The Surprise of Alice Liney Hobbs

The other night, I sat staring at my family tree looking for a story. Not your average story. A juicy story. Something that catches my attention. A surprise.

I thought to look at a distant corner of my family tree that hasn't gotten much light lately - my maternal grandmother's maternal line. After some clicking around, and looking at some chancery records, boom. A story!

So let's take a look at the story I uncovered and some surprising connections I was able to make between my mother's family and my father's family. We'll also note some important lessons that we should remember when it comes to family history surprises.

Prince George County, Virginia

Of my 2x great grandparents, only one hails from Prince George County, Virginia. Lillian Dee Emory was born in 1893 to William Robert Emory and Minerva Jane Rainey, both natives of the same county. This line has always fascinated me and occasionally pulls at me to dig a bit deeper. Emory, Eppes, Rainey, and Brockwell: the surnames of Lillian Dee's grandparents. What surprises are in store for me with this Prince George crowd?

My first step was to look back over what I already have on them. What census records are still missing? Have I included all of each generation's children that are listed in the census records? Have I worked on filling in their family story through vital records? I've found that digging a bit more on even one more child can correct assumptions, add more detail to names, and even break down brick walls.

Once I've covered census and vital records, my next move is to check out chancery records at the Library of Virginia. This takes some effort, but it's always worth doing a search there online. I searched the surnames Emory and Brockwell for Prince George County. My trick is to leave the plaintiff and defendant spaces blank. Instead of using those spaces, I type in one or two surnames in the surname blanks. This finds cases where a particular surname is mentioned but isn't necessarily the subject of the case. I don't get discouraged when I can't find a record for my ancestors...I just hope one of their descendants or a cousin is mentioned in a record. Chancery cases often include gems of genealogical data like names and dates that prove connections between people.

And sometimes you find the right chancery record with a story. A juicy story!

Chancery enchantments

Only three cases include the surname Emory from Prince George. So I chose Prince George County chancery index number 1906-007 between Henry A Hobbs and Alice Liney Hobbs. It turns out to be a divorce case. I was hooked!

Henry A Hobbs was filing for divorce from his wife Alice Liney Hobbs. When they married in Prince George on 5 Dec 1901, Alice was listed as Alice Liney Emory. Ok, there's the Emory! But how is she connected to my family? So I read on. Alice deserted her husband on or about 5 Jan 1902 and at the time of the suit she still had not returned for more than three years.

According to the deposition of Henry A Hobbs' sons from his previous marriage, William Allen Hobbs and Charles Simmons Hobbs, Alice only lived with Henry for a month after their marriage. 10 days after she left, she returned with a John A Devorak to pick up her things. His sons knew these details because they lived with their father during the marriage and were witnesses to her desertion.

John A Devorak's deposition reveals that Alice's brother asked him to help get her things. The separation seems to have been amiable, because Henry A Hobbs treated Devorak to dinner and let him stay the night before they took Alice together to Petersburg the next morning. Devorak drove the wagon with her things while Hobbs took Alice in the buggy. When asked whether Alice told him whether she were leaving permanently, Devorak stated, "She said she could not live with Mr. Hobbs there."

At the January term of 1906, the circuit court declared the couple divorced.

The plot thickens

The devil is in the details. So what might have made Alice unable to live with Henry? What was so difficult for her out on their farm in Prince George? Their marriage license reveals that she was a 30 year old widow and he was 66 years old. That's quite the age difference, isn't it? Also, who was her first husband? Turns out, he was Matthew Nathaniel Emory, my 4th great uncle - the youngest brother of my William Robert Emory whom I mentioned earlier. Alice was left a single mother when Matthew died; she was listed as a widow with a two year old - Matthew Nathaniel Jr in the 1900 census. Coincidentally, the day Alice left Henry was Matthew Nathaniel Jr's 4th birthday!

A year after their divorce, Alice married Henry Lewis Humphries. By the 1910 census, Alice is enumerated as the mother of three children: Matthew Emory, Bessie Hobbs, and Martha Humphries. Bessie Hobbs was born in September 1902 just nine months after her parents' divorce. So, if Henry A Hobbs is Bessie's biological father, Alice had just barely conceived her during the one month she lived with him. Did Alice know she was pregnant when she left her husband?

