2024 Genealogy Webinar Series – Your Roots Pursuits
The Your Roots Pursuits live virtual presentations are free and open to the public. Recordings of the presentations are available to GSNJ Members Only as a member benefit for a limited time.
Schedule
Each webinar is scheduled for the third Wednesday of each month at 8 p.m. Eastern Standard or Daylight Savings time (depending on the date) for approximately one hour.
All 2024 webinars will have the ability for attendees to utilize Zoom’s Closed Captioning feature. The webinar host will explain how to select this option at the beginning of each monthly webinar.
January 17 – Pam Vestal – Genealogical Pits I Have Fallen Into and How to Avoid Them!
Genealogy is a great treasure hunt, but sometimes the clues are easy to misunderstand, or to miss altogether. Learn eight practical strategies to overcome obstacles that may be preventing you from breaking through your brick walls. Here’s your chance to learn from my mistakes without making them yourself!
February 21 – Paul Woodbury – Using DNA to Explore Cases of Adoption, Unknown Parentage and Misattributed Parentage
While DNA testing and genetic evidence are certainly useful for breaking down challenging historic brick-walls, the implications of DNA testing can also hit closer to home and closer to the modern era. In cases of adoption, unknown parentage and misattributed parentage, genetic genealogy methodologies enable identification of close biological ancestors whose identities might otherwise remain unknown, and which represent immediate brick walls for any genealogist dealing with such a scenario in their immediate family tree. In this presentation, we will explore these research scenarios and methodological considerations for each in the context of genetic genealogy.
March 20 – Sydney F. Cruice – Why Should Anyone Believe Your Research – How to provide Genealogical Proof and Write a Genealogy Proof Argument
Whether you are a casual family history hobbyist or on the professional genealogy track, everyone needs to know how to provide solid genealogical proof. How you support your family research findings is the difference between genealogy and mythology. We will demystify the Genealogy Proof Standard and discuss its five components. You will learn how to put together evidence to provide a soundly reasoned, coherently written conclusion. We will explore the different types of written conclusions and how the complexity of the genealogy research dictates which type of written conclusion is necessary for true genealogical proof. Lastly, we will look at several case studies to see how to build genealogy, proof statements, proof summaries, and proof arguments. Make sure you know what to do to guarantee your genealogy research findings will be taken seriously for generations to come.
April 17 – No webinar scheduled
May 15 – Mary Risseeuw – Genealogy of a Neighborhood: Urban and Rural
When your search for family hits a wall, or when you want to fill in blanks and move beyond the names and dates into stories, it’s time to search the ‘neighborhood. This methodology and case study will broaden your search and your concept of your ancestors place in their community.
June 19 – Jessica Conklin – Searching for the Smiths: A Case Study
What do you do when your paper trail runs cold and all you have is a name? Follow along with my search for the elusive Smith family of New York and New Jersey in this case study in using traditional genealogy plus DNA to break through a brick wall.
July 17 – Annette Burke Lyttle – Maps Galore: Finding and Using Online Maps from the Library of Congress
Maps are important resources for researching our ancestors’ locations and migrations and understanding their lives. The Library of Congress has 56,350 maps currently available online. Learn what this treasure trove contains and how to use their website to find maps useful for your research.
August 21 – Bryna O’Sullivan – From Connecticut to New Jersey: The New Haven Colony
In 1662, residents angry about the merger of New Haven and Connecticut colonies left – and eventually founded the city of Newark. This program will introduce the history of New Haven Colony and the founding of Newark and identify the sources helpful for tracing a family from New Haven Colony.
September 18 – Judy Russell, JD, CG, CGL – More Than Just Names: Advanced US Census Research
Those every-10-years U.S. censuses are goldmines of names, ages and birthplaces for members of our families. But there’s so much more in the census records if we know where to look: everything from socioeconomic status to crops grown or products made, from school attendance to marriage dates, from physical disabilities to causes of death, from military service to clues that lead us to other sources. Learn how an advanced search of the U.S. census records can add to your family history.
