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!

Stuck Looking Back

We are Stuck Looking Back because we are Stuckeys....because we are engrossed and become stuck doing family history when we really should be doing other things.....because we have several lines that we are stuck on; having hit a brick wall and always hoping to break through.

We have just recently become bitten by the genealogy bug.   That is actually ironic, because I am the director of the Little Rock Arkansas Family History Center.  Ok, so it is a volunteer position and it was assigned to me by my church leaders, but experience has shown that the only way people in the past have gotten out of the assignment (or calling as it is referred to in our church) is to move or die. Really that is fine by me because, I have loved every minute of it!  I love helping people, I have loved bringing our facility up to date, I love teaching classes and most thrilling...I love finding out about my ancestors!

In teaching my classes, I fell back on my husband's audio/visual/techie skills and coerced him into helping me when I was teaching classes.  In turn, he got excited about working on his own family. Also, our teenagers have been assigned (called) to be family history consultants which basically means they help old farts like me who are technically impaired with their awesome computer skills because let's face it...research is mostly done on computers and teens just come by these skills naturally.  Family history has indeed become a family affair!

Today we attended a local genealogy conference.  It was awesome, inspiring, and got us excited about trying out some new techniques we learned there.  We decided to start this blog so that we can track our progress and keep track of the techniques we are using and the results we get.  We are hoping it will be helpful to others and also that we might find some accidental cousins who may find our blog and lead us to some new information or help us break down some of these brick walls!