Program Materials 2024

Thanks to the generosity of our speakers, we are able to make handouts and recorded webinars from many of our past meetings for DGS members to enjoy.

Presentations in PDF can be printed and/or downloaded. Please do not distribute or republish this member-only material without the express permission of DGS and the event presenter. This material is for your reference only.

Please do not share links to the recorded webinars. They are available for DGS members only.

Thank you.

Meeting Materials 2024

January 2024: Bridging the Gap: Finding Ancestors in the U.S. between 1780 and 1840

Speaker, D. Joshua Taylor, MA, MLS, FUGA: President of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society described how to trace families during the Federal period. He focused on strategies to bridge the gap from 1780-1840, including evaluating existing research and effectively engaging with widely available sources.

This content is available to members only. To view it, please join DGS. At less than 5 cents a day, you’ll enjoy all of the benefits of DGS membership, including handouts and recorded videos from past meetings. Member benefits are described here.
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February 2024 Part 1: Successful Collateral and Cluster Searching

Speaker Thomas MacEntee presented strategies for finding lost ancestors by using cluster and collateral searching techniques. Attendees learned how to make collateral searching pay off and how to gather resources from the people your ancestors knew.

This content is available to members only. To view it, please join DGS. At less than 5 cents a day, you’ll enjoy all of the benefits of DGS membership, including handouts and recorded videos from past meetings. Member benefits are described here.
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February 2024 Part 2: Discovering the FAN Club in the Archives

Speaker, Melissa Barker, CA, “The Archive Lady” discussed different types and levels of archives, what you might find there, best practices for using them, and how to find your ancestors by using the records of your ancestors’ friends, associates and neighbors in the archives.

This content is available to members only. To view it, please join DGS. At less than 5 cents a day, you’ll enjoy all of the benefits of DGS membership, including handouts and recorded videos from past meetings. Member benefits are described here.
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March 2024: I Thought He Was My Ancestor: Avoiding Six Biggest Genealogy Mistakes

Speaker, James M. Baker, PhD – I Thought He Was My Ancestor: Avoiding Six Biggest Genealogy Mistakes. This class deals with that second problem, focusing on how to avoid making genealogy mistakes. Case studies are presented to illustrate six common types of genealogy mistakes, as follows: (1) trusting the “long-time proven” data; (2) believing family myths; (3) connecting improper “same-name” people; (4) failing the reasonableness test; (5) trusting professional genealogists; and (6) believing all original records.

This content is available to members only. To view it, please join DGS. At less than 5 cents a day, you’ll enjoy all of the benefits of DGS membership, including handouts and recorded videos from past meetings. Member benefits are described here.
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April 2024: Brick Walls: Long-Standing Problems

Speaker, Mary Kircher Roddy, CG®, – Brick Walls: Long-Standing Problems. In this presentation, Mary will provide a new pair of eyes on long-standing problems and perhaps bring new perspectives that will lead to solutions. At the end of this session, you will come away with some new approaches, methods, strategies, and resources to solve your ancestral quandaries.

This content is available to members only. To view it, please join DGS. At less than 5 cents a day, you’ll enjoy all of the benefits of DGS membership, including handouts and recorded videos from past meetings. Member benefits are described here.
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May 2024: Tax and Vital Records before State Registration

Speaker, Peggy Clemens Lauritzen, AG, FOGS,- Tax and Vital Records before State Registration. In a special presentation for DGS, Peggy combines tax records and alternative vital records to give insight into our ancestors’ lives and possessions. Tax records provide a historical blueprint of our ancestors’ lives due to their wide availability and usage.

This content is available to members only. To view it, please join DGS. At less than 5 cents a day, you’ll enjoy all of the benefits of DGS membership, including handouts and recorded videos from past meetings. Member benefits are described here.
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September 2024: Land Records: Rich Resources for Relationships

Speaker, Rebecca Whitman Koford, CG®, CGLSM – Land Records: Rich Resources for Relationships. Rebecca discusses where Land and deed records were created by ancestors during the colonial era, from state-land-states, in federal lands, and as military bounties. Some records in deed books had nothing to do with land or property. We will introduce these, some deed vocabulary, and follow case studies of how deed records were integral to finding relationships..

This content is available to members only. To view it, please join DGS. At less than 5 cents a day, you’ll enjoy all of the benefits of DGS membership, including handouts and recorded videos from past meetings. Member benefits are described here.
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October 2024: Intro to Church Records: Why We Care Where Grandma Went to Church

Speaker, Sunny Jane Morton – U.S. church records of many denominations can reveal ancestors’ vital events, family relationships, overseas birthplaces and other residences and religious lives. From the co-author of the acclaimed book “How to Find Your Family History in U.S. Church Records”, learn what these records may look like, how to identify an ancestral church, locate extant records, and access them..

This content is available to members only. To view it, please join DGS. At less than 5 cents a day, you’ll enjoy all of the benefits of DGS membership, including handouts and recorded videos from past meetings. Member benefits are described here.
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November 2024: FRIENDLY RELATIONS: Finding American Quakers and their Online Records

Speaker, Steven Waltz Morrison – In 1750, the Quaker religion was the third largest in the colonies. So, if you have an English-sounding surname, a dead-end pointing to the British Isles or Ireland, and if your kin could have arrived before the American Revolution … well, you could be looking for a Friend (Quaker)! Learn about the Quakers and their meticulous record keeping, now available online…

This content is available to members only. To view it, please join DGS. At less than 5 cents a day, you’ll enjoy all of the benefits of DGS membership, including handouts and recorded videos from past meetings. Member benefits are described here.
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Updated 16 February 2025