Genealogy Expo on Saturday, Oct. 17

Susan Doak

Southwest Nebraska Genealogy Socity

I'm going to leave 1958 for a bit and tell you all about our annual Tri State Genealogy Exposition that is taking place on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2015.

We are once again able to use the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints beautiful facility at 411 Elizabeth Lane to host this event which is enhanced by the fact that the LDS Church has its' own family genealogy research library which Virginia Trail will have open for use during both small class sessions. In addition, MarDee Adams will be presenting a class on research hints and clues to co-ordinate with the open library.

Linda Hein will be returning to McCook as our morning speaker. Linda has been working for several years gathering as much information as possible on the children who came to Nebraska on the orphan trains. A passionate historian, Linda brings us the stories of the nearly 4000 children shipped from the east by train and settled with families along the route.

Afternoon speakers, Sharleen Wurm and Dick Carman, representing the Oberlin Last Indian Raid Museum, will take us back to the day early settlers feared for their lives as marauding bands of Indians attempted to reclaim this corner of Northwest Kansas and Southwest Nebraska as their own. Oberlin has done a terrific job of preserving both the historical and genealogical information from their corner of the state and our two speakers will inform and entertain you with stories surrounding that history.

We have changed the format of our small group classes by making each class available twice during the exposition. Tom Corey, long time member of SWNGS, will be presenting on The Nuts and Bolts of DNA Testing. This class will cover the different types of testing available along with how those tests will actually help in determining genealogical roots.

Have you ever wondered what the elaborate decorations on one of your ancestors' grave meant? Sherrie Dack, SWNGS member, teacher and researcher, will present on Cemetery Symbolism. This class will cover those engravings and you are welcome to bring a photo along if you wish.

Returning this year will be the popular class: www.identifyaphoto.com. Vicki Ortiz is well versed in helping pull the clues from old photos to determine era, area and even families pictured. Informational and fun, this class may even help you match up those pesky photos that have no captions on the back!

Because all researchers have questions they just can't seem to get answered, we have added an open panel question and answer session at the end of the day. If you are hitting a wall with one area of your genealogical quest perhaps our experts can open that door for you during this session!

SWNGS hosts this expo to provide educational tools for all historians and genealogists use. During the year, the funds raised help us to maintain and enrich the materials available in our library and to provide education and research to not only our members but also the general public. Everyone is welcome to participate in this exposition and the fee is only $35 for pre-registration, which includes lunch. We open the doors at 8:30 a.m. and though pre-registration is encouraged, if you find yourself free for the day, come join us! If you have further questions, you may call me at (308)340-8221.