"Ferreting Out Family Stories - Fact, Fiction or Somewhere in Between"

 

Every family has its stories, some more colorful than others. Some seem too fantastic to be true. Others have the ring of truth, but don’t stand up to close examination. How do we tell the difference? Marion Werle will present a methodology for analyzing family stories – creating one or more research questions to focus our inquiries, developing a research plan, creating a potential timeline, and finally, analyzing each component of the story to separate fact from fiction.

Marion Werle began family history research 23 years ago, researching family from Lithuania, Latvia and Belarus, who settled in the US, Canada, UK and Israel. She has been on the boards of the Jewish Genealogical Societies of both Los Angeles and Conejo Valley, is a past president of the Latvia SIG (Special Interest Group) and is a member of the SCGS Writers Group. A retired IT professional with master’s degrees in both European History and Library Science from UCLA, she has also completed the Boston University Genealogical Research Certificate. Marion wrote The Skuders from Skud, a family history about one of her family branches from Lithuania, to share with family members.

 

Workshop following the lecture: