped the attendees to set up their FREE accounts and showed them how that worked.  Since our Local Barron FHC is only about 5 blocks from our society meeting and research room location and from our county courthouse, we can offer the best research repositories in very close proximity for the county. This is a wonderful advantage to researchers.

Our full meeting room, with at least half of those attending from the BHGS non-member population was an indicator that the subject matter was relevant. It also let us know that since we had so many attendees from the general public, that our use of Facebook, website, and publicity in local media was successful and is being viewed by the public. Great meetings and really good advertising creates interest, attendance, membership and these are all great things for a society.

Our April meeting is our 10th Anniversary and Society Elections. We plan to celebrate. Our May meeting will be planning a genealogical research trip with a session from Tronhiem in America President, Robert Fossum (who is also a member of our Society) on the related issue of planning for attending a Norwegian stevne. June will find members out in one of our county cemeteries, where we continue the project of photographing the tombstones while creating abstracts of those cemeteries as our dedication to preserving local records. Its going to be a GREAT year for our Society.

Whats New for 2012.

I have been elected to the post of the NW District Representative for the Wisconsin State Genealogical Society. This is a position I held for a very short time until health issues made me resign from that commitment. So, now I am back again, promoting what I love, genealogy and their societies. One of the best tools available to  a genealogist is membership in a good genealogical society. Whether it is local (which I highly recommend as at least one of your memberships) or through a subscription to one at a distance. These groups of people simply can offer so much more than one person could find on their own.  So, find your local. Join the State Society. Or if you do not have a local, ask WSGS for some simple steps in getting your own group up and running!

What's a Webinar?

A webinar, is a online seminar. The ones that I have watched have been narrated PowerPoint presentations on different genealogy related subjects or on how to use online tools in my genealogy or society business. Genealogy Gems,  Legacy Family.com, Roots Magic.com, Geneawebinars have schedules for some of these. I generally view those that are free, and I make sure to check the archived copies, if I am busy when they are shown live. I may miss out on the door prizes and the Q&A sessions, but can still listen to them as recorded material. Google Docs and Google Forms by Thomas MacEntee, along with his others on Create a Genealogy Toolbox and Backup for your Genealogy Data were excellent and eye opening to me. The pod casts and videos on Genealogy Gems are thrilling. I am working on absorbing all the information that Lisa Louise Cooke provides in her presentations, and especially with search tips and tricks and Google Earth to enhance genealogy. If you are only looking for databases, you may sometimes feel like a gerbil on a wheel. You need to enhance your skills to get more and better information. So use these tools. They save you gas, can be fit into your personal schedule and are providing the public with great tools.

Keep It Interesting!

Most genealogy people are always looking for their ancestors, searching for new databases and all those things to fill in the Birth, Marriage and Death information on them.  But, I have also found that genealogy people are also very interested in learning the best ways and different ways to enhance their computer use. To this end, six members of my Blue Hills Genealogical Society-Barron County, Inc. are taking a Photo Restoration class through our local Technical college. It is 3 consecutive Thursday evenings, price is under $25 for most of us and only $4 for those over 62 years of age. We are getting a chance to use PhotoShop CS3 and related usage to PhotoShop Elements. What fun as we all work on our old or damaged photos.

When you get tired and hit the brick walls in your research, try looking for your local society. Maybe they can help with the brick wall OR you may even find some fun things that they are doing and it enhances your personal genealogical hobby!

Plan Ahead-Research Trips

There is nothing worse than walking into a library or archive that is filled with possibilities and you don't have a clue what you are hoping to find. I have done this as have many others. But, now I make a plan. A shopping list, if you will. I first of all determine which family line is going to be best served by the resources at the repository that I am going to. Then I begin a list of what are the questions that I want to address. For example, next week I am going with a group from my genealogy society to the Minnesota Historical Society Library in St. Paul. This facility has an online presence and I am going to my group sheets, checking where I want to find specific information (such as a death date) then finding the certificate number online so that I can then find that certificate immediately. I also know that the MN facility has naturalization papers so will look for those that pertain to my husbands family, as they were all in Minnesota. Right now my shopping list has 11 naturalization papers I am searching for, 12 death certificates and 4 obituaries. This keeps me focused and my searches and not wandering around wondering what to do next. Bringing the printed version of the pedigree/family group sheets will also show me the blank spots in my research and if I have time I can work on any others that arise, if I have the time. But, with the shopping list I can prioritize my research and therefore get those items that are most important to me on this trip.

