After a few difficult years due to COVID, the New England Regional Genealogical Consortium (NERGC) was able to put together a very rewarding program, the 17th as a matter of fact. Dozens of experts from around the US and Canada came together to share their expertise in virtually every aspect of genealogical research. That would include basic family research, advanced research strategies, DNA, finding “lost” relatives, using on-line and off-line resources and on and on. The one attendee who, I believe, came the longest way is a colleagued of mine who hails from Australia.
This year signals my last term as president, a post I’ve held for about 6 years. I’m glad to pass the torch! At the end of June, we will be having the last meeting of the 2023 group then begin preparations for the 18th NERGC convention in 2025.
Over the years, we have grown from a small group that needed simply a large restaurant to produce the event. This year, the event took place in the MassMutual Center in downtown Springfield, Massachusetts. It’s the same venue that has hosted national and international entertainers such as Cher, Staind, John Mulaney, Celtic Women, and other. Upcoming are Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, Glady Knight, and Bruno Mars to name a few.
And that’s not counting the events that take place in the arena on the other side of the building. The Springfield Thunderbirds American Hockey League team, circuses, basketball games and countless other events.
Altogether this year, a little over 700 people attended. Admittedly, that’s a bit short of the last convention in 2019 where we welcomed over 1,000 attendees. Nonetheless, the speakers were dynamic, the exhibit hall was chock full, and the food served for the luncheons and dinners was beyond compare.
For those of you who have interests in genealogy and its related fields, keep an eye on www.nergc.org.
In my line of work, I hear complaints/issues/calls for help whenever a genealogy website is updated or altered in any respect. That goes for all the sites, especially “big” sites such as Ancestry.com or FamilySearch.org. There are also issues that pop up when certain collections are released. What is it, how do I search it, can I download it, etc…
The latest series of issues I’ve dealt with has to do with the 1950 US Population Schedule. In this blog, I’d like to discuss one solution to the “missing person” issue.
After one of the recent classes I held, a gentleman raised a problem during the Q&A session. He was about 9 years old in 1950 and was eager to see his own name as well as his parents and siblings’ names. They were nowhere to be found. His entire family was missing. Try as he might, he received no results when using his name or any of the names of those in his family. And it was in a small town in central Massachusetts. There were others in his family, aunts, uncles, and cousins who were easily found. But his entire family had vanished.
First, he assumed that they were never enumerated. Then he thought that they might have lived elsewhere during that point in time. Unlikely in either case, but he had no other theory as to where they were.
I didn’t have too much time to dedicate to him as there were many other questions from the class. I gave it my best shot by changing the search parameters to “Exact and Similar” for the names and “+/- 5 years” for the dates. I tried each name of those who should have been in the family at that time. No luck. And a “failure” in front of the entire class!
Many other hands were raised so I told him that I would use a few more strategies when I got home. Whatever the results, I told him, I’d get in touch as soon as possible.
After dinner that night, I went to the 1940 census, hoping to find someone who lived on the same street or at least close to it. I picked up a few other families who may have been neighbors and hoped they were still around in 1950.
Back to the 1950 census, I searched for his potential neighbors and got an immediate hit. It didn’t take much time at all to locate a neighbor who lived next door to the 1950 family we were trying to locate. The problem? Not only was the handwriting of the enumerator difficult to read, the family name I was looking for was not much more than dark, heavy lines of squiggle on the census record. As you can imagine, the indexer had to take their best shot at what was written in 1950.
When I found the family, their name was indexed with no vowels and what looked like letters weren’t even close to the name. But there they were! Father, mother and three kids including my diligent student, now 81 years old and very happy!
Just a quick afterthought: If this didn’t work, I would’ve gone to page 71….
I feel compelled to address the current pandemic and how it has affected many genealogical researchers. For me, I spend most of my time in my office which is in the basement of our home. So being down there all day (and sometimes all night!) is not a big stretch. But I can completely sympathize with just about everyone else who more than likely aren’t mushrooms! Getting out every morning, going somewhere – anywhere – meeting people face to face is something I don’t think anyone after this is over will take for granted.
