Southern California Genealogical Society's 2010 Jamboree: The Conclusion

Can you stand one more post about Jamboree? To give me credit, please realize this is only the second genealogy conference I've been to, and the first one I was so involved in as a committee chairperson that it was difficult to truly relax and enjoy. Also, it's the first non-camping vacation I've had in 10 years and the first non-family traveling vacation I've had since my college years. So if I've gone on in great detail ad nauseum in the last five posts on this topic, please forgive me!

Unlike most attendees, when I returned home from the conference, I did not return to work. As a school staff member, I'm now on summer vacation, which has afforded me a good deal of time to look back on the conference, summarize the benefits, and make some plans for "next time," whenever and wherever that may be.

First of all, my focus for attending this conference was probably a bit different from many others'. My main intention was not (gasp!) to attend a lot of presentations and educate myself further in genealogical research and technology. My two goals were 1) to meet and socialize with my fellow geneabloggers; and 2) to visit my children's paternal ancestor's gravesite. While there were definitely some topics I wanted to learn more about and some presenters I definitely wanted to hear, those goals were secondary this time around. Remember, this was a vacation that I had been planning; one that I had been looking forward to for quite some and whose anticipation kept me sane through a couple of stressful years (you think I'm kidding?).

So what would I do again?

1. If at all possible, I would come early again. Arriving early allowed me to settle in, get my bearings, pick up my pre-registration packet early, and meet friends ahead of the lectures. It also allowed me--an out-of-state traveler--to attend the Friday morning cemetery tour.

2. Take advantage of extra events. I did the cemetery tour and got to visit my children's paternal ancestor's grave, a major goal of my attending Jamboree. The tour itself was interesting and well worth it to learn about local history.

3. Not attend every event. While I did the cemetery tour, I chose not to attend the banquets. For one, they cost extra, and for another, I had heard one of the presenters speak at several banquets at my local conference in September. That's not to say she wasn't worth hearing again (she's one of my favorites!)...but I was able to choose other ways to spend my time and not feel too much like I was missing out. There were times, too, when I chose to sleep in instead of attending morning lectures, or socialize or blog during a presentation time.

4. Social networking. Whether or not you're a blogger, meeting other people at conferences is important. You never know what will become of the friendships you make or how connections might help your research down the road. It gives opportunities for others to meet you, too!

5. Not hurrying out the door. Staying one day extra helped me not feel rushed to leave during the last of the lectures, to have ample time to say good-bye to my many new friends, and allowed me to do some extra sight-seeing, unrelated to genealogy. I also got to visit a gravesite of yet another paternal ancestor of my children. This choice of staying later may not always be available, as my school schedule sometimes clashes with conference times, so I'm glad I had the opportunity this year.

 What will I do next time? Whether it's Jamboree or another conference, here are some ideas I came up with as probable goals:

1. Attend more lectures. Now that I got a lot of my initial geneablogger hobnobbing out of the way, I'll spend more time learning. That isn't to say I won't socialize, because I definitely will. I'll probably combine the two: grab some friends and drag them to classes with me!

2. Get to lectures earlier. I missed one presentation I very much wanted to attend because I didn't get in the door soon enough and it filled up. Note: if a lecturer appears on the program more than once, chances are he or she is very much in demand and their rooms will fill up quickly.

3. Try more technology classes. I went to several at Jamboree, but there's always more to learn! If you're thinking "What's the big deal about Twitter (or Second Life, or Google Earth)?" than you need to check out those classes. They don't offer them without there being very good reason to connect them to genealogy. I definitely want to take some advanced classes on my favorite software, RootsMagic.

4. Visit the local genealogical collection. Don't be fooled into thinking that just because your ancestors never lived in the area that the local genealogical or historical society won't have records or books that pertain to them or to your ancestral locations! A good collection will have resources from all over the country as well as from other countries. Several people I know visited the Southern California Genealogical Society's library and did research, and if I go to Jamboree again, I will definitely put it on my "must-do" list.

There were many times in the past six months when I doubted that attending this conference was the right thing to do at this time. My children's father has been unemployed for over a year, my son still had a couple of days of school to finish, and I always try to be available to my daughter, who's still navigating the waters of young adulthood and independence. To say that the typical "mom guilt trip" didn't hit me about taking off at such a time would not be the truth. I have to say, though, that my family was extremely supportive and encouraging about letting me go and enjoy myself. And I want to take the time to offer my sincere gratitude to a handful of people who helped make this trip go from "simply possible" to "extra special" for me. You know who you are. Mwah!

