Lecture Topics and Summaries

This list of lecture topics and summaries has been updated as of 1 Oct 2016. If you are interested in booking me for an event, lecture, or webinar, please contact me by email at mk_amie@hotmail.com.

I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Finding Answers in Naturalization Records: Immigration research can begin right here in your own back yard. In fact, many researchers may feel inclined to “jump the pond” too quickly and overlook some wonderful sources. This lecture will cover two case studies using naturalization records and passenger lists in the 1930s and in the 1830s. Jump aboard as we discover your immigrant roots!

Using Social Media Hotspots for Societies and Other Non-Profit Groups: Genealogy and historical societies want to reach out to a larger audience, but how? Learning the basics of creating profiles, pages, and groups on Facebook is just the start. We will talk about how to create helpful content for Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. This lecture would be appropriate for any non-profit organization looking to inspire others and gain a greater outreach.

Enriching Your Family History through Pictures and Stories: What does it mean to have an enriching family history? Pictures and stories add that special piece to your family story. Learn where and how you might drag up old photos and stories about your own ancestors. We will be discussing some familiar websites and techniques, as well as some that you may never have known existed!

Rooting Out Your Native American Ancestry: Many families have a Native American tradition in their family story. Let's get to the bottom of it. Learn the basics of tracing Native American ancestry, particularly the Southeastern American tribes and discuss the pros and cons of DNA testing for the purpose of proving your Native ancestry.

Tech Savvy Scrapbooking & Journaling for Family History: Scrapbooking and journaling your family  hsitory has never been easier! Using free apps on your mobile devices will turn your selfies into family treasures to be shared for generations. We will discuss using, creating, and printing with Chatbooks and MySocialBooks, as well as why it is important to preserve your pictures both digitally and physically. Lastly, we will have a brief discussion on blogging your family history, how to begin, and how to eventually print your blog into book form.

Preserve and Protect Your Research with RootsMagic Genealogy Software: With so many online family tree options, why do smart genealogists preserve and protect their genealogy with software like RootsMagic? This lecture is a beginning level class instructing on how to obtain both the free and paid versions of RootsMagic, how to use GEDCOMs, and how to add the fun details of pictures and documents to your family history story using RootsMagic. Even if you are not a RootsMagic user, this is a great lecture for anyone interested in preserving and protecting their hard work!

Crowdsourcing with Social Media to Overcome Brick Walls in Genealogy Research: Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest are not just for the teenagers anymore. These are just three of the many social media apps and websites that you need to utilize for your family history. Answers to brick walls are waiting! Using social media as a type of crowdsourcing will amaze you, so join us for this fun and informative topic.

Trolling Virtual Cemeteries and Using Cemetery Records: And you thought it was scary to go trolling through the cemetery on a dark and foggy night! The real scare is when you don’t know about all the online sites dedicated to viewing a cemetery without ever leaving home. Troll along with us as we talk about these virtual sites and discuss the often overlooked cemetery records and where to find them. 

Google Your Way to Genealogy Success: You’ll never believe how many wonderful tools exist on Google these days! From successful keyword searches, mapping, books, translating documents, and much, much, more! Googling your way to genealogy success is simple once you know a few key points. You will be a Google guru in no time!

Discovering the Power of Digitizing Your Family History: Preserve and protect your pictures, documents, and research with the power of digitizing. Learn the basics of how to scan and digitize your paper items, how to digitally save them to the Cloud, and how to ensure those items are always accessible. Worried there won’t be an Internet in the future? Me too! We’ll end with talking about unique ways (like water-proof thumb drives, mini family history books, and more,) to save your family history in the event of a digital disaster.

Have You Seen Me? Missing Children and Proof of Parentage: Eventually, we all lose the trail of our ancestors or their families. Whether a child was born and died between censuses, or lived and married before 1850, there are ways to root out these missing individuals and prove their parentage. Learn sound techniques for finding birth and death records, using probate records to establish relationship, children's home records, guardianship records, and more. This class also focuses on advanced search techniques for using browse-only databases at FamilySearch.