Those with an * can also be a keynote or luncheon address.

A Research Trip Around Ohio
Ohio was a destination place.  Many ancestors were on their way to or through Ohio as they made their way westward.
Summary:  Ohio genealogists are often asked about the best facilities for researching when descendants return home to trace their ancestry.  This presentation will highlight some of the most productive facilities when you only have so much time to spend.

*America's Forgotten War - The War of 1812
The War of 1812 is one of the forgotten wars of the United States, yet records abound for our ancestors who were willing to fight the British once again.
Summary:  On June 18, 1812, the United States stunned the world by declaring war on Great Britain.  It lasted over two years and ended in a stalemate.  It did, however, confirm America’s independence, once and for all.


Apprentices, Indentured Servants and Redemptioners; White Servitude in America
An estimated one-half of early immigrants came to America as indentured servants.  
Summary:  People came to the colonies by various means; some desired to come, and some came against their will.  This lecture will examine  indentureship in early America, and will follow a case study of the story behind my own ancestors' arrival.           
Note:  This is by no means a comparison of indentureship and slavery.  Though they may have worked alongside each other, and even ran away and married each other, their lives were vastly different.  One had hope of a piece of land, and perhaps money and implement.  The other had no hope at all; their service was perpetual.
  

Away, I’m Bound Away! - Migrations Into the Shenandoah Valley
The Shenandoah Valley beckoned many different groups, including religious, ethnic, and outcast peoples.  Learn what brought these different groups into the area, the migration trails they traveled, and the climate that developed as they merged together.
Summary:  Our ancestors were on the move a lot.  Land was precious to them, and influenced  when and where they lived.  This lecture will focus on the varied groups that populated the Shenandoah Region, the culture and customs, where they came from and what may have influenced them to stay or to move on.
Note:  This lecture can also be divided into two separate classes - one dealing with the German element, the other with the Scots-Irish element.  It may also be turned into a three-part class, with added emphasis on the Quakers.

Beginning Your Kentucky Research
The best place to research your ancestors in Kentucky is not always in Kentucky!  Let’s learn what is available to help discover our ancestors.
Summary:  This presentation concentrates on researching in this state which neighbors us just beyond the Ohio River.  Its beginnings were in Virginia, and were part of its rich history before becoming a state of its own.

Dark as a Dungeon; Researching Mining Records
This is the real ‘Minecraft’.  As the song goes, it truly was “dark as a dungeon” in just about any mine.  Fortunately, there are records that have may been kept on your mining ancestors.
Summary: Mining is hard work. Starting from the children that worked in mines up to the adults of today, mining records may provide a clue to your ancestors’ lives.

FamilySearch and Your British Research
Discovering when your family landed on American shores can be so exciting.  But, how can you research in another country from home?
Summary:  FamilySearch can take you around the world without leaving your home.  This class will help you as you take your first steps in foreign research -- when you aren't quite sure how to.

Faith of Our Fathers
This is actually part of a two-part course I taught at the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP) in 2019. 
Part 1 focuses on the religious upheavals and persecutions that were creating the push/pull effect in Europe.
Part 2 focuses on different areas of the eastern, mid-Atlantic, and southern regions that welcomed those of faith.
Summary: Our country is one of religious diversity.  Except for the very early days in the colonies, there has never been a “state religion”.  A number of different religions and their beginnings will be discussed.
​Before state and vital records were mandated, churches were valuable information that can be used as substitutes for vital records.​

*Finding Substitutes for Vital Records
As valuable as vital records are to us, there are many times when they just aren’t available.  
Summary:  Some states began recording official vital records later than others.  Others have suffered record destruction through burned courthouses, war, rodents, and mildew.  What can be used as a substitute?


Following the Money Using Tax Records
Not unlike today, our ancestors were taxed on every turn.  Tax records can provide a unique insight into their lives, possessions and coming of age.
Summary:  Tax records are widely available throughout the historical blueprint of our ancestors’ lives.  Let’s look at some ways they can help us.


*From the Shoebox to the Temple
Members of the LDS Church are sometimes a bit stymied as to what it takes to prepare a name for ordinance work.
Summary:  All of us have an aunt or a grandmother that has a shoebox full of obituaries and/or funeral cards.  How do we get those out of the box and on to the temple?