Alice's son Matthew Emory went on to get married, and to father two children. His first wife died at the age of 46 after a three year battle with cervical and uterine cancer. A year later, Matthew Emory (my mom's great-grandmother's first cousin) went on to marry a widow, Alma May D'Bene née Chappell (my dad's third cousin)!

Surprise connections

Alma May Chappell was born in 1908 in Surry County, Virginia. Her grandmother, Anna Delia Hoye, was born in Manchester (now South Richmond) but moved to Surry after her marriage. Anna's maternal grandparents were Joseph Williams and Ona Ann Adams of Powhatan County. So while it was a wild surprise for me to find a couple that connected my mom's family to my dad's, it's not entirely shocking when you look at the geography.

The Williams side of my dad's family is from Powhatan County - which is only separated from Prince George County by Chesterfield. To get from Powhatan to Surry you just follow the James River east. And Prince George and Surry are neighboring counties. (Take a look at the map above showing Prince George and Surry County on the James River.) Similar surprises link my two sides of my family through Halifax County and Chesterfield County.

I discovered that my Granny Linda (my mom's stepmom) is a DNA match to my dad! Turns out they're 5th cousins through their shared Hite ancestor from Halifax County, Virginia. Another surprise was that my Aunt Judy (my mom's sister) was married to my 5th cousin on my dad's Wooldridge & Elam side from Chesterfield County.

Lessons

Here are a few take away points from these family history surprises!

1. Maintain a thorough family tree that goes out and down as much as it goes up. The only way I was able to confirm any of the connections I've mentioned here is because I already had their families in my tree. I nearly always include the parents of a new spouse that I add to my tree. These webs are impossible to maneuver if your tree is not rooted in solid research and supporting strong branches!

2. Take advantage of the amazing chancery records available in Virginia! Use my suggestions for searching according to surname and county. Be patient and scan the entire document, page by page, until you find that little nugget of information that can be that next necessary catalyst to your research!

3. Expect surprises in your DNA match list. You are going to find surprise matches. You are going to find evidence of infidelity and/or children conceived out of wedlock. Your DNA results may even be the clue that reveals one of your family members had a child out of wedlock. Other surprises may be that someone was adopted and no one ever talked about it. Expect that your mom might have cousins who married your dad's cousins. And if you're from an endogamous community, your parents might even be cousins too. Expect the unexpected.

*****

Family history is filled with surprises. People are unpredictable. Sometimes whole communities stay put and intermarry. Other times, people somehow connect to one another when we least expect it, reminding us just how small the world is, after all.

I went searching for an Emory, and I found a Hobbs who had once been an Emory. That find helped me discover not only an interesting story - one undoubtedly filled with great pain and sorrow - but also whole new branches to my family tree. Oh! And our Alice was born Alice Liney Nunnally.

What surprises have you uncovered in your family history research? Do you expect the unexpected?

This post was inspired by the week 6 prompt "Surprise" of the year-long series that I'm participating in with Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.

My ancestors - and your ancestors - deserve the best researcher, the most passionate story-teller, and the dignity of being remembered. So let's keep encountering our ancestors through family history and remembering the past made present today!

The Mystery of Kenneth Helvering

As we plug away in our genealogical research, invariably certain rabbit holes turn into real research questions. At first, these diversions are just mere curiosity - "hmm...this person looks interesting!" But as the rabbit holes reveal real holes in our research, we must stop our digging and decide how to proceed and what questions we want to answer. So let's take a moment to explore the mystery of Kenneth Helvering.

Introduction to Kenneth

Several years ago, I was working on descendancy research for the children of Joseph Williams and Ona Ann Adams of Powhatan County, Virginia. I found that their son John H Williams had left Powhatan County, as many did in his day, and headed for Manchester City (now South Richmond) on the southern bank of the James River across from Richmond. By the time of his father's death in the mid 1890s, he was living in Newport News in Warwick County. There, he worked as a ship carpenter at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company.

John H Williams and his wife Mary Frances had one daughter, Ida Virginia Williams. In the 1900 census, I found Ida living with her husband Edwin Helvering, son Kenneth M Helvering, and her mother. Ida is shown to have had two children, but only one is living. Now, Kenneth is listed as being 6 years old, though his parents are shown as being married in 1897. I didn't think much of this though - how often are ages incorrectly listed in census records?!

