Tag Archives: courses

Boston University

Leave a reply

Let me take a short break from “Lest We Forget” to talk a little about the BU course in Genealogical research. I’ll admit the course is a little tougher than I expected. Especially when I submitted an assignment and anxiously awaited the results. Well, the grade cam back at an abysmal number: “You seem to grasp all of the concepts in this module and all of the information is well presented. However […dontcha just love “however’s”…] you missed the central goal. You’ve written a report that….

And on and on… The grade, as I said, was abysmal and I figured I’d have to ace every single element for the balance of the course to keep my head above the line. I sent a “private message” to the grader in a feeble attempt at reconsideration. HA! Reconsideration…. That was out of the question. I know that because I got a response that didn’t even address the points that I made in my plea. Instead, the TA sent a note to all the students to explain that this module has 3 assignments: 1 is graded on a scale based on 30 points, then another 30 and finally 40 for a total of 100. Well, that puts my “junk” score back in the running so I felt much better. Can’t wait to submit this week’s work!

All in all, this course seems to run from really easy “stuff” that I’ve been doing for a while to really hard “stuff” that I never even considered… Well, that why we take these courses.

Wish me luck!

Intro to Genealogy and Family Research: Classes, Lectures and More!

Leave a reply

large-family-tree-md

Plenty of classes, lectures and series coming up:

1) Tonight I’m beginning another 5-week course at First Church in Ludlow with up to 12 participants. We’ll meet once a week for 5 weeks. That’s a good number so that I can dig into any interesting cases that come up.

2) I’m halfway through a lecture series at Hitchcock Free Academy.

3) The Western Mass Genealogical Society is sponsoring an open house in April celebrating the 40th anniversary of their founding. I’m been a member to a few years there but I’ll also be speaking at the event.

4) The first series of classes are now over at the Yellow House Center for Community Learning in Palmer. Apparently it was well received as they’ve booked me for 2 more series’. One will start in early June and the other in late July.

5) The weekly meetings at Chicopee Public Library will continue. March will bring an open house on the subject of genealogy with a number of speakers, myself including!

Please get in touch with me if you’re interested in attending any of these genealogical events! Comment here on the blog, call me at (413) 233-4866, or you can always check the web site: Old Bones Genealogy and Family Research. I’ll try to get everything updated on the site in the next day or so!

Busy Day for Genealogy!

Leave a reply

Busy day for genealogy. The latest class began today in Brimfield, MA. This si the second series I’ve conducted at the Hitchcock Free Academy. Small group but we will still cover all of the material. As a matter of fact, we might even be able to get a little farther as there are fewer lines to research for the participants.

Next…and I should have been aware of this one… I had offered to make a presentation to the Western Massachusetts Genealogical Society “this spring”. I should have realized that February was the month that we discussed but I hadn’t put it in my calendar. So, as I was getting ready for Hitchcock on Wednesday (and Yellow House on Thursday AND all the classwork for Boston U) I received an e-mail from WMGS containing their newsletter. The newsletter announced that I would be making a presentation! So, I raced from the class in Brimfield around 5:00 to get to Agawam for a 6:00 meeting. Made it!

Take a look at Old Bones Genealogy and Family Research for what’s going on….but I suppose it would be a good thing for me to make sure it’s up to date!

Ready….Set…Study!

Leave a reply

Tomorrow is January 16, 2013. Not a particularly auspicious day, but it will be the first time I’ve been back in school in over 40 years! Well, saying that I’ll be “in school” is a stretch because in the 21st century you can be “in school” and in the living room at home at the same time. So, we’ve broken at least one of the basic tenets of physics: an object can now be in 2 places at the same time! And I’m here to say it works.

I’m not intimidated about taking a class even if it is Boston University, but I’m a little intimidated about the fact that it wasn’t cheap and I feel highly motivated to be successful…no pressure!!! Making a time commitment; doing the reading; writing the assignments; passing…and all in a mere 16 weeks. Wish me luck!

The class will be a very intensive course in genealogical research. In it, I hope to expand my knowledge of where to go to get the data I need and what to do with it once I’ve found it! It’s not good enough to just find something at somebody’s web site and transcribe the information. It’s all about documentation, sources and proof. There are certainly many challenges, many of which I’m likely not even aware of.

I’m always aware that I don’t know what I don’t know, and that’s what makes this new adventure so interesting. Since I obviously don’t know what I haven’t learned yet, the prospect of improving my skills in multiple areas is a pretty exciting prospect. Although I’m arguably a bit of an expert in my “other career”, genealogy can be a daunting field to undertake. Just reading blogs from other expert researchers over the past year or so shows that just having a subscription to a couple of genealogy web sites barely scratches the surface.

I’ll continue to post about the course….if I have the time!

Please visit Old Bones Genealogy and Family Research

I’ve never said, “…a little warmer about 15 below…” !!!

Leave a reply

Below is the diary entry for January 14, 1913. There are a few words on this page that I can’t figure out, but I’ve come as close as I can. For example, I don’t know what a “clavor” is or an “elavor” for that matter. If anyone out there knows, post a reply! For now, it’s the best I can make out from the handwriting. Maybe a “clavor” is a railroad term or maybe it’s hard to read because his hands wouldn’t stop shaking from the cold! Good grief….15 below!!!

If you’re at all interested in the Grand Trunk Pacific, there’s an article at this link at Wikipedia.

Here’s the transcription of what he wrote 100 years ago today:

Weather a little warmer about 15 below. We stayed in the car all morning. Cullerne went west on the mixed he had some work on the line. In the afternoon Steve and I went out and staked out the clavors/ elavors at Stony Plain worked about 2 hours. After supper Steve and I had 2 games of Pool. Then went home to bed. 9.30 good hours.

Boston University: Genealogy Research Course On-Line

3 Replies

Today I begin a 16 week on-line course with Boston University to refine my genealogical research skills and, hopefully, learn, learn, learn! I hope that it pays off, mostly in the content that I’ll be able to present in the courses and classes that I’ve been conducting! Wish me luck!!