I enjoyed giving presentations at the Colorado Chapter of the Palatines to America seminar this past Saturday. Presenting always causes me to notice things in my own research that I’ve overlooked or need to follow up on. It’s also nice to meet people with whom I’ve only had an email or online correspondence.

Even though the microphone went in and out, by using my “teacher voice” everyone could hear. Every time we have any type of auditory issues, I’m reminded that sometimes our ancestors in hearing questions might not have been able to hear well and may have given an unintentionally incorrect answer. The flip side of that is that the clerk might not have been able to hear well either.  And that’s something it never hurts any of us to be reminded of.

I was also reminded that sometimes we answer our own question when we ask someone else for assistance. One of the individuals who asked me a question, when they had finished stating their problem, said “I just realized that I had never looked for a church record of the daughter’s birth.” Sometimes just discussing our problem with someone else causes us to realize we’ve overlooked something.

Attendees heard about my much-researched Barbara (Siefert) Bieger Fennan Haase Haase, who left behind a wide body of records, but little clues as to her origins.

Attendees laughed at approximately 80% of my jokes. That’s always good as well. The other 20% of the time they rolled their eyes, much like my students.