FGS Conference Ends

Most of my blogger friends have already written about the fun we all had at the FGS Conference held last week in Knoxville, Tennessee. I'm still recovering from the sleepless nights and a long drive home. I love attending conferences, but the constant swing from tired to exhilarated and inspired is exhausting.

The tiredness comes from late nights. It's difficult to make yourself go to bed at a reasonable hour when old friends and friends you just haven't met yet are telling great stories late at night. I marveled all week at how the conference planners, volunteers, and speakers managed to keep going all day, every day, when I just wanted to take a nap. I was especially impressed with the energy put into the conference by Paula Stuart-Warren, Lori Thornton, and Pat Oxley. There were dozens of others I never met who worked hard so I could have a great week. I hope everyone in attendance remembered to express appreciation for the work of all the volunteers. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Paula Stuart-Warren writes the official FGS Conference Blog and a personal blog at Paula S-W's Genealogical Eclectica. In her article "The FGS Conference was a Fantastic Success!" she indicates over 1800 people attended. It's a good thing the convention center was so big.

The inspiration and exhilaration come from learning. My favorite sessions were "Planning 'Reasonably Exhaustive' Research" by Thomas W. Jones, Ph.D., CG, CGL, FASG, FUGA, and "Reasonably Exhaustive Search: What Does That Mean?" by Laura DeGrazia, CG. These two sessions help a researcher key on the "reasonable" part of the reasonably exhaustive search required by the Genealogical Proof Standard.¹ The "exhaustive" part of the search was covered by Elizabeth Shown Mills in "Poor? Black? Female? Slave? Southern Research Strategies." She taught us about those less common and harder to find records that can bring our ancestor to life.

Now I have a couple of months to recover and get some work done before the Family Tree DNA Conference, the Texas State Genealogical Society Conference with Barbara Vines Little, CG, and the East Texas Genealogical Society Fall Seminar with J. Mark Lowe, CG.

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  1.   Christine Rose, Genealogical Proof Standard: Building a Solid Case (San Jose, California: CR Publications, 2005).

© 2010, Debbie Parker Wayne, All Rights Reserved