Facing identity and kinship problems? Confused by multiple, same-named men? Learn how applying the Genealogical Proof Standard resolved similar challenges in the search for a freedman's family. A case example traces a South Carolina family of color, differentiates multiple men of similar profiles who lived in the same time and place, resolves conflicting evidence, identifies a freedman's last slave owner, and ultimately finds his enslaved birth family. The methodology and record types apply to reconstructing all families.

 

A board-certified genealogist, Nancy A. Peters, CG, CGL works as a researcher, author, editor, and lecturer with special interests in genealogical problem solving and methodology. She serves as a trustee of the Board for Certification of Genealogists and as the editor of BCG's OnBoard publication. She lectures at local and national conferences and has been an instructor at the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy's Advanced Evidence Analysis Practicum and the BCG Education Fund's Putting Skills to Work workshop on evidence correlation. Nancy's client and personal research encompasses the southeastern United States, upstate New York, England, and Germany.

The end of the nineteenth century witnessed the transformation of the United States from a developing nation into a global power. Discover your ancestors that served in the war with Spain along with records of the Boxer Rebellion (1900) and the Philippine Insurrection (1899-1902) in which United States troops participation on land and sea. This lecture focuses on the many records at the National Archives and other research facilities covering all three military conflicts.

 

Michael L. Strauss, AG is an Accredited Genealogist and forensic investigator, is a native of Pennsylvania and a resident of Utah. He holds a BA in History and is a United States Coast Guard veteran. He is a licensed Private Investigator and qualified expert witness in Surrogate Court and Circuit Court in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Virginia. Michael is an approved genealogist with the United States Army to locate DNA qualified persons MIA from Korea, Vietnam, and World War II. He is a national genealogical lecturer and instructor for military courses at the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR), and Virtual Institute of Genealogical Research (VIGR). He was the film historian for the 2015 Academy Award nominated movie "Finding Vivian Maier".