The VGS 25th Annual Family History Seminar
February 26, 2025 – 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Check-In 8:15 a.m. – Lectures 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
A Hybrid Event (in-person & virtual) • Virtual Option is Open to the Public
Attend Virtually via Zoom, or
Attend In-person at the Savannah Regional Recreation Center
1545 Buena Vista Blvd., The Villages, FL
Our Speaker will present in-person at the Savannah Regional Recreation Center
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FEATURING
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MARY KIRCHER RODDY, CG
Mary Kircher Roddy has been a credentialed genealogist since 2019. She is a member of the National Genealogical Society, the Association of Professional Genealogists, a trustee of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, co-editor of The National Genealogical Society Quarterly and one of the founders of the Applied Genealogy Institute.
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TWO WAYS TO ATTEND
• In-person: limited to VGS members, their guests, and residents of The Villages, Florida only.
• Virtually (via Zoom): open to VGS members and to the general pubic.
SEMINAR FEES
• Seminar Fee: $45 (to attend in-person or via Zoom)
• Optional Box Lunch for in-person attendees only: $14.00 (lunch includes your choice of a sandwich with chips, cookie and beverage, OR a salad with cookie and beverage. Sandwich choices are: roast turkey or baked ham; salad options are a Chef Salad or Garden Salad.
REGISTRATION OPTIONS (click on an option below to get started)
Mail-in registration must be receive by Feb. 17, 2025; last day to register on-line is Feb.25, 2025.
This event will not be recorded.
SEMINAR TOPICS
Not Who He Once Was: Tips for Finding Your Name-Changing Ancestor
Do you have an ancestor or relative who just disappeared? Or one who seems to have been deposited by aliens, with no background here on earth? Perhaps his story involved a complete change of name. Using case studies of identity shifts, learn strategies to discover who the young man became in later life, or who Great-grandpa was "before you got to know him".
Censational Census Strategies
The US Federal census and its "little brother", the state census, are among the major workhorses of genealogical research. But are you getting the most out of them? This presentation presents 20+ tips for finding missing ancestors and mining the census for more clues for follow-up research.
Jumping the Pond: Connecting Immigrants to Their Homeland
Are you and your ancestors tired of hanging out in US records? Ready to get back to Europe? In this presentation Mary Roddy will cover a methodology for finding your late-19th- and early 20th-century ancestor's place of origin. You'll learn about a host of records that might provide a location or clues toward finding one. Mary's got a spreadsheet trick for squeezing the most out of passenger lists and a few ideas for when all else fails. Finally, she'll present two case studies where she connected immigrants back to their home in Europe.
What's Not There Can Get You There: Finding, Recognizing and Using Negative Evidence
Explore the intriguing world of negative evidence in genealogy. Discover how the gaps in records can provide critical clues to your family history and turn missing information into valuable insights. Learn how to document and interpret the absence of information to help form genealogical conclusions.
