NGS Conference

National Genealogical Society (NGS) 2013 Conference

I have just returned from the NGS Conference in Las Vegas.  I must admit that Las Vegas is not one of my favorite places to visit, since I don’t gamble, and much of the entertainment is not to my liking.  However, someone needed to be there for our Palatines to America luncheon during the conference.  It appears not too many Palatines to America are fond of Las Vegas either, since of the 120 who paid to attend our luncheon, only five including myself were Palam members.  I recruited my wife, Regina, who isn’t into genealogy and a member who was in attendance, Suzanne Spangler to collect tickets at the door and another attendee (who probably wasn’t a member) to help pass out membership brochures.  On the positive side, the brochures placed on the table were mostly taken.  We may gain some new members.

My topic for the luncheon was “Our German Ancestors: when they came and where they went.”  This provided me with the opportunity to promote our June conference in Albany.  I attempted to highlight some of the key periods of German immigration during the talk.  Some of those in attendance commented that they had signed up for the luncheon because that was the only presentation that talked about German ancestry.  They were correct, since no other presenter talked about German research.

In talking to some of the NGS board members, I learned that it has been difficult to find speakers to cover German topics.  The death of John Humphrey, and the poor health of Mel Wolfgang has reduced the number of speakers on German topics.  In time there will be others who will come forward with the proper credentials, but at present the available speaker pool is limited.  I was asked by an NGS board member to consider sending in possible talks on German themes for next year’s NGS conference even though the deadline for submission is past.  Since next year will be in Richmond, VA, I may very well do that, since I love visiting Virginia.

However, for all of you who are readers of this blog, I would remind you that there will be no shortage of speakers on German topics at the Palatines to America’s 2013 National Conference in Albany in June.  We have as main speakers, Hank Z Jones and Ernie Thode.  Additional speakers will be Christine Crawford-Oppenheimer, Hans Pohlsander, Jeff O’Connor and myself, Joe Lieby.  Check our www.palam.org website for further details.  We hope you will join us there in June.

Why Do We Attend Conferences?

I suspect that most people who are interested in genealogy or in researching their family history have attended at least a few conferences.  When I began researching my family, I attended an FGS or NGS conference each year for a few years.  My motivation was straightforward.  I knew very little about genealogy, and I decided that attending a conference would provide me with information that I would need to successfully research my family.

Later, I joined a local genealogy society, the Orange County (NY) Genealogical Society.  I didn't have any ancestors that lived in Orange County, but I thought it would be helpful to attend their meeting and associate with other family researchers.  My involvement eventually led to my becoming an officer in that society.  I still haven’t found any Orange County connections for my ancestors, but in some ways, belonging to the Orange County group is my attempt to contribute to the genealogical community.

While attending a national conference one year, I found a booth for the Palatines to America.  At the time, I knew that my father’s side of the family had emigrated from Mulhouse, in Alsace.  My grandmother spoke German, although I knew that Mulhouse is currently part of France.  I explained at the booth that my grandparents were from Alsace, not Germany and asked if Palatines to America would be a society I might join.  I was assured that the Society was for anyone with German-speaking ancestors.  A few years later, I did join Palatines to America and began attending the meetings of the New York Chapter.

So, the question is, why do you attend conferences and meetings?  Is it to support a genealogical society to which you belong?  Is it to gain more knowledge about a topic of interest in your research?  Or is it to associate yourself with other genealogists to share ideas and fellowship?

Whatever your reason, we hope that you will consider attending our Palatines to America National when we meet in Albany, NY from the 19 -22 of June.  Your attendance will be appreciated by the Palatines to America. The topics will be of interest to those with German ancestors no matter where their ancestors settled.  And of course, there will be the opportunity to meet and talk to others researching their German ancestors.  Go to our website, www.palam.org to register for the conference.

Library and Archives tour

Bus Trip to NYS Library and Archives

Date:  20 June, 2013
Cost: $40

Departure: 9:30 am from the Desmond Hotel
Return:  About 4 pm from the Cultural Center on Madison Ave., Albany

The 2013 Palatines to America National Conference is being held in an exciting part of our country, where so much history has taken place.  Albany, New York is situated on the Hudson River, about one hundred and fifty miles north of New York City.  Henry Hudson, exploring for the Dutch and looking for a shorter route to Asia, sailed up this river in 1609 as far as the Cohoes Falls above Troy.  Soon after, trading began with the Indians and settlements were established, first on Manhattan Island and then at Fort Orange (Albany).  Early Palatines in the 1700s traveled through Albany as they sought better conditions further inland.  Later immigrants traveled by boat up the River and over Mohawk River and Erie Canal as they moved farther and farther west. 

