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 I’m at day two of the Advanced Research Methodology course, led by Thomas W. Jones, in Pittsburgh!! So happy to be here! I’m blogging abou the week at A Well Lit Path. You can follow that blog here :-) Share: You might also like:GRIP 2013, Advanced Land Records Day Three: Military Bounty LandsAmerican State Papers GRIPLearning DeedMapper at GRIP 2013  Bird’s eye view of the city of Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania 1870. Chicago Lithographing Co.(Library of Congress online map collection) The Advanced Land Class at GRIP spent yesterday afternoon in the computer lab, and it was probably my favorite part of the week. Pam Sayre led 35 of us through the process of platting property on a historical map using the windows based DeedMapper software, by Direct Line. We practised on both the rectangular grids of Public Domain Land, and the more complicated metes and bounds of the 13 colonies. You can learn more about the software here. The computer lab at La Roche is set up for 30, so some of us had to double up on computers. The room was also FREEZING so, for future reference, if you’re taking a course that will spend any time at all in the lab….bring a heavy sweater! Walking a (…more)  This morning in Advanced Land Records, we’re learning about the papers of the U.S. Government; a source which is under-utilized and yet rich with genealogical information. Much of the land records referenced in the published record of the U.S. Congress exist nowhere else. To be honest, I knew about these government papers before this morning’s lecture, but had never thought to seek them out. I misunderstood their purpose and content and certainly underestimated their value to my research. Now, thanks to Rick Sayre, I know better! Rick made the interesting point this morning that, before we had the U.S. government structure we have today, a citizen’s only recourse for complaints and other issues with Congress was to go to congress and tell them. It was a more personal approach; and the journals and (…more)  This was the third day of lectures, and (I’m sorry to say) I’m starting to get tired of sitting still for hours on end. I’m hearing the same from others, which makes me feel better; but (and every one I’ve talked to seems to be feeling the same about this too), the stiff knees and achy backs are worth it because the material is so interesting, and there’s so much learning going on. I’m also starting to see camaraderie developing among students in the various classes (it’s even more pronounced in our small project groups). More and more, we are walking into the cafeteria alone and finding it easy to sit down at an almost full table, feel immediately welcomed, and effortlessly jump right into a friendly conversation. Unless its a conversation about the food The grumblings about cafeteria food are getting louder and more frequent. The cereals (…more)  Today, in Advanced Land Records, Pam Sayre talked “All About Deeds.” We also discussed private land claims, and spent a good amount of time walking through the Bureau of Land Management General Land Office website (BLM GLO) [by the by, when I'm typing quickly, my fingers sometimes type the M before the L; so, if I inadvertently write BML, I'm still talking about the Bureau of Land Management ] After lunch, guest instructor Angela McGhie taught us all about Land Entry Files, and the various ways our ancestors acquired and paid for their land. That was probably my favorite part of the day. My project group, of 6, started work on the case study that we’ll present to the class on Friday. I must admit, 6 strangers getting thrown together to solve a problem we aren’t sure we have the skills to solve yet, is a little frazzling. But, (…more) |
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