Pre-Conference Tours

Richmond Discoveries Tours                                       

Richmond, Virginia  5–6 May 2014

Virginia State Capitol

Richmond Discoveries Tours
1701 Williamsburg Rd.
Richmond, VA  23231

Tel: 804-222-8595 Fax:  804-222-8596
Email: richmonddiscoveries@cavtel.net
Web: http://www.richmonddiscoveries.com

Register for Tours

Richmond Discoveries will be offering several tours for the National Genealogical Society 2014 Family History Conference in Richmond, Virginia. Tour registration opens on the special Richmond Discoveries website http://www.richmonddiscoveries.com/ngs.php on 1 December 2013 and closes on 1 April 2014. In the event that the minimum number of registrants for each tour is not met, Richmond Discoveries reserves the right to cancel the tour if necessary.

All tours leave from the Marriott Hotel, 500 East Broad St., Richmond, Virginia 23219. If you are staying at one of the conference hotels, you will need to take the hotel shuttle to the Marriott so you arrive fifteen minutes before the designated tour departure time. Please allow sufficient time for morning traffic. Be sure to bring your cell phone and hotel phone number so you can call the hotel where you are staying and ask them to pick you up at the Marriott when the tour is over. The conference shuttle buses will not be running on Monday or Tuesday. Check-in for conference attendees who have pre-registered online or by mail, will be open from12:00 noon until 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, 6 May 2014, at the Greater Richmond Convention Center, across Fifth Street from the Marriott Hotel.

Colonial Williamsburg and Swem Library Research Trip

Monday, 5 May 2014, 7:30 a.m–6:00 p.m. (All-day tour)

Spend the day on your own in Williamsburg and choose to tour Colonial Williamsburg, do research at the Swem Library, or each for half a day. Williamsburg, formerly Middle Plantation, served as Virginia’s capital from 1699 to 1780. The Earl Gregg Swem Library on the campus of the College of William and Mary has a Rare Book room, manuscripts, and special collections. For details about the collection see Swem Library. Experience the sites, tastes, and sounds of the colonial capital, reconstructed in the 1920s and 1930s through the philanthropic work of John D. Rockefeller. For ticket prices and details see Colonial Williamsburg. 

The Swem Library can only accommodate twenty researchers at a time in its special collections, so please notify conference co-chair Jan Alpert at janalpert@aol.com to reserve a seat at the Swem Library.

Cost per Person:  $78  (min. 30, max. 55)

Cost includes motorcoach transportation and driver gratuity, as well as a guide to escort the group to Williamsburg and answer questions. Note: Participants must purchase their own tickets for Colonial Williamsburg and are responsible for their own lunch.

Richmond’s Black Heritage Tour 

Monday, 5 May 2014, 1:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m. (Afternoon tour)

Central Virginia’s African American community has one of the richest heritages in the nation. From the comfort of your motorcoach, see sites such as the James River-Kanawha Canal and Tredegar Ironworks, which offered unique economic opportunities to both free and enslaved blacks; First African Baptist Church; and Jackson Ward, home of the Bill “Bojangles” Robinson statue and known as “Harlem of the South” and “Black Wall Street” for the African American entrepreneurs, artists, journalists, and leadership that flourished there through the Civil Rights Movement. Visit the Maggie L. Walker House, National Park Service (subject to availability), home of an inspirational civic leader and America’s first female bank president. Tour Sixth Mt. Zion Baptist Church, founded in 1867 by acclaimed minister and community cornerstone John Jasper and one of Richmond’s most active churches today. Meet with church historian Benjamin Ross, who will discuss the use of church records in genealogy and in reconstructing family histories.

Cost per Person:  $48  (min. 30, max. 100)

Cost includes motorcoach transportation and driver gratuity, step-on guide service, full tour management, and all attractions. 

The upper story of the Maggie Walker House, National Park Service, is not accessible for those with mobility restrictions.

