NERGC 2019 Interview ~ Shellee Morehead

The 15th biennial New England Regional Genealogical Consortium conference will be held in Manchester, New Hampshire, from April 3-6. Visit the website for all the conference information and register before February 28 to get the early bird discount! For those of you in New England, this is the best, closest conference you'll get a chance to attend. This will be the third NERGC conference that I have attended and I'm looking forward to it!

Several New England Geneabloggers have been invited to interview some of the speakers and I have the pleasure of sharing my interview with Shellee Morehead, Ph.D., CG®.

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Elizabeth Handler [EH]: What got you interested in genealogy and how long have you been doing it?
Shellee Morehead [SM]: I’ve been interested in genealogy since my teens, and have been doing research about 20 years, and been professional about 8.

[EH]: Your bio says that you are an assistant professor in Biological Sciences. How has this helped you learn about genetic genealogy?
[SM]: Actually, I was a biologist long before there was such a thing as genetic genealogy. My doctorate is in evolutionary biology and I was using DNA sequencing, and phylogenetics before the first Nat Geo project. For me, having a background in molecular biology, phylogenetics and population genetics has helped me in highlighting the key things for people new to genetic genealogy to focus on. It can be overwhelming, so I like to start with the basics.

[EH]: What is your favorite genealogical subject to teach and why?
[SM]: That’s like asking which is my favorite child! (I only have one child, so it’s OK.) I like talking about DNA, and the GPS mostly, but the ethnic stuff is next on my list.

[EH]: I see that one of your NERGC presentations is “Don’t Panic Yet: Citations for Beginners.” Without giving away your presentation, what one or two suggestions do you offer about citing our sources?
[SM]: Do it as you research! And it doesn’t have to be perfect, just get it done.

[EH]: When did you become a Certified Genealogist? How has this helped you as a genealogist?
[SM]: I was first certified in 2012 and renewed in 2017. It helps in a lot of subtle ways; I always have learning and improving in the back of my mind, knowing that renewal is not that far away, so it keeps me growing as a researching and trying to improve my report writing and speaking.

[EH]: Living in Rhode Island, can I assume that you have attended NERGC in the past? What are you most looking forward to at NERGC 2019 (besides enjoying the company of hundreds of other genealogists)?
[SM]: I started at NERGC in 2009, so this will be my 6th conference, my 5th as a speaker. I love seeing people I don’t get to see often enough, I like rooming with my cousin, and meeting new people. I love the special interest groups, society night and I really enjoy volunteering at the Ancestors Road Show, lots of interesting questions come in then.

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Shellee will be teaching the following sessions:
"Don't Panic Yet: Citations for Beginners" (Thursday, 4:30-5:30)
"Another Kind of Navigation: GPS for Genealogy" (Saturday, 8:30-9:30)
"DNA Solves a Mystery: Hamiltons in Colonial New England" (Saturday, 4:45-5:45)

I have also interviewed Elissa Scalise Powell, CG®, CGL, and Schelly Talalay Dardashti at my other blog, A Jewish Genealogy Journey.

Am I going to see you at NERGC? Let me know in the comments.

NERGC 2019 Interview ~ Elissa Scalise Powell

The 15th biennial New England Regional Genealogical Consortium conference will be held in Manchester, New Hampshire, from April 3-6. Visit the website for all the conference information and register before February 28 to get the early bird discount! For those of you in New England, this is the best, closest conference you'll get a chance to attend. This will be the third NERGC conference that I have attended and I'm looking forward to it!

Several New England Geneabloggers have been invited to interview some of the speakers and I have the pleasure of sharing my interview with Elissa Scalise Powell, CG®, CGL.

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Elizabeth Handler [EH]: What got you interested in genealogy and how long have you been doing it?
Elissa Scalise Powell [ESP]: I have been doing genealogy over 30 years. I began when we lived in Massachusetts and I stopped working to be at home with my young children and wanted to update the family history I knew about that had been published in 1892. I am still not done with that one as one thing led to another and I found that as I took on clients, I spent less time on my own family history.

EH: Your bio says that you are a Pennsylvania researcher. Did you gain your initial experience by researching your own ancestry in the Allegheny County area? (Readers of my blog will know that my maternal grandmother has many ancestors and relatives in Allegheny County. This was my “excuse” to attend the FGS 2017 conference in Pittsburgh.)
ESP: I actually have no one in Allegheny County historically, although some collateral branches from Washington and Westmoreland counties and Altoona (Blair County) have found their way to Allegheny. I specialized in my home county and the surrounding area because I lived here. In the B.C. era (Before Computers) one would have to hire a local research to do “boots on the ground” research that can now commonly be done online. Even now, there are specialized non-digital collections that need someone to actually visit and research. Clients also need someone to lead their research through the tangle of records they can now find, but don’t understand and can’t analyze.

EH: From your website, I see that you enjoy teaching. What are your favorite genealogical subjects to teach?
ESP: I love to teach how to do genealogy and see the light bulbs and excitement grow as each student becomes infected with the genealogy bug. I like to share my passion for recording and telling the stories of our ancestors. I like to help people break through brick walls. What is a brick wall to one person is a stepping stone for another. I like to give my audiences the benefit of my 30+ years of experience so that they don’t commit the mistakes I made – they can commit their own. (smile)

EH: You have been coordinator and director of a couple of Institutes. For those who are not familiar with what an Institute is, can you provide a brief description. (I would love to find a week to attend one.)
ESP: An institute is different than a conference in that at a conference, such as NERGC, you pick the topic you want to see each hour and they can vary widely in content and subject. At an institute you pick one course and attend it for 5 days in a progression of learning on that one topic, whether it is Irish Research or Advanced Strategies for Success in New England or DNA or writing or methodology (all of which are being offered in June at the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh – GRIP). Institutes offer high quality courses from the instructors whose blogs and books you are reading with hand-on experiences. You not only interact with the instructor but with your classmates who have also chosen the course because of their interest in the topic. Sharing information at an institute (and to some degree at a conference) not only happens in the classrooms but also in the hallways and at meal times. You never know when someone will say something that will help you break through that brick wall problem. People find institutes to be great fun with a lot of camaraderie as you learn about your classmates throughout the week. For more information see Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh/What is an Institute? 

