Events

Do you ever wonder who your ancestors’ neighbors were? Are you writing an historical novel and need some inspiration? Join Andrew Fairweather, Librarian at the New York Public Library’s Seward Park branch on the Lower East Side. We’ll be talking about the history of the neighborhood during its decades of peak immigration, as well as looking at a few tips and tricks on how to perform demographic and genealogical research in this area, and elsewhere. Using Land and Buildings records and photographs, we’ll see the streets where your ancestor lived and maybe even a photo of their building. We’ll learn about living conditions in tenements and how to find your family in census records.

 

Andrew Fairweather is a Librarian who works for the Seward Park branch of the New York Public Library in New York City’s Lower East Side. His professional focus has included spreading knowledge about tools that help researchers conduct genealogical and local history research, as well as giving lectures that give people entry-points into classic works of literature. Andrew has worked at the New York Public Library for ten years, and has a Masters in Library and Information Science from Queens College, City University of New York.

 

 

Before, During and After the Famine:  Learn about the routes taken and the reasons for the emigration from Ireland to the U.S. and Canada before, during and after the famine. Learn how this mass movement of people can affect your research, plus what tools and records are available to trace your Irish ancestor.

 

Paul is a professional genealogist and lecturer, with over 30 years experience. Born and raised in northern England, settling in the U.S. in 1975. An internationally recognized speaker for British Isles research and migration. 2018 recipient of Utah Genealogical Association Fellow Award (FUGA). Author of Discover English Parish Records; Discover English Census Records; Buried Treasures – What’s in the English Parish Chest; Genealogy at a Glance: English Research and Co-author of A Genealogists Guide to Discovering your English Ancestors and A Genealogists Guide to Discovering your Scottish Ancestors. Coordinator for English and Scottish research tracks at Institute of Genealogical and Historical Research, and coordinator of English Research tracks at Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy and British Institute. Former APG, FGS and GSG Board member; past book review editor, FGS Forum.

Do not overlook the wealth of information found in the tax records.  As Daniel Defoe is credited for saying in a book in 1726, “Things as certain as death and taxes…,” we simply cannot avoid them.  Up until the early 1900s, people were taxed on their land and other possessions and these can help in the research of your ancestors.  We will examine several sets of records from around the U. S. and see what we can learn from them.

 

Larry is a retired US Army Captain with 23 years in the field of Aviation, Transportation & Logistics, he has a Bachelor’s Degree in Aviation Maintenance Management, an FAA airplane mechanic license, and earned an MBA in Management Information Systems from Southern Polytechnic State University while working for the US Army Reserves as a Project Manager, earning his Certification as a Project Management Professional from the Project Management Institute in 2013. Larry began his Genealogy Research 30 years ago with his own Thomas Family, Georgia residents since the 1750s. Then adding the rest of his and his late wife’s families before beginning to research for clients in 2008, operating www.AtlantaGenealogy.com. A graduate of ProGen 38 and member of the National Genealogical Society, Association of Professional Genealogists, Genealogy Speakers Guild, Gwinnett Historical Society, Serves on the Board of the Georgia Genealogical Society, and past president of the Cobb County Genealogy Society.

 

FultonHistory.com, or Old Fulton NY Postcards, is a free, historic newspaper website that contains archives of over 50 million pages of microfilmed newspaper images (mostly New York State newspapers, along with collections from other states and Canada). This presentation will give an overview of the content and a variety of search strategies.

 

Jeanette lives in Lockport, NY and has been researching her family tree since 2002. Her career is a public school band teacher which she has done for over twenty years. She began genealogical lecturing at the North Tonawanda Public Library in 2011 and soon after formed the North Tonawanda Library Genealogy Club of which she managed for ten years. In 2013, she became a Board Member for the Niagara County Genealogical Society.  She is also the society Vice President, NGS Delegate, and the Program Chairperson.  Jeanette became Chairman of the Board on March 2020 and held that position for over a year and a half.

