PLAIN HISTORY GENEALOGY GROUP NEWSLETTER
Vol 4 November 2001
Since our August 2001 meeting I've been busy. A trip to Salt Lake City and a couple of excellent history / genealogy seminars have kept me busy. That's my excuse for not replying to emails. It's not a good excuse, but it’s the one I am going to use.
Seminars Attended -------------------------------------------------------------
Loganville Sept 22nd. This was an excellent seminar dealing with history from the area. The movie and the discussion with the Amish farmer were interesting and very informative. We will discuss this seminar at our Nov meeting.
One of the things discussed was WISCONSIN HISTORY DAY, which will be held in schools in Wisconsin. www.shsw.wisc.edu/oss/historyday This year's theme is "Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History." One of the goals of this project is to promote interest in history. This project will span over several months. A question for our group: Is there interest in making presentations to the elementary schools in Plain about local history?
Madison Oct 20th. The Wisconsin State Genealogical Society held their Fall 2001 Seminar with the theme ARCHIVES RESEARCH. The seminar covered 3 different archives:
NARA - Washington DC
NARA - Regional (Chicago)
WHS - Madison
This might sound a dusty topic, but the speakers kept things interesting. The speakers spoke about what things are in these archives and stories about their work with the public. I found two of their stories funny.
- A person came in looking for information on
an ancestor who was in the Revolutionary War. The person said
that they had all the information on the ancestor: descendants,
places that they lived and worked, etc. The person said that he
even had the guy's SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER.
- A person asked how you go about correcting bad information in
the 1830 federal census.
www.nara.gov/regional/courts.html
www.nara.gov/regional/stlouis.html military records
There was a discussion about the 1930 federal census which will be released to the public on April 1, 2002. ( Review of census records is a key part of any genealogy research.)
The representative from the Wisconsin Historical Society library
in Madison described how you can use the library. The best way to
use the library is to "play" with the online catalogs
that can be accessed through the internet.
ARCAT- www.shsw.wisc.edu/archives/arcat.html UNPUBLISHED / GOVT stuff
MADCAT-www.shsw.wisc.edu/library/search/index.html BOOKS&MICROFORMS
An interesting comment made is that genealogy projects are RESEARCH, NOT DATA RETREVIAL. It may seem like the WHS library has everything ( they come close ) and that everything should be easy to get at. I have been going to this library for years and thought I knew everything. The WHS representative described an annual farm census that was taken in Wisconsin from 1923 to 1960 (1980?). This census is available at the library and has a detail description of the animals / crops grown by farm . This has tons of interesting data. And I had never heard of this census. You will find these census in ARCAT under the search terms of "annual enumeration" and "statistics." Just an example of how a "guide" can help you find stuff.
As with any good genealogy seminar, there were people selling stuff. One real interesting vendor was selling books about churches in Washington County, Wisconsin. There was a separate book for each church including color photos. These books contained basic history, cemetery information and birth/death/marriage church records. www.washcowis.com
If we could find some interesting churches in our area, our group might want to make this a project. Anybody know of any interesting churches in the area??
Upcoming Seminars -------------------------------------------------------------
South Central Chapter of Wisconsin State Genealogical Society
7:00 1st Monday of Month Auditorium,
WHS, 816 State Street, Madison
Feb 4th German Genealogy & Resources
Mar 4th An Evening with Jim Hansen -
Reference Librarian
& Genealogical Specialist since 1974
Milwaukee May 15-18 2001 National Genealogical Society
Clear your calendars. This is going to be a big one. This could be the biggest genealogy convention ever held in Wisconsin. I will be joining this organization and attending this convention. I would recommend that you make your plans early. Hotel rooms and popular sessions will be filled up quickly. www.ngsgenealogy.org
The theme of this seminar is "An American Sampler." A brochure will be available on the Internet in November. They be offering 170 different lectures.
IF YOU MISS THIS SEMINAR YOU WILL BE SORRY.
Joining the Milwaukee PAF Users Group
--------------------------
I am going to recommend that people with computers consider joining this group. It has about 300 members and about 170 attendance at a monthly two-hour meeting. The topics cover a wide range of stuff. I am a member of this group.
Okay, the question is why should I join a group when I can't attend the meetings.
