Looking Back at NGS 2016 in Fort Lauderdale

By now most of you have read numerous accounts of this year's National Genealogical Society Family History Conference in Fort Lauderdale. I want to share a little from my perspective.

I arrived in Fort Lauderdale Tuesday afternoon and was excited to discover I had a room with a view. The room overlooked the cruise port.

Cruise Ships in Fort Lauderdale

We also had quite the view of the bridge across the Intercoastal Waterway on 17th Street.

Drawbridge over Intercoastal Waterway at 17th Street

I enjoyed visiting with friends after arriving on Tuesday. I roomed with Yolanda Campbell Lifter. She's a great roommate although we mostly saw each other only in the evenings.

The Convention Center as seen from the Hotel Parking Lot

On Wednesday and Thursday I mostly attended the Caribbean track of lectures. If you want to learn something new, going to lectures about areas in which you have not researched is one way to do so. I believe we are going to see an upsurge in persons seeking their Cuban roots with the lifting of sanctions against the country. Unfortunately record preservation has not been the highest priority of the Cuban government and a lot of barriers exist to accessing what does exist. Fortunately church records can often be very helpful to those seeking their Cuban roots. My favorite lectures in the track were the two by Jeff Haines (Bahamas/Florida and Barbados) and the one by Michael Hait (San Domingue).

I attended several lectures on African-American research during the week that were also quite useful. Deborah Abbott presented a wealth of information on manuscript collections useful in African-American research on Thursday morning. Friday morning she demonstrated the difficulty of researching enslaved ancestors but presented wonderful examples of finding them by using their "FAN Club." Mark Lowe followed her with another presentation showing all sorts of places to locate marriage records for freedmen.

Intercoastal Waterway

I spent most of Saturday in the State Research track as the emphasis was on Southern States. Diane Richard gave a great presentation on records for poor ancestors in North Carolina. Jeff Haines' presentation on South Carolina Land Records introduced me to a few resources I have not yet explored for some of those "lost in South Carolina" ancestors. Mark Lowe gave a pitch for next year's conference as he gave a lecture on North Carolina research.

Across the bridge

No convention would be complete without socializing with friends. The exhibit hall offered fewer vendors this year than some years. It's always fun to see who you "run into" while visiting the various booths. I attended a breakfast one morning where I had the opportunity to sit and visit with several genealogists including Judy Russell, D. Joshua Taylor, Beth Stahr, and others. We had some very interesting conversations that morning. Many genealogists enjoyed the luncheons and/or NGS Banquet also. One evening I had a message from Donna Pointkouski asking if I could meet her and Lisa Alzo outside by the pool so we could visit. As soon as I wrapped up the visit with the person I was visiting at the time, I headed out there and enjoyed a nice hour long visit with them. The weather was quite pleasant that evening also!

Lori and Jeff

If you've never attended an NGS conference, you really need to prioritize attending next year's conference in Raleigh. Of course, those of you who have attended previous conferences need to prioritize it too. (No -- Mark Lowe, next year's national chair, is not paying me to say that!)

NGS Recap

Randy Seaver was lamenting (on Facebook) the lack of posts last week during the NGS conference. I really didn't have a chance to post much. I was using my iPad to access the Internet although I had the laptop with me also. The only time I pulled it out was when I was giving my presentation on Wednesday. That went well, by the way.

Favorite sessions that I attended:

• "Hell on the Home Front: War-Time Damages and the Claims They Generated" by Elizabeth Shown Mills
• "North Carolina Research" by Jeff Haines
• "Shootout at the Rhododendron Lodge: Reconstructing Life-Changing Events" by Judy Russell
• "DNA and the Golden Rule: The Law and Ethics of Genetic Genealogy" by Judy Russell
• "Working with Documents: The Importance of Context in Record Analysis" by Barbara Vines Little
• "South Carolina Research" by Jeff Haines

Socially this conference was a bit different than most. Usually genealogists tend to congregate in the lobby near the bar area in the evenings. Not this time! I think we were spread out over too many hotels for this to work. As a result, it was hard to make connections with people, and you saw a lot less of people than you often did. One person joked that we were just all getting too old.

