Update from GRIP

I'm behind with posting but with good reason. Yesterday's classes were Intense. Yes, with a capital "I" and they were also Interesting, Informative and Mentally Exhausting.

I was up late last night (as were most other classmates in the Advanced Research Methods with Tom Jones). In addition to a full day of classes yesterday (please go read Chris Staats' post about yesterday's classes and wish him a belated happy Anniversary while you're there) we had a homework assignment. We had no idea how hard it was going to be, but that look of glee on Dr. Jones' face when he gave us the 8-page handout should have been a clue!

I do enjoy a challenge but this was something else. There were abstracts of 16 tax lists, 3 census records, 12 deeds, 4 wills, 2 guardian records, 2 marriage records, and a Revolutionary War Pension affidavit that we had to review, analyze, and try to determine the father of a man from 5 other men with the same surname!

But before tackling the homework I decided to attend the presentation by Rick Sayre on Pennsylvania Research, which was good but he quite a bit of time on Pittsburgh records. I would have liked to have heard more about statewide records.

After returning from the presentation, I spent 4 hours working on the homework assignment. At that point, I still hadn't reached a conclusion but my head was hurting and my eyes were burning so I turned in for the night. Less than half an hour later an idea popped into my dull brain and I "had" to get up and work on the problem before I lost my train of thought. Yes, the answer had come to me. A short time later I was back in bed sound asleep. I didn't even hear the storm that came through that many were talking about today.

I worked on the problem for another hour (consolidating my thoughts and trying to come up with some idea of how to "defend" my conclusion) before heading off to class. Dr. Jones went through the list of possible fathers, one at a time, asking those who thought it was a particular man to raise their hand. When he got to "William" the hands of about 2/3 of the class shot up. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach since he wasn't my choice! When the name of the one I had chosen came up only 3 of us raised our hands.

A minute or so later, Dr. Jones announced that there were 3 "A" students in the class! I had gotten it right! To say that I was ecstatic is an understatement... So, I'm giving myself a little pat on the back and tooting my own horn a bit too. I must say, it felt awesome.

It's been another full exhausting and enlightening day, and we're almost caught up with the syllabus. Tomorrow is the last day with only half a day of classes. It's been an amazing experience and I am so glad that I was able to come.

I'm sure that Chris will be blogging about today's classes as will classmates Shelley Bishop at A Sense of Family and Christy Webb at the Geeky Texan. Also Denise Levenick, the Family Curator, has also been blogging about the Intermediate class she is taking.

This will likely be the last post from GRIP... I've got to get busy on the homework for tomorrow...

GRIP :: Day 2 of Classes

Tuesday - July 24th - This was our "variety" day.

First up was Tom Jones with Transcribing and Abstracting documents. I've done more than a little transcribing of wills and deeds but now realize that I haven't always been doing it quite right. The main thing is to take your time and refer to helpful references for unfamiliar terminology.

One of the recommended references was the 4th edition of Black's Law Dictionary. Why the 4th edition? Well, after that edition was published in 1967 the next and subsequent editions had to purge some of the old terminology to make room for the new! A paper copy of one of the earlier editions may be hard to come by and rather expensive. If you Google "black's law dictionary 1st edition" you'll find several online versions. This site has links to the individual pages that have been scanned, but also has a full download of the scanned version - but be aware that it is a very, very, very large download.

Abstracting documents has always been rather tough for me. It's hard to decide what to leave out, especially when the document has rather colorful spelling. But it really comes down to eliminating the non-essential terminology to get to the basic information it provides. Dr. Jones said "If in doubt, leave it in." It isn't an exact science although there are some "rules" to follow.

After a short break, Claire Bettag, talked about Archival Research highlighting the differences between an Archive and a Library and the types of collections they have. She also discussed the how you find materials in each - Libraries have Catalogs and Archives have Research Guides that define the various record groups and what they contain. Of course, there was far more to it than just that!

The first session after lunch gave us Rick Sayre on Military and Pension Records. Then Clair came back to discuss various types of Government Documents (aka "Gov Docs") and where to find them. And we got our first homework assignment... thankfully it wasn't difficult.

