Topical Index

Adoption

  • How to Research Adoption in Your Family Tree (McComb) Fri. 10:00am
  • DNA Delivers Deceased Daddy to Adoptee (Bjork) Sat. 10:00am

Case Studies

  • When Your Ancestor Drops Out of the Sky (Giroux) Fri. 3:15pm
  • “She Came from Nowhere…” — A Case Study Approach to a Difficult Genealogical Problem (Lacopo) Fri. 1:45pm
  • NY to New England: A Case Study (Miller) Fri. 3:15pm
  • Case Study of Lucy Prince of Sunderland Vermont (Hayden) Sat. 4:45pm

Cultural History

  • Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous (Campbell) Th. 1:30pm
  • Alcoholics and Teetotalers: Finding Yours in America’s Temperance Movement (Brophy) Th. 3:00pm
  • 19th Century Whaling — A Family Affair (Campbell) Fri. 8:30am
  • Mixers and Shakers — Tracing Bartending, Saloon Keeping, and Tavern Keeping Ancestors (Dudek) Sat. 8:30am             

DNA

  • Segment by Segment: Analyzing Endogamous DNA (Ferretti) Wed. 9:15am
  • DNA. MPE? OMG!: Addressing Surprises in Your DNA (Newman) Wed. 10:30am
  • Introduction to Big Y (Cloud) Wed. 1:15am
  • What Can You Learn from a DNA Sibling Study? (Bergheimer) Wed. 2:30pm
  • Following the Trail of Shared Matches (Kenney) Sat. 8:30am
  • DNA Delivers Deceased Daddy to Adoptee (Bjork) Sat. 10:00am
  • Solving 18th Century Genealogical Dilemmas with Autosomal DNA (Lacopo) Sat. 1:45pm
  • Integrating DNA And Family History Research at MyHeritage (Horowitz) Sat. 3:15pm
  • DNA and Endogamy: Making Sense of It All (Newman) Sat. 4:45pm

Ethnic and other Identities

African American:

  • African American Genealogy in New England (Merrick) Fri. 8:30am
  • Researching Mary Drummond, Oldest Native Negro in New Bedford (McCoy) Fri. 10:00am
  • Case Study of Lucy Prince of Sunderland Vermont (Hayden) Sat. 4:45pm

Canadian:

  • Researching New England Planters in Canada (McComb) Sat. 1:45pm
  • Ancestors Who Called Canada and the USA Home (Lyttle) Sat. 3:15pm
  • Going to the “Boston States”: Researching Newfoundland Ancestors (Lucey) Sat. 4:45pm

English:

  • Start Right to Discover England’s Genealogical Gems (Cole) Sat. 3:15pm

French Canadian:

  • New England’s French-Canadian Millworkers: Who, What, and Why? (Vermette) Th. 4:30pm
  • French-Canadian Genealogy (Fortier) Fri. 10:00am
  • Researching Your French Canadian Ancestors (Gervais) Fri. 1:45pm

Irish:

  • The Registry of Deeds, Dublin, Holds Genealogical Treasures (Galvin) Th. 3pm
  • Irish Estate Records: An Overlooked Source for Information (Holland) Fri. 3:15pm
  • Using US Records to Find Irish Immigrant Origins (Holland) Sat. 4:45pm

Italian:

  • The “Bootleg Queen” of Springfield’s Little Italy (Cascio) Fri. 4:45pm
  • Getting Started with Italian Records (Ferretti) Fri. 4:45pm

Jewish:

  • Holocaust Research for Genealogists (Kohlman) Th. 1:30pm
  • Challenges of Researching Jewish Names (Hoffman) Fri. 8:30am
  • Jewish Genealogy: Finding Family Branches in European Records (Klein) Sat. 10:00am

LGBTQ+:

  • Researching Our LGBTQ+ Family Members (Leclerc) Sat. 10:00am

Native American:

  • Researching Native Americans in Colonial Massachusetts Records (Lambert) Fri. 10:00am

Polish:

  • The Historical Context: Poland and East-Central Europe (Dabrowski) Sat. 1:45pm

Swedish:

  • Introduction to the Swedish Estate Inventory Records (Meade) Sat. 8:30am
  • “Major Valentine’s Swedes” (Searls) Sat. 3:15pm
  • Using Name Indexes in ArkivDigital (Meade) Sat. 4:45pm

Forensic Genealogy

  • How to Start a Successful Forensic Genealogy Business (Carter) Sat. 8:30am
  • Applying Financial Crime Fighting Skills to Forensic Genealogy (Townsend) Sat. 10:00am