So how does this directly affect me? First, I was concerned that I would lose a great deal of business. But clients have been happy to meet virtually or at the very least, on the phone. Remember the phone??? With classes and lectures, I can tell you that I average about 2 Zoom meetings a day! I was pleasantly surprised especially by senior center whose program directors tell me that residents have grown fond of being able to participate in these types of meetings.
I had arranged to hold a fund raiser for our church which was due to start the week the pandemic hit. Rather than meeting at the church which was now out of the question, or cancelling altogether and returning the funds collected, I proposed a Zoom class. All but 1 person participated. They were “all in!” And it went smoothly once I helped anyone new to webinars get accustomed to the right buttons to push. I was happy, the participants were happy and, of course, the church was happy!
I happen to be involved with several genealogical societies. Not one meeting has had to be cancelled including the Board and Delegate meetings for NERGC 2021, the biennial conference of the New England Regional Genealogical Consortium. It was planned to be held at the MassMutual Conference Center in Springfield, MA where it was held quite successfully in 2017
MassMutual Center, Springfield, MA
The actual conference next April is another story, however, as we work out what direction we will go in. We may go totally virtual for 2021 and then hopefully be back to normal in 2023. Or postpone 2021 into 2022. Either way, we’ll come up with a solution that will work for conference attendees, speakers and vendors.
Virtual meetings are not foreign to me at all. My first remote speaker was Pat Richley-Erickson a/k/a Dear Myrtle, your Friend in Genealogy. It was in 2014 and I was a nervous wreck! Pat had been doing webinars weekly which is how I became familiar with how it all works. Thanks to her support and the support of “Cousin Russ,” the event was a resounding success. When the speaker allowed us to record the presentations, we put the recording behind the members only paywall. All speakers appreciate that and only a few will ask us to leave it up for a limited period of time. I understand that especially with a topic that is dynamic and the substance can change as time goes on. DNA is a great example.
Below is the title slide from a presentation by Melissa Barker, a genealogist and the Archivist for the Houston County Tennessee Archives.
Melissa Barker, Genealogist, Archivist for the Houston County, Tennessee Archives
She presented her Power Point and supplied a handout. She was at her office in Tennessee and we were at our meeting room in Agawam, MA. This was just one of the dozens of recorded presentations I’ve been involved in.
With all the colleagues with whom I communicate, I believe most are soldiering along as much if not more than usual. There’s no libraries or archives or court houses to visit. Just about the only source in the short term for any kind of research other than emailing document requests is the internet. This is when I’m grateful for the enormous list of websites that are currently available for research, the Facebook pages that are a well kept secret for genealogists, the webinars that have always been available with many that had a cost attached to them are now free, genealogical societies that have adapted to virtual presentations are all resources that we are collectively taking advantage of.
Speaking of Facebook, I always ask the attendees at any of my classes to raise their hand if they’re an active user of Facebook. Mostly, I get surprised looks with about 25% of the class raising their hands. Sometimes I’ll ask them to guess how many of those pages are genealogically oriented. I usually get “hundreds” and sometimes “…maybe a thousand?” I want to mention Katherine R. Willson, a professional genealogist from Michigan, and her incredibly comprehensive list of genealogy related Facebook pages. You can access her website Social Media Genealogy here: https://socialmediagenealogy.com/genealogy-on-facebook-list/. There you can download a 419 page PDF file with links to over 16,000 Facebook pages! I don’t advise printing it! But getting that document on your computer or tablet or into your GoogleDrive account or other cloud storage that you are using will be a great tool for you to use. Imagine, 16,000 Facebook pages!
Our collective situation is certainly a life changer. But we can fall back on all the plagues and pandemics that have caused massive upheaval around the world. The Black Plague, Spanish Influenza, Covid-19 along with many more. The bad news is that they were all profoundly disruptive and caused tens of thousands of premature deaths of the young as well as the old. The good news is simple: humanity survived.
Considering that RootsTec 2020 was so phenomenally successful (and no surprise), I’ve already decided that RootsTech 2021 is where I need to be next February 3-6 in Salt Lake City, Utah. This is a genealogist’s Nirvana! The largest, most well attended convention of family history researchers, vendors of genealogical products and software and a place where long distance friends can sit down for a chat. Name any facet of genealogy or family research and it’s covered here: presentations from noted experts, workshops, vendors or everything from A to Z including DNA. The Vendor Hall below on its own was chock full of new technology and much to learn about with the “latest” in just about everything genealogical!
