Seminar with Judy Russell: the Legal Genealogist

The Law, GPS Evidence, and DNA Ethics

Saturday, November 2, 2019,  9 am - 3 pm. Doors open at 8 am.

Menlo Park LDS Church - 1105 Valparaiso, Menlo Park

REGISTRATION 

 PLEASE REGISTER EARLY, THIS EVENT MAY SELL OUT. 

Join us for a day of gaining insight about genealogy, more than you may have thought.

Judy Russell is a genealogist with a law degree and is one of the best thinkers and lecturers in the field. Her talks are delivered with good humor, perception, and thoughtful connections. She will address law in our ancestors' time, conducting solid research, and ethics surrounding today's DNA testing.

Topics:

• Finding the Law
• The Law and Reasonably Exhaustive (Re)Search
• DNA and the Golden Rule: The Law and Ethics of Genetic Genealogy
• No Vitals? No Problem! Building a Family through Circumstantial Evidence

             Schedule             

•  8:00 – 9:00       REGISTRATION & Time to Browse our Silent Auction Items & Book Sales
•  9:00 – 9:15      INTRODUCTIONS
•  9:15 – 10:15    LECTURE ONE - Finding the Law - Time and time again, we’re told as genealogists that we need to look at records in the context of the law at the time and in the place where the records were created. Easier said than done! With 50 states and the federal government all passing laws, how do we find the laws we need?
• 10:15- 10:45 BREAK
• 10:45 – 11:45   LECTURE TWO The Law and Reasonable Exhaustive (Re)Search They’re the building blocks of any genealogy: wills, deeds, vital records. Once we've gathered records from all areas where our ancestors lived, we tick off that GPS—what once was called the “reasonably exhaustive search.” We have, we believed, examined “a wide range of high-quality sources” and therefore minimized “the probability that undiscovered evidence will overturn a too-hasty conclusion.” Or have we?
•  11:45 – 12:45   LUNCH   Time to check out the Silent Auction Items, Book Sales and the Family History Center
•  12:45 – 1:45   LECTURE THREE  DNA and the Golden Rule: The Law and Ethics of Genetic Genealogy Whose permission is needed to test a child or an adult unable to consent? Who owns our DNA? What can we disclose about a cousin who has tested? The rules of the road for the ethical challenges facing genealogists interested in using DNA evidence as part of their family history research. Learn how applying the Golden Rule can guide us through many if not most of the situations in which we as genetic genealogists find ourselves.
•  1:45 – 2:00  BREAK
•  2:00 – 3:00   LECTURE FOUR No Vitals? No Problem! – Building a Family through Circumstantial Evidence - A Family for Isabella When there’s no birth, marriage or death record, what’s a genealogist to do? Learn how to use circumstantial evidence to build a family. This case study involves tracing a woman married before the 1850 census.

 The Legal Genealogist, Judy G. Russell CG®, CGL℠, writes and lectures on topics ranging from using court records in family history to understanding DNA testing. On the faculty of numerous genealogy institutes, she is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, from which she holds credentials as a Certified Genealogist and Certified Genealogical Lecturer. Her award-winning blog is at https://www.legalgenealogist.com/

Upcoming Events and Classes

Who’s in Your Neighborhood?  
Meeting the Diverse Research Needs of Your Community

Speaker: Linda Harms Okazaki

Saturday, February 24, 2018

10:30 am - 12 noon

Coffee and Cookies starting at 10 am

Free.

Grace Lutheran Church, 2825 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo, CA

This talk will focus on examining the different cultures within our community of San Mateo County reaching back through historical events, laws, immigration patterns, and primary source documents. Many examples from local ethnic groups including Japanese Americans, Chinese, Filipino, and Pacific Islanders will be presented.

 In order for genealogical societies to become more diverse, we need to examine and embrace the different cultures within our communities. Is your genealogical society inclusive? Does your membership reflect the diversity of your community? What immigrant populations have historically lived in your county? Who currently lives there? Does your genealogical society reach out to the surrounding community? What records are specific to certain ethnic groups?

Linda Harms Okazaki is a fourth generation San Franciscan and has been researching her husband’s ancestry for the past several years, documenting his family in the internment camps and in Japan. She is passionate about researching, documenting, teaching, and sharing the stores of Japanese Americans. Her other areas of research include California, upstate New York, England and Australia. Linda is a member of APG, the Genealogical Speakers Guild, and the DAR. She is a graduate of GenFed, ProGen and several genealogy institutes. She currently serves as the president of the California Genealogical Society.  She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Development and a Master of Arts degree in Education. You may find her blog at LindasOrchard.com

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LIfe Story Writing

Instructor: Craig Siulinski

10 Sessions - Saturdays starting Mar 3

College of San Mateo (CSM)

Registration Closes Mar 3

The benefits of a shared autobiography writing class are many.  Sharing one’s writing in a positive supportive social setting is an affirming experience for the writer.  Making connections with others, particularly for elders, contributes significantly to one’s overall health and well-being. 

 
Students in Life Story Writing will learn to organize and write their life stories two pages at a time. Participants will learn how to bring stories alive by describing events using all the senses. By reading the individual stories in class each week, the students learn to listen deeply, understand and appreciate others and their life stories. At the end of the sessions the participants will have nine written stories, which could be the made into a book for oneself or as a gift for family and friends. The students can go as far and wide with their writing as they choose.  

Instructor Craig Siulinski has more that 18 years of teaching experience.

My First Life Story Writing Class

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 Using the Tools on the DNA websites to Examine Your DNA Matches

Speaker: Christine Bell Green PLCGS

Saturday, March 3, 2018

11 am - 12 noon

Free.

South San Francisco Library, 840 W Orange St, South San Francisco CA

This talk will focus on using tools available at Ancestry, Family Tree DNA, 23andMe, and My Heritage to analyze and compare your DNA results with those of your close matches. The strengths and weaknesses of the tools and the various websites will be discussed.

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