Salt Lake Institute 2016 Information

The 2016 Salt Lake Institute will be held January 11-16. Registration will begin June 20, 2015.

The 2015 institute was held at the Hilton Salt Lake City Center for the first time. I t will be there again in 2016. I encourage anyone interested in any of the topics listed below to register. Also - I will continue to promote the Problem Solving track, it's a great "brick wall-busting opportunity."
UGA-SLIG url: http://infouga.org/cpage.php?pt=375
The track offerings are as follows [course coordinators are in parentheses]:

Corpus Juris: Advanced Legal Concepts for Genealogy (Judy Russell, JD, CG, CGL)

Advanced Genealogical Methods (Thomas W. Jones, Ph.D., CG, CGL, FASG, FUGA, FNGS)

Advanced Research Tools: Land Records (Richard G. Sayre, CG, CGL, FUGA and Pamela Boyer Sayre, CG, CGL, FUGA)

Advanced Evidence Analysis Practicum (Angela Packer McGhie)

Intermediate to Advanced DNA Analysis Techniques for Genealogical Research (Angie Bush, MS)

Beginning Genetic Genealogy (Blaine T. Bettinger, JD, Ph.D.)

Writing a Quality Family Narrative (John Philip Colletta, Ph.D., FUGA)

Research in the South (J. Mark Lowe, CG, FUGA)

Resources and Strategies for Intermediate U.S. Research, Part 2 (Paula Stuart-Warren, CG, FUGA, FMGS)

Research in New York (Karen Mauer Jones, CG, FGBS)

Early U.S. Church Records (Rev. David McDonald, CG)

Solving Problems Like a Professional (Michael G. Hait, CG)

Problem Solving (Luana Darby, MLIS)

A New Find and Genealogy Block

I think I am about recovered from a serious bout of 'Genealogy Block.' I just haven't found the time or motivation to post blogs over the last couple of months. Research efforts have been a bit lax as well.

My annual trip to the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy didn't provide the necessary motivation either. I took the class on "Digging Deeper into New England Research" with Josh Taylor. Since this was a "classroom experience," library time was limited. The course was extremely interesting and beneficial, as I have numerous New England ancestors [Massachusetts, Connecticut & Rhode Island.]

I'm used to spending my SLIG week with the Problem Solving track. Having two hours of classroom time and the rest of the day researching grows on you. Fortunately, SLIG is bringing back Problem Solving next year. Hooray! It will be nice to get back into the "normal routine."

I will post the 2016 SLIG tracks later this week.

Getting over my genealogy block came with a chance "find." I was searching to see if the WWW held any data on my Simmons, Jennison or Twiss families. I came across a link on Find a Grave to John William and Dolly [Jennison] Simmons. Lo and behold, I was looking at a photo of John W.  and Dolly from the mid-1850s! Photos for either side of my family pre-dating 1900 are few and far between, this is a terrific find. [photo courtesy of Douglas Bean - 10/10/2014] Thanks for posting the photo Doug!
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=137050901

Putting the Wraps on Occupations

I left out quite a few families to avoid too much repetition on the jobs. The majority of the ancestors were farmers in some capacity - some small, some vast. The operation of grist mills was another popular occupation. Innkeepers [taverns, public houses] were also fairly common. Several immigrants came over as members of the textile business. Tanners, paper makers, doctors, veterinarians, blacksmiths and wheelwrights dotted the landscape as well. As the families moved to the cities day laborers, carpenters, night watchmen, tool and die makers and other urbanized jobs began to appear.

To find out about your ancestors' livelihoods, try checking city and county directories, probate files [listing disposition of farmsteads, listing tools, etc.], town histories and census records to get started. Be aware of terms like laborer, mechanic or other generic occupations. Your carpenter could be listed as a mechanic  - a person who worked with his hands, not a car repair guy! That of course could be the case as the 20th century progressed.

Then there's the horse thief, mobster, moonshiner or pirate to deal with!

Visiting Ancestral Homes

How many of you have conducted research in the towns, or at least counties, that your ancestors lived in? On my research junkets, I made it a point not to do research only. I would mix a day or two of research with visiting local historical sites. Cemetery visits can fall under either  category.

Mixing it up gives you a break from the libraries and helps to give you a feel for the area. I'll take a look at a few of those trips in the posts ahead.

Contintued Job Check

My Wagner/Laubscher family from Baden migrated from Pennsylvania to Missouri and Wisconsin because of work available in the lead mines.

The Crousore/Kraushaar family was one of farmers primarily in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana. Immigrant, Nocholas was also a distiller.

John Simmons, Sr. operated a popular tavern at the corner of Wall and Nassau Streets in New York City before and after the Revolutionary War. Late in life he was a land speculator in upstate New York. John Jr. served as his father's sales agent on the land investment, was an on-again, off-again farmer in NY and the Midwest, and ran a "public house" near Canonsburg, PA. John William was a farmer. James M. was a carpenter and farmer. John T. farmed and worked at a sawmill.

Some More on the Job Market

The majority of my Quaker ancestors who migrated from Pennsylvania to Virginia were farmers.

Casper Rinker, whose family hailed from Switzerland, held a sizable amount of farmland in Virginia, but also ran an inn - visited on more than one occasion by George Washington.

Peter Trisler, of Wittenburg, Germany and Jessamine Co., KY, was a somewhat eccentric physician.

The Sension/St. John line was involved in the textile industry before coming to America [tailor, button maker] and farmers in New England, New York and Ohio. There was one innkeeper in the mix.

Occupations Continue

The bulk of my Rhode Island stock were farmers or mariners, with an occasional weaver, minister or merchant thrown in.

My Faucetts, John, Josesph and Benjamin F., were farmers for the most part until Benjamin moved the family to Indianapolis. Joseph had served as a tailor's apprentice, so had an occupation to fall back on during the winter months.

Hugh and Ebenezer Mahurin were colliers [iron workers] in Massachusetts and New Jersey. They also farmed. Generation 3, Seth, who dropped the Ma and became Hurin, kept at the farming, as did son Othniel.

Edward Hazen was an inn keeper. His son and grandsons were farmers.

Humphrey and John [the Elder] Turner were tanners by trade. John's son, Ezekiel, chose the life of a mariner.