I am also available as a speaker. Currently, I present the talks:
Developing a Sixth Census: finding more in “the Census” than meets the eye, a presentation designed to help you really squeeze as much as you can from census data of many shapes and sizes. This talk can be tailored for a standard one hour presentation or a half day seminar. It also comes in two versions. One focuses on North America and the other adds discussion of British censuses (including Ireland).
DNA, Behind the Scenes, DNA testing has become part of genealogy but what does it really mean? What are the different tests? Why do they tell us different things? Where did we get the different components of our genetic heritage? Who should be tested? How can DNA testing be used to attack genealogical problems? In short, what do you need to know to start to think about DNA?
DNA, From A to B, DNA testing is now part of the genealogist’s toolkit but it can leave you wondering. What are the different tests? What do they tell you? Who should you test? Where do those ethnicity results come from and how reliable are they? Why are there so many people that I match that don’t make any sense to me? This presentation starts off with some DNA basics and then tries to answer some of those puzzling questions.
From the Source’s Mouth, Once we’ve understood that identities can be tricky to reconstruct, how do we piece together the tidbits of information that we find into an actual ancestor? How do we avoid putting together a great-great frankenfather from the spare parts we find in the documents we dig up? Do we trust what seems to be true, or do we look long and hard into the “source’s mouth.”
Grade School Genealogy, A bit about genealogy with connections to things kids learn in school. We put the word genealogy together from its parts, there is a little genealogical math, a look at old handwriting, an old map that we can see is very wrong…
“I” is for Identity Crisis, We think of identity as something fixed and simple, but as we try to reconstruct the identities of long gone people we need to realize that identity is a much slipperier concept. The things we use to define a person’s identity can change during that person’s lifetime. There are also questions of how a person self-identifies, the motivations they can have for changing how they self-identify, and how those changes affect the records they leave behind.
Introduction to Genealogy, a look at some of the basics of how to think about genealogy and develop a healthy skepticism; the basic records, where to find them, keeping track of them; and more.
Mapping the Past: Navigating Your Family History with Maps, looks at different types of maps and how to use them to understand your ancestors’ towns and migrations; changing borders and extracting data and even names from maps.
Quantum Mechanics for 5th Graders, yes, I’ve really given this talk several times and no, it doesn’t have anything to do with genealogy, not even a mention of the pedigree of Schrödinger’s cat.
Researching at Appomattox Court House: genealogy through the lens of the Civil War. Civil War era records aren’t just about soldiers and sailors. Before, during and after the war, a wealth of different types of unusual records were produced that speak of that time and tell the story of a whole generation.
Space-Time for Family Historians, Timewarps and Curved Space aren’t just for Physicists, an entertaining look at how the times and places we read about and research are often not what they appear to be. Don’t be fooled- decoding dates, comprehending calendars and understanding the time on your ancestor’s pocket watch are not as easy as they seem.
Warrants & Patents & Deeds, Oh My!, You may think that land records are the “scariest” records in genealogy but it doesn’t take much courage to find much more in them than that your ancestor owned some land. We will look at some of the treasures you can find in land records, the process of acquiring and selling land and the documents produced. We will also look at the ways that your ancestors’ land was specified- metes and bounds system and the rectangular survey system.
When a Life Becomes Myth: history, myth and family stories, This is a talk about the reconstruction of a life. An odd and dramatic family tale showed a life slowly being converted to myth over generations. Using genealogy, history and even weather records to reconstruct what seems to have happened, revealed a life that was not so far from the storyline of a myth from the very beginning. In the end, it has come full circle from story to research to storytelling.
Where the Murderers Roam, Some family stories are far more important than they seem on the surface. Connections to people may be lost, events toned down, rationales forgotten. In this presentation we start with a social disruption (the Civil War), a motivation (The Homestead Act) and the story of a fight between farmers. Then, with some research, we’ll weave it all together and learn that sometimes a simple fight over a fence was something more, something darker.
Will the Real Sven Larsson Please Stand Up? getting started in Swedish genealogy, discusses Swedish last names that can be fluid and confusing, and Swedish geography that trips up the uninitiated. You’ve got your swimsuit, so what else is needed to cross the Atlantic with your research and what records are there once you crawl up onto the shore?
Writing Family History: Using Narrative in Genealogy, discusses not just the “how-to” but the “why-do.” What’s the best way to really improve your research? It might just be putting it to use. Want your relatives and descendants to understand your research? Write your ancestors’ stories and see how far it takes you.
Ye Olde Genealogie: Medieval English Research, In this presentation we will look at the transition from “modern” genealogy to researching in the middle ages. We will look at what you can do to research your ancestors among the “common folk” when there are no more parish registers to follow back in time. Then we will look at some of the vast amount of documentation for the gentry and nobility. Some of those documents, like wills, should feel familiar. Others will bear little resemblance to what we normally think of when we think of genealogy- heraldic visitations, inquisitions post-mortem, pipe rolls, etc, and we will know that we have entered the genealogical mists of time.
My goal as a speaker is always to inform in a memorable and entertaining way. I like to come at my topics from slightly unusual angles. It makes speaking more fun and hopefully encourages people to take a fresh look at each subject.