And now...back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Southern California Genealogical Society's 2010 Jamboree: Day Five (Monday)

By Monday, Jamboree was over. But I had planned to stay an extra day to enjoy myself and see the sights. Susan Kitchens, of Family Oral History, had offered to take me around in her Mazda Miata.

(click on any photo in this post to enlarge)

First we headed to Toluca Lake for lunch at Paty's Restaurant. Under the shade of an umbrella, we dined on the patio. I had a delicious chicken breast sandwich on toasted sourdough with swiss cheese, bacon, and the ever-present avocado (I don't think I spent a day in California without eating at least one meal with avocado!), accompanied by a side of potato salad. We spent quite a bit of time talking about our childhoods and growing up years and found we have quite a bit in common besides an interest in family history!

Then we headed out to see the sites. First we drove by Warner Brother Studios:

There were incredibly huge movie and television show posters mounted to the studio walls:

Then off we went up Mulholland Drive to a scenic viewpoint where we could see the Hollywood Bowl and Los Angeles.

 

 (Hollywood Bowl is in the right foreground)

Climbing up a few steps we saw the famous Hollywood sign.

On the way back to town, we saw the Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills cemetery where many celebrities are buried:

It was a cemetery, and so we--being family historians--had to go in. It is "done" in a New England Early Americana theme. There is a huge mural portraying important events in the founding of our nation. I saw two "chapels," and I use that term loosely, because they were both quite large.

The office looks like a colonial mansion.

Birth of Liberty Mosaic.

 A glimpse of the Church of the Hills, modeled after the First Parish Church in Portland, Maine, where poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow worshipped.

A statue of George Washington in front of the Birth of Liberty Mosaic.

We also checked out the Plaza of Mesoamerican Heritage:

I mentioned to Susan that I thought my husband's great-great-grandmother, Senna "Senie" (COLLINS) TOLLIVER was buried at this cemetery. Senie was the wife of Pleasant Clark TOLLIVER, whose grave I had visited on Friday. Susan was kind enough to stop at the office and I asked at the desk. Turns out Senie is not buried here; she is buried at Forest Lawn - Glendale. I discovered there are five Forest Lawn cemeteries in the Los Angeles - Orange County area! The office staff gave us a map and directions from their Hollywood Hills site to their Glendale site. I was completely OK with not going to Glendale because I didn't want to inconvenience Susan, but she insisted on heading down there!

On the way, we passed the ABC studio. You can see the tip of Mickey Mouse's Sorcerer's Apprentice hat to the right (more on that later). We also crossed the Los Angeles River.

Passing through Glendale, we passed this building. I still don't know what it is. I've tried looking it up on Google. The reason it stands out is that I thought it was unusual to have a building resting on four "feet" in an area known for earthquakes:

I snagged this photo from Google Maps.

When we arrived at Forest Lawn - Glendale, I noticed that everything was done in Tudor - Medieval theme.

The gatekeeper had a computer in her booth and was able to look up Senie's burial plot info and give us a map.After passing more murals and amazing statuary (including a replica of the David by Michaelangelo - sorry, no photo), we located Senie's plot at the bottom of a steep slope near a wall.

It's hard to tell by the angle of this photo, but this and many of the other "lawns" at this cemetery were so steep I seriously wonder if the graves were dug horizontally into the hillsides and the coffins placed into the ground, drawer-style! If they had a graveside service, it would have been very difficult for family members to trek down the hill and back up. I took a look around, but just like where Pleasant is buried, none of the people mentioned on surrounding graves were related to Senie. How sad that she and Pleasant are buried so far apart from one another!

After leaving Glendale, Susan and I did more tooling around. We saw a lot of buildings that had this particular style of number plaque on them, and Susan told me that was an insider's way of identifying buildings belonged to Disney:

So much of the area was surrounded by this incredible fencing. It seemed to go on and on for miles:

I also saw some very magical places!

"Magical" was an accurate description of the day! I had a wonderful time playing tourist and listening to Susan give an insider's perspective of the history of the area and the local movie industry. I was so grateful to her for giving me a wonderful and memorable afternoon and especially for taking the time to help me find Senie's grave; a definite bonus!

The day was not finished, however; of course, it wouldn't be a perfect trip to Southern California without an earthquake! Although I was too far away to feel it (or at least notice it), my geneablogger friends further south were all twittering about it that evening. And was I glad I was nowhere near that building in Glendale! It was a perfect ending to a perfect weekend!

