So why, you may ask, am I going back to college? In order to receive certification as a genealogist, one of the many things a candidate must do is select a specialty. Even though I have no personal connection to them -- my lineage is all boringly English -- I have chosen as my specialty the old Spanish lineages of Florida. I am about an hour away from St. Augustine and Gainesville, and a day away from Tallahassee, all of which host repositories of sources on the old Spanish lineages. I am also currently writing a book about the non-federal censuses of Florida from the Spanish colonial censuses -- many of which, surprisingly, still exist -- to the state census of 1945.

And in order to read the old censuses and the old documents relating to the old lineages, I need to be able to read old Spanish handwriting. The study of old handwriting is called paleography. I've already had, as part of my genealogical studies, a course in English paleography. And UNF happens to offer, though not on a regular basis, a course in Spanish paleography.

On a research trip to St. Augustine, I happened to meet the history professor who teaches that course. When I found out about it, I was elated. I wasn't able to get to the campus for a few days, and when I did, on a Thursday, I discovered that the absolute drop-dead deadline for applying was the next day at 5 p.m. I had about 28 hours to get everything in -- including an official transcript from Florida State! My daughter happens to work at UNF, and it's wonderful to have on tap someone who knows her way around the state university system. She picked up her phone and called the office at FSU responsible for getting transcripts out. I explained the situation and they said they'd overnight the transcript. I guess they did, because I'm in like Flynn.

Return to Karen Rhodes, Non-Traditional Student.