Saturday is the third and last day of the RootsTech 2014 Conference.
The second Keynote speaker on Saturday was Stephanie Nielson, who suffered the results of a plane crash that burned her over 80% of her body in 2008. Here's a photo of Stephanie at the podium:
What a beautiful and strong person she is! Her talk was the story of her recovery and resuming her life as a wife, a mother of four children, and a noted blogger. They had another child two years ago, and showed a video of Stephanie loving her baby. Stephanie has written a book Heaven is Here. She was interviewed by several media people in the Media Center, and signed her book for many other people. She told us that "It's how we deal with hard times that matters," and "Everyone has a story that needs to be told."This presentation were inspiring and heartwarming - please watch the RootsTech video when it is available.
Saturday is the third and last day of the RootsTech 2014 Conference.It started with two Keynote speakers - Todd Hansen (of The Story Trek show on BYU TV) and Stephanie Nielson (of the NieNie Dialogues blog). The Keynotes should be on the RootsTech.org website in the next week or so.Here is a photo of Todd Hansen of stage taking a picture of the audience:
Todd's presentation was about his career - he drops in on people at their homes and films their story. Then he shows the stories on his TV show on BYU TV. He showed many short videos of people telling their stories at their door or in the homes. Todd did a two-minute monologue on his life and family - working backwards in time from doing this talk to his work to his family to his parents to his grandparents to his immigrant great-grandparents. That sounds like a good blog topic!He encouraged us to take pictures and videos of our lives, and tell our stories, one at a time. Todd noted that "Everyone has an amazing story..." and you are important and need to tell your story." After all, what will you say when he knocks on your door?
On Friday, the second Keynote speaker was Dr. Spencer Wells. He started out with a genealogy puzzle - his name, which was Rush Spencer Wells IV. His grandmother told him about the Rush male who was his 2nd great-grandfather, a 2nd great-grandmother with the maiden name of Spencer, and four Rush Spencer Wells children followed. Here is a photo of Spencer Wells on stage:
Dr. Wells then took us on a whirlwind tour of The Human Journey through the eyes of a geneticist. The two basic questions are about origins and journey - how did the species occupy the earth. He went through basic DNA genetics, then into mtDNA and Y-DNA, and then showed the two sets of haplogroups that have been determined over the past two decades. He also discussed the Genographic Project, which consists of field research, public participation (DNA tests), and the Legacy Fund (85 grants to date for over $2 million).He finished up by noting that DNA testing is now in the public consciousness, and tests have increased in 8 years from zero to 1 million by the end of 2012, and we will soon have the 2 millionth test performed. The more people who test, the better the chances are of finding matches with other testers.
Friday is the second day of the RootsTech 2014 Conference in Salt Lake City. It started with the two keynote speakers - the first was Judy G. Russell (The Legal Genealogist).Here is Judy just after coming onstage, and her first slide that set the tone for her presentation:
As Judy noted, Aaron Holt of the National Archives said that "Oral family history can be lost in three generations." To demonstrate that, Judy asked questions of the audience about what they knew about their parents and grandparents - about 95% couldn't answer the first question, and nobody could answer all five questions. The first question was "What was your mother's first illness?"Here's a close up of Judy onstage:
Judy used three examples of how stories are obtained, analyzed and confirmed. Her first example was the Revolutionary War service of Richard Baker and his loss at the Battle of Trenton in 1776. The only record of his service and death with the 3rd Virginia regiment is a letter written home by his brother after the battle. Judy used this Baker family to demonstrate how family stories, and published genealogies can be wrong, and how to ensure that any story is correct. She painted a grand picture of the earlier Baker ancestry in Virginia, including a marriage to a Winslow that gave the family a Mayflower ancestor. Then she discussed how scholarly research disproved quite a bit of it. That led to the discussion of the Genealogical Proof Standard and how applying the GPS can help prove oral or written history. Finally, Judy told the fanciful family story about her great-great-grandfather, Martin Gilbert Cottrell. Family lore said that he'd been a cowboy in one part of Texas, a rancher in another part, a farmer, a sheriff, a traveling salesman and a preacher. She was able to find records that document each of those occupations in the different places that demonstrated that it was the same person.Judy noted that we must find the stories of ancestors, and document them well, so that we can pass those stories to our descendants. That includes "my story" too. If we don't, we will lose them in three generations or less.This was a superb, masterful performance by Judy. She always speaks clearly and forcefully, which I really appreciate and wish I could emulate.
This morning was the Keynote talks by Dennis Brimhall of FamilySearch, Annalies van den Belt of FindMyPast and Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman. Here are some photos:
Dennis discussed FamilySearch initiatives, and introduced Captain Jack Starling who came on and said "Dead men tell no tales...but their obituaries do." FamilySearch has plans to index tens of millions of obituaries because they contain stories and lots of names.
Annelies van den Belt is the head of DC Thomson, which includes FindMyPast. She discussed her own family history by way of introduction, and the FindMyPast vision for the future. She also announced the new FindMyPast mobile app for iPhones called "Capture."
The second keynote speaker was Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman, from Oklahoma, who started blogging eight years ago and now has thousands of readers, and her own cooking show on the Food Network. A blog success story! She talked about her own family history, her family, and her life as a celebrity blogger.
I took this photo of my good friend, DearMYRTLE on her iPhone (with her pink handheld attachment) so she could send it to J. Paul Hawthorne (who also has handheld attachment, as do I, courtesy of MYRT):