Day One
Day Two - Part I
Day Two - Part II
Day Three
Day Four

Southern California Genealogical Society's 2010 Jamboree: Day Four (Sunday)

Sunday was the last official day of Jamboree, and everyone was encouraged to wear their favorite Hawaiian shirt. I slept in, ate a late brunch, and arrived at the Marriott in time for the last two sessions of the day. I had a hard time deciding between classes, since I wanted to take both Louise St. Denis' "Are Your Ancestors Lost in Canada?" and Arlene Eakle's "Tracing a Southern Pedigree." I opted for the latter, but talked to Steve Danko after, who attended St. Denis' lecture and said it was very good (sigh). Hopefully that lecture was recorded! I did enjoy Eakle's lecture and tweeted my notes under the #scgs10 hashtag.

Next, I slipped in to Lisa Lee's session right before it began. She was doing her presentation on "City Directories - Full of Hidden Information." Back in July 2009, she featured my Online Historical Directories as the Website of the Month at Got Genealogy? I quickly introduced myself and after warmly welcoming me with a hug, gave me permission to hand out my Moo cards to her audience with the URLs of my Online Historical Directories and Online Historical Newspapers websites listed on them. Then it was off to the last session of the day: John T. Humphrey's "Using Church Records Effectively." His presentation was excellent indeed and made me wish all the more that I had been able to attend his Pennsylvania Land Records one. He suggested finding ministers' personal journals and records for finding records of ancestors' baptisms, marriages, and funerals...especially if they were not members of the local church, as their events would not be recorded in the regular congregational books. I thought of all the ministerial notes, diaries, and journals I've seen highlighted on the Internet Archive lately, and have been inspired to do a little church record research at that site.

After the sessions, raffle and door prizes were being drawn in the exhibit hall, but I headed to the bloggers' lounge where Susan Kitchens was pouring champagne, as promised. Many of us lingered, saying our goodbyes and snapping the last of the photos before heading out. Susan and I made plans to meet up the next day; as a longtime local resident, she knows where all THE places to see are.  Before we dispersed, Paula Hinkel walked into the bloggers' lounge and was met with cheers and applause. This woman is simply amazing, as is her co-chair, Leo Myers. Together, they coordinate and organize the Jamboree (50 speakers and 1600+ attendees) every single year! Many thanks to Paula, Leo, the Jamboree Committee, the members and volunteers of the Southern California Genealogical Society, the Burbank High School Key Club, and the Marriott staff and management for their dedication and hard work to make this such a marvelous event!

Day One
Day Two - Part I
Day Two - Part II
Day Three
Day Five

Southern California Genealogical Society's 2010 Jamboree: Day Three (Saturday)

I missed the first session Saturday morning, as planned, since I figured I would need to take things slowly (I'm not a morning person). Before 10 AM, however, I was ready in Academy Room 4 with Thomas MacEntee, Steve Danko, Elyse Doerflinger, and Randy Seaver, all panelists for "Blogger Summit Part 1: From Novice to Reader to Blogger in Sixty Minutes." We covered What Is a Blog?, How Can I Use a Blog for Genealogy?, Finding Genealogy Blogs, Genealogy Blog Types, Genealogy Blogs as Sources, Easy Ways to Read Genealogy Blogs, and Creating a Genealogy Blog.

Thomas was a great moderator and there was some excellent give and take between the audience and panel. There definitely is an interest in genealogy blogging, and I hope we encouraged others to read and/or write genealogy blogs. In between Part 1 and Part 2, many bloggers took photos of one another and we got several group shots as well. The picture belows shows many, but not all, of the genealogy bloggers in attendance at Jamboree:

Part 2 was also moderated by Thomas, and the panel included Craig Manson, Schelly Talalay Dardashti, Lisa Louise Cooke, and Kathryn Doyle. The topic was "Now That You're a Genealogy Blogger" and covered How to Keep the Blogging Momentum Going, considering having more than one blog, Finding Your Blogging Niche, Your Brand and Your Blog, Copyright and Copy Wrong, SEO - What It Is and Why It Matters, Advertising - What Works and What Doesn't.

