On the Horizon!

My time in the Crescent City is almost over, and I’m not gonna lie, I will be so sad to leave! The food, the live music, the architecture, the weather (I basically skipped winter this year!!), the history – I’ve had so much fun exploring this place. Plus, as you know, being down here has been both a great opportunity and a great motivator for researching the Southern branches of my tree. I haven’t gotten to them all – my mom’s maternal roots in Georgia, specifically – but I made some real progress!

From my other blog, ARunsAway.tumblr.com

From my other blog, ARunsAway.tumblr.com

But even though I’m sad to go, I have some great opportunities to look forward to in the next few weeks and months.

• Before my official farewell to New Orleans, I’m taking another quick trip to Alabama. When else will it be so easy for me to see my newfound cousin and meet more of my extended family? To walk some more of the ground my ancestors walked? And to access more of the records they left behind? I’m taking advantage of my geography!

• I won’t be heading straight home to Philadelphia from New Orleans once it’s time to go. Instead, I’m stopping over in Fort Lauderdale for a few days at the beginning of May. While there, I am SUPER excited to be attending the National Genealogical Society 2016 Family History Conference. Being a successful family historian means always learning and this conference is chock full of useful sessions and interesting topics to help me get better at this passion project of mine.  I’ll get to learn about strategies for solving genealogical mysteries and overcoming brick walls, to focus on topics and challenges specific to African American research, to hear about new and new-to-me resources for historical data, and to pick up ideas for sharing research with family and friends. My nerd meter is at an 11, y’all.

• Next, in July, I'm heading down to my mother’s maternal family reunion on the family land in Georgia. I’ve been to reunions for this branch before, but never down in Georgia and I am SO excited to see the deeper roots of this part of my tree. I will absolutely be documenting my trip and will hopefully also get in some interviews with family members, and maybe a trip to the local county courthouse. (That’s a lot to cram in – we’ll see what happens.)

I’m playing around with some other ideas – I have a trip to reschedule to interview my mom’s oldest brother, among other things – so I may end up doing even more in the next few months. Of course, all this travel is only possible right now because I’m still in the midst of my year off of work, and I do have some more international travel goals, so I’m balancing several desires here.  

In any case, stay tuned for posts about each of these experiences, as well as my continued explorations into the people, places, and events that make up my – our – family tree!

And, as always, if you have a picture, story, document or memory you think I'd like to know about, please share!