As if a full day of classes wasn't enough, I went to the "Google Earth" presentation by Rick and Pamela Boyer Sayre. It is pretty incredible what all can be done with it. If you have a chance to see their presentation, I highly recommend it.

And, it all begins again... another full day awaits.

GRIP :: Day 1 of Classes

Today was greeted with anticipation and trepidation - it was the first day of classes. After returning to campus last night, I tried to get some sleep as Dr. Jones had recommended but sleep wouldn't come. After tossing and turning for a while I decided to read the syllabus for Monday's class. I'm glad I did, it helped.

Dr. Jones started the class off by saying that there was a schedule for his talks - four of them for today - but by the end of the day we would be behind schedule. And, boy, was he right about that! He also said that by the end of the week all material in the binder would be covered so we won't miss anything! And there will be homework starting tomorrow (it's optional but highly recommended).

After a round of introductions - who we where, where we were from - the work began.

The first segment was all about Knowledge. Terminology was explained and examined and discussed. Examples were shown. Exercises were completed. Minds were confused. It was all about the building blocks of research: Sources, Evidence, Analysis, Correlation, Hypothesis, Conclusions, Case Building, Proof.

It was amazing how quickly the time passed. It was interesting to see how everyone approached the questions we were asked and how the answers to the same question were different.

Lunchtime came around and we hadn't even gotten through the handout for that first session. Can you say intense?

The afternoon continued with the terminology and examples and exercises. We also made it through the second handout about developing research questions and hypotheses. By the end of the day, I was mentally exhausted and physically tired. I decided to forgo the evening workshop on writing a family history and returned to my dorm room after supper.

The "plan" was to read the handouts for tomorrow's classes but weariness won out and I laid down for a short nap. Two hours later I woke up. I still haven't read all of the material for tomorrow but it's time to get some more sleep!

GRIP :: Check-in Day

After an uneventful 335 mile drive, I arrived at La Roche College early Sunday afternoon. The directions provided and numerous signs posted on campus made it easy to find the check-in station. I was greeted with smiles and laughter as I walked into Bold Hall.

I was a bit early and couldn't get into my room right away so found a chair and took a quick look at the course notebook for Thomas Jones' Advanced Research Methods. That first glimpse made me wonder just what I had gotten myself into! The 3-ring binder was jam-packed with syllabus material and handouts.

A short time later they began giving out room keys. By the time several trips had been made out to the van and back to the room, I was drenched in sweat. The humidity and heat was almost unbearable. Thank goodness the dorm rooms are air-conditioned. The facilities are nice. Nothing fancy but nice. A bathroom, a refrigerator, a microwave, a desk to work at, a chair to sit in, a bed to sleep in and internet access. What more do you need?

Supper-time rolled around quickly and I found my way to the classroom. The campus of La Roche College is small - the dorm is across a small parking lot from the building that houses the classrooms and cafeteria. Close together and convenient.

When we checked in we were given color-coded name tags. The various colors indicated which class you were attending. Advanced Research Methods was coded yellow. I saw a number of yellow-tagged individuals waiting for the cafeteria to open and introduced myself. Welcomed into their little group, I joined them for supper.

Later in the evening I saw the familiar faces of Shelley Bishop and Denise Levenick. There was a short meeting after supper then Denise and I decided to explore the area a bit. We spent an hour or so in a little "pub" getting caught up on everything and just chilling out before the challenging week ahead.

I should probably mention that Tom Jones was in the cafeteria line just in front of me. At one point he turned around, smiled and said hello. I responded with a smile and the first comment that popped into my head and came out of my mouth was "I'm afraid of you!" and I laughed. He smiled pleasantly and said "You're in my class?" We chatted briefly about the homework. His advice to me was "Get a good nights' sleep!" then as he turned and walked away he smiled broadly and chuckled.

It's going to be a very interesting week!

Quiet Time? Not Really!

It's been quiet here at kinexxions for the past two weeks. Not because I haven't had anything to blog about. Quite the opposite, actually.

