Western European Family History Conference

The Family History Library and the research specialists of the European Reference team invite you to a free week-long conference focused exclusively on Western European research. The conference, which will be held May 15-19, 2017, is perfect for beginning and intermediate genealogists interested in learning about records of Western European localities, and Family History Library collections.

Come and spend a week at the world renowned Family History Library learning from our expert staff of genealogists as well as experienced guest genealogists. Learn how to effectively use historical records and how to do research in several European countries. Explore such topics as census, church, immigration, and vital records. Learn more about German, French, Swiss, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium research. Discover new techniques, strategies, and methodology to apply to your genealogical research problems.

All classes will be held in the main floor classrooms. Seating is limited, so be sure to register early to secure a spot.

Registration begins 1 Mar. 2017. To register for the free conference, visit the Eventbrite registration site at this link if you plan to personally attend in-house:

http://bit.ly/2lMITor.*

All of the classes will be broadcasted as webinars. Webinar attendance for classes is limited to 500 attendees. Please use the following registration link:

http://bit.ly/2m9m7Ye.*

A syllabus will be provided that can be downloaded from the FamilySearch Wiki. (The Handouts are currently unavailable)

We hope this conference will not only be informative and instructive, but that it will also encourage and inspire you to continue your family history research. Perhaps this will be just what you need to break through that 20-year-old brick wall research problem. We look forward to seeing you.

*We will use Evenbrite to process your registration. Your information will be processed in accordance with their privacy policy located at http://www.eventbrite.com/privacypolicy.

Class Descriptions
Monday, 15 May
 * 9:00 AM MDT - Finding German Places of Origin (Mindy Jacox):
 * The objective of this class is to understand record types in the United States and Germany that can lead you to your German immigrant ancestor's hometown.


 * 10:15 AM MDT - Spelling Variationsin German Given and Place Names (Mindy Jacox):
 * The objective of this class is to learn the basic principles surrounding German spelling variations in both given and place names as well as how to apply these principles to solve family history problems.


 * 11:30 AM MDT - Meyer's Gazetteer Now Online, Indexed and Fully Searchable! (Careen Barrett-Valentine, AG®):
 * Learn how to use this tool that has been indexed and linked to old maps to find information on civil and religious jurisdictions and nearby parishes.


 * 2:00 PM MDT - German Church Records and Beyond: Deepen Your Research Using a Variety of Town Records (Jilline Maynes, AA):
 * Learn to correlate church records with available town records.


 * 3:15 PM MDT - Elusive Immigrant: Methods of Proving Identity (Warren Bittner, MS, CG℠):
 * Follow the search for an immigrant who is not found where she is supposed to be and whose name is uncertain.

Tuesday, 16 May
 * 9:00 AM MDT - Tracing French Ancestors Online (Brandon Baird, AG®):
 * Learn about the different resources that will allow you to find your French ancestors online.


 * 10:15 AM MDT - Discovering Your French Ancestors Online (Heidi Sugden, AG®):
 * Learn how easy it is to find your French ancestors, most of them are online and all are free.


 * 11:30 AM MDT - Finding Your French Ancestors via Geneanet (Heidi Sugden, AG®):
 * Discover great resources for French research using the website Geneanet. Learn to navigate this great site.


 * 2:00 PM MDT - Out of the Ashes of Paris (Brandon Baird, AG®):
 * Come learn how to find your Parisian ancestors.


 * 3:15 PM MDT - Research in Alsace-Lorraine (Baerbel Johnson, AG®):
 * Learn about online resources specific to this area, including civil registration and church records, censuses, and more.

Wednesday, 17 May
 * 9:00 AM MDT - Latin for Researchers (Heidi Sugden, AG®):
 * Learn how to read Latin birth, marriage and death records.


 * 10:15 AM MDT - Calendar Changes in France, Germany, Switzerland and the Low Countries (Fritz Juengling, AG®):
 * This class will cover the change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar and the French Republican Calendar.


 * 11:30 AM MDT - Gazetteers and Maps for Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands (Fritz Juengling, AG®):
 * This class will cover the main gazetteers and maps for the Low Countries, some of which are online.


 * 2:00 PM MDT - Beginning Research in Luxembourg (Fritz Juengling, AG®):
 * This class will cover a brief history, what records are available, and where to find them.


 * 3:15 PM MDT - Beginning Research in Belgium (Fritz Juengling, AG®):
 * This class will cover a brief history, what records are available, and where to find them.

Thursday, 18 May
 * 9:00 AM MDT - Names in Belgium and the Netherlands (Fritz Juengling, AG®):
 * This class will cover naming patterns in Belgium and the Netherlands and online names distribution maps.


 * 10:15 AM MDT - wieWasWie, Past the Index: What to do Next (Daniel Jones, AG®):
 * Learn how to make the most out of the indexed records on WieWasWie to trace your Dutch ancestors.


 * 11:30 AM MDT - Dutch Provincial and City Research (Baerbel Johnson, AG®):
 * New indexes and records available online make finding your Dutch ancestors easier each year. Come and learn how.


 * 2:00 PM MDT - Dutch Research Before 1811 (Daniel Jones, AG®):
 * Before civil registration, the Dutch kept a plethora of records.  Learn how to use them to extend your research into the 1700s.


