Developing Foresight and Creativity I'm reading a thought-provoking book called The Rise of the Creative Class: Revisited by Richard Florida [1]. How does this relate to genealogy and family history? Think of how much our field has changed in the past few years, and even more in our lifetimes. These immense changes, from microfilm and copy machines to online records and virtual meetings, are the result of creativity in action.  When I attended the NGS (National Genealogical Society) Conference in Sacramento last spring, genealogy society delegates met in person for the first time, and spent a morning discussing and learning how to practice foresight . Not predicting the future, but instead, thinking with the future, to better prepare our selves and our societies for the changes that are coming. Did any of us, on New Year's Day 2020 see what was coming and how it would change all our lives?   Many public health experts all around the world had been worried even before Co...

https://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/ Takeaways from the National Genealogical Society 2022 Conference NGS2022GEN Souvenirs This past week, I attended the NGS 2022 Conference, the first in-person event since 2019. Because everyone was vaccinated and masking was universal, I was comfortable attending. After hearing Andre Kearns' [1] keynote at the NGS Banquet Friday night, I am so proud to be an NGS Member, both personally and as Delegate for our Society. The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee [2] which Kearns chairs is doing the work necessary to come to terms with the exclusionary past of the NGS, and to begin instead to tell a far more complete story of our families' and nation's past. His story about searching his son's lineage back to 1619 and a free man of color was inspiring.  If Kearns could find those scarce, precious documents and prove that case, then there is hope for all of us researchers. If Harvard and Georgetown Universities can confront their p...

Helen Lewis, 1923-2017 The South King County Genealogical Society is thrilled to have the opportunity to honor one of our founding members by nominating her for the National Genealogical Society's Hall of Fame. Helen Lewis spent much of her genealogical career in service to other researchers, and because of this we believe she deserves to be in the national Hall of Fame.  Helen McGreer: Early Life Helen Irene McGreer was born 3 January 1923 in  Condon, Gilliam, Oregon. According to her obituary, She was raised on a ranch in central Oregon where running water was a hand pump on the back porch and lighting was provided by kerosene lamps. She walked or rode a horse to a one-room schoolhouse in Clarno, OR until 8th grade. She boarded with an aunt to attend high school, graduating from West Seattle High School class of 1940. - https://www.rentonreporter.com/obituaries/helen-irene-lewis/   Family and Professional Life After marrying Carl Lewis, an engineer with the I...

While the NGS Monthly is free, I've been going through these short to-the-point articles.  WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM? by Aaron Goodwin  put a point on the issue for me and how I've been doing research lately. Mr. Goodwin stresses setting up a standard: start your plan with a focused question based on known information. [1] What's the Question? I realize that while I have been posing some research questions, they may not be based on known information. So my first action is to created an extremely detailed timeline of Effie McBee's life, since my first question is about her last husband, Mr. Hunt, when and where they married and when and where he died. I think this is necessary to find out when and where she died. Her last known married surname and location is in her older brother's obituary: What Facts are Known? Effie was my great-aunt, so not a huge brick wall. I know who her one child was, and the descendants of that child. Still, I want to know when and where she die...