The hunt for Hoffman descendants was "interrupted" somewhat by several inquiries from other researchers and the news that I'd be attending the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP) the last week of this month.

A descendant of Christian Rupert shared his family information with me. I, however, had no additional information to give to him. Christian was listed in the 1820 census in Columbiana County, Ohio. Initially, I had thought he might be related to John Rupert (my 5th Great Grandfather) and he may well be, but we don't know how, though he is probably not a son of John since he wasn't mentioned in John's will. Christian Rupert married Mary Stuller in 1818 in Columbiana County. By 1832, they had moved to what would become Auglaize County, Ohio and by 1840 they were in Carroll County, Ohio.

Then there was a descendant of Christian Hoffman who contacted me, thinking that his Christian was the son of Michael Hoffman (my 6th great grandfather). This Christian was of the right age, had enlisted in "April 1776" in the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment. A later deposition states that he enlisted in May or June of 1777 at Easton in Northampton County, Pennsylvania in the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment. In 1819, under the name of "Christian Hoofman" he filed a Revolutionary War Pension application (S38042) while living in Pendleton County, Virginia.

However, there was also a pension file for another Christian Hoffman who was also of the right age and who enlisted in "August 1775" in a company in the 12th Regiment Pennsylvania Line. This Christian Hoffman filed for a pension (S39752) in 1818 while living in Berks County, Pennsylvania.

According to The American Revolutionary War website, the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment was organized in June and July 1775 and consisted of 9 companies from Cumberland, Lancaster, Northumberland, Northampton, Bedford, Berks and York Counties.

The same site shows that the 12th Pennsylvania Regiment was authorized on August 23, 1776 in the Continental Army as the Northampton and Northumberland Defense Battalion, and actually organized between September 28th and December 18th 1776 at Sunbury and was to consist of 8 companies from Northampton, Berks, Cumberland and Northumberland Counties.

Since both men enlisted in Regiments from the same area of Pennsylvania and there was little personal information other than their ages and names of their wives, the pension applications provided few clues as to their nativity. Without additional research, there is no way of knowing if either man is a son of Michael Hoffman. Since Christian isn't my ancestor I didn't pursue the matter any further. Hopefully my correspondent will continue his quest and come up with a more definitive answer.

But the most recent contact was, for me, the most exciting. An email from a descendant of Jonathan Smith Dunfee who was the brother of my 3rd great-grandfather, William Hamilton Dunfee, didn't get me back any further on that line but it sure filled in some blanks on his branch of the family! He also shared some wonderful family photos - more on those in future posts - and I was, happily, able to give him some new information too.

I've also been reading the articles Dr. Jones sent for "prep" work for GRIP but really do need to spend some time STUDYING them. And since I'm going to Pennsylvania I'm hoping to be able to take a few days afterward for on-site research. However, I'm quickly running out of time....

GRIP is on the Agenda!

On the morning of Tuesday, February 7th I was among those eagerly awaiting the chance to register for the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh, aka GRIP. As I refreshed the computer screen at the appointed time, the link appeared and I began the registration process.

The Thomas Jones course, Advanced Research Methods, was my goal. But within two minutes of the registration process the screen locked up. And it just sat there. And I got frustrated. I backed out one screen and when I returned to the screen I had been on there was a message that the "event is currently unavailable". Really? After just a few minutes?

A message was immediately sent to "the powers that be" and yes, the course really filled that quickly. Did I want to be put on a waiting list? Well, yeah. So I've waited. Without much hope that more than one person wouldn't be able to make it.

Today I received an email telling me that I was still on the wait list and asking if I was still available to attend if a seat should happen to open up. My response was a yes! Less than two hours later another email told me that one spot was open in Mr. Jones' class and my name was at the top of the wait list!

So, I'm going to GRIP! And I'm excited - especially after being able to attend all four of his sessions at NGS in May. And I'm nervous - hoping that I haven't gotten in over my head with this. And it's just 2 1/2 weeks away! Wish me luck, eh?

Who else is going to GRIP? Which course are you taking?

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Updated July 26th: Read about my experiences at GRIP!