Tag Archives: Boston University Genealogical Research Certificate

Monthly Update – January 2016

My genealogy calendar began to wind down at the end of 2015, and to be honest, between a heavy workload at school and life in general, I ran out of steam. However, with the arrival of the New Year, several upcoming events and my personal goals, I am looking forward to 2016. It is looking to be an exciting year filled with new adventures and new genealogy friends.

The WWII Project

Instead of having a section devoted to just my book Dear Mother, Love Daddy, I am going to condense this section to everything related to the books and the letters.

About the letters:

Almost 1,200 letters have been transcribed and organized so far (since December 2012). I will continue to post a letter a day (or military related document) until all the letters have been transcribed. I still do not have a final tally of how many letters there are in the collection. According to my records, I have published 1,169 blog posts in which a letter was transcribed. This does not take into account the number of posts that did not contain a letter but rather a transcription of a document from Roscoe’s personal military papers nor does it account for the occasional letter which has been discovered amongst my father’s papers and has subsequently been forwarded to me. Often these rogue letters do not make the blog because they are so far out of sequence or context. It does not make sense to publish them at the time. They will appear in the published volumes of letters however.

Dear Mother, Love Daddy:

The first volume of letters has been in print for exactly 11 months. It is hard to believe that the first anniversary of its publication is quickly approaching, February 24, 2016. This last week I finally prepared several copies for donation to a few of the major genealogy and state library collections. For readers who may live in the Sacramento area, the library owns a copy of the book and it can be requested through the library’s loan system. Otherwise, copies of the book are available for sale through Amazon.com or contact me through the website to purchase an autographed copy of the book.

Lots of Love, Daddy:

I am hoping to have the second volume of letters ready by Memorial Day. I had hoped originally to publish this book around the anniversary of the first book. However, my schedule has not afforded me the time needed to successfully release the book at that time. This volume will also be 150-200 pages longer than the first volume and will include letters written during October through December 1942 while Roscoe was stationed in Noumea, New Caledonia. My first draft of the book is currently 400 pages. This does not include the index, author’s notes, illustration/photo credits, or the cast of characters. I have tentatively engaged the services of a genealogy colleague to be my copy editor for this next volume. I am very excited to be working with her on this project. As the spring progresses, I will make a more official announcement. In addition, I need to begin work with my book cover designer. At this point, I have an idea but nothing concrete.

Sacramento Library

I continue to volunteer one Saturday a month dispensing genealogy advice at my local library branch. Typically, my sessions are on the fourth Saturday of the month. Upcoming dates are January 30, February 27, and March 26. These sessions are by appointment only.

Yesterday, I presented my second lecture – A Beginner’s Guide to DNA & Genetic Genealogy. The audience was wonderful! They asked lots of great questions, and hopefully, I did not confuse them too much. I am looking forward to putting together a third presentation later this spring, likely in April or May.

The Central Branch has their genealogy program schedule published for the year. All presentations are given on Sundays from 1:00-2:30 at the Central Branch on I Street, downtown Sacramento. There are some wonderful speakers on the list, including my colleague, Gena Philibert-Ortega, who reviewed Dear Mother, Love Daddy last fall on her blog. Gena will be presenting a lecture on Finding Institutional Records in July while fellow ProGen alumna Janice Sellers will be delivering her lecture Get Me to the church: Religious Records in June.

Certification

It has long been my goal to become a certified genealogist. In order to achieve this goal, the applicant must submit a portfolio of work to the Board of Certification of Genealogists. This last week BCG president, Jeanne Larzalere Bloom, announced a new application process for certification. Some of the new requirements include evaluation of the applicant’s educational experiences and a limit of 150 pages for the entire portfolio. The new application can be found on the BCG website.

My ProGen Certificate

At this point, I feel fairly confident about my educational experiences. I have completed Boston University’s Genealogical Research Certificate program and the ProGen study group. I will continue to attend local learning experiences, like those offered at the library or the genealogy societies in my region. I still would like to do a couple of the home study courses from the National Genealogical Society, and maybe someday, I will be able to attend a week long institute like SLIG or GRIP. Although part of me is not really thinking of attending an genealogy institute as a student, why not think higher and bolder, like as an instructor?!? But let’s be realistic for 2016…

Another colleague of mine suggested that I blog about my journey to certification (Thank you Jake!). I have long been a fan of Jill Morelli’s blog Genealogy Certification: My Personal Journal. Jill is another ProGen alumna, and I had the pleasure of meeting her in person last year at Jamboree. Jill is already “on-the-clock,” as we like to say about the certification process. She has already submitted her application and currently has 3 months remaining before she must submit her portfolio. As I stated in my year in review post last month, I want to have my plan in place for certification by the end of this year. Most of the advice I have read (from people who have gone through the certification process) recommend having one’s ideas and preliminary research started before submitting the application. Blogging about my progress will hopefully keep me on track for my goal.

