Plenary Session
Presented by Ron Arons
Sex, Lies, and Genealogical Tape
Most beginner genealogists begin their journey by collecting names, dates, and places to build out their family tree. This is only natural. However, a completely different experience can be had by researching one ancestor in as much depth as possible. This involves searching for all documentation that may have something to with that relative. Ron calls this “individual-focused” genealogy; he fell into this due to the unusual facts that he discovered about one person. Ron started this research with a simple question, “Where was my ancestor born?” Aside from learning more about just this person, Ron was rewarded with several unintended benefits that will be discussed during the session.
What’s in a Name? Trouble!
This talk is an extension to Sex, Lies, and Genealogical Tape. Along the way, Ron discovered other material that might have pertained to his infamous ancestor but, in fact, they did not. As it turns out, this turned out to be a rather complicated identity merging and separation problem. Ultimately, Ron discovered that there were a few men who shared very similar characteristics to his own ancestor. To aid in the research and analysis, Ron picked up the concept of “mind mapping” a visual way to lay out data to identify patterns in the found documents. By mind mapping, Ron took his mind to a completely different level allowing him to solve this problem that had haunted him for fifteen years.