ROOTS & BRANCHES

Sometimes, you just have to “call your own number.”
For those who aren’t football fans, it’s phrase used when the quarterback decides to carry the ball himself instead of handing off or passing to another player.
In the family history world, I’m using it to say that I’m going to be the headline speaker for a virtual popup seminar on Zoom a month from now for the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, where I serve as interim executive director.
And what am I going to speak about? Well, the title of the seminar says it all—”Germans, Germans, Germans!”—which will be held from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 10.
It’s giving me the opportunity to introduce some new lectures I’m adding to my catalog of presentations about German genealogy. All of them are topics I’ve touched on before but now have a few new twists to offer.
The presentations and their descriptions are the following:
• “Top Methodologies, Record Groups for Germans”—What are the top methodologies for researching German ancestors? What are the most helpful types of records and documents and where do you find them on- and off-line? This presentation provides beginners with the answers and seasoned researchers with a way of double-checking their work!
• “De-Garbling Places and Surnames with Phonetics”—One of the greatest challenges of German genealogy is dealing with spelling variants of surnames and place names. Learn about the tools for dealing with these variants to find the most authentic versions of surnames and find previously unfindable places.
• “German Church Records, On- and Offline”—No genealogist with German-speaking ancestors avoids using church records, and the good news is that many more of them are coming online in digital form. It’s important, however, to know whether you’re looking at originals, duplicates or extracts from these records—this presentation will explain the differences.
Attendees will be able to access the lectures for 60 days after the presentation. Several door prizes will be available … register early to be eligible! Registration fees are $35 for GSP Members and $45 for non-members.
The society has offered a solid year of programming in 2022, with a couple of for-pay conferences as well as free events.
My popup seminar is bookended by two free virtual offerings that complete the society’s programming year—a Special Event on Dec. 1 that will outline the many genealogy resources of the Free Library of Philadelphia, and our final Third Thursdays presentation from FamilySearch’s David Rencher (While free events are open to non-members, the perk for society members is that they receive access to a recording of the presentations).
To register for either the free events or “Germans, Germans, Germans!” go to https://genpa.org/programs-and-events/