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Thursday, May 1, 2014

Are You Using the Conference App?

Ten Reasons and More to Use the NGS Conference App


Have you downloaded the NGS Conference App? To download the free NGS Conference App, go to http://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/attend/mobile-app/. New this year is a five-minute video that reviews highlights of the app and explains how to use the key features. The video can be found on the NGS conference website at http://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/attend/mobile-app/, then click on the App Video Tutorial.

The NGS Conference App is available for iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone, and web-enabled devices. Search your mobile app store for NGS 2014.

Here are the TOP TEN REASONS to download the app.

• The Dashboard has everything you need at your fingertips.

• Under the sessions tab you can browse by Track or Day. Follow the arrow to the right and you will find all the details about the lecture.

• Click on the Resources tab for the specific lecture and you’ll see a blue handout drop down. Click one more time to DOWNLOAD THE SYLLABUS PAGES for that lecture which is NEW this year.

• If you click on the Action tab for each lecture you can add the event to your calendar.

• The floor plans of both the Greater Richmond Convention Center (GRCC) and the Marriott Hotel are available under Maps. Also under Maps is the floor plan for the Exhibit Hall.

• Under Exhibitors you will find the alphabetical list of the Exhibitors.

• Behind the Show Documents tab you’ll find a copy of the program with the DAILY SCHEDULE IN A LARGER FONT this year, spread over eight pages instead of just four.

• Also behind Show Documents is the daily Shuttle Schedule to the four area conference hotels: Omni, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn Express, and DoubleTree.

• Behind the News tab are the most recent blog posts which you can browse quickly by topic.

• The built-in Twitter feed allows you to follow and join in on the conference chatter.
The Twitter hashtag is #NGS2014GEN.

• You can also follow NGS on Facebook.

• Sync your schedule across multiple devices. I plan to use my iPad to follow the lectures in the downloaded Syllabus pages. Then my phone is available for calls and to check emails. If one device runs out of power, I'll still have access to everything on the other device.

• Connect, message, and share schedules with your colleagues through the Friends feature.

• As you finish a lecture, don’t forget to rate the session by using the Action tab.

If you are counting you have just read 14 Top Reasons to use the NGS Conference App. I just couldn’t stop at ten. We encourage you to begin using the app now so you can improve your conference experience in Richmond.

A couple of additional tips. 

If you have been using the printed Registration Brochure to plan which sessions you want to attend, please be advised that when we added two days of Live Streaming on the program, we moved a couple of lectures to different time slots. So please review the daily lecture schedule before the conference begins.

If you look at the sessions by day, at first glance you may notice the time headings on the left just list the hour. Some lectures begin on the half-hour, so look at the time under each individual session for the correct time.

Also this year we wanted to include a notation on the app as to which lectures were being recorded and could be purchased on CD Rom from JAMB. We have put an (R) before the session number on all recorded lectures. So on the sessions by day, the lectures not being recorded are at the bottom of the list in each session time slot. If you follow the right arrow to the session details and click on the Action tab, you will have a page to take notes on that lecture.

What are you waiting for?



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New York Genealogical and Biographical Track

Looking for Your New York Tenant Farmers: Little-used Resources

Jane E. Wilcox

Thursday, 8 May 2014, 9:30 a.m., T217

Sponsored by the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society

Did you know much of New York landholding during the seventeenth through the early nineteenth centuries was manorial or patentee, with a few landlords holding vast tracts of land on which numerous tenants farmed smaller parcels? If you have these tenant farmers as ancestors, you may be frustrated trying to find them in the more widely-known New York resources such as church, surrogates and land records. There is good news: records from the major manors have survived which may help you in your search.

