Please join us on Sunday, May 18 at 2pm to hear our speaker Sara Cochran, who will be giving a presentation titled From a Box in the Closet to a Treasured Family Heirloom.

---

About Sara Cochran

Sara’s passion is telling the stories of the people in the family tree. Genealogists do this best by recording the stories of our elders, locating and preserving the photos and stories our ancestors left behind, and researching the records created by and about our people.

Sara has Bachelor of Science (Liberal Arts/ Library Science) and Associate of Science (Library Science) degrees, along with many certificates from various continuing education programs. She has been researching for 25+ years and is affiliated with many groups including the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) and the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).

About the Presentation

If you’re overwhelmed by the collection of photos your family has accumulated, you’re not alone! After a brief history of photography, we look at organizing techniques, digitization basics, and options/ideas on what to do with your photos so they can be enjoyed by generations to come, instead of collecting dust in the box.

Due to our regular meeting day falling on Easter Sunday, there will be no meeting in April.

Join us on Sunday, May 18, 2025 at 2:00pm to hear Sara Cochran speaking on Photo Preservation.

Please join us on Sunday, February 16 at 2pm to hear our speaker Megan Clark Young, whose topic will be Pruning Your Family Tree.

About Megan Clark Young

Megan Clark Young is a professional genealogist based in western Pennsylvania. She is employed as a forensic genealogist, specializing in heirship research for mineral rights.

She is also the owner of MACY’s Genealogical Research and is the current president of the Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Society. She has over 25-years of experience researching her own Scots-Irish, English, German, and Swedish roots. Having made a lot of mistakes along the way, she enjoys presenting and blogging about her experience in the hopes that others will be able to avoid making similar mistakes.

Please join us on Sunday, November 17 at 2pm to hear our speaker Barbara Coakley, whose topic will be Getting Around the Fire at the Military Records Center: WWI – Corporal John L. Coakley.

---

About Barbara Coakley

Barbara Coakley’s interest in family history began over thirty years ago when she was given an envelope of family papers. Her journey to discover the stories of her ancestors has taken her to homelands across the US and Europe. Barbara is President of Genealogy Friends of Plano Libraries and volunteers for TxSGS and the Dallas Genealogical Society. She is an alumnus of ProGen, IGHR, TIGR, GRIP, SLIG and GenFed. Barbara taught genealogy continuing education classes at Collin College from 2008 to 2021. She does presentations for libraries and genealogical societies throughout the U.S. and U.K.

---

About the presentation

It is possible to reconstruct service for a WWI soldier whose file was destroyed in the fire at the Military Records Center. Learn about alternative sources available through a case study.

Please join us on Sunday, October 20 at 2pm to hear Shannon Combs-Bennett speak on Roadmaps Tell You More Than How to Get From A to B: Creating a Research Plan With DNA Testing.

---

About Shannon Combs-Bennett

Shannon Combs-Bennett, QG, is an author, researcher and lecturer based in the Washington, D.C. metro area. She regularly speaks and writes about various aspects of genealogy from genetic genealogy to methodology. Her blog Trials and Tribulations (T2) Family History chronicles her genealogical journey and family exploration. She is working toward her Ph.D in History and Genealogic Studies.

---

About the Presentation

We are taught in Genealogy 101 to create research plans as part of a genealogist’s toolbox. Research plans are a way to guide our research thoughtfully and methodologically to solve our genealogical questions.

Most people consider that with books, websites, and paper research. Well, in the 21st Century, that now includes DNA testing. This presentation will demonstrate how to include genetic genealogy results, testing strategies, analysis, and proof arguments in your research plans.

You are invited join us on Sunday, August 18 at 2pm to hear Barbara Coakley speaking on Digging up Deeds.

---

About Barbara Coakley

Barbara Coakley’s interest in family history began over 30 years ago when she was given an envelope of family papers. Her journey to discover the stories of her ancestors has taken her to homelands across the US and Europe. Barbara is President of Genealogy Friends of Plano Libraries and volunteers for TxSGS and the Dallas Genealogical Society. She is an alumnus of ProGen, IGHR, TIGR, GRIP, SLIG and GenFed. Barbara taught genealogy continuing education classes at Collin College from 2008 to 2021. She does presentations for libraries and genealogical societies throughout the U.S. and U.K.

---

About the Presentation

U.S. Land records are some of the earliest and most complete records available. They contain clues to relationships, economic standing, migration, and much more. Learn about transactions between individuals using case studies to demonstrate how to find and understand different types of deeds.

You are invited join us on Sunday, May 19 at 2pm to hear Alistair McGowan speak on Reasons Why Your Research Is Going Nowhere.

---

About Alistair McGowan

Originally from London with roots spread across the British Isles (I have a grandparent born in each of Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England); I now live in Markham, Ontario.

I hold a Postgraduate Certificate in Genealogical, Paleographic and Heraldic Studies from the University of Strathclyde in Scotland as well as an MBA from the Open University in England.

---

About the Presentation

We all hit brick walls sooner or later; our genealogy research comes to a complete halt and we can’t go any further. I thought it might be helpful to present a few reasons why this might have happened and why your genealogy research on a particular line isn’t going anywhere.

Join us on Sunday, April 21 at 2pm for a presentation by Kitty Cooper entitled Tools for DNA Cousin Matching.

---

About Kitty Cooper

In the late 90s I got the genealogy/family history bug after a beloved Aunt died with too many of her stories unrecorded. What happened was that I re-met a second cousin who was a genealogist at her funeral. So I started a family history web site for my family with the pictures and stories that I collected.

Then in 2012 I did the several DNA tests and found many cousins on the Norwegian side who helped break a few brick walls.

I wrote my first program in 1966 and went to work as a programmer after I graduated from college. I fell in love with computers along the way and saw a way to combine my artistic bent with programming and quit my corporate job to develop web sites as a free lancer.

Our meeting is on St. Patrick’s Day, Sunday, March 17th at 2:00pm. 

Our speaker Michelle Leonard will be presenting Your Scottish Family History Online.

More information to follow.

Wear your green and see you then!

Our January speaker is David Flint, his presentation is entitled Marriage Records in England.. We hope you will join us on Sunday, January 21 at 2pm.

David’s presentation will be an overview of research in marriage records of England and Wales – from church records to civil records – from 1538 to the present — and includes a review of English marriage law from the Reformation to the 20th century. A printed handout with selected bibliography for additional reading will be provided with Zoom link.

---

About David Flint

David Flint has been doing English genealogy research for over 15 years. He was born in England, where he lived until the age of ten, when his family moved to Canada, and then to the United States. He and his wife currently live in Irvine, California.

David devotes time to genealogy research, attending lectures and seminars, teaching genealogy classes, and occasional speaking engagements. He previously served as President, Vice-President and Treasurer of the South Orange County California Genealogical Society (SOCCGS) where he continues serving on the society’s executive board.

David retired after working for the County of Los Angeles for 40 years, ending his career as Assistant Director of the Los Angeles County Public Library. He began his interest in genealogy at a library conference in Phoenix, Arizona in 2002, where he met two British Isles research specialists from FamilySearch. He likes to say that genealogy found him because he wasn’t looking for it at the time.

In addition to working on his family history, since retiring David has developed a specialized collection of British Isles reference books in his home library. He and his wife have made trips to England to keep in touch with family and visit the country where he spent his childhood.

At his home society in Mission Viejo he leads a monthly England special interest group. He also leads an annual week-long research trip for SOCCGS members to the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City.