Four of Each

I've been tidying up my hard drive and found this that I posted on Facebook a year ago. Thinking that my descendants might find it interesting in the future I am posting it here where it will be backed up on Pandora.

A few days ago my genimate Paul Milner indicated that these four genies might respond to the statements below: Michael Leclerc, Diane Loosle, Jill Ball, Paula Warren. I was so pleased to see myself lumped in a group with those geneastars that I had to respond. In comparison my life is rather tame compared with Paul's.

Four places I’ve lived:
1 Potts Point, NSW, Australia
2 Vaucluse, NSW, Australia
3 Maroubra, NSW, Australia,
4 Bronte, NSW, Australia (all four a stone's throw from Sydney's harbour and beaches)

Four places I’ve worked:
1 Student nurse, Randwick, NSW, Australia
2 Librarian, Waverley, NSW, Australia
3 IT Guy, Dee Why, NSW Australia
4 Medical Receptionist, St Leonards, NSW, Australia

Four places I’ve been:
1 Nuuk,Greenland
2 Iles du Salut (Devils Island)
3 Murmansk, Russia
4 Havana, Cuba

Four things I love to eat:
1 Cheese
2 Prawns
3 Smoked Salmon
4 Australian or NZ lamb

Four People I think will respond:
1 Brenda and Charlie B
2 Pauleen Cass
3 Sharn McDade White
4 Caitlin Gow

Four favorite drinks:
1 Diet Coke
2 Champagne
3 Cafe Latte
4 Sparkling Mineral Water

101 Reasons to Attend #congress_2018 - Paul Milner

Paul Milner, one of the standout presenters at the 2015 Congress in Canberra, brings a depth of knowledge and polish to his presentations. I particularly enjoyed his 2015 lunchtime presentation in which he proffered tips for genealogy presenters. What a shame it wasn't filmed!

Read down this post to see what Linda had to say about Paul.

Paul and his wife Carol Becker love Australia and are looking forward to visiting our shores once again but not as much as those of us who have heard him present previously are anticipating learning from him.

Carol and Paul made friends with three Australian sisters prior to Congress 2015.

Paul's presentations at the 2018 Congress include:
B.12: English Research: Seventeenth century sources and indexes

C.2: Plenary session – English Research: Eighteenth century sources & indexesC.16: Ireland’s Griffith’s Valuation: Using the tables and maps

D.11: Scotland’s Old Parish Registers: access, use and

Plan to arrive early as these will be very popular.

An In-Depth Look at the ‘Big Four’ Records of English Research

My mate Paul Milner who was one of the standout speakers at the recent Genealogy Congress in Canberra has emailed me with details of some webinars he will be delivering.

I can recommend Paul as a knowedgeable and engaging presenter. Full details can be found on Paul's website. The topic for these presentations is "An In-Depth Look at the ‘Big Four’ Records of English Research."

				News: UPCOMING Virtual Institute – An In-Depth Look at... Paul Milner – Presenter for the Virtual Institute UPCOMING Virtual Institute: “An In-Depth Look at the ‘Big Four’ Records of English Research” By Paul Milner 30 M...
				View on www.milnergenealog...	Preview by Yahoo

AFFHO Congress Presenter Interview - Paul Milner

When is an interview not an interview? Perhaps when you are having a pleasant day out with friends.

Mr GeniAus and I had a Pre-Congress Social Day out with AFFHO Congress presenter,  Paul Milner and his wife Carol Becker yesterday.

We tried to not to talk about genealogy etc because our spouses (who don't admit to being genies) were along for the ride to the beautiful Blue Mountains. At times, during our 11 hours together the conversation did turn to geneachat and Paul kindly responded to my questions.

Paul indicated that he loves Australia and was thrilled to have an opportunity to be able to address a new audience at our national event. Paul has plenty to share, he is not having difficulty with what to share in his sessions but in what to delete from his talks so that he can adhere to the 45 minute session time limit at Congress. I have heard Paul speak on a previous Australian tour and an Unlock the Past Cruise and can attest that he has lots of knowledge to share. Paul's presentations are packed with information and he is an excellent presenter, he will be giving 5 talks at Congress so do try to get along to hear one or two.

Paul, as a conference attendee, is pleased that he will have an opportunity to hear presenters from the UK and local speakers that he does not have an opportunity to hear in the United States. Paul, like many Americans, also has ancestor ties to Australia and feels a areal affinity with our country.

Paul was pleased to tell me that local publisher, Unlock the Past, have published several of his books and that they will be on sale from the Unlock the Past booth at Congress. I'm sure Paul will be happy to sign any of his titles that you purchase there.

Paul and Carol have allowed themselves time to explore NSW before and after Congress and are looking for advice on places to visit particularly in and around Canberra, The Snowy and the South Coast so if you know of some local hidden gems please do find Paul during Congress.

