A Day at the Georgia Archives

Yesterday I had the opportunity to spend an afternoon at the Georgia Archives for an all-day genealogy workshop. There were several sessions going on throughout the day, but I opted to attend the Basics of Genealogy session. I've attended many basic/intro genealogy classes in the past, and can remember one instructor urging us to continue to periodically attend beginner's classes for two reasons:

1. To always keep basic principles fresh in your mind 
2. You can always learn more 

This is definitely true. 

The class yesterday was basically from 9am-5pm. It was indeed a day's work. Hey, you've got to put in work if you want to be good at what you do, right? The instructor covered basics such as where/how to gather sources, how to record that information and references on how to properly to cite sources, filling out ancestral charts and group charts, and lots of other helpful information. We even had time for document analysis and a round table discussion with all of the instructors for the day! We also discussed a couple funnies such as:

1. "Family Hoarders" - Relatives who gather family information and refuse to share it with anyone else in the family.
2. It has been stated that conservatively speaking, we each have 60,000 living cousins - Can you imagine that?!

It was so great to meet and connect with other individuals in the class - some who had been doing family research for years, and others who were just beginning their family history research journey. I think the youngest person in the class was a teenager, so it was great to see someone so young taking an interest in capturing their family history. 

My takeaway is going to be studying maps of areas where my ancestors lived. I hate reading maps (I may have to save that story for one Family Friday...lol). I was also inspired to search (again) in some of the special census' for a few of my ancestors who seem to have disappeared (smile).

I found out about this event through a local genealogical society in my area. Link up with some genealogical societies/groups in your area to see what events are being offered in your area. 

I want to give a huge thanks to the Georgia Archives for putting this event together!!! Click here for a link to the Georgia Archives website to stay updated on what they have going on. By the way, the National Archives is located next door to the Georgia Archives! Jackpot!!!

Happy Searching! :-)