• 8:30-9:00 am            Registration and Coffee

• 9:00-10:00 am         Brick Wall Demolition: Search Strategies for Success. - by Crystal Calbreath

Inevitably, family history researchers will hit that proverbial brick wall or a dead-end in their research. The frustration of being unable to find anything to tell you what happened to or where your ancestor went can make you crazy. Find some relief or a glimmer of hope as Crystal Calbreath outlines some of the common and not so common tips and hints in demolishing, scaling over, tunneling under or going around those brick walls.

   

• 10:00-11:00 am       All Things Digital: Primary Source Records for Genealogy. - by Bill Buckner

Click and print. Access to a variety of genealogy related content has never been easier. The scope and depth of digital information is truly outstanding. Join Bill Buckner as we explore statewide digitization initiatives, digital libraries, finding aids to archival collections, the invisible or deep web.

• 11:00-11:15 am       Break

• 11:15-12:15 pm       Digging for the Dead: Strategies for Locating Elusive Burials. - by Nancy and Mike Kelsey

Unsure of where your ancestor is buried? Join Nancy and Mike Kelsey, two cemetery hounds of the finest breeding, as they explore some common sense strategies and interesting resources to locating those ancestors that got away. Follow the clues from death records, obituaries, funeral home records, and online web sites such as FindaGrave, usgenweb, ancestry, and rootsweb.

• 12:15-1:30 pm          Lunch: Provided by DynaClean Carpet, Rugs, Upholstery, Tile & Grout Cleaning www.dynacleanps.com

   

• 1:30-2:30 pm            Obit. Mrs. T. A. Brown died.. and Other Maiden Name Nightmares - by Norma Cannata (PALMER)

Ancestor's maiden name elusive? Learn female ancestry search methods from Norma Cannata. Look closely at areas where the femail interacts with the government or legal system - marriage records, wills, probate records, etc. Learn what to look for when examining church records, cemetery records, census records, or newspapers. Some of the best records to search are those saved as family papers (suck as passports, Bibles, letters, diaries, etc.)

 

• 2:30-2:45 pm            Break

• 2:45-3:45 pm            The Burned Courhouse Syndrome: Alternative Sources for Genealogical Dead-ends. - by Marylaine Driese

Don't think that your genealogical research in a "burned county" is hopeless! You have to have a "track'em down" mindset. After verifying the courthouse truly burned and what records were lost, plan to research substitute records and alternate jurisdictions for information. Join Marylaine Driese as she sifts through the ashes with us. Included in the discussion will be the burning of the War Department in 1800, loss of the 1890 Federal census, and the St. Louis fire in 1973 of the National Personnel Records Center.