Talking About Genealogy Tools.

I guess we could say that today the greatest genealogy tool is the computer. It has provided access to more records and relatives than ever before. Like all things this is a blessing and a bummer sometimes. Learning how to use the computer is a non-ending experience. I learn new skills each time I want to accomplish some  new project. There is NO way that you can learn it all at once. The genealogy society that I belong to, Blue Hills Genealogical Society-Barron County, Inc. is relatively young (only 9 years old) and so we began without the old excuses of "but we've always done it this way...." No old habits or expectations. We also began with the VERY great good fortune of having some of our earliest members pretty darn proficient with a computer and as we continue to grow the size of our membership, we continue to pick up members with that knowledge and more.

Not all genealogy people are ONLY into their own research. Some like learning the history of an area, some like scrapbooking their family, some like to be involved in  preservation of their county materials, some like being with other people whatever their interests. Whatever it is, members will have a variety of goals so meeting them is the primary function of a society. Use of their computers, digital cameras and other new technology are some of the needs that come to mind.

We have found that most of us just simply do not know enough about our computers, so this past meeting, one of our very experienced computer guru's gave the monthly program called "Prescription for you PC" which covered the basic maintenance procedures that we should all be doing. It was great, he had power point presentation, with handouts and the members "ate it up".

Since our meetings are open to the public and advertised on local media, on our web site, in our newsletter and members reminded through our members only free mail list we do get the message out to the public.  But, we are now searching for a way that we can store and then make available to anyone, the handouts from our meetings. That way, even if someone is not a member or could not attend, but they see what our program was about a year ago, that they can go to a website or such and download and print the handout from a particular meeting. That does not of course provide the Q&A or discussion points, but it's better than nothing.

We still have not figured out which way is best to do this. Still talking about how to do it. But, it IS in our future.

Bare Bones Web Site.

Well I figured out the first step in creating a web site. I chose to use Google sites cause it was free and I have used other Google products and have been happy with them.

I chose the name for the each of two sites and a template for each. Wrote a quick intro for each. That was all the easy stuff. It took me a while to figure out how I could put my PAF file on the website but without any information on living persons or confidential notes. I figured that all out and then added a place on each website where I could add attachments, just like you do in email and voila` I have the basics out there.

I still will want to add photos and documents as I go along and I have some other family lines that I want to have their own websites. And, I thought I had registered these first two with Google so that the search engine can find them, but my understanding is that this could take a while, so not sure whether I did it correctly. I guess only time will tell.

I added a place on each website for comments but don't want anyone editing or deleting my information so they are not collaborative web sites.

The first is called MnJuhlinFamily about the descendants and ancestors of Lorentz Alfred Juhlin born Sweden and his wife, Mathiea Hansine Larsen born Bornholm, Denmark. They emigrated to the USA in 1905 with two young children and settled in Red Wing, Goodhue County, Minnesota. That web site can be found at https://sites.google.com/site/mnjuhlinfamily  and is my very first attempt.

I then got very brave and created my second web site, again very bare bones and small file. It is called ErvastiTree and is the Finnish ancestry of my husband.  The Finnish lines include Ervasti, Nivala, Maki, Lampi and others. The first known of these people immigrated to the UP of Michigan around 1881 and worked for 15 years in the mines up there. Around 1897 the Ervasti family moved down to Wright County, Minnesota where they spent the remainder of their lives.  This website can be found at https://sites.google.com/site/ervastitree and was created in the same manner.

Both files use the PAF genealogy software from FamilySearch and is pretty easy to understand and navigate around in. I chose to use it years ago for very simple reasons. It is free, all upgrades are free, and the support for the product is great.

So maybe I have given someone else some courage about sharing your research by creating a web page with their genealogy. I hope so.

Putting it Out There.

I have over 30 years of genealogical research collected on numerous of my family lines. I pretty much self taught myself in the beginning and therefore I have done a lot of things wrong. But, I have learned from my mistakes and try to encourage others to learn from my mistakes.

My biggest mistake was in not accurately documenting my research and citing my sources. I am still going back on previously done research and finding the sources and placing them into my research. The one advantage to this mistake, is that it makes me go back and re-analyze the quality of my evidence. More is not better. Lots of sources do not "trump" good evidence.

I also need to think more about how I want to share my research.  And, I have come, finally, to the conclusion that creating a web page is not a bad idea. I just need to make sure that it is open to the public to view but NOT for the public to edit. My work, my credit and MY errors. This should keep it straight about how my work should be accepted or not.