Roscoe with his wife Gladys and their sons, John & Mark (circa July 1942 in Kentland, Indiana)

A branch of my family that I will NOT be using for my portfolio!

One of the main requirements for any item submitted in the portfolio is that: “No material in an initial application may have been reviewed, critiqued, or proofread by another individual.” For me, this means that none of my prior work submitted as coursework for Boston University or ProGen is eligible to be used for my portfolio. Over the last few years, I have tried to be careful about not writing and posting about every aspect of my family genealogy for precisely this reason. I had to keep branches of the family dark since they were potential portfolio fodder.

So for January…

One element of the portfolio is a Kinship-Determination Project (KDP for short). Three generations of a family must be presented in a narrative genealogy, narrative lineage, or narrative pedigree format. Within the narrative, proof summaries or arguments must be used, as appropriate, for at least two parent-child relationships. This month (OK this morning…) I think I have decided upon which branch of the family I am going to use for the project. My next step for the project will be to begin analyzing the documents I do have and begin assessing what documents I need to obtain.

Jamboree

Jamboree 2015

This month pre-registration for Jamboree began. I had so much fun last year and I am looking forward to attending this year. Stay tuned for more updates! I have signed up to take one workshop so far. I still consider myself extremely fortunate that Blaine Bettinger was in my ProGen study group. His knowledge of DNA and genetic genealogy is incredible and I looking forward to taking his workshop on Third Party Tools for Autosomal DNA. If you ever have the chance to hear him speak or lecture, do not miss the opportunity!

Until next month….

Monthly Update – April 18, 2015

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Well, the weekly update did not exactly pan out. I kept meaning to do a weekly post but it is now a month later, and I am finally making the time to write an update. So it might be better off called “The Monthly Update” since it has been about a month since my last one.

Dear Mother, Love Daddy

There is a book giveaway for the month of April at Goodreads. If you did not sign up for last month’s giveaway, there is still time. The contest runs until the end of the month.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25099832-dear-mother-love-daddy

I gave a few copies of the book to Nichelle Bara of Copper Leaf Genealogy. She is a genealogist is northern Indiana and the St. Joseph’s County ICG. She is in the process of writing a review, and she is going to be running a contest to give a way a couple copies of the book. Stay tuned for links to the review and instructions of the contest!

If you are interested in purchasing an autographed copy of the book, I am selling copies. The cost is $21. The price includes one book, one autograph, and priority mail shipping within the U.S. Please contact me through the contact page/form tab if you are interested. The book is still available on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble online. Follow the link on the right hand side of the blog to purchase directly from Amazon.

I now have an official press release for the book, and have submitted several copies to local bookstores. If you are interested in obtaining a copy of the press release, please contact me.

Professional Learning

I am now an official graduate of the ProGen Study Group program. I am waiting for my certificate to come in the mail! I recommend the program highly to anyone who is interested in advancing their genealogy skills to a higher level.

I attended the Sacramento Roots Cellar Spring seminar with D. Joshua Taylor as the keynote speaker in March. It was a wonderful educational experience. As a result, I have started revamping the way I organize my genealogy files. I have also started using Google sheets to catalogue some of my projects as well as using Google’s tools to communicate with my clients more effectively. One of the first projects I started was making a catalogue of the World War II letters. So far, I have included all the letters from Dear Mother, Love Daddy.

I still haven’t decided what educational opportunity I should try next. However, I am starting to look ahead to which projects I should use for my Board of Certified Genealogists portfolio. Among the samples I have to include are: a research report prepared for a client, a case study (proof argument using conflicting or indirect evidence), and a kinship-determination project (lineage). The biggest task is choosing projects that have not been previously evaluated or published. I have used some of my family research for projects while studying for my Boston University certificate and the ProGen Study group. Those are off limits! The portfolio must be diverse in scope as well. I have to explore different types of genealogy problems, using a wide variety of records and sources.

Local News

I was able to meet with the branch manager of my local library in regards to starting some genealogy programming. We have tentatively set a date in September for an introduction level round table event. I am mulling over all the things I want to say to beginning genealogists. I have to create a 20-30 minute presentation. One of things I have come up with is…always start by documenting yourself! I think everyone has the tendency to jump ahead to great grandma or the ancestor who reportedly served in the Civil War. It is important to build a solid foundation from the beginning. Lots of information can be gleaned from your own birth certificate.

