NEBRRoots-L Archives

From:
Subject: Saturday's the day!
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2004 23:51:12 EDT

John Philip Colletta is here, and will be speaking tomorrow at the Greater
Omaha Genealogical Societies fall workshop. If you read this before 8:30, you
can probably still make it, as it starts at 9:00 am. It's at the Paralyzed
Veterans Building on Maple. All day workshop,
9:00 AM Using Original and Derivative Sources: How to evaluate Evidence
This lecture defines and discusses original and derivative sources, and
explores the assets and drawbacks of each. It demonstrates how to derive the full
informational content from a source; the importance of knowing the origin
and purpose of the source; how to resolve conflicting "facts;" how to weigh
documentary evidence to arrive at the "most probable" truth; how to combine
sources to see the "whole picture;" and how to test hypotheses to learn the true
story of your own ancestors.

10:45 Only a Few Bones: Case studies in pulling sources together to
reconstruct real life
events The biographical facts we discover about our ancestors did not
happen in a vacuum. Our ancestors were born, lived, & died under specific physical
circumstances at specific times in history. Using seven specific19th-century
case studies drawn from my book, Only a Few Bones: A True Account of the
Rolling Fork Tragedy and Its Aftermath, this lecture demonstrates how to turn
biographical facts into the real-life experiences they were by gathering
together multiple documentary sources bearing on a particular ancestral event and
individualizing it. The case studies include: locating the precise place in
the backcountry where an ancestor was born; determining whether an ancestor
built his house on his city land or his country land; learning the circumstances
-- time, place, weather, society, etc. -- of a wedding ceremony; exploring
an ancestor's appointment to public office during Reconstruction; examining a
freedman's experience as Justice of the Peace; locating the grave of a Jewish
clerk who died young; reconsructing an ancestor's legal dispute with the
captain of the Robert E. Lee.

11:45 Lunch on your own & visit vendors.

1:30 Military Pension & Bounty Land Records 1776 - 1912
This lecture explains what federal military pension and bounty land records
are. It discusses how they are arranged at the National Archives, what
information they contain, and what you need to know to begin a search for an
ancestor's record. Using two specific sample cases, it demonstrates how to use
resources available locally on microfilm, in books and on the Internet, as well
as those in the National Archives, to find and obtain the record of an
ancestor's military pension or bounty land.
3:00 Breaking Through Brick Walls: Use your Head.
The path of genealogical investigation is strewn with many stumbling blocks,
and every so often we even hit a brick wall. When that happens, it’s time to
use your head! This lecture offers some guidelines, some points of
methodology, for how to proceed when you hit a brick wall. The theory, however, is
presented very briefly, giving way to five or six solid, practical examples.

It's too late to get any of the special admission discounts, except for the
member discount, but there's also going to be a conference in the spring, and
you can save enough between the two workshops to pay for the membership.
There's door prizes, a white elephant table, "My US Roots are here:" Tshirts,
365 +1 Genealogy Tips books; handy census helpers; rubber stamps to aid in
documentation, photo identification, and marking materials that need to be
handed down so a well meaning descendent doesn't trash all your good work; John's
books, a bake sale, and all kinds of other things going on.

Hope to see you there.
Karen

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