One of the interesting aspects for me is the opportunity to meet, face-to-face, the many colleagues with whom I communicate via webinars, Facebook and other social media. Consider running into someone in the hallway or a lecture hall who looks familiar but until you strike up a conversation, it’s hard to really know who’s in front of you! For example, I participate in a weekly webinar called “Mondays With Myrt,” which is an hour and a half each Monday where upwards of 10 genealogy professionals gather to form the panel. Any number of folks both beginners and professionals can log in and listen, ask questions, answer questions, offer advice or share experiences. You can find nearly 1,000 archived programs from Dear Myrtle at YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mondays+with+myrt. If you’d like to participate or just log in a watch live, click http://blog.geneawebinars.com/p/calendar.html to view the upcoming schedule. The programs begin at noon Eastern but the calendar will post the schedule as 10am Mountain time.
These conferences are certainly the most famous, well-attended genealogy conferences in the world. This year’s conference was the 10th in an increasingly successful event. The 2020 conference brought 30,000 genealogists of all stripes. There were beginners, professionals and world renown experts to where every subject under the sun was on display. Workshops on research techniques, lectures on some very specific topics such as Irish or Greek research, how to use the proliferating research websites, DNA and other topics. What are the tips and tricks to using www.familysearch.org, for instance, or how to use FamilyTree software. Bargains that you won’t find anywhere at any other time on dozens of worthwhile products.
And the featured guest speakers? Over the years, we’ve listened to Laura Bush, Scott Hamilton, Donnie Osmond, LeVar Burton, to name a few. This year’s speaker was three time Super Bowl Champion, Emmett Smith. And there have been others who have come to speak in front of audiences that would number in the thousands. Below is an image of the theater as the crowds file in. I have no idea what the ccapacity is, but it’s huge!
In addition to being able to attend several interesting presentations, I spent some time with a genealogy group called “Trace” in their Coaches’ Corner. A very successful program, the premise was for a number of professional genealogists to sit with other researchers for 25 minute sessions. These researchers ranged from folks who have just begun their journey to veterans who were simply lookinig for tips and tricks to recharge their own research. I have to say that I found the sessions I worked were very rewarding personally. When you tell someone something they either didn’t know or haven’t thought about for many years, their eyes light up! Each of the visitors was offered the opportunity to contract with Trace for deeper research with any of the affiliated professionals.
Of course, one of the greates benefits of being in Salt Lake City is the opportunity to do some very deep research at the Family History Library. Books, and books, and books in addition to a collection of micromedia that is second to none. Staffed with knowledgeable people who are always ready to help, I was able to locate some records that will complete at least 2 applications I’ve been working on for membership in the Sons of the American Revolution. It’s all good!
In closing, I’ll just say, “See you at RootsTech 2021!”
Saturday, 21 September 2019, was a very satisfying day for me. After months of slow preparation, I was able to pull off a “double event” event. With the help of a number of other people, of course.
It all started in 2017 when the New England Regional Genealogical Consortium’s (NERGC) conference was held in my hometown, Springfield, Massachsetts. I’ll have to admit that since I’ve been heavily involved with NERGC, the choice of Springfield was heavily influenced by yours truly!
One of the founders of Springfield was Deacon Samuel Chapin. The good Deacon is memorialized by a 15 plus foot tall bronze sculpture which sits in Merrick Park in Springfield. Chapin was drawn to the original Agawam Plantation (later to be named Springfield) by William Pynchon. Chapin’s descendant, Chester Chapin, was a wealthy railroad baron and commissioned world famous scultor Augustus Saint-Gaudens for the work. At any rate, several Chapin descendants are family researchers who attended a genealogy conference in Springfield. I invited all of them to meet one block east of the conference where the statue stands for a group family picture. That’s where I met Patty Vitale, a “Chapin Cousin” who lives in Maryland.
I honestly can’t remember exactly how it began, but I learned that Patty has a Revolutionary War Patriot ancestor buried in Springfield Cemetery about a mile or so from the Chapin statue. So, as a member of the Pomeroy Chapter of the Massachusetts Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (MASSAR), I offered to arrange what we call a “Wreath Laying Ceremony” to honor her ancestor. It involves a gathering of the family, representatives of the SAR and the General Henry Knox Color Guard to gather at the cemetery, summarize the patriot’s service, fire off 3 volleys from the Revolutionary War style muskets by the Color Guard and finally the laying of the wreath.
Wreath Laying Ceremony
Everything came off without any problems. The General Henry Knox Color Guard showed up on time, Patty and her family were there and several members of the Pomeroy Chapter. Patty was very appreciative of the respect that was shown to her ancestor. Titus Amadon enlisted at age 16 and promptly marched off to West Point. He was in attendance at Major John André’s execution for spying. He served a toal of nearly 2 years and returned home to lead a normal, productive life, marrying Sabra Gilbert and raising 13 children.
After the wreath laying, we moved about a mile away to the Springfield Armory National Histoic Site. There, we heard historian Dennis Picard relate the history and consequences of Shays’ Rebellion. One of the major confrontations of the Rebellion took place at the Armory in 1787 so hearing about it at there was more than appropriate.
Dennis Picard and Shays’ Rebellion at the Springfield Armory National Historic Site
Now the question is what do we do for a follow-up event! Any suggestions?
Standard DNA test kit from 23andME. Also available is the basic test plus health for additional cost.http://www.23andme.com
Debra knew from a very early age that she was adopted. Her mother and father provided an incredibly loving environment where she could grow and thrive. And that’s exactly what she did! While it may sound unusual, when she was 3 years old her Mom sat her down and gently explained that some mothers were not able to provide for their children and for many reasons, those children were adopted by families who had the means and the love to help those children grow up. For this reason and as young as she was, she grasped the concept and simply went on with her life.
Debra’s birth was a bit premature. As a result, she was kept at the hospital for several days to ensure that she was healthy enough to go home. But where was home? Her birth mother was either not allowed or was incapable of caring for her. That’s the short story of how Debra came about being adopted by parents who were very much in a position to raise a child in a healthy, happy home.
Even with the knowledge that she had been adopted, she was loved by her Mom and Dad, she was healthy, happy and she had dreams for her future.
About ten years after her adoption, Debra’s parents decided to adopt another child. This time the circumstances couldn’t be any different. When they brought the new sister home, it was a tragic reality that Lisa had been the victim of a hostile environment. Lisa was covered with bruises, stitches and scars. Her “new” parents were very successful in again providing the same loving care they had been providing for Debra. After a brief period of adjustment, Debra became very close with her new sister, Lisa Marie.
Debra’s life was as ideal as she could have hoped for. Soon, she fell in love, married and had her own house full of children. She never dwelled on her own adoption issue. She was loved, secure, and looking forward to raising her family in an environment such as the one in which she grew up. As her children got older, she was able to discuss her history. With the knowledge that their Mom had been adopted, their curiosity got the best of them. The older kids insisted on knowing more… And more… And they wanted to know soon!
Although I had known Debra and her family for many years, I was unaware of the fact that she was adopted. It was never an issue for her to discuss it with anyone other than her family and even at that, there wasn’t much discussion until the older kids began to get her to wonder about her birth parents. She will readily tell you that the search for her birth story would never distract her from the parents who raised her. But the curiosity began to creep in. As a result, she learned about a class I was conducting at a local library that was designed to teach the basics of DNA, the various tests available, how each of those tests can be used and the companies who administer them. As an enticement, I offered to “raffle off” a DNA test to one of the participants after the session.
A graphic of the DNA double helix.
Frankly, I was surprised but pleased at the same time to see Debra walk through the door! We went through the presentation in a little over an hour. The attendees asked many great questions and I believe we all learned a lot. After the Q&A session, it was time for the raffle. I’ll give you a couple of seconds to guess who won! Debra took the test home, submitted her sample and as everyone who has tested can tell you, waited the 5 or 6 weeks it took for processing. Results in hand, the hunt began!
The good news is that she was uncommonly successful. Her first “hit” led her to a biological uncle who is a brother to her biological father. Uncle Jack was more than just pleased to hear from her. I suspect that Jack was aware that he had a niece out there somewhere and that niece turned out to be Debra. He was more than happy to help. He led her to her full biological brother named Brian who lived just a few towns away, close enough to possibly visit from time to time.
