GRIP Overview - What a Week!

Ok, so my plan was to blog every couple of days, but it was such a full and overwhelming week that it never happened! So here are some of my thoughts on the Genealogical Institute of Pittsburgh.

Courses
There were six courses offered last week and I attended Intermediate Genealogy: Tools for Digging Deeper. Paula Stuart-Warren was the coordinator and taught most of the classes. There was a range of "intermediate" students in the course, from somewhat new to genealogy, to professional genealogists. I felt that I was somewhere in the middle, so it was a great course for me!

Some of the most helpful and/or enlightening "classes" that Paula taught were about the records created during the WPA Era, military records, state archives, and federal government records. There were so many resources presented during each of these classes! I also enjoyed the classes that covered civil and criminal records, newspapers, and institutional records. There were many fun examples of what we could possibly find!

We all enjoyed the classes that were taught by Josh Taylor. I learned so much about JSTOR, which is an online database of scholarly journals. Later in the week, he taught us about using 19th and 20th compiled genealogies. His last class with us was titled "Doing Digital" and had all of our minds spinning with ideas and possibilities for digitally preserving and organizing our research. The most memorable moment was when a classmate looked at one of Josh's examples on the screen and realized that they had the same ancestors! It turned out that they were third cousins!

Our course also included two classes taught by Debra Mieszala on transcription and citing sources. I was looking forward to these topic areas, as I know that I need to working on both my transcription skills and citation "discipline". Both classes were very helpful!

Evening Lectures
There were three evening lectures during the week. On Monday evening I attended a lecture by Michael Hait on "What is a Reasonable Exhaustive Search?" He presented a great case study as an example. Tuesday night included Angela Packer McGhie's lectures, "Preparing to Research in Washington, DC" and "Read All About Your Ancestors by Locating Historic Newspapers." Both were excellent! Afterwards, we all watched the first episode of "Who Do You Think You Are." It was fun to watch with 100 genealogy nuts like myself! The final lecture on Thursday night was a last minute fill-in by Michael Hait, since the original presenter could not be there. "Of Sound Mind and Body: Using Probate Records in Your Research" was another great presentation.

People & Pittsburgh
It was wonderful to meet so many people in the genealogy community throughout the week! All of the instructors and lecturers were incredible. I met so many wonderful people, from beginners to professionals, in my course and during meals. At the end of each day in our course, we discussed a research issue or brick-wall for a classmate. There were so many ideas generated and we saw the value of collaboration. There are several of us who are hoping to stay connected!

One of the reasons I attended was because GRIP was being held in Pittsburgh. Many of my ancestors spent some time in the Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania, so I have been there before and love the city! There wasn't an evening lecture on Wednesday, so I went to the Carnegie Library in Oakland with a few new friends (thanks for driving Tracy!!). We only had a couple of hours there, but I was able to check a few books with local cemetery and church listings to look for some Sarvers and Cubbages. Afterwards, we grabbed some dinner in Oakland before heading back for the night. It was a great break from the course and campus, and a chance to apply what I learned (I transcribed my notes the next morning!).

College Life
GRIP was held at LaRoche College and most of the students stayed in the dorm, which was right next to the classroom building and dining hall. It was nice being able to walk everywhere or to run back t the room during breaks if I needed something. The food in the dining hall was good and they had a wonderful salad bar at lunch and dinner. LaRoche is a small school and there was a beautiful prayer garden next to the dorm plus wonderful labyrinth nearby. The people at LaRoche were all so nice, and the conveniences of the close proximity far outweighed the minor discomfort of the dorm beds!

So if you have considered attending GRIP, I highly recommend it! They announced the fabulous listing of courses for next year (including one on DNA and another on the law and genealogy) and I hope to attend again. For more details, check out the GRIP website.

I Made it to GRIP!!

I arrived in Pittsburgh today to spend the week at the Genealogical Institute of Pittsburgh! The six-hour drive wasn't too bad (no traffic at all!) and I arrived at La Roche College in time for check-in. I got myself settled into the dorm and then enjoyed dinner and met some classmates.

I am very excited and very nervous, as this is the first week-long intensive genealogy course for me. I decided to register for Intermediate Genealogy: Tools for Digging Deeper so that I can expand on the basic skills I have acquired through research and local workshops. This course is coordinated by Paula Stuart-Warren, with Debra Mieszala and D. Joshua Taylor as additional instructors.

I will post some updates about the sessions this week, but for now it's time to finishing unpacking and get some rest!!

A Genealogy Workshop Leads to a Find!

A few weeks ago I attended a genealogy workshop sponsored by the Monmouth County Genealogy Society titled, "Energize Your Research". My research needed some energizing and this workshop was great! The session included vital records, internet research, tools to handle brick walls, and the Genealogical Proof Standard.

So I came home energized, educated and motivated! The Pennsylvania State Archives was mentioned at the workshop and I though that I had checked it out before, but I wasn't sure for which relatives (and yes, one of the things I did learn was that I need to keep better track of which sources I have checked for each person!), so I went back for another look.

The archives has a wealth of resources, including indices for births (1906 only) and deaths (1906-1961). Since most years are listed alphabetically and a few years are listed using the Russell Index, I was able to look for a few long lost ancestors and easily find the State File Number and request a non-certified copy of the record. My big find was the death date on my great grand aunt, Margaret Swank Speedy!

I knew that "Aunt Mag" (as my Dad remembers her) was alive in the late 1940's because my father remembers visiting her when she lived with her niece Marian Cubbage in Bell Vernon, PA. So after a quick search of a couple of years, I found that she had died on July 3, 1953. I then went to Google News Archives and checked the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and found her death notice.

I have sent away for a copy of the death record and now know that she is buried at Braddock (Russell) Cemetery in Braddock, PA. There is no tombstone for her, but her husband has a stone. William Arthur Speedy died at sea, so maybe she was buried in his plot. Answers seem to lead to more questions! More to come on the Speedys!