A Look Back at Ancestry Day in Kansas City

  I've been spending the past few days here in the Kansas City area enjoying the Ancestry Day event sponsored by the Midwest Genealogy Center. I'm one of the lucky ones who were invited by close and dear friends that not only welcomed me into their home but is also feeding and entertaining me. Thank you Kathleen and John, I must not forget Sheba who is one of the sweetest dogs I've ever had the pleasure of licking my plate clean.

     For those of you who were not aware this event let me recap on come of the specifics. Independence, Missouri’s own Midwest Genealogy Center is hosting this wonderful event for Ancestory.com, hence the name Ancestry Day. It is supposed to be a wonderful four day event starting on the 14th of March lasting thru the 17th of March.   

     They had a wide verity of speakers during this conference starting on Thursday with Ellen Miller, Angela McComas, Kathleen Brandt (who is taught two classes), and Beth Foulk. I attended all of the classes and assisted in the two classes taught by Kathleen.  I’m happy to say that I at least learned something new in each class and had a fun time interacting with those who attended.

     Friday came around and there were only two classes which were fine because some of us had some research to do on our own.  Jolene Clark and Beth Foulk were the presenters on Friday and both of their classes appeared to be full.

     So far I've attended two days of events and I've found there to be some useful information for all levels of genealogist and family historians.  On Saturday I sat in on the Ancestry Day event that I must say was quite large with 1,000+ attendees. The guest speakers were Anne Mitchell, Lou Szucs and Janice Schultz from Ancestry.com. They not only shared different techniques on using their web site but also shared some personal experience of their own on the road to discovering their family’s history. I recommend that you take time to play with the site if you currently have it and find all the interesting search tools, there are many,  if you don't have access to it at home then take a trip to your local library.

     Then came the final day, and all good things must come to an end.  It ended back at the Midwest Genealogy Center on Sunday.  The final presenters for the Ancestry Day event were   Beth Foulk, Cynthia Shiverly and Angela McComas.

     Now as I’m sitting here in the KCI airport piecing together my post on this event there are a couple of things that keep coming to my attention. For those who asked the question, “I don’t even know what that means?” they were able to receive an answer, which is always nice.  Attending genealogy conferences are always helpful in some way, you might get the answers to some nagging questions, meet others who have the same passion in genealogy as you and you always have the chance to make new acquaintances and friends. I’m glad to say that I’ve accomplished all.