Classes

Classes will be presented in four sessions throughout the day and will cover a wide variety of research topics. Click on a topic to find out more about the class and its presenter. Last year's classes are listed here.

Software:

Techniques for making interview subjects feel comfortable and cooperative (even if it’s Aunt Tilly!) Tips for keeping tape and video safe until transcribing or copying can take place. Handouts with questions and samples available!

Although Jan Johnson is a recent Oregon transplant, she was born in Bellingham! She has loved cemeteries since she was old enough to get to them on her own and took instantly to genealogy when introduced soon after her convert baptism to the church at age 14. Jan’s taught genealogy since college at BYU and since has taught for Parks & Rec. plus Sr. Citizen classes. She’s taught classes on how to take oral histories, memoir as well as authored a book on memoir (as well as other writing). Jan also does in-home genealogy counseling and research instruction. Jan is the mother of four, grandmother of one and now a Microsoft wife, loving it back in the Seattle area.

Mary Slawson is a research specialist for Ireland and the Netherlands. She also chairs the Human Family Project, a fully referenced compilation of family histories of Dutch and Irish immigrants to America between 1600 and 1850. She recently published the book, Getting It Right, The Definite Guide to Recording Family History Accurately. Mary lives in Redmond, Washington with her husband and two children.

Genetic Genealogy, the use of DNA testing to aide traditional genealogical research, is the newest and, perhaps, the most accurate research field for the family historian as it can prove or disprove family connections. DNA testing can support a paper trail which is often in question given the availability of surviving records.

With this class you may obtain a basic understanding of DNA testing and how it assists genealogy research, how to be a DNA project participant and/or manage a project, and how to support a project that can help you determine the validity of your paper trail.

Emily Aulicino was born and raised in Kansas City, earning a Bachelor's degree in History and Geography from the University of Kansas at Pittsburg. After living in the Chicago area and teaching, she and her family moved to Eugene Oregon where she received a Master's in Education form the University of Oregon. Later they moved to Portland where they currently live.

Emily has researched her family's heritage for over 35 years, traveling to various US states as well as the United Kingdom, Ireland and Italy in the hunt for ancestors. She manages several RootsWeb surname email lists and an email list on Yahoo to assist genealogists and non-genealogists in writing their family and personal stories for their descendants. Emily is the Northwest Regional Speaker for the International Society of Genetic Genealogists (ISOGG) and operates three DNA Surname Projects.

Mary Slawson is a research specialist for Ireland and the Netherlands. She also chairs the Human Family Project, a fully referenced compilation of family histories of Dutch and Irish immigrants to America between 1600 and 1850. She recently published the book, Getting It Right, The Definite Guide to Recording Family History Accurately. Mary lives in Sammamish, Washington with her husband and two children.

Finding women in traditional records can be difficult in part due to historic legal rights and status. This talk will cover research methodology and strategies to locate and identify elusive female ancestors.

Sarah Thorson Little is a Professional Genealogist. She has been a lead instructor at the University of Washington in the Certificate Program in Genealogy & Family History since 1989. She is an instructor in family history at North & South Seattle Community Colleges. Ms. Thorson Little has specialized research expertise in Northwest Native Americans, Norwegian, 19th & 20th Century U.S. research and Washington State. She is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists.

LifeStories by Design is an interactive discussion presentation designed to assist the writer on how to prepare creative and entertaining memoirs to be passed on to children, grandchildren, family members or others - or a written history of your experiences by and for yourself. The series focuses on developing an interesting and readable document instead of limiting it to a chronological listing of factual experiences. In this workshop, I hope to share the process and some of the information from the class I teach on the subject:

• Writing, Why, How and What to include in writing,
• Organizing your thoughts and the story material by the use of computer
• Enhancing the project by adding poems, pictures, recipes, etc.
• Editing, Finishing and Follow-up

Do you have dead ends in your genealogy? Don’t know where to look next? Come check out land records, one of the oldest records available! Often they will reveal the name of a wife, the married names of the children, not to mention the location of the land that people lived on. This class will focus on fundamentals of understanding land records, and how to use them. You will also learn when to use the databases of the Bureau of Land Management (and how to access them via the Internet if their website is operational again by the time the class starts). Additionally we will focus on some real land record examples and see how they helped put families together one piece at a time.

Kaylene Thaler has a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from BYU. She is currently raising two young children in Redmond while working on her Family history. Kaylene has recently attended the FGS/UGA conference in Salt Lake City. Kaylene has used land records to show that there were two cousins with the same name living in different parts of the country, not just one person as was widely published in books and on the internet. Land Records have been the source for solving several mysteries/dead ends in her genealogy.

