If you will be attending RootsTech this year, be sure to stop by the BYU booth in the Expo Hall and say hello! We’ll be having presentations in our booth about various topics (see schedule above). Feel free to share this schedule with anyone who may be interested!
Additionally, if you are a BYU family history program current student or graduate, we would be happy if you would join us at the BYU RootsTech Happy Hour. Send us an RSVP and plan to attend!
BYU family history students and graduates:
We hope many of you are planning to attend RootsTech 2020! We are excited to announce that BYU will sponsor a “Happy Hour” get-together for all family history students and alumni this year!
This happy event will be Friday, February 28th from 6:30 to 8pm at the BYU Salt Lake Center (see attached flyer).
Please RSVP to cfhgoff@byu.edu if you can attend – and we’d be very happy if you can!
Registration is now open! Tour the BYU Family History Library at NGS 2020
The tour is offered on a first come, first served basis, so register early. There will be plenty of free time at the library for research in the database, archive, and library collections. The tour is from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. for the cost of $30.
Visit the NGS Conference website for more information:
https://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/tour-the-byu-family-history-library-at-ngs-2020/
A recent article in the church news highlighted how doing family history can help people with feelings of anxiety and depression. The article tells how many Latter-day Saints who face mental health challenges have found these blessings as they discover, gather and connect their families.
Click HEREto go read the full article!
Congratulations to BYU family history graduates Joe Everett and Heather Stewart who both recently received their accreditation for research in Russia from the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists.
You can read Joe’s bio HERE.
Thanks to Joe and Heather for sharing their good news and congratulations again to them both!
Note to current students, faculty and alumni: Please be sure to send us your news! We like to help spread the word and let others know of all the good contributions our graduates make in the family history world. So, keep up the good work and keep in touch! (email your news to cfhgoff@byu.edu).
We hope you’ll save the dates and plan to attend!
The BYU Family History Program recently hosted a Discovery Event for students which included remarks from artist, Michelle Franzoni Thorley. Her fabulous art work was featured on our promotional flyers (see below).
It was an evening of discovery from areas around the world:
Thanks to all who helped and attended this fun evening!
Family History graduate, Deanna Bullock, will be presenting at two conferences this fall and again at RootsTech in London. Her RootsTech lectures is titled Finding and Unlocking the Keys to British Parish Registers Online.
Visit these websites for more information:
https://www.abgenealogy.ca/family-connections-2019
https://www.rootstech.org/schedule
Thanks for the update Deanna!
Note to current students, faculty and alumni: Please be sure to send us your news! We like to help spread the word and let others know of all the good contributions our graduates make in the family history world. So, keep up the good work and keep in touch! (email your news to cfhgoff@byu.edu).
Susan Olsen LeBlanc, AG has taught classes, published articles and generally has had a fantastic year of genealogical discovery! Here is her report:
This has been a year of great accomplishments. DNA has taken me where I needed to go in so many projects. My own family has had some unknown people come forward and others were confirmed in our relationships. Then I ventured into the DNA of the Watts family. We have confirmed distant cousin connections and are awaiting the YDNA results of a direct line male to hopefully confirm that distant ancestor. Just recently two of the descendants visited Scappoose, Oregon where I have worked on the Watts family for three years. We had a great visit discovering on the internet, traveling the DLC land claim of the original settlers for the family, visiting the Watts House, the Scappoose Public Library, the local cemetery, the Columbia County Museum in St. Helens, Oregon and going through the records of these places. In December an article about Rose Ewing Watts, the lady for whom the Watts House was built, will be published in the Bulletin, the quarterly of the Genealogical Forum of Oregon. This article highlights the collections we have today due to her diligent efforts to collect items of importance to the Scappoose community. A followup article on the DLC land claims is set to be published next year.
This past weekend the St. Helens public library held a one day genealogy conference. There was a key note speaker and then two tracks of classes. One track was five classes on beginning genealogy. People who attended those classes were shocked at all they were learning. The second track was five classes including Native American research, US Federal Land Records, Oregon Donation Land Claims, Washington County, Oregon history (which I taught) and Finding Columbia County, Oregon Information. I was thrilled to attend most of these classes. Continuing education locally is wonderful as we connect with others who share our love of research.
In Columbia County, Oregon we have quarterly meetings with the six historical societies and/or museums. I feel honored to participate in their meetings. These meetings have fostered a better awareness among the groups of what each is doing. They created a brochure to share with the public about their holdings. The meetings rotate through each facility and we enjoy visiting, eating lunch and learning about the facility.
In Washington County, Oregon there is a museum which also has a research room for their collections. Recently our Oregon Association of Professional Genealogists had a behind the scenes tour of this facility after I went there to view their collection with regards to my own family. My previous visit about twenty years ago resulted in a three page list of items I wanted to see. Tricia Oberndorf, the current president of the Oregon APG group, went with me and was able to photograph materials for the Watts family. When we left we felt our local group should go for a tour. I almost wondered if I needed to go as I had seen what I thought was the museum. Midway through the tour they opened a door to a huge warehouse area I had never seen before. It was full of artifacts from Washington County. Everyone in the group was amazed. It felt like when Dorothy steps into the land of Oz!
The year of great accomplishments has taken me to places I never imagined going. New discoveries that fully enhance my own family research and that of other families. Follow those leads as they may well take you to the most wonderful places. Doing it with others is even more exciting.
Susan Olsen LeBlanc, AG
We’ve recently received some updates from BYU family history program graduates. Take a look at the good news from Luana Darby and Amy Carpenter:
Luana Darby is the chair for the 2020 National Genealogical Society’s conference which will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, May 20-23 next year.
Amy Carpenter will be presenting two lectures this weekend at the Family Roots Conference in St. George, Utah. She also keeps busy with her blog: http://musingsofayounggenealogist.weebly.com and works as a contract researcher for both Price Genealogy and Legacy Tree Genealogists.
Congratulations to both Luana and Amy!
Note to current students, faculty and alumni: Please be sure to send us your news! We like to help spread the word and let others know of all the good contributions our graduates make in the family history world. So, keep up the good work and keep in touch! (email your news to cfhgoff@byu.edu).
Family History at BYU 