Civil War Conference - Alliance, Nebraska - July 8-9, 2011

If you love genealogy and history, this is one conference you won't want to miss! The Heritage Seekers Society and the Knight Museum and Sandhills Center in Alliance, Nebraska are hosting a two day Civil War Conference on July 8th and 9th. Coming up soon!

Both of the You Go Genealogy Girls will be attending this one and we both will be presenting programs and classes! This should be an awesome conference and we hope to see all our friends there. We are excited to be part of this great Civil War Conference as we support our home town and it's great new museum. Come join us!!!

Titled "Remembering the Civil War...150 Years Later", this will be a premium offer for anyone interested in this part of history. We have been planning this conference for many months and it will be a first for our brand new museum facility. We have one of the finest new museums in the midwest and again, we invite all to join in our conference as we honor the Civil War Sesquicentennial and the memories of those who fought.

We are offering seventeen (17) educational, genealogical and historical presentations over the two days (lunch included both days) and you can attend all classes and presentations, no need to choose only a few. We will have many great prize drawings for attendees throughout the conference as well as huge bags of "goodies" for those attending. (Our first bag has filled all the way up with great giveaways and we are now filling bag two for each attendee--so it's an added free bonus! )  Everyone attending will get great handouts of the classes from several of our speakers so they can study again at home...as the learning never ends with a genealogist or historian! Our 11 speakers are all professionals and well qualified  in their field of study and will offer classes on genealogy researching as well as historical presentations for your enjoyment. This is a top quality conference and we invite everyone to contact us for more information.

To our local residents, your new museum is hosting this awesome event and we encourage you to support the facility and come see what is new!

Here is a sample of what we are offering along with even more...

Civil War research classes

History of the Kansas/Missouri Border Wars

Historical programs on Civil War quilts, along with a quilt show and a local quilt shop will display their wares.

Civil War character portrayals

Classes on the GAR and Lincoln's war time rule

Program featuring firearms of the Civil War........

plus much more! 

We hope to see you all there on July 8th and 9th for a great learning experience.
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For a 4 page copy of our brochure in PDF format, click on the word Brochure below. You can save and print it if you like. It takes a minute to load so be patient!

If the link fails, email me!
Brochure

Email me:   clchopkins@gmail.com  I will email you a copy of the brochure in PDF

Contact for more info:
Knight Museum and Sandhills Center
Alliance, Nebraska
308-762-2384
museum@cityofalliance.net

Are We There Yet?

Imagine trying to get to Greeley, CO on a frontage road. With YGGG #1 it happens. Yes, my granddaughter and I were traveling down I-76 at 75 mph when I saw a Highway 34 exit sign and did just that. After about a mile my granddaughter said, "Granny, you are heading back east again." No, not me!! Finding another point to turn around and go back where I had made my exit, I ended up on a country road at a farm house. It happens!

Finally, I found the road that should have taken me back to I-76 in order to locate Hwy. 34 WEST. Instead I ended up on a frontage road. We traveled the frontage road along side I-76 for miles. The only thing I knew was that I was heading WEST in the same direction as everybody going to Denver.

After a while I began to panic. Pulling into a horse trailer place, I asked directions. Go a bit further. Whew ... at last we were on our way to Greeley. After a quick lunch we headed toward the Embassy Suites where we are attending the Family History Expo. Missing the road we needed to the hotel, we found another road. Yes, we were there!!

Last night we decided to go to the Cracker Barrel to eat. After winding through rotary circles and one way roads, we managed to locate FOOD. Leaving there posed a problem as I took a road that took me back to the Cracker Barrel. If there is a way in, there has to be a way out. Right? Eventually.

Are we really here? I think so! Reminder list ... purchase a GPS!

YGGG #1 Ruby

On the Road Again

On the Road Again is my theme song. While YGGG #2 is home working on the Civil War Conference details, I am off in Lil' Red lecturing at Family History Expos.

A great time was had by all at the Family History Expo in Rapid City, SD on Saturday the 16th. I drove home Sunday in non-stop rain from the Black Hills to south of Alliance where YGGG #2 lives. Once home, tired and wanting to go to bed early, the sirens announced a possible tornado near North Platte. My shelter is my walk in closet. I sat down and read while the sirens roared. Everything was south of town, but eventually the rain began to pour buckets here. It's been raining off and on since. If any of you have kept up with news reports, North Platte's bulging North Platte River does not need rain added to it.

I unpack, do laundry and pack again. Day after tomorrow my granddaughter and I will set out for Loveland, CO to attend the Family History Expo. I will present two classes on Saturday. It is exciting to be with genealogists. I listen to their frustrations and stories and try to offer suggestions. My hope is that they do not procrastinate, but go home and put their new ideas to work.

Once home I can unpack for a longer amount of time until I leave on July 6th for the Civil War Conference in Alliance, NE. I will be presenting three lectures at the two day event on July 8th and 9th. It will be a great learning experience ... conferences allow genealogists to learn and share.

There is still time to register for a Family History Expo. Check out their schedule. You can still register for the Civil War Conference in Alliance, NE. Don't miss out on the fun.