I have yet to find the family in 1910, but the next records I found for the family were their passport applications from 4 Jan 1916 and 12 Feb 1918. Edwin was member of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers. In 1920, he is listed as a government inspector and in 1923 as a senior inspector for the Department of Maintenance and Repair at the shipyard. Their passport applications were for Edwin's work in Manila, the Philippines - a trip which took them through California and Hawaii. The photo above is from Kenneth's 1918 passport application.

It wasn't until I saw his photo, and the photo of his mother, that I really wanted to know more about Kenneth. Did he marry? Did he father any children? Unfortunately, the trail seemingly ran dry in 1930. I simply couldn't find anything else about him.

Field trip to the cemetery!

With no more information on Kenneth, I turned to his mother Ida. I found that she passed away in 1930 and was buried in Greenlawn Memorial Park in Newport News. Her husband Edwin remarried to a Marie Schmidt in 1934. Conveniently, Ida's parents John H and Mary Frances Williams are buried at the same cemetery. Guess what that means? Field trip time!

So on 10 July 2016, I took a trip to Greenlawn Memorial Park. After meandering all over the cemetery - which felt like forever and made my eyes go in and out of focus staring at so many names - I finally found the Williamses and the Helverings! Here I found Ida's parents, alongside Ida, and Edwin with his second wife Marie. And then I saw the strangest thing: a little broken tombstone for a Ruth F McGruder propped up in front of Ida. And next to her rests a Charles Kenneth McGruder.

Could this Charles Kenneth McGruder be Kenneth M Helvering? The birth date of 1894 lined up, and there was the name Kenneth. But McGruder is nothing close to Helvering. Could "M" have been an abbreviation for McGruder?

At the Library

After doing some more research on this Charles Kenneth McGruder, I found that his obituary was published on 18 May 1942 in the Daily Press in Newport News. Additionally, I found that the Daily Press also published obituaries for Edwin Helvering and for Ida Virginia. So on 20 August 2016 I went back to Newport News to the Martha Woodroof Hiden Memorial Room at the Main Street Library. There I was able to find the obituaries and burial announcements I needed!

Now that's odd! Charles Kenneth McGruder is listed as the step-son of Mr. and Mrs. E. G. Helvering! But then I remembered that Edwin had remarried in 1934. So at least Maria was his step-mother.

But what was the "long illness" that he died from? And where was he living in 1940?

Census and Hospital Records

Could Kenneth M Helvering actually be Charles Kenneth McGruder? If so, his biological father must have passed away when he was little and Edwin Helvering took him in as his own son. (Kenneth even wrote his signature as a Helvering as you can see in his passport photo.) I then found that Charles H McGruder married Ida Virginia Williams on 29 Dec 1891 in Manchester. Charles H McGruder then passed away on 13 Sep 1894 in Warwick County - which became Newport News. So Charles H McGruder must be the biological father - and namesake - of our Kenneth.

But where was Charles Kenneth in 1940? I found him in the 1940 census, not in Newport News as I expected, but in Williamsburg as a patient at the Eastern State Hospital for the Insane. Whoa! So he had some sort of debilitating illness that caused his step-parents to put him away sometime after his mother passed away.

I reached out to the Eastern State Hospital to see what records they might have still on Charles Kenneth McGruder. I was hoping to at least get a record on the reason for his entry to the hospital. Since he has been deceased for over 50 years, they were able to grant my request! A week later, I had mail from the hospital!

All records for his stay at Eastern State Hospital were destroyed except for this Master Patient Index card. But even with this simple index card, we have the story.

Helvering or McGruder?

Charles Kenneth McGruder was the step-son of Edwin Griffith Helvering. He contracted spinal meningitis as a child which caused a "mental deficiency." He was first admitted to Eastern State Hospital on 9 November 1934. After a brief furlough from December 1934 until April 1935, he lived the remainder of his life in the hospital. He then passed away on 17 May 1943 at 5:00 pm. From the other side of his Master Patient Index card, I learned that his cause of death was thyroid cancer.

Eastern State Hospital was founded in 1773 in Williamsburg, Virginia as the first public facility devoted solely to the care and treatment of the mentally ill in the current United States. I'll never know the reason his step-father decided to send him there in 1934, but I can't help but assume it had something to do with his new marriage in February of that year.

