2019 NCGS Virtual Conference

Friday and Saturday, 22-23 March 2019  •  9:45 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. EDT

Registration for this event is now closed.

We are delighted to bring you the first NCGS Virtual Conference by leveraging the power of the internet.  The conference will span two days, 22-23 March 2019, and will include four lectures each day. No matter where in the world you are, if you have a good internet connection, you can register and attend this Virtual Conference.

When you attend this conference, you will o   increase your skills in DNA research by learning about some of the latest tools and techniques, along with an actual case study; o   learn to write your family narrative and put your ancestors in their historical context; o   discover how to research your ancestors when records have been lost; o   explore North Carolina records, including land records and interesting details about North Carolina history and record keeping; and o   understand the background and records associated with several historical events, such as the War of 1812 and the Great Migration of African Americans to northern industrial cities.

Register now for the Virtual Conference

Friday and Saturday, 22-23 March 2019 9:45 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. EDT $69 members / $79 non-members

Your Registration includes online access to o    eight live lectures by seven individuals recognized as experts in their fields, o    a syllabus, which will include handouts for all lectures, and o    recorded lectures on the NCGS website for a 90-day period.

Registration will close at midnight on 17 March 2019.  All checks submitted as payment must be received no later than 17 March 2019.

Refund Policy:  A full refund will be given if request is received on or before 14 March 2019.   No refunds will be given for requests received after 14 March 2019.

Conference Access:  Several days before the event, registrants will receive an email with information on how to access the lectures.

Purchasing Tickets

The ticket purchase section to register for the 2019 NCGS Virtual Conference is at the bottom of this page.

Members, please log in before purchasing tickets to take advantage of NCGS member pricing.

Not a member? Take advantage of NCGS member pricing by first joining NCGS. Newly joining members must first purchase a membership and then log in with their member credentials to receive the member discount. Visit the Membership section of the website to see available plans.

Download the 2019 NCGS Virtual Conference Flyer for yourself or to share with friends.

Schedule and Lecture Descriptions

Friday, 22 March 2019 9:45 – 10:00 a.m. EDT: Welcome 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. EDT Debbie Parker Wayne, CG^®, CGL^SM “atDNA Chromosome Mapping” Genetic genealogists have developed techniques for mapping segments of DNA to a specific ancestor. Learn tools and techniques useful to determine which family branch to focus on when searching for a common ancestor with another test taker. 11:00 – 11:30 a.m. EDT: Break 11:30 – 12:30 p.m. EDT Jeffrey L. Haines, CG^® “Burned Counties: Finding Ancestors When Records Are Lost” Major record losses need not deter a determined genealogist! Discover strategies for working around missing documents to solve family puzzles. We will learn to make the most out of records that survived, look at documents created by other levels of government, and explore records created (and kept) outside of the courthouse. 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. EDT: Break 1:30 – 2:30 p.m. EDT Pamela Stone Eagleson, CG^® “Telling the Tales: Writing the Family Narrative” The research is done. Now it is time to write and share it with others. This presentation looks at elements of writing your family narrative and placing your ancestors within the context of their historical era, society, and geographic place. 2:30 – 3:00 p.m. EDT: Break 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. EDT Craig Roberts Scott, CG^®, FUGA “Researching a War of 1812 Ancestor” The North Carolina Detached Militia was very active in the War of 1812. Compiled military service records, pensions, and bounty land records are but a few of the materials available to genealogists. Saturday, 23 March 2019 9:45 – 10:00 a.m. EDT: Welcome 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. EDT Debbie Parker Wayne, CG^®, CGL^SM “DNA: The Source That Keeps on Giving” A family case study illustrates thorough step-by-step analysis incorporating multiple types of DNA data encompassing over a decade of testing — from the family legend, through Y-DNA and autosomal DNA analysis, to putting it all together. 11:00 – 11:30 a.m. EDT: Break 11:30 – 12:30 p.m. EDT David McCorkle “North Carolina Land Records” Land records have great value in genealogy: time and place, relationships, neighbors, occupations, and much more. North Carolina has a vast collection of grants and deeds going back to 1663 along with more obscure records. Learn how to find them both online and offline, and how to interpret them. 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. EDT: Break 1:30 – 2:30 p.m. EDT Ari Wilkins “Tracking African American Migration Patterns to Northern Industrial Cities” During the Great Migration, over six million African Americans left their sharecropping communities in the rural South for northern industrial cities. Major corporations, such as General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Firestone Tires, enticed African Americans to the North with the promise of a better life and jobs with higher wages. 2:30 – 3:00 p.m. EDT: Break 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. EDT Diane L. Richard “North Carolina History and Record Idiosyncrasies You Want to Know About!” Let’s review 14 select elements of North Carolina history, record keeping, and more — each critical when researching North Carolina ancestry. History influences what records were kept and where and how records are archived. Geography influences the movement of people. Learn about what makes North Carolina a unique and interesting state to do research in.

Speaker Bios

Debbie Parker Wayne, CG^®, CGL^SM Debbie Parker Wayne, CG^®, CGL^SM, is a board-certified genealogist with experience using DNA analysis and traditional techniques for genealogical research. Debbie is the co-author with Blaine T. Bettinger of the award-winning DNA workbook, Genetic Genealogy in Practice, published by the National Genealogical Society (NGS). She is the author of the online, self-paced course, Continuing Genealogical Studies: Autosomal DNA, offered by NGS. She is the DNA Project Chair for the Texas State Genealogical Society (TxSGS) and the Early Texans DNA Project. Debbie is a Trustee of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, focused on providing standards for using DNA for genealogy. Her publications include a column on using DNA analysis for genealogical research in NGS Magazine and in TxSGS’s Stirpes journal. Debbie was the course coordinator for the first beginner and intermediate DNA courses offered at major U.S. genealogy institutes: Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP), Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG), Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR), and Forensic Genealogy Institute (FGI). See http://debbiewayne.com/ for archived versions of many of her articles on genealogy and DNA.  

