My Topics are now chosen for the next several dates on my speaking schedule: You can pick your conference event now and qualify for the early-bird price. I have included a description of what I plan to cover, so you can decide which event best meets your own research needs. And you can prepare, in advance, your pedigree and summary information to ask those questions only I can answer. Plan now to attend one or more events.
Family History Expo: 22 Mar 2008, Eccles Conference Center, 5005 Old Main Hill, Logan UT. Register at http://www.myancestorsfound.com Registration at 7:00 am.
My topics:
1. New Research Strategies for Virginia Research. At last! The resources we need to trace Virginia ancestors are available: in print, on film, and in the computer. This workshop will describe new indexes and newly discovered sources once thought to be lost. Unexpected migration patterns and special record projects, “brides” by the boatload, interracial marriages, Traders, planters, slaves and Iron men. Also discussed: importance of property documents to track women who may outlive as many as 5 husbands.
2. Simplify your research: Map it! Chart it! Graph it! Paint it! Why maps are important and special research strategies to use their evidence. Pedigrees, coats of arms, drawings, paintings, needlework, and family heirlooms—how to use their evidence to link generations. In Germany alone, 14,767 coats of arms were registered by 1734! It’s time to break your losing streak—
Family History Library Research Retreat, 21-26 April 2008. Family History Library, 36 N. West Temple Street, Salt Lake City UT. Register at http://www.myancestorsfound.com I will speak each day and be available to consult with you on your own research at the Family History Library.
My topics: Back to Basics: Basic American Sources and Records are the Genealogist’s Best Choice, no matter how sophisticated your research may become. Each session will discuss these basic sources in print, on microfilm, on CD-ROM, and on the internet.
1. Marriage Records and other Vital Records. What sources yield marriages, births, and deaths? And where are they to be found? What hidden evidence do they supply? If a complete date is missing, how can we estimate dates that fit? There are over 16 official marriage records and marriage evidence in more than 125 different sources–most of us give up too soon in our search for a marriage source.
2. Census Records and Substitutes. Census schedules include school censuses, special county and state lists, special chronological name lists–more than 30 different sources of census data will be discussed in detail. We will also examine pre-1850 census enumerations and learn how to use them and match them to other records, even though they name one the head of house. No other record category is better indexed, has such uniform and consistent data fields, or is more easily searched than censuses.
3. Probate Records and other Court Records. From 20% to 60% of Americans wrote a will or filed an estate settlement. Over 95% of American adults have appeared in at least one court during their lifetimes. These records are essential to your genealogy and overlooking them often leads to an incorrect lineage.
4. Cemetery Sources in the Graveyard and the Record Office. Family relationships, migrational patterns, occupations, economic status, naming patterns, identities for the ladies on your pedigree, ethnic origins–these and more emerge from cemetery sources. Placing cemeteries in context–time period, location and locality, sponsor or owner, tombstone materials and styles, funeral plantings within the cemetery and around your ancestor’s grave–death and burial customs provide new genealogy insights and more complete proof!
5. Land and Tax Records. Tax records are among the best substitute census records–for a reason: they list more people than other record categories. And they are recorded yearly in most jurisdictions, and every 6 months in many places. We will discuss at what age a person can own land, buy and sell land, inherit land, and gift land to others. How to read a deed, how to identify and prove father-son and father-daughter relationships, how to determine whether the land comes through the husband’s family or the wife’s–these genealogy skills will enable you to prove as well as document your ancestors.
SCGS Jamboree: 27-29 June 2008. Burbank Airport Marriott Hotel and Convention Center, Burbank CA Register: http://www.scgsgenealogy.com.
My topics:
Friday 1:30 to 2:30 pm American Church Records: How to Locate, Search, and Use the many kinds of church records available in print, on microfilm, on CD-Rom, and on the internet. Religious belief dictates the records kept and preserved by congregations. This session will show how to search these records for hard-to-find ancestors–a NEW research strategy and how to use “internal evidence links” to trace and prove family relationships.
Saturday 9:30 to 10:30 am Tracing a Southern Pedigree: NEW search strategies in little-known and overlooked sources to help you by-pass burned courthouses, gaps in vital records, and ancestors always on the move. Also discussed new finding aids, state-wide indexes, and special research projects that enable you to locate where your ancestors settled: VA into NC, TN, KY, AR and on to California.
Saturday 11:00 to 12:00 pm Tracing Your Revolutionary War Ancestors: Traditional Sources like DAR applications and patriots, pension and service records have new access. Newly discovered records that detail military service 1775-1782 like files of military hospitals and prison ships, rejection rolls, petitions submitted to the Continental Congress–where are these records, how do you search them? Also included: mercenaries who supplemented the troops–Hessians, French, British, and Canadian patriots, “Black Watch,” enlightened Loyalists–where are their records?
Saturday 4:30 to 5:30 pm British Migration to America Before 1850: Documenting “original” settlers to New England, New Netherlands, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Special attention is focused on the Irish, the German, the “brides,” the indentured servants, and British-sponsored religious migrations. Special immigration projects will be highlighted.
Sunday 1:30 to 2:30 pm Solving Tough Problems with Cemetery Records: family relationships, migration patterns, occupations, economic status, naming patterns, and national origins–these and more emerge from cemeteries and their evidence. This session includes a colored slide presentation on ethnic cemeteries which I shot shot on location.
50th Anniversary Genealogy Conference: 11 Oct 2008. Kansas Genealogical Society, Dodge City KS 67841 Register at http://www.dodgecity.net/kgs/My topics:
1. Genealogy Evidence: How do I know my records are accurate? How can I determine who is the right ancestors, given more than one choice? Collecting, compiling, matching evidence correctly so that your records are both documented and proven. Also discussed: resolving discrepancies, “slips of the tongue” evidence, family traditions, and how to by-pass record-source failure. We will also examine why it is important to chart your records as you research. Don’t let anyone sub-prime your genealogy!
2. Is Your Genealogy Already Compiled? If you do a careful “survey” of what is already known about your ancestors and often in print, you can save up t 150 hours of tedious research. Locating and using family histories, genealogies, compiled biographies, autobiographies and autobiographical details in original sources, “first settler collections,” and other narrative sources will pay rich dividends for the time spent. Also covered gallows confessions, courtroom biographies, slave narratives, and captive accounts. Break your losing streak!
3. American Church Records: How to Locate, Search, and Use the many kinds of church records available in print, on microfilm, on CD-Rom, and on the internet. Religious belief dictates the records kept and preserved by congregations. This session will show how to search these records for hard-to-find ancestors–a NEW research strategy and how to use “internal evidence links” to trace and prove family relationships.