User:Darris

Who is Darris Williams
I began tracing my family history in 1983 while stationed in England with the United States Air Force. During my three years in England I visited various archives in England and Wales.

After finishing my time with Uncle Sam I began studies at Brigham Young University eventually finishing a degree in Family and Community History. I started work at the Family History Library in 1991 as a British Reference Consultant where I was fortunate to work with Bert Rawlins, Paul Smart and others. The opportunity to attend a course in Welsh family history at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth under the direction of John and Sheila Rowlands helped mold my passion for Welsh family history.

I took the genealogical accreditation test for England administered by ICAPGen and after a few years of recovery took the Wales accreditation test passing it also.

In 2004 I transferred from the Family History Library to Worldwide Support where we provided support to family historians throughout the world. Our effort to develop wiki.familysearch.org started as a tool for providing better and more efficient research support.

Recently a new opportunity provided the chance to begin work in Collection Management at FamilySearch. We help make decisions related to records that should be acquired and the indexing and digital publication of those records.

There have been research projects for clients in my past, lectures and writing about Welsh family history. My current focus is on sharing research expertise and mentoring rather than doing research for individuals.

= Credentials =

Wales, AG

= Publications =


 * Monumental inscriptions, Baran Welsh Independent Chapel, Llangyfelach
 * Monumental inscriptions, Capel y Gwrhyd, Llangiwg, Glamorgan
 * Monumental inscriptions, Saron Independent Chapel, Rhydyfro, Glamorgan

Material for the Genuki website and wiki.familysearch.org

= Organizations =

ICAPGen

Guild of One-Name Studies

International Society for British Genealogy and Family History

Glamorgan Family History Society

Welsh American Genealogical Society

= Lectures Presented =

2017 Roots Tech
 * Blessings and Curses of Tracing Welsh Family History
 * Surnames in Genealogy & Surname Distribution Maps

2016 British Institute: Welsh Family & Community History

2000 Federation of Genealogical Societies


 * Records of the National Library of Wales in the Family History Library

2001 BYU Genealogy &amp; Family History Conference


 * Special Circumstances in Doing Welsh Research

2003 BYU Genealogy &amp; Family History Conference


 * Basic Scottish Research
 * British Chancery Records

2004 Federation of Family History Societies (Loughborough Conference)


 * Internet Sites for finding Emigrants from the British Isles

2005 BYU Genealogy and Family History Conference


 * Surnames in Genealogy: Problems &amp; Solutions
 * Intermediate British Research

2005 British Institute sponsored by ISBGFH


 * Beginning Welsh Research

August 2006 BYU Family History &amp; Genealogy Conference


 * Introduction to Welsh Research
 * Welsh Non-Conformist Records

2-6 Oct 2006 British Institute sponsored by ISBGFH 


 * Intermediate Welsh Research
 * Newspapers and Periodicals

2007 British Institute sponsored by ISBGFH


 * Basic Records for Wales
 * Basic Tools for Welsh Research: Maps, Gazetteers, and Online Help
 * Pitfalls and Blessings of Tracing Welsh Ancestry
 * Strategies for Success

2008 UGA Institute


 * Welsh Court Records
 * Welsh Land &amp; Property Records
 * Welsh Marriage, Burial and Monumental Inscription Indexes
 * The National Library of Wales
 * Welsh Poor Law Records
 * Preparing for a Research Trip to Wales
 * Welsh Tax Records
 * Welsh Wills and other Probate Records

2014 British Institute sponsored by ISBGFH

2015 North American Festival of Wales (Cleveland)

= My Reading List =

David Russell Barnes. People of Seion: Patterns of Nonconformity in Cardiganshire and Carmarthenshire in the century preceding the Religious Census of 1851. Llandysul: Gomer Press, 1995.

R. M. &amp; G. A. Benwell, Interpreting the Census Returns For Rural Anglesey And Llyn, Anglesey Antiquarian Society and Field Club Transactions (Denbigh: Gee &amp; Son, 1973), 111-136.

R. M. &amp; G. A. Benwell, Interpreting the Parish Registers and Bishop's Transcripts For Anglesey And Llyn, Anglesey Antiquarian Society and Field Club Transactions (Denbigh: Gee &amp; Son, 1975), 69-140.

Dafydd Ifans, Nonconformist Registers of Wales. Aberystwyth: National Library of Wales &amp; Welsh County Archivists' Group, 1994.

David Jenkins, The Agricultural Community in South-West Wales at the turn of the Twentieth Century. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1971.

Major Francis Jones, An Approach To Welsh Genealogy, The Transactions Of The Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion Session 1948 (London: Honourable Society Of Cymmrodorion, 1949), 303-466.

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