It's also curious that all public records for Kenneth from 1900 until 1934 refer to him as Kenneth M Helvering. His mother Ida's death notice lists her son simply as "Kenneth" and her address as 18 Buxton Ave., which corresponds to the address given for Edwin G Helvering in the Master Patient Index card as well. So we can safely confirm that Charles Kenneth McGruder was indeed the same person as Kenneth M Helvering. At what point did he start to use his birth name again? Was this an attempt on the part of his step-father to distance himself from his responsibility as a caregiver?

*****

Charles Kenneth McGruder - also known as Kenneth M Helvering - was my grandfather's second cousin. I wonder if they knew of one another, if their parents were close - as first cousins - or if he ever visited Powhatan County. What did Kenneth think of his time in the Philippines? How must it have been for his mother Ida to be the daughter of a Powhatan boy, to be born and raised in Manchester City, and then to travel across the world from Newport News to California to Hawaii to the Philippines? What was it like at Eastern State Hospital for Kenneth in the 1930s and 1940s?

Finding Kenneth gave me opportunities to learn new skills, to discover new record sets, and to explore a new cemetery and a new library. Encountering him in these records helped me paint a fuller picture of his life, and to bring into focus as one man who had before appeared to be two.

What mysteries have you solved at the library? Have you considered supporting your state library?

This post was inspired by the week 5 prompt "At the Library" of the year-long series that I'm participating in with Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.

My ancestors - and your ancestors - deserve the best researcher, the most passionate story-teller, and the dignity of being remembered. So let's keep encountering our ancestors through family history and remembering the past made present today!

Joseph Williams of Powhatan

"If you could meet one person from history, who would you choose and why?"

We all know that icebreaker question, don't we? It gets us to stop and think about what we value, who we value, and how they have impacted our lives.

So who would I like to meet? Besides the obvious Sunday School answer (Jesus is always the Sunday School answer), my answer would have to be one of my ancestors. Or, more specifically all of my ancestors! But knowing that that will have to wait until I pass from this life, I guess I'll try to choose just one.

Joseph Williams

My third great-grandfather is Joseph Williams. He lived in Powhatan County, Virginia and was born about 1817 and passed away by 4 March 1895. Joseph married Ona (nicknamed Oney) Ann Adams and together they raised eight children, having lost at least one child in infancy in 1858. Joseph was a landowner and also an enslaver. The 1840 census lists one enslaved woman in his household. Chancery records for his father-in-law also include Joseph selling several enslaved people in Powhatan County.

In 1842, Joseph and his wife Oney were baptized by Rev. Samuel Dorset at Mt. Hermon Baptist Church in Chesterfield, Virginia. Church records show them being active members there and at Powhatan Baptist Church. The rest that we know about Joseph lies in land, tax, and chancery records. Chancery records reveal that he had unpaid medical bills and no written will at the time of his death.

So there's a lot left unknown. When exactly did he die? Who were his parents? Where exactly was he born? Did he have a middle name?

Why I'd like to meet Joseph

Joseph is my brick wall ancestor. He's also my direct paternal line ancestor. As a male descendant of his, the Y chromosome that was in every cell of his body is also in every single cell of my body! That. Is. Amazing! That means that of all of my ancestors, I have something very specific in common with Joseph Williams that I do not have in common with all the rest of my ancestors. This just blows me away!

Knowing that I have this special connection - biologically - with Joseph makes me want to discover him all the more.

What I've done to find Joseph

I have actively sought out Joseph Williams. I have spent hours scouring over census records, vital records, tax records, land records, wills, chancery records, church records...and DNA records.

I've blogged about my search.

I wrote about how I used census and vital records to work back to my brick wall. This helped me see for sure whether I was standing on solid ground with my research or if I needed to reevaluate things.

I then wrote about using descendancy research and DNA to confirm and develop a list of living descendants of Joseph Williams.

I also wrote about the awesome things I found in marriage records relating to Joseph's family. These marriage records led me to discover amazing things about Joseph's family in Baptist church records.

Next, I wrote about how I was able to narrow down his elusive death date, and how I found more details about Joseph's life in tax records.

New clarity on Joseph

I have new clarity on the person of Joseph Williams after writing about him.

For example, I wrote about finding home in my hometown back in April 2018. At that time, I thought that Joseph had the middle initial of "H". It wasn't until doing all the writing that I mention above that I realized that this was a mistake! Only one record recorded him as "Joseph H Williams" and that turned out to be an incorrectly transcribed record for "Joseph H Worsham"!

