ROOTS & BRANCHES

Since the mid-2000s, the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center on the campus of Kutztown University has had a fall genealogy conference every other year, usually featuring three or four speakers. The edition of the conference held earlier this month deviated from pattern of the previous seven conferences in two respects.  First, the Pennsylvania Chapter of …

Roger P. Minert has added much to the canon of German genealogy research. His books on language and old German script are the definitive classics of the field, and the continuing series German Immigrants in American Church Records that he directs has unearthed thousands of European village origins. Minert also brainstormed an innovative tool for …

I’ve been going to nationwide genealogy conferences for a couple of decades now, which can leave you a little jaundiced when you (once again) listen to a vendor’s pitch about how her or she has the newest, greatest, etc., item that will set the family history world on fire. But once in a while—you are …

Last week’s “Roots & Branches” column showed how Kevin Kelleher of Hollidaysburg made contact with John Kelleher from County Cork in Ireland. The men on birth sides of the Atlantic knew the story of an uncle who died without children and made siblings, a nephew and nieces his heirs. John told Kevin the four heirs …

It’s not unusual for your “Roots & Branches” columnist to offer a bit of advice here and there to questions that I field and I customarily will ask for feedback if researchers have a breakthrough regarding their query. And it’s gratifying that a fair number of people replay and indicate success in their missions. What’s …

Early this year, I took the opportunity to give a rundown on the institutes in the genealogy world in “Roots & Branches.” I didn’t reveal one of my motivations for doing that: This was the first year I was attending one of those institutes. Last month, I attended the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh, held …

I had never been to California for more than quick trips to conferences over the years. So when the opportunity presented to spend some time there ahead of June’s international German conference in Sacramento, it was a no-brainer whirlwind that included San Francisco, Redwoods, Napa Valley and driving the Sonora Pass at almost 10,000 feet. …