Each
year the Louisville Genealogical Society sponsors
a Family History Seminar and Book Fair, featuring a
nationally-known speaker. The 2008 Seminar was be held on October 11, 2008, at Beargrass Christian Church, at the corner of Shelbyville Road and Browns Lane. Our speaker was Michael John Neill, whom we feel provided a great deal of information to those who attended his sessions.We look forward to our 2009 Seminar, which will again be held at Beargrass Christian Church, on October 17. Our speaker will be George G. Morgan.
George G. Morgan, Tampa, Florida, USA (Website)
George G. Morgan is president of Aha! Seminars, Inc., a company that provides seminars in soft skills and computer topics to library personnel and genealogical seminars to audiences worldwide. A self-described "rabid genealogist," George is an internationally-recognized genealogy expert
working with and lecturing about almost all types of genealogical record types in the U.S., the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. He has been working on his family genealogy since 1962, and has extensive experience in the training field, having been a corporate training manager for both Sears, Roebuck & Co. and IBM/Advantis/IBM Global Network.
He is the public author of eight books and literally hundreds of articles and columns in magazines such as Ancestry Magazine, Everton's Genealogical Helper, Family Chronicle, Genealogical Computing, Internet Genealogy, Heritage Quest Magazine, the NGS Quarterly, in society journals, and for several online venues in the U.S., the U.K. and Singapore. His most recent
book is "How to Do Everything: Genealogy," published by McGraw-Hill Professional, and is one of the best-selling genealogy books in the last twenty years. His previous books include the first and second editions of "The Official Guide to Ancestry.com," and he has written a chapter for the forthcoming second edition of "Professional Genealogy."
George is a director and webmaster of the Florida Genealogical Society (Tampa), the Publicity Director for the Florida State Genealogical Society, a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, the Society of Genealogists (UK), and more than twenty other genealogical societies in the U.S and U.K. He is a member of the faculty of both National Institute for Genealogical Studies at the University of Toronto and teaches genealogy in webinars for a number of clients.
George is the co-host, with his partner, Drew Smith, of "The Genealogy GuysSM Podcast" each week at http://genealogyguys.com
. He lives in Tampa, Florida.The topics for this Seminar are:
Bring ‘em Back to Life: Developing an Ancestor Profile - Presents a methodology and model for taking collected details about ancestors and creating a biographical profile.
State-Land States & Federal-Land States: Researching U.S. Land Records - The two main methods of organizing and measuring land records in the US are introduced, described and sample records are presented.
The U.S. Naturalization Process and Documents: 1790-1954 - Discusses variations in rules over time to make tracing naturalizations easier and to teach methods for narrowing the search for an ancestor's citizenship papers.
Using the HeritageQuest Databases - How to unlock the four major databases in HQ Online Resources - Census, Persi, family genealogies, Revolutionary War records.
FREE CLASSES
9:00 a.m. Susan Brown -- Adoption Research
Susan Myers Brown was born in Maysville, Kentucky. Her parents left Kentucky when she was 7 and moved the family to Florida. Her father’s job moved the family to several states until finally settling in Dothan, Alabama when she was in the 8th grade. Susan graduated from Troy University in 1998 with a BS in Criminal Justice and Sociology. She moved back to Kentucky in 1998 shortly after graduation to be closer to her parents and grandparents. She started with the Cabinet for Families and Children (now the Cabinet for Health & Family Services) in July of 1998 working in the Central Office Adoptions Branch. She has been the Adult Adoptee Program Manager for almost 5 years now and really enjoys what she does. She is married, has a 16 year old daughter, and raises and trains German shepherd dogs.
Kentucky Adoption File Searches
Susan Brown will discuss the process to get identifying and non-identifying information from an adoption file where the adoption occurred in Kentucky. She will have several handouts for the class.
In Accordance with Kentucky Revised Statute 199.570 Adoption records are confidential. In accordance with Kentucky Revised Statute 199.572(2), the adult adopted person applies in person or in writing to the Circuit Court for authorization to inspect all papers and records pertaining to the adoption proceedings of that adult adopted person. Handouts will be available to detail the various searches.
9:00 a.m. Joe Hardesty -- Library Resources
Joe Hardesty has earned a Masters degree in Education from Western Kentucky University as well as a Masters of Library Science degree from the University of Kentucky. These two credentials directly benefit the genealogy community through his work in building and maintaining our free public library's Kentucky History and Genealogy collection as well as his ability to introduce new and "seasoned" genealogists to various print and online resources that makes genealogy fun and rewarding.
This class will be of benefit for those just starting out and advanced genealogists. Handouts will be available to help prepare for your library preplanning.