Our first stop Blaxland Riverside Park was a huge success, Carol had read about it in a landscaping magazine and was keen for a visit.  Thankfully the weather there was just overcast.

Blaxland Riverside Park

We had a fun but frustrating day when we reached our destination, the Blue Mountains to the west of Sydney, the weather just wasn't cooperating.At Echo Point The Three Sisters and the Jamison Valley were shrouded in obliterated by mist, Paul and Carol bought a postcard so they would know what they should have seen.

The Three Sisters came out for a few minutes to greet Carol and Paul

While at Echo Point Carol was excited to a Banksia and I was pleased to see the Road Builders' Memorial that I misssed on my last visit.

Blue Mountains Banksia

Road Builders Memorial

After our lunch break at the Paragon in Katoomba which was a hit my hardy co-travellers managed a walk to the Leura Cascades with its beautiful display of ferns. Our drive home was punctuated by a yummy dinner at The Red Spoon at Top Ryde.

A Room at The Paragon, Katoomba

While Paul and I enjoy Congress I think that Mr GeniAus and Carol are going to fit in some sightseeing - I do hope the weather is kind to them.

Back in the saddle

All set for a whitewater rafting expedition in Mexico

After a wonderful eight weeks travelling around Bermuda, The Bahamas, North and Central America with a transit of the Panama Canal thrown in I have come down to earth (there are a few reports of this on the jillballau blog). The bags are unpacked, the clothes have been washed and put away and I have settled back into my domestic routine.
Bahamas

Although it was mostly a holiday I had a few family history moments. Firstly there was the Rootstech Conference in Salt Lake City where we had a ball meeting up with many of my online pals. Being able to use the Familysearch facilities to record a series of interviews with people at the conference was a great learning experience. I am sad that I won't be at Rootstech next year because I had made a commitment to speak on the 4th Unlock the Past Genealogy Cruise.

In Chicago we were treated royally by genealogist Paul Milner and his wife Carol. I was in seventh heaven when Paul invited me to his basement - it is a real treasure trove that contains Paul's comprehensive genealogy library; I could have spent days there. In Boston Heather Rojo and her husband Vincent took us out and about. Being in the company of Heather, a Mayflower and Civil War descendant, as we toured around historic sites north of Boston made our excursion more meaningful. Heather wrote a delightful report, Familiar sights through foreign eyes, of our visit.

Our next stop was New York City where we got on the trail of Mr Geniaus' 3x Great Uncle, John Gowans. We were able to find his house in NYC and final resting place (together with several family members) in Green-wood Cemetery and the probate papers for Anna Regina Bouton, John's widow. These gave us names of more family members and further clues to follow up.

Being written up on the Familysearch blog was a lovely surprise that preceded a nasty one came in the form of a blog post by a blogger not chosen to be an Official Blogger at Rootstech. This blogger criticised myself and the other bloggers chosen by Rootstech to act as their Official Bloggers, this attack was unwarranted and hurt not just me but others maligned in the post. Dear Myrtle's response to this person sums up my feelings. I am bouyed by Maria from Australia's comment on Amy Coffins blog post "If someone treats you like s*!t, just remember that there is something wrong with them, not you. Normal people don't go around destroying other human beings". Thanks, Maria.

Karaoke Queen

After our New York excursion we indulged ourselves in holiday activities but these did include a Terry Bishop in which our scant knowledge of history was expanded in an entertaining and informative way.
series of lectures on board Seven Seas Navigator.

So what's on the agenda for Geniaus? I have a couple of talks to give this month and a few planned for the future. I need to indulge in a bit more CGD by enrolling for a few webinars and attending some talks; I have a book to write before the end of the year and a journal article due in tomorrow; I am working on two projects at my local historical society that should keep me busy for eons; and,  when I have time, I might even do some personal research and tidy my study.

I do realise that life must have balance so I will be having a short holiday in Europe at the end of next month where I will watch my granddaughter perform and create future family history in The New Prague Dance Festival.

Touristing takes over

 As we were in port today genealogy education took  back seat to touring in Noumea. For those who are wondering about my non-genealogy activities please see my jillballau blog post: http://ballau.blogspot.com/2013/02/noumea.html.

At 3:50 pm I was set up and ready to present my Gadgets for Genealogy talk but thought I may not have an audience as the room was nearly empty but when 4:00 arrived a healthy group had gathered. As this was a small group of only about 20 I was able to ditch the microphone and prance around the room interacting with my fellow learners. I really enjoyed the collaborative nature of this talk and thank those who chimed in with suggestions and anecdotes.

Visiting US lecturer Paul Milner was again our after dinner speaker. Paul shared "Tips & tools for navigating the English Probate system"; it is a benefit that Paul is such a lively, engaging and knowledgeable speaker as, after a relaxing dinner and full day of tourist activities, many of our group are in danger of nodding off.