It’s worth noting that adopted children who choose to seek out their biological families can run into a myriad of problems. The parents they are looking for may have split up long ago and gone their separate ways or possibly even died; the siblings, if there are any, may live too far away to be able to develop any meaningful relationship or they simply are untraceable; contacting anyone may be a negative experience for the individuals being contacted; and, in many cases, you simply can’t find anyone in the bio family and frustration ensues.
Fast forward to Brian. He was thrilled to finally hear from the woman who turns out to be his full biological sister who he never had the opportunity to meet much less have any type of relationship with. The good news, no…the great news, is that Debra and Brian have not only met, but have formed a meaningful bond with one another. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that they are not only somewhat similar in appearance but share many common interests. The outdoor life appeals to both: fishing, hiking, spending a great deal of time outdoors. Since they live fairly close to one another, they meet often and spend a great deal of time together.
But wait, there’s more. Her bio father left New England for the west coast. To date, Debra has been able to locate 4 half-siblings. One of them, Charles, has been very open to establishing some type of relationship in spite of the fact that he lives out west. Fortunately for Debra, she has been able to travel out there and meet him and talk about their individual experiences. Two of three other half-sisters, however, were less than enthusiastic about staying in touch with her. Regardless, Debra was very excited to make the progress she had made to put together the pieces of a life she never knew.
Nuclear DNA known as autosomal DNA or atDNA. The 23rd chromosome is the sex chromosome. It can be XX (female) or XY (male). Moms always contribute an “X” while Dads can contirbute either an “X” or a “Y”.
Keep in mind that adoption notwithstanding, nothing diminishes in any way the relationship she has enjoyed her entire life with her parents who did the right thing in so many ways. And Lisa, the sister who Debra grew up with, has been a source of support in Debra’s efforts to discover her “other life” but has so far not expressed any interest in following the same path Debra has followed.
One final chapter to this story. Debra’s biological father has a sister who lives nearby. She is Debra’s aunt. The aunt has a daughter, a full first cousin of hers who also lives nearby. Debra’s daughter recently moved in to a new house. Debra’s cousin is her daughter’s new next door neighbor! They have all had the chance to meet and spend time together.
The conclusion is a simple one: When and only when you’re ready to go out to make these discoveries, it’s well worth the journey in most cases. No one could be happier than Debra! And I am proud to say that I was a part of this great story.
Dave Robison
All the names in this blog have been changed to insure privacy.
As a member of the Sons of the American Revolution (Pomeroy Chapter – Western Massachusetts), I use my reasonable and maybe even above average knowledge of history to help with my work as the Chapter’s Registrar assisting the folks applying for membership. Having grown up in Springfield, Massachusetts, I’m familiar with General Knox as we lived just a few blocks away from the Springfield Armory. There’s is a marker on the east side of the intersection of Federal and State Streets in Springfield very near the Armory indicating that this was a part of Knox Trail, the roads used by Knox to deliver 59 cannon and other supplies to General Washington during the seige of Boston. Yes, we routed the British in January of 1776.
Typical marker found throughout the route taken by Knox on his way from Ticonderoga New York to Boston Massachusetts.
Knox was a 25 year old book binder who literally taught himself history and military science. He participated in the Seige of Boston and was selected by General George Washington to head up to the recently captured Fort Ticonderoga. The American victory there allowed Knox to simply take possession of the artillery. That was the easy part. It was November of 1775 and Knox expected to get back to Boston in a few weeks. It took 3 months of slogging through the frigid wilderness of upstate New York, sailing down Lake George with the equipment on barges, crossing the Hudson into the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts and finally along the Boston Post Road. But he made it and in January of 1776, Washington had his artillery. No ammunition per se, but the Americans were able to surround the British with an array of cannon which was enough to chase the British out of Boston. Needless to say, this amazing feat in the dead of winter sparked the beginning of Henry Knox’s brilliant career.
But let’s talk about the armory for a minute. It was Knox who persuaded Washington to site the first arsenal on the hills of Springfield overlooking the Connecticut River. That location proved to be a very strategic spot to locate what became the Springfield Armory. There’s a great deal of history to recount here including the events of Shays’ Rebellion, the supply of arms to the armed forces from the late 18th century up until its closure by Seretary of Defense Robert McNamara in 1968. During those years, a great deal of history was made: standardized manufacturing, invention of numerous armaments, and employment for thousands of residents including women. Today, what is now known as the Springfield Armory National Historic Site allows an in depth view of the history of the Springfield Armory’s many contributions to the defenses of the United States of America.
