Tuesday, April 23, 2024
REGISTRATION OPENS August 2, 2022
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will sponsor its second live genealogy conference on September 24, 2022 in Granbury. This event will have a variety of topics suitable for the novice and experienced genealogist, and all are welcome to attend. This conference offers opportunities to increase your genealogy knowledge with real-life examples and discussions.
Registration links are at the bottom of this message.
Schedule Overview
Doors will open at 8:00 AM - Sign-in for Conference
9:00 – Welcoming
9:15 - 1st Session – Three 1-hour class choices
10:30 – 2nd Session - Three 1-hour class choices
11:30 – Lunch
12:45 – 3rd Session - Three 1-hour class choices
2:00 – 4th Session - Three 1-hour class choices
3:00 – Conference finishes
There will be short breaks between each of the sessions.
Speakers and topics include 12 topics over four 1-hour classes - Presenters listed in alphabetical order
Patti Gillespie – Member of Texas Genealogical Society / Full-time Genealogist
Colonial Research: Proving / Disproving an Undocumented Family Line
Many families take great pride in their colonial ancestral lines. This presentation examines the research plan and process of proving such a family line from Ohio back to the Colony of New Hampshire and the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Online research is always helpful, but the results of offline research at archives, repositories, and libraries provide the thrill. Anyone who is interested yet reluctant about beginning colonial research, this presentation hopes to take away the worries and replace it with wonder.
The Hidden Gems Inside Privately Published Family Histories
Unpublished and privately published family histories--like county histories--are unfortunately often ignored by genealogists. However, the clues contained in undocumented family histories may provide a great jumping-off platform for research. This presentation emphasizes and demonstrates how valuable hidden gems are often discovered buried inside these types of family histories.
Kathy Hanlon and Dawn Needles – Two senior leaders of Daughters of the American Revolution
Team teaching duo will share lots of information about genealogy documentation, how-to’s, and deep dives into topics that will greatly improve your skills and knowledge about doing your family tree. Handout, video and power point presentations will be included.
Margaret Mayo – Honorary Regent Fort Worth Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution
Quest for Lester – The story of a Tolar Texas man who went into WWII and was captured in the Philippines by the Japanese; became a POW / MIA; and the search to find him. Presentation will share lessons learned and will give you insights about the efforts required to find WWII POW / MIA’s. WWII has a very large population of POW / MIA’s.
Sherman McRae – FamilyTreeDNA.com - Groups Projects Liaison
Two sessions about DNA – one for novice DNA knowledge and one session discussing advanced DNA topics and tools.
Dr. Bernard Meisner – Member of Texas Genealogical Society
Beyond the Big Four – (Mostly) Free Resources for Genealogical Research .
The Genealogical Proof Standard calls for “a reasonable exhaustive search” for information regarding your family. After searching some or all of the Big Four Web sites -- FamilySearch, Ancestry, MyHeritage and FindMyPast -- what should you do? In this presentation I will demonstrate that there are numerous (mostly free) national, regional, state and local resources that might provide the answers to your genealogical research questions.
The Luck of the Irish: How to Overcome the Record Losses and Find Your Ancestors.
With so many records now freely available online, this might be considered the Golden Age of Irish research. Learn how to use existing census records, civil registrations, church registers and land records to trace your Irish ancestors. An exciting new resource is the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland, a digital reconstruction from copies, transcripts and other sources of many of the records lost when the Public Record Office of Ireland was destroyed during the Civil War in June 1922.
Dr. Jerrod Schenewerk – Associate Professor of Kinesiology at Tarleton State University
Have you ever wondered what direction you should go in research in order to find an ancestor? Perhaps, you have found a name and date for a particular ancestor, but wondered about their life experience? Have you pondered if an ancestor’s life could be, in some way, meaningfully reconstructed? Many of these questions can be answered by having a knowledge of history. This class will present a simple plan for developing historical knowledge to enhance your research abilities. In addition, attendees will learn how to take the historical record to provide life to ancestors you know only by name.
Phil Harris – Member of Texas Genealogical Society
Writing Your Biography – Ideas for writing about your life history and sharing it with others. Many “how-to’s” and suggestions that you can actually get done with examples. Intended to be fun and motivational. If you don’t write your life stories, who will?
Joining a Lineage Society – Finding Your Ancestors - Presentation / discussion / benefits about joining a lineage society. Pushes your genealogy skills to the next level. Show-n-tell of actual lineage society application and proofs will be discussed.
As you can see, this is a full-day event with exceptional speakers and topics – please do not miss this opportunity.
Exhibitors and Genealogical Related Items at this Conference
We will have some exhibitors who will have information and items on display. Some will have items for sale and others will be informational. All sales will be between the buyer and seller, and not part of the conference.
Door Prizes
We will have some door prizes that will be given out at lunchtime. There will be no costs and each attendee will be given tickets for each prize drawing.
Registration Details
There will be no cost for this Family History Genealogy Conference. You may purchase a lunch as part of your registration for $10 per person. Snacks and water will be provided during the day’s events. Your sandwich selection will be delivered to the Conference at lunchtime
The web link below will take you to the registration site. You will use a credit card as part of your registration and supply the information per the form.
** Please note that registration will end when our maximum attendance number has been reached.
Conference registration link –
Conference location
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
1226 Ross Ln
Granbury, Texas 76048
Please direct your questions to the undersigned. Hope to see you at our conference.
