S419, “Moravian Trails and Records,” 9:30 am, Saturday, 13 May 2017

This lecture that comes from my family history of a Moravian background set against the earliest days of our country. Rev. John Bechtel was not only prominent in the early Moravian church in Pennsylvania but his children married Moravian missionaries and other equally active people who left lots of great records. Moravians migrated from Pennsylvania to establish communities in North Carolina, and records and methodology for researching them will be discussed.

S458, “Patriot or Not?: Using the GPS on a Closed D.A.R. Line,” 4 pm, Saturday, 13 May 2017

Working professional genealogists draw their lecture materials from both client projects and their own family histories. In the case of“Patriot or Not?: Using the GPS on a Closed D.A.R. Line,” a client came to me with a letter from the D.A.R. that said the established “patriot” she was trying to connect to her line needed further proof. This lecture follows four of the research questions investigated and at each step asks the audience for their thoughts on whether it followed the Genealogical Proof Standard and whether the conclusion was proven, making this an interactive learning experience.

I am happy to contribute my knowledge to the conference. You can find me at Exhibit Booth 211 (GRIP -Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh) whenever I am not in a session. I look forward to meeting you!

About Your Speaker: Elissa Scalise Powell, CG, CGL , Pennsylvania researcher, GRIP co-director, BCG past president, BU’s Genealogical Research Certificate course instructor (2008-16), and the IGHR coordinator for the Professional Genealogy course.