ROOTS & BRANCHES

My late grandmother once left me a note that I’ll always remember.

On it were three simple letters: SPS.

So, of course, being young and relatively dumb, I had to ask her what that stood for.

To which she said: “Self-praise stinks.”

All of which is a lead-in to the fact that this “Roots & Branches” is about an event in which I’m involved.

It’s a genealogy institute called “Researching Family in Pennsylvania,” which goes by the acronym RFIPA (if you’re in the know, you say that “R-Fee-Pa,” by the way).

But enough frivolity because this is a program that packs a lot of punch into five days of learning from what is genuinely an all-star team of presenters from around the Mid-Atlantic region, held under the auspices of the Mid-Atlantic’s largest genealogy repository, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Previous years were held at HSP (1300 Locust St., Philadelphia) but given the uncertainty accompanying the pandemic, this year’s institute will be virtual via a Zoom platform, with presentations going out live to participants from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Aug. 3-7.

RFIPA combines some historical background lectures along with tips about the state’s major repositories, the quirks of researching particular ethnic and religious groups, and many other topics.

With apologies to my grandmother, I’ll get the SPS over with: I’m giving the presentation “Researching German Families in Pennsylvania” as a survey of the best resources for seeking out German-speaking ethnics in the state. It will pair with Tom McCullough of the Moravian Archives and his lecture, “Finding Your Vorfahren: Genealogy with German-Language Church Records.”

Some of the other presenters and their topics include:

• Frank Southcott with “The Keystone State: Putting Pennsylvania in Historical Perspective” and  presentations on Pennsylvania’s early military history and the founding religious group known by their nickname of Quakers (formally, the Religious Society of Friends).
• Sydney Cruice Dixon talking on “Pennsylvania Vital Records – The Backbone of the Keystone State” as well as a double-lecture on plotting deeds, essential since Pennsylvania uses “metes and bounds” system of land sales.  
• The Legal Genealogist Judy Russell will give a two-part exposition on “Courting the Keystone State: Key Court Records of Pennsylvania.”  
• Noted immigration specialist Rich Venezia goes over “Western Pennsylvania: Researching in the Steel City and Beyond.”
• Archivist Kimberly F.B. Buckalew will profile a cache of records vital to documenting residents throughout the state with “Taxes and Timelines: 18^th Century Rural Genealogy in Pennsylvania.”
• Because Pennsylvania does not have government-kept vital records for much of its history Dawn King Carson’s “Locating Church Records in Pennsylvania” is essential to fill many of the gaps about many ancestors’ births, marriages and deaths.  

For more information or to register for RFIPA, go to the HSP website at the URL, https://hsp.org/calendar/researching-family-pennsylvania-0