The 2006 annual conference of the Federation of Genealogical Societies opened on Thursday in Boston, Massachusetts. The event is being held in the Hynes Auditorium, which seems to be a perfect place for an event of this type. The weather was partly cloudy and cool, almost autumn-like. However, not many of the attendees noticed since this convention center is connected by indoor walkways to several hotels, dozens of restaurants and many other facilities. There is no reason to go outdoors!
Perhaps the most colorful event so far was at the pre-registration held Tuesday evening before the conference opened. Those who showed up early were greeted by Abraham Lincoln. Obviously it was not the ex-president himself but a re-enactor, George Cheevers. The Abraham Lincoln re-enactor seemed appropriate for a president whose ancestors came from nearby Hingham, Massachusetts.
Mr. Cheevers seemed to be almost "larger than life" and for good reason. While President Lincoln was a very tall man, re-enactor George Cheevers is even taller at six feet ten inches tall! Indeed, he was a "larger than life" President Lincoln.
Of course, the best part of any genealogy conference is "networking," meeting old friends and new, everywhere you turn. It is a delight to wander up and down the hallways and see many enthusiastic genealogists, all with smiles on their faces, moving from event to event.
I plan to write more about this four-day event in later articles. If I can get the digital camera and the wireless network connection to cooperate, I will also post a few pictures of the conference at http://www.eogn.com as events unfold.