The Confederate Capital Tour

Tuesday, 6 May 2014, 9:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. (All-day tour)

For four dramatic years, Richmond was the proud, embattled capital of a new nation, and the fascinating tale of that star-crossed nation awaits you. Enjoy a tour of the White House of the Confederacy, where Confederate President Jefferson Davis lived with his family during the war years. Walk through the fascinating exhibits of the Museum of the Confederacy, home of the world’s largest collection of Confederate memorabilia. Visit Tredegar Ironworks, National Park Service, known as the “Ironmaker of the Confederacy.” At St. Paul’s Church you can sit in the pews of Lee and Davis and admire the beauty of the Tiffany stained glass memorial windows. Take a quiet stroll into the Confederate Soldiers section of Hollywood Cemetery, the final resting place of 18,000 Confederate enlisted men. From your motorcoach, view other Civil War related sites such as Monument Avenue, built as a tribute to Southern heroes.

Conclude the day with our Richmond Alive!— Life of the Civil War Soldier program. With a full display of Civil War artifacts, a soldier will educate and entertain you with everything from a demonstration of the use of flags and drum signals on the battlefield to life in the camps: including food, music, games, and personal entertainment. The presentation will demonstrate a complete picture of life of the average enlisted man in the Civil War. Add to this a healthy dose of humor and you have a program that you will long remember! Lunch is on your own in historic Shockoe Slip, the restored warehouse district, with a wide variety of restaurants to choose from.  

Cost per Person:  $89  (min. 30, max. 100)

Cost includes motorcoach transportation and driver gratuity, step-on guide service, full tour management, and all attractions. Individuals are responsible for their own lunch.

The upper stories of the White House of the Confederacy are not accessible for those with mobility restrictions.

Richmond Discoveries Tour

Tuesday, 6 May 2014, 8:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.–5:30 p.m. (The tour repeats morning and afternoon).

This tour features an overview of Richmond’s historical and cultural attractions. From the comfort of your motorcoach, you will see Richmond’s graciously restored historic neighborhoods including: Shockoe Slip, a cobblestone restaurant district; Church Hill, noted for its unique cast iron patterns; the riverfront; and the famed Monument Avenue, one of America’s most beautiful boulevards. This tour includes a guided tour at the Virginia State Capitol, designed by Thomas Jefferson and completed in 1788, and a narrated canal cruise on the James River-Kanawha Canal. This tour also includes a visit to Dabbs House Museum, a house museum in Henrico County that served as Lee’s headquarters during the Seven Days campaign of June 1862. Henrico or “Henricus” was established by the English in 1611 as the first settlement after Jamestown; eventually, eight central Virginia counties were carved out of Henrico. The staff will present a special discussion on the extensive use of genealogical research in the interpretation of the house as well as special programs they produce for the county.

Cost per Person:  $59  (min. 30, max. 55 per tour)

Cost includes motorcoach transportation and driver gratuity, step-on guide service, full tour management, and all attractions. 

The upper story of the Dabbs House Museum is not accessible for those with mobility restrictions.

Patriots and Presidents Tour

Tuesday, 6 May 2014, 8:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. and 1:30pm–5:30 p.m. (The tour repeats morning and afternoon).

Explore the history of Founding Fathers and nation-builders in Richmond. Enjoy a visit to St. John’s Church and learn about the events in Virginia that culminated in Patrick Henry giving his passionate “Liberty or Death” speech at the Second Virginia Convention in March 1775.  Make a brief stop on the grounds of Virginia’s Capitol Square to discuss Mr. Jefferson’s “Temple of Democracy” and admire the historic statuary. Enjoy a walking and driving tour through the quiet beauty of Hollywood Cemetery, final resting place of 18,000 Confederate enlisted men, 25 Confederate generals, and a number of other famous personages. See the graves of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his family, as well as two U.S. Presidents (subject to funerals). In addition, from the comfort of your motorcoach, view sites such as the Edmund Randolph Lodge, the nation’s oldest Masonic Lodge in continuous use; the First Freedom site where Thomas Jefferson’s Statute of Religious Freedom was passed; and the Marshall house, home of Revolutionary War patriot and Chief Justice John Marshall.

Cost per Person:  $51  (min. 25, max. 32 per tour)

Cost includes motorcoach transportation and driver gratuity, step-on guide service, full tour management, and all attractions. 

Pre-Conference Tours

BCG Education Fund Workshop

Tuesday, 6 May 2014, 8:30 a.m–4:30 p.m.
Marriott Hotel, Richmond, Virginia


“Putting Skills to Work” is an intensive day of learning, sponsored by the BCG Education Fund, which focuses on skills needed by all genealogists and advocates quality research. Topics are geared to intermediate and advanced practitioners. The registration fee of $110 includes lunch, hands-on exercises, and handout. The workshop is limited to sixty students and registration for the NGS Conference is not required to enroll. The workshop usually fills up quickly so register on 1 December 2013 at http://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/event-registration/ or as soon thereafter as possible.

