Roots Television | Megan's Roots World

Just wanted to give a heads-up that this blog will likely be silent for a couple of weeks while my family and I pay tribute to my mom. When we lost her a couple of years ago, we learned that her one travel regret was that she hadn't taken a Baltics cruise. Mom was well traveled, having been to all the continents, but we wanted to do something about her Baltics wish. So nine of us are going and taking a little of Mom along with us.

I imagine that in this day and age, it's probably quite possible, if not downright easy, to get some blogging in from Estonia, but honestly -- I'm not planning on it. Just planning on hanging with the family, getting a little R&R, and doing some exploring. So see you in a couple of weeks!

Here's another one of my history-mystery cases I did for my Found! column in Ancestry Magazine. This one involves some sleuthing I did for Bob Velke's father-in-law, trying to track down the family of a member of the honor guard that served at JFK's funeral:

Where Is the Honor Guard?

Megan will present "Trace Your Roots with DNA," "Reverse Genealogy: Techniques for Finding Your Lost Loved Ones," "Introduction to Ancestry.com" and "Cases That Made My Brain Hurt" for the Surrey Public Library. The event will be held at the Surrey Arts Centre, 13750-88 Avenue, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, V3W 3L1. Hope to see you there!

You might have noticed that I haven't been blogging quite as often as I used to. Well, in one sense, I've actually been doing a lot more than I used to, but unless you're on Facebook, it wouldn't be that apparent to you.

Since I began playing with Facebook earlier this year, I've just found that it's an even easier way to share info than conventional blogging. For instance, if I'm in the middle of something, but get a google alert about something I think is really cool, I can simply snag the URL and pop it on my "Wall" in Facebook in seconds, whereas I'd have to stop, sign in, write, make links, etc. in my usual blogging environment (admittedly, not one of the friendlier ones out there).

Because it's so darn easy, I do it -- and my Facebook profile reflects that with plenty of recent postings that I didn't have time to write about in my blog. Better yet, any postings I make here in my blog are automatically pulled into my Facebook profile, so folks can read my blog and all that other random stuff in one place. I also tend to snag videos and other content in Facebook as well, so it's more comprehensive.

So bottom line is that I will continue conventional blogging (as well as my newsletter), but if you'd like to read more or be more up to date or see what else has attracted my attention in the genealogical world, join Facebook (it's free, but you have to register) and invite me to be one of your "friends." Then you can view my profile and the genealogical mash-up I have going there any time you like.

. . . here's the answer.

Entertainment Goes Extra Mile

This grant was made in the form of a donation to pay for Social Security application requests stemming from the Unclaimed Persons group (now over 300 volunteers) on Facebook, created to help coroners locate relatives of identified persons for which no next of kin has been found. The group was a spontaneous outgrowth of the Unclaimed Persons series recently launched on RootsTelevision.com.

A couple of weeks ago, I spoke in Mandeville, Louisiana to the St. Tammany Parish Genealogical Society and the National Knowles/Knoles/Noles Family Association. While I was there, organizer Rob Noles set up an interview with Carroll Devine, a journalist with The Times-Picayune. Even before reading this, I was looking for an excuse to head back to Louisiana, but now I'm even more gung ho! A thousand thank you to the kind folks who came to my day of talks. Hope to see y'all again soon!

Expert has riveting take on genealogy

About a week ago, when I was speaking at the banquet at the Southern California Genealogy Jamboree (pencil it into your schedule for next year now!), I had an unusual experience. By the time I joined a bloggers panel the following morning (which, BTW, was blogged while we were still talking about blogging), Craig Manson (aka GeneaBlogie) had already blogged about the previous night, along with -- I have to say -- one of the kindest reviews of one of my talks ever. Among other things, Craig said:

"Megan's story of the search for Annie Moore may be the single most interesting discussion of solving an historical mystery that one may ever hear." (Thanks, Craig!)

At any rate, if you read the following, you'll find the incident referenced at the end:
More Jamboree

Since then, several others have blogged it as well, so I thought I should offer my version of events! In a nutshell, what happened is that the battery pack from my lav mic went down my slacks while I was speaking! I didn't discover until I got up to speak that the hook was missing, so I tucked it in as best I could and hoped for the best.

I made it a fair way through the talk when my left leg started vibrating. It took me a bit to process what was happening, so I would love to have a photo at that exact instant. I'm sure my expression was perplexed to say the least! When it happened, I looked down at my leg and spotted the battery pack on the floor next to my foot. Then it suddenly all made sense. OK, so what do to?

Well, I decided there was no way I was going to bluff my way through this situation, so I simply announced to the audience what had happened. Thanks to Craig of GeneaBlogie, I know exactly what I said:

"My mike just slid into my pants! . . . Actually, kind of an interesting sensation!"

Fortunately, it turned out to be easy to fish the battery pack back up through my pants leg, so I did so as we all laughed and got back to Annie's tale! I have no idea how many talks I've done in the past and how many more I might do in the future, but somehow, I have a sneaking suspicion that this will remain one of the most memorable ever!

Trust Joe Beine to spot it first!

Chicago and Cook County Vital Records Now Online

$15 a pop, but still a treasure trove of documents immediately accessible. Anyone with Chicago ancestors should start digging!

Just got back home from the Southern California Genealogy Jamboree (an amazing conference by the way -- put it on your must-attend list) and playing catch up, but wanted to share the following from eagle-eyed reader Gloria (Queen) Hoppe right away:

Monster founder sets sights on online obits

The fellow behind Monster.com (the career board) has launched Tributes.com with an interesting model. I'm trying to discipline myself to get a little work done, but when I come up for air, I'm looking forward to playing with this new resource. Would be interested to hear others' thoughts on it.

And BTW, stay tuned for more details on the infamous microphone incident you may have heard about!