Jeffrey L. Haines, CG^® Jeffrey L. Haines, CG^®, is a professional genealogist specializing in the Carolinas and British West Indies and analyzing genetic tests for genealogical purposes. He has spoken at national conferences hosted by the National Genealogical Society, the Federation of Genealogical Societies, and the Association of Professional Genealogists and at events hosted by state and local societies throughout the Southeast. Jeff is a past president of the Association of Professional Genealogists and is the current president of the North Carolina Chapter. He is the author of the National Genealogical Society’s Research in the States Series volume on North Carolina and is a former editor of the North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal. He has published articles in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, the APG Quarterly, and OnBoard (published by the Board for Certification of Genealogists). He is the Florida Project Coordinator for WikiTree and assists with genealogical research for the Bahamas DNA Project. He has been a board-certified genealogist since 1996.  

Pamela Stone Eagleson, CG^® Pamela Stone Eagleson, CG^®, of Kennebunk, Maine, is a researcher, writer, and educator. Winner of the 2004 National Genealogical Society’s Family History Writing contest, Pam has attended NIGR, IGHR, SLIG, GRIP, and VIGR. She is a graduate of Northwestern University with a B.A. in sociology, University of Southern Maine with a M.S.Ed., and Tufts University with a C.A.S. in Museum Studies. Certified since 2005 by the Board for Certification of Genealogists, Pam is a former board member of the Association of Professional Genealogists and the National Genealogical Society. She lectures on genealogy sources and problem solving and is a member of several local, state, and regional historical and genealogical societies.    

Craig Roberts Scott, CG^®, FUGA Craig Roberts Scott, CG^®, FUGA, is the author of The ‘Lost Pensions’: Settled Accounts of the Act of 6 April 1838 (Revised) and Records of the Accounting Officers of the Department of the Treasury, Inventory 14 (Revised). He has authored thirteen books and several articles in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Family Chronicle, and other genealogical publications. Craig is the President and CEO of Heritage Books, Inc., a genealogical publishing firm with over 5,100 titles in print. A professional genealogical and historical researcher for more than twenty-nine years, Craig specializes in the records of the National Archives, especially those that relate to the military. He is a member of the Company of Military Historians, on the editorial board of the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, and is a Director of the Association of Professional Genealogists. Craig has been a faculty member for several years of the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR), Samford University, and the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG), and recently the Genealogical Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP). He was awarded the Grahame T. Smallwood Jr. Award in 2008 and UGA Silver Tray Award in 2009. He became a Fellow, Utah Genealogical Association, in 2014.  

David McCorkle In 2014, David McCorkle created the free website, http://nclandgrants.com, providing searchable data for all North Carolina land grants along with over 200,000 (and growing) digital images. This work required detailed research into not only land grant history but details on how documents were kept, cataloged, and re-cataloged over the years. David has presented various topics for the National Genealogical Society and numerous state and county genealogical and historical organizations, and to the staff of the State Archives of North Carolina. He is President of the Durham-Orange Genealogical Society, on the board of the Wake County and Mecklenburg County genealogical societies, and a member of several other North Carolina societies. He is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG). David grew up in Charlotte and, after graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1979 with a B.S. in Zoology, he remained in the Research Triangle area working in the software industry. He currently owns and operates a software company in Cary, North Carolina, and manages to squeeze in genealogy and local history in his spare time. All ancestral lines on his father’s side were present in what is now Union County, North Carolina, by the early 1800s, with some as early as the 1750s.  

Ari Wilkins Ari Wilkins is a genealogist and library associate at the Dallas Public Library, where she provides genealogy programming and education. She worked with the esteemed genealogist Dr. James Rose on his project, “Generations: The WPA Ex-Slave Narrative Database.” Ari has spoken nationally at the National Genealogical Society, Federation of Genealogical Societies, RootsTech, Texas State Genealogical Society, Ohio Genealogical Society, the Institute of Genealogical and Historical Research, American Library Association, and a multitude of local societies. Ari has concentrated her interests in North Carolina and Louisiana research and specializes in African American genealogy and research.    

Diane L. Richard Diane L. Richard has M.E. and M.B.A. degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). She has been doing genealogy research since 1987 and since 2004 professionally focused on the records of North Carolina and the Southern states. She has researched North Carolina roots for the popular television show, “Who Do You Think You Are?”, and appeared on the Bryan Cranston episode. Since 2006, Diane has authored 300+ articles on genealogy topics for such publications as Internet Genealogy, Your Genealogy Today (formerly Family Chronicle), the NCGS Journal, and more. From 2010-2017 she was the editor of Upfront with NGS, the blog of the National Genealogical Society, and published over 2,000 posts. She is currently editor of the North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal and Wake Treasures, the journal of the Wake County Genealogical Society. As a speaker, Diane has delivered webinars and spoken locally, regionally, and nationally about the availability and richness of records documenting Southerners (using North Carolina examples), genealogical research techniques and tips, under-utilized resource collections, and much more. Diane is co-leader of Tar Heel Discoveries (http://www.tarheeldiscoveries.com).