Events

We’ve all heard the story of the Mayflower and the founding of Plymouth Colony in 1620 but who were these intrepid souls, what did they believe, why did they come to New England, and who left descendants? This presentation explores these topics and provides information on resources available for learning more about our Pilgrim ancestors.

 

Karen A. Fortin has degrees in History and Library and Information Science and a passion for research. She worked in a public library in Florida for 30 years before switching to genealogical lecturing in 2016. She is a member of various genealogical societies and loves to help people explore their family history so that they can better understand their ancestors and the world in which they lived.

 

 

 

Paula’s book invites readers to walk in the steps of real people with real joys and terrible heartache as they make the fateful decision to leave behind everything they knew in La Rochelle France and begin life anew in New France. After serving indentureships, they began families, and some of her ancestors were caught up in the Acadian Dispersal. In the more recent past her ancestors immigrated once again, this time to the U.S. Through genealogical research of Paula’s ancestors that was gifted to her by a family member, she learned the bare facts of the many generations of her forbears’ lives. One day these ancestors began speaking to her heart. She responded by delving into the broader story of the times they lived through. She began writing a series of letters to specific grandparents, asking them unanswerable questions and telling them how she longed to know them better. Her family’s Ceinture Fléchée (Arrow Sash) has been passed down through six generations. The Sash binds the various parts of Paula’s story into a coherent whole. Undertaking a quest to bring the family’s heirloom to each ancestor’s grave, she discovered one ancestor after the next. With each discovery, she wrapped the tombstones with the family’s Sash. While learning and then writing about her 9x grandparents she walked the Long Trail in Vermont, discovering parts of herself she had never known existed. Along with her growing sense of closeness with these ancestors, she found her way back to the Catholic Church. Every step of her journey, she knew her ancestors were praying for her. 

 

Join Suzanne as she talks about Italian civil registration research online. FamilySearch and the Italian government (Portale Antenati) have partnered to digitize millions of civil registration records. She will explore what civil registration records exist, how to research and how to locate them online. These records are an amazing way to start researching your Italian ancestors.

 

Suzanne Russo Adams is an accredited genealogist in Italian research and has been researching Italian roots for more than 20 years. She is a graduate of Brigham Young University with a BS in sociology and a BA in family history/genealogy specializing in Southern European research, specifically Italy. She also has a Masters degree in European History (December 2008) from BYU. Her experience ranges from research to genealogy technology to conferences and speakers. 

 

Suzanne has served as a board member for the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG), Utah Genealogical Association (UGA), and as a commissioner for the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogist (ICAPGen). She was a lead researcher for NBCs U.S, season 1 of Who Do You Think You Are?. She is also the author of Finding Your Italian Ancestors: A Beginner's Guide (Ancestry, 2008).