Conferece Call With Lisa Kudrow

This past Friday I had the opportunity to sit in on a media conference call with Lisa Kudrow, one of the executive producers of Who Do You Think You Are?

Through the course of the thirty-five minute conference call, various people from the genealogy and entertainment media asked Lisa about the upcoming season.

Although I requested a copy of the transcript, I'm still waiting.
What I want to share with you from the conference call is based on my notes, and may not be word for word questions and responses. 

Q: Will there be an expansion of the season, with more episodes?

A: Lisa replied more is better.

Already the show has expanded from 7 episodes in season 1 to 12 episodes this season.

Q: Will WDYTYA have a US genealogy conference, or presence at a conference?

A: Although they have been invited, Lisa said they are not sure if they want to participate just yet.

Q: Thomas MacEntee of Geneabloggers asked a question with regard to the use of DNA, and was there any focus on that on the show.

A: Although there was no direct focus about DNA testing on the show, Blair Underwood has taken a DNA test.

Q: Why is genealogy so important to the immigrant experience?

A: There has been little or no information passed down from the immigrants said Lisa. This was due to the hardships they suffered in the Old Country. They wanted to forget about their old lives, and focus on their new lives.

Lisa said the celebrities do get caught up in wanting to find out more information about their families for their mom or dad.

Q: I asked Lisa "How much of the research do the celebrities do themselves?" A: Lisa responded that it depends on the celebrity's own interest, and what information can be found.

One main researcher is assigned to each celebrity. These researchers are usually history majors who reach out to other local experts for assistance in locating information and records. The more engaged the celebrity is, the better the episode.

Q: How long is the research process?

A: Lisa said it really depends on the ancestry of the celebrities. Blair Underwood’s went fast. However, researchers for both Rob Lowe and Marisa Tomei have been working since Season 1.

Q: Dianne Haddad of Family Tree magazine wanted to know what has been the biggest improvement on the show?

A: Getting rid of the video montage from Season 1, answered Lisa.

With only 40 minutes per episode, the montage wasted valuable time. 

Also, according to Lisa, this season has more history of events to give better context of the times and circumstances with which the ancestors were living.

When WDYTYA first started in the US, celebrities were a bit apprehenisve about being on the show. They were worried that the show just wanted to dig up dirt about them. Now that they know what WDYTYA is about, Lisa says celebrities such as Blair Underwood, are asking her to be on the show. There is now a waiting list.

Q: Are there any big reveals this season?

A: Some of the stars don't know what's coming. Blair and Reba have big reveals, shared Lisa. Actually they all reveal something, they're all good, but those two are the biggest.


Who Do You Think You Are, Season 3 cast:
Martin Sheen, Marisa Tomei, Blair Underwood, Reba McEntire, Rob Lowe, Helen Hunt, Rita Wilson, Edie Falco, Rashida Jones, Jerome Bettis, Jason Sudeikis and Paula Deen.
Episode One, Season 3 airs this Friday, February 3rd on NBC and City TV.

Copyright by Kathryn Lake Hogan, 2012.

It's Family History Season

Ask any sports fan what is their favourite season, and their response will likely include the name of their favourite sport. For the past few months, it's been football season in my household. Fortunately, that is coming to an end with the Super Bowl in just a few weeks.
My favourite season is Family History season. It started this week and will run through until the end of June.
Some of you might be confused as you have never heard of Family History season, and you may be thinking that I am making this up. Let me assure it is real. Signs of the season include annual genealogy institutes, television shows, conferences and seminars.


The Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy is usually the first offering of the season, and kicks off two weeks of genealogy education and fun in Salt Lake City, Utah. This year's institute ran this past week (23-27 January), and has those of us at home slightly green with genea-envy.
This is followed by the Association of Professional Genealogists' Professional Management Conference, 1 February 2012.
Next is RootsTech 2012 running from 2-4 February.
This two-week period has every serious family historian wanting to be in Salt Lake City instead of warmer climates in January and February.


For those who enjoy curling up on the couch in front of the television, family history season continues through February and March with two series. Who Do You Think You Are?, Season 3 begins Friday, February 3rd with Martin Sheen on NBC in the US, and on CityTV in Canada.
Already the genealogy community is buzzing about this year's season of celebrities. Some of us will be taking part in a media conference call with Lisa Kudrow today, and with Martin Sheen on Monday. I am excited to be a part of this.
The week-end of March 24-25 brings the MidWest Geneabloggers Get-together in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This promises to be a mix of serious research during the day at the Allen County Public Library, plus lots of fun and socializing in the evening.
Also at the end of March, PBS will be airing another season of Faces of America with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. This year, Gates is hoping to discover the identity of his 4th great-grandfather who is believed to be Irish.


Later in the spring there is the National Genealogical Society Family History Conference in May. June is jam-packed with the Ontario Genealogical Society Conference (the largest family history conference in Canada), the Southern California Genealogy Society Jamboree, and Institute of Genealogical and Historical Research.


These are some of the events planned for Family History season. Still can't get enough family history? Be sure to visit the GeneaWebinars site for webinars you can enjoy at home.


Yes, it's my favourite time of year. It's Family History season!


Copyright by Kathryn Lake Hogan, 2012.

Surreal Reinfection

     If you have ever been bitten by the genealogy bug, then you will understand the light-headed, giddy feeling of finding a new line of ancestors, followed by the incessant drive to find out more.


