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Thursday 30 January 2020
FREE FEBRUARY WEBINARS
Wednesday 29 January 2020
A Day Lost and a Lifetime Gained
Back in December, I sent in a box full of old 8mm films from 50+ years ago to Forever. One I was particularly interested in was me in Scotland as a child.
I have the patience of a gnat. However, Forever sent an email to let me know that my conversion box had safely arrived. Then they sent me an email letting me know how much I owed for their services. Then they sent me an email letting me know when my order was lined up for production with an estimated date of when I could expect the conversion to be complete. That date was next week.
Yesterday morning, I received an email saying the work was complete. And that led me into a fantastic walk down memory lane. In real life. I could see my grandparents walking and interacting. I could see my mum, dad, aunts, uncles, cousins and family friends as real as if they were all still with us. I was so excited that I shared a few of the movies on Facebook with cousins.
One in particular - the one I was anxious to see, has been shared and shared and shared since my grandfather had taken us to visit his brother's family, and two of my aunts. And because I have the premium video plan, everyone was able to watch the movies without having to download them first.
The email from Forever came in about 10 am. I surfaced briefly at 6:30 pm to have a bite to eat and then was completely immersed in shared memories once again. Some might think I had lost a full day yesterday. But in reality, I gained an entire lifetime of memories. Memories really are priceless and precious.
Not only did I gain back memories, but so did my cousins, aunts and uncles. Across two countries. We "gathered" on Facebook to share the stories, the memories and the laughs. We "gathered" via texts, messenger and on the phone to share as well. A day immersed in family. A lifetime of love and belonging deepened and strengthened.
Isn't Forever expensive? Honestly? No. All of those reclaimed memories cost me less than others paid for a single film. And the platform allows me to share directly from my storage account. My family's memories are safe and secure and will outlast us by several generations. Immeasurable.
Yesterday morning, I received an email saying the work was complete. And that led me into a fantastic walk down memory lane. In real life. I could see my grandparents walking and interacting. I could see my mum, dad, aunts, uncles, cousins and family friends as real as if they were all still with us. I was so excited that I shared a few of the movies on Facebook with cousins.
One in particular - the one I was anxious to see, has been shared and shared and shared since my grandfather had taken us to visit his brother's family, and two of my aunts. And because I have the premium video plan, everyone was able to watch the movies without having to download them first.
The email from Forever came in about 10 am. I surfaced briefly at 6:30 pm to have a bite to eat and then was completely immersed in shared memories once again. Some might think I had lost a full day yesterday. But in reality, I gained an entire lifetime of memories. Memories really are priceless and precious.
Not only did I gain back memories, but so did my cousins, aunts and uncles. Across two countries. We "gathered" on Facebook to share the stories, the memories and the laughs. We "gathered" via texts, messenger and on the phone to share as well. A day immersed in family. A lifetime of love and belonging deepened and strengthened.
Isn't Forever expensive? Honestly? No. All of those reclaimed memories cost me less than others paid for a single film. And the platform allows me to share directly from my storage account. My family's memories are safe and secure and will outlast us by several generations. Immeasurable.
Monday 27 January 2020
ViC 2020 is in the Books!
This year's ViC was incredibly successful. And for that I
have to thank each and every one of the attendees for trusting that the program
was going to be worth the money and time that you invested.
I owe a great deal of thanks to this year’s presenters as
well:
Stephen Mullen
Irene O’Brien
Margaret Fox
Emma Maxwell
Aoife O’Brien
Thanks to each of you for being so willing to share your knowledge
with us and for making the day such a success. The feedback has been terrific
and each one of you received accolades on your presentations. New information that
we didn’t know before the day started and a renewed interest in the lives of
our Scottish ancestors.
Ideas are already coming in for next year, from both
attendees and speakers. And that tells me how engaged people are in this
learning platform. Save the date! ViC 2021 will be Saturday, February 23.
Friday 24 January 2020
Time is Running Out!
Registration for this year's Scottish ViC ends at midnight tonight. NO late registrations will be entertained. Once the registration link closes, that will end the opportunity to learn from this year's presenters on this year's topics.
Registration allows access to the recordings of the presentations for 30 days following the ViC so there is lots of time to go back and review or watch during waking hours. 7 Presentations: Glasgow and the Caribbean Slave Trade by Dr Stephen Mullen Researching Scottish Deaths by Dr Irene O'Brien Using Newspapers for Scottish Research by Aoife O'Connor Scottish Asylum Records by Emma Maxwell Scottish Wills and Testaments by Margaret Fox Scottish Prison Records by Emma Maxwell Scottish Emigration to Canada by Christine Woodcock Lots of chances to win free prizes 26 credits to add to your ScotlandsPeople account for everyone who is registered. Don't miss out. Register HERE *please note that your registration is NOT complete until you have paid the fees*  |
Wednesday 22 January 2020
LAST CHANCE FOR THE SCOTTISH ViC
We have 7 fantastic presentations on tap for the day.
Glasgow and the Caribbean Slave Trade
Researching Scottish Death
Using Newspapers for Scottish Research
Scottish Asylum Records
Scottish Wills and Testaments
Scottish Prison Records
Scots Emigration to Canada
ALL presentations are recorded allowing you to join us at the time of day that works for your schedule. You do not need to get up before dawn, or pull an all nighter to take part in the ViC. Simply jump in when you are ready and go back to view the presentations you missed when time allows. It's like shotgun golf. Start on presentation 3 perhaps and end on 2. Or start at 5 and end on 4. You won't miss any flow if you don't watch the presentations in order.