DNA

I was pleasantly surprised this month to get a high level match on my maternal side of the family. Since my grandmother was an only child AND she did not have first cousins on her maternal side, there are not many people I can ask to spit for me. In addition, she comes from old New England which is infamous for endogamy. She has a lot of pedigree collapse in her tree. I have occasionally discovered 9th and 10th cousins who appear as closer relatives, but nothing substantial. The new match appears as a 2nd to 3rd cousin, but is actually a fifth cousin to me on paper. This is partly due to the pedigree collapse and to a large portion of shared X chromosome. The X chromosome has a unique inheritance pattern due to male/female inheritance. Males only get one from their mothers, while females get two (one from each parent). It’s almost like DNA playing hopscotch! Of course, this new match has renewed my interest in researching my Howard family lineage. I am descended from John Howard of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, through over 8 different lines of descent.

In the last month, I have created many more boards on Pinterest. In case you are not aware, my first career was in theatrical and historical costuming. I have a lot of experience researching different historical clothing periods. I see a lot of people struggling to identify and date photographs within the field of genealogy. There are several genealogists who specialize in the field of dating photographs. There are many factors to take into consideration when dating a photograph. Clothing is a major factor, and it can be tricky, depending on the age and social circumstances of the person being photographed. On Pinterest, I have created several boards for the 19th and early 20th centuries with the aim of assisting people in dating photographs. The boards are divided by decade and they contain only photographs of actual clothing, not fashion plates. Here is a link to the 1870s board:

https://www.pinterest.com/GenealogyLadyCA/1870s-clothing/

I am considering writing a few blog posts about clothing and fashion trends in the future. Please let me know if this is something that would appeal to you.

Upcoming Events

I am getting more excited about the Southern California Genealogy Jamboree in June. This will be my first opportunity to meet some genealogy rock stars in person as well as to connect with some fellow genealogists I know only from online. I am an honorary blogger as well.

The Versatile Blogger Award

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The Versatile Blogger Award, April 2013

As I am staring at the calendar (which tells me that April is almost gone), it is hard to believe that I have been blogging for almost six months. I am only a few weeks shy of that momentous anniversary. During these months, I have been awarded several blogging awards. This week I was given the honor of the Versatile Blogger Award by Linda Arthur Tejera who writes the blog Living With My Ancestors. Thank you very much Linda!

The rules for this award are similar to several others:

1. Thank the person who nominated you and include a link to their blog. (check…see above)

2. Nominate 15 blogs for the Versatile Blogger Award, link to their page, and leave a comment notifying them of the newly bestowed honor. (check…see below)

Since I currently follow and read a bunch of blogs, and I have nominated several of them for awards in the last few months, I decided to pick blogs that I have not previously nominated. Many of them are newer or smaller blogs, so check them out. In no particular order…

1. Finding My Civil War Ancestor
2. Homethoughtsfromabroad626
3. Rosanna’s Genealogical Thoughts
4. Don’t Forget Where We Came From
5. Gran’s Family History
6. Judy’s Family History
7. Chips Off the Old Block
8. Charnwood Genealogy
9. Ghosts In Gray
10. A Stitch in Time
11. Brooklyn in Love and at War
12. Forgotten New England
13. Hughes’ Views & News
14. This Bird Does It
15. Edith and Paul

The last step (3), is to share seven things about yourself…so here it goes.

1. I just submitted my last paper for the BU Genealogical Research Certificate program this week.

2. I signed up as a professional member of APG (Association of Professional Genealogists), also this week. Which means, I will now accept paying clients.

3. My final paper was a client research report. We had to go to a local repository and find a diary or letters that were written prior to 1900. I found an amazing diary written by a 17 year old girl in the 1850s. I really want to do some more research and perhaps write a paper on my findings (to submit to the local historical society/library).

4. Another assignment I had to do this spring was a Genealogical Proof Argument. By using indirect evidence, I had to “prove” a relationship or identity. I used my great…grandmother Ruth Reynolds and I “proved” who her parents were. I am seriously thinking of submitting my argument for publication in a scholarly genealogy journal. I’ll keep everyone posted on this one.

5. My house is an absolute disaster. Where’s my maid?!?! oh wait, yeah, that’s me….

6. I am currently reading George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones. I’ve watched both the 1st and 2nd seasons on DVD now, but don’t have HBO. I guess I’ll just have to read the rest of the books while waiting for the 3rd season to come out on DVD, although my husband says that after the first book, the series and the books digress.

7. I really love Glee. I generally don’t watch much television. Given the option, I would probably play on the computer or read a book instead of watching television. I was a theatre major in college and in graduate school and I love musical theatre. I know the show is completely unrealistic but it is fun. This week’s episode featured two songs from musicals that were on Broadway when I was a kid, and I actually saw them! “At the Ballet” from A Chorus Line and “Little Girls” from Annie.