Plymouth Michigan Genealogy 15 September 2012

Genealogy Workshop at the Plymouth Historical Museum On Saturday, September 15, the Plymouth Historical Museum will hold the fourth in a series of genealogical workshops to help family historians of all levels research their 19th-century American ancestors. This workshop features David McDonald, CG and Michael Lacopo. David serves as president of the Board for Certification of Genealogists and is a director of the National Genealogical Society. More importantly, he's got 35+ years of experience as a genealogical researcher and nearly 30 years as a lecturer on matters of genealogy and family history. As a result of marrying well, Dave's research scope has expanded beyond his own family's mid-south and midwest connections into New England and central Europe. He has traveled to, and researched in, England and Germany on both his own and his wife's immigrant forebears. Beyond the genealogical realm, he serves as pastor at Windsor United Church of Christ near Madison, Wisconsin. Dave and his wife, Dr. Jennet Shepherd, an optometrist, have three adult children and fill their newly-emptied nest with a basset hound, two indeterminate cats and one mother (hers). Dave and will be speaking on: From New England to the Plains & Beyond At the turn of the 19th century, the American frontier was fairly bursting with anticipation. New England, with its rocky soil and smaller-than-subsistence tracts, was teeming with folks ready to explore and head westward. With the opening of the Erie Canal, the impediment to outbound migration was largely broken and New Englanders poured westward to populate the Midwest and Great Plains. Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Ohio all received significant numbers of pioneer settlers in the Federal Era (to 1850). In addition to general patterns of movement, we'll examine the life of Polly Putnam Betts, born in Vermont of a father native to Massachusetts, in 1793, and who died in Iowa in 1886 with granddaughters then living in Colorado and California. Lutherpalians & Presbygationalists: Where Did Grandma's Church Go? Part confirmation class refresher, part Intro to Religion, we'll take a look at Protestant denominations, Catholic traditions and other Christian bodies of note when considering genealogical research. Did your family play cards? Did Grandma dance? Was Uncle Frank known to take a nip or two? We'll consider how these sorts of behaviors may well reflect religious traditions and upbringings that are frequently no longer a familiar part of Americans' lives. What happens when churches close? Where do their records, if any, go? We'll consider clues for finding those records as well. Mike is a small-animal veterinarian born and raised in northern Indiana. He takes a scientific approach to his research as he does to his trained profession. Researching since 1980, he has lectured nationally and appeared in numerous journals and periodicals. A self-described “all-American mutt,” his research skills cover a broad range. He has written or co-written several single name studies since 1985. Mike will be speaking on: Deconstructing Your Family Tree: Re-evaluating the "Evidence" When information passed on from researcher to researcher doesn't add up, it's time to tear down the walls and rebuild anew. This methodology lecture shows how erroneous conclusions can sneak into our research uncontested. This lecture is pertinent especially today with so many Internet family trees that get cut and pasted into our own research. “She Came from Nowhere…” How to Incorporate Social Histori into Your Genealogical Problem Solving This lecture shows the importance of knowing the social history of an era, a location, and an ethnicity to solve genealogical problems. By knowing this we can identify the parents of Elizabeth Stith, the ancestor “from nowhere.” The workshop begins at 9:30 a.m. and will end at 3:30 p.m. There will be limited seating and the event will fill up rapidly, so please buy your ticket early. The fee for the day, $40, includes the four lectures, lunch, and the option of touring the Museum's special exhibit, "Inaugural Gowns of the First Ladies," during lunch and the afternoon break. Tickets are available at the Plymouth Historical Museum or on its website at http://www.plymouthhistory.org/events/Genealogy-Workshop_ET119.html?SortBox=201209. The Plymouth Historical Museum is located at 155 S. Main Street, one block north of downtown Plymouth. For more information, call the Museum at 734-455-8940.