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She Plans To Do, Too, What She Says For You To Do

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By SHARON TATE MOODY

Tribune correspondent

Published: July 27, 2008

I recently wrote a column encouraging readers to start keeping journals of their thoughts and activities as legacies for the generations to come.

The response was a pleasant surprise. Readers thanked me for motivating them to start writing about their daily lives and told me of their interest in old journals.

One intriguing e-mail was from Kay Menzel, a member of the local Writers and Authors Group.

This group grew out of a life-story writing class at Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of South Florida. At the end of the class, members formed the group to stay motivated about writing on a regular basis.

Menzel said they meet twice a month "to share our stories and enjoy fascinating discussion."

I've pledged to begin keeping my own personal journal. In the past, I've hedged on this. I'm a private person and not keen on putting my truest thoughts on paper. What kind of attitude is that for a genealogist?

Doubtless we all wish our great-grandparents had kept journals of their everyday lives. Their diaries would answer so many of our questions and give us a truly personal perspective of history.

By not writing my own journal, I'm committing the very "sin" for which I condemn my nonwriting ancestors.

Making Up For Lost Time

So I may well document what I hope are 20 to 30 more years of living - but what about those 60 undocumented years already behind me?

This is where the Association of Personal Historians can come to the rescue. My friend Paula Stahel, who lives in Tampa, is president of the national group.

She frequently reminds me that being a good genealogist means also being a good personal historian. She has also explained how members of her group can teach individuals how to write their memoirs or life stories.

They also can assist in the writing of what she calls an "ethical will," a record of your values, lessons learned, and advice and hopes for descendants.

You can find out more about this group at www.personal historians.org. If a research trip to Salt Lake City is in your future, you might schedule it for this fall. The personal historians will be meeting for a four-day conference scheduled Oct. 29 to Nov. 2.

For information, go to www.personalhistorians.org/conference or contact program leaders at conference program@personalhistorians .org.

Other Conferences

Two Florida groups have announced their annual fall seminar lineups:

•Florida Genealogical Society: Minnesota's Paula Stuart-Warren, one of the country's most respected genealogists, will be the featured speaker at this group's meeting from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 13.

Stuart-Warren will present four lectures: "20th and 21st Century Research," "Railroad Records and Railroad History: Methods for Tracking," "Organizing Your Genealogical Materials: Methods to Keep It Current" and "Untrod Ground: Sources You May Not Have Encountered."

The meeting will be held at the Dale Mabry campus of Hillsborough Community College and is part of the society's 50th anniversary celebration. The society, based in Tampa, was formed in 1958 and is the state's oldest genealogical society, a spokesman says.

Registration fee for the seminar is $30 for members and $35 for nonmembers. Deadline for registration is Aug. 31.

The society also will celebrate its anniversary Sept. 12. Stuart-Warren will be the guest speaker. A banquet will start at 6:30 p.m. at Valencia Garden restaurant, 811 W. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa. Cost is $25. The event will be limited to the first 50 registrants.

You can print out registration forms for the seminar and banquet on the society's Web site at www.fgstampa.org.

•Florida State Genealogical Society: Jana Broglin, a national lecturer from Ohio, will head the speaker lineup for the Florida State Genealogical Society's annual fall conference Nov. 14 and 15 in Maitland.

Jana's topics will be "Hookers, Crooks and Kooks: Aunt Merle Didn't Run a Boardinghouse," "See Ya in the Funnies," "When Johnny Comes Marching Home - A Borton Family Case Study" and "Organizing 101 - True Confessions of a 'Pile It.'"

An array of nationally recognized speakers who call Florida home also will lecture at the conference. They include Ann Bergelt, Pamela J. Cooper, Amy Larner Giroux, George G. Morgan, Donna M. Moughty, Mary P. Parker, Drew Smith and C. Ann Staley.

Registration fee for the full conference is $88 for members and $98 for nonmembers until Oct. 23. The fee will increase to $98 and $108 after that date. The fee includes lectures, a Friday night banquet and Saturday luncheon.

You can print out a mail-in registration form and get details at www.flsgs.org. Or contact society President Ann Mohr Osisek at amo.gen @worldnet.att.net.

Write to Sharon Tate Moody in care of The Tampa Tribune, 200 S. Parker St., Tampa FL 33606; or e-mail stmoody0720@mac.com.

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