As I collected all of these details, and I looked at the materials I had at my disposal, I realized I also had Joseph's signature. It doesn't say "his mark" next to it, either! That means he was literate - well, he could write his name at least! Someone taught him to read and write. He had at least some education.

What I'd ask Joseph

There's so much I'd like like to talk to Joseph about. How did he meet Oney? Who were his parents? Did he have siblings? You see, I've found several other Williams people living near where he lived. Are they his brother and sister? Did he know his grandparents? Did he go to church as a child? How did he feel about the Civil War? Did any of his ancestors fight for the Revolutionary War?

So many questions, and so few answers. But that's what genealogy and family history is all about. Digging. Seeking out these answers and the joy of the search.

*****

I'd like to meet Joseph Williams of Powhatan County, Virginia. He might not be a famous person, but he's mighty special to me. 

Who would you like to meet? Is there one ancestor of yours who inspires you and your research?

This post was inspired by the week 4 prompt "I'd Like to Meet..." of the year-long series that I'm participating in with Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.

My ancestors - and your ancestors - deserve the best researcher, the most passionate story-teller, and the dignity of being remembered. So let's keep encountering our ancestors through family history and remembering the past made present today!

RootsTech 2019: Part 3

RootsTech 2019 was so full that I couldn't get it all in with just one post. Part 1 covered Wednesday and Thursday, and Part 2 covered Friday.

This will be the third and final post in my series on RootsTech 2019. It will cover the last day of RootsTech, Saturday 2 March, as well as my adventures in Salt Lake City on Sunday!

Though I was sad to miss the first Saturday of Souls liturgy during RootsTech, it was fitting that it was because I was at RootsTech working on my genealogy skills! To learn more about the Orthodox Christian remembrance of the departed, you can check out this great resource. Also, check out my Four Reasons Behind My Blog's Name to see the importance of remembering our departed loved ones in the Orthodox Church.

Our keynote speaker - and entertainer - was Japanese-Hawaiian ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro. He was a blast! There were moments where I thought, "I didn't know a ukulele could hit that note!" It was awesome to see a musician so much in his groove, getting into his music. During his keynote speech, he shared several nuggets of wisdom for us:

• “I am what I am because of you.” What a beautiful Japanese phrase!
• “Lose to win.” You lose for someone else’s win. Someone else’s sacrifice made our present reality possible.
• “In music it is so important to feel. If you don’t attach a meaning to every note, you’re not making music. You’re just making sound.”
• “Music is pure emotion.”
• “The purpose of memory is not only to remember the past but to better predict the future.”
• “Make a sacrifice to give someone else the opportunity to be grateful.”
• “We owe a great debt to those who came before us.”
• Message for youth: 
• Study hard. 
• Find your passion. 
• Practice! 
• There are times it’ll get tough. Push through and you’ll come out a tougher person. 
• Be drug free. 

Scott Fisher from Extreme Genes having a laugh with Jake Shimabukuro during his interview.

The Media Hub was a great place to visit with other bloggers - who were part of RootsTech Ambassadors - as well as speakers at the conference.

I even got to meet Ali, the winner of my RootsTech pass giveaway! 

Here's the whole group of Ambassadors for RootsTech 2019! What a great group; am I right?!

Here is my schedule from Saturday:

Saturday

• 9:30am - Finding Substitutes for Vital Records – Peggy Clemens Lauritzen
• 11:00am - General Session: Jake Shimabukuro
• 1:30pm - Census Sense: Clues and Conundrums for Intermediate Researchers – Patti Gillespie
• 3:00pm - It’s Called FAMILY History: Top Tips for Collaborating with Living Family Members – Crista Cowan & Stephen Cowan

After RootsTech was finished, I headed north to South Ogden for a Greek "Apokreas" Dinner at Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church. An apokreas or apokreatiko dinner is the Greek equivalent (both linguistically and culturally) to the Carnival. It marks the end of eating meat before Great Lent begins. Since Great Lent is a time when Orthodox Christians abstain from meat and dairy products, we have a week prior when we can still eat dairy products, as a way of easing into the fast. So an apokreatiko night is a way to get rid of the meat products in the home, and also to have one last celebration before the great feast of Pascha (Easter).

It was great to reconnect with my friends who are members of Holy Transfiguration, and I had a great time enjoying the hospitality of their community! 

On Sunday morning, I headed back downtown to Saints Peter and Paul Orthodox Church for the Divine Liturgy. What a lovely community! Everyone was so welcoming, and I felt that they were truly embracing the entire city in their hospitality. They even recited the Our Father in EIGHT languages: English, Slavonic, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Georgian, Serbian, and Greek. They may have said it in Arabic too, but I can't recall. The sermon was right on point too and since it was the Sunday of the Last Judgement (Matthew 25), we heard about the importance of our actions in the Christian life. A beautiful - and indeed convicting - message.

Isn't this a beautiful worship space?!

AND they have seven catechumens (people who are studying the Orthodox Christian faith to be received into the Church by baptism and/or chrismation)! Such an active community!

After the Divine Liturgy - and the delicious lunch following in the church hall - I headed out for coffee with a genealogy friend of mine. I even got to see AncestryProGenealogists headquarters! AH! SO COOL! 

Sunday night, I had the absolute pleasure of having dinner with the family of my third cousin, Autumn! She shares my Vaughan & Ogburn family line from Dinwiddie and Brunswick counties in Virginia. We got to know each other better over a tasty table of tacos, and then chatted over old family photos and ice cream. What a fun evening! Here's a photo of me and Autumn in the Expo Hall at RootsTech.

After dinner with my cousins, I was back to the airport and my journey brought me back to Virginia in the wee hours of Monday. RootsTech 2019 was an absolute blast! I'm so grateful that I was able to attend, and I'm honored to have served as an Ambassador this year. The RootsTech staff made this year so smooth and successful, from registration to class size, to the class schedule to the entertainment. 

RootsTech is a big conference. But do you ever wonder just how big *big* is when it comes to RootsTech? RootsTech 2019 At A Glance sure does put it into context. You can read more about the stats in RootsTech in Review here.

Did you make it to RootsTech 2019? Don't forget to rate your courses on the RootsTech app! The instructors will certainly appreciate the honest feedback so that they can continue to improve their lessons.

*****

RootsTech 2019 has come and gone. It brought me tons of new ideas, new friends, great connections, 28 pages of notes, new books, a MyHeritage beanie, and the conviction that I've *got* to get my certification and/or accreditation as a professional genealogist. 

I'm committed! My ancestors - and your ancestors - deserve the best researcher, the most passionate story-teller, and the dignity of being remembered.

So let's keep encountering our ancestors through family history and remembering the past made present today!

RootsTech 2019: Part 2

RootsTech 2019 was jam-packed with classes, opportunities to network with other genealogists, and even a little time to do research at the Family History Library! In RootsTech 2019: Part 1, I shared my first two days of RootsTech with you. This post will cover Friday, 1 March.

On Friday, my day began bright and early with the MyHeritage Friends Breakfast. It was great to hear from MyHeritage Genealogy Expert Daniel Horowitz about all the new things MyHeritage is offering and working on. Plus, it was a chance to enjoy some delicious food with new friends. We had to keep their announcements a secret until they were public at the General Session, but here is the news from MyHeritage!

• AutoClusters to organize your DNA matches
• Theory of Family Relativity - incorporate genealogical information with DNA matches
• Free webinars every Wednesday
• DNAQuest renewal for 5,000 free DNA tests to adoptees! If you're adopted and looking for biological family, this is for you! Registration is open now: http://dnaquest.org

To get more information about MyHeritage and their new features check out their blog post about RootsTech.

Saroo Brierley, author of his memoir A Long Way Home (adapted into the 2016 film Lion), was our keynote speaker on Thursday! I was SO excited! He spoke about his story of getting lost in India, his adoption by a family in Tasmania, Australia and his eventual reunion with his biological family. It was a great talk! I loved reading his memoir, and was thrilled to ask him my question in person.

"One of the parts that was most moving for me in your book was when you were talking about a moment you had with Baba, the religious leader in your village. I work full-time with youth for my church, so that influence that you can have with young people is really important to me. And one of the things that you said is that he fed not only your body, but also your spirit because he gave you hope that you were - you know - a person that had meaning. So how has that influence of Baba still brought into your life, and have you brought that into other aspects of your life?"

"You are the first person to ask that question. And it's a very important question to me. Because when my mother wasn't about - my biological mother - I would be taken to the holy man and he would take me fishing, he would show me around. And you know, I spent a lot of time with him. And I think he had a massive influence on me, of the way to look at nature, and so on, and spirituality. And this movie's got a massive spirituality in it. Because, I'm not too sure, but I do get a little bit from my mum, my adoptive mother, and my biological mother is quite spiritual as well. And, you know, to deny would be just like well you know it's not like that. Somehow, I've had that influence, evidently it was through the holy man. And, that's just the way it was, so I don't know what else to say. But, I think I've very privileged to be in the arms of someone that wanted to take care of me when my mother wasn't around."

Here's another view of the interview set-up at the Media Hub. Thank you to @easygenie for the shot!

I got a selfie with Saroo and Tierra from Pressing My Way. We were pretty happy!

I also got Saroo Brierley to autograph his book!

One of the class highlights of the day was from The Research Road Map: Your Path to Success by Amy Johnson Crow. Here are some of the take-aways from her talk:

Before we can know what road to take in our genealogy research plan, we need to know where we are now. So some things to think about are:

• What notes can we reread? 
• What sources do we already have? 
• We need to find holes in our research. Don't assume they aren't there!

Here are a couple helpful quotes from her talk too:

• "Is there something better you can use for this particular fact? If so, finding that source needs to be part of our research plan.”
• "Information you read is only as accurate as the knowledge of the person who gave it."
• "Our ancestors are more than names!"

I was also happy to get to meet Jennifer Mendelsohn of #resistancegenealogy fame! You can follow her on Twitter @CleverTitleTK. I found her at the booth of another great group that works to make sure we all have access to our records, Reclaim the Records. Please make sure to support their work!

As if that wasn't a full enough day, I also had a meetup with the Virtual Genealogical Association Thursday night! It was great to have an in-person get together with people who gather virtually around the country.  

Here is my schedule from Friday:

Friday

• 7:00am - MyHeritage Friends Breakfast
• 9:30am - Essential Considerations for DNA Evidence - Blaine T. Bettinger
• 11:00am - General Session: Saroo Brierley
• 12:50pm - Interview with Saroo Brierley
• 1:30pm - Chromosome Mapping Tips and Techniques - Blaine T. Bettinger
• 3:00pm - Colonial New England Research and Resources From Archives to the Internet - David Allen Lambert
• 4:30pm - The Research Road Map: Your Path to Success - Amy Johnson Crow
• 6:00pm - Virtual Genealogical Association - Meetup

*****

Friday was amazing. So many memories, great classes, new connections.

My next post will be about the last day of RootsTech 2019 and an eventful Sunday in Salt Lake City!

Let's keep encountering our ancestors through family history and remembering the past made present today!

RootsTech 2019: Part 1

RootsTech has come and gone! It seemed to fly by, yet each day was filled with so much good stuff, it was impossible to blog about it during the event itself.

There's still so much to say and so little time, so let me share tidbits of all the great things that went on. Some of this post will be announcements of new and exciting features of genealogy websites, others will be of genealogy related news. Then, I'll include some of the fun connections I made over the week.

On Wednesday, we heard from Michael B. Moore, the CEO and President of the coming International African American Museum in Charleston, SC. This museum will be one of a kind, being set on the site of “the Ellis Island” of African Americans - the port where nearly half of all enslaved Africans entered the United States. It will be a place for the African American community to connect to their past, and find pride in their offering to our nation’s history. It was also announced that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is gifting $2 Million for the IAAM Center for Family History! 

Then, we heard from Martin Luther King III. As in the son of Martin Luther King, Jr.! WHOA!

He shared that “a community at peace with itself" was the goal of Martin Luther King Jr’s dream. He then shared that this peace, along with community reconciliation and redemption, were the result of family history research! How cool is that? Martin Luther King II also shared that the IAAM will help African Americans “feel the healing connections of family and faith.”

On Thursday, the CEO of Ancestry Margo Georgiadis made several announcements!

• MyTreeTags: allows you to add tags to individuals in your tree
• New DNA matches tool - coolest thing is it allows you to add colored dots to matches!
• ThruLines - replaces circles with some cool potential ancestor features
• Addition of new content in 12 states, immigration, military 
• Searchable obituaries
• New worldwide records 
• Updated African American communities

The keynote for Thursday was Patrica Heaton. She shared several great nuggets of wisdom that came from her experience as an actress and mother. “Families bring you down to earth and test your character,” she told the audience. “If I had to choose between a career in acting or children, I’d choose children every time.” At one time, she had hoped to work with an orphanage in Mexico, but Heaton believes that God gave her an acting career so that she could give back to others in His own time. She concluded that “We’re all connected. We need to focus on the connections and not the differences.” Thankfully, family history research does just this; it connects us and helps us see past these differences.