So, I have begun with Google and am trying to create a website on my family line from Sweden and Denmark. The Juhlin line is one where I don't have a great number of names. So, I figure it is the best place to begin learning this web site creation thingy. I picked the site name, MNJuhlinFamily as this Juhlin line settled in Red Wing, MN and it separates my line from other Juhlin lines.  I got a page template and that is as far as I have gotten so far. I am still trying to figure out if I can import my Juhlin.paf file from my PAF software program and haven't figured out if it is possible or how to do it. I really would like to do it this way, since the work is already done there and easy to follow. But, maybe it is not possible...will have do do more searching around and see how I can do this.

If anyone else has created a website from Google and wants to offer some suggestions...I am all "ears".

Research Tool. the Digital Camera.

I have used my digital camera a lot for taking photos. I have used it a lot for taking tombstone photos. What I have not had a lot of experience in, is using my digital as a research tool in taking photo's of documents. I plan to try it out more this year.  I know that there are some tips for this type of usage, and I need to review those to make sure that I have the right equipment on my research trips this year. I also need to check at the locations I will be going to and see whether they will allow my camera usage. No sense in carrying it along if its use is not allowed.

Sometimes the copy machine at a repository is a researchers best friend. I find it is easier to simply make copies of all the things on my "shopping list" and then to extract the information and analyze it when I get home. This way I get a lot more collected in a short period of time. Of course if they are charging $1 a page copy fee, I have to rethink that. But in most cases, I have found the copy fees to be under 35 cents a page and although I can write out my notes cheaper, it still limits the amount I can accomplish in a given period of time. I also find that when it comes to documents that have hand written information, that a copy of this is best so that I can re-analyze the writing if something is questionable to me.

I have heard of buying a sheet of non-glare glass to place over a document before taking a photo. That is something that is on my list. Something black  to lay a document on is another good idea? Or maybe dark gray is a better idea?

Checking my batteries and deleting all photo's from in my camera's memory is a MUST before I leave. Don't want to get there and have no memory and a dead battery.

We had a speaker at one of our genealogy meetings about digital camera use for genealogists. I saved his outline notes and need to review them.

A Great LITTLE Tip.

You know how it gets cumbersome to carry so many notebooks, laptop, etc. to a repository for research? I generally plan my trip so that I know what line I am going to work on. I then print out the FGS and a Pedigree on that line so I can see where the blank lines are then I high-light those. This helps me to focus on what questions I want to answer and therefore can determine what records I want to look for. Then I make a specific "shopping list".

I know that some people take their laptop everywhere and enter all their research immediately. For whatever my reasons, it is not my favorite way to do things, cause I do not want to carry it AND I do not want the hassle of making sure that I can use it at a repository OR that it will work.

So, a member of my society has this neat little trick. She buys one of those Coupon accordion files (from a dollar store)  that holds index cards and fills it with blank index cards. Then whenever she looks at a source, she puts down the source and all information on one card. On the top of my cards, I put the surname that it pertains to then all source citation and repository information. Finally, what ever the specific information found I place it on the card...or I write nothing found.  When all are filed in my little coupon file, I have something small, lightweight and readily organized and carried.

Neat, huh?

To Society or Not To Society?

You are going to find throughout my blogs that I strongly recommend membership in your local genealogical Society. Granted, there are societies and then there are Societies.  I look for a society whose membership fee I can afford. I want it close by so that I can participate in their meetings and activities. And, I look for one who is interested in obtaining me as a member. Not just so that they can get work out of me to accomplish their society goals. But also are interested in what my goals are and what I hope to obtain through membership.

Societies need to have a financial basis so that they can provide the benefits that members want. That means so that they can provide a newsletter, email list or some sort of communications with their members. They also may maintain a collection of research materials and need to house them somewhere. This all costs money. So you must expect that you will be asked to volunteer to help with some fund raising.

Society membership and volunteerism has encountered strong competition from the Internet. While my society does have a web presence it is limited. We do not have all our research materials online, as we simply do not have the amount of space online or the volunteers to enter it and keep it updated.  All that information that researchers find online is placed there by someone who found it and then entered it. While the Internet has greatly increased the amount of materials and the speed with which we can find it, it is not all that is out there. There is still the need for on site research for most genealogy. That means we need to get out to those courthouses, libraries and talk face-to-face with family members and other researchers.