Genealogy 101:  A Four-Session Course in Beginning Genealogy
Genealogy is an adventure in researching your family’s history.  These sessions will aid the beginner in starting the process and enjoying the journey.
Summary:  :  Each of the four classes will build on the previous instruction.  They will include the following:            
Session 1 – Identify what you already know.
This will include home sources, oral interviews of older relatives, obituaries, appropriate charts and forms.  Basic forms, i.e. pedigree chart, family group record, etc. will be provided to find out what is already known.
Session 2 – Filling in the blanks.
Pedigree analysis will aid us in deciding where we need to go next.  Following many recommendations from Tom Jones’ Mastering Genealogical Proof, we will focus on asking a genealogical question and setting a goal.  Citing sources and learning to keep a research log will be emphasized.  Time will also be spent on the value of maps.
Session 3 – Learning how to obtain and read a record. 
After learning of the many ways to search for and obtain a record, we will analyze the information it may contain.  Specific class time will include evaluation of a death record, an obituary, and perhaps even birth/christening records.
Session 4 – Organizing what you have gathered.
Organizing and preserving our data is essential.  An overview of computer programs specifically for genealogy will be demonstrated, different filing systems, sharing information with online databases, and leaving a legacy for future generations will be included.


Genealogy-On-The-Go
The internet provides a wealth of information to trace our ancestors.  But, can we do it all from home?  
Summary:  Each day there are millions of new images being added to genealogy databases.   We can access these on many devices from just about anywhere.  However, is there still a need to make an in-person visit to research?

*Genealogy Travels With Miss Peggy (luncheon or dinner topic)
Because sometimes, you just have to make a trip.
Summary:  It helps having members in your family who are also interested in genealogy.  Peggy and her sisters have made dozens of trips into Appalachia to research their ancestry.  Come along on some of the most memorable adventures.


German Migration Into the Ohio
This lecture will focus on the strong German population that came to call Ohio home.
Summary:  Ohio was a melting pot of many ethnic groups, especially the Germans.  Most originated from the same area in Germany, and settled in areas of Ohio that reminded them of home.


Hidden Gems in the FamilySearch Wiki                           
The FamilySearch Wiki contains tens of thousands of pages to assist you in researching your family’s history.
Summary:   What is a wiki?  It’s one of the best-kept secrets of FamilySearch.  Let’s learn how this powerful and robust tool can bring the world to your fingertips.

*Ho to California!  The Draw of the Gold Rush
Few events in America have had the impact of the California Gold Rush and the desire to have a better life; an event that lasted seven short years.
Summary:  The Gold Rush swelled the population of California by the hundreds of thousands.  And, it was all for the little flecks of gold that shone so brightly.  People rushed in from all over the world.  Did it beckon your ancestors, too?


*Homespun and Calico:  Researching the Lives of Our Foremothers
This lecture will give the genealogist some frequently 
overlooked sources concerning the women in our ancestry.  Some case studies will be used to illustrate the research process.
Summary:  Half of the names on your pedigree chart belong to women.
These female ancestors sometimes have little proof that they even existed.  Let’s see what we can uncover as we discover new sources.


*Improving Your Talent as a Genealogy Speaker
All eyes are on you when step up to the podium to deliver a genealogy talk.  The audience is expecting to be taught and instructed.  Can you deliver what they want and need?
Summary:  Attendees have set aside time and money to hear you speak about a subject that can help them further their quest in their family’s history.  Here are some points to help them feel their time is not wasted.


*In A Granite Mountain:  Using FamilySearch to Further Advance Your Research
This lecture will show the benefits of becoming familiar the ever-changing web site known as FamilySearch.org
Summary:  FamilySearch.org is changing sometimes daily.  It benefits us to become familiar with the web site and learn how to get the most from its sources.


*Let's Leave 'em Something to talk About
This lecture focuses on important techniques used in interviewing our living relatives who may be a bit skittish in talking about the past.  It also encourages us to leave a legacy for our own posterity that will make it just a bit easier for them to find us. 
Summary:  What we would give to be able to find letters, journals, diaries, pictures from our ancestors.  Those that are still may need some “memory jogs” to help them remember events from their own lives and the history they may have locked inside.  A charge to leave our own story concludes this lecture and includes several different ways to do it. 


Making Sense of the Census
One of the first records we seek out is that of the U.S. Federal Census.  How are they read, and how can they benefit me in my research?
Summary:  The census was taken every ten years, beginning in 1790. This presentation will show how these records can paint a picture of your ancestors, their neighborhood, their industry, and their lives.


Migration into the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia
This lecture will focus on the areas they emigrated from, the migration trails they took, and that areas they settled.
Summary:  There were three main European groups that form the basis of our ancestors in Virginia - the Germans from the Palatine area, the Quakers, and The Scots-Irish of Great Britain.  

Migration Trails Across America
America has been a nation on the move since the first landings in the colonies.  From buffalo traces and Native American trails to rivers and canals, Americans found a way to keep pushing “west”.
Summary:  This presentation concentrates on the most common means of travel in the New World.  Migrations trails and patterns will be discussed, as well as the many rivers and canals that interconnected us as a nation.  A case study will be demonstrated showing a “lost” ancestor”.