It was then time for lunch, and I went to the Daily Grill inside the Marriott with Kathryn Doyle, the footnoteMaven, Denise Levenick, and Denise's mother Suzanne Brown Freeman. There was a long wait to get in, so by the time we were served, ate, and finished up, the first afternoon session was already in progress. We decided to stay for coffee and continued chatting and getting to know one another a little better, talking about all things genealogy and more! We discovered that all of us, sans Suzanne who had left our group a little early, were the eldest of our siblings, and thereby dubbed ourselves the Eldest Lunch Bunch!

I very much wanted to attend "Pennsylvania's Land Records: An Indispensable Resource for Genealogists" by John T. Humphrey, CG, but the room was full and they would not allow anyone to stand in the room due to fire codes. So I retreated to the bloggers' lounge, taking photographs and visiting. Then I went to Thomas MacEntee's "Twitter - It's Not Just 'What I Had for Breakfast' Any More!" While in his class, I tweeted about it (the only one doing so), so it helped to give some live examples to the audience (unintended on my part). In this session, I learned something, too: I discovered TweetDeck, downloaded it to my netbook, and have enjoyed using it very much!

That was the last session of the day, so as I had promised Elyse (who's underage), I celebrated her recent graduation from community college with Shirley Temples outside the exhibitor's hall. Jean Wilcox Hibben and her husband Butch created wonderful entertainment with their guitar and saw, and Thomas and Jean harmonized on some lovely folk songs while many listened or sang along.

For dinner, Elyse, Liz Morgan Hall, and I ran across the street to George's Greek Cuisine for dinner. You gotta love the name Liz picked out for her blog: My Big Fat Cajun/Irish/Scottish/English/German/French/Southern Family Blog! Afterwards, we hung out in the bloggers' lounge once again and took even more photos, which I loaded onto my Facebook profile!

Day One
Day Two - Part I
Day Two - Part II
Day Four
Day Five

Southern California Genealogical Society's 2010 Jamboree: Day Two (Friday) - Part II

When I returned to the Marriott from the Evergreen Cemetery Tour, I went at once to the "blogger lounge" to pick up my Geneablogger Welcome Bag. It contained all kinds of freebies from various genealogical products companies and other bloggers, as well as my Geneablogger button and my mardi gras beads that all geneabloggers wore. Denise Levenick, a.k.a. The Family Curator, has a photo of the Welcome Bag Team and the list of sponsors here.

Hanging out in the lobby were many more of my longtime online blogging friends, and before you know it, I was exchanging hugs with some of my favorite people:

• my distant cousin, Randy Seaver, of Geneamusings - and I later met his wife, the Angel Linda (she really is an angel!)
• Thomas MacEntee of Genebloggers and the Pearl Mesta of genealogy bloggers
• Steve Danko of Steve's Genealogy Blog
• Amy Coffin of WeTree
• Holly Hansen of FamilyHistoryExpos
• Cheryl Palmer of Heritage Happens

I'm sure there were others as well, but my memory is starting to blur! I then went to my first lecture, "Research in Connecticut: A Crossroads of Resources" by Chris Child, staff genealogist at NEHGS. My fellow society members, Donna and Cecily, joined me and we sat together. I got some ideas for where to look for records for my PHILLIPS brickwall that peters out in Sharon, Connecticut. I wasn't ready to sit for another hour in the next session, and the choices that were offered were mostly topics I was already familiar with, so I went to hang out in the blogger lounge again. On my way, I met Craig Manson of Geneablogie.

For the last session of the afternoon, I attended Arlene Eakle's "American Migration Patterns into Central US." I've long been a fan of Dr. Eakle, ever since I borrowed conference tapes of her informative and powerful lectures from my genealogy society's tape tub. She gave numerous examples of alternative records to use to trace migration patterns, including "occupation maps," maps which show things like all the iron works on the east coast at a particular time period if your ancestors were iron workers and "disappeared" from a certain area.

After the lecture times ended, I wandered around the exhibitors hall for a while, talking to vendors and introducing myself to a few online friends such as Lisa Louise Cooke of the Genealogy Gems Podcast. A mariachi band was playing lively music in the background and keeping everyone entertained. I had not planned to attend any of the evening banquets; soon after I retired for the evening, exhausted from my long day, yet thrilled by all the day's adventures!

