Today is 2nd Blogoversary of Rambling Along the Ancestral Trail! Yep, the blog is 2 years old today. I'd like to thank my faithful readers who have made it possible for it to continue and hope that you'll all be here next year when Rambling Along the Ancestral Trail celebrates its 3rd Blogoversary.
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Have you heard about Family History Daily, the new online genealogy newsletter? I will be one of the regular writers on it. Melanie Mayo, the brains behind Family History Daily, hope to bring together family historians from diverse backgrounds to showcase a range of genealogical articles and blog posts. Anyone who'd like to share a tip or strategy or family story is welcome to post on the blog. Check out it out!
I'm so excited! I've been selected as a new columnist at The In-Depth Genealogist, the popular online genealogy magazine. My column will be called Beyond the Obituaries. It will be about alternative resources that can be used when you can't find an obituary or death certificate, they don't exist, or don't contain the information you need. it will discuss nearly 100 other resources that you can search for as alternatives to obits and death certificates or use iin addition to them for extra information. Each resource will be discussed in-depth in an individual article. Of course, obituaries and death certificates will be discussed, too. I hope that readers will learn to think outside the box and search for these alternative resources if they can't find the most commonly used sources or information they need in them. You can follow my column and my blog posts at The In-Depth Genealogist and here at Rambling Along the Ancestral Trail. Have you heard about the Family History Writing Challenge? It is the creation of Lynn Palermo, better known as The Armchair Genealogist. Lynn created the challenge to help family historians stop procrastinating and start writing their family history. During the challenge, participants commit to writing a minimum of 250 words about their family history. By the end of the 30 day challenge, participants should have a good start on writing up stories on much of that research they've done and be in the habit of taking the time to consistently write their findings up. Lynn helps participants overcome their biggest writing challenges and guides them on the writing process with weekly messages. There is also a forum for participants to ask questions, share their experiences, and help each other. 2013 will be the third year for the challenge.
I'm excited to be a part of the challenge this year. I'm hoping to make some progress on the book I started writing a couple of years ago on my dad's family history. For more information, go to The Armchair Genealogist or click on the badge on my sidebar. Maybe I'll actually get that book finished and my family will be able to quit asking when it will be ready for them to read! Did you see my interview on Geneabloggers?
http://geneabloggers.com/introduce-deborah-carder-mayes Thanks, Gini and Tom! If you're in the Celina, Ohio area Sunday, I'll be speaking at the Mercer County Genealogical Society at 2 p. m. My topic is Talking to the Dead. When you can't find a death certificate or obit or you do find one but it doesn't tell the info you're hoping to find, you've got to think outside the box. I'll be giving you 89 resources for death and death related records to help you find what you need. Hope to see you there!
If you make it Sunday or have heard me speak, scroll down to my gadget and click on "Have you heard me speak?" and give me a review. Your comments help me know if I'm doing a good job or need to work on some improvements. Hope to see you there! Don't you love Family History Month? Every October, there are always so many exciting genealogical events going on all over the country. My calendar was full all month. I spoke at 3 county genealogical societies and will be wrapping the month up this Sunday when I speak for the Mercer County (Ohio) Genealogical Society. Actually, Sunday is November 4 but it is the weekend of the week ending the month of October. I will be presenting Talking to the Dead, my lecture on death records. Not just death certificates and obits, but 89 resources created by a person's death. I did this same program last Sunday for the Allen County (Ohio) Genealogical Society. On October 10th, I talked about So You Want to do Your Family History? to beginners at the Delphos (Ohio) Public Library. The Shelby County (Ohio) Genealogical Society had me as their speaker on October 16th where I told them about Uncle Sam's Records, which is an overview on researching military ancestors. In addition to speaking every week, I've managed to make it to 3 seminars. The first one was October 6th put on by the Allen County (Ohio) Genealogical Society. I was the chairperson so was kept