Presented by MGC Board Members and Delegates

First Time Attendees Session

Multitrack conferences present challenges on using time fruitfully. We'll have a conversation about choices, navigation, fitting in exhibit time, making friends, and not getting overwhelmed.

Robert Charles Anderson 

Mayflower Migrations

In his new book, Robert Charles Anderson finds the cultural and religious commonalities of immigrant groups and traces those affiliations back in time in England.

Sara Campbell

Using Old Maps in Your Genealogy Research

Learning about the places our ancestors lived will help put their lives in perspective. This talk helps us understand the history of map-making, categories of maps that can be used, and where to find them. Correlating maps with other records of the time period helps us find details that might not have been uncovered otherwise.

Christopher C. Child

Ongoing Scholarship and Published Materials for Mayflower Research

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Christopher C. Child

Uncovering Mayflower Connections Through DNA

What avenues are available to us to use DNA to research Pilgrim ancestry? Christopher Child explores all the avenues now open to us to research the 1620 immigrants.

Carol Clingan

Introduction to Jewish-American Genealogy

Researching Jewish ancestry can be a complex endeavor. You may be able to find something quickly, or you can search for years to find one piece of information. It requires persistence, patience, networking and research knowledge.  Our presenter has traced each of her grandparents’ families back to the early 19th century in the Former Soviet Union, and done extensive research for other relatives and friends.

Ariana Fiorella-Omatosho

Two Worlds; One Family (African American Genealogy)

The premise of my talk will be about my unique experience as an adoptee seeking to find an identity through the joint ancestry of my adoption family and my birth family and the intertwining origin stories that in the end lead to me. I will emphasize the types of research that goes into finding African American records and the complexities of that research, juxtaposing it with the region and language barriers of Italian ancestry. At the very end I will touch on DNA use specifically for African American and adoption genealogy.

Margaret Fortier

Andiamo! Finding Your Italian Family

To efficiently research your Italian ancestors, understand who they were and why they emigrated. Starting with some specialized US resources to discover the town of origin, we will then explore Italian records. This includes navigating Italian records online, Italian record types, challenges of language and paleography, and how to access records not online,

Catherine Gaggiolo

"Seeing Like the State" Massachusetts Government Records and Genealogical Resources

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Pamela Guye Holland

DNA Painter and Chromosome Mapping

DNA Painter is a colorful, easy-to-use tool for understanding the chromosome segments you received from an ancestor. This free programs lets you map DNA segments and assign or "paint" them various colors on your different chromosomes. Learn how to create a chromosome map for your own research using DNA results from FamilyTreeDNA, 23andMe, MyHeritage or GEDmatch. Please note that AncestryDNA cannot be used in DNA Painter unless you have transferred your results to GEDmatch.

Pamela Guye Holland

Mapping Irish Locations Online

Discover online mapping tools to locate Poor Law Unions, Civil Parishes, Catholic Parishes and Townlands. Learn what Irish records were created in each jurisdiction and how to access them.

Jennifer Hornsby and Meaghan Wright

Genealogical Resources at the Phillips Library

Come hear a brief history of the Phillips Library of the Peabody Essex Museum, a two-hundred-and-twenty-year-old library with archival resources of particular relevance to Essex County, MA. The talk will include an overview of their collections, information about secondary and primary sources that can support genealogical research, and how to access these materials.

Allison Horrocks and Emily Donovan (Lowell National Park Rangers)

Mill Girls in Lowell

During this presentation, Allison Horrocks and Emily Donovan (Lowell National Historical Park Rangers) will portray mill girls working in Lowell, MA in the 1830s. They will describe the kinds of work that they do, why they decided to become a factory operative, and what their daily life is like in Lowell.  Using stories and props, Allison and Emily will shed light on the experiences, challenges, and opportunities of mill work in that period.

This is an interactive presentation. The audience will have an opportunity to ask questions of Allison and Emily while they are in character and about their process when they return to the year 2020. 

Richard Howe

Failure as Opportunity: The Birth, Decline and Revival of Lowell, Massachusetts

Lowell  burst on the American scene in the 1820s as the center of textile manufacturing in America. Innovation was central to Lowell’s success and the city became a magnet for those with talent, energy and drive. But after the Civil War, a host of factors contributed  to the city’s gradual decline. The Great Depression came early and stayed late in Lowell. Then in the late 1970s, things changed. The meteoric rise of Wang Labs, the creation of Lowell National Historic Park and inspired civic and political leadership launched  a revival that has made Lowell one of the most exciting mid-sized cities in post-industrial America. Lowell historian Richard P. Howe Jr., will share the story of this fascinating city and its people.

Kathleen Kaldis

Opa!  It's All Greek to Me

Kathleen will be presenting her lecture:  Opa! It's All Greek to Me! showcasing the wealth of communities, tools, and collections useful when conducting Greek genealogical research.

Kathleen’s husband is a first generation Greek-American, whose parents were born on the Greek peninsula of Peloponnese pre World War II.  Kathleen will share her experiences and some of the wonderful resources, along with anecdotes and her findings. 

Michael Leclerc

Advanced Probate Research

Using a case study, learn more about the information that you can find in, and infer from, records of the administration of estates.

Michael Leclerc

Sharing Your Family History with Multimedia

Learn how to share your research in new and visually interesting ways with easy-to-use software and websites. Even those with no experience can easily create a great product.

Michael Leclerc

Writing About Special Concerns

Keep your visitors in the know. Want to make this content your own? Just add your images, text and links, or connect to data from your collection.

Denise Picard Lindgren

Impact of Canon Law on French Canadian Genealogy

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Linda MacIver

Mining for Gold in Federal Records

You haven't done that "reasonably exhaustive search" unless you include more than the usual federal records.  It really is a myth that our families weren't important enough to be in records preserved at the National Archives!  Have you thought of all the ways your ancestor may have interacted with the federal government?  Come along for a virtual tour of NARA locations and for some strategies that may just lead you to that one document that breaks down your brick wall. 

Susan O'Connor

Adding Spreadsheets to Your Genealogy Toolbox

Spreadsheets aren’t just for number crunching!  With Excel or another spreadsheet program in your genealogy toolkit you can create research logs, produce parallel time lines for multiple individuals, analyze data to identify patterns and problems, and design diagrams depicting complex family and inter-family relationships.  Examples of each of these will be presented in the context of actual research along with tips and tricks for creating them.

Sonia Pacheco

Figuring Out Your Portuguese-American Roots: how archives can help you be a better genealogist

This talk will provide some context to Portuguese-American immigration; will discuss how the Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives might be of assistance to your research; and will cover some of the key issues that all genealogists need to be aware of when tracing their Portuguese ancestors, such as vital records and naming conventions (or lack there of!)

Anthony Sampas

Genealogical Resources at the UMass Lowell:  Center for Lowell History

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Michael Leclerc

Resources at the National Archives, UK

Keep your visitors in the know. Want to make this content your own? Just add your images, text and links, or connect to data from your collection.