Day One
Day Two - Part I
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five

Southern California Genealogical Society's 2010 Jamboree: Day Two (Friday) - Part I

My Day Two was Jamboree's Official Opening Day. I started out by boarding the tour bus for Evergreen Cemetery in East Los Angeles at 8:15 AM. On the bus were Canadian geneablogger Joan Kerr Miller of Luxegen and her husband, Reg, although we didn't actually get introduced until the next day. I sat next to a sweet, older woman by the name of Nancy Griffin. It was her first time at Jamboree, too, although unlike myself, she is fairly new to genealogical research. A local resident, she answered my many questions about the beautiful flowering shrubs and trees in the area. I was especially interested in the Jacaranda, a gorgeous lavender-colored flowering tree, with a heavy fragrance similar to a lilac.

It took about a half an hour to reach Evergreen from Burbank. The oldest cemetery in the city, it is the final resting place for local founding fathers, Japanese-ancestored Congressional Medal of Honor awardees of the 442nd Infantry Regiment, other ethnic minorities (including celebrities and civil rights workers) who were denied burial in other cemeteries, and my husband's great-great-grandfather, Pleasant Clark TOLLIVER (1861 - 1918), my main reason for taking the tour.

The tour was led by Steve Goldstein (author of the recently-published Beneath Los Angeles) and Joe Walker (a Crime Analyst with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department) of The Studio for Southern California History, and it was absolutely fascinating! One of the first photos I took was of the grave of Eddie Anderson, who played the character of Rochester in the Jack Benny Show, one of my husband's favorites. I texted him from the cemetery with this information, and even he, the eye-rolling non-genealogist, was excited!

About 40 minutes into the tour, I tore myself away to go to the cemetery office to get a map and directions so I could locate the TOLLIVER grave. Nancy was very kind to go with me and help me look for the gravestone. I found it without too much trouble, and she snapped the photo!

Of course, I had to call my husband's sister in Portland, Oregon to tell her about my find. She is a huge FindAGrave fan and contributor and she was as thrilled as I was.

After the tour concluded, we stopped as planned for lunch at the famous Philippe's, home of the French-dipped sandwich. I ordered a beef roast sandwich, coleslaw (well-made) and a soda, and chatted with some of the other members of the tour. We returned to Burbank via the Pasadena Freeway, the first one built in the US. We got back to the Marriott a little later than expected, due to a traffic slowdown from a burning car along the way.

Day One
Day Two - Part II
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five

Welcome to My Blog

Good morning! I'd like to welcome those of you who are arriving for the first time to my blog as a result of Blogger Summit I at Jamboree (10 AM in the Academy 4 room). We hope you enjoy this summit and will also stay for Blogger Summit II immediately following at 11:30.

For your convenience, see the right-hand menu to bookmark this blog. You can also choose to add it to your favorite blog reader, such as Google Reader or Bloglines. Or you can choose to have the posts sent to your e-mail address, daily.

Another blog that I contribute to frequently is my local genealogical society's, the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society blog. If you are considering starting a blog for your own society, you may wish to visit there. It is written by a team of three: Charles Hansen (our society researcher), Donna Potter Phillips (our society president), and myself.

Please check out my two new websites aimed at helping genealogists and historians find online historical resources at both free and subscription websites:

Online Historical Directories

Online Historical Newspapers

Thank you for dropping by!

Southern California Genealogical Society's 2010 Jamboree: Day One

OK, so officially, Jamboree has not begun. But here I am in beautiful, WARM Burbank, California all excited about my first day of Jamboree time!

I very much enjoyed my flight to Burbank from Spokane via Oakland, chatting with fellow Eastern Washington Genealogical Society board members, Donna Potter Phillips and Cecily Cone Kelly. It has been 23 1/2 years since I've been to California (I marched in the Pasadena Rose Parade on New Year's Day 1987 with The Salvation Army Band - another lifetime ago!) and 25 years since I have flown. I love flying! I used to do it all the time growing up in Alaska and again as a college student in Washington State. But that was pre-Internet and pre-9/11 and flying has taken on another form from what I remember. The advantage of being able to book a flight and print my boarding pass online was heavily outweighed by the seriousness of airport security and reminders of the threat of terrorism. It was much like returning to one's childhood home: while you cherish those fond memories, things have changed and you realize that you can never really go back home again.

