What we did over summer vacation: Our own family get togethers

Besides printing lots and lots of family reunion charts for other families, we got to go to a couple of our own family reunions this summer.

The first one was a family reunion for my Great Grandfather's family, Joseph Hatten Carpenter.
J. Hatten was my patriarchal great-grandfather, my father's father's father. He immigrated from England in 1886 via Australia and settled in Utah. He married my great-grandmother Matilda S. Alder June 12, 1889. He was a banker who spoke French, German, Spanish and Greek and kept a journal that he wrote in most every day of his life--a collection of 34 volumes until he died at the age of 103. It is probably from him that I have the family history gene. He wrote back and forth to England and Switzerland (his wife's lines) and collected records for 40,177 people who he pieced together without the aid of computers or even copy machines. We have 18 books of his genealogy work that as a family we are working together to digitize. He was a member of the National Genealogical Society, a Fellow of the Institute of American Genealogy, a member of the Society of Genealogists of London, and the Genealogical Society of Utah. I hope he would be proud to see me as Vice President of UGA now.

My cousin Mark Carpenter put together a wonderful family reunion. The great thing about this reunion was that it was in the small town where he settled and the place my Grandfather was born--Manti, Utah. I got to take my children to visit the places they lived and worked, and being a small town, things don't seem to have changed much. We went to the church my grandparents attended and had a nice picnic in the park. It was fun to watch the kids launch rockets with Mark's air compressor. Good to be able to get together with these cousins.


Then, just a couple of weeks ago, we got together with my mother's side of the family. Descendants of Viola Schwendiman and Douglas Romney. Not as much family history going on there but more making family history. We got my Mom out on the tube behind the boat, and I've never seen her having such a great time. She was laughing and kept yelling "I'm having the time of my life." She was so cute.

I did have one fabulous family history find at this get together though. My mother showed us a video of her great-grandparents at a family reunion in Idaho in 1938. I had no idea she had it. Unbelieveable. It is so amazing to have video of your family this old. My great-grandmother's brother was in his 20s at the time and has always been interested in movies and videos--ended up selling for JVC as a career. So he recorded this movie, and then later transferred it to video with an audio he had of the brothers singing. Now we are digitizing it to distribute it further. (A good lesson in how important migration is. I don't know where I'd get an 8mm film projector now.) Here is a part of the video. I love how they are playing lawn hockey with suits on at the park. My great great grandfather is one of the men in suits. And the Swiss songs on the audio are so sweet. A little later in the video he has still pictures of them with audio of each of the brother's talking and telling stories from their lives. It is so amazing to hear your great great grandfather laughing. I'll let you know when we get all the pieces posted to youtube.

What we did over summer vacation: Getting back into the groove.

We've done some fun races again this summer. Laurie and Kristy Buzbee and I have had some great fun practicing and participating in some biking and triathlon events.

We did one, two triathlons a couple of years ago. But last year I injured my knee and got to cheer Laurie and Kristy on instead of getting involved. Having participated, watching triathlons are really fun, but it makes you anxious to get going again.

So this year I injured my shoulder and was really frustrated at the first of the year. (Yes I'm getting old and falling apart.) I'm a horrible swimmer to start with and when you add a bad shoulder, it's impossible. With other health issues compounding the problems, it was a struggle this year but I persevered. No records were set but we had a great time. And I'm ready to keep moving into a better year next year.

I like the low-key easy going races. In July we did the Tour de Donut. In this fun race you do three laps, and in between each lap you get to eat donuts. 3 minutes are deducted from your time for each donut eaten so the winners actually end up with negative times. I didn't have any donuts--didn't sound good to me with the biking but it makes for a really fun atmosphere.

