OGS Conference 2017

At the induction banquet for First Families Of The Old Northwest Territory

The Ohio Genealogical Society's Annual Conference was in Sandusky this past week.  It started on Wednesday evening and ended Saturday night.  I worked all week but ran up there on Friday evening and started in with my workshops early Saturday morning with a 7:40 am registration in order to make an 8 am workshop.  All the workshops I attended were excellent.  I began with "Ohio Research" presented by Dana Ann Palmer.  She presented an informative primer of where to find what kind of Ohio records for which time frames. Then at 9:20 am I listened to Kip Sperry explain "Migration to and Settlement in the Western Reserve of Northeast Ohio".  He was very knowledgeable  of the repositories located in  Cleveland and surrounding areas sound and he explained what type of information were available in each of them.  He also shared websites and an extensive  bibliography.  At 10:45 am Michael D Lacopo mesmerized us all with a presentation called "Medical Genealogy: A Primer of Diseases That Killed Our Ancestors".  He covered the major causes of death by disease of the past.  I was fascinated.  After a leisurely lunch 2 pm found me listening to Drew Smith's workshop called "Your Ancestor's FAN Club:  Using Cluster Research to Get Past Brick Walls" which was a very clear presentation about how to tap in to indirect evidence.  I plan to order his book eventually - which can be found HERE.   My last workshop was at 3:20 pm and was titled "Finding the Hidden Manuscripts of the Ohio River Valley" presented by J. Mark Lowe.   This was the most advanced workshop I attended and I can't wait to study the syllabus in more detail and to try out the search techniques he advocated.  When the workshops were completed I was able to rest up for a couple hours before the induction banquet for the new lineage society of the OGS - see the details HERE.  The dinner really was nice.  

After a good nights sleep and before driving home I stopped in at Rutherford B Hayes estate and toured the house and the museum.  I was also able to check out the library.  More information can be found HERE.  

It was a very nice weekend.   I look forward to a few years in the future when I will be retired and will have more free time and can attend the entire conference instead of just one day.   Next year the conference is in Columbus and I am looking forward to whatever time I can spare to enjoy the event.