Tracking Your Ancestors at Great Wolf Lodge.

The time is almost here for the annual Ohio Genealogical Society Conference. This year the event will be held at Great Wolf Lodge in Mason, Ohio, on 28-30 April 2016 with per-conference workshops on Wednesday, April 27. Remember to register by April 18.

I went back through some of my original posts about attending a conference in the Cincinnati area. Since this is the land of many of my ancestors, I have spent a lot time in Clermont and Hamilton Counties. There are so many tips that I can not include all of them. I would suggest you go back to the beginning of this blog when I attended my first NGS Conference in Cinci. 

Take a trip along the Ohio River on Route 52. It is a beautiful drive and the view of Kentucky is breath taking. Since it is a fairly long drive, you might want to add another day to your trip, but it will be worth it.

Kroger Fuel Points save gas money. Another $$ saving tip is share a room or transportation. Bring your own drinks, snacks, breakfast. Especially breakfast - it saves a lot of time in the morning. See exhibit hall $$ tips below.

You are going to walk a lot.  Wear comfortable shoes and clothing. This is not a runway fashion show. Rest, pace yourself. You will get tired. Wear your fit bit and chalk up the steps! 

Don't forget that cellphone.  Turn if off in the lecture room unless you like to call attention to yourself. Don't take pictures with it. What is on the screen belongs to the speaker. 

Expressway traffic in Cincinnati can be crazy. NASCAR comes to mind. 

Good Morning Cincinnati! Channel 12. Bob Herzog. Unfortunately due to time and expense Dance Party  Friday is not a weekly thing any more. However, you might want to check this out just in case. If conference is not a good time to catch Bob singing the weather, you can still watch Just Don't Go on you tube. It is the famous musical advice for bad weather in Cinci.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWw0WEtZJRQ

Exhibit Hall. This is the place where you will be encouraged to spend a lot of $$$! My advice is - don't buy anything during your first trip to the exhibit hall. Instead make a wish list. And leave. This will prevent compulsive buying. Go over your list in the safety of your room and select what you really need. Go back to the hall with a shopping list and just buy what is on the list. 

Conference Overload. This is what happens when you don't follow the exhibit hall advice above. Elevators stop between floors at genealogy conferences. The main reason is genealogists with books. Too many books! I've been there; I have even caused it to happen. It can be embarrassing. Another result of conference overload is multiple trips to your car when you are packing to go home. That could also involve an elevator emergency. 

Experience Cincinnati  cuisine. Try the chili. Dive into some Graeter's ice cream, and definitely get a bag of those little bombs of indigestion, White Castle. Just don't do it all on the same day. 

And remember, especially if this is your first conference. Learn. Network. Shop. Have fun!! 

 

A Look At The Past

In 1976 genealogy research was much different from what it is today. There were no computers. Research involved a lot of travel time to libraries, courthouses, and repositories. Correspondence was the original “Google.”

The typical office of a 1976 genealogist was a dining room. It consisted of a typewriter placed at the end of a dining room table. Several consoles and sidebars were covered with stacks of papers - as was the dining room table. Envelopes and stamps were the tools of the family researcher. It took weeks to receive answers to inquiries sent to courthouses in search of information about birth, marriage, and death records. You really needed to know exactly where to look. And if you were lucky, you found what you needed.

Back then genealogical societies were a necessary part of the research process. The biggest advantage of belonging to a local organization was the chance of connecting to a cousin who had information about your family - those very important dates that everyone needed -birth, marriage, death. And if you were lucky you might even get the surnames of a few female ancestors.

What a difference 40 years makes. Now we Google our ancestor and a myriad of information pops up on our computer screens. We join Ancestry.com and for a small fee our ancestor's vital records appear in a matter of minutes.

Back in 1976, we needed each other. We needed to get together once a month to exchange ideas, information, find relatives, share our experiences with the hope that it would add to our research. I am amazed at how far we have come today and how much we have lost.

Great Wolf Lodge! My, how genealogy conferences have changed since the first one I attended over ten years ago. From a hotel with a few conference rooms to a huge water park. From being able to get away by yourself for a couple of days to taking the whole family with you to a genealogy conference.

No Way! . . . . . . .Yes, Way!!!

This year the Ohio Genealogical Society will once again hold its annual conference at a water park -- Great Wolf Lodge in Mason, Ohio. Mason is northeast of Cincinnati, Ohio on I-71. So, mom and dad can attend the conference while the kids can slip, slide, and splash to their hearts content in the lagoon. What more could you ask for?

Two years ago I attended the conference that was held at Kalahari Water Park in Sandusky, Ohio. It was different! I am a grandmother and no, I did not bring all 13 grandkids with me. However, my daughter and her son were able to come up to the lodge on the weekend and use the water park passes that came with the room. 

When I first arrived at Kalahari, I noticed that there were several buses in the parking lot and I soon learned that these were "senior proms". Fortunately everything was soundproof and it was fun watching the teenagers all dressed up for their prom dates. 

Everything went well until Friday! That was the morning that I turned the corner into the hall that went to the lobby and found herds of kids stampeding toward me. Far be it from me to deny children access to a genealogical conference. I am totally in favor of anything it takes to get our grandchildren interested in the wonderful world of family research. Just don't run over me in the process. 

Unfortunately these kids were not racing toward the past. They were coming back from breakfast for a little down time before some water park time. But I am ok with that. They are exposed to the family history experience.


The OGS Conference this year will be at the Great Wolf Lodge in Mason, Ohio. 
28-30 April 2016
Pre -Conference Workshops will be on 27 April 2016

Rooms at the lodge are $144/night (plus taxes)
     Free Wi-Fi and parking.
     For reservations, call 866-954-9653 (group code - 1604 Ohio)


 

Hit the Brakes! Slow Down! Time For Me!!

Here it is almost the end of October already. Soon it will be Thanksgiving, Christmas, and then a New Year. Where did 2015 go? It just went flying by. Ladies' group met tonight! The discussion was all about how much we hurry through life and how much we miss. Everyone agreed that the years when our kids were growing up was the most rushed. We also decided that we probably didn't know what we missed. School activities, football games, chauffeuring kids to the mall, sport practices, band practice. Scurrying here, rushing there. No time to stop and smell the roses.

That is how I feel after this year. Tons of genealogy related activities! The keyword here is "related." Chairman of the Board for a year is about to come to an end. Board meetings, chapter meetings, online meetings, decisions, decisions, decisions!

A new charter chapter of the US Daughters of 1812 was created. Joined a local historical society. Attended a seminar on chapter management. Stepped outside of my comfort zone more than a few times. Lots of work, but worth every minute.

It has been a fun year, but it is time to get back to working on my own family research. Only a couple of months til the deadline for applications to OGS lineage societies. 

The Ohio Genealogical Society has a number of lineage societies for their members. They include First Families of Ohio, Century Families of Ohio, Settlers and Builders of Ohio, and Civil War Families of Ohio. Induction of new members takes place at banquets for each group at the annual conference. For more information about this see ogs.org

This year's conference will be held 28-30 April 2016, at Great Wolf Lodge in Mason, Ohio. I had better get started. I have a lot of work to do.