RootsTech 2016: A Family Affair
Kindex™ is excited to make its debut at RootsTech 2016 in Salt Lake City, Utah. As we work to prepare all that is needed for the Innovator Showdown, it’s been instructive to pause and reflect back over the last few months and express gratitude for all the support of family and friends.
When my cousin and I started Kindex™ last October, we couldn’t have anticipated our wonderful and wild trajectory that has landed us in the semifinals of the RootsTech Innovator’s Showdown. As we discussed our idea with those in the genealogy industry, we were encouraged to submit our idea to the RootsTech Innovator’s Showdown. We are grateful to them for their encouragement and advice.
To prepare our submission we quickly wrote a video script incorporating mementos and records from our own family history. The hand-beaded silk dress worn by “Dorothy” (a niece) was actually a dress made by Dorothy’s mother June Bushman Smith. The couch is an antique from the historic Ezra T. Clark home in Farmington. And of course the letters, journals, and papers were belonged to our grandparents. The narrators are also family: a mother, a brother, and a cousin.
Our family has also given encouragement, advice, and financial help. Their support has been invaluable to us as we grow Kindex™ into the great tool we know it will be. We’ve already experienced great things within our own extended families through indexing and sharing our family’s records, and can’t wait for other families to have this same experience. Grandchildren are amazed and touched reading their grandparent’s letters. Aunts and Uncles have experienced tender reminiscence. One niece even wrote a song based on one of her great-grandmother’s poems.
These experiences have touched us immensely, and reminded us that indeed, family is everything.