SPEAKER: LISA ALZO, M.F.A.
Topics:
1. Tracing Your Immigrant Ancestors
America is a nation of immigrants, comprised of people who left home to find a better life for themselves and their families. Tracking down your immigrant ancestors can often be a daunting task. This talk will show you tips and tricks for locating and searching passenger lists and other key immigration documents both on and offline to help you trace your roots.
2. Immigrant Cluster Communities: Past, Present and Future
There are a handful of “cluster” immigrant communities throughout the United States that blossomed during the immigration influx of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Exploring “cluster genealogy” – the process of researching those relatives, friends, and neighbors who lived near an ancestor – can often break down brick walls in the search for individual family lines and help to place our ancestors’ lives in historical context. For those descendants who’ve moved away from such traditional immigrant enclaves, 21st-century technology can be used to rebuild “cluster communities” in the virtual world. This lecture will cover: how to identify chain migrations/cluster communities using key records; ways to share and collaborate with other researchers, and the benefits, pitfalls, and obstacles associated with a shift to “virtual” cluster communities; and how to use tools such as social networking sites, wikis, etc. to build online genealogical communities.
3. Silent Voices: Telling the Stories of Your Female Immigrant Ancestors
While most historical records have been created for and/or about men, making it more challenging to research and write about female ancestors, this session will demonstrate: effective ways to discover your female ancestors and how to document the important roles their lives played in culture/society, various methods for writing about your female ancestors (from short, informative biosketches or profiles to writing a complete book), along with options for publishing your family history will be discussed.
4. Diseases, Disasters & Distress: Bad For Your Ancestors, Good For Your Genealogical Research
Wouldn’t it be nice if all the branches on our family trees were filled with bright shiny leaves that reflected only good kin and happy times? The truth is, most of our pasts are dotted with blemishes, and bad things did happen, often to good people. History is blanketed with disheartening tales of devastation and loss. Certainly, it may be difficult for us today to comprehend the everyday adversity that befell our ancestors, or the lasting hardships they endured as a result. This session will discuss how diseases, disasters, and distress may have impacted your family’s history.
FEE: $35 AGS members; $45 non-members and at the door. The $45 fee includes complimentary AGS membership for the remainder of 2013. Registration fee includes a light breakfast, drinks, snacks and a syllabus. There will also be door prizes & raffle baskets!
We have received a Flip-Pal (a $150 value) which will be raffled off at the Seminar! Thank you to the kind people at Flip-Pal for your generous donation!
Box lunches (provided by Blue Baker) may be purchased for $10. They include sandwich, chips & fruit salad. Box lunches must be prepaid with registration. Sandwich choices: Turkey, Roast Beef, Chicken Salad, and Vegetarian
REGISTRATION: Register online with a credit card; or download a registration form to mail a check.
TIME: 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Registration begins at 8:00 a.m.
LOCATION: Triumphant Love Lutheran Church, 9508 Great Hills Trail, Austin, 78759
For more information, please contact the Programs Chair.