If you live in Aus or NZ, perhaps you can watch presentation one, head to bed, get up and catch presentation 7. Then go back at your leisure and watch the other presentations. If you are on the west coast, start with presentation 3 and after the day is over, go back and watch the first two. If you have plans for Burn's Night, watch until it is time to go get ready, go and enjoy the haggis and whisky then watch the remaining presentations on Sunday.
Prizes will be drawn throughout the day. You do NOT need to be online at the time of the drawing. If you are a winner and not able to join at that time, your prize will still be sent to you. If you are registered, you are eligible to win.
Saturday 18 January 2020
Just a Week to Go!
The Scottish ViC is just one week away! A full day of presentations for people researching their own Scottish ancestry or who are conducting research for clients with Scottish ancestry.
The day starts at 8:30 with a presentation on Scotland, and in particular, Glasgow's involvement in the Caribbean Slave Trade. This presentation is given by Dr Stephen Mullen of the University of Glasgow who has conducted research in this area.
Next up is Dr Irene O'Brien, Sr archivist at Glasgow City Archives who will show us the various records available for researching your ancestor's death. Dr O'Brien's presentations are always chock full of detailed information to show you just how much information you can glean from the records available in local archives.
Irene is followed by Aoife O'Connor. Aoife works with Findmypast and is their expert on the British Newspaper Archives. Aoife will show us how to get the most out of Scottish newspapers for learning more about the rich details of our ancestor's lives.
The morning closes off with genealogist Emma Maxwell. Emma and her husband run Scottishindexes. Emma will walk us through using Asylum records to learn about some of the sadder stories of our ancestor's lives.
We then take a break to have lunch, do some research and recharge before starting the afternoon off with archivist Margaret Fox. Margaret is retired but formerly worked at the National Records of Scotland. Margaret will be giving an in-depth presentation on using Scottish Wills and Testaments and how you can get rich details on your ancestor's life by using these documents.
ScotlandsPeople have generously provided 26 free credits to all registrants. This will allow registrants to download 2 wills and one other record.
Following Margaret is a return by genealogist Emma Maxwell who, in this presentation, will show us the deep detailed information that can be gleaned from Prison records.
Wrapping up the day is genealogy educator Christine Woodcock who will look at the reasons that led to Scots leaving Scotland and settling in Canada and the records that they generated as a result of their emigration.
The recordings of all presentations are available until February 25th, 2020.
"Door" prizes:
1 year subscription to MyHeritage
1 year subscription to Findmypast
1 month subscription to Findmypast
1 year subscription to Legacy Family Tree Webinars
1 Legacy Family Tree Software
All for just $99cad (~75usd)
To register: https://www.genealogyvic.com/
Tuesday 14 January 2020
10 DAYS UNTIL THE SCOTTISH ViC
SAVE THE DATE - JANUARY 25th 2020
For this year's ViC, instead of having a marketplace, I have secured some fun things to be given as prizes during the day of the ViC.
ScotlandsPeople is providing 26 credits for everyone who is registered for the ViC. This will allow you to retrieve 2 wills and one other document.
MyHeritage has donated a subscription to be given as a prize
Findmypast has donated TWO subscriptions to be given as prizes. One is for a 12 month subscription and the other is for a 1 month subscription
Legacy Family Tree has also donated TWO prizes. One is for FREE Legacy Family Tree software and the other is for a subscription to Legacy's webinar library.
ScottishIndexes is offering a discounted rate for their document retrieval services to all registrants of the virtual conference.
To register: https://www.genealogyvic.com/
Wednesday 8 January 2020
FREE SCOTLANDSPEOPLE CREDITS FOR ViC REGISTRANTS
ScotlandsPeople is graciously providing 26 FREE credits for everyone who registers for the Scottish ViC. These can be added to your account and used, if you wish, to retrieve a couple of wills (10 credits each) after you learn from Margaret Fox about the rich details that are contained within these important documents.
To register: https://www.genealogyvic.com/
To register: https://www.genealogyvic.com/
Thursday 2 January 2020
No Resolutions, Just a List
I don't DO resolutions. I have never done well with goal
setting. Goals seem so clinical to me. Maybe because they were such an integral
part of my work over 35+ years.
But I do like lists. When I was working I would make a list
of things to get done today, this week and this month. And I would work my way
through them. In a world of social services where so much of our impact is
unseen, these lists were like widgets and I could actually see I was making
progress.
My list for 2020 is fairly simple:
Organize my photos. As most of you will know I use Forever
storage for my photos, documents and videos. It is a good fit for me as a
genealogist. I can organize everything into albums, keep them safe and secure
(and not deteriorating) for future generations and share as I choose. I set the
privacy and I maintain copyright. That said, I need to work my way through
adding descriptors to my photos so that future generations will understand why
I saved the photos and why they are important.
I plan to make more photo books. These are a great way to
share with others. They evoke memories, which in turn results in stories being
shared. They also evoke emotion because of the feelings associated with the
photos.
Photo books can also be a way of sharing why we have held
onto artifacts. My mother saved nothing. I was over the top when it came to
saving things for my kids. My daughter recently purchased a house and so is
about to inherit her "treasure box" I have created a photo book to
explain some of the things in her treasure box and why they are important
enough to have been saved. I have given her permission to rid herself of
anything she doesn't want to keep but she will still have a record of those
treasures in the photo book.
In 2020 I plan to create books for the things I have in my
china cabinets that have been saved for a generation or two.
Also on my list is working to add more information to the
"notes" section of my family tree software. I have the notes in hard
copy but I want to add that into my tree so that the stories will be carried
forward.
What about YOU? What things are on your To-Do list for 2020?
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