The documents generated before one's death, at the time of death, and in the years following one's death will be reviewed for their genealogical significance. This will include a discussion of wills, intestate estates, probate, death certificates, and guardianships, as well as less well known records such as body transit permits and burial permits. The historical changes in records required over different time periods will be considered.

Gary Zimmerman is a fourth-generation resident of Seattle, and officer in the Pioneer Association of the State of Washington and the President of the Fiske Genealogical Foundation. He is retired from a professional career as a university administrator, with thirty-three years of service to Seattle University and Antioch University Seattle. He also was involved in local politics for many years, serving as Mayor of Bellevue in the 1970's and chairman of Seattle METRO from 1980 to 1990. He currently serves a chair of the Pacific Hospital Public Development Authority in Seattle and on the boards of the Chief Seattle Council, Boy Scouts and of the Bellevue Rotary Club. Gary's work in genealogy began with a 5th grade assignment and his exploration of family history has been continuous since that time. In the early 1960's he began teaching other people how to do genealogy. In the 1980's, he began to consult with lawyers and title companies on how to use genealogical techniques to resolve land ownership and "living heir" problems. Today, most of his work is through the instructional programs of the Fiske Foundation and in supervising the responses to genealogical questions asked of the Pioneer Hall organizations.

This class will review the methodology for finding family facts hidden in documents and artifacts. We'll have items to practice will, but bring your own and will offer suggestions to you. Additionally, we'll discuss a seminar on 25 alternate sources for genealogical information. Two handouts will be available during class.

Leslie Edmunds, born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin has lived in Washington State for 17 years with her husband Darryl. Ms. Edmunds received a Master’s Degree in Accounting and Financial Audit from Brigham Young University. She currently works for Nintendo of America Inc. as an Assistant Controller. Her hobbies include puzzles of all types, quilts of all shapes and historical scrapbooks.

Ms. Edmunds has been researching her family history since her teenage years when pen, paper and snail mail were the only tools at her fingertips. Plagued by insomnia, she jumped into the technology age and turned the wee hours of the morning into a gold mine for family history research. While she focuses on putting the leaves on the family tree, her brother, Kevin Kelly focuses on building trunks and branches. Together this year, they have filled in information on more than a thousand cousins and reached back six more generations on several family lines.

She has taught classes at various Family History Centers and Expo's around the area. Her areas of "expertise" include US Research from 2000 to 1800, census research, online sourcing, ancestor profiling, data compilation and next-step evaluation. Ms. Edmunds has worked on many others' family trees and pedigree projects. She enjoys helping others catch the family history bug.

Her can-do attitude has helped her develop several methods for break-through research knocking down those brick-wall ancestors. Fun, exciting and easy to follow, you won't be sleeping through her classes.

How do you know that the information you have about your ancestor is really true? Ever wonder what (or who) is in the “back room” of the Archives? What are the tricks to searching National Archives microfilm publications? If you ever asked, “Where on earth can I look next?” this is the class for you. At the National Archives, a little understanding of how the place is arranged and what is actually there goes a really long way toward helping you find that elusive ancestor.

Carol Buswell, Education Specialist from the National Archives in Seattle has nearly 30 years experience as a writer, teacher and specialist in family history. She holds a Master’s Degree in American Indian Studies from UCLA (1997). She compiled four indexes to American Indian censuses and rolls, wrote a migration history of Cherokee Indians in the late 19^th century, gives workshops to school teachers about interesting and innovative ways to search the National Archives (both in Seattle and online).

Through years of internet research, Jan will show you some often unknown tools of doing research on the Internet, as well as take you to some of those hidden cache’s of information available on the internet. (Participants should be Internet savvy, this will not include instructions as to how to use the internet.)

Virtually all genealogists make frequent use of the web site www.FamilySearch.org to either search the catalog or look up ancestors in the IGI. Yet, few know of the many other features and tools contained in this rich and fascinating site. This slide-show presentation explores some of these lesser-known features of FamilySearch.org as well as giving a pictorial "virtual tour" of the fabulous Family History Library in Salt Lake City.

