The North Carolina Genealogical Society (NCGS) and the Old Buncombe County Genealogical Society (OBCGS) will co-sponsor a workshop, “Tools for Successful Research”, on 26 July 2014. We hope you will join us for the full-day workshop (online registration | PDF registration form) featuring Rev. David McDonald, CG. It will be held at the Calvary Episcopal Church located at 2840 Hendersonville Road in Fletcher, North Carolina, just south of Asheville.
Lectures
The full-day workshop will feature four lectures on topics to help genealogists perform successful research:
1. Irish & Scots-Irish in America. Consideration of the Scots and the Scots-Irish as they moved internally in the old world, why they left the Isles, and their impact on the American experience. Clues for researching and understanding these proud, yet sometimes elusive ancestors.
2. The Churches in North Carolina. An examination of various Christian bodies in the Tar Heel State, their records, and their utility for genealogical researchers.
3. Brick Wall or Black Hole? Knowing When to Stop. Sometimes genealogical researchers strike up against so-called brick walls. Sometimes they are insurmountable. Sometimes, in our effort to be reasonably exhaustive in our efforts, we fail to close our research when a conclusion is clear and chase endlessly after an elusive clue or confirmation. Some tips for recognizing when it’s time to write up your findings.
4. Thinking Genealogically: From North Carolina to the Midwest and Beyond. A case study in compilation, analysis, and evaluation of evidence. We’ll look at the life and families of Whitmill Whitfield Leigh, a native of Perquimans County, North Carolina, who moved to Tennessee and later, Illinois.
Refund Policy:
Full refund if withdrawal precedes the early registration date of 15 July 2014; between then and the workshop day a prorated refund may be made; no refund may be made if withdrawal is on the day of the workshop.
Any changes, including those due to inclement weather conditions, will be posted on the NCGS website: http://www.ncgenealogy.org.
For more information on the workshop, send an e-mail to the NCGS Administrator at info@ncgenealogy.org.
To register, use the online registration form or download and print the PDF registration form and mail it in with your payment.
Our Speaker:
Rev. David McDonald, CG, a Wisconsin resident and Illinois native, is the principal of Old Northwest Research, LLC. He has lectured throughout the United States and in England on genealogical matters since the early 1980s.
Dave is a past president of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, former director of The National Genealogical Society, and past editor of the Wisconsin State Genealogical Society Newsletter. With nearly 40 years’ research experience, his interests include churches and their records, migration paths and causes, English and Germanic research, and Presidential genealogy as well as genealogical instruction. He has conducted extensive research in New England, New York, the Middle Atlantic states, the states of the old Northwest Territory, and the Great Plains from the Mississippi to the Dakotas south to Oklahoma.
In addition to genealogical endeavors, Dave is a Protestant minister serving in the United Church of Christ. He holds an undergraduate degree in history and political science from Beloit College, a master of divinity from Eden Seminary in Saint Louis, and a doctorate in theology from Christian Seminary in Indianapolis.
With his wife, Dr. Jennett Shepherd (an optometrist), Dr. McDonald has three adult children. They live outside of Madison with two cats and an aging basset hound.