We did another biathlon in Laurie's neighborhood which went well. She lives in a beautiful area. I made the mistake of stopping to check my bike and telling Laurie I'd catch up. Won't do that again.
And last weekend we did the Share a Smile triathlon. I didn't actually do the swim, so it was a biathlon for me, but that was great because then we could do the bike and run (read: walk) together. I don't know if I'll ever try to do a triathlon in the morning and give 2 lectures at a genealogy conference in the afternoon again (Sandy Family History Expo)--my brain was pretty fried. But it felt good. And it was the best reaction ever was when Christy Fillerup asked how it had gone that morning and I moved my sweater to show her the number they had written on my arm. I said "Went well. Have the body art to prove it." And next to her, A.C. Ivory got this funny look on his face and said, "What *DID* you do this morning?" Priceless.

I so love biking, and Kim and I have enjoyed lots of walks together this summer. We live in a great place with lots of trails around and it gives us a good break from the computers where we can talk about plans for the company. And all summer I've been working on "Killer Hill" by my house for bike practices. I took some pictures for you this morning. "Killer hill" is just before the mouth of the canyon going up to the right in this first picture. I've seen people go up that hill and always thought that would be the ultimate if I could do that. I'm happy to report that Killer Hill has now been conquered by Janet Hovorka. Oh yeah.

What we did over summer vacation: developing curriculum for Salt Lake Community College.

I spent some time this summer getting ready for my workshops at SLCC this fall. I'm teaching two sets of workshops.

1) the Genealogy Classes:
All workshops are held on Thursdays at the SLCC Miller Campus in MPDC 118, 5:30 pm - 7:20 pm. Cost $20 More Information and Registration.

• September 9th and September 16th Comparing Genealogy Software Programs. Class compares PAF & Family Insight, RootsMagic, Legacy Family Tree, Ancestral Quest, Family Tree Maker & the Master Genealogist. Learn about the advantages and disadvantages of each so that you can find one that fits your needs.
• September 23rd and September 30th Making New FamilySearch easier with certified genealogy software programs. Learn which genealogy software companies are working with New FamilySearch, and the advantages of using certified software.
• October 21st and October 28th The New FamilySearch Affiliate Program. Learn about the New FamilySearch Affiliate program, which genealogy companies are working with New FamilySearch (other than desktop software companies).
• November 4th Social Networking for the Genealogist. Learn how to use various social networking applications such as blogging, facebook, twitter, videos, podcasts, etc to connect with other genealogists.
• November 18th Introduction to Genealogy Resources on the Internet. Learn about subscription and free websites available for family history research, as well as how to evaluate & record information found on the internet using genealogy standards for source citations.

2) the Social Media Marketing Classes:

Whether you are a large business seeking to engage your consumer base, a small business looking for an inexpensive way to market, or an individual looking for a date, a mate, or a job, Social Media can change the way you interact with your world and make you more successful. In this set of classes, students will gain experience with 6 kinds of social media and learn about the new rules of marketing. The level playing field for social interaction applies to everyone from corporate entities to individuals.

Mode of Instruction: Each session has two parts of direct instruction and then two parts of guided practice. The first ½ hour of the class will be instruction and demonstration on a social media technology. In the second ½ hour, students will gain hands on experience in the technology for that session. The third ½ hour will be spent discussing marketing concepts that apply to social networking. And the fourth ½ hour will be spent on action items regarding the marketing concepts introduced.

1. September 14th Blogging and Social Media Community Rules, Social Capital/Whuffie
2. September 21st Facebook and Twitter, and How to stand out in the social media crowd
3. September 28th Podcasts, and How to reach out to create more social media contacts
4. October 5th Youtube, and Finding social media communities
5. October 12th Webinars, and Creating a marketing strategy, Evaluating ROI, R&D using Social Media
6. October 19th Newsletters and Integrating the technologies together, Time management for Social Networking.

To sign up for the social media classes,contact Kathy Jonsson at 801-957-5383, or email her at kathy.jonsson(at)slcc.edu. These workshops are held on Tuesdays at the SLCC Miller Campus in MPDC 118, 5:30 pm - 7:20 pm. Cost $20

What we did over summer vacation: UGA is blossoming

I've been working alot at my job as Vice President of the Utah Genealogical Association this summer too. UGA is coming into a Renaissance with alot of exciting happenings going on. I'm so enjoying my duties there and the associations I get to have. I've learned 200% more this year about myself as a genealogist by becoming more involved in UGA.

