The FGS Conference was great. I learned a lot and met a lot of very nice people. It also helped me move on from a rather casual pursuit of genealogical information to a much more organized one.

Some of the things I want to follow-up on are:

• Search for Amy MacEwan’s birth information in Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts.
  • Commital records are done in county court even if the patient records are sealed. Check for Amy’s commital records in Cook County, Illinois court records.
• Plat the deeds for Ward family in Cecil County. I may have to go to the Maryland Archives to get copies of the deeds and patents which are not available online.
•  Sorting John Wards
  • Organizing Evidence to Overcome Record Shortages
    • Conduct an exhaustive search
    • Correlate the Findings
    • Establish Identities
    • Group identities into generations
    • propose relationships
    • Use the genealogical proof standard to justify your conclusion
• Start a genealogy blog or wiki for my cecil county research and/or all of my genealogy research.
• Make sure my data is genea-logical.
• Follow research standards.
  • Get a copy of the BCG Standards Manual and use it.
  • Perform big-picture research – expand my search area.
  • Follow the paper trail to the original source.
• Photographs
  • Store my photos safely.
    • Get old photos out of the magnetic albums
    • Use encapsulation for sensitive photos, etc.
  • Label the photos.
  • Ask Aunt Sheil for old MacEwan photos to scan.
  • Try to find out more about the tin-type photos I have. Maureen Taylor thought one was from the 1880s and the other from about 1900.
  • Look at the photographer information on the photo and research the photographer to see when they were in business and where their business was located.
  • With genealogical research:
    • narrow down the possibilities – who’s in the picture
    • date and place and setting
    • add up the facts
  • Maureen Taylor’s new book is “Uncovering Your Ancestry through Family Photographs”
• Becoming an Accredited Genealogist
  • report writing is essential
  • use a research log
  • Writing the Report
    • Heading
    • Research objective
    • The written text
    • Summary
    • Recommendations for Future Research
  • Elizabeth Shown Mills ‘ book on becoming a certified genealogist