10:30 a.m. Betty Darnell -- Planning a Research Trip
Betty Darnell, a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists and of state and local societies, is currently editor of the quarterly publication for the Bullitt County Genealogical Society, and president of the Spencer County Historical and Genealogical Society. An active genealogist since her college years, Betty has researched county records in Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and other states, as well as records of Germany. Betty teaches, lectures, and writes about research methods, and has compiled and published abstracts of Kentucky and Missouri county records. She and her husband, Carl, lived in southeast Missouri, 1970 to 1987; in Mt. Washington, Kentucky, 1988-2005; and now have a hillside home overlooking Taylorsville, Kentucky.
Make the most of your research trip, whether you're going to spend an afternoon or a week. Learn how to determine the strengths of a particular library or archives, how to prepare so that you maximize your time on-site, how to act at the library, and how to manage your notes, printouts, and photocopies.
10:30 a.m. Ivan Baugh -- On-line Databases
Ivan W. Baugh began his genealogical digging in 1961. He has presented workshops for LGS, KGS, and KHS. He has had articles published in Lines and By Lines, Bluegrass Roots, and Kentucky Ancestors. He holds a B.A. from Mississippi College, a M.S.M. degree from Southern Seminary, an Ed.S. degree from Spalding University, and completed his Rank I certification at University of Louisville. He completed course work towards a doctorate at the University of Texas-Austin. He is married and has two children and two grandchildren. He retired from Jefferson County Public Schools in 1996. After spending 48 years in Education he retired from Bellarmine University in 2002. His genealogy research keeps him engaged. He is nearing completion of a book on the John Baugh family of Logan County, KY.
During this session we will examine the resources available in online databases from Ancestry.com to Footnote.com to Find a Grave.com. Strategies for effective searching of databases and links found through the databases will be explored during the session.
1:30 p.m. Deborah Lord Campisano -- Whole Family Research
Deborah Campisano has over 25 years of research experience. She teaches classes on genealogy methods and sources for local and regional societies and for the University of Louisville's adult education program.
This lecture illustrates the use of indirect evidence and whole-family research as strategies for determining parentage. No single record names the parents of Sarah Easton Thompson, or her specific place of birth other than “Kentucky.” This case study details the reconstruction of Sarah’s family unit using the records created by possible kin and collaterals, revealing nine brothers and sisters which then led to the discovery of her parents’ names and her place of birth.
1:30 p.m. Mel Arnold -- Orphan Trains: A History
Mel Arnold is a native of Alabama who has lived and worked in several Midwest states. He taught at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Minnesota before returning to Louisville to become the Director of Training and Education for Humana. He later retired from LGE-Energy where he served as Director of Training and Education. He has been a member of LGS since 2002 and now serves as president of the society.
In 1824 a young ministerial student, Charles Loring Brace, arrived in New York after studying theology at Yale. He quickly became appalled at the number of homeless youth roaming the streets, many securing their daily needs by criminal activity. He soon called a gathering that involved many rich and renowned citizens of the city. He proposed the creation of an organization to care for and educate these homeless young people. However, the numbers were large; 3,000 in 1824 according to the Police Chief, but many social workers estimated the number to be between 10,000 and 12,000. His new organization, Children’s Aid Society, did much good but it became apparent very early CAS could not make the significant impact needed. The solution became clear; send them out to the godly people of the west who would provide decent homes away from the evil influences of the city. Thus the movement which came to be known as “Orphan Trains” was born.
3:00 p.m. Barbara Davis -- Organization 101
Barbara Freeman Davis, a past president of the Louisville Genealogical Society, has been successfully researching her family history for the over 20 years. Since 1993, she has attended eight national conferences, two sessions at the Institute of Genealogical and Historical Research at Samford University and has researched at the LDS Library in Salt Lake City, Utah for 12 weeks. Barbara has lectured at seminars for the Indiana State Historical Society, a Northern Indiana College and various other places. Barbara is also a frequent speaker at local genealogical society meetings.
File your way to organization. A simple color-coded method to keep your records up to date and each family easily accessible, using easy to find materials. You can start at the beginning of your research or with a 20-year accumulation of records, as I have.
3:00 p.m. Ann Johnson -- Cemetery Preservation
Ann Johnson is an Administrative Assistant with the Cemetery Preservation Program at the Kentucky Historical Society. She also provides administrative support to the Kentucky Museum and Heritage Alliance. Ann started her new career at KHS after retiring with 31 years of service with the State Department for Public Health. She started out at KHS working 2 days a week, but soon that evolved into 5 days a week. She is pleased to talk about a project and program that has garnered a lot of attention, passion, frustration and satisfaction. Although Ann’s position is part-time, she finds that there is full-time interest in cemetery preservation.
Ann will present basic information about the Kentucky Historical Society's Cemetery Preservation Program, including: stone cleaning techniques, Kentucky laws, fines and penalty's, mapping a cemetery, rubbings, landowner's responsibility, descendants access to a cemetery, databases, and registering a cemetery.