Mr. Ellis earned a BA in French and an MA in Family Relations from BYU and a Ph.D. in Family Sociology and Social Psychology from WSU. Currently the Director of the masters program in Counseling Psychology at St. Martin's College in Lacey, WA, Dr. Ellis has worked as a professor of Family Relations and/or Psychology and as a marriage and family therapist for 25 years. He has been tracing his genealogy and English family roots, off and on, since adolescence. He and his wife, Merry, spend the majority of their breaks between semesters engaged in the addiction we call family history. They visit the Family History Library in Salt Lake City at least two times a year and pursue family history research in England every other year. Dr. Ellis has also been lecturing on cruise ships - he and his wife Merry have sailed in the Caribbean, up to Alaska, and to Hawaii giving family history presentations. He currently serves as Stake Family History Consultant in the Lacey, Washington Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Merry Ellis has been fascinated with her family history for many years. Related to the same Mayflower pilgrim fathers as Joseph Smith and Winston Churchill, she has lines extended to England, France, Germany, and French-Canada. She has spent many days conducting research on these lines in the family history library in Salt Lake City and has visited England several times for purposes of learning more about her and her husband's family histories. Along with her husband Godfrey Ellis, she has also lectured on genealogy on a cruise to Alaska and serves as co-Stake Family History Consultant in the Lacey, Washington Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In "US Census Research Online", you will learn how easy it is to access on the Internet a wealth of information, much of it for free, about ancestors who lived in the US in the period 1790-1930. You will learn how to use a number of online databases, and hear interesting facts that may affect your research. Handouts will be available.

Dave Thaler is the historian for the Thaler family organization, and has published a book "The Thaler Family in Germany and North America, 1655-1995", containing the ancestors and descendants of the family that immigrated to Canada in 1830. He has traveled to Germany the visit the areas the family came from, and has been a Family History Center librarian for several years. He also maintains a web site publishing a number of royal lines. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1998 and is currently employed as a Software Architect at Microsoft.

This Hands On Workshop and Demonstration will focus on selected abundant on-line sources for all types of family history research. For US Census work, we'll visit Heritage Quest via the King County Library System, Family Search and Ancestry. For primary source research, we will stop at USGenWeb Counties, USGenWeb States, and Ancestry. For help from other researches, will spend a few moments at Rootweb and Google. We'll also take a side trip at Google to look at images and historical newspapers And finally, we'll head off to Cyndi's list and Ancestry Learning Center for good articles on research methods and specialized sources.

Just starting your research? This class will help you learn how to work effectively and avoid the pitfalls typical of most beginners. The class will offer research skills, tips, and resources and will cover what you need to know as you start on your quest for your family’s history. Basic, simple steps and “how-to” information will be presented for the beginner. Forms, charts and other research tools will be discussed.

The class will focus on beginning research in Mexico and Spain. The Class will answer questions like: How and where do I begin? What type of records do I find? Where do I find them? How do I understand them? How do I organize my information? Do I need to know Spanish? You will receive an overview of how to research Catholic Church Records, and Civil Records including, baptisms, marriage, matrimonial information, confirmations, wills, death certificates, proof of nobility, immigration records (Archivo de Indias) and church dispensations.

Susana Leniski was born and raised in Mexico City, Mexico. She attended “Universidad Metropolitana” in Mexico City where she majored in International Business. Following her education, Susana worked for various US based firms in Mexico. While living and working in Mexico, Susana gained experience researching her family history. In 1990, Susana moved to the United States following her husband’s career and has lived in New York, Philadelphia, St Louis, and Seattle. Susana is both bilingual and bicultural in English and Spanish and holds dual citizenship in both Mexico and the United Sates.

Because of her family history, Susana specializes in Mexico and Spain research from late 1900’s to the 1500’s. Susana has successfully traced some family lines to the 1600s in diverse areas of Mexico including Michoacan, Queretaro, Zacatecas, and Mexico State. Other lines have led to research in the Basque, Catalonia, and Andalusia region of Spain as far back as the 1500’s.

Susana has acted as a Genealogy volunteer in the family centers in Philadelphia and Seattle helping others with research and translations of records in Spanish. Susana has also attended classes and researched genealogy in the Family History Library in Utah, as well as researched historical data at the “Archivo General de la Nacion”, and “Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia” in Mexico City.

A short review of Canadian history and settlement will be followed by a review of the key on-line resources for doing Canadian genealogical research. Resources both in Canada and abroad will be evaluated.

This class on German Research will begin with a brief overview of several key resources available at the Family History Library. We will then proceed to cover, in detail, two specific areas critical to beginning research in Germany: reading German handwriting, and using Family Registers. Handouts will be available.

This slide-show presentation emphasizes tools available for family history research in England using the Internet. It presents websites for modern or period British maps; the use of English church records; FreeBMD searches of the Civil Reg.; GENUKI & IGI batch searches; on-line access to the British census; websites to search for wills and monumental inscriptions; help through English email listserves; and the on-line Booth Poverty Maps of London.