My Society does offer our members research advantages that we do not provide for anyone else. For the $12 a year that has been our membership fee for 9 years, we feel that it is the best benefit that we can offer. We have limited research volunteers so conducting research for anyone who contacts us has got to be prioritized and we have determined that our members will always come first. Our research room is open to the public once a week for only a couple of hours, which we hope to expand this year, if we get the appropriate number of volunteers needed. We also have our bi-monthly newsletters, free email list, and members only day trips for research etc.  We try to provide entertainment AND educational opportunities for our genealogy and history buffs.

As an example of our activities we have our monthly meetings. Our next one will have our computer guru giving a presentation titled "Prescription for your PC" about basic maintenance and things we should all do at home to keep our computers working at their optimum. We advertise each meeting on our website, in an email list reminder to members,  in the local newspapers and on local radio. We also have our programs advertised on the Calendar of Events at the Wisconsin State Genealogical Society website. We make sure that each news release reminds all that the meetings are free and open to the public.

We know that there are many people in our county doing genealogy and are not members of our Society. We hear "but I don't have any research in ___county" as an excuse often. So, we try to construct our programs for anyone doing genealogy. While we collect materials for our county to be housed in our research room more than 80% of our meetings have to do with general genealogy, not local. However, when we have a local expert talking about their area of the county or a local author talking about their book, we tend to get the greatest turnout at our meetings.

For our members, we are planning at home viewing of some webinars and then hope to schedule one at our Research Room for members who have never tried these online seminars and need some leadership. We have a day trip for research planned to the UW Stout Area Research Center on April 4th and another to the Minnesota Historical Society Library on May 3rd.  We are waiting to see when the movie Conspirator will be coming to the local area, and then have a Movie Night planned with coffee and discussion afterwards.

We plan for local presence at the Pioneer Village and Museum's Heritage Days in July and once the weather is nice we get out in the local cemeteries to transcribe and photograph the tombstones. [This major project is designed to create a photographic and written record of all the tombstones in the 65 cemeteries in our county.] We are, individually, experimenting with Skype, as we have at least one member who may be housebound for a while with colon cancer treatments. She may enjoy being able to view our meetings from home.

I guess my point is, as a Society we WORK at being inclusive (no cliques), communicating all events through our email list and newsletter (and a phone call if necessary), and activity. Driving all of this through our news releases and personal invitations and contacts, we present a positive approach of enthusiasm that we WANT people to become members of our great group because we are having fun. I strongly believe that no one would want to be part of a group that does nothing much and isn't having much fun doing it.  And nobody wants to be part of a group where they are not enthusiastically wanted and greeted.

Not my Family Tree.

I do not like to sit and listen to someone recite all the names of their ancestors and all their research about them and who is related to who etc. So, this blog will not be about my personal research or family trees. I may create a separate blog for that.

This is a blog based on my interest in those who love genealogy, history and the activities that we share. We love historical movies and books. We love traveling to different places to do research. We love museums and libraries and other repositories of records and documents. We love roaming through cemeteries and generally, we will be the people who come back from vacations with photos of tombstones. We love preserving records, so will collect old church histories, family histories, school histories etc. and will often donate them to the local Genealogical or Historical Society. We love to learn how to better use our computers to organize, share, publish or search for our personal genealogy.

I have worked on my family trees for over 30 years. I have learned a lot on my own. Taken a few classes and seminars. Made a lot of mistakes and am still learning how to do it all better.  In 2002 I was included in a group of eight persons in Northern Wisconsin when we established a county genealogical society with the name of the Blue Hills Genealogical Society-Barron County, Inc. I have served as its President since that first year and have also served for limited periods as a Program Chair, Newsletter Editor and Publicity Chair. I have had members of that society who have taught me and are still teaching me how to better use the computer for genealogical research and communications with others. They also bring ideas for meetings other events to my attention.

Our Society works hard to create great monthly programs at our meetings. We plan research day trips and other events. My blog will hopefully discuss these events, how they turned out, what was involved in the planning etc. Maybe someone else will be interested in duplicating the events for their groups. And, I am always looking for new ideas from people.

I love Genealogy.

I love genealogy. I mean I LOVE genealogy. Everything about it. I love working on my own family lines. I love searching in old records. I love helping newbies. I love roaming in cemeteries and going on research trips. I love belonging to a local genealogy society and all the events and camaraderie that it provides. I love the new technology that I experiment with because of genealogy, like Skype and Blogging and webinars.  I love providing new programs and ideas to genealogy society members. What is there not to love?