Sessions

New York's Records and Places

Albany as the Revolutionary War Hub of New York State: Sources in the Capital Region

Eric G. Grundset, MLS

As a major patriot center during the Revolution, Albany became the powerhouse of activity for the patriot side in the Revolution and a major target for British and allied forces. Important records exist to help researchers identify the role of their ancestors in the struggle. Many are located at the New York State Library and the State Archives, but others are found elsewhere.

The Ancestry NY Portal: Accessing Digitized NYS Archives Records for Free

Jamie Brinkman

The NYS Archives has formed a partnership with Ancestry.com to digitize family history records and make them freely available via the Ancestry NY Portal. Learn about the collections already available, future uploads and the information you can expect to find in the records. Includes demonstrations of account setup and Portal use.

Decoding the Ancient Documents: Research in the Dutchess County Court Records

William P. Tatum, III, PhD

As a major patriot center during the Revolution, Albany became the powerhouse of activity for the patriot side in the Revolution and a major target for British and allied forces. Important records exist to help researchers identify the role of their ancestors in the struggle. Many are located at the New York State Library and the State Archives, but others are found elsewhere.

Making the Most of Ancestry.com's Search Engine

Alec Ferretti, MA, MLIS

Attendees will learn tips & tricks to more efficiently search Ancestry’s indexes, by understanding how to leverage their strengths and mitigate their weaknesses. The nuances using records that have been indexed with OCR will be discussed, along with the idiosyncrasies of how they have indexed certain fields of certain records.

New York City and State Governmental Vital Records

Jane E. Wilcox

New York is notoriously challenging to find births, deaths, and marriages. Learn to navigate New York City and State governmental vital records.

Oddball records in NYS

Matthew Urtz

Discover oddball records providing family information, addresses, education levels, and more. Some were mandated by laws for brief periods and may exist in other local governments, plus agricultural (stallion pedigrees, farm records), incorporation (religious, not-for-profits), professional licenses (medical, engineering, legal), military (appointments, military board records, remembrance books) records and more.

Researching New York State Institutional Hospitals

Rhoda Miller

Considerable interest has been expressed in researching New York State institutional hospitals. Strategies for learning more about patients, and their experiences, will be presented despite privacy issues in obtaining records.

Uncharted Waters: Diving into the Holdings of the New York State Archives

Jane E. Wilcox

This livestream recording will be available through September 30. The New York State Archives (NYSA) holds a diverse collection of state governmental records. Learn familiar and obscure resources to help advance your NY research. Includes a finding aid demonstration.

Understanding New York State Local Government

David Lowry

This session will introduce the multilayered, complex, and confusing world of New York State local government, an important source of genealogical records. It will provide tips on records access including the best contacts in each local government and introduce genealogists to some unusual records series.

Methods and Techniques

Copyright Considerations for Genealogists

Blaine T. Bettinger, PhD, JD

As genealogists, intellectual property is one of our greatest assets. We write client reports, articles, blog posts, and so much more. Learn about how copyright and trademark law protects your intellectual property. And just as importantly, discover what you should do to avoid infringing on the rights of others!

Digital Organization for Everyone: Ways to Conquer the Mess

Michael Cassara

As genealogists, we are constantly seeking better ways to organize our treasures. Make sense of your electronic chaos, and get organized, digitally!

Expanding Research to Backtrack New Yorkers to New England

Thomas W. Jones, PhD, CG, FASG, FUGA, FNGS

Two case studies demonstrate how searching beyond the person of interest led to establishing the separate origins of two unrelated Revolutionary War veterans who settled in New York with no record of their parents or prior residence.

Genealogical Proof for the Everyday Genealogist

Annette Burke Lyttle

How do you know if the facts you’ve uncovered are correct? How do you avoid attaching somebody else’s ancestors to your family tree? The Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS) is our guide to producing reliable research results. This introduction to the GPS will get your research moving in the right direction and help you avoid errors and frustration.

Gravestone Conservation for Genealogists

Christopher White

Remember that gravestone that was so dirty that you could not read it or the one that was tipped over? What can you do? What should you do? Discover what that dirt is and the proper methods for conserving gravestones. Determine why a gravestone is in its present condition. Learn what to do and what not to do so that you help preserve gravestones for the next generation.

Identifying the wife of Jacob Lasher of Germantown, Columbia Co., New York

Julie Miller, CG, CGL, FNGS

Using New York resources, this case study demonstrates how a carefully crafted proof argument challenged long-accepted published genealogies and online trees.

Still in Print: Your Genealogical Bookshelf in 2020

D. Joshua Taylor

Is paper really on its way out? If 2020 has taught genealogists anything, it is that access to reference sources and other tools at home is still essential. Explore reference works and strategies for building your bookshelf (with an emphasis on those tracing New York families).

The Article Isn’t About Your Family? You Should Read It Anyway!

Karen Mauer Jones, CG, FGBS, FUGA

Scholarly genealogical articles demonstrate the records, the strategies, and the thought processes necessary to perform successful research in any locality. Examples from The NYG&B Record illustrate how reading articles in scholarly journals will hone your research skills, even if none of those articles touch on your ancestral lines.

Using Indirect and Negative Evidence to Prove Unrecorded Events

Thomas W. Jones, PhD, CG, FASG, FUGA, FNGS

Information hidden below the surface or totally absent helps researchers reconstruct events, identities, and relationships that no record specifies. Examples show how.

People of New York (and Beyond)

A la Karte: Borders, Maps and Gazetteers for German Genealogists

James M. Beidler

The borders of German-speaking lands in Europe followed a non-linear pattern that is at first difficult to unpack. Learn about the gamut of on- and off-line tools to overcome this difficulty.

Dutch Naming Systems in Early America

Aaron Goodwin

Those attending this session will find themselves rewarded with more than mere tidbits about strange and befuddling practices. Dutch naming systems are so important, in fact, that gaining a thorough understanding of them gives researchers the most effective tools they can have to answer longstanding questions and identify new avenues of research.

Genealogical Research in the Austro-Hungarian Empire

Michelle Tucker Chubenko

Discover resources to research your ancestor from the multi-ethnic historical Austro-Hungarian Empire and how to determine the location of your ancestral town. Learn strategies to locate available records and relevant archives in the twelve successor (modern) countries. Examples of records and their importance, both from North America and from Europe, will be discussed.

New York’s "Palatines": Diverse Origins, Mid-Atlantic Dispersal

James M. Beidler

The first mass migration of German-speaking people landed in upstate New York in 1710 and have been intensively studied by Hank Jones. Review what records there are and the places to which many went.

Stranger in a Strange Land: Italian Immigrant Workers on the NYS Canal System

Pamela Vittorio

From 1903 to 1917, Italian immigrants began work between Albany and Buffalo on the newly-constructed NY State “Barge Canal.” Census records and government reports reveal the locations of several “labor camps” along the Erie and Champlain canals, and the difficulties this little-discussed group of canal workers faced under the rigid Padrone system.

Using the Resources of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

Michelle Tucker Chubenko

This presentation will introduce the many different collections—books, manuscripts, and digital—to utilize at the U.S. Holocaust Museum (USHMM) when researching Holocaust and the post-World War II exodus of Central and Eastern European peoples. Learn about digital resources and how to conduct onsite research in the USHMM Library and Resource Center.