RootsTech Day 2 and 3

I am very delayed with my recap of RootsTech 2 and 3. That's just how much fun I was having!

Day 2

My day started bright and early with my "Using Tax Records in My Family History Research" presentation. I had over 150 bright-eyed and bushy-tailed attendees hearing all about the U.S. tax system through history and different examples of records. 

At 9:30 I attended the Innovation and Tech Forum where I heard presentations from Stephen Nielsen of Adobe Photoshop, Uri Gonen of MyHeritage, Laryn Brown of Storied, Paul Allen of Soar.com,  Charlie Greene of Remento, and Hunter Cannon of Ancestry. The presentations showed the many uses of AI (artificial intelligence) to build family trees, describe photographs, transcribe documentation (including recipes), and more. I was very excited about MyHeritage's Cousin Finder feature. It's like viewing a DNA match list but without the DNA - I can see all of the myHeritage users that I share a common ancestor with. Some of these I knew but I started to identify cousins from different lines. It's definitely a feature I will explore more. 

I skipped the General Session and explored more of the Expo Hall. I came across a new (to me) vendor called Arcanum Newspapers. Their newspaper locations include Romania, Poland, Ukraine, and more. They also are using AI features, and I'm hopeful that I can get further into my maternal family tree using their collections. I also upgraded my Kindex account to a paid account (after receiving a very detailed demo) and hope to start uploading and transcribing the many photographs and family letters I have. I also had a free mini photograph made of my maternal great grandfather, Anton Gailunas, made up by a vendor called Paper and Roots. 

I attended a class "Using English Equity Courts to Trace Family Disputes" by Dr. Nick Barratt. It was interesting to hear about the legal process and the types of court cases that would come through the courts. 

I also attended my colleague and friend David's talk on 17th Century Migration to New England, which included a touching moment of silence to genealogist Robert Charles Anderson (who headed the Great Migration Project) who recently passed away. 

Friday night was time to party at MyHeritage's Influencer Social. This year we were at Dave N Buster's for a Mexican buffet, drinks, and some karaoke. And yes I went up to embarrass myself (I mean sing). It was a fun night with friends. 

Day 3

Saturday morning I attended the Community Impact Forum, which included inspiring talks by Navajo photographer Mylo Fowler, bassist Victor Wooten, and my colleague, Lindsay Fulton, of American Ancestors. Lindsay shared the story of Elizabeth Freeman and how a direct descendant of hers was tracked down, who was also in attendance in the audience. 

I had my media interview with Olympians Tara Davis-Woodhall and Hunter Woodhall. They were such a cute, loving couple and were very gracious in answering our many questions. I asked about a favorite ancestor and they both shared how they had ancestors with the first name "Rose," one that has been passed down in my paternal side of the family too! After the interview was over, I quickly got into the meet-and-greet line and was one of the last few to get a photo taken with them. They also kindly autographed my nametag, a true treasure to keep. 

After lunch (which I promise was more than just Nothing Bundt Cakes bundlettes), I had my last in-person presentation. This was "Oh Yes I Went to the Front! Women in the Civil War." I talked about women's roles during the Civil War including nurses, doctors, spies, and even soldiers in disguise. I met a patron who I corresponded with a few months before my talk about his ancestor possibly being named in a newspaper article about disguising herself as a man and boarding a ship with her lover to fight in the Civil War for the Union cause. I included a few slides about this story and have been working with him offline to help see if we can prove or disprove it - so far it's looking likely! 

I sought out the last few people I missed in the Expo Hall for a quick intro/catchup, selfies, and last minute swag. I even had a chance to get a new photo with genetic genealogist Cece Moore, who I haven't seen in many years at RootsTech.

What an amazing conference! What was your favorite part? 

RootsTech Day 1 Recap - Lobsters and AI

The first day of RootsTech 2025 is in the can. And what a day it was! 

I started the day off bright and early with a breakfast from Storied. We learned about the new features for NewspaperArchive, new collections coming soon, and the features of StoryBook Studio. Attendees can receive a free product activation code at their booth; virtual attendees receive a 50% discount code with promo code ROOTSBOOK.  

You may be wondering why lobsters and AI is in my sub-title. The opening session included a short talk by the President and CEO of FamilySearch, Steve Rockwood. He related a story about how one of his direct paternal ancestors thought of raising lobsters and other seafood in the Great Salt Lake. It didn't go well but imagine if it did. We would be sitting around eating Rockwood lobster rolls. He likened his ancestor's lobster business as being a type of genealogical prize, finding your lobster in the sea of records. A lobster came down from a drone, and then several streamer cannons went up with big fanfare, releasing several streamers across the room. It was quite the memorable surprise! 

Ancestry was the sponsor for today. Crista Cowan, the Barefoot Genealogist, talked about how she would write her obituary. She then introduced Ancestry's Networks tool to go beyond our direct family members and add our FAN Club including military comrades, associates, and more. We had a brief video message from singer and songwriter Rachel Platten. She was unable to attend in person but recorded her video with her song "Girls." We did have a life performance of a father-daughter duo, the Shaws. They had beautiful voices and good storytelling. 

I attended three lectures today, one on the Ancient DNA historical matches for 23andMe, my colleague David's Scottish genealogy talk, and one from my friend Claire Bradley on a crash course in Irish genealogy (always good to get a perspective from someone who lives in Ireland - I learned a few good tips). 

Today, I also conducted my first group media interview with Michelle Barber, Senior User Experience Designer at FamilySearch. We asked our questions related to the FamilySearch full-text search tool, which has over 1.2 billion images from 29 countries. There is more of a focus on underserved areas and communities around the world. It's going to get better and better with each iteration. I asked a few questions about metadata. I will try to edit my video interview and post in the next few days. 

I gave my first live broadcast (ever) at RootsTech. It was a live webinar I gave from one of the conference rooms in the Salt Palace. We had a minor glitch. Overall, it went well and had nearly 150 people tuned in for my talk "Escaping the Famine: Irish Settlement in Canada."

I've only just started to explode the Expo Hall. I also tried out one of the FamilySearch tree swings.  I tried the VR Experience area to use the Wander app to go to different ancestral locations, including Riga, Latvia, and Prince Edward Island. 

Tomorrow, I start bright and early with an 8 AM talk "Using Tax Records in Your Family History Research." If you're at RootsTech, it's in Room 155 EF.

What was your favorite part of Day 1 at RootsTech?