hopping at this one. The theme was Native American Photo taken by Sara Crump, a Find A Ancestry presented by Snowflower. If anyone is trying to trace Grave volunteer, October 6, 2012 their Native American ancestry, especially if your ancestor hid and did not go to the reservations, this is the person you want helping you. She is the leading expert in the field and always willing to help anyone. I can connect you with her if you need some help in this type of research. After the seminar, my friends and I took Snowflower, her husband, and her assistant, Bluecorn Woman out for dinner and then went to Shawnee Cemetery just outside of Lima, Ohio. At the cemetery, we showed them the memorial for Chief Pe-Aitch-Ta or PHT as he is better known. PHT was the last chief of the Shawnee Indians in Allen County, Ohio during the time when they were removed to the reservations in Kansas. He is believed to have been buried in his garden next to his cabin, which would mean that he is actually buried under the road in front of the cemetery. No one knows for sure where his burial place is, only the location of his cabin. The next Saturday, the Latter Day Saints Family History Center in Lima, Ohio put on their first ever seminar. It was fabulous. All day, LDS volunteers were teaching sessions to attendees on how to index for Family Search. It is so easy! I'm going to try my hand as a volunteer indexer when I finish my current projects and recommend it to anyone who would like to give back to the genealogical community. Indexing for Family Search is a great way to help preserve the old records and to get them online for everyone to use. Several speakers presented a variety of topics, including Karen Miller Bennett, CG, Karen Jones of the Family History Center, and national speaker, Peggy Clemens Lauritzen, AG. Needless, to say, the quality of the speakers and programs surpassed expectations for a small, local seminar. The highlight of my day was getting to talk and become acquainted with Peggy Clemens Lauritzen. So often at the big conferences, you don't get a chance to speak to the speakers except to ask a question and it was really nice to be able to get acquainted with a speaker whose lectures I've admired. This past Saturday, I had the pleasure of hearing "Miss Peggy" again all day! The Darke County (Ohio) Genealogical Society presented her as their featured speaker for their annual seminar at the Garst Museum in Greenville, Ohio. As usual, her topics were informative and sprinkled with her great sense of humor. What a wonderful finale for Family History Month. I am now a proud member of the Geneabloggers community. What does this mean for you, my readers? It means that I will be improving my blogging skills by learning through other more experience genealogical bloggers, have more news and fresh ideas to make my blog more interesting and be able to point you towards other genealogy blogs that you may enjoy. I'm really excited to be a part of Geneabloggers.
What would you like to read about on this blog? Genealogical "how to's", ancestors' stories, more of my ramblings about experiences I've had speaking, going to conferences, or whatever strikes my fancy at the moment? Let me know what you'd like to see on the blog.
September 15, 2012 will be the 200th Anniversary of the Copus Massacre. This Sunday will the annual Copus reunion at Charles Mill State Park, Mifflin, Ohio. The Copus Massacre was probably the biggest historical event to take place in Ashland County. Although, the tragic event seems small in the larger scope of history, it made a significant impact on what was occurring at the time in Ohio.
I am honored to have been asked to tell the story of the massacre and the events of the War of 1812 that led up to it at the massacre site or nearby, in the park where the reunion will be held. I've been telling the story at various genealogical society meetings for the past year. I tell the story in costume as Sarah Copus Vail, last living child of Reverend James Copus who was killed in the massacre. Reverend Copus was my 4th great grandfather. His son, Nelson, Sarah's brother, was my third great grandfather. Sarah was the honored guest at the original dedication of the Copus Monument 72 years after the massacre and told the story there that day. I've had so much fun in the past year portraying Sarah and telling the story and am so excited that I will be telling it to other Copus descendants at Copus Hill. |
Rambling Along the Ancestral Trail
******************** AuthorDeborah A. Carder Mayes is a genealogist, speaker, and writer in Ohio and Eastern Indiana. She has been researching her family history and actively involved in the genealogy community since 1998. SUBCRIBE
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Rambling Along the Ancestral Trail
Ramblings about my family history and tidbits about genealogy