Food: We tried several local restaurants. The worst food and service award goes to the Hilton Garden Inn's restaurant. On that evening, we had a group of seven. We were the only people in the restaurant, and they couldn't seem to get the orders right and the food was horrible. I ordered crab cakes. They were quite dry. They didn't give you remoulade sauce or anything to cut that dryness. The worst part was that part of the crab shell was in my crab cake. I probably left more than I ate. It was pretty much inedible. Another person had a burger which he had ordered medium rare. It was way past well done. It had taken so long to get the food we got that he didn't dare send it back. The waitress had forgotten to take my "side" order which was supposed to accompany my meal so I had to wait on that after I got the crab cakes. On the good side, my side order of fries was actually hot as opposed the ones the others had gotten. The Best Food award goes to a place we found through Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. It was called "Dot's Back Inn." Burgers are their specialty. I had the one with the jerk seasonings, provolone cheese, and grilled onions. I think it was called the "Rasta." Jeff had the Greek one that had feta and tzatziki sauce. We both thought ours were great. We knew that they had a lot of burgers. We wished we'd tried it earlier because when we got there, we discovered that they had a menu of things on a hand-written board that were daily features. For example, there was a Moroccan-spiced swordfish with cilantro sauce. The fish of the day was shark that day. They had a shrimp and andouille sausage dish served on a bed of cheese grits that sounded quite yummy. They had blackened mahi and much more. They were also quite reasonably priced with most dishes being under $15. If we had not eaten at Mama J's (a soul food place near the convention center that was also quite good) at lunch, we might have tried one of the bigger meals instead of the burger that night. One of the highlights was a donut run we made with friends one evening. They were in search of a maple bacon donut at The Sugar Shack. They were out of that flavor, but we tried the Baby Ruth donut which was absolutely wonderful.

Exhibits: I didn't spend a lot of time in the exhibit hall except for my shift at the APG booth. It was small and crowded. I did manage to walk by most booths, but I just didn't spend money this time. My bank account thanks me although that is a bit odd for me not to purchase a little more than I did.

Hotel: The staff at the Marriott where I stayed was great. The valets who parked our cars were very service-oriented, making it a good experience every time I needed to get my car out.

All in all, it was a great conference!

NGS Reflections: Part III - Friday and Saturday

Friday was the day in which I had the most free time. I began the day monitoring Craig Scott's "Researching Your Revolutionary War Ancestor" session at 8 a.m. Craig is a perfect 8 a.m. choice because he is so entertaining! I'm not sure how I got so lucky to be assigned that session, but I'm glad that I had something to keep me awake! I made a quick trip into the exhibit area during the next time slot, although I just "looked" at that time slot. I did find a couple of products that were somewhat interesting. I may do the 30 day trial of one of those soon to see if it will match the needs of a project that I may undertake with the assistance of another genealogist. If I do try it, I'm sure I'll blog about it later. After that, I went to Mark Lowe's "Kentucky: Records of the Bluegrass State." I really don't have a lot of Kentucky ancestry, but I do have a line from Wayne County. I actually made three notes to myself of records that I thought might have something I had not yet discovered on the two families in that area with very common surnames. I went to Sam and Wally's for lunch. I spent the afternoon in the exhibit hall. I ended up buying only a few things, but the things I did get were things that were really worthwhile purchases. I went with some friends over to the Marriott to change, and we came back for the NGS Banquet. I know that one of the bloggers has already mentioned that J. Mark Lowe's "Lessons Learned from a Carolina Traveler" was a tribute to Helen Leary. Let's just say that you all don't know what all went into trying to hide Helen's sons from her in that banquet room until the right moment in Mark's talk. There were a few moments that we had to get creative to make sure she didn't see them. Helen was very surprised to find herself the subject of Mark's talk and was even more surprised to see her sons.