Geography

  • Border Changes to Know in New England Research (Bartley) Th. 3:00pm

General

  • Getting Into Genealogy (Cross) Th. 8:00am
  • Common Threads/Weaving Our Ancestral Tapestries (Venezia) Th. 10:00am
  • The Future of Records Preservation (Rencher) Th. lunch
  • Top Ten Things I Have Learned in Four Decades of Genealogical Research (Lacopo) Sat. banquet

Immigration / Naturalization

  • Discovering Your Immigrant’s Origins (Venezia) Fri. 8:30am
  • Understanding Often Overlooked Annotations on Passenger Lists (Torella) Fri. 10:00am
  • Naturalization Know-How: The Laws and Records of U.S. Citizenship (Venezia) Fri. 3:15pm
  • Alien Registrations in America (Venezia) Sat. 10:00am
  • Ship Manifest Indexes: A New Look at an Old Resource (Venezia) Sat. 4:45pm

Lineage Societies

  • No Battlefield Service Required: Researching Patriotic Ancestors (McComb) Wed. 1:15pm
  • Applying to the DAR or the SAR (Robison) Wed. 2:30pm

Marginalized Persons

  • I Am Poor, Obscure, Plain, and Little: Researching the Invisible Ancestors (Lacopo) 4:45pm
  • Prisoners, Thieves, and Scoundrels: Your Black Sheep Ancestors (Strauss) Fri. banquet

Methodology

Components of the Genealogical Proof Standard:

  • Prove It! Writing A Winning Proof Argument (Galvin) Wed. 4:30pm
  • Problems And Pitfalls of Reasonably Shallow Research (Powell) Th. 4:30pm
  • Principles of Source Documentation Made Easy (LeClerc) Fri. 8:30am
  • Confronting Conflicting Evidence (Eagleson) Fri. 3:15pm
  • Footnotes: Citing Your Sources and Beyond (Bartley)  Fri. 4:45pm

Searching:

  • Understanding Different Library Systems and Protocols (Kenney) Th. 3:00pm
  • Search like a Librarian (Jamieson) Th. 4:30pm

Techniques:

  • Genograms for Genealogists (Strickland) Th. 1:30pm
  • Genealogical Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them! (Vestal) Th. 1:30pm
  • Building Your Research Toolkit (Morehead) Th. 3:00pm
  • Becoming A Genealogical Thinker Instead of a Genealogical Collector (Lacopo) Th. 3:00pm
  • Finding the Elusive Maiden Name (Lawthers) Fri. 8:30am
  • Shaking Loose the Clues: Using Timelines to Organize Your Research (Smith) Fri. 1:45pm
  • Breaking Through Brick Walls with Cluster Research (Szczepankiewicz) Fri. 1:45pm
  • Are You Really My Ancestor? Sorting Out People with the Same Name (Smith) Fri. 4:45pm

Military

Colonial Wars:

  • Researching Your Colonial War Ancestors (Strauss) Fri. 8:30am

Revolutionary War:

  • Researching and Recreating your Ancestors Revolutionary War Regiment (Lambert) Wed. 9:15am
  • Huzzah! Researching Your Revolutionary Roots (Kaldis) Wed. 10:30am
  • No Battlefield Service Required: Researching Patriotic Ancestors (McComb) Wed. 1:15pm
  • Applying to the DAR or the SAR (Robison) Wed. 2:30pm
  • Massachusetts Privateers: Revolutionary War & War of 1812 (Kaldis) Fri. 10:00am

War of 1812:

  • Massachusetts Privateers: Revolutionary War & War of 1812 (Kaldis) Fri. 10:00am
  • Researching your Ancestor in the War of 1812 (Lambert) Fri. 1:45pm

Spanish American War:

  • That Splendid Little War: Researching the Spanish-American War (Strauss) Fri. 3:15pm

WWI:

  • Every Girl Pulling for Victory – Suffrage and Service During the Great War (Dudek) Sat. lunch
  • From the Ashes: Reconstructing American Military Records (McComb) Fri. 4:45pm

WWII:

  • From the Ashes: Reconstructing American Military Records (McComb) Fri. 4:45pm          

Online Research

  • A Vast Online Library: Ancestors in Online Books (Crawford-Oppenheimer) Th. 1:30pm
  • Can’t Go There? Take a Virtual Research Trip (Crowford-Oppenheimer) Sat. 8:30am
  • Organizing, Analyzing, Sharing: Using Technology to Your Advantage (Staley) Sat. 10:00am
  • Maximizing MyHeritage Technologies for Family History Research (Horowitz) Sat. 1:45pm
  • FamilySearch: New England Colonial Offerings (Raymond) Sat. 3:15pm
  • How to Use Free Websites for Legal Research (Martin) Sat. 1:45pm
  • Getting Started with Digital Photo Organizing (Taylor) Sat. 3:15pm
  • Finding and Using Digitized Manuscript Collections (Lyttle) Sat. 4:45pm