 

Jeanette has proven her ancestry and joined many lineage societies including the: National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, First Families of Pennsylvania, National Society Descendants of American Farmers, and the National Society of Mayflower Descendants.  She was elected as Chapter Registrar for her local Niagara Falls DAR Chapter in June 2020 and held that position for a year and a half. In the Fall of 2020, Jeanette became the Virtual Genealogical Society’s (VGA) Corresponding Secretary and was elected to become a member of the Board of Directors for the Western New York Genealogical Society (WNYGS).  While serving on the board for WNYGS, Jeanette became a contributing editor for the WNYGS’s quarterly publication, The Journal, and selected as the Programming Chair.

 

Jeanette officially started Jeanette’s Genealogy in January 2021 by filing a DBA with the local government.

Records of births, marriages and deaths provide a fantastic starting point for identifying our ancestors’ names and where they lived, but in terms of trying to understand how those ancestors once lived, there is no better resource to plunder than a good newspaper. Over the last two centuries in particular, newspapers have recorded the daily events that have shaped our forebears’ lives, and in many cases have identified specific tales about them, as well as notices and advertisements directly concerning them and their contemporary communities.

 

Originally from Northern Ireland, but with both Scottish and Irish roots, Chris holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Genealogical Studies from the University of Strathclyde, and works as a professional genealogist, running the Scotland’s Greatest Story research service. He has been a resident of Ayrshire for almost two decades, but in the past has also been based in the English cities of Plymouth and Bristol, the Scottish city of Glasgow and town of Helensburgh, and the Northern Irish town of Carrickfergus, from where he originally hails.

 

As well as teaching Scottish and Irish themed courses for Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd (www.pharostutors.com), he has also tutored for the University of Strathclyde’s Genealogical Studies Postgraduate Programme (www.strath.ac.uk/genealogy/). Chris is, In addition, a published author of several book titles (see https://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/p/books.html), a regular monthly and bi-monthly contributor to several genealogy magazines, and to his own daily genealogical news feed, the Scottish GENES blog.

 

 

Google Earth tours can be a fun way to share your genealogy with your relatives. Tours can be created to visually illustrate the life and travels of one ancestor or the migration of a family over generations.

 

Karen Fortin received a Bachelor’s Degree in History and a Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science from the University of South Florida. She worked at the Barbara S. Ponce Public Library in Pinellas Park, FL for 30 years before deciding to focus on genealogical research.

 

Karen’s passion for history and research led her to an interest in genealogy. She began volunteering with the Pinellas Genealogy Society in Largo, FL in 2012, and was the society’s president from 2014-2017. Karen began providing genealogy and history presentations in 2016 and has lectured at various genealogical societies and public libraries, and for other interested organizations. One of her goals is to help people explore historical periods, places, and events so that they can better understand their ancestors and the world in which they lived.

Follow your Revolutionary War ancestor through available records from enlistment, service, pension and bounty land.

 

Craig R. Scott, CG, FUGA is President and CEO of Heritage Books, Inc., a genealogical publishing firm with over 8,500 titles in print. A researcher for more than thirty years, he specializes in the records of the National Archives, problem solving, genealogical skill building and publishing. He has been lecturing steadily since the 1990 National Genealogical Society Conference in Crystal City at local, state, and national levels. He has coordinated lecture tracks at IGHR, SLIG and GRIP. He was awarded the Grahame T. Smallwood, Jr. Award by APG in 2008 and the UGA Silver Tray Award in 2009. A nationally known lecturer and educator he has appeared in the Ancestry Show and the Neil Leherer News Hour. He brings enthusiasm and a wealth of knowledge to each engagement.

 

 

TBA

 

Baerbel K. Johnson, AG, is a professional genealogist and works at the Family History Library as International Research Consultant. She holds degrees in Family and Local History Studies and Sociology from BYU, and has more than twenty years of extensive experience in European family history research with emphasis on Germany. She has published a number of journal articles, contributed material for several books, and lectured at various conferences. Her personal interest is in “putting flesh on the genealogical skeleton” by placing each individual within a proper social and historical context.

Baerbel is a member of NGS, the German Professional Genealogists Association, the German Society for Computer Genealogy, and SGGEE. She is also a member of and commissioner for ICAPGen.