Saturday was another busy day. I began by monitoring Mark Lowe's "Circuit Riders and the Early Methodist Church." I got a couple of ideas about places to look for additional information on Ashley Aldridge during this session. He wasn't really a circuit rider, but he was a leader in the local church who is sometimes called a "minister." Mark covered that aspect as well as the more prolific records of those who were ordained. I worked the APG booth after I got out of that session until about 10:30 when I needed to leave to get ready to monitor my next session. I had another one of those serendipitous moments during this time. Many of you know that I've had my brother's DNA tested on the Thornton line. We matched with what is called the "South Carolina Thornton group." Most of us are brickwalled in the Carolinas, and none of us can find our common ancestor. We have a few clues. There is one participant who had identified an individual he believed to be the common ancestor. There are a couple of "jumps" in his research so that I'm not completely comfortable with his conclusions. While I was working at the APG booth, a professional genealogist who had been hired by an individual descended from one of the other lines which matched us on DNA came up. We spent most of the time chatting about our Thornton research, the research that had been done by others, the Thornton DNA project and the problems with that project since the loss of the online trees after changing project administrators, and a few other related things. We began to talk about directions that needed to be taken in the research. I'm delighted to have made this connection, and the two of us believe that two heads will be better than one. One interesting thing she said to me was that this is the worst line she's ever researched. (Of course, I'm thinking, "Tell me something I don't already know.") I am excited about this serendipitous moment and hope that through collaboration we'll be able to break through some of the brick walls. I monitored "Overlooked Military Records in the National Archives" at 11 a.m. The presenter was Marie Melchiori, and this was in the BCG Skillbuilding track. I spent lunch time eating and talking with other genealogists in the back of the exhibit hall. We had a nice visit. At 2:30, I was the monitor for Julie Miller's "Make the Census Work for You!" It was also on the BCG Skillbuilding track. At 4:00 I introduced Monica Hopkins who spoke on "Finding Your Way Around the Georgia Archives." Several of us went to the Oakwood Cafe, which is a wonderful Cuban and Argentinian restaurant, after the conference was over. We had a nice visit.

This year's conference was a memorable one. Many people came up to us and said that this was one of the smoothest conferences they'd ever attended. The local arrangements committee of NCGS under the leadership of Ann Hilke is responsible for much of that. They did a super job in planning this conference and pulling it off. I'm really sad this conference is over. I look forward to returning to Raleigh for future conferences!

NGS Reflections: Part II - Wednesday and Thursday

Wednesday morning I had to be at the convention center by 7:00 a.m. so we could begin registering folks who were just arriving before the 8:00 opening session. When I arrived at 6:45, the NGS folks were already doing on-site registration, so I grabbed our boxes of pre-registrations and got into action. I worked registration until about 9:45 a.m. when I had to go to monitor training. I was room monitor for Thomas W. Jones' presentation "Solutions for Missing or Scarce Records" at 11:00 a.m. After that, I attended the NCGS Luncheon where Helen Leary spoke on "Using Peculiar Records to Find the Rest of the Story." After that I monitored Jeff Haines' 2:30 p.m. session on "North Carolina Tax Records." I went back to the registration desk to help pack up things after this. Wednesday was society night. I helped at the NCGS table part of the time, but I did have time to visit some of the tables. I'm particularly excited about the free issues I picked up from Middle Tennessee Genealogical Society. I'm working on a project with another genealogist that involves someone who resided in Davidson County. I am really not quite ready to get into the Davidson County research on the person because I've got a few records to acquire in a couple of other counties first. However, there was a published tax list in one of the journals that listed this person. I shared the "find" with the other genealogist. We were both excited that a freebie could be so helpful to our research. After this several of us went to The Pit, a downtown barbecue restaurant, to eat. It was quite good.

Thursday I monitored "Collaboration and Cooperation: The Family History Archive--A Digital Partnership FHL/BYU/ACPL/HPL/MCPL" which was presented by Susan D. Kaufman of Houston Public Library and Michael J. Hall of the project. I'll be quite honest. This is not a session I would have attended had I not been monitoring. I think that God puts us in situations for reasons sometimes. This was basically a session about the Family History Archive digital books project. I had already used it extensively, but as I was sitting there listening to them, an idea came to me. We use the netLibrary e-books collection in our library, and we're able to purchase MARC records for them to dump into our online catalog. I decided to go up after the session and ask Susan (the librarian) whether they had MARC records available through Marcive or another vendor. She admitted that they had not even considered that, but that it was really a very good idea. I'm hoping that they will be able to follow up on that idea and make those available to increase access. The types of books they are digitizing would be wonderful for many academic libraries to include. Did I learn a lot from the session? Probably not. However, I think I was put there to ask that question. I was having trouble determining whether or not to attend Craig Scott's "Quaker Migration Into North Carolina and Out Again" or Helen Leary's "Genealogical Standards: Obsolete Model T or Space-Age Air Car?" at 9:30 a.m. After reviewing the syllabi for the two, I discovered that Craig's session did not appear to be covering the one group of Quaker immigrants in which I was interested--the ones who went to Nova Scotia and who were loyalists. I found a friend who was going to that session to "spy" for me and get back with me on that, and I went to Helen's which was also closer to the session I would be monitoring at 11 a.m. We don't get to Helen at the conferences much any more, and she's such a fountain of knowledge. I'm really glad I went to that one. At 11 a.m., I monitored Jeff Haines' "South Carolina Research." I'd actually heard Jeff do that one before, but I still picked up some new stuff because I'm more involved in South Carolina research now than I was when I heard him do it in Richmond. After that was the International Society for British Genealogy and Family History Luncheon. Jeff Haines spoke on "Merchants, Planters, and Pirates: British in the West Indies." It was a very interesting luncheon talk! I worked the hospitality desk from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., and then I went over to the North Carolina Museum of History where we got ready ready for those who had signed up for the dessert reception, tours, and talks there. People were also able to go take a tour of the Archives across the street. I was on the sign-in desk for the first half, and then I went to the auditorium and distributed the syllabus for Jeff Haines' talk "People Finders of North Carolina." Everyone seemed to really enjoy the event.

NGS Reflections: Part I - Before the Conference Began

I really didn't have a great deal of time last week to blog the conference. I'm really glad that a few others were able to find a bit more time to do that for the benefit of those of you who could not attend.

I traveled to Raleigh on the Saturday before the conference. I'm a member of North Carolina Genealogical Society, the local host society, and had volunteered to help at the conference. My work began on Monday morning with the stuffing of the conference tote bags. I think the original plan was to have us constantly circling the table filling new bags, but most of us realized that the only efficient way to do it was to form assembly lines so that is what we did. The biggest problem we encountered is that some of the stuff was late in arriving so we'd have to pause, go back and put the newly arrived materials in the totes, and then resume the process with the new item from time to time. We had finished this process by about 2 p.m. even with a lunch break at Sam and Wally's across the street. While we were at Sam and Wally's, we talked the owner into opening at 7 a.m. beginning on Wednesday rather than his usual 7:30 a.m., and we also talked him into being open on Saturday if business was good the rest of the week. When we checked with him later in the week, we discovered that he was very pleased with his business that week. NGS was his best event ever! Several of us went out of the way to give him business because of his willingness to work with us to give conference attendees some breakfast options that were not available otherwise. His lunch prices were very reasonable. I had a slice of pizza and a soft drink for $4 one day.