Here’s the point I’m trying to make about General Henry Knox. Karen and I took a vacation up to Edgecomb, Maine. During the week, Karen found a mumber of places for us to go, mostly visiting a variety of lighthouses, historic sites, some ancient cemeteries (Karen knows that’s a MUST on my itinerary!), and of course, restaurants and other tours. The best of those tours was a 1 and a half hour ferry ride from Boothbay Harbor to Monhegan Island. Other than one thunder storm, the weather couldn’t have been better! We even had time to stand in line for about an hour to get the famous “Red’s Eats” lobster roll. A little over a pound of lobster in a hot dog roll. Only $23.75! Last season, Red’s went through 14.5 TONS of lobster meat! That’s 14.5 TONS!! Click here to read about them: https://www.redseatsmaine.com/.
One of our side trips was to the Maine State Penitentiary Gift Shop. Prisoners are encouraged to develop their talents in carving, furniture creation, model ship building, and dozens of other unique items. Karen found a handmade birdhouse that we’ll be putting up in the back yard. What I found was a 2-page handout about the General Henry Knox Museum. The General Henry Knox Museum??? Well, it was just up the road from the gift shop, so off we went.
After General Henry Knox’s brilliant career, he retired to Thomaston, Maine. Although he grew up in virtual poverty, he married let’s just say, he married well. Lucy Flucker was from a wealthy New England family. With his marriage to Lucy, Knox became the owner of an enormous amount of land in Thomaston which was in Massachusetts at the time. Maine was not created until the Missouri Compromise in 1820 but that’s another story! The Knox’s built what was contemporaneously described as the most beautiful home in New England. They called it “Montpelier.” Sadly, the building deteriorated to the point where demolition was the only solution in the late 19th century. Now comes the DAR to the rescue. During the height of the Great Depression, they were able to raise the funds to rebuild an exact duplicate of the original down to every last detail. This was made possible due to the prolific writing of General Knox describing what he wanted built and how to go about building it! Sizes, colors, wallpaper, the layour of the grounds, every detail was meticulously recorded allowing for the details that were built into the new building. The project obviously provided much needed work and the new home was opened to the public in 1931. Click here for their website: http://knoxmuseum.org/ .
Montpelier – A recreation of the original Montpelier, home of Henry and Lucy Knox
The docent who brought us through all 3 floors of the building offered a great deal of information about Henry and Lucy Knox. Of 13 children, for example, only 3 survived to adulthood. The museum is chock full of Knox memorabilia with furniture, writings, portraits, books, and household goods. The Knox’s are buried in the Village Cemtery about a mile from the museum.
The graves of General Henry Knox and family in the Village Cemetery, Thomaston, Maine
The lesson here, as I’ve said before, is you don’t know what you don’t know. I was delighted that Karen found the Maine State Prison Gift Shop. I was delighted that I just happened to find the little handout about the Hentry Knox Museum!
Here are some updates on genealogy conferences and my personal involvement with at least two of them.
Landmarks in Manchester, New Hampshire
First, a little report on the NERGC conference held in Manchester, New Hampshire back in April. NERGC is the acronym for the New England Regional Genealogical Consortium. It’s a whole lot easier to just pronounce it “NERK!” An unbelievable amount of work goes into these conferences: venue, participating societies, setting the price of registration, speakers, food, vendors, and on and on! The Manchester event attracted nearly 120 speakers, as many vendors and over 1,000 attendees. The program included an opening session, single presentations, workshops, banquets, special presentations by featured speakers and on and on. But most of all, what everyone should garner from attending a conference is the comaraderie, the “elbow-rubbing” with other genealogists who are there for a common reason: To expand their knowledge of genealogy and family research.
Well, NERGC 2019 was a huge success. The 22 participating societies who contributed financially as well as with the volunteer efforts of their respective memberships were rewarded with a return of their investment as well as a share of the excess receipts.
