Not So Wordless Wednesday - Blogger's Dinner by FamilySearch

Geneablogger dinner by FamilySearch.org

I've been having such a wonderful time since arriving in Charleston Sunday night, but tonight was a real highlight.  FamilySearch.org sponsored a dinner for us Geneabloggers at Jim 'n Nick's BBQ on Centre Point Drive.  The food was excellent (a BIG recommend for anyone visiting Charleston!) and the company was even better!

We were in a lovely section of the restaurant and each table got a Family Search representative all to themselves to ask questions and get to know.  Jenn from Climbing My Family Tree, her daughter, Ellie and I had the privilege of sitting with Paul Nauta, the Family Search Public Affairs Manager and enjoyed his company tremendously!

Paul Nauta, Cherie Cayemberg, Jenn and Ellie Woods

Lots of great information was put out at the dinner so I'll touch on some highlights to wet your whistle!

-The RootsTech conference for 2012 is being held in Salt Lake City, UT from February 2nd thru the 4th.  If you'd like to receive RootsTech updates to include information on the 2012 conference head on over and submit your email address! (I did!)

-Did you know that since January 2010 Family Search has added 219 million images to their site?  That they have 2.2 billion names indexed and 605 historic collections and 141 free online courses?

-Family Search has set a goal of 200 million images to be added annually.  They're setting the bar high, but I know that they can do it!  Help them out by becoming a Family Search Indexer.  It's not difficult and they've got plenty of tutorials online to walk you through it.  A wonderful scouting project for boys and girls alike (not to mention us genealogists and family historians)!

-If all that wasn't enough Family Search is pushing to get as many Civil War records/collections online as they can in the next 5 years, to include stories and histories of various regiments/units add to the site and wiki.

So if you haven't checked out the Family Search site recently you are definitely missing out on tons of great information!  If you'd like to check out more details on the news from Family Search head on over to their news page and their blog!

Ginger, Jenn, Liz, Linda, Greta, me & Ellie

After getting all this wonderful news from Family Search we were able to continue to get to know our fellow bloggers.  Here are just a few lovely people I spent some time with:

-Ginger Smith from Genealogy By Ginger

-Jenn Woods from Climbing My Family Tree (OK I've known Jenn for years, but she's in the picture!)

-Liz Tapley-Matthews from My Tapley Tree...and its Branches

-Linda McCauley from Documenting the Details, and

-Greta M Koehl from Greta's Genealogy Bog

I was completely thrilled to be able to meet Dick Eastman!  I've been a fan of his blog for quite some time and he is most certainly one of my blog and genealogy heroes!

Me, Dick Eastman, Jenn and Ellie Woods

Me, Jenn & Ellie Woods and Michael J Hall (Deputy C.G.O)

Ginger, Jenn, me and Ellie with David Rencher (C.G.O.)