In this session we will briefly touch on the history of manors and the major events that took place for tenants (including two anti-rent wars in which even a sheriff was shot and killed!) and then explore what typical tenant leases contained from Philipsburgh Manor, Cortlandt Manor, Philipse Highland Patent, Beekman Patent, Livingston Manor and Rensselaerswyck—going up the east side of the Hudson River from Westchester to Putnam to Dutchess to Columbia to Rensselaer counties and over to Albany County.   We will see what records were generated because of the lease-holding land system, including rent ledgers, surveys, receipts, court records (in particular, ejectment proceedings), taxes (yes, they also had to pay taxes on the property) and more. Finally we’ll take a look at where these records—mostly original documents and some in Dutch—are located.

Van Rensselaer Manor Records, New York State Library
Manuscripts and Special Collections, Albany, N.Y.

Jane E. Wilcox specializes in colonial British New York and early nineteenth century New York research.


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National Archives Track and Blogger

Angela Packer McGhie

Track Books: Master Index to Federal Land Records

Friday, 9 May 2014, 9:30 a.m., F318

Angela Packer McGhie is excited to attend the NGS conference as both a speaker and an official NGS blogger. She writes the blog "Adventures in Genealogy Education" at http://www.genealogyeducation.blogspot.com where she features all kinds of educational opportunities in genealogy including conferences, institutes, study groups, courses, webinars, books and articles. Her posts include announcements about upcoming events, recommendations for studying specific genealogy topics, as well as reviews of genealogy institute courses by guest bloggers.
In addition to blogging, Angela's genealogy education activities include coordinating the Intermediate Genealogy and Historical Studies course at the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research at Samford University; coordinating the Advanced Evidence Analysis Practicum course at the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy; and coordinating the ProGen Study Groups studying Professional Genealogy.

Angela will be blogging from the NGS conference as an attendee and as a speaker, as she will present "Tract Books: Master Index to Federal Land Records" on Friday, May 9th at 9:30am. 

She will also share some of the things she learns at the NGS conference on Twitter using the conference hashtag #ngs2014gen
You can find Angela online at:
Twitter @apmcghie




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Planning to Do Research at the Library of Virginia?

Library of Virginia
Library of Virginia
800 East Broad St.
Richmond, VA 23219

http://www.lva.virginia.gov

E-mail: archdesk@va.virginia.gov

Hours: Monday through Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Special evening hours on Wednesday, 7 May 2014 until 9:00 p.m. 


If you are planning to visit the Library of Virginia while you attending the NGS 2014 Family History Conference, you will have more time for research if you prepare in advance. The Library is three blocks from the Greater Richmond Convention Center and the Marriott Hotel.

Please see the Library of Virginia blog post from 24 March 2014 under Virginia Repositories—Richmond about the library's collection and how to obtain a library card.

You are also encouraged to watch two recent videos on Library of Virginia Orientation at http://www.youtube.com/user/LibraryofVa about "Preparing to Visit the Library of Virginia" and "How to Get to the Library of Virginia." Each video is only two minutes long and worth watching. The second video is not just about the location and parking, and includes a description of several of the collections.







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Canada and Across the Pond

The Passionate Genealogist

http://blog.familyhistorysearches.com/
Ruth Blair


I am The Passionate Genealogist and have been doing genealogy for over 40 years. I started young, had the chance to talk to the elder family members and collect information in the early days. The next step was to start filling in blanks with research. I have a diploma in Research Techniques from Sheridan College and Professional Learning Certificates in Genealogical Studies for Canada, Ireland and England from the National Institute for Genealogical Studies/University of Toronto. I was in the first graduating class from each certificate course.

Since I am a first generation Canadian most of my research is in Ireland, Scotland and England. I have done research at the National Archives of Ireland, the National Library of Ireland, the General Register Office and the Church of Ireland Representative Church Body Library in Dublin. In England I have been to the National Archives in Kew, the Society of Genealogists and the British Library in London, the Salford Local History Library near the University of Salford in Manchester and the Manchester Central Library.

In Canada I have done research at Library and Archives Canada, Archives of Ontario, Canadian War Museum, Toronto Reference Library, North York Public Library in the Canadiana Room and many local libraries, historical societies and museums.

A firm believer in supporting local genealogy societies and I belong to one in each area where my ancestors were from in Scotland, Ireland and England as well as supporting my local genealogy society.