So now what? Since NERGC is a biennial event with the next conference being held in 2021. While we try to produce the conference in cities all over New England, the size of the crowd of enthusiastic genealogists who attend demands a larger venue. So, we return to the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Massachusetts.
A broad view of downtown Springfield, Massachusetts
We held the previous conference there in spite of all the construction that was going on in 2017. All of that is complete and with the addition of some unexpected features, the City of Springfield offers a more than adequate solution. At least 3 additional hotels are in various stages of construction, a new service of the PVTA is a free bus called the “Loop” will take passengers the length of Main Street with stops at various hotels, the MassMutual Center (which is the site for the conference), the Basketball Hall of Fame, and the Springfield Armory National Historic Site among other points of interest. And it’s free! And the MassMutual Center itself is practically a no-brainer for our style of conference: Meeting rooms on the two levels with an escalator and elevators to easily get from the lower level to the upper level. The banquet hall and vendor hall are right next to each other on the lower level. Very easy to get around.
So now here’s the big news (at least for me ) regarding the Ohio Genealogical Society’s 2020 conference titled “Unlocking the Pieces.” It will be held at Kalahari Resorts & Conventions in Sandusky, Ohio. The conference website is not yet ready as of today, 01 July 2019 as they are just putting together the details. But I’m giving the link here for “Unlocking the Pieces” which you can check on over the next several weeks.
One of the auditoriums at Kalahari Resorts & Conventions, Sandusky, Ohio
Now I’ve given classes, lectures and presentations all over New England including the last 4 NERGC conferences. Those are easier to get involved with as I’ve held various positions with NERGC: Society delegate, conference co-chair, commitee chair, and now a member of the board and its President! If I don’t take a slot to make a presentation in “NERGC 2021,” it’ll be because I’ll be too busy.
I’ve never ventured out of New England. I considered submitting for last year’s OGS conference but too many factors interfered. Since I’ve backed away from the Presidnet’s position at the Western Massachusetts Genealogical Society, Inc and the Connecticut Society of Genealogists, Inc, I felt as though I had the time to give it as shot.
Figuring that since I have no previous experience with the Ohio group, the “newcomer” so to speak, that I might get a shot at one slot, maybe 2 if I was really lucky. So I submitted a proposal on 10 or 12 different presentations with various genealogical topics from the basics up to DNA and a few other topics. To might great surprise, along with many other genealogists who I know throught webinars and various other social media, I was offered 3 slots! I’ll be delivering a presentation on researching in New England, what is required for a DAR or SAR application and a discussion of a little known organization that operated in the late 18th century, the “Ohio Company of Associates” who worked to get New Englanders to emigrate from Massachusetts and settle in southeast Ohio.
This is all about education. I blogged back in February about why anyone should attend any conference, genealogical or otherwise. The simple answer was this: You don’t know what you don’t know! You can’t argue with that one. So find a conference and go!!
It doesn’t happen very often when I get a chance to brag. The upside is that a local TV station, Western Mass News Channel 40, came into one of my classes at the West Springfield, Mass Senior Center and took some shots of one of the session I was giving there. Actually, I don’t even think it was 15 seconds! OK, my 12.5 seconds of fame!!
Everyone is familiar with what is known as the “Spanish Flu,” an influenza pandemic that wreaked havoc around the world from 1918 to 1920. Today, the science of that killer disease is well known and it is unlikely that the world would see another global tragedy of those proportions…Unless we’re struck by a new, unknown, untreatable virus in the future!
As a genealogist and family researcher, I’m often asked historical questions regarding events that may have affected my own family. Well, “my own family” includes at least 3 Mayflower passengers and their descendants, dozens of Great Migration colonists, at least one 20th centruy Canadian immigrant and that’s just my maternal side. On my paternal side, my 5th great grandfather was Jonathan Robertson whose arrival from Colerain, County Londonderry, Ireland around 1740 has been difficult to prove and the “facts” have remained elusive. I definitley have proof that at least one of his sons was Hezekiah Robertson/Robinson/Robison who was a veteran of the War of 1812. Notice the gravestone where his name is spelled “ROBRSON”!!