After lunch and rest, I went to the Marriott Hotel lobby to pick up my syllabus and registration packet, since I had pre-registered and had that option. While there, I ran into all kinds of old friends and new, most of whom I'd never met in real life until today! They included:

• Paula Hinkel, organizer extraordinaire of Jamboree
• The footnoteMaven, who was wearing a tiara!
• Kathryn Doyle of the California Genealogical Society and Library blog
• Schelly Talalay Dardashti of Tracing the Tribe
• Becky Wiseman of kinexxions
• Cheryl Palmer of Heritage Happens
• Gini of Ginisology, and her husband Steve
• Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak
• Daniel Horowitz of MyHeritage.com, and
• Tom Ryder of EasyNetSites.com (a great place to go if your genealogy society is looking to build a new website!)
• Ruth Himan of Genealogy is Ruthless Without Me
• Maureen Taylor of The Photo Detective

While I did attempt to take photos, the lighting in the lounge where we were sitting and chatting was very poor and they did not turn out well, for the most part. I know tomorrow will bring me many more opportunities for meetups and pics, so stay tuned!

Day Two - Part I
Day Two - Part II
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five

Heading Out to Jamboree!

I'm sure my regular readers have noticed a bit of a blogging slowdown on my part lately, as well as the lack of a Massachusetts post for my Online American Digital Archives and Databases series. Well, it's just that crazy time of year again, folks! It's the last week of school (I work in a special education classroom at a local middle school), and most of the classrooms are being packed up to accommodate building construction and remodeling over the summer. Added to that chaos are a number of upcoming family celebrations. Besides the typical graduations and Father's Day events that most families face in June, we have seven birthdays and an anniversary among close family members! Additionally, our nephew (who graduates from college this Saturday) will be married on the 19th and our son is in the wedding party. As wild as it all gets, I do enjoy the time to get together with family on both sides and mark these special occasions.

You all know I'm headed to Jamboree later this week, and if you're a friend of mine on Facebook, you know I've been recovering from a bad upper respiratory infection. I was almost relieved when I came down ill last Friday. Being a firm believer in Murphy's Law, I was glad that if I had to be ill, it would be in time to recover before heading to Burbank! ;-)  I thought being in bed all day would give me the time to write and pre-schedule some posts, but a nasty sinus headache prevented me from having much of a clear mind.

So what does this mean for my readers? You can be sure I'll be posting as often as I can, as soon as I can, about my adventures at Jamboree. After I return home and the wedding is over, I'll settle in to get caught up on my regular posts, especially the Archives and Databases ones. Thank you so much for hanging in there, and I hope to meet many of you this weekend!

Live Genealogy Gems Podcast at Jamboree

Lisa Louise Cooke, Genealogy Podcast Queen Extraordinaire, will be interviewing three very special guests for her Genealogy Gems Podcast on Saturday, June 12th at 1:00 PM in the Pavillion. Jamboree attendees are invited to view these live podcasts as Lisa interviews Maureen Taylor, Suzanne Russo Adams, and Chris Haley. Take a moment to view the two-minute video that Lisa prepared to get you excited for this free event:

In addition, Lisa will be giving away lots of free prizes during the show! You won't want to miss this!

See You at Jamboree!

Today marks only one week until I leave for the Southern California Genealogical Society's annual Jamboree  at the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel in Burbank, California. This three-day extravaganza (June 11 - 13) not only is an opportunity to learn genealogy research tips and strategies from the best of the best as well as browse a variety of vendor tables with all the latest and greatest products, it's also a social gathering of the many geneabloggers around the globe. Last year was the first Geneablogger Meetup at Jamboree, and like every other geneablogger who was unable to attend, I was green with envy!

Well this year, I'll be my normal coloring, because not only will I be attending, I'll also be one of the panel of geneabloggers in the Blogger's Summit (Part I) on Saturday morning at 10 AM, along with Elyse Doerflinger, Thomas MacEntee, Pat Richley (DearMYRTLE), and Randy Seaver! Besides the Blogger Summit, there are a number of other lectures I know I will enjoy, as well as the Evergreen Cemetery tour Friday morning. While at the cemetery, I hope to have an opportunity to visit the grave of my husband's ancestor, Pleasant Clark TOLLIVER (1861 - 1918).

If you are a reader of this blog or a fellow geneablogger and are planning to be in attendance, I hope you will introduce yourself if you see me. I have a number of mini Moos from both my AnceStories blog and my Online Historical Directories and Online Historical Newspapers websites that I will be handing out as well. I'm very much looking forward to connecting with others!

Southern California Genealogical Society's Jamboree

What a difference it has made this year for all of us not being able to attend the Jamboree by having a large number of genea-bloggers in attendance! Have you been tracking the goings-on like I have? I've been following Randy, Craig, Elizabeth, and now Dean as they either live-blog or blog shortly after each segment. With photos and summaries, it's not hard to imagine myself there, enjoying the conference. Maybe next year...!