General Burgoyne was held prisoner at General Philip Schuyler’s home in Albany after the British defeat at Saratoga in 1777.  Palatines fought in the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War.  New York played a significant role in the War of 1812.  The Albany area was a major staging area for important battles in the north with Canada during that war.  A pivotal role was played by New York in the Civil War.  As the most populous and wealthiest state at the time, it supplied the most men, money and material in the north’s struggle with the south.  A major exhibit available for viewing at the New York State Museum, which shares the Cultural Building with the State Library and Archives is “An Irrepressible Conflict – The Empire State in the Civil War.”    An immense collection of information is available to the researcher in the collections archived here in the capital city of Albany.

Our Thursday June 20 tour plans to take those participating on a narrated jaunt of downtown Albany, passing the river front where, if we are lucky, the replica of the Half Moon (Henry Hudson’s ship) and other ships may be at anchor.  The State Capital at the top of State Street and other historic places will be pointed out as we make our way to the Cultural Center.  We should arrive there by 10:30.

On the 7^th floor, our group will be met by a Library staff member for a guided walking tour in groups of up to 20, of the local history and genealogical resources of the New York State Library.

Next, the whole group will take the elevator to the Archives on the 11^th floor.  There, a member from the Archives will greet us and take us to a meeting room where information about the Archives will be provided by video.

Time will be available for enjoying lunch, doing personal research, exploring the magnificent museum and perhaps visiting the gift shop.  The bus to return to the Desmond will leave promptly at 4 pm.

Space for this trip is limited to 40.  If you plan to take the trip, sign up early when you register for the Palatines to America National Conference.

(Contributed by Jean Burns of the New York Chapter) 

Bus tour to Mohawk Valley

Bus tour to Mohawk Valley

Date: 19 June, 2013 (Wednesday) Cost: $60

Departure: About 8 am from the Desmond Hotel Return: About 6 pm

The 2013 Palatines to America tour will take us through the historic Mohawk Valley section of New York State. The first European settlers in the Mohawk Valley were 1710 Palatines who had fled the abyssal living conditions in the Hudson Valley. Upon leaving the Hudson, many settled first in the Schoharie Valley, then moved on to the Mohawk Valley when land title issues in Schoharie were settled adversely to them.

We will start our tour in Little Falls at the home of General Nicholas Herkimer, the famous Palatine general of the Revolution who died of the wounds he received at the Battle of Oriskany, and will continue on to the Oriskany Battle Site near the present day city of Rome, New York. While in Rome we will have lunch and tour the nearby reconstruction of Fort Stanwix National Monument, an important site in the French and Indian as well as the Revolutionary War. It was built on the site of the Oneida Carrying Place, an important stop in the trade route between Albany and the Great Lakes. Many of the original Palatine settlers of the Mohawk Valley, including the father Nicholas Herkimer, made their living trading furs between the Indians and the Dutch settlers in Albany and Schenectady.

En route each way between Little Falls and Rome we will tour many Palatine sites including the old Palatine Church and the original Mohawk Valley Palatine settlements of Burnetsfield and Stone Arabia. One stop will be at Fort Klock, one of many fortified stone homesteads and fur trading posts built by our Palatine ancestors to resist Indian attacks in the French & Indian and Revolutionary Wars. We will end our tour at Johnson Hall, home to Sir William Johnson who decided to remain on the British side during the American Revolution and who, due to his many alliances with the Indians, particularly Joseph Brant, was responsible for the deaths of many Palatine and later European settlers in the Valley.

A historian will be present on the bus to describe the general history of the 1710 Palatines as well as the specific history of the places we visit. We are also seeking a luncheon speaker for in depth coverage of some aspect of the Palatine story in the Mohawk Valley or Palatine genealogy.

(Space is limited. You are encouraged to sign up early with your registration for the Palatines to American National Conference.)

(Contributed by Barbara de Mare, of the NY Chapter.)

Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center

As President of National Palatines to America, I was invited to attend the fall board meeting of the Pennsylvania Chapter of PalAm.  Doris Glick, the current President of that Chapter issued the invitation, and fortunately I was free on that Saturday, 8 September.  The Pennsylvania Chapter had recently undergone a change in officers, and they thought I might be able to help answer some of their questions.  I was happy to be able to join them.

The meeting took place on the campus of Kutztown University, at the library of the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center, which is a non-profit organization.   As part of the Kutztown University community, it serves to enhance the Pennsylvania German Studies Program at the University.    

The library in which we met is housed in a small modern building in a cluster of other buildings that include the Sharadin Farmhouse, a Pennsylvania German Bank Barn and the Freyberger One Room Schoolhouse.  Lucy Kern, the Secretary for the Pennsylvania Chapter, is also the librarian at the library, and Doris Glick is a volunteer staff member.

My initial reaction when I walked into the building was that it was small.  However when I walked into the room where the books where housed, I was impressed by the amount of material that filled the wall to wall shelving.  On the shelves were transcripts of church records for a large enough number of churches that it took several shelving units to hold them.  It also included the Germans to America from 1840 to 1897, and many other books. If you are researching German ancestors who settled in Pennsylvania, this would  be a good place to visit. Perhaps a picture would say more than all my words.

                                           

The University had given the Pennsylvania Chapter access to the library for its board meeting, but has also generously allowed them to hold their Fall 2012 Conference in the University’s Academic Forum.  The conference will be held on Saturday, October 6, beginning with registration beginning at 8:30 a.m.  You can find more information on the conference by going to the Palatines to America web-site, www.palam.org, and navigating to the Pennsylvania Chapter’s page.  You will find the registration form to print out and mail in.  I plan to be at the conference, and I encourage others to attend what promises to be a fine one-day conference.

As a reminder, I am still looking for a speaker for the 2013 PalAm National in Albany, who can address the topic of the Germans of Pennsylvania.  If anyone knows of such a speaker, send me the name and contact information.

Conferences and Vendors

While I was tabulating the evaluation sheets from the June 2012 Palatines to America conference in Indianapolis, I came across one that made a comment about the need for more vendors.  I happen to agree that an important part of any conference is the vendors.  I have always enjoyed roaming around the vendors’ area whenever I attend a conference such as the NGS Conference in Cincinnati this past May.  From the number of people spending time in the vendors’ area at NGS and at our 2012 conference in Indianapolis, I suspect that many people feel the same way.
While I was in Cincinnati, I took time to speak to a number of the vendors about what makes them more likely to attend a conference as a vendor.  I spoke primarily to vendors that I thought might be good additions to Palam’s 2013 conference in Albany. The vendors mentioned several factors.

The most obvious factor was attendance.  The larger the attendance, the more likely the vendor will be able to sell enough to make the trip profitable.  Vendors and attendees have a symbiotic relationship.  We want a wide variety of interesting books, supplies and services to be available when we visit the vendors’ area; they want potential customers for their wares. That should be no surprise. 

Vendors also explained to me that they wanted sufficient time provided in the schedule for attendees to visit the vendors.  At NGS, the meeting rooms were far away from the vendors’ area, and there was only a half hour block of time between talks.  As a result, people had little time to browse before they needed to head out to the next presentation.  Unless someone chose to skip a presentation in order to browse the exhibit hall, they had at best fifteen minutes to wander among the vendors.

Several software and internet service vendors told me that they liked the opportunity to demonstrate their products during the conference.  NGS provided an area at one side of the exhibit hall for vendor demonstrations.  I attended several, but probably missed several more that I would have enjoyed if I had known they were being given.  The vendors told me that they would have like the demonstrations to be on the schedule, rather than being posted in the hall just before they were to take place.

When planning for our 2013 Albany conference, I am hoping to make the conference attractive to vendors, so that more will be willing to come.  The presentations and the vendors’ area will be next to one another.  The presentations will be scheduled to allow ample time for visits to the vendors and a room for the vendors to provide demonstrations has been reserved close to the action.  We will put those demonstrations on the printed schedule so attendees can make plans to attend.

We need a healthy growth in our attendance at the 2013 to make it a success. Of course, people usually don’t come just to visit the vendors, so we are working on scheduling speakers and topics that will be of interest.  I will address more about that in a later blog.