Here are some of the goings on: (with thanks to A.C. Ivory for his contributions to the newsletter.)

• Fall Membership Meeting

Come join us for a fun night filled with food, fun, and friends! The annual membership meeting will be held October 19, 2010 at 7pm at The Gathering Place in Gardner Village (1100 West 7800 South, West Jordan, UT).
We will be launching our brand new UGA Virtual Chapter! Tickets are available for purchase on the UGA website. Plates are $25 per person with a choice of either Gardner Chicken, Pan Seared Salmon, or Vegetarian/Special Needs Meal.

• Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy

Planning for the well-respected SLIG conference is underway and the conference is filling faster than it did last year so you'll want to get signed up right away. (Kudos to Dean Hunter and Adele Marcum and their team). The 2011 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy will be held 10-14 Jan 2011 in Salt Lake City, Utah at the downtown Radisson Hotel located at 215 West South Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah.

2011 SLIG Course Descriptions.
2011 SLIG Evening Course Descriptions.
2011 SLIG Course Instructors.

SLIG Course Registration fees: $320 by 30 October 2010, thereafter $345. UGA members will receive a coupon for member pricing. All coupons used by members will be verified by membership staff. Includes course materials, an orientation breakfast and the Friday night banquet. Evening classes and additional dinner tickets are extra. To register, click here.

Hotel: SLIG participants are encouraged to stay at the Radisson Downtown using the "UGA" promotional code after selecting the arrival/departure dates. Discounted rooms are limited so be sure to sign up soon!

For more information, visit the UGA Website.

• Publicity

And speaking of the website, the publicity committee is going strong consolidating UGA's branding and social networking avenues. They've designed a beautiful new logo and branding look, and the board recently approved the move of all UGA internet interests being registered under UGAgenealogy and the new tagline of Education*Networking*Preservation to express what we do. Kudos to Heather Henderson and her team.

Conferences
If you missed us at the Sandy Family History Expo last week, come see us at the following conferences that are coming up!

1. Ogden Family History Conference September 11, 2010 Weber State University
2. ICAPGEN Conference October 22-23, 2010 Salt Lake City Downtown Radisson Hotel

UGA Is Going Social
You might have noticed within the last week that UGA has a new Facebook page. Along with a new Facebook page UGA is going to be rolling out with a whole new line of social media including Twitter, GenealogyWise, and many more. Be sure to watch the newsletter and on Facebook for further announcements.

UGA Membership Survey
UGA will be sending out a short survey to the members this week and we would really appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to help us understand our members and what they want to help them with their genealogy research. If you don't get one--you need to sign up to be a member. We want to know what you are looking for in a genealogy society and we want to be there to fill that need.

• Education

The Education Committee has been working on a Virtual Chapter that will be launching later this year as well as an Intermediate Genealogist Education Program. We will soon have a virtual delivery system that will not only facilitate the virtual chapter and education program, but also long distance meetings and chapter speakers. Kudos to Barry Ewell and his team.

• Crossroads

The UGA Crossroads Journal is being polished up and ready to be sent. If you haven't seen a copy of this beautiful, well respected journal, you're missing a great resource on genealogy best practices, Utah history and the happenings of the genealogy community. Yours truly has a fun new article in it that is a precursor to some lectures I'll be presenting next year. But you'll have to subscribe to get it. Kudos to Christy Fillerup for all her hard work and to the committee for their great publication.

• Get Involved!

Are you interested in getting more involved with UGA? UGA is looking for a Historian as well as Membership/Chapter Committees. For more info, contact me.

• Chapter Meetings

The Salt Lake Chapter is starting again to have monthly meetings. Be sure to keep an eye out for upcoming meeting dates on the newsletter, facebook, and the blog! If you are interested in starting a chapter meeting in your area, contact Christy at christy.fillerup(at)gmail.com. A chapter is also being organized in Cedar City. To join contact Pamela at pdchatfield(at)gmail.com