Our Journey When you take the first step of a journey, you never know what's around the next corner, or where you will end up. For millennia, people have made pilgrimage a part of their life-plan. According to  Books: A Living History by Lyons [1] Pilgrim's Progress , published in English in 1678, has been translated into over 200 languages and is still in print  [2] . So this is a oft-used metaphor and we still take literal journeys which may be pilgrimages to the home places of our ancestors, or retracing their migrations. There is something profound and important about seeing those places now, and experiencing a bit of what those who came before saw and felt. I will never forget visiting the churches that my second-great-grandfather Cowan would have worshipped or traveling over the hills where he herded sheep as a boy.  Some of our journeys are more based on education and practice than travel. Barbara Mattoon has written some wonderful posts about educatio...

By Barbara Mattoon  Last week I discussed learning opportunities available through your local society, and Structured Learning opportunities available through academic institutions and Institutes.  This week I’ll explore Conferences and Seminars, Research Trips and Self-Guided Learning. Conferences and Seminars A myriad of conferences and seminars are available.  One of the largest is the National Genealogical Society Annual Family History Conference.  It features a different theme each year and is in a different location.  The 2019 Conference will be held 8 – 11 May in St. Charles, Missouri.  The Conference theme is “Journey of Discovery”, charting the course of American pioneers as they migrated to the Louisiana Purchase and the Northwest Territory.  It will feature 150 lectures and there will be opportunities to visit more than 80 exhibitors in the exhibit hall.  Hotel reservations opened August 15 and conference registration ope...