ROOTS & BRANCHES

One of the things that gets a genealogist through wintertime is thinking about spring conferences.

Just a few weeks away is a free conference sponsored by the Friends of the Delaware Archives titled “Beyond Bare Bones, Building Your Skills” and featuring for presentations by Thomas W. Jones on March 4 at the Delaware Public Archives, 121 Martin Luther King Blvd. North, Dover, DE.

Jones has been among the most sought after genealogical lecturers for quite a few years. His seminal book Mastering Genealogical Proof will be available for sale at the conference.

He holds the credential of Certified Genealogist and long ago was elected to the elite as a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists as well as a Fellow of the Utah Genealogical Association.

Among his many published articles was one more than a decade ago on the “power of indirect evidence,” in which he demonstrated how sophisticated genealogist appreciate how direct evidence (in which a statement is made such as that John is the father of Mary) can be simply wrong but that several pieces of indirect evidence can work together to present a more proof-worthy (and therefore less likely to be erroneous) recitation of facts.

Jones’ true strength lies in his ability to convey by word and example methods to use to get started in family research and to suggest creative solutions to any brick wall problems that arise.

His lecture topics on March 4 are the following:

• Can a Complex Research Problem be Solved Solely Online?
• Planning Efficient and Effective Research: A Case Study
• Five Ways to Prove Who Your Ancestor Was (Some Reliable and Others Not So Reliable)
• Inferential Genealogy: Deducing Ancestors’ Identities Indirectly

The conference schedule begins with registration at 8:30 a.m., with lectures beginning at 9:30 a.m. and running through 4 p.m.

For information, contact Tom Summers (302) 744-5047 or e-mail thomas.summers@state.de.us, Registration to Donna Josefowski (302) 222-0694 or email mdjosefowski@gmail.com, or Eventbrite and enter “Genealogy-Beyond Bare Bones, Building Your Skills.”

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Some other spring conference highlights in the greater mid-Atlantic area are:

• March 17-18 – Mid-Atlantic Germanic Society spring conference in Laurel, Md. Details at www.magsgen.com
• March 31-April – Fairfax Genealogical Society spring conference in Falls Church, Va. Details at www.fxgs.org.
• May 10-13 – National Genealogical Society conference in Raleigh, N.C. Details at www.ngsgenealogy.org.
• May 18-20 – Lancaster Family History Conference sponsored by the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society in Lancaster. Details at www.lmhs.org