Philadelphia to Pittsburgh to Mars - Friday, 4 August 2017

For some reason we were up earlier than the alarm this morning. Got everything organized, packed for the car, and off to breakfast. 

Today's sessions were presented by Sydney Dixon, Amy Arner, and Sue Long. Sydney covered the Delaware River resources, Amy Western PA, and Sue Chester County. All were very well done.

I picked up my certificate and headed out the door at 12:45. Missed the group picture, but we had tickets to the Pirates game.

Arrived in PIT by 6:15 and got to PNC Park before the rain. Had a 2 hour weather delay so that the teams could sit and wait for the rain to come. When it did, it was heavy and accompanied by lightning. It was a long game, but one that the Pirates came from behind to create and exciting finish. 

Then there was the Chicago Concert. It started about 1 a.m. and ran for about an hour and 10 minutes. 

We finally got home about 2:45 and by the time we unpacked, it was 3:30. 

BED!


P.S. It was a great week, but am really glad to be home for a while to catch up on some of my "stuff."

Philadelphia - Thursday, 3 August 2017

Breakfast as usual in the hotel. The CinnaBons make the breakfasts palatable here. Otherwise, nothing to get excited over. Even the hard-boiled eggs seem to have little taste. 

It was Land Day at RIFPA. I realize that I need much more experience in reading very old deeds and platting land. The two presentations by Jerry Smith were SO very good. I gained quite a bit of confidence in my skills and that was a good thing. He started out very elementary and then allowed us to practice what he had demonstrated. 

Aaron McWilliams, an archivist at the PA Archives in Harrisburg also did a great presentation on the process of finding land records in the Archives. I find going to the Archives intimidating, but he was so good that in the future I won't hesitate. 

Worked a bit through lunch searching the Discover Catalog for collateral lines. I am at a loss for George sightings and think that I am going to try to tell the story of Sarah who traveled to Canada. The Ashbridge Book has a fairly good account, but really lacks the documentation to the extent that I am comfortable. 

The afternoon presentation by Aaron McWilliams was researching the American Revolution in PA. The resources that he cited could prove useful in the future for client work and for the Ashbridge clan. 

Frank Southcott did a very hurried presentation on summing up everything we learned this past week. 

Amy Arner arrived and we chatted before she checked out the technology for her Friday presentation. 

Back to the hotel before dinner. 

Earle had quite a productive day at the Chester County Archives and brought back copies of deeds and executions that will need to be logged and transcribed. 

Dinner reservations were made at Little Nonna's for 7:15. We had a wonderful dinner of a Caesar salad, spaghetti and meatballs for me and pasta carbonara for Earle. 

Then Amy Arner, Earle, and I walked around the block til we found a Capogiro Artisan Gelato  It was the perfect ending to our dinner. 

Back to the hotel to pack and listen to the Pirates crush the Reds 6-0!

Philadelphia - Wednesday, 2 August 2017

Had a nice breakfast with MaryLu. She is a Mac user and we talked about programs and software and genealogy, She also sits next to me in class and it’s been fun getting to know her. 

Today was religion day at Researching Family in Pennsylvania. First it was the German Church records with james Beidler. He did a good job of covering the basics. Then the Moravians, a religious group about which I knew very little. I am very interested in taking the course at Moravia College in German script. It sounds intensive, but worth it. 

The last presentation of the morning was by David Koch, archivist at the Presbyterian Historical Society. He did a good job of covering the material, but read from his notes. I am not sure if was uncomfortable speaking or if he didn’t have command of the material.  He actually finished early and we got out for lunch early. But that meant we needed to be back early and that impacted my lunch with Anne.

Anne is a church historian in Philadelphia and worked on the Charle Brown project with me. We had arranged to meet for lunch to discuss anything new on the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament records and to talk about collaborating on an article. We walked down Locust Street to Hummusology,  a little restaurant with seats that overlook their garden of fresh vegetables. I had a roasted vegetable hummus and it was delicious. 

Just as we were about to leave the clouds opened and we did a very fast walk to the HSP where my umbrella was safely stored! We vowed to keep in touch and share some records with each other. 

The afternoon sessions began with one Quaker records. I was quite interested in this, and really wanted more of a history of Quakers in PA since that’s where my brick wall George is. The final lecture was on African Americans in PA. Again, a lot of good material, but verbatim reading of a script with very poor resolution of slides. 

At 5 went down to the reading room for a couple of hours to request a few manuscripts and letters. While I was waiting for them to be delivered, I browsed through some Quaker Meeting records. Gathered a few dates for some of George’s children and grandchildren, but nothing about him. 

Back to the hotel to meet Earle and head out for dinner. It was about a 15 minute walk to Monk’s Cafe, a Belgium Beer and Mussels place. Just delicious and it hit the spot.

Back to the hotel to charge all the electronics, fill out evaluation forms, and blog. Earle headed down the street for gelato.

Another loss for the Bucs. Why can’t they beat the Reds? 

Philadelphia - Tuesday, 1 August 2017

I was tired last night so didn’t make it to midnight to post “Rabbit Rabbit.”  I was reminded by a former student, when I awoke and checked Facebook. Thanks, Mike.

Didn’t have to get up so early this morning which was nice. A real luxury when traveling. 

Breakfast and the short walk to HSP. Such a treat this morning to hear Judy Russell do 2 sessions on Pennsylvania law. She takes what could be a boring and complicated subject and makes it come alive. Love to hear her speak. 

After Judy we had a presentation on 18th Century Taxes by Kimberly Bucklaw, archivist at the Chester County Archives. She did a wonderful job showing how to create a timeline with data gleaned from tax records. Her handouts were beautifully done and easy to understand. 

Then lunch with a couple of classmates before doing some research in the online catalog. 

After lunch we heard Kimberly work through a case study using city directories and census records. 

Had a couple of hours then to go through some of the card catalog records for manuscripts and letters. Have a list of items to retrieve tomorrow. 

Met Earle back at the room and then we headed to the old city for a walk with Benjamin Franklin. It really looked like rain and we felt a couple of drops before the walk began. But we made it through as we took a 2 mile walk around Franklin’s sites. 

Ben in front of Carpenter's Hall  - the real birth place of the United States

2nd National Bank

Pennsylvania State House - aka Independence Hall

Ben's Grave

Betsy Ross House

We ended at the Monaco hotel and decided to grab a bite to eat and something very cold to drink. The humidity had really been oppressive. So a couple of beers and hamburgers hit the spot. 

A really great evening and Uber back to the hotel, listened to the last inning of the horrible Pirates game, and bed.