Springfield, MA USA
dave@oldbones.info

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Family Research - Classes - Workshops - Consultation

Not the First…and Not the Last

I feel compelled to address the current pandemic and how it has affected many genealogical researchers.  For me, I spend most of my time in my office which is in the basement of our home. So being down there all day (and sometimes all night!) is not a big stretch. But I can completely sympathize…
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RootsTech 2021 – Here I Come!

Considering that RootsTec 2020 was so phenomenally successful (and no surprise), I’ve already decided that RootsTech 2021 is where I need to be next February 3-6 in Salt Lake City, Utah. This is a genealogist’s Nirvana! The largest, most well attended convention of family history researchers, vendors of genealogical products and software and a place…
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SAR Wreath Laying and Shays’ Rebellion

Saturday, 21 September 2019, was a very satisfying day for me. After months of slow preparation, I was able to pull off a “double event” event. With the help of a number of other people, of course. It all started in 2017 when the New England Regional Genealogical Consortium’s (NERGC) conference was held in my…
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Happy Ending or Happy Beginning – A DNA Success Story

Debra knew from a very early age that she was adopted. Her mother and father provided an incredibly  loving environment where she could grow and thrive. And that’s exactly what she did! While it may sound unusual, when she was 3 years old her Mom sat her down and gently explained that some mothers were…
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General Henry Knox – Revolutionary War Hero

As a member of the Sons of the American Revolution (Pomeroy Chapter – Western Massachusetts), I use my reasonable and maybe even above average knowledge of history to help with my work as the Chapter’s Registrar assisting the folks applying for membership. Having grown up in Springfield, Massachusetts, I’m familiar with General Knox as we…
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Genealogy Conferences – NERGC and OGS

Here are some updates on genealogy conferences and my personal involvement with at least two of them. First, a little report on the NERGC conference held in Manchester, New Hampshire back in April. NERGC is the acronym for the New England Regional Genealogical Consortium. It’s a whole lot easier to just pronounce it “NERK!” An…
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My 15 Seconds of Fame Courtesy of Western Mass News

It doesn’t happen very often when I get a chance to brag. The upside is that a local TV station, Western Mass News Channel 40, came into one of my classes at the West Springfield, Mass Senior Center and took some shots of one of the session I was giving there. Actually, I don’t even…
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Influenza Casualty? – 1918

Everyone is familiar with what is known as the “Spanish Flu,” an influenza pandemic that wreaked havoc around the world from 1918 to 1920. Today, the science of that killer disease is well known and it is unlikely that the world would see another global tragedy of those proportions…Unless we’re struck by a new, unknown,…
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Genealogy Conferences – Another Level of Self-Eduation

I’ve talked about conferences many times. At Western Massachusetts Genealogical Society as well as Connecticut Society of Genealogisists we’ve had presentations about why you would want to attend a conference. My shortcut answer is this: “You don’t know what you don’t know.” Regardless of how long any of us have been researching our own families…
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A Powerful Challenge for Adoptees to Overcome

Recently, I’ve been involved with a few clients who are themselves adopted or have a family member in their recent past who had been adopted. Thus, I feel compelled to bring a few interesting facts to everyone’s attention. Once again I’ll be discussing a particular use of the results of DNA testing. The focus, though,…
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