I am a professional genealogist based in Oakville, Ontario, Canada. I write the Passionate Genealogist blog http://bit.ly/1gNjMVn and run the Blair Archival Research Facebook page (http://on.fb.me/1fz6bjZ) where you can find tips on research in Canada, Ireland, Scotland and England. I am just starting out on Twitter with the handle @PassionateGenea

See you in Richmond!

Ruth Blair, PLCGS
The Passionate Genealogist


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Limited Hours for Museum of the Confederacy Library

Eleanor S. Brockenbrough Library

The Museum of the Confederacy
1201 E. Clay St.
Richmond, VA 23219

http://www.moc.org/collections-archives/eleanor-s-brockenbrough-archives?mode=general

Research Hours: Thursday, 8 May 2014, Noon until 4:00 p.m. ONLY

On 26 March 2014 this blog reported on the Eleanor S. Brockenbrough Library and said as the conference drew near we would advise you of any hours during the conference week in which the library would be open for research.

The collection includes records of selected Confederate military units and commands; diaries (primarily Confederate soldiers); Confederate soldiers’ letters; correspondence, official and unofficial papers of Confederate military leaders; Jefferson Davis Family Collection (the single largest collection consisting primarily letters sent to President Jefferson Davis); a limited number of family history collections (primarily correspondence among family members); letters and autograph books of Confederate prisoners held in Northern prison camps (especially Johnson’s Island, Ohio); Confederate burial records (primarily photocopies and published, but also including original burial records for Hollywood and Oakwood Cemeteries in Richmond and Woodlawn Cemetery, Elmira, New York); the records of the Southern Historical Society (1869-1894, including wartime military records that the Society collected); and the “Roll of Honour” (a 346-volume biographical project amassed, ca. 1894-1940s, consisting of 50,000+ entries, most of which offer only name, rank, and unit – often erroneous – and perhaps 1,000 autobiographical entries, some of which have been transcribed and are available on the Museum’s website)

The library DOES NOT not include vital records, military service and pension records, nor comprehensive lists of soldiers, prisioners, or military units.

Call or email John M. Coski, Historian at JCoski@moc.org or phone 804-858-2586 and reserve a specific time for research on Thursday afternoon, 8 May . Space is limited.. Let Mr. Coski know your specific research interest such as names or military units so he can have the materials available.

The library has agreed to waive the usually research fee for non-members for this afternoon of research. If you want to visit the Museum of the Confederacy while you are there, the usual museum fee will apply.



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African American Track


Bernice Alexander Bennett

United States Colored Troops Civil War Widows' Pension Applications: Tell the Story


Saturday, 10 May 2014, 8:00 a.m., S407

Join family historian and genealogist Bernice Alexander Bennett for an engaging presentation on the United States Colored Troops Civil War Widows’ Pension Applications: Tell the Story

Bennett will explore the challenges faced by widows and/or former slave descendants of soldiers applying for a Widow’s Pension. Through case files, Bennett will show how the widows and/or family members provided evidence to support their applications and described life during and after slavery.

Bernice A. Bennett is the host of her own Blogtalkradio show - Research at the National Archives and Beyond at http://www.blogtalkradio.com and a family historian researching and documenting her African American roots in the Orleans, St. Helena and Livingston Parishes of Louisiana, and Edgefield and Greenwood Counties of South Carolina. Bennett has presented her research on an array of topics at the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society; South Carolina Genealogy Society Summer Workshop; National Genealogy Society, International Black Genealogy Summit, Old Edgefield District Genealogy Society Showcase, the Midwest African American Institute of St. Louis, and the Washington DC and Baltimore Family History Centers.

Bennett also serves as a citizen's a
rchivist at the National Archives in Washington DC where she is preparing Civil War Widows Pension Records for digitization. She holds membership in several national and local genealogical societies and the National Institute of Genealogical Research Alumni Association

Bennett is one of 5 authors (The Memory Keepers) of a new collaborative book Our Ancestors-Our Stories.


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