If you’d like to learn more about genetic genealogy, you won’t want to miss our annual conference. NSGS is proud to bring in Blaine Bettinger, “The Genetic Genealogist” as our featured speaker for two days of lectures April 26th & 27th.
Blaine Bettinger’s lectures, which are all included in your 2-day registration, cover different aspects of the DNA tools available for your research. More details can be found on his website https://thegeneticgenealogist.com/presentations/
To help you make your breakout session selections, here is more information on each class.
Friday breakout session (#1), choose between:
“Preserve Your Family Photos: Both Print and Digital”, by Christie Johnson – This course will help you organize your lifetime of printed photos, various physical media, physical memorabilia, and digital images and videos throughout your digital devices.
Christie Johnson, owner and operator of Memorable Legacy, will teach you how to gather, sort, organize, digitize, backup, and, best of all, creative ways to relive and enjoy your family photo collection. She will teach you a step-by-step proven method of organization used by professional photo organizers worldwide.
“Germans from Russia”, by Ruth Boettcher – “My family are Germans from Russia.” That is a broad statement in that Germans settled many areas of Russia over the 17th and 18th centuries. To help research your family’s origins, you will need to know some history and geography. Germans from Russia are a heterogenous group that shares a German ethnicity. Yet how and when German groups settled in Russia and what part of Russia has its own story.
Saturday morning breakout session (#2), choose between:
“Tracking a Bigamist; Case Study in DNA” by Teresa Shane – John Franklin Shane is the son of James Harrison Shane and Letty A. Day. John Lewis Shane states his parents are James and Anna Shane. Identifying two DNA matches revealed a potential of a 1/2 2nd cousin match not the expected third cousin match. Using newspaper accounts, marriage records, census records, prison records and court records, Teresa and the two matches hypothesize John Franklin Shane and John Lewis Shane are the same man. John Franklin also used aliases, including a cousin's name, to marry at least six women. The case is not ongoing and more questions are raised as new information is found. A surprise finding midway through the research will be revealed at the end of the session.
“Marriages, Murder and Vigilanties: A Frontier Odyssey”, by Gail Blankenau – Do you have ancestors who lived on the frontier? While historians debunk the myth of a purely "wild and wooly" West, they reveal the rich tapestry of lives that characterized borderlands--places where record-keeping was spotty and social boundaries fluid. Amidst shifting borders, pioneer migration, and the ebb and flow of settlements, delve into the fascinating case study of Great Plains pioneer Harriet Gilbert Baker and her family. Blankenau will demonstrate an array of methods and sources to tackle tough research questions and uncover a dramatic story that was meant to stay hidden.
Saturday afternoon breakout session (#3), choose between:
“Sharing Research with Non-Genies”, by Sue Schlichting – Learn how to creatively pass down your genealogical research and heirlooms to your family, including the reluctant ones!
“Life in a Sod House & Solomon Butcher Photos” by Tammy Hendrickson – My presentation will cover some items that our pioneers faced and the housing choices with limited resources on the open prairie. This show will tell of the life of Solomon D. Butcher and his photographs from late 1800s an early 1900. Using thes photos and telling stories from our pioneers. Every homesteader place needed a place to live permanently, and get this land. The sod house was a major part of many places getting the patent to their homestead claim and the generations to follow. What was you ancestors first house, a soddy?
Registrations via mail must be postmarked by April 10, or register online here (see Conference page). Room reservations are not made with your conference registration. Please call the Ramada River’s Edge http://www.riversedgecolumbus.com/ in Columbus at 402-164-1492 to reserve your room. If you have any questions, reach out to one of our board members. We are looking forward to seeing you in April!