Program

Vic Dunn, CG, will lead the session, “I Rest My Case: Constructing    

Vic Dunn, CG

a Convincing Proof Argument.” You’ve spent hours searching for proof in basements and attics of court houses, requesting antiquated manuscripts from archives and libraries, and combed every feasible Internet site. At last, you find the evidence to prove that complex, seemingly unsolvable, relationship. You can breathe a sigh of relief and move on to the next generation or project. But, STOP! It’s time to commit your findings to writing for posterity either in a proof summary or a proof argument.

This session addresses the difference between proof summaries and proof arguments and examines which type of presentation is appropriate based on evidence located in the investigation. Hands-on exercises include constructing a convincing, organized proof argument for a case study.

Dunn is a board-certified genealogist and a full-time professional researcher. An instructor for the Virginia track at the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research at Samford University in Alabama, he is a frequent contributor to major genealogical publications including feature articles in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, NGS Magazine, BCG OnBoard, Magazine of Virginia Genealogy, and Virginia Genealogical Society Newsletter. He is a current governor of the Virginia Genealogical Society, and a past trustee of the Board for Certification of Genealogists and treasurer and board member of NGS.

Sharon Tate Moody, CG, will lead the session, “Passing Out the Property:

Sharon Tate Moody, CG

The Probate Process.” Death impacts family, friends, and associates emotionally and financially. Estate assets pass to others according to the testator’s will or as intestate law requires. Both procedures usually create multiple documents pointing to relationships and providing insight into the deceased’s life. From hands-on exercises participants will analyze probate documents for clues which support hypotheses or lead to other resources or conclusions about the decedent’s identity or kinships.

Moody is a retired law enforcement officer whose career with a major metropolitan Atlanta police department spanned twenty-eight years. During this time, she became a Georgia state certified law enforcement instructor and graduated from the FBI National Academy. Through her experiences, she brings a unique perspective to finding evidence and establishing proof in genealogical investigations.

Sharon qualified as a board-certified genealogist in 2001. Her specialties include court and land records, Civil War, research methodology, and editing and writing family histories. She lectures widely in the United States, including conferences of the Federation of Genealogical Societies and the National Genealogical Society. Her substantial contributions to the genealogical community include service as past president of the Georgia Genealogical Society and a founding trustee of the Friends of the Georgia Archives. Her weekly column, “Heritage Hunting,” appears in the Tampa Tribune.

Registration opens on 1 December 2013 at http://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/event-registration/. Registration is limited to sixty participants so sign up as soon as registration opens.

BCG Education Fund Workshop

National Genealogical Society Announces Program 2014 Family History Conference

Registration Brochure

The sixteen-page Registration Brochure for the NGS 2014 Family History Conference, 7-10 May 2014,  is now available and can be downloaded at http://goo.gl/KwHTix. Conference highlights include a choice of more than 175 lectures, given by many nationally-known speakers and subject matter experts about a broad array of topics including records for Virginia and its neighboring states;  migration into and out of the region; military records; state and federal records; ethnic groups including African Americans, German, Irish, and Ulster Scots; methodology; analysis and problem solving; and the use of technology including genetics, mobile devices, and apps useful in genealogical research. 

The first few pages of the brochure provide details about conference logistics and describe several special events. The daily conference program includes the name of each speaker, the lecture title, and a brief description of the presentation. A number of social events and workshops are also offered during the conference. If 2014 will be your first NGS Family History Conference, check out first time attendees for additional information about what you might experience at the conference.

Online Registration Brochure

The online version of the program will be available on 20 November 2013 on the conference website at conference.ngsgenealogy.org. Conference registration opens on 1 December 2013 at conference registration. A number of special events have limited seating, so register on December 1 or as soon as possible thereafter if you plan to attend these events.

NGS Conference Blog

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National Genealogical Society Announces Program 2014 Family History Conference

Virginia Genealogical Society Host Event

Thursday, 8 May 2014, 6:00 p.m.-8:30 p.m.

