CGS and NGS in SLC in 2010

In celebration of the tenth annual CGS Research Tour to Salt Lake City, the dates of the 2010 trip have been set to conveniently precede the start of the National Genealogical Society Family History Conference. The 2010 theme is Follow Your Ancestral Trail.


The spring tour will begin mid-week on April 21, 2009, and run Wednesday to Wednesday. Those interested in staying for the NGS conference (April 28 - May 1, 2010) can extend their stay at the Shilo Inn, located across the street from the Salt Palace, site of the NGS Conference. The block of rooms reserved by CGS for the NGS conference are for the exclusive use of those attending the CGS research week.


The CGS Salt Lake City Tour is always a highlight of the society's year – offering an intensive week of research at the Family History Library – with two experienced guides, Nancy Peterson and Jane Lindsey.

The trip is a popular one with members; several return year after year. The opportunity to attend a national meeting is expected to increase interest and space is limited. A $200 deposit will hold your place.

A limited number of rooms are available at the discounted CGS rate on a first come, first served basis for those wishing to continue their stay to attend the NGS conference. NGS conference registration is NOT included with the CGS SLC Research Tour registration and must be arranged separately. Online registration for the 2010 NGS Family History Conference will begin 1 November 2009 at the NGS Online Store.

Nancy Peterson, C.G., is Research Chairman for the library and is author of the CGS publication Raking the Ashes, which provides strategies for circumventing record loss from the 1906 earthquake and fire. Nancy has taught numerous genealogy classes and has published many articles including two in the NGS Quarterly. She has made many research trips to Salt Lake City.

Jane Lindsey, President of CGS, has led the SLC group for the past nine years. She does client research, lectures to local organizations and is a past NEHGS Trustee.

Questions: Call CGS at 510-663-1358 or email Jane Lindsey.

Download the registration flier for complete information.

Report #4: NGS 2009 Family History Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina

Jeffrey Vaillant concludes his reports from Raleigh with this one from Saturday, May 16, 2009:

The day began with another brisk walk to the Convention Center, passing by the State Capital monuments “To Our Confederate Dead” and “To Our Confederate Women”. My abolitionist-unionist brain struggles with the reminders of the Civil War, or as is called here, "The War of Northern Aggression."

This day's learning started with Locating and Interpreting Naturalization Records presented by Gladys Friedman Paulin. Two more morning sessions followed: Order in the Court: Ancestral Trials and Tribulation by Sharon Tate Moody and Okay, I “Got the Neighbors”…Now What do I do with Them!!! by Elizabeth Shown Mills.

I skipped lunch and walked back to the hotel to type up my experiences since I had fallen behind. When I left for the afternoon program I was greeted with a rain downpour and some Southern hospitality in the form of a helpful stranger with an umbrella. Speaking of weather, it has been warm and humid - afterall, this is the South.

The final two lectures were Our National Treasure: The Library of Congress by Pamela Boyer Sayre and What Is a Reasonably Exhaustive Search? by Laura Murphy DeGrazia. Wow, what a lot of learning!

Back to the room to conclude the notes and to start digging in to all the great ideas gathered over the last four days. The NGS will be in Salt Lake City next year starting in late April. It is a great learning experience well worth the time and expense. Thanks for reading and see you at the next CGS meeting – I’ll be the guy with the dark circles under his eyes.

Read the entire series:
Day One: NGS 2009 Report
Day Two: NGS 2009 Report
Day Three: NGS 2009 Report
Day Four: NGS 2009 Report

Report #3: NGS 2009 Family History Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina

CGS member Jeffrey Vaillant continues his reports with this one from day three, Friday, May 15, 2009:

After a very full Thursday, Friday dawned bright and early, but I confess, I missed the dawn and the 8 a.m. session. I hustled to the Convention Center to gather in Thomas W. Jones’ presentation Problem Solving with Probate, followed by Barbara Vines Little’s session Tax Records: A Wealth of Information.

The Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) lunch speaker was Dick Eastman who spoke about The Organized Genealogist which he admitted he was not. He did give hints about using Google, RSS, digitizing and backing up as tools of efficiency and perhaps to have time to be more organized.