Migration To and Through Virginia
Virginia had several major migration routes running through her, from the coastal tidewater region to the Allegheny Mountains.
Summary:  Virginia became a thoroughfare of several groups and religions.  Some were on their way to the deeper southern region; some had come in from the Carolinas and headed northward, and a few went south and returned due to slavery.


Migration Trails to the Ohio
This lecture will focus on different groups that migrated to the newly-formed Ohio country and how the land was divided up as people began to settle.  We will study these trails, as well as circumstances that brought people here.
Summary:  “Ohio fever” brought people to this western frontier state in droves.  The division of the land became a pattern for most of the other land areas in the United States.


*Misbegotten Children; Tracing the Family Lines of the Illegitimate
Nearly all families have children with seemingly missing fathers.  Yet, there may be clues and resources to help us determine their ancestry.
Summary:  Illegitimacy can be both a surprise and an embarrassment as we discover more and more about our family’s history.  Treated with care and sensitivity, we can use many available resources to help us in our research.


*Navigating Our Way Through FamilySearch
FamilySearch.org is a marvel, and if our research doesn’t begin there, we should navigate our way to this ever-changing web site.
Summary:  Just when we think we have gleaned all we can from FamilySearch, the web site changes, more records are added, or we uncover a new way or preserving our own stories.

Ohio and the Early Gatherings of the LDS Church
Ohio was the first gathering place of the LDS Church.  Eventually, those who joined with the its membership eventually found themselves displaced into Missouri and Illinois before their trek to Utah.
Summary:  The story of the LDS Church is a story of persecution.  This lecture will focus on the members from both the United Kingdom and New England who were disowned from their families, and finished their lives in the western United States.  A case study will be used to show the connection between an early member of the LDS Church and their ties to New England, unknown until a short time ago.
​***Note:  This lecture is specifically geared to the non-LDS audience.

Ohio; the Great Land Experiment
Many roads led to and through Ohio.  The promise of land opened up a whole new world for immigration and migration to what was known as “the west”.  
Summary:  Ohio was the first of the states in the Northwest Territory to become a state.  There existed plenty of good and fertile land, but a new system of measuring the land was about to emerge with Jefferson's retangular survey.  Everything new was tried in Ohio.

Plain Folk - Researching Amish and Mennonite Families
Amish and Mennonite families are often romanticized in modern literature and television series.  However, their backgrounds, though similar, have beliefs that keep them separate.
Summary:  The Amish and the Mennonites are often grouped together.  And, while they have some similarities, including their roots in religion, there are distinct differences.​

*Preparing For Your Cemetery Research Trip
In the electronic age, we have a bounty of information available at our fingertips.  Does this mean we always have the luxury of researching at home?  Sometimes a trip to the cemetery may be just what we need.
If the opportunity presents itself, pack up and go to the family cemetery, the final place many of our ancestors may have gathered together.
Summary:  This class shows the does and don'ts of what to bring as you research with 'boots on the ground' techniques.  A look into www.FindAGrave.com completes the preparation into such a trip.


Putting America to Work - The Records of the WPA (Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was founded in 1935 as part of President Roosevelt's New Deal.  Providing jobs for over 8.5 million people, they were instrumental in compiling many records that are valuable to genealogists today.
Summary:  Many of the indexes and records we use today were compiled by the WPA; those unemployed professionals who were ‘put to work’ in the days following the Great Depression.

Quaker Migration into America
America was and is a “landing place” for many ethnic groups and religions.  The Quakers were one of those groups, and were among the most influential.
Summary:  Quaker roots begin in England.  Soon the “Society of Friends” found themselves at odds with much of the surrounding area, leading them to other European countries and America.  With emphasis on the Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Ohio Quakers, this presentation will aid you in looking for clues as to whether your ancestors were Friends.


Quaker Migration Into the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia
“Friends” were a vital element in the growth and economy of the Shenandoah Valley.  
Summary:  This lecture will focus on one of the varied groups that populated the Shenandoah Region, the culture and customs, where they came from and what may have influenced them to stay or to move on.


School Daze
This lecture will focus on a little-known source for aging and placing our ancestors.
Summary:  Locating school records can be an amazing way of putting our families into place, especially when there may be no vital records available in an area.  Not all of our ancestors had the opportunity for education, but those who did may have left behind valuable records.


Speaker Proposals That Sparkle
How do you catch the eyes of the conference and program chairs?  It all boils down to selling oneself.
Summary:  You have made the decision to submit a proposal that may be considered for a conference or webinar series.  This lecture will focus on making your proposals shine and be considered for inclusion.


