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RootsTech 2015 Entertainment: Donny Osmond and More
RootsTech 2015 is known for being all about genealogy and technology. however, in an effort to broaden its audience in 2015 it will feature some heavy-hitting entertainers from outside the industry: best-selling authors, singers, dancers and even the cast of a (family-friendly) college comedy TV show.
The lineup includes:
- Friday keynote: A.J. Jacobs, author of four New York Times bestsellers, editor at large at Esquire magazine, and a commentator for NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday. He is currently helping to build a family tree that connects the entire world and will host the Global Family Reunion on June 6, 2015, which he hopes will be the biggest, most inclusive, most entertaining and most educational Family Reunion in history. Jacobs has appeared on Oprah, The Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, The Dr. Oz Show, Conan, The Colbert Report and many others.
Saturday keynote: Donny Osmond, singer, actor, television series host, buy narcolepsy medication online best-selling author (his autobiography entered the UK bestseller chart at #1), commercial spokesman, motivational speaker, and even a racecar driver. His more recent roles include Gaston in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast on Broadway; a special correspondent for Entertainment Tonight; and a Dancing with the Stars champion (2009). Today, Donny performs at the Flamingo Las Vegas alongside his sister, Marie, in their show “The Donny & Marie Show” which earned “Best of Las Vegas” by the Las Vegas Review Journal three years in a row.- Saturday evening: The cast of BYUtv’s popular comedy show Studio C and other popular entertainers (TBA) will host the closing event (at 5:15pm).
- Friday evening: the sights, sounds and dances of various world cultures will entertain crowds in the the expo hall, which will have extended hours (until 7:00).
Registration is open for RootsTech: click here to learn more.
NERGC: New England Genealogy Conference Registration Now Open
Registration is now open for the New England Regional Genealogical Conference (NERGC) in Providence, Rhode Island on April 15-18, 2015.
Lisa will be there–will you?
Lisa Louise Cooke will be a featured speaker for this conference along with The Legal Genealogist Judy G. Russell. Here are the lectures she’ll be giving:
Tech Day (Track 2) – Wednesday – 15 April 2015 – 10:45am – How to Turn your iPad or Tablet into a Genealogy Powerhouse
Tech Day (Track 1) – Wednesday – 15 April 2015 – 3:15pm – How to Use Google Earth for Genealogy
T-118 – Thursday – 16 April 2015 – 3:15pm – How to Use Evernote for Genealogy
S-329 – Saturday – 18 April 2015 – 3:15pm – Master Using Google for Common Surname Searches
S-344 – Saturday – 18 April 2015 – BANQUET – 7:00pm – The Google Earth Genealogy Game Show
Click here for the program brochure. For online registration and to pay by credit card, go to the NERGC website.
See what this intriguing census taker had to say about the neighbors
Click image to view larger image
Eagle eye Genealogy Gems reader and listener John Roberts ran across some very unique entries in a Kansas State Census. John writes: “I thought you might find the professions listed for the people on lines 13, 16 and 33, out of the ordinary, to say the least. It appears this census taker had a critical nature. I found this census page very amusing. Hope you enjoy it too.”
Indeed I did John!
In 1875 census enumerator Frank Wilkeson made his way through a Gypsum, Kansas neighborhood making usual note of the locals as sculptor, wagon maker, and carpenter. However, his attitude changed when he reached the Law household, where he listed 27 year old Job Law as…
“Loafer”
He didn’t think much more of the next Head of Household 55 year old James Coleman who he labeled “Blow Hard.”
Appearing to have settled down after that visit he went on to list the blacksmith, farmers and miller…until he reached J. Lockwood’s house where he called it like he saw it:
So who exactly was the guy who used the role of census enumerator as a platform to share his personal opinions on this Gypsum, Kansas neighborhood? I couldn’t help myself and did a bit of digging.
According to the Gypsum Hill Cemetery Historical Walk, published by the City of Saline, Parks & Recreation and the Saline Public Library (and posted to Franks’s listing on Find A Grave), Frank Wilkeson led an interesting life that took many twists and turns. He was born in Buffalo, New York, on March 8, 1848, the youngest son of journalist, Samuel Wilkeson, and Catherine Cady, sister to suffragette Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
“Wilkeson was only 15 when he ran away from home to join the Union Army during the Civil War. When the war ended in 1865, he had been brevetted a captain. He later published Recollections of a Private Soldier in the Army of the Potomac, a starkly realistic view of war” (and early indicator of his brutally honest views.)
His exploits included working in Pennsylvania and Colorado as a mining engineer, working as a civil engineer for the Northern Pacific Railway and exploring the river valleys in Washington State, to which he returned many times. He then married and went to Saline County, Kansas in 1871, buying land in Gypsum Township where he established a cattle ranch and raised two sons.
From 1887 to 1893, he wrote fishing and hunting pieces for the New York Times and the New York Sun. The last twenty years of his life, Wilkeson wandered between Kansas and Washington, writing promotional articles and dabbling in politics and various business ventures.
As a man who worked hard, was adventurous, and enjoyed putting pen to paper to share those experiences, I guess it’s no surprise that this page of the Kansas state census went down in history as it did.
Frank Wilkeson died in Chelan, Washington on April 22, 1913.