The computer has revolutionized searching for one's Scandinavian roots. This lecture will cover the many resources available on the internet and on microfilm including emigration lists, censuses, parish records, library catalogues, maps, telephone directories, community histories, databases and mailing lists.

In this class, you will be given the basic knowledge needed to begin research in African American slave history. By using the case study, you will explore documents of both an African American family and those of a potential slave-owning family. In addition you will explore some unique documentation that can enhance your research.

Coordinating information from multiple sources and making informed guesses is the key to finding your ancestors in the US from 1800 to the present day. The class is divided into 2 sections to give you the tools necessary to be successful: Section 1) Ancestor profiling (a method to focus your research and cut down on time) and Section 2) Sources and Other Sources (what sources provide what information and how to glean the extra info from a document and sources specifically designed for US 1900's and 1800's research. Bring names and dates and gossip and we may use your ancestor in the class workshop.

Leslie Edmunds, born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin has lived in Washington State for 17 years with her husband Darryl. Ms. Edmunds received a Master’s Degree in Accounting and Financial Audit from Brigham Young University. She currently works for Nintendo of America Inc. as an Assistant Controller. Her hobbies include puzzles of all types, quilts of all shapes and historical scrapbooks.

Ms. Edmunds has been researching her family history since her teenage years when pen, paper and snail mail were the only tools at her fingertips. Plagued by insomnia, she jumped into the technology age and turned the wee hours of the morning into a gold mine for family history research. While she focuses on putting the leaves on the family tree, her brother, Kevin Kelly focuses on building trunks and branches. Together this year, they have filled in information on more than a thousand cousins and reached back six more generations on several family lines.

She has taught classes at various Family History Centers and Expos around the area. Her areas of "expertise" include US Research from 2000 to 1800, census research, online sourcing, ancestor profiling, data compilation and next-step evaluation. Ms. Edmunds has worked on many others' family trees and pedigree projects. She enjoys helping others catch the family history bug.

Her can-do attitude has helped her develop several methods for break-through research knocking down those brick-wall ancestors. Fun, exciting and easy to follow, you won't be sleeping through her classes.

The PAF class is for both beginning and intermediate genealogists. We will cover downloading, input, editing, back-up, restore, match-merge, sort, reports, import, export, customized layouts, global changes, and more. Bring your own database (PAF, gedcom, zip, backup) and we will enhance it.

Denney Pugmire has an advanced accounting degree from BYU. He has completed some 1500 hours of research in the last two years and has a database of 100,000, all in PAF.

This class will cover the basics of getting started with Legacy Family Tree. How to start a family file, how to enter/edit data, sources, how to update ordinance info using Legacy’s IGI Search and show some of the new features of Legacy 6.0 including the Legacy Home tab.

James Terry is the Webmaster, Newsgroup Administrator and Customer Support Technician for Millennia Corporation, which produces the Legacy Family Tree genealogy program. Jim, as he likes to be called, majored in genealogical research at Brigham Young University from 1969 to 1971 and then enlisted in the US Navy as an avionics technician. After his naval service, which included a tour in Vietnam, he return to Brigham Young University where he graduated with a BA in Communication in 1978.

After graduation, he worked as a professional genealogist in Salt Lake City, but eventually pursued a career in public relations and photography for two community hospitals, Rotary International and the military. In 1996, Jim returned to college to study computer networks and database management. Millennia Corporation hired him, even before he graduated.

Jim now combines his favorite pursuits -- genealogy and computers -- into one career, and still carries on professional research for a small number of favored clients. He has also written articles on the use of the Internet and Scottish church records which have appeared in Heritage Quest Magazine and the AGLL Genealogical Bulletin. In addition he has spoken to a number of genealogical societies and groups in Illinois, Wisconsin, California, Utah and Washington.

Jim is married and the father of two married children. He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and resides in the Oak Harbor Second Ward of the Mount Vernon Washington Stake. His hobbies include photography, and kite flying.

We will cover some of the more advanced features of Legacy, including the new Legacy 6.0 Home tab, the new Research Guidance tab, the Publishing Center, Forms Center, Timelines and more.

The TempleReady class will describe the use of the Windows TempleReady program to clear names for temple ordinances by LDS Church members. It will also include the use of the FamilySearch Internet and the IGI to view temple ordinances before using TempleReady.

Bob Mullen is a past president of the Eastside Genealogical Society, and is currently the director for the Bellevue Family History Center for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He has been involved with American genealogy research for 40 years. He has spoken to senior groups, Rotary Clubs, the Eastside Genealogical Society, and the Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington.

CLASSES [Tentative]

Getting Started:

Types of Records:

Internet:

Locality-Based:

Software: