A full day with John Lyon on land record mapping & more   DORCHESTER COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY – Roots and Branches ~ December 6, 2008 ~ December 13, 2008   All sessions held at  the Dorchester County Historical Society,  902 LaGrange Avenue, Cambridge, Maryland 21613, 410-228-7953.  Payment by credit card accepted.  Costs? Half-day sessions – per session: $20 members of Dorchester County Historical Society; $25 non-members Full-day session: $40 members of Dorchester County Historical Society; $50 non-members.  Questions? Call DCHS at 410-228-7953. The deadline for reservations is 5 days before the desired session.   December 6, 2008   Starting out and staying on track  - 9:30 am - 12 noon - Deanna E. Marshall. Mrs. Marshall was a co-Editor of the Dorchester County Genealogy Magazine and has lectured on various topics of  local history.   Practical approaches to researching Dorchester families – sound and simple ways to plan your family research and organize what you find. The talk will use examples from 30 years of experience as a genealogist and family history researcher and active audience participation,        Lunch on your own   12:00 noon – 1:00 pm   Maryland Records: Finding them and using them - 1:00 pm – 4:30 pm   Tips from the experts on where to look for your Delmarva and Maryland roots – hear about two comprehensive storehouses on Marylanders, and  how to best use these collections   Maryland State Archives (Annapolis): Frank Potter is a Dorchester native and past co-editor of the Dorchester County Genealogy Magazine; Volunteer at  Maryland Archives - -  what is there and how to find what you are looking for and other nearby resources   Nabb Center (Salisbury):  Ray Thompson, Co-Founder Nabb Center - - a treasury of Delmarva history and genealogy with materials from and about ESVA and Maryland     December 13, 2008 (two co-current sessions) 9:30 am – 4:00 pm; Lunch on your own 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm   Land Records – How and Why to Use Them:  John C. Lyon, speaker  [Session A]   Mr. Lyon is an aerospace consultant who lives in Columbia, Maryland.  His database of Somerset land has been developed over many years; he speaks often to genealogical and historical groups on this work and related topics.   Maryland land records are rich and extraordinarily detailed.  They allow us to place people in their real context from earliest settlement.  The many kinds of accessible records open numerous doors to the past, directly connecting ancestors to neighbors and relatives, and when they came, where they lived, when they left, what they did and sometimes colorful anecdotal insights discovered nowhere else.  They tend to link and explain many other records.   The morning session:  We begin with (1) review of the essential records and how to locate and interpret them, showing many of the surprising research opportunities available to the informed genealogist.  We continue with (2) an overview of the mapping process: how to place properties on a map, to reconstruct and visualize ancient neighborhoods.  We conclude with (3) a broad sampler of results from the speaker’s database of all land grants in “Old Somerset”, the whole of Maryland adjoining Dorchester southeast of the Nanticoke – over 10,000 patents and other surveys, showing what can be done genealogically and historically with this complete data in hand.   The afternoon session:  As many Dorchester families trace to Somerset, we invite all those who have Somerset ancestry (including Worcester, Wicomico and much of Sussex County, Delaware) to bring their problems, puzzles, or just their curiosity to explore the Somerset mapping database with us, looking for answers to old questions.  We will have three PCs set up with three experienced Somerset researchers (Mr. Lyon, Dr. John Polk, and Mr. Mike Hitch) on hand to help locate your ancestors on the land and to point you to the source records in which you can learn more.  This sort of interactive personal opportunity almost always discloses the unexpected or the unknown.   African-American Genealogy and History: William Jarmon, chair and moderator  [Session B]   ~History of African-Americans in Dorchester County and Delmarva   ~Barriers to Researching African-American Family History and Genealogy and how to overcome them