On Tuesday, I arrived around 9 a.m. to help with registration set-up. We had registrar training around 10:30 a.m. although we had all received our instructions ahead of time. I was scheduled to work registration from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. so I went to lunch a bit early. When I got back, I went over to sit with some of my NCGS friends at a table we'd placed near registration for those of us who weren't working at the time but were nearby to help if needed. Most of them needed to "do lunch." They were going to bring back something for Helen Leary and left her with me for an hour or so. Before they left, one of my friends who knew some of the challenges of one of my lines suggested that I pick Helen's brains on the problem. I didn't do it immediately but I eventually found myself telling her about the problem. She asked a few questions. She helped me come up with a few ideas for further research based on what I told her. She began telling about some of her research. She mentioned something which reminded me of another line that I had not tried to work on since I was a newbie genealogist. I decided to tell her about that line and the challenges faced by an orphan who gave us few clues about his origin other than the traditions that certain children were named after his parents and a birth location mentioned on a syllabus. It turns out that she had researched that particular surname before and was able to make some suggestions on more specific counties in which I should begin to look when I get a chance to get back to that line. She told me that there were poor cousins who lived nearby the rich ones. I will have to say that this hour of "picking Helen's brain" was probably one of my favorite hours of the conference week. I thanked my friends for leaving me with Helen that hour. After they returned with her sandwich, all of us continued to talk until I had to go work registration. We even talked about her study of the Hemings-Jefferson question. I am so glad that I had re-read her article last month in preparation for a presentation I'd done for a society.

Even before the conference began, I was already having some of those serendipitous moments that always seem to happen at a national conference that help break through a brick wall or confirm some of your research.

Monday Report from NGS

We are beginning to see researchers arriving in Raleigh for NGS. I understand that the state library and archives were at half-capacity by 9:30 or so this morning. They've got a system in place to try to make sure everyone gets a turn who wishes to research.

I spent the morning and early afternoon stuffing the conference bags. We finished sometime around 2 p.m. after taking a lunch break. It's been great seeing some of my North Carolina genealogy friends as we've been working alongside each other -- and making a few new ones as well!

I did make a stop this morning by the Cafe Carolina for their wonderful sweet potato biscuits with ham and cheddar. YUM! I've been trying to replicate the recipe at home so I'm officially calling this "research." I told some of my friends that I was getting closer to the recipe and thought I knew what was lacking but I need to have the real deal a few more times to make sure I get the recipe correct! Needless to say, I've been getting a lot of teasing over my obsession with those biscuits!

We "did lunch" over at Sam and Wally's which is diagonally across from the convention center near the Sheraton. Arrangements were made with them to open for breakfast at 7 a.m. instead of their usual 7:30 a.m. so we hope they do a good business during conference. Some of the hotels don't offer breakfast so this is a good option! They are usually closed on Saturdays but may open for us.

There are several dining options on Fayetteville Street which is one street over from Salisbury (where the convention center is). Cafe Carolina is on the capital side of the Wachovia Center on that street. Port City Java is a pretty good lunch option. I've eaten there when I've been in Raleigh researching at the archives, particularly when they close during lunch on Saturdays. There's another sandwich shop called Crema. There is a New Orleans style restaurant over there that I would like to try sometime. I'm sure I've just barely scratched the surface of restaurants on Fayetteville Street or in proximity to the convention center.

I'll be busy tomorrow and hope to see some of you at the convention center!

Conference Advice

I love genealogical conferences. The national conference that I attend most often is National Genealogical Society's Conference in the States. The main reason for this is because it usually works with my college professor's schedule best. The conferences usually begin on Wednesday and run through Saturday. There are preconferences available on Tuesday. During each time slot, attendees have a choice of about seven or eight presentations. Over the years, I've learned which speakers I really enjoy hearing and which are a "waste of time."

Now I offer some Advice for Conference Attendees:


If at all possible, stay in the hotel attached to the convention center. [In Pittsburgh, the distance between the hotel where I stayed at the convention center certainly seemed much further than advertised.]

Update: This looks like something I'd enjoy doing.

Do your research on food ahead of time or ask the locals. [I ate best in Nashville where I was most familiar with the location having lived there at one time and having attended many conferences at that convention center. I also ate well in Boston where I'd spent a lot of time ahead of the conference researching what was available and good.]