My point is that there’s a very long list of historical events, both good and bad that have affected my family. I have ancestors who fought in King Phillip’s War in 1675; French and Indian War; at least a dozen if not more Revolutionary War Patriots , War of 1812, Civil War, WW I and WW II, Korea and Vietnam. My Patriot ancestors from the Revolutionary War were my tickets to membership in the Massachusetts Sons of the American Revolution. As to the Civil War, I have to disclose that I’m the product of a mixed marriage: My maternal side is solidly Union while my paternal side, Confederate. One of my great aunts, Sarah Robison Coker (1919-2009), corrected me when I mentioned the Civil War: “You’re talking about the War of Northern Aggression, aren’t you?”
So what about the Spanish Flu? Here’s my story: My father’s mother was Mary Virginia Dunn. She married a CPA named Cecil Lee Robison. Footnote here – One of Cecil’s sons worked in a lab at Duke University in the 1960s. Dr. Michael Robison wrote scientific articles about his research in DNA. I like to say I have DNA in my DNA!
Back to Mary Virginia. Mary’s father was Henry Wright Dunn. Her mother was Cecilia Gilma Robertson. Cecilia’s “Robertson” clan may very well be a collateral ancestor of mine given the vagaires of spelling in the 18th and 19th centuries but I have yet to find the connections. At any rate, Henry was a very succsessful business man. He was a Ford and a Buick dealer, he owned the largest hardware store anywhere in Conecuh County, Alabama and was a large owner of properties in and around the Evergreen, Conecuh County, Alabama area.
When the issue of the Flu began to turn into a global story, Henry decided to hire a nurse to stay with the family and assist in keeping every one healthy. Arrangements were made and Henry set out to take a long drive to pick up the nurse who would be working in the Dunn household along with a fair staff of domestics.
The road out of Evergreen was on the other side of town, across the railroad tracks (literally!) and up a long hill. It seemed like the right thing to do and, indeed, it was. The problem happened as Henry was about to crest the hill. The car stalled and presumably, Henry did everything he could to get the car started again. I’m quite sure that in 1918, youd have to get out the crank and literally, crank it up to get it running. Well, none of that was possible so Henry took a ride backwards down the hill where he should have been able to bring the car to a halt to investigae the cause of the stall.
Unfortunately for Henry, and his family, the L&N train was chugging its way through town and that’s what stopped Henry, not his brakes.
Sadly, the car (a brand new Ford!) was crushed along with its lone occupant, my great grandfather, Henry Wright Dunn. It wasn’t the disease directly but because of the disease, Henry died trying to do right for his family.
Henry lingered for a couple of days before succumbing to his massive injuries. He’s buried in the Evergreen Cemetery with the following inscription on his grave marker: “DEATH LOVES A SHINING STAR.”
Mary Virginia divorced Cecil Lee. My father Henry was literally put in the Navy with paperwork that stating he was older than he was. His enlistment date is 17 January 1942, a few weeks after Pearl Harbor. Mary moved north to Massachusetts to work as a private duty nurse. Everyone else stayed south in Alabama. Upon his discharge in 1945, my father came to Massachusetts and this is where he stayed. Mary died in 1971 and is buried in the Island Pond Cemtery in Ludlow, Mass. Henry died in 2003, weeks after my mother, Beatrice Agatha (Dickson) Robison died. They are both buried in the Massachusetts Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Agawam, Mass.
Since I was always told, “What you don’t know won’t hurt you,” 99% of what I know of any of my ancestors comes from my own research and interviews I conducted as I found relatives in New England, Alabama, Tenness, California, Arizona and many other areas. To say it hasn’t been easy is an undersatement. Whatever they didn’t want me to know, I believe I’ve found most of my own story. Including the untimely demise of my great grandfather, Henry Wright Dunn (1873-1918).
It doesn’t happen very often when I get a chance to brag. The upside is that a local TV station, Western Mass News Channel 40, came into one of my classes at the West Springfield, Mass Senior Center and took some shots of one of the session I was giving there. Actually, I don’t even think it was 15 seconds! OK, my 12.5 seconds of fame!!
So what about the Spanish Flu? Here’s my story: My father’s mother was Mary Virginia Dunn. She married a CPA named Cecil Lee Robison. Footnote here – One of Cecil’s sons worked in a lab at Duke University in the 1960s. Dr. Michael Robison wrote scientific articles about his research in DNA. I like to say I have DNA in my DNA! 