After lunch, Patricia O'Brien Shawker presented Getting the Most Out of Vital Records then Alison Hare from Canada gave an excellent account, John Green: Whose Father Was He?

I spent some time on the tradeshow floor learning what was new with familysearch.org and ancestry.com and scored on the familyseach pilot site when I found the record of my grandfather’s third marriage in 1907. Now I have to figure out what happened to that one since he married my grandmother in 1909. For every fact there seems to be three questions.

The NGS Banquet featured J. Mark Lowe and Lesson Learned from a Carolina Traveler. It turned out to be a roast of Helen Leary, CG, FASG, FNGS, who was pleasantly surprised. Her two sons were present to enjoy the event.

Tomorrow, Saturday, will be another big day.

Read the entire series:
Day One: NGS 2009 Report
Day Two: NGS 2009 Report
Day Three: NGS 2009 Report
Day Four: NGS 2009 Report

Report #2: NGS 2009 Family History Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina

CGS member Jeffrey Vaillant sent this report on day two, Thursday, May 14, 2009:

This proved to be a very full day which got me behind in reporting. The day started with a brisk walk from the Clarion Hotel to the Conference Center (about one mile) past the State Capital built between 1830-35 and some beautiful limestone constructed churches – a pleasant walk before the humidity sets in.

The session started with a three-hour seminar for the Board for Certification for Genealogists (BCG) process lead by Laura Murphy DeGrazia, Alison Hare and Thomas W. Jones. Since I intend to be certified, this was a most helpful session and when combined with two portfolios at the BCG booth gets the battery charged up.

Next up was Elizabeth Shown Mills” presentation on Finding Females: Wives, Mothers, Daughters & Paramours.

Then it was time for the BCG Luncheon and speaker Kathy Gunter Sullivan's talk Late Night Ruminations. The lunch left a great deal to be desired but I did not come for the meals.

Afterwards there a bit of time to visit the trade show floor with its 150-200 vendors and all kinds of genealogical goodies. The biggest booths belong to ancestry.com and familysearch.org.

Back to class on the run to hear Thomas W. Jones’ Strategies for Finding “Unfindable” Ancestors, followed by Elizabeth Shown Mills’ Finding Origins and Birth Families: Methods That Do or Don’t Work. I was definitely on information overload by this point and loving it.

Then time to meet up with other Professional Genealogy Study Group members to walk to the Big Easy for dinner and conversation. There were fourteen of us gathered from each of the three groups. It was good to see the faces behind the e-mails and instant messaging, but not much time to relax before we had to head back to the Conference Center.

Ancestry.com had an hour presentation on what they are doing domestically and internationally with content additions and their daily struggle between content and quality.

Summing up day two: I am tired and glad to have had all these experiences and only half way through the conference. I'm already thinking about the APG/FGS meetings in Little Rock in September.

Read the entire series:
Day One: NGS 2009 Report
Day Two: NGS 2009 Report
Day Three: NGS 2009 Report
Day Four: NGS 2009 Report

Report #1: NGS 2009 Family History Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina

CGS member Jeffrey Vaillant took time out of his busy schedule to send this report from the NGS 2009 Family History Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina. Thanks, Jeffrey!

The conference opened Wednesday, May 13, 2009 with what appeared to be about 1500 people in attendance. The Opening Session included a significant announcement – the recognition of Thomas W. Jones as a Fellow in the NGS. He was pleasantly surprised. The opening presentation was an entertaining event with Ira David Wood III sharing his theatrical experience with his family history using the Romeo and Juliet line: "Romeo where art thou?" which he read as "Romeo who are you?"

There are 250 sessions of information to choose from. I am basically being a Thomas W. Jones and Elizabeth Shown Mills groupie. Their presentations are fantastic, combining methodology theory with practice research examples. You can view the full conference program online at the NGS website.

At 5:00 p.m., thirty-two genealogy societies, primarily from North Carolina and Virginia, set up tables to display their wares. There were lots of tempting books to purchase. That was followed by presentations at 7:00 p.m. I attended the one by the Trading Path Association on trails in North Carolina in the 1600-1700 period. It was a full day to be followed by another.

Read the entire series:
Day One: NGS 2009 Report
Day Two: NGS 2009 Report
Day Three: NGS 2009 Report
Day Four: NGS 2009 Report