London, England 25 Oct- 6 Nov 2011

It was my great pleasure to fly to London, England for the annual conference of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain. This year instead of just being able to enjoy it, I was one of the presenters. It was so wonderful to be able to reunite with so many good friends and also make many new ones. My thanks to everyone for their friendship.
I do always enjoy my time in London, I just never no what to wear. I hope my outfit below didn't stand out to much. London, is such an incredible city, and home to one of my favorite places in the world. The picture below is of Hyde Park. It is such a tranquil, peaceful place, away from the busy city.

Los Angeles, California 16 Oct 2011

On Sunday morning I flew out of Salt lake City for a great day in southern California. I spoke twice at the Assisted Research Day of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles, which was held in the Los Angeles Family History Library. I was able to talk about how to get the most out of using Familysearch.org and the Knowles Collection. It was a nice visit and its always enjoyable making new friends. Thank you to everyone at the society for all you did to make it so nice.

Washington D.C. 12 -19 Aug 2011

The 2011 IAJGS conference is being held in Washington D.C. It is an absolutely incredible place for a conference. What is even better is this is my first ever visit to our nations capital. Being in this city with its rich history and having a thousand or so people learning how to best research their Jewish ancestors seems like a perfect match.

At this years conference I am working with John Kitzmiller as we try to teach the attendees how best to use http://www.familysearch.org/ so that it will become a valuable tool in their search.

The vendor area has been closed at about 5 PM, which has allowed for me to visit a couple of the historical sites. Seeing the Washington Monument for the first time is an experience that I don't think can be described with words. I found myself thinking of all those who risked so much that we may all have the freedoms we enjoy today. While in Washington, I couldn't wait to visit the World War II memorial.

During the war, my father's brother lost his life when he was killed in action while serving in the Navy. It was a very touching moment to find his name in the records of those lost. Even though his body was never recovered, its nice to know he will never be forgotten. He will never have the same resting place as those heros buried at Arlington National Cemetery, but he is still a great hero and an example of paying the ultimate price for his country.

May those who live in the White House always remember those who served and died.

London, England 18 - 23 May, 2011

This is actually only a very short stay in one of my favorite places, London, England. I am here to attend the annual meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain. I arrived around 9 AM this morning after not having to much success sleeping on my overnight flight.

Since I was unable to check into my hotel until 2 PM, I took the opportunity to walk around the Hyde Park area. I am glad I did, because a block away from ny hotel I happened by a beautiful old synagogue, the New West End Synagogue. It is a beautiful old building and situated so close to Hyde Park, it makes for a very peaceful walk. The front of the synagogue is in the picture at the left.


This is not the first time that I have been to London, in fact I am very lucky to be able to come quite often. It never gets old to come here. London is a city that is a great mix of old and new. While it is constantly updating and there seems to be no short of new construction it still is very much a city full of history. I take any chance given me to just walk around and take it all in. I did just that today, and the picture below is of St. Martin's in The Fields church, which is just off of Trafalgar Square.

I must say that the highlight of this trip was the receiving of the 2011 Roll of Honour award from the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain. I truly love my friends there, and could not possibly put into words how overwhelmed I feel about this recognition.

I thank them again, with all my heart.

NGS 2011 Charleston, South Carolina

The National Genealogical Society (NGS) held its annual Family History Conference form May 11-14th, 2011 in Charleston, South Carolina. The timing was perfect as this year marks the 150th Anniversary of the start of the United States Civil War.

This conference was a wonderful opportunity to catch up with old friends, and enjoy hundreds of wonderful presentations. I was asked to present one of the ICAPGEN sponsored lectures. It was a lot of fun for me to present "Finding Jews in the Records of the Southern States".

For those who couldn't make this year conference, there is always next year. The conference in 2012 will be held in Cincinnati, Ohio, the home of The American Jewish Archives. Hopefully Ill see a lot of friends there as well.

Las Vegas April 2011

While visiting Las Vegas for a few days, I stopped at the new Cosmopolitan Hotel and Casino. I was thrilled to see a clothing store named for a tailor shop in Spitalfields. The store had hundreds of antique sewing machines, most likely just like the ones that our Jewish ancestors used. Another highlight was seeing a beautiful synagogue. The picture below shows

the Israeli Cultural Center or Bamidbar Synagogue. It was a wonderful place to visit.