Got Ancestors?! 2023

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak

Michelle Obama’s Roots Researcher Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak Comes to West Michigan

August 27, 2010 – Grand Rapids, Michigan

The Western Michigan Genealogical Society (WMGS) announces its GotAncestors?! Annual Seminar for 2010 entitled Are They Who You Think They Are? The seminar is Friday and Saturday, November 5^th and 6^th at the Prince Conference Center in Grand Rapids. Featured speaker is nationally known lecturer, author and researcher Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak in her first public appearance in Michigan. She presents Michelle Obama’s Roots on Friday evening. Megan will give four additional talks on Saturday including the discovery of the “real” Annie Moore, the first immigrant to come through Ellis Island.

The cost for the Michelle Obama’s Roots event on Friday is $15.00. Seminar Registration is $49.00 for Saturday only or $59.00 for the two-day program if registered by October 8th. Space is limited. Detailed information and online registration is available at www.gotancestors.com.

This is the third consecutive year the WMGS GotAncestors?! Seminar will be at the Prince Conference Center, 1800 East Beltline SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan on the campus of Calvin College. The facility is handicap accessible and smoke-free.

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The online registration system for Got Ancestors?! Are They Who You Think They Are? is now up and running. Click here to register for this highly anticipated event.

A Seminar flyer and registration form can be downloaded from here (but please register online even if you’re going to mail a cheque as it makes things easier for us).

Here is the list of topics we’ve chosen to have on Saturday.

Reverse Genealogy

• Although genealogy is at its heart the study of long-deceased ancestors, connecting with living relatives has become almost as important to many family historians. Some seek living kin in an effort to track down family photos; others do it to find family history playmates or DNA project participants. A few pioneers have begun exercising their skills to save lives – to locate potential donors or warn of possible medical dangers. Whatever the motivation, one of the most addicting aspects of genealogy is the thrill of finding distant cousins, or in some cases, parents, children, or siblings. But this “reverse genealogy” (working from the past to the present) has its own special challenges and requires the researcher to be part genealogist and part private investigator. This presentation covers proven techniques for tracing 20th century friends and relatives from the past to the present.

Tracing Your Roots with DNA – an extended edition

• With amazing swiftness, “genetealogy” (the marriage of genetics and genealogy) is graduating from pioneering research to standard practice. But what is it exactly and how can we use it to further our genealogical endeavors? Come hear one of the co-authors of Trace Your Roots with DNA discuss her own and others’ experience launching and managing a DNA project, including such considerations as test and vendor selection factors, privacy, and convincing others to participate. (Short and long versions available: one-hour version covers Y-DNA/surname testing only, while the extended 1.5-2 hour version also includes other types of testing, such as mtDNA, BioGeographical, etc. Also available for non-genealogical audiences.)

Right Annie, Wrong Annie

• An Irish lass, Annie Moore, tripped down a gangplank and into the pages of history in 1892 when she became the first immigrant to arrive at Ellis Island. But less than a century later, an Illinois-born Annie Moore had somehow taken her place and was celebrated in song, statue and literature. That all ended when some stubborn genealogists decided to use their sleuthing skills to seek out the right Annie. Come learn how she and her true descendants reclaimed their rightful place in history when their reunion was featured on the front page of the New York Times.

Cases That Made My Brain Hurt

• How could brothers also be uncle and nephew? How could the 1853 death of a toddler in Scotland help solve a Civil War history-mystery? And could there be any families with a pair of centenarians who knew each other and lived in four centuries between the two of them? Come and hear!

Yesterday’s Western Michigan Genealogical Society Board meeting accepted my proposal that the speaker at the 2010 Got Ancestors?! seminar be Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak.

Mark your calendars for Friday evening 5 November 2010 and Saturday 6 November 2010.

We’re looking forward to hosting Megan on her first speaking engagement in Michigan. A list of her talks can be found here http://www.honoringourancestors.com/programs.html

This event is still in very early planning stages, details will be posted here as they become available.