October 16 – Margaret McMahon, Ph.D. – Ancestors, AI and Prompt Engineering: Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Genealogy
Discover the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as your personal guide and partner in genealogical research with insights from a computer science, engineering, and cybersecurity professor. Learn about generative AI, prompt engineering, and how AI tools like OpenAI ChatGPT, Google G+E8emini, and others can enhance your genealogical endeavors.
November 20 – TBD
(**Rescheduled for 15 January 2025** Kate Townsend – Beyond the Computer Screen: Planning for Repository Visits)
December 18 – Deanna Korte – Unlocking and Researching Your Swedish Family History
Using common websites like Ancestry as well as Swedish church records, this session provides all the information you need to trace your Swedish immigrant ancestors.
Note: The schedule and speakers are subject to change.
Registration and System Requirements
The Zoom platform will be used for the webinars. A working internet connection is required to access the webinars.
Click on the Click Here to Register button for each webinar to register. You may register for each webinar until the webinar ends.
Each attendee will receive an email with the webinar link. A reminder will be sent prior to the webinar. To cancel, click on the cancellation link provided in the email received at the time of registration.
Handouts
The handout for each webinar will be provided during the webinar.
Speaker Biographies
Annette Burke Lyttle speaks on a variety of genealogical topics and loves helping people uncover and share their family stories. She is past president of the Association of Professional Genealogists and edits The Florida Genealogist.
Jessica Conklin is a North Carolina-based genealogist and founder of Cherry Tree Genealogy. She holds a Genealogical Research certificate from Boston University and pulls from former teaching experience to plan engaging presentations for genealogical audiences.
Sydney F. Cruice is a professional genealogy researcher, writer, teacher and international lecturer with over 25 years of experience. She has lectured at many institutes and conferences including: SLIG, IGHR, IAJGS, IGGP, RFIPA. For over seven years she developed the curriculum and taught the genealogy courses at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. She also served as the President of the Association of Professional Genealogists for the Greater Philadelphia Area Chapter for the past 6 years. Sydney’s article, “A Family Secret: Desertion, Scurvy, and President Lincoln” was the featured cover story for NGS Magazine in October of 2018.
Deanna Korte is a genealogical writer, lecturer, and the editor of the Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey. She has extensive experience researching Swedish genealogy.
Margaret M. McMahon, Ph.D., has decades of experience as a professional educator and engineer. She researches, lectures and authored numerous books about genealogical research and military history. She graduated from ProGen Study Group 46.
Bryna O’Sullivan is a Middletown, CT professional genealogist and French to English genealogical translator.
Mary Risseeuw is a genealogist, historian, writer and lecturer. She has researched 19th & 20th century Dutch immigration to Wisconsin, and throughout the U.S., for over 30 years.
Judy Russell, JD, CG, CGL is a genealogist with a law degree who writes and lectures on topics ranging from using court records in family history to understanding DNA testing. An internationally-known lecturer and award-winning writer, she holds credentials as a Certified Genealogist® and Certified Genealogical Lecturer℠ from the Board for Certification of Genealogists®. Her blog is at https://www.legalgenealogist.com.
Pam Vestal is a professional genealogist and speaker who turned her focus to her longtime love of genealogy after a 20-year writing career. Her articles have appeared in the National Genealogical Society Magazine and The Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly, and her lectures take her from coast to coast. Pam specializes in conducting genealogical research and then transforming that information into illustrated stories that even non-genealogists can enjoy.
Kate Townsend is a former professional investigator turned genealogist specializing in Pennsylvania genealogical research. She is the Immediate Past Chair of the NGS Delegate Council. Kate has spoken at national and local genealogical societies and conferences.
Paul Woodbury, AG, MEd., is a Research Team Manager at Legacy Tree Genealogists where he has helped solve hundreds of genetic genealogy cases. He graduated from Brigham Young University where he studied Genetics and Family History. He also holds a master’s degree in Instructional Design and Educational Technology. In addition to genetic genealogy, he loves research in France (for which he has received accreditation through the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists).
Contact
If you have questions, please contact GSNJ at programs@gsnj.org.
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