Library of Virginia. Photo by Prakash Patel

Library of Virginia                                                       

The Virginia Genealogical Society will host a special event at the Library of Virginia, 800 East Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia, 23219, two blocks east of the Greater Richmond Convention Center. The doors will open at 5:30 p.m. and the program will begin at 6:00 p.m.

Program

Participants will step back into the eighteenth century as Robert Lucas, surveyor in York County, Virginia, in 1774 presents “Land for the Taking.” The program, which will last approximately one hour, will be followed by a reception featuring a choice of desserts, coffee and tea, and a cash bar. The cost is $30 per person. Shuttle buses will be running to and from the event to the Omni, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn Express and DoubleTree hotels. The Library of Virginia is two blocks from the downtown Marriott Hotel and Hilton Garden Inn Hotel. Attendance is limited to 250 so register early for the event.

Conference Registration opens 1 December 2013. Register for the conference at http://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/event-registration/. The Virginia Genealogical Society event, is session T261 on Thursday, 8 May 2014 in the conference registration brochure.

Virginia Genealogical Society Host Event

Conference Venue

The Marriott Hotel Downtown and Greater Richmond Convention Center    

The NGS 2014 Family History Conference will be held in two venues. The Marriott Hotel at 500 East Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219, will host the opening session on Wednesday morning, daily luncheons, and lectures each day. The Greater Richmond Convention Center (GRCC) is across Fifth Street from the Marriott Hotel and will host the attendee check-in, on-site registration, exhibit hall, Internet Wi-Fi hot spot, and lectures each day.

The Marriott Hotel with Greater Richmond Convention Center on the left.

Daily parking is $6 (no-in-out or overnight privileges) in the six-story GRCC parking lot located at 351 North third Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219. Cash or credit cards are accepted upon entry. Twelve handicapped spaces are available. Overnight parking is available in a public parking garage at 500 East Marshall Street for $17 per day with no-in-out privileges. For additional parking facilities near the GRCC see http://www.richmondcenter.com/parking/.

Conference Hotels

The conference hotels have been accepting reservations since June. As a result, several of the hotels are sold out. The DoubleTree Hotel, 301 West Franklin St., Richmond, Virginia 23220, has recently been added to the list of conference hotels and shuttle bus service will be provided to the Greater Richmond Convention Center daily during the conference. Check the conference website at http://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/attend/accommodations/  for the most up-to-date information on the hotels including room availability, amenities, rates, and contact information.

Getting There

Air Tran, American, Delta, JetBlue, Southwest, United, and US Airways have scheduled flights to Richmond, Virginia. The airport (RIC) is approximately fifteen miles from downtown.

Amtrak service from the northeast corridor is available with stops at two train stations in Richmond: Staples Mill and Main Street. The Main Street Station is about a mile from the Greater Richmond Convention Center. The Staples Mill Train Station is north of town and the taxi fare will be about $30-$35 to downtown Richmond. Check the Amtrak schedule at http://www.amtrak.com/train-schedules-timetables for service to Richmond.

For additional travel information please check-out the NGS Conference website at http://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/attend/getting-there. 

Conference Venue

Welcome to the NGS 2014 Family History Conference Blog!

7–10 May 2014, Richmond, Virginia
Virginia: The First Frontier            

Program

The conference program features ten tracks per day covering a broad array of topics including records for Virginia and its neighboring states; migration into and out of the region; military records; state and federal records; ethnic groups including African American, Germans, Irish, and Ulster Scots; methodology; analysis and problem solving; and the use of technology including genetics, mobile devices, and apps useful in genealogical research.

Registration  Brochure

The conference registration brochure with the full conference schedule, speakers, lecture titles, and lecture descriptions, will be posted 15 November 2013 on the NGS conference website http://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/. The program includes a wide array of lecture choices for genealogists of all skill levels. Each lecture indicates the audience level from beginner to advanced or combined levels including all.

Watch the Blog for Additional Details

Blog postings throughout November will include details about several special conference events, so be sure to check all the blog postings. Since some conference events will have limited seating, if you plan to attend these special events you will want to register for the conference at http://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/event-registration/ when the online registration goes live on 1 December 2013 or as soon as possible thereafter.

We look forward to seeing you in Richmond in May 2014!

Welcome to the NGS 2014 Family History Conference Blog!