2012 National Genealogical Society Conference

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been in a research rut and needed some inspiration.  I was hoping the 1940 census would do it.  I found my parents and other family members, but as exciting as it was (for me at least) to show my mom her name on the census, there were no groundbreaking discoveries.

However, last week I attended the National Genealogical Society conference in my hometown of Cincinnati.  Well, now I am inspired!  I have so many new ideas and research techniques, I don't know where to start.

My plan in attending the conference was to learn about new resources, since I felt I was out of ideas.  Although I learned about  resources that were new to me, it was much more exciting to learn about research techniques from top genealogists.  If you ever have the opportunity to hear Elizabeth Shown Mills or Thomas W. Jones speak, I highly recommend them.  All of the sessions were excellent, but these two speakers opened my mind to new research possibilities.

I hope that I am now equipped to track down my elusive Dudley and Tankersley ancestors.  I know that the research I am going to undertake will be neither quick nor easy and will take keen organization and reasoning skills, but I am going to give it a whirl.  I also plan on requesting some records - hopefully easy finds - to keep me interested while I pursue the Dudleys and Tankersleys.

I also learned from one of the presenters after a lecture that there are records pertaining to widow's and orphans' pensions for my 4th great-grandfather Samuel Kincaid, who died on May 5, 1813 at Ft. Meigs, Ohio during the War of 1812.  Accessing them might not be easy and may require a trip to the National Archives (ah, well, I need an excuse to visit DC), but at least I know they exist.

So, keep your fingers crossed for me!  I will report back with new findings.



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