Our departure from Noumea has been delayed for 24 hours so we will only be having two lectures again tomorrow.

Our ship moored in Noumea

Tuesday at Sea

The tally of talks I attended today was five, I listened to three and presented two. Additionally I spent a session in the research help zone where I shared some tips on how to access genealogy blogs, gave some tips on research in Western Australia (about which I know little) and organised for Neil Bradley from Western Australia to meet up with the enquirer to give  more informed help.

I sat down the back for Shauna Hicks presentation on Trove as I think I have a good handle on this topic. What I find valuable in these instances is seeing what approach other presenters take when approaching a topic. Shauna emphasised the use and value of tagging in Trove more than I do - something I will consider for the future. As always this talk was well structured and full of great tips.

Shauna Hicks

It was double whammy from Paul Milner today, his morning session " Buried treasures - what's in the English Parish Chest"  reminded me that many of these records are available on microfilm from Familysearch. Before I set off for Salt Lake City next month I must draw up a list of films for Mr Geniaus to search while I am at Rootstech. After dinner Paul presented "English Parish Registers: how to access, use and interpret" was a good followon to the earlier talk.

Paul Milner

I felt more relaxed in my presentations and basked in the positive reinforcement I received after "Google tools for Genealogy" and "Geneagoogling: Effective Google searches". These sessions were great fun; I especially valued the contributions I had from fellow geneabloggers Alona Tester and Linda Elliott.

Keen students ready for my talk

Paul Milner

Louis Kessler has an impresssive family tshirt

The more you know...

...the more you realise you don't know.

That is the case for me after the first day of lectures on the Unlock the Past cruise. I have learnt of many new resources and databases and have been reminded of resources that I can revisit.

My day started with the computer technician who, after spending nearly half an hour trying to get my laptop that only has an HDMI connection to talk to the older projectors on the ship that only have VGA connections, said "Your computer is too modern for this ship." We tried two other connectors (belonging to passengers) that should have fixed the issue but that did not work.

In two of my presentations later this week I had intended doing short slideshows followed by live demos of software. As no-one else has the software (or my data) I will have to prepare a series of screenshots to show the potential of the packages. I am glad I found this out four days before these gigs so I have time to revise my talks.

In his first talk on migration Paul Milner referred to Ravenstein's Laws of Migration which I found quite illuminating. He suggested that we look at our ancestors' migration in the light of these 11 laws. Sydney author and genealogist, the lively Carol Baxter, talked to us about tracing your ancestors in NSW while speakers in other rooms covered the other states. Carol reminded us of the various indexes to NSW BDMs and other resources that are available.

I have used government gazettes in my research and they have added meat to the bones of my dry data. Rosemary Kopittke reminded us in her talk of the breadth of information in "Australian government, police and eduction gazettes".

I loved Linda Elliott's talk with the intriguing title "What to do with the body: a Victorian solution". Linda took us on a tour of London's magnificent seven cemeteries that wer established in the mid 19th century. Linda gave us the history of the cemeteries and shared details and shared details of the location of the burial records in a talk illustrated with many photos.

The graveyard shift was mine. I found juggling a hand mike, a remote control and the mousepad on a foreign computer when I presented "In spite of my fumbling I must have been okay as, after the talk, I received invitations to speak at future events. 

Paul Milner at Hornsby

Paul has attendees enthralled as he shares tips for Scottish resesrch in the Unlock the Past Seminar this morning.

Scottish seminar in my town

I'm rather excited that a major Australian genealogy event is coming to my town on February 9, 2013..

Paul Milner

Unlock the Past have announced that they will be hosting a Scottish seminar at Hornsby RSL featuring Paul Milner a professional genealogist, lecturer and author, specialising in British Isles research for over 30 years. Paul was born and raised in northern England and settled in the US in 1975. He is an internationally recognised speaker on British Isles research and migration.a professional genealogist, lecturer and author, specialising in British Isles research for over 30 years. Paul was born and raised in northern England and settled in the US in 1975. He is an internationally recognised speaker on British Isles research and migration.

As I suggested Hornsby as a venue to the organisers I hope the event is a success. I hope to meet  many of my genimates at the event. 

Hornsby's railway station is only a couple of hundred metres walk from the Hornsby RSL and there is parking available at the Club and the Westfield shopping centre that is over the other side of the railway line. 

Being a rail hub Hornsby is convenient for people from all over Sydney, the Central Coast and the Hunter. Outside peak hour it is a pleasant drive from the Northern Beaches area and for those from Parramatta the CDC Metrobus runs regular services from Parramatta via Castle Hill to Hornsby (please check schedules). 

With a great international lecturer and such a convenient venue I expect that Hornsby RSL will be overrun on 9 February by hordes of genealogists. 

I'll see you there.

Full details and registration : http://www.unlockthepast.com.au/events/british-isles-genealogy-seminar-tour-paul-milner/sydney