2014 Is around the Corner

Other than simply looking at the dates on my calendar, I have another way to tell when the new year is coming:  Many genealogy groups suddenly start scheduling their talks for the upcoming year.  I am happy to say that I was one of the beneficiaries of the scheduling whirlwind, and in one week I was scheduled for eleven presentations in 2014, by the Oakland FamilySearch Library, California Genealogical Society, and Sacramento African American Family History Seminar.  Most of the talks will be topics I have spoken on previously:  newspapers (online, black, and Jewish), maiden names, Jewish genealogy, and vital records.  But I will also be adding presentations on new subjects, including cemetery and probate records.  Probably the most unusual of the talks will be part of a new series offered by the California Genealogical Society:  genealogical research that took on a life of its own.  That talk will be about some research I conducted for someone else, but I became so fascinated by the man at the center of it that I've continued to look for information about him, on my own dime.

I really enjoy giving talks and sharing knowledge with others interested in genealogy.  I also always learn from the people who attend my presentations.

Here's wishing everyone a happy, healthy, and productive new year, with lots of answers to genealogical questions.  And if you come to one of my talks (here's the schedule), please come up and say hi!