 * 3:15 PM MDT - Finding Your Family in the Amazing Online Amsterdam City Archives (John de Jong, MBA, BA, AG®):
 * Learn how to find your family using the 32 different indexed record sets; which now have full color images available for free!

Friday, 19 May
 * 9:00 AM MDT - Beginning Swiss Research, part 1 (Sonja Nishimoto, AG®):
 * This class will be a basic overview on Swiss resources and research strategies. Including  many useful websites.


 * 10:15 AM MDT - Beginning Swiss Research, part 2 (Sonja Nishimoto, AG®):
 * This class will be a basic overview on Swiss resources and research strategies. Including  many useful websites. You will learn how maps and gazetteers will assist you in your Swiss research.


 * 11:30 AM MDT - Swiss Archives Online Records (Baerbel Johnson, AG®):
 * Learn about online church records, censuses, citizenship lists and other resources to help you find your Swiss ancestors.


 * 2:00 PM MDT - Swiss Census Records (Sonja Nishimoto, AG®):
 * This class will discuss the known census records and how to access them.


 * 3:15 PM MDT - Swiss Chorgericht Records (Daniel Jones, AG®):
 * Swiss Town Court Records.  Identify documents to verify your Swiss ancestors in Canton Bern and breathe some life into your ancestors’ lives.

Presenter Bios
Warren Bittner, MS, CG℠ is a genealogical researcher and lecturer. He is a trustee for the Board for Certification of Genealogists. He holds a Master of Science degree in history from Utah State University. His master’s thesis looked at the social factors affecting illegitimacy in nineteenth-century Bavaria. He is an award-winning author, and has coordinated German research tracks at The Samford Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research in Birmingham, Alabama, and the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy. For six years, Warren was the German Collection Manager for the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. He has done research in more than fifty German archives and in more than forty U.S. archives and record repositories.

Brandon Baird, AG® received his accreditation from the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICAPGen) in July 2014. He is accredited in Spain Research and has research experience in France, Italy, and Portugal. He graduated from BYU in 2013 with a degree in Family History and Genealogy.

Careen Barrett-Valentine, BA, AG® has been doing professional European Family History research since 2007. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Family History from Brigham Young University, and is accredited for research in the Germany region by the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICAPGen).

Mindy Jacox, BA is from Kaysville, Utah. She recently graduated from BYU with a degree in Family History/Genealogy with emphases in Germanic research and computer science. While at BYU she worked at the Center for Family History and Genealogy as the lead researcher on the Nauvoo Community Project. She also assisted with the German Immigrants in American Church Records project. She currently works for FamilySearch on the Content Development team preparing training and testing data for machine automated processes. As the co-director of the myFamily History Youth Camp she has a special interest in helping youth get excited about family history research. Family history is her passion and she loves sharing it with others!

Baerbel K. Johnson, BA, AG® works for FamilySearch, supporting the German-language family history centers in Europe and providing research support within the international genealogical community. Previously, she had worked as reference consultant at the Family History Library for 20 years.

Daniel Rick Jones, MA, AG® is an Accredited Genealogist specializing in Swiss and German research. His interest in genealogy began when as a youngster he would pore of his mother’s Book of Remembrance, but his love of family history took off at the age of 13 when he earned his Genealogy merit badge as a Boy Scout. He has been awarded a BA in Family History/Genealogy at Brigham Young University and a MS in Early Modern European History at the University of Utah. Daniel has been working professionally since 2003, with on-site archives research experience in Switzerland and a dozen other countries. Daniel is currently a research specialist at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

John de Jong, MBA, BA, AG® is an Accredited Genealogist specializing in Dutch research. While on a three year assignment in Germany for the Procter & Gamble Company he conducted research in over 50 German archives, discovering his wife’s ancestral line back to 1675. This experience re-ignited his passion for family history subsequently leading to a position with FamilySearch International where he currently leads records acquisition negotiations of the North America team while continuing to seek out his own ancestors in all of his spare time.

Fritz Juengling, Ph.D., AG® received his Bachelor’s degrees in German Studies and Secondary Education at Western Oregon University, his Master’s and Doctorate in Germanic Philology with minors in both English and Linguistics at the University of Minnesota. He has taught all levels of German, English, Latin and Old English (Anglo-Saxon) at the high school and university levels. He is an Accredited Genealogist® for Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Sweden through the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists and a German, Dutch, and Scandinavian Research Specialist at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Jilline Maynes, AA has been happily involved in family history for over 20 years. Currently, she is a student of Family History at Brigham Young University. Her emphasis is Germany and Midwestern states. She has worked for the Nauvoo Community Project at the Center for Family History and Genealogy at BYU researching LDS polygamous families. In the spring of 2015, Jilline had the opportunity to work as an intern researching German census records with Dr. Roger P. Minert at BYU. Presently, she is working on Dr. Minert’s German Immigrants in American Church Records project, where the goal is to identify the hometowns of German immigrants.

Sonja Nishimoto, AG® has been employed by the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, since 1986. She has been a professional Germanic and Slavic researcher since 1982. She is accredited in German and Swiss research and is the team lead for Guest Services.

Heidi G. Sugden, MA, AG® has been employed at the Family History Library for over 20 years as a Reference Consultant, specializing in French, Austrian and German research.