Record Types

Census / Census Substitutes:

  • Bridging The Decades: Little-Used Clues from the Census (Powell) Wed. 4:30pm
  • Researching Colonial New England Census Substitutes (Lambert) Fri. 4:45pm

Church:

  • US Catholic Records (Fortier) Sat. 1:45pm
  • Massachusetts Catholic Order of Foresters: Mortuary Files (Kaldis) Sat. 4:45pm

Court:

  • Divorce Records in Genealogical Research (Eagleson) Th. 4:30pm

Federal:

  • America’s New Deal: WPA’s Federal Project Number One (Staley) Th. 1:30pm
  • Using Social Security Records to break Brick Walls (Torella) Th. 3:00pm
  • The Draft and the Selective Service System (Strauss) Th. 3:00pm
  • Naturalization Know-How: The Laws and Records of U.S. Citizenship (Venezia) Fri. 3:15pm
  • Leveraging Freedom of Information Laws (Ferretti) Sat. 8:30am
  • Alien Registrations in America (Venezia) Sat. 10:00am

Land:

  • Getting to the Heart of Land Records (Campbell), Wed. 4:30pm
  • It’s A Done Deed — Using Land Records (Stickland) Sat. 8:30am
  • Bounty Land: It’s Complicated (Lyttle) Sat. 10:00am

Manuscripts:

  • An Introduction to the NEHGS Manuscript Collection (Lucey) Fri. 4:45pm
  • Finding and Using Digitized Manuscript Collections (Lyttle) Sat. 4:45pm

Maps:

  • Exploring Your Homeland through the Power of Maps (Galvin) Sat. 1:45pm

Newspapers:

  • Extra! Extra! Find Your Family in the Newspaper! (Cochran) Sat. 3:15pm

Photographs:

  • Solving Photo Mysteries: Approaches & Analysis (Taylor) Wed. 4:30pm
  • Getting Started with Digital Photo Organizing (Taylor) Sat. 3:15pm

Ship Manifests:

  • Understanding Often Overlooked Annotations on Passenger Lists (Torella) Fri. 10:00am
  • Ship Manifest Indexes: A New Look at an Old Resource (Venezia) Sat. 4:45pm

Town Records:

  • A Mill Good for Nothing: Colonial Tax Records (Morehead) Fri. 3:15pm
  • Genealogical Gold in New England Town Books and Reports (Weir) Fri. 1:45pm

Vital Records:

  • The Real Life of New England Vital Records (Boumenot) Th. 1:30pm
  • Divorce Records in Genealogical Research (Eagleson) Th. 4:30pm
  • Finding Death Records at the Godfrey Memorial Library and Beyond (Ansel) Th. 4:30pm

States

Connecticut:

  • Strategies for Connecticut Research – Optimize Your Opportunities (Merrick) Fri. 1:45pm
  • Researching in 17th Century Connecticut (Lawthers) Fri. 1:45pm
  • New Connecticut Records Online at FamilySearch (Raymond) Sat. 10:00am

Maine:

  • Creating Maine Towns: The Process and the Records (McCoy) Sat. 1:45pm

Massachusetts:

  • Digging Up Colonial New England Ancestor Records (McCarthy) Fri. 8:30am
  • Massachusetts Privateers: Revolutionary War & War of 1812 (Kaldis) Fri. 10:00am
  • The “Bootleg Queen” of Springfield’s Little Italy (Cascio) Fri. 4:45pm

New Hampshire:

  • Roots in Granite: Finding Your New Hampshire Ancestors (Gravel) Th. 4:30pm
  • Untangling New Hampshire Manuscripts (Richardson) Fri. 10:00am

New York:

  • NY to New England: A Case Study (Miller) Fri. 3:15pm

Rhode Island:

  • Rhode Island: What’s New Online (Boumenot) Sat. 8:30am

Vermont:

  • “Major Valentine’s Swedes” (Searls) Sat. 3:15pm
  • Case Study of Lucy Prince of Sunderland Vermont (Hayden) Sat. 4:45pm

Women

  • Finding the Elusive Maiden Name (Lawthers) Fri. 8:30am
  • Every Girl Pulling for Victory – Suffrage and Service During the Great War (Dudek) Sat. lunch

Writing / Publishing

  • You Should Write a Book! (Bjork) Th. 1:30pm
  • Writing for Family History Publications (Merrick) Th. 3:00pm
  • Self-Publishing on Amazon.com (Gervais) Th. 4:30pm
  • Storytelling Tips and Techniques to Craft Your Stories (Cole) Fri. 3:15pm