To join, send a $14 check payable to MPAFUG to Al Koester, MPAFUG Treasurer, PO BOX 268 , Muskego WI 53150. ( $2 for Nov & Dec 2000 $12 for 2002 )
Ask to be added to the ONLINE BUNCH - Please mention that you heard about the group from the Plain History Genealogy Group.
Go to www.mpafug.org to see more about the group
Plain November 10 2001 9:30 am Plain Library -------------------------
We will be holding our 4th meeting. If we can, we will try to have the meeting go to 2:00 or 2:30 pm. We will take a short break for lunch. You can bring a sandwich or go to one of the local establishments.
I will have some disks available for sale.
A tentative agenda for the meeting includes:
TRIP TO SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH Part 1 -----------------------------
I went to Salt Lake City for a week in October 2001. Why do you go to Salt Lake City?
1) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints has one of the best
genealogical research libraries in the world.
2) Salt Lake City is a beautiful city that is enough of a tourist attraction to merit a trip by itself.
In future newsletters I will cover these reasons in detail. In this letter I will cover things to consider in getting there, staying there and eating there.
Getting there - There are no direct flights ( from Milwaukee ). This was a key factor in choosing which flight I took. There were connecting flights through Chicago, Minneapolis, St Louis and Denver. I preferred going through Chicago because in case there were problems, I would be at an airport that I could drive home from.
Another consideration is the type of plane that you will fly on. This is not a short flight so being on a cramp plane will not be fun.
You need to consider the layout of the airports that you will be using. I had to walked quite a way in Chicago to get to my connecting flight.
A big thing is the price of the ticket. 2 months before the ticket was $260. A month before the ticket was $310. The day after I purchased my ticket it was $245. The life lesson to be learned here is watch for special deals that pop in and out.
I booked my flight through the Internet. A site to use is www.orbitz.com. This is sponsored by several airlines. This is a great way to compare the various options.
A little about security at the airports. Get there early 2-3 hours early. Pack as though your luggage will be searched. Mine was. Fortunately it was on the trip out, so my underwear was clean. Be careful what you put in your carryon. Nothing sharp. Regarding long lines, I was fortunate. My waiting time was small. However while waiting in lines I watched them grow to over 100 people. ( This due more to the airline not having enough people as opposed to new security efforts. ) It was weird to see soldiers with rifles walking through the airport.
Be flexible. My flight to Salt Lake City was changed by the airline 3 times in the last day or so before the flight.
Staying there - I was willing to walk so I picked a place "only" 6 blocks from downtown. The weather was nice but the streets were longer that a normal street. One Salt Lake City street is equal to 1 1/2 to 2 times the normal street length.
If you don't want to walk, The Best Western Plaza hotel is downtown and "just" across the street from almost anything. The charge is about $80 a night for a single.
Even though the walk was long, I would probably stay in a cheap hotel. There are several hotels on 600 South Temple that go for $40 to $50 a night. These are clean places that offer the basics.
Eating there. First off, you can get alcohol in Salt Lake City. You have to "join" a private club to get served in some places. ( About $5 per membership. ) The law has loosen up recently due to the Winter Olympics. There are lots of great places to go to and you can get a variety of food. I will discuss a couple of my favorites.
Joseph Smith Memorial Building - There are two restaurants on the top floor. The view is excellent, especially at night. ( Even if you aren't going to eat you can go to the top floor to take in the view. ) THE GARDEN RESTAURANT is less formal, jeans are okay. Both lunch and dinner is served. The food is great, and reasonable about $20 for one. THE ROOF RESTAURANT is more formal (I did see people leaving who were wearing denim) and only serves dinner. They have a gourmet buffet, costing about $30-$40 per person.
THE LION HOUSE PANTRY RESTAURANT is a cafeteria style, home-like quality and atmosphere. They serve lunch (Mon-Sat) and dinner (Fri-Sat). I got a nice prime rib dinner with two milks and a piece of pie for $13. I normally can eat a horse, but I was filled up by the meal.
KEEP IN CONTACT ----------------------------------------------------------------
We want to get your comments and suggestions. garylhaas@yahoo.com
Be sure to check the website occasionally. solo18.abac.com/garylhaas/