Lecture Topics
DNA & Research Working Together - Revised 2018
Explores various methods to discover distant cousins who's DNA can help solve brick-wall research problems. See how Y-DNA tests and the Johnson DNA Project along with research and at-DNA tests are helping to "unchop" down my Johnson Family Tree. Also explores transferring Ancestry results to FTDNA and Gedmatch.com for additional reports and tools. (a major revision of "Drilling Down For DNA" 2015)
Introduction to Slovenian Genealogy - Half or Full day Workshop - new 2019
Genealogy Introduction, Where Did They Come From?, Parish Records, Availability Online, DNA Testing, & Making Contact. Travel photographs can be incorporated into breaks or lunch
No Birth Certificate? No Problem!
Looks at the wide variety of primary and secondary sources that can help to determine when and where a person was born and who were their parents if a birth certificate is not available or can't be found.
Tools & techniques for reviewing situations, organizing documents, setting realistic research goals, and creating documentation to live a life while doing Brick Wall research. Includes three case studies.
Genealogy Vacation - Myth or Reality?
"Genealogy" and "Vacation" are rarely used together. With the Internet, planning, humor, and common sense you can do research and still have a vacation. Tips for visits to courthouses, cemeteries, libraries, and family along with some unusual sources.
Genealogy Trips - More Than Just Records
Setting goals, Planning, Doing your Homework at Home, and Establishing Contacts will help you have a successful trip where you can meet cousins, see where your ancestors lived, worked, or just spent time. You can learn more about your ancestors and maybe even yourself. Examples include locating the property and an 1861 log cabin in Colorado, meeting cousins while visiting my grandmother’s hometown in Slovenia, and visiting a town in France that my grandfather wrote about in his letters home during World War I.
Using Maps in Genealogical Research
shows how maps can help to explain records and to find them. Looks at rural: Historical Atlases and Land-ownership maps; & City: especially Sanborn Fire Insurance and Panoramic maps, plus Migration, Topographical, and other maps.
Looks at passenger lists, immigration records, emigration records, printed indexes and other sources to find the ships that carried your ancestors. Then learn the ship’s history and maybe even find an image of it.
Extra! Extra! Read All About Your Ancestors!
See the wealth of research information that can be found in newspapers. Learn how to locate some of those little gems with published extracts, online and printed indexes, and online searches.
If you didn't find it in the index it only means that you didn't find it in the index. Looks at examples from Census, Court, printed, and various online indexes, especially online Newspaper sites
Genealogy Basics
Encourages everyone to preserve their family's history. Covering: Documenting the basic facts; Identifying important documents to save; Showing the importance of family photographs and how to properly identify everyone; Recording the stories that make your family "Your Family," and then Preserving it all for future generations to enjoy.
Courthouse Research - Where Do I Start?
Reviews Vital Records: Birth, Marriage & Death Certificates, and Indexes. Learn about Jurisdictions and their history. Probate Records: What you might find in wills and probate files and how they can all help you with your research.
Reviews a wide variety of marriage records; records that can identify a spouse and narrow down the date; along with a case study of a couple that traveled to New Orleans in 1890 to get married.
Cemeteries - Look High and Low, Above and Below
because there is often more than meets your eyes. Tips to locate them. See examples of what is above ground. Stresses getting cemetery records to see what is below ground. View photographs of unique tombstones and monuments along with samples of various cemetery records, funeral home records, and obituaries.
Find out: What Information is in the census; Who gave the information? Why doesn’t it all agree? Using other records to help find your ancestors who are “not in the census.”
Are Your Ancestors Hiding In the 20th Century Census?
Find people not listed in the index, Records to help locate them. Determine: Who gave the information? Why it doesn’t agree? Clues to other records.
Discontinued Programs
Society Management
Turn Your Societies' Dreams Into Reality
A combination lecture and workshop to demonstrate and explain the search conference process. Learn how to: Identify their "customers" and their needs. Develop or review their Mission or Purpose, Review their past and current projects, Identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities, Act out their vision of the desired future and make plans to get there.