EH: When did you become a Certified Genealogist? How has this helped you as a genealogist?
ESP: I was first certified in 1995 and have been successful in my renewals every 5 years since. I was president of the Board for Certification of Genealogists 2012-2014. Being certified has attracted serious clients who are willing to pay for professional genealogy services from someone who has been tested and endorsed as working to standards.

EH: Have you attended NERGC in the past? What are you most looking forward to at NERGC 2019 (besides enjoying the company of hundreds of other genealogists)?
ESP: I have attended NERGC several times in the past. They always do a great job of putting together a first rate conference with nationally-known speakers and quality presentations. I enjoy the variety of topics not offered everywhere and concentrating on New England. I enjoy the exhibit hall and talking with the vendors there. The specialty day ahead of the conference is also a great way to get some specific education aside from the one-hour lectures at the conference. I am teaching one of those workshops, “From Research Question to Report: The Process” where we will take the research process apart step-by-step and go through the “Writing as You Go” method (a term which I think I coined).

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Elissa Scalise Powell, CG®, CGL, (read about certification here) will be teaching the following sessions:
"From Research Question to Report: The Process" (Wednesday Workshop, 9:30-11:30)
"Deeper Analysis: Techniques for Successful Problem-Solving" (Thursday, 1:30-2:30)
"Thinking Outside the Index: Advanced Search Techniques" (Thursday, 4:30-5:30)

Let me know in the comments if you're planning to attend NERGC.

See Elissa's website at Powell Genealogical Services. 

The Grandparents of My Grandparents

Dana at DanaLeeds.com and Jen at JenGenX Files both recently wrote blog posts to answer the question:

How many grandparents did their grandparents likely know?

This question intrigued me and I decided to figure it out while also looking for photographs of my grandparents when they were children.

PATERNAL GRANDFATHER, CHARLES MCALPIN PYLE:

Paternal Grandfather, Charles McAlpin Pyle

Charlie was born in 1893. He knew three of his four grandparents because they were all part of the same social circle in New York City and Morristown, New Jersey:
   James Pyle died in 1900, when Charlie was six and a half.
   His wife, Esther Abigail (Whitman) Pyle, died in 1921, when he was 28, two years after Charlie married.
   David Hunter McAlpin died in 1901, when Charlie was seven and a half.
   (His first wife, Frances Adelaide Rose, died in 1870.)

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Orramel Chapin ~ Boarding House Keeper

Because I'm still trying to determine the parents of my third great-grandmother, Susan Rood (see Susan Rood Chapin ~ A Challenging Ancestor), I am going back to look more closely at any and all records that I have for her and her family.

Since I wrote about the family's westward migration at Orramel Chapin Moving West Part 1 and Part 2, I have found a couple of additional pieces of information about Orramel Chapin, my third great-grandfather, who married Susan Rood in 1816.

I knew that he was in Hartford, Connecticut, in the 1830 U.S. census, in a household with a total of nineteen, ten of whom were men between the ages of 20 and 29. This puzzled me until I recently discovered a Hartford City Directory at Ancestry in the U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 database. It listed "Chapin, Orramel, Boarding house, front 71."

That explains the additional people counted in his household.

Hartford City Directory, for 1828 (Hartford: Ariel Ensign, 1828), p. 21;
digital images, Ancestry (https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=2469 : accessed 22 January 2019).

By the time of the 1840 census, he was in Chicago, Illinois, with thirteen in his household including six men between the ages of 20 and 29, who didn't fit into the family as I knew it.

Lowell Copeland Lived in a Church

It recently occurred to me that I had never looked for my great-grandfather, Lowell Copeland, in a city directory, which is a genealogical source that can provide different information than a census, a vital record, or a newspaper article, and if you're lucky, you can find an ancestor in consecutive years and see if there are any changes.

As I have previously shared at Grandfather's Occupation, Lowell Copeland was living in New Trier, Cook County, Illinois, between 1900 and 1920 and all three of his children were born there. By the time of the 1930 federal census, he was living in Michigan City, Indiana.

Lowell Copeland appeared in Chicago City Directories from 1897 to 1902, where he was listed as Asst Treasurer, Sullivan Machinery and resided in Winnetka. He appeared in the Evanston City Directory (living in Winnetka, a nearby suburb) from 1912 to 1922. 

Some time between 1922 and about 1926, Lowell moved to Michigan City, when his information might have been collected for the following year's city directory. His entry is in a gray rectangle in the image.

Caron's Directory of the City of Michigan City, Ind. for 1927-1928 (Louisville, Ky: Caron Directory Co., 1927), p. 131; digital image, Ancestry.com (https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=2469 : accessed 10 January 2019).

His name was Lowell Copeland; I'm not sure why the middle initial T appears here; his son (my grandfather) was Lowell Townsend Copeland.
Ethel M. (Greeley) Copeland was his wife.
His occupation was pur agt: purchasing agent for the Sullivan Machinery Company, which I wrote about at Grandfather's Occupation.
Lowell and Ethel lived at 614 Franklin. Well, the first thing I like to do when I see an address in a city directory is to search for it on a map.