Take breaks when you need them. [Just because there is a session offered five or six times a day doesn't mean you have to attend them all. I usually pick a session to attend each time slot but if I am getting tired, I try to decide which upcoming session I'm least excited about attending and skip it.]

If you plan to spend a lot of time in the exhibit hall, take an extra suitcase with you. [You'll need it to lug back all of those purchases you just can't live without.]

Volunteer. [It's a great way to meet others. I usually volunteer for the Association of Professional Genealogists' booth. It also keeps me away (at least for an hour or two) from the exhibits where I spend more money than I need to spend!]

Meet your neighbors. [When you go into a session, strike up a conversation with the person next to you. You might just find you are cousins. I've actually done this a couple of times. I've also met persons with whom I've corresponded and persons who reside near me.]

Plan your day the night before. [You'll be less stressed if you make some decisions about what you intend to attend the night before. If you are attending with friends and are both having trouble deciding which sessions to attend, plan together. You may be able to cover two sessions that you are both interested in attending at the same time slot. You can then compare notes that evening.]

The BCG Skillbuilding Track is always good. [If you are having trouble making a selection from the choices at a time slot, you'll never go wrong by selecting this one.]

If you plan to do research at a local facility, remember everyone else is doing the same thing. [In Richmond, the Library of Virginia limited microfilm machine use to one hour at a time. If the facility is open evening hours during the week, it will be crowded. You won't get nearly as much research done as you plan with a packed house. You'll get more accomplished at a research facility a little more distant from the conference site before or after conference than you will at one near the location.]

Be a tourist. [Find what the city has to offer and visit some interesting things. I just touched a tip of what's available in Boston last fall, but I certainly have a much better idea of some things I want to see when I head back to Boston for a library conference next summer. I plan to spend part of each day researching and part of each day sightseeing.]

If you didn't enjoy a speaker on one topic, you might still enjoy them on others. [At the very first national conference I attended, I heard one speaker that really seemed to know very little about her topic as far as I was concerned. I decided that I'd never attend another session by this person. Then at a conference a couple of years later, I heard some people talking about what a wonderful presentation they'd just attended. It turned out this was the same speaker on a different topic. I tried her session on that topic at another conference later and decided that I might try other presentations by her. I made three presentations at FGS in Boston. The first session went poorly by my estimation. My computer had overheated. I had to call a friend to bring her computer so I could do my session. I had a lot to cover. I was feeling rushed and was a little nervous (even though I teach classes five days a week). I sped through my presentation. The other two went much better in my estimation. I was more relaxed and was able to engage the listener more because I was relaxed. By the way, I don't recommend purchasing the recordings of these sessions from Lulu.com because two rely heavily on captured screen shots, and the other was more or less a demonstration of using a couple of software packages. This third one was one where I filled in at almost the last minute. The session had been advertised, and the presenter was unable to attend. I now wonder if my experience with the presenter who wasn't very knowledgeable on a topic might have been a result of having been called upon late to fill in for something that wasn't in her area of expertise.]

Back from NGS

I spent last week at the National Genealogical Society's Conference in the States in Richmond, Virginia. It was a great conference. I only had a few minor complaints. The syllabus and program book needed a better proofreader. They didn't schedule shuttles often enough during the hours when most folks were leaving for the outlying hotels. Most of the area near the conference seemed to be boarded up so it was at least a mile to an area where you could get food at a reasonable price. The convention center's skyway to the Marriott made you go too far out of your way to get to the sessions being held there so most of us dodged the traffic along 5th Street. The exhibits were numbered consecutively instead of by aisle, and there was no map in the program book showing where exhibits were. This made it particularly difficult to locate some of the exhibitors who were not on the main floor, but you had to "guess" which aisle to go down if you only wanted to hit one exhibitor quickly between a session to pick up something that a speaker had promoted. It was a great conference though, and none of those things kept it from being enjoyable.