     For the past five years, I have been helping my friend, Sue Taylor* with her family history. We have found quite a bit of information about her mother's family going back to the early 1800's. However, her father's family was a mystery. Sue's parents never married. Her biological father, Nate Clark* vanished shortly after she was born. Sue's mother married another man, and his family became 'dad's side of the family'.
     Although Sue never wanted to meet Nate, she wanted to know where she came from. All she had was Nate's name and an address from the early 1990's. Sue didn't even know if Nate was his given name or a nickname. Sue's mother had no more information about him. No names of siblings or parents.
     Past Internet searches on Nate revealed nothing. The only other thing we had to go on was a family group page that I found about six months ago on Facebook. Sue's paternal surname is unusual enough that we knew we had the right family. Some of the people who were posting comments looked like Sue. This was her family, but how did she fit into it? Sue didn't have enough information about Nate's line of the family to post any inquiries. So, we decided to leave it alone.


     This past week-end I installed a new genealogy software programme on my computer. One of the features is its capability to search online databases from within the programme. For some reason I decided to play around with Sue's family tree. When I entered Nate's name into the search engine, it returned the name 'Nathaniel' and an address. The entry was from a city directory from 1992. The location matched the address we had about Nate. This was him!
     In that instant the genealogy bug bit me again. I was reinfected. When my family asked what was I doing all week-end, I told them "Leave me alone! I'm busy researching." Occasionally, they would hear shouting from my office, as I was relating my finds to Sue over the phone. We were so excited!
     The entry in the city directory had other names of Nate's family. When I entered those names into the genealogy database search engine, Social Security Index entries were returned, revealing that Nate's family was from Alabama. What else could I find about Sue's newly found paternal line? I had to find out. I couldn't let it go. Even while I was doing errands, dining out, and attending church, all I could think about was Sue's family.
     Forty-eight hours after I began my search for Nate, I had researched back to Sue's 3x great-grandparents. A distant cousin had posted an email address on the family group page on Facebook. Sue emailed them and got a response! She now has a paternal family of her own. When I asked her how she felt about this, Sue responded "All these years I never knew anything about them, and in the course of a week-end we've got names, dates and locations. It feels a little bit surreal."

*Names have been changed to protect the privacy of living people.


Copyright by Kathryn Lake Hogan, 2012.

Answering the Challenge or Double-Dog Dare 2012

At the beginning of the year, I read a blog post from Sheri Fenley, The Educated Genealogist about Answering the Challenge or Double-Dog Dare. Last year, Sheri teamed up with Cheryl Palmer of Heritage Happens. They were answering the challenge of Amy Coffin of The We Tree Genealogy Blog, and Denise Levenick, The Family Curator. They have has once again double-dog dared the geneablogging community.


Sheri, Amy and Denise, I accept the challenge! I have teamed up with Lynn Palermo, The Armchair Genealogist.


Yesterday, I met with Lynn via Skype. We spent the better part of an hour getting to know each other, discussing family history, and making plans for the challenge. We have decided to individually post our goals for 2012, guest author each other's blogs, and meet once a month via Skype to see how we are doing. We are planning to meet in person later in the spring.


While Lynn and I were discussing the challenges, I thought to myself how nicely this was putting into action my three words for 2012. Here are my Double-Dog Dare goals for this year:


Organization
Continue moving, and organizing the contents of my old office into the new office.
Transfer and update my personal genealogy files from Legacy Family Tree to Family Tree Maker 2012 for Mac.


Research
Finish researching and documenting my lineage to my ancestor, John Ryckman of Barton Township.


Writing
Submit an article to a genealogical publication.
Publish my own ebook based upon my research experience and knowledge about Canadian genealogy.


Now I am passing along this challenge. I double-dog dare you to team up with another family historian, post your goals for the year, and blog about your progress. Let's see how many of us accomplish this challenge.


Copyright by Kathryn Lake Hogan, 2012.

Plan, Practise and Joy Are My Three Words for 2012

Happy New Year 2012!

Last year instead of posting resolutions, I posted My Three Words.
Here is a quick review of how I did.

Invest
I did well this year in investing not only in my immediate family but with close and distant cousins. I have successfully made contact with a number of cousins overseas and in the US. I am excited about these connections, and will be blogging about them and our common ancestors in 2012.

Grow
2011 was certainly a year of growth for me personally, and professionally.
I completed the three professional goals I had set for myself in 2011:
1) ProGen Study Group. What a terrific programme! The information I learned has been valuable, and the connections I made with other genealogists has been priceless.
2) Institute for Genealogical and Historical Research. I completed the course Genealogy as a Profession. Learning from the best professional genealogists in the business certainly helped me to grow professionally in the last six months.
3) Professional Learning Certificate in Genealogical Studies from the National Institute for Genealogical Studies. I successfully completed the General Methodology Certificate, the Canadian Research Certificate, and the English Research Certificate.

Share
Through blogging, networking with other family historians, and genealogists, as well as connecting with cousins, I shared my knowledge of family history, and my ancestors during 2011.

My Three Words for 2012

Plan - I want to make better use of my time this year. Taking the time to plan each day will help me stay focused, and make the most of the time I have for work, family and play.

Practise - To take all those things I have learned in the past twelve years of doing family history and continue to put it into practise by researching, speaking, blogging or sharing on a daily basis.

Joy - To find the joy in life everyday. Yes, even on those no-good-totally-awful days. I don't want to be just a "happy" person; I want to be a joyful person.

What are your three words for 2012? Leave me a comment or a link with your three words.

Copyright by Kathryn Lake Hogan, 2012.