The opening session of the O.G.S. Conference always features a keynote speaker who sets the tone for the Conference. This year it was John T. Humphrey of D.C. He is very involved with Germanic research. He also authored the 14 volume set of Pennsylvania Births. He is currently working on WW II genealogical records of interest to German and U.S. researchers. His opening topic was "Developing the Skills to Become a Genealogist." The message that immediately caught my attention is that there are those who are "doing genealogy" and those who have become genealogists through the development of years of research. Recognizing assumptions, developing skepticism, understanding records, assembling data and recognizing a variety of records from which data can be obtained were a few of his points. He also discussed developing the skill to recognize the object of the search, the skill to assemble data and think analytically, personal skills and recognizing that the genealogist has to become hardened to criticism. One way to avoid criticism is to document all sources thoroughly and carefully and to keep text as error free as possible. He agreed that no matter how hard we try, every book will eventually render a mistake or more. Dogged determination and a positive attitude will help us find our answers. He also used an example of hunting for an ancestor for 30 years in which he found two possible wills. One was incorrect for several reasons and the other he eliminated because the ancestor had signed with an x and he had earlier documents where he signed his name. I remembered reading once that people sometimes used an x because if they were new to America, they felt safer not signing something they really did not understand. BUT in this case, after years, John rethought his position and realized that in the will the ancestor in the beginning paragraphs was listed as weak and feeble. It turned out he had the correct will all along and that the ancestor was too weak to sign his name. Henny Evans

Interesting....thanks for passing on. -----Original Message----- From: Henny Evans [mailto:hcevans@eurekanet.com] Sent: Saturday, April 23, 2005 9:09 AM To: OHGALLIA-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [OHGALLIA-L] Report on opening session of O.G.S. Conference...delete if you have no interest The opening session of the O.G.S. Conference always features a keynote speaker who sets the tone for the Conference. This year it was John T. Humphrey of D.C. He is very involved with Germanic research. He also authored the 14 volume set of Pennsylvania Births. He is currently working on WW II genealogical records of interest to German and U.S. researchers. His opening topic was "Developing the Skills to Become a Genealogist." The message that immediately caught my attention is that there are those who are "doing genealogy" and those who have become genealogists through the development of years of research. Recognizing assumptions, developing skepticism, understanding records, assembling data and recognizing a variety of records from which data can be obtained were a few of his points. He also discussed developing the skill to recognize the object of the search, the skill to assemble data and think analytically, personal skills and recognizing that the genealogist has to become hardened to criticism. One way to avoid criticism is to document all sources thoroughly and carefully and to keep text as error free as possible. He agreed that no matter how hard we try, every book will eventually render a mistake or more. Dogged determination and a positive attitude will help us find our answers. He also used an example of hunting for an ancestor for 30 years in which he found two possible wills. One was incorrect for several reasons and the other he eliminated because the ancestor had signed with an x and he had earlier documents where he signed his name. I remembered reading once that people sometimes used an x because if they were new to America, they felt safer not signing something they really did not understand. BUT in this case, after years, John rethought his position and realized that in the will the ancestor in the beginning paragraphs was listed as weak and feeble. It turned out he had the correct will all along and that the ancestor was too weak to sign his name. Henny Evans ==== OHGALLIA Mailing List ==== Please keep your topic related to genealogical research in Gallia County, Ohio.