RootsTech Session Notes

Here’s a quick summary of the sessions I attended at RootsTech.

But first, a little self-promotion. Here is a link to the talk I gave titled, Google Photos: Collect, Organize, Preserve & Share.

And now for the sessions:

Missing – Presumed Dead: A Case Study of Civil War Records, presented by Rebecca Koford

Rebecca is a fantastic storyteller – weaving historic details both visually and verbally into the Civil War story of her ancestor. Rebecca’s presentation was somewhat in the style of Ken Burns. I can’t even begin to imagine how many hours, days and years it took to perform the research and prepare this talk. It was a beautiful presentation full of great how-to information.

A tip: investigate all the records rather than assuming your Civil War ancestor wasn’t in a particular record. You never know. I think this applies to other areas in addition to Civil War research. Her handout has a nice list of records to use as a checklist.

Migration Trails Across America, presented by Peggy Clemens Lauritzen

Peggy is an entertaining presenter who always has a fun story ready to tell. Here are a couple of takeaways from her talk.

1.     The FamilySearch Wiki has excellent maps. Try looking under something along the lines of Migration Routes or American (or United States) Migration Routes.

2.     Determine what churches existed at the time and places your ancestor lived. Do this even if they weren’t religious people. Churches kept records of baptisms, christenings, marriages, burials and funerals. They also would write letters of introduction. So if your ancestor moved, they might have gotten a letter of introduction for the new place they moved to.

Beyond Population: Researching in Special Census Schedules, presented by Angela McGhie

Genealogists are familiar with the population schedules. Angela gave a great overview of the other kinds of federal census schedules. There are so many kinds, I’m not going to attempt to list them all. Some are digitized and online at Ancestry and FamilySearch. In the catalog on FamilySearch, try looking under non-population, supplemental or special schedules. Also, remember that many aren’t indexed so you might have to page through the schedules the old-fashioned way: one page at a time.

I also attended all four of Jennifer Holik’s sessions on World War II research. My comments are here.

·      Finding the Answers: The Basics of World War II Research

This session was live-streamed. I highly recommend watching.

·      The Greatest Generation: Advanced World War II Research

·      World War II Sacrifice

·      Battlefield Stories: Writing Your Stories of War

There’s intense interest in our World War II veterans these days. For more information, check out Jennifer’s website, World War II Research and Writing Center.

Remember there are many recorded session from RootsTech 2018 available to view.

Even though RootsTech ended yesterday, I’m not done posting. Stay tuned…

#RootsTech

Disclaimer: I (Michelle Goodrum) am a RootsTech 2018 Ambassador and received complimentary registration to RootsTech along with other perks. All opinions are my own.

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