Our guest speaker will be: Elissa Scalise Powell, CG, CGL

Description:  This presentation helps attendees give much thought to the five W’s and H of migration:

• WHO and WHAT: How can you find your ancestors’ migration path?
• WHEN and WHERE: migration routes leading out of Pennsylvania to points west using waterways and overland pathways and when they were used
• WHY: Push and Pull Reasons for migrating: ethnic, religious, political, land, jobs, families, etc. Military service often led to settlement in areas where the soldier served, or where he settled due to bounty land grants.
• HOW: trails, roads, railroads, rivers and canals

Presenters Bio: Elissa Scalise Powell, CG, CGL, is western Pennsylvania researcher and co-director of the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP); past-president of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, the coordinator since 2007 of the IGHR “Genealogy as a Profession” course in Athens, Georgia, and author of two chapters in the 2018 Professional Genealogy book. She was an instructor and creator for part of Boston University’s Genealogical Research Certificate course, and past SLIG course coordinator. She has been involved in ProGen Study since the beginning, being the mentor for groups 1, 25, and 50. She was honored with the Association of Professional Genealogists 2017 Professional Achievement Award.

Our guest speakers will be: Dear MYRTLE & Cousin Russ

Description: Exhausted the usual genealogical record sets? Got a seemingly unsurmountable brick wall? Let's step back in time and place to discover documents that mention your ancestors. We'll go bravely where most other family historians have not gone before. This interactive session will loosen the constraints of 21st century thinking, to see what's possible to uncover in previous centuries. Upon our return, attendees will be equipped with insider knowledge of how to find off-beat, unusual record sets.

Presenters Bio: DearMYRTLE is the nom de plume of Pat Richley-Erickson, who serves as president of the APG Chapter in Second Life (virtual), is the author of the award-winning DearMYRTLE Genealogy Blog where the focus is beginning genealogy topics. DearMYRTLE hosts several weekly YouTube webinars including Mondays with Myrt and Wacky Wednesday. She and Cousin Russ have moderated intensive study groups including Beginning Genealogy, ESM’s QuickLessons, Gen-Doc Mastering Genealogical Documentation, Mastering Genealogical Proof, The Written Conclusion, and Genealogy and the Law. DearMYRTLE’s YouTube Channel has over 1,000 archived webinars.

Russ Worthington, known popularly as Cousin Russ, is a Family Tree Maker expert, writing and posting videos at the Family Tree Maker User Blog. He shares research insights at A Worthington Web Blog. Russ is a serious “original documents” family history researcher, a student of genealogical methodology, a Find-A-Grave volunteer, a public speaker and a technology expert. He served in the US Coast Guard in Viet Nam. He used to listen to DearMYRTLE’s old podcasts while he commuted to work, but they didn’t meet until years later. Myrt was demonstrating genealogy software in a webinar when Cousin Russ piped up that he had the same early Welsh Quakers in Philadelphia and Chester County, Pennsylvania. Russ is the technical advisor and co-produces DearMYRTLE’s genealogy webinars.

Most recently, Myrt and Cousin Russ managed the switch from in-person to virtual 2020 GRIP (Genealogical Research Institute of Pennsylvania) training and assisting Zoom Meeting hosts for all 15 courses. 

DearMYRTLE and Cousin Russ have presented five computer labs at RootsTech 2011- 2013, and 2017. Myrt is a speaker at regional and national conferences including several livestreamed from RootsTech. She has served as an official RootsTech blogger and ambassador (2011-2018). Myrt serves the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy’s virtual courses as SLIG Virtual Tech since the first Virtual Advanced Evidence Analysis Practicum to present. Most recently, Myrt and Cousin Russ managed the switch from in-person to virtual 2020 GRIP (Genealogical Research Institute of Pennsylvania) training and assisting Zoom Meeting hosts for all 15 courses. 

DearMYRTLE is a co-founder of the Genea-Quilters group on Facebook, and founder of GeneaWebinars, a centralized calendar and blog for all known genealogy webinar hosts and virtual presenters. She serves as co-admin for the 32,000 member The Organized Genealogist Facebook Group together with her hangout co-host, her real-life Cousin Russ Worthington. 
Find out more at https://blog.DearMYRTLE.com 
(Yup! She’s a dot com!)