The Firelands, The Connecticut Western Reserve, and The Ohio Territory
The northeastern lands of Ohio are called “The Firelands” and “The Western Reserve”.  How did they come to be called that? And, what connection do they have to the northeast section of our country?
Summary:  “Ohio fever” brought a lot of people the state following the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and its eventual statehood in 1803.  Settlers came from all sections of the country, but of particular interest are those that eventually made their home in the “Firelands District” and “The Connecticut Western Reserve”.


The Scots-Irish in America 
This lecture will focus on the group of people known as the “Scots-Irish”.  Just who are they and what brought them to America?
Summary:  Many Americans can trace their ancestry back to the British Isles.  Some have even heard that their background was “Scotch-Irish”.  We will focus on who these people were and where they came from in the British Isles.


The Watchfires of a Hundred Circling Camps
America's Civil War became one of the darkest times in our nation's history.  However, the records produced from this war can open up the life of our soldiers, and their families.
Summary:  Though impossible to cover all aspects of the war, this presentation will concentrate on information gleaned from a soldier's pension file, and the second family that came to light.


This Land is My Land!  A Basic Land-platting Class - $10/person fee
The United States was a young and developing nation with a need; a way to pay its veteran soldiers.  We were cash poor and land rich. 
Summary:  As the United States became more populated, so did the love and need for land that our ancestors needed to build a home of their own.  This class will cover the different types of land measurement systems; the early days of metes and bounds to the modern-day township and range method.


Ticked Off!  Those Pesky Pre-1850 Census Tic Marks
Those pesky tic marks seem to get in our way as we work to extend our pedigrees.  Just what do they mean, and how can they help me? 
Summary:  It’s exciting when we are able to find our ancestors on every census they appeared on, until we reach 1840 and beyond.  Are they throwing us into a dead end, or can they tell us more?  This lecture provides a case study following an eastern Kentucky family back into the area of Germantown, Pennsylvania. 

Tracing Our British Ancestors Using the Resources of FamilySearch
We have researched our ancestry back to the time period when we believe they may have come from the British Isles.  But, what if we know nothing about researching this area of the world?
Summary:  Many Americans are descendants of those who came from the British Isles.  Perhaps they came on their own volition; perhaps as an indentured servant.  This presentation will provide some tools for beginning our research in the “Mother Country”.

Treasures in Township Records 
This lecture will focus on one of the smallest areas of recordkeeping, the township.
Summary:  A part of the rectangular survey system, the township had its beginnings in Europe.  Still in use today, we will focus on the many types of records of our ancestors that may be found there.


Up In Smoke!!  What To Do When the Courthouse Burns
All is not lost when we learn that the county courthouse has burned.  This lecture will look at alternatives for research in these “burned counties”.
Summary:  War and natural disasters have taken their toll on many of our nation’s county courthouses.  Let’s look at some helpful sources that may still exist.

Using FamilySearch to Trace Your British Isle Ancestors
Researchers around the world lay claim to ancestry from the British Isles.
Summary:  It would be so rewarding to return to the British Isles, where many of us lay claim to the rich heritage from those lands.  However, FamilySearch can take us to those faraway isles from the comfort of our own homes.
***Note:  This lecture can be "tweaked" to any country or state, or even any topic that is contained in the records of FamilySearch.

Vital Records Before State Registration
As reach further back into our family tree, we find that most vital records, as we know them, just did not exist.  What are some of the alternatives we may use as primary evidence in our ancestors’ lives?
Summary:  Let’s not take every printed or compiled source as “gospel”.  
Perhaps there are some hidden sources to help make our research more credible.


The War of 1812 - America's Forgotten War
The War of 1812 is one of the forgotten wars of the United States, yet records abound for our ancestors who were willing to fight the British once again.
Summary:  On June 18, 1812, the United States stunned the world by declaring war on Great Britain.  It lasted over two years and ended in a stalemate.  It did, however, confirm America’s independence, once and for all.

Welcome to the Family History Center
Family History Centers offer many tools to help you discover your ancestors.  Come, and let us help you, and let us show you around some of the premium sites available for your research.
Summary;  Supposedly, everything is on the Internet, and there is no need for "on the ground" research anymore.  Family History Centers offer many tools to help you discover your ancestors.  Come, and let us help you.  
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Wild, Wonderful West Virginia!
West Virginia has had more fun poked at it than nearly any other state.  But, there are some vast resources there in the history of this, the “restored government of Virginia”.
Summary:   Having been part of Virginia since the beginning, the fifty counties of West Virginia elected to remain loyal to the Union.  Its history is rich, as are the people who hail from this region of the Ohio River Valley.


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