And then came my moment to ask Patrica Heaton a question! Here it goes!

"You spoke about the fidelity of your family and how that helped keep you supported. So my question to you is this. My friend Ted is from Twinsburg and Cleveland Heights and he says that a Cleveland Browns fan is the most faithful of people. So my question for you is: are you a Cleveland Browns fan?"

"Yes. Well, my father covered the Browns for 25 years as a sports writer and he's in the football hall of fame. And we had our childhood vacations at the training camp in Hiram, Ohio. Hiram College is where they used to train. So that's what we'd do; we'd go and my dad would plunk us there and our family vacation was watching the Browns do scrimmages and then going on the field afterwards and playing on the equipment and then eating with the players. So, it's kind of in my blood. It's our cross to bear. But it builds character!"

"And you bear it well!"

"Thank you!"

"Ted Cherpas says hello."

"Okay great, thanks!"

And if hearing MLK III and then speaking with Patricia Heaton wasn't enough for one day, I got to listen to Lisa Joyner and Chris Jacobs of Long Lost Family too! They shared some of their own adoption stories as well as their favorite moments from the show. Lisa said she hopes that one of the results of this show is to destigmatize birth mothers of adoptees. So often, people blame birth mothers without seeking to see the complex situations they found themselves in. 

During the Q&A, I had the chance to be the first question to Lisa and Chris. I opened by mentioning that I have had the honor and great responsibility of sharing news about birth parents to adoptees and individuals with misattributed parentage. Since this is what they do every episode, how do they balance the need for good television with the ethics surrounding providing such sensitive information to real people? Lisa told me that the show has psychologists to both guide them and to be there for participants on the show. She reassured the audience that they treat each person individually with their particular needs. It was good to know that both Lisa and Chris, as well as the crew at Long Lost Family take serious the need to provide proper counseling to those who invite us into such sensitive moments in their lives.

Then there's the classes! Wednesday classes began at 9:30am and the last event ended at 5:30pm, while starting Thursday the days began at 8:00am. This year, they added "Power Hour" at 8:00am to hear from multiple speakers on a shared topic. The format was sort of like a TED Talk in that each person spoke more briefly and focused on nuggets of information.

Here is my schedule for Wednesday and Thursday:

Wednesday

• 9:30am - Deeper Analysis: Techniques for Successful Problem Solving - Elissa Scalise Powell
• 11:00am - The surname is key: History of surnames and conducting surname research in Germany - Dirk Weissleder
• 12:15pm - Everyone has a story, even you! - Blaine Bettinger & Angie Bush
• 1:30pm - The Magic of German Church Records - Katherine Schober
• 3:00pm - Slave Traders, Speculators and the Domestic Slave Trade - Kenyatta D. Berry
• 4:30pm - General Session: Steve Rockwood, CEO of FamilySearch, & entertainment by The Edge Effect

Thursday

• 8:00am - Making the Leap – Becoming a Professional Genealogist 
• Getting Ready to Leap – Valerie Elkins
• Genealogy as a business – Luana Darby
• Which Credential? - Anne Teerlink
• 9:30am - Finding 17th century English Ancestors – Problems and Solutions - Else Churchill
• 11:00am - General Session: Patricia Heaton
• 12:50pm - Interview with Patricia Heaton
• 1:30pm - One Touch Genealogy Research: Handle a Record Just Once - Thomas MacEntee
• 3:00pm - Ancestry Town Hall: Go behind the scenes of Long Lost Family with Lisa Joyner & Chris Jacobs
• 4:30pm - The Problem with Porters: Men of the Same Name - Rebecca Whitman Koford
• 7:30pm - NextGen Meetup

*****

Y'ALL! This is only the first two days! I can't wait to share the rest of the conference!

Check out the photo at the top of this page. It's a group shot of other genealogy bloggers from GeneaBloggers TRIBE. They're awesome folks!

Let's keep encountering our ancestors through family history and remembering the past made present today!