Past Events
Please join the UMRA Family History Interest Group meeting recording when Michelle Casey presented “DNA Testing and Analysis Using 23andMe, Ancestry, and MyHeritage.”
Event recording
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Family history with Jim Kurle. A tale of Swedish emigration to Dunn County, North Dakota including my grandfather, whose unusual relationship to several churches, and religion in general, was one of the reasons for his emigrating.
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When you are of Icelandic descent you can trace your ancestors back to around 1200 and sometimes further.
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After my grandmother gave birth to her ninth child, my grandfather ran off with another woman. They were caught living together in a small town 250 miles away. This presentation will describe the three main characters and what happened next.
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Watch the video below to hear how Ilene Alexander, while searching for information about her ancestors, became part of a “Not Parent Expected” category of people whose DNA test brought unexpected discoveries.
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We shared questions or challenges related to family history and what topics we would like to have presented next year. The discussion included how to preserve family letters, using Advanced Archival, how to find obituaries, how to engage younger family members, using AI and other technology to scan letters, the use of Google Books,and much more.
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Barbara Brandt discovered her ancestor, Dr. Almira Fifield, “the Lost Heroine of Porter County,” buried in an unmarked grave in Indiana. Learn how she unlocked Almira’s story.
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Will Craig and Laura Ericksen discuss how they research family history using local and virtual resources.
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See the Family History presentations on sharing belongings that have historic value outside the family!
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Earl and Rebecca Scott draw from their book Forging a Path to Wellbeing: The Journey of an African American Family. The book starts with establishing their family ancestry. The challenges are quite different for families whose history involves de facto and later de jure segregation and where official records are often unavailable due to slavery and loss, e.g., fire. They go on to discuss their commitment to education and family wellbeing.
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May 15, 2024 was the Family History Interest Group’s year end meeting where we try to answer questions, raise issues, and begin planning for next year. We did all this and more.
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Amazing social changes were brought about by women in their families. This session looks at the successful searches for documents describing their work.
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Have you wondered how many cousins you might be meeting every day, without realizing they are cousins? See the video of this Family History meeting.
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Knowing your family’s medical history is important for everyone, especially as we become more aware of the role played by genetics in many medical conditions. See this video of Michelle Casey, previously a senior research fellow in the School of Public Health, Division of Health Policy & Management, as she presents her trek through family medical history.
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This Family Reunion Project is about sharing family stories and learning about surprising family connections. I asked everyone to write an essay, prior to coming, about growing up in the Revell family. The compilation of essays from three generations that was distributed at the reunion has become a family keepsake.
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