You’ve heard from me each day of the Northwest Genealogy Conference in Arlington, but what about comments from some of the nearly 400 other attendees? Here are a few:

My favorite class was the Facebook class (Solving Genealogical Mysteries with Facebook’s 10,000+ Links by Katherine Willson). It really opened the world to me — and all the free stuff out there.

Everyone is so friendly and this conference is so well organized.

During the Facebook class, I got on my computer and found my Dad’s stepsister — right during class! She’s part of a family group page, so I’m reaching out to her. What a great class!

Diahan’s presentation on her mother’s adoption story nearly brought me to tears.

Best thing about this conference? Meeting up with my high school friend after 52 years!!!

Daniel Earl’s humor was the best! Laughing while learning!

This conference is so well-run. So many topics and speakers!

I like meeting all the people and talking about our mutual interests.

My favorite classes were the DNA ones.

My favorite class was “Apprentices, Indentured Servants and Redemptioners: White Slavery” with Peggy Lauritzen (personal note: just about every class was someone’s favorite)

 

Dressing up like your ancestor was pretty fun!

Day 2 of the conference was “Dress as Your Ancestor Day” and, oh, what fun! Such imagination everywhere we turned! I saw a Swiss Miss, Southern Belle, Scandinavian gal, Scottish couple — even an Egyptian queen with a camel teeth necklace! Next year, I’m going to join the fun!

Yes, that’s Daniel Earl dressed as his Viking ancestor.

Our keynote speaker was the very funny Daniel Earl from Michigan. He kept things entertaining with his lively delivery and humorous quips. I didn’t think his first lecture, “A Place for Caroline: a Case Study on Eastern European Immigrants” would interest me as I don’t have ancestors from that region. But, no……he kept my attention the whole hour and I learned a few things along the journey. What a great presenter!

Our honored guest Kenyatta Berry

I again was in a quandary which two workshops (out of the 13 offered) to choose. Such a wonderful dilemma! Finally decided on “Too Many Marys: Solving Identity and Same Name Conundrum” with Jill Morelli and Michael Strauss’s “Descendency Research: Another Pathway to Genealogy.” Both great classes. Picked up some great hints and approaches to bust down my brick walls with Daniel Murphy and Patrick Ryan (and their sons and grandsons with the same name).

One of the highlights of the conference was the evening banquet. We got our first experience with Kenyatta Berry, tomorrow’s keynote speaker. A TV star to us genealogists, she took us “Behind the Scenes at the Genealogy Roadshow.” She was so engaging — we all had lots of questions for her. Looking forward to her presentations tomorrow!