Events

 

Author of Bridging Your Past and Future: The Top 10 Items to Include When Documenting Your Personal History and host of The Preserve Your Past Podcast, Melissa uses her talents as a teacher, counselor, writer, and coach to help others do the same. Her mission is to inspire and support others as they preserve their past through the power of personal stories. 

History and geography are inextricably linked, so genealogical research requires an ability to accurately identify and locate places mentioned in historical documents.  It is also important to understand the administrative hierarchy for the government of a place, since different types of records were created at different levels of government.  Julie will help us unravel this so we can understand our Polish family roots. 

 

Julie Roberts Szczepankiewicz is a genealogist, writer, and speaker with nearly 30 years of experience in researching her family's origins in Poland, Germany, the U.S. and Canada. She holds a bachelor's degree in biological sciences from the State University of New York in Buffalo and a master's degree in endocrinology from the University of California, Berkeley. Her passion for genealogical research started when she was a graduate student, after she was given a copy of her great-grandparents' marriage record as a gift. After reading the names of a previously-unknown generation of ancestors on that document, she was hooked. She currently volunteers as administrator to several genealogy-related Facebook groups, and serves as President of the Polish Genealogical Society of New York State, Vice-President for the New England Regional Genealogical Consortium, Inc., and Secretary for the Polish Genealogical Society of Massachusetts. Her articles have been published in the journals of the Polish Genealogical Society of America, the Polish Genealogical Society of Massachusetts, and the Western New York Genealogical Society, and she is the author of a genealogy blog, From Shepherds and Shoemakers.

“Past the Cemetery Gate” is a 60 minute presentation where we learn to ‘read’ the cemetery for clues and information.  Using both direct observation and deductive reasoning from objects such as the writing, art, geology and the cemetery landscape, much new insight can be revealed.  That new insight can answer questions, create new inquiries and open doors for further detective work.  Many use the cemetery as a cursory resource for learning, genealogy or entertainment, some haven’t tapped it at all.  This program will get guests looking at these spaces, both old and new, as a valuable resource for their data collection activities.