Associates in Action

Welcome to Associates in Action! This monthly feature highlights BCG associates’ news, activities, and accomplishments. Contact Alice Hoyt Veen, to include your news in an upcoming post.

Activities and Projects

LaBrenda Garrett-Nelson, JD , LLM, CG, will present “Including African American Genealogy in the American Mosaic” at the National Institute on Genealogical Research Alumni Association (NIGRAA) Annual Banquet, 15 July 2016.  http://www.gen-fed.org/2016-banquet-to-feature-labrenda-garrett-nelson/.

Trish Hackett Nicola, CG, was featured in the Chinese Oregon Speaker Series in March and April. She spoke at the Oregon Historical Society and the Multnomah County Central Library in Portland and gave four presentations for the Southern Oregon Historical Society in Ashland, Medford, Klamath Falls, and Grants Pass. Her final lecture for the series will be on 24 August at the Washington County Museum, Hillsboro, Oregon. http://www.washingtoncountymuseum.org/home/2015/10/24/crossroads-lecture-august-24/

Judith A. Herbert, CG has relocated from Maine to New York’s Capital District. New York represents the lion’s share of her genealogical research efforts. The move affords closer access to the Albany and Greater New York records and the luxury of being able to get to Hartford, Boston, and the New York City area for same-day research. http://www.genealogyprof.com.

Paula Stuart-Warren, CG, FMGS, FUGA, has two courses available at Ancestry Academy: The Lure of the Train Whistle: Researching Railroad Workers and Native American Ancestry: Steps to Learn More. https://www.ancestry.com/academy/courses/recommended.

Paula also has a new blog exclusively for Lyfmap, a new free website. Lyfmap began this spring as a website for sharing memories, photos, stories, businesses and family history related to Saint Paul, Minnesota. Shared materials are saved at the location and date in history when they actually happened! Post a picture or memory and pin it to a specific street address then read the genealogy blog to learn more about researching family history. http://www.lyfmap.com/index.php.

Awards and Achievements

Trish Hackett Nicola, CG, has received the Weidman Outstanding Volunteer Service Award, presented during the 16th Annual Archivist's Award Ceremony of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Washington, D.C. The award recognizes exemplary diligence in making records more accessible. Trish worked to create a database of 60,000 Chinese Exclusion Act case files at National Archives-Seattle Branch.

Trish’s mentor, Loretta Chin, another National Archives volunteer, worked on the index for many years until her retirement. Recently a team of four other volunteers joined Trish on the project. The basic index should be finished by December 2016. Trish has started a blog on interesting cases found in the files at the facility in Seattle: www.ChineseExclusionFiles.com.

Julie Miller, CG, FNGS, was honored with the award of Fellow by the National Genealogical Society at their annual banquet on 6 May 2016. www.jpmresearch.com.

 Publications

Debbie Parker Wayne, CG, and Blaine T. Bettinger, Ph.D., J.D., have co-authored a new book: Genetic Genealogy in Practice (Washington, DC: National Genealogical Society, 2016), to be released in August. Part of the National Genealogical Society (NGS) Special Topics Series, this is the first genetic genealogy workbook. The book covers biological basics, types of DNA testing that are useful for genealogy, and analysis techniques needed for successful genetic genealogy. No matter which company a person tested at or which tools are used for data collection and analysis, this book will help researchers incorporate DNA evidence into their family study.

Debbie is also the author of the NGS online course Continuing Genealogical Studies: Autosomal DNA, http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/genetic_genealogy_autosomal_dna. This intermediate course focuses on concepts and techniques for genetic genealogy. The concepts taught in this course cover the analysis of the data no matter how the data was accessed.

Sandra M. Hewlett, CG, "English Origins and First Wife of Samuel Winsley of Salisbury, Massachusetts," The New England Historical and Genealogical Register: The Journal of American Genealogy 170 (Spring 2016): 121–27.

Thomas W. Jones, PhD, CG, FASG, FUGA, FNGS, "In the County of Cumberland and the Province of New York: Clarifying Josiah Burton's Identity, Relationships, and Activities," The New York Genealogical And Biographical Record 147 (April 2016): 85–102.

Harold A. Henderson, CG, The Family of John S. and Zerviah (Hawkins) Porter of Jefferson County and Points West,” The New York Genealogical And Biographical Record 147 (April 2016): 129–43.

Jeanne Larzelere Bloom, CG, “The Child Left Behind: Henry Larzelere of the Town Of Jerusalem, Yates County, New York” (continued), The New York Genealogical And Biographical Record 147 (July 2016): 144–55.