You Go Genealogy Girl #1 ... Ruby

We are home and planning a busy summer...of conferences

The girls finally arrived back in Nebraska this week after a tiring but fairly successful trip to the Family History Library. Both of us have mounds of papers and digital scans to work at getting organized, some of which will wait until fall when life slows down a bit. We should consider our trip at another time of year when we can come home and hibernate for the winter with all our precious finds, but we will get through it all and organize our treasures as soon as possible. Girl #1 has started going through hers and I simply organized mine so that when I get time to work on my papers I won't be lost as to what is what and goes to whom!

I acquired a wonderful little "bug" while in Salt Lake, so as we made our way home the trip was slightly longer with extra stops but we made it and even managed a couple shopping stops with purchases to add to all our baggage and junk. Both of us came with several new books for our libraries!  Now that we are home we can turn our thoughts to the busy schedule of travel, vacations and conferences coming over the summer.

Civil War Conference, July 8-9- Alliance, Nebraska

  Number 1 will be speaking at several of the Family History Expos during June and July and she will travel with Holly Hansen and Arlene Eakle to those venues. Family History Expos offer educational genealogy classes at reasonable prices and many are planned in various communities allowing for easy access to them. I will vacation with Go Hubby, help with the planning for our local conference and work on my lectures that are upcoming. Both of The You Go Genealogy Girls will be  among the presenters for the two day Genealogical and Historical Civil War Conference that will be held at the Knight Museum and Sandhills Center in Alliance, Nebraska on July 8-9. "Remembering the Civil War...150 Years Later " has been in the planning for many months, with noted academic speakers and genealogy specialists as our featured speakers. We are offering 23 programs and classes over the two days with attendees able to take in every class if they choose. This will be a very special conference for Nebraskans and visitors from surrounding states. The girls are looking forward to a wonderful time during this outstanding conference which will be sponsored by our genealogy/history Society, The Heritage Seekers, and our beautiful new Knight Museum and Sandhills Center.

Join us if you can for any of our conferences, we would love to have you!

For information on the Family History Expos, click here.

For information and a downloadable 4 page brochure on the Civil War Conference in Alliance, Nebraska on July 8-9,  click here.

You Go Girl #2--Cheri

Goodbye, Farewell, Adios

It seems we arrived yesterday, but our two weeks are up and so we say goodbye to Salt Lake City and the Family History Library. YGGG #2 and I have had a marvelous time, not just in the library but walking and exploring the city. It is a beautiful time to visit Salt Lake City. The days have been slightly cooler than normal, but comfortable. The flowers are showing off their colors and our breaks from the cranking of microfilm or reading books have been enjoyable.

We have learned about ancestors and learned about the living. People from all walks of life come here to do research. That is best understood when you visit floor B-1, the International floor, at the library. There the Spanish, Swedes, Norwegians, French, Germans and others are all in a cluster and chatter. The mission? Discover and learn about our roots and beginnings.

I have had several people ask me if I'm having good luck. Of course! I consider negative searches as good luck ... I won't go there again so I'll move on to another source or possibility.

One question comes to mind. When doing your research, do you stop and think about what you are seeing? As I cranked microfilm yesterday in German records, my thoughts were on the people going to the church to get married or having their infant baptized, then returning to their homes. They were living, breathing people at the time. As ancestors we tend to isolate them and think of them as something special. To us they are special, but when they were alive, they were among many others just as ordinary people. Spend a little time thinking about your ancestors. You'll learn more than what is on the printed page.

Adios Salt Lake City ... turning Lil' Red east this morning. See you again sometime.

You Go Genealogy Girl #1 Ruby

Visiting Ancestors

Kimball family monument

Heber Chase Kimball 1801-1868

part of the Kimball monument

Wednesday we took our daily break and went for a walk a few blocks north of the Family History Library to try and locate the grave site of Heber Chase Kimball. I am related to him on my Mother's side of the family, of course back a few generations! We were wondering if he was to be found by the directions we had but when we came across the Heber condominiums we figured we had to be close. There was a narrow brick walkway between two buildings that went back behind them all to an old family burial plot of the family. It was really quite a picturesque little place with the look and feel of a small park. Very beautifully kept as are all the church grounds.

What an unusual place it was to find right in the middle of a City, surrounded by homes and renovated condo buildings. That was the final resting place of Heber Kimball and several of his wives and family members, marked by one large monument to honor them all. Heber Chase Kimball was an early part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints and one of the early Presidents of the Church. The town of Heber, Utah is named for him. He was born in 1801 and died in the Salt Lake City area of the early Utah Territory after an illustrious career and life with his church. The museum which is next door to the Family History Center has several personal items of Heber on display too so it was quite interesting to see those as well as to visit his burial site.

While I am not of the Mormon faith, the Latter day Saints have an extremely interesting and honored history and "The You Go Girls" really enjoyed our little day outing when we learned more about our family and payed respects to our ancestors!

more pretty Poppy flowers!

We topped off our little adventure with a nice lunch at the Nauvoo cafe in the Joseph Smith Memorial building and soon were back at the library hard at work as there are many more ancestors yet to be found.

Today we are joining our friends Becky and Carol, fellow GeneaBloggers for lunch.....so watch for reports soon!

You Go Genealogy Girl #2--Cheri