My Valentine

Valentine was my dad's middle name.  It is a strange name for a guy and he very rarely shared it with people and certainly was not fond of it.  When my grandmother gave birth to my dad in 1939, she was very young and unmarried. Perhaps she hadn’t an inclination to ever give him a middle name or maybe she wasn’t asked, but in those days the doctor filled out the birth certificate.  Her doctor? Dr. Valentine Pardo, a Cuban who came to America as an 18 year old in 1920 and ended up practicing in East Arkansas. My dad told me there were many children in Monroe County, Arkansas with the middle name Valentine. I did actually meet a cousin born in 1959 at a family reunion whose middle name is Valentine.  So Dr. Pardo continued that practice for at least two decades.

I read a great blog about the doctor that makes him sound like a really wonderful, compassionate doctor.  I don’t doubt that is true! But, he stuck at least two Arkansas boys with an awkward middle name. https://xteri.me/2014/08/02/01072014-dr-valentine-pardo-early-memories-of-a-memorable-person/?blogsub=confirming#blog_subscription-6

Rootstech 2017 - February 8 - 11

ROOTSTECH!

RootsTech is the largest global genealogy conference. It is held in Salt Lake City, Utah and is hosted by FamilySearch.

If you are lucky enough to attend the conference in person you will be able to attend keynote addresses by:

• The Scott Brothers - Entertainment Duo
• Buddy "Cake Boss" Valastro - "Cake Boss" need I say more?
• LeVar Burton (AKA Geordi La Forge in Star Trek TNG)
• CeCe Moore - Genetic Genealogist

In addition to these four great keynotes, attendees are able to select from over 200 sessions in 6 tracks:

• DNA
• Tools
• Photos
• Stories
• Organizing
• Discovery

An expo hall with vendors and other attractions like:

• Discovery Zone
• Innovation Alley
• Coaches Corner (New)

All of this is available over 4 days for a low cost:

• RootsTech Pass - $209/$269 - Most popular pass.  This is the pass that gets you access to everything.  (That is only $50 per day if you get the early bird pass)
• Innovator Summit Pass (Sorry, Sold Out - $99/$139) - Gets you access to the Innovator Summit Sessions.
• Getting Started Pass ($69/$89) - This is the pass if you are just getting started in genealogy.

One day I plan on attending RootsTech in person, but until then I must be happy with THE STREAMED PRESENTATIONS. YES, they stream some of the sessions.  Join me as we sit at our desks and join the conference for free!

I have created a google calendar of the streamed sessions here.

If you live in Utah or are planning a trip there this week plan on attending RootsTech. If you are stuck looking from a distance, enjoy the free sessions they stream. Either way, it's a great way to learn more about a great hobby!

FamilySearch Discovery Center

A friend of ours, Lisa Jorgensen, recently wrote a blog piece about her family's visit to the FamilySearch Discovery Center.  

"FamilySearch is a nonprofit family history organization dedicated to connecting families across generations. FamilySearch believes that families bring joy and meaning to life." - FamilySearch web page

"At a FamilySearch Discovery Center, you'll see your ancestors come to life with interactive displays, fun facts, and exciting things to do." - FamilySearch Discovery Center web page.

We haven't been there yet but wanted to share her blog and encourage you to visit the center in Salt Lake City if you have the opportunity.

Passing of Memories

Take the opportunity now to get memories from your family.

I am the Family History Center Director for the Little Rock Arkansas Family History Center.  This position is a calling (basically a volunteer position that I was asked to do by my church leadership). In my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, all callings are volunteer unpaid positions. The church is a lay church, even our clergy have full-time jobs that they hold in addition to their service in the church.  We all get paid in blessings!  The church has handbooks and online training for individual callings.  In one of my online training courses, I was challenged as a center director to complete a My Family booklet which is basically a family history with photos and stories.
I already had completed a lot of my family history online in Family Search, but I decided to take the challenge and do this paper version.  It had a lot of emphasis on stories and I realized I needed to get a lot of mine straight.  I decided to start questioning my dad because he lived close to me. My dad is an excellent story teller and we spent hours going over stories and details.  Family Search had tools for me to record audio of him telling his stories.  Each audio story can be up to 15 minutes long.  So, I picked my dad's brain and got every question in the world I could think of answered.  I recorded him telling several fun stories and learned a lot more than I had known before.  I focused on him because he lived close and it seemed easy and my dad loves to talk.  I finished getting all the living knowledge I could about his side of the family.

Little did I know that my dad would be gone just a few short months later.  I honestly can't put in to words what it means to me to have those stories in his voice.  My dad was hilarious, had a great memory, and lived a very interesting life.  I am so grateful I took that challenge and didn't lose out on the joy of having these memories that I can replay at anytime.  I hope that you too will take the challenge.  If you are already involved in family history...great!  But don't get so caught up in the data that you miss out on the stories. None of us are getting any younger.

If you are interested in the My Family booklet, it is only 50 cents...though there is a shipping charge.   Order it here or use the free online version.  For the online version you will first have to create a free account on Family Search.  Once your account is created here is a link to the online version.  If you live in Little Rock you can come by the Little Rock Arkansas Family History Center for a booklet.

Family History on the Go

On Saturday 9/22/15, the Little Rock, North Little Rock, and Searcy LDS Stakes hosted a Rootstech Discovery day.  There were 10 classes offered.  Daniel and I taught the Family History on the Go class. Virginia taught the My Family Stories that Bring Us Together class. Both classes were fairly well attended and the teachers were excellent! <grin>. 

The Family History on the Go class was about the two LDS Apps, Family Tree and Memories.  Family Tree is useful for doing review and some work with your FamilySearch.org family tree. Memories is a wonderful app that allows you to upload photos, stories, and audio files to be included on your FamilySearch.org family tree. I have a handout that we gave out that gives instructions on using the functions of the Memories app. I wanted to share the handouts with all of you. You can download it from this location. 

Virginia here.  The My Family Stories that Bring Us Together class talked about using the My Family booklet both printed version and online version.  Also, we talked about ways to find out your family stories using newspapers, FamilySearch books, Ancestry.com and some other tools.  You can download the handout here.

Granite Mountain of Family History Records

I just watched these two videos about how Family Search preserves records that have been collected since 1894.  I think you will find them interesting.

http://youtu.be/5KLea_DPxb4

http://youtu.be/aYkLKAPzCfQ

Butler Center Genealogy Conference

Virginia and I attended the Butler Center Genealogy Conference hosted by the Central Arkansas Library System and the Butler Center.

Wow, what a conference!  The Butler Center hosted Lisa Louise Cooke, owner of www.genealogygems.com.  Lisa has a lot of experience doing Family History research and was an excellent presenter.  

There were four presentations today:

• Ultimate Google Search Strategies
• Get the Scoop on Your Ancestors with Newspapers
• How to Use Google Earth for Genealogy
• How to Reopen and Work a Genealogical Cold Case

Each presentation was informative and exciting.  But really the best part was how excited we became thinking about how we would use the new information.  

Even with my experience doing google searches I learned a few things from Lisa.  I also hadn't thought about all of the great things you can find in historical newspapers.  Google Earth, WOW!  I have used it in the past but things have changed.  I encourage you to download and install the Pro Version of Google Earth (FREE).  Lisa has a video presentation on how to use Google Earth for Genealogy.  I encourage you to check it out. Finally, Lisa led us down the path to opening up those cold cases, you know those stuck points on your family tree.  Sometimes they are called brick walls.  The point is we all get stuck sometimes and Lisa had 12 suggestions to break through and get the information you need.  

One of the first ways we are using Lisa's instruction today is by creating this blog.  We hope to share with you the adventures we have as we learn more things and find our ancestors.  We will share what we learn and maybe even provide some answers you might have. 

Happy Hunting!