Just Days Away till Flight Time!

Flying out to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is only days away! Preparations are underway for this 3 weeks trip in Eastern Pennsylvania.

It starts in Philadelphia for the Professional Management Conference by the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) and is followed by the Federation of Genealogical Society Conference (FGS).

The festivities are kicked off on Tuesday evening with the APG Roundtable where members of APG gather to share ideas. The next day will be amazing for Elizabeth Shown Mills is giving a workshop on sourcing your research based on her book “Evidence Explained.” I will be taking tickets for lunch and being door monitor at one of the afternoon sessions, so if you see me, say “Hello.” FGS last year was filled with great information, good lectures, excellent food and I walked away with far too many books from the Exhibit hall. HA!

Philadelphia is a great place to do genealogical research. I will be visiting the Historical Society of Pennsylvania http://www.hsp.org/ which also houses the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania collection. http://www.genpa.org/library.html

The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania has a great listing of local genealogical treasures which include links http://www.genpa.org/RepositoriesPhilaGen.html The website also gives information about where to find the records.

My journey will take me to the Philadelphia City Hall where I will be obtaining a probate file for a client. In 1952 the city and county of Philadelphia combined their resources. That will be a very interesting adventure. If Philadelphia’s City Hall is anything like King County it will be busy and challenging.

Of course I will have to see the Liberty Bell http://www.nps.gov/inde/liberty-bell-center.htm and Independence Hall http://www.nps.gov/inde/planyourvisit/index.htm
before I leave Philadelphia. I have seen the Declaration of Independence in the National Archives in Washington D.C., now I will get to see where it was signed.

It is going to be an exciting and busy 1st week of the 3 weeks.

Washington D.C., Our Nation's Capital

We landed at Dulles in the late evening on August 14th and the taxi wove its way east towards D.C. As we approached the city, I began to see the familiar sites and sounds: Lincoln’s Memorial, the Washington Monument and all the huge stately buildings that line the city streets.

As tourists, we took the Odyssey cruise on the Potomac and visited the Jefferson Memorial. We have seen Monticello, Jefferson’s home, so reviewing the information in the underground museum of the Jefferson Memorial reminded me of this extraordinary man and the men he knew, like George Washington, whom Jefferson admired. Seeing this Memorial was probably a good idea because I am researching my two ancestors Philip Goss and his son Solomon Goss who lived at the approximately the same time as Jefferson. Solomon died in 1825 and Jefferson in 1828.

My time at the DAR Library is a true adventure. They now have the Seimes Microfilm Room which houses all the microfilm, fiche, CD’s and more. This room is separate from the main library. I did obtain several DAR applications off of the computer in the Seimes Room. They have scanned many of the files to the appropriate Revolutionary patriot. You can research a member, an ancestor and look at supporting documentation. It still costs $10.00.

I have been spending most of my time in the main library with all the wonderful books. It is so beautiful. It was once an assembly room and the funny small door that you enter the library was the entrance to the stage area. Getting some of the books is a challenge for you have to climb up to the mezzanine and move the big moving shelves that they have installed. So far, I am getting a lot of problems on sourcing solved and finding most of the books and the GRC’s Reports that are listed in the online index at the DAR website.

It is time to go do more research…

Second Time Around – DAR Library

Before going to Pennsylvania there will be a slight detour to Washington D.C. an awesome place to visit.

On August 14th I fly out to D.C. with my hubby. He will be attending a seminar through his hospital and I will visit the DAR Library (Daughters of the American Revolution) and other repositories. We will be there for about a week. This will be my 4th time to Washington D.C. and my second time to the DAR Library.

My first visit to the DAR Library Washington D.C. I was very green to genealogy. It was at the DAR Library that I discovered my Mayflower heritage through my Goss line. My cousins Paul Henry Goss and Flora Montanye Osborn did a lot of research back in the 1930’s-1950’s and wrote articles and manuscripts. I have been collecting these articles and manuscripts and have about 20 plus in my genealogical library.

So I am off to the DAR Library to research these two cousins and hopefully learn more about them and to continue checking the sources used by Paul and Flora. Later I will compile all my findings and put them into some form to share with others researching the Goss Family. This is the same Goss Family that I will be doing research on in Pennsylvania. So going to the DAR Library before visiting Pennsylvania will be great!

I will also be doing client research. I plan to visit the Virginia Room of the Fairfax County Regional Library in Fairfax, Virginia. My client has an old North Carolina family that has roots in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Washington D.C.
My other client has a very old Virginia family who probably knew Thomas Jefferson and may have a family connection to George Washington. I am hoping to visit with him and plan some strategies for research other family lines that will take us to an very interesting place?

I can hardly wait to dangle my feet at the DAR Library!

Reunions Viking Style II - Dosewallips State Park

The Rowberg Campout has come and gone for another year. It went so fast!

There was lots of good sharing, food and fun. The claming and oyster hunting was very successful. The hiking took them up a mountain where they saw a bear with her cubs. The rain didn't stop the family from gathering together and fortunately lasted only one night! Yes, the turkey was moist and delicious!

Next year there will be a campout and a wedding which means a lot of great celebrating!