Could you please post this onto your list? I know many people appreciate knowing about these events. Thanks, Elissa --------------- Below are several genealogical educational opportunities in the Region. All welcome the public to participate and may be worth traveling to for their unique offerings! Permission is granted to crosspost. My apologies for the length but a lot of wonderful things are happening this spring! Saturday, February 21, 2004, 10:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. POINTers in Person Chapter 20 will meet in the Third Floor Meeting Room of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-4080. Free and open to the public. Alphabet Soup or rather, Minestrone is the title of our gathering as we welcome representatives from a sampling of Pittsburghs Italian American Organizations. The guests will give us a brief history and background of their group and explain what their main goals and yearly activities are. They will let us know about membership and meetings. Included are :Anthony J. DiNardo, President, CIAO (Coalition of Italian American Organizations), Nicholas Ciotola, Curator Italian American Exhibits, Heinz History Center, Vittorio Pugliano, President of the Calabria Club of Pittsburgh and Albert Silvio, Vice President, ISDA Western PA Italian (Sons & Daughters of America). For more information contact Rose at Rmlaudato@aol.com. Saturday, February 21, 2004, 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m., Cranberry Genealogical Society will meet at the Cranberry Municipal Center, Room 6, Rochester Road, Cranberry Township, Butler County, PA. Free and open to the public. "Evaluating Sources on the Internet" will be presented by Elissa Scalise Powell, CGRS and will discuss how to best determine what you find is fact or fiction. Examples included will come from the Ellis Island database, the Bureau of Land Management database, Ancestry.com, Rootsweb, and FamilySearch. For more information contact Kara at gordonkara@zoominternet.net. Sunday, February 22 through Sunday March 28 from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at CCAC North Campus, 8701 Perry Highway, Pittsburgh, PA 15237, a Genealogy Course will be held which will discuss the various records that are available to researchers and how to find them on-line and in libraries and other repositories. For more information or registration you may view www.CCAC.edu under the Lifetime Learning link for course YCA-007 or call (412) 369-3700 or 412-244-5206 . Walk-ins are also welcome and there is no surcharge for out-of-county residents. "Get started on learning how to trace your ancestors and where they came from. Census, courthouse records, passengers lists, and Internet sources will all be discussed. A hands-on field trip may be taken." Monday, March 1, 2004, 7 p.m. at the Beaver County Courthouse Jury Room. Beaver County Genealogical Society meets the first Monday of each month with a very interesting program. Monday, March 8 to Monday April 5, at the Westmoreland County Historical Society's new building, 41 W. Otterman St., Greensburg, PA 15601. A set of classes will be held on Mondays beginning March 8 at 10 a.m. with tours of the Historical Society's Library and the various departments of the Westmoreland County Courthouse as well as the Greensburg-Hempfield Library. The subsequent Monday classes will be held at the WCHS beginning at 1 p.m. and include: Benefits and Drawfacks of Family, County, and Community Histories; Church and Cemetery Records; Using the Colonial Records and Pennsylvania Archives; Evaluating Sources on the Internet; Using the Federal Census, Industrial Records and Professional Genealogical Researchers. Fee is $15 for WCHS members and $20 for non-members or the entire 5 sessions for $45 members, $65 non-members. Please see www.starofthewest.org for more information. Please call 724-836-1800 to register as the website may not be up-to-date. Tuesday, March 16, 7 p.m. the North Hills Genealogists will meet at the McKnight United Methodist Church, on Braunlich Road just off McKnight Road, Pittsburgh, PA. Free and open to the public. "Coming From the Reich - Part 2" presented by Ruth Kittner is about the history of Germany and what drove our ancestors to emigrate. This month we continue on the topic of German History, with the focus on the Northside Swiss/Germans, how some of them got here, what they did when they got here, other German "encampments" around here, the role of the church in the community, etc. For more information please see www.NorthHillsGenealogists.org. Saturday, March 20, 2004, 10:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. POINTers in Person Chapter 20 will meet in the Third Floor Meeting Room of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-4080. Free and open to the public. For those who want to meet others with Italian heritage and learn how to research. POINT stands for Pursuing Our Italian Names Together. For more information contact Rose at Rmlaudato@aol.com. Saturday, April 17, at the Sheraton Four Points, Warrendale, PA (at the intersection of I-79 and I-76 Cranberry exit), Western PA Genealogical Society will have its Spring Seminar featuring Dr. John Philip Colletta of Washington, DC who will give four lectures. A hot buffet luncheon is included in the modest price of $35 WPGS members and $40 non-members. Topics include "Libraries, Archives and Public Record Offices: Understanding Resource Repositories," "Passenger Arrival Records," "How to Prepare for a Successful Research Trip in European Records," and "Turning Biographical Facts into Real-life Events: How to Build Historical Context." This is one worth travelling for as John Colletta is extremely knowledgeable. He is author of the books "They Came In Ships" (recognized as the how-to bible for passenger lists), "Italian Genealogy" and "Only a Few Bones." This will also be the April meeting of POINTers in Person Chapter 20. Please see www.WPGS.org for more information Tuesday, April 20th, 7 p.m., the North Hills Genealogists will meet at the McKnight United Methodist Church, on Braunlich Road just off McKnight Road, Pittsburgh, PA. Free and open to the public. "Genetic Genealogy Researching using DNA Testing." will be presented by Russ Cooper. Russ created the North East Ohio - Computer-Aided-Genealogy Society [NEOCAG] and served as President, now serving in an active Retiring President mode. Weekly volunteer at Cleveland's WRHS (Western Reserve Historical Society). Was also Program Vice President for Cleveland's ECCGS (East Cuyahoga County Genealogical Society) where programming was directed to providing "how to" monthly! For more information and directions see www.NorthHillsGenealogists.org The value of DNA testing is aiding an ability to help find Genetic Cousins by comparing the results of as few as two people. Males are able to see if another male is a descendant from their direct paternal line; or if a spelling change or adoption confuses relationship; is there a relationship with another family in another region or with individuals in other lineage groups. Women, thru separate testing, can establish or disprove sequencing relatedness of ancestor females. Discussion will include what is DNA testing, as a scientific tool, which involves many facets such as facilitating a unique family fingerprint; DNA signature matching and interpretation of results for surname groups or lineages; generation distance; surname/clan reconstruction and regional migration. Deciphering the terminology such as markers, mutation rates, Haplogroups, MRCA, etc. can help understanding and take the mystery out of this new genealogy tool. And how I can use public service DNA databases to further matching of my results with other DNA submitters using other commercial services for testing. Thursday April 22 through Saturday April 24, 2004, The Ohio Genealogical Society will have its annual conference in Wilmington, Ohio. With 7 lectures per hour no genealogist will lack from an interesting and educational experience. Sales exhibits will let you see products and discuss their merits before purchasing. Dr. Tom Jones, CG, CGL is the keynote speaker giving the opening lecture "Seven Habits of Highly Effective Genealogist" as well as "Five Proven Techniques for Finding Your Ancestor's European Origins" and "Solving the Myster of the Disappearing Ancestor." For more information and registration (Early Bird special until April 4) please see www.OGS.org under the 2004 conference brochure link. Saturday, May 15, 2004, 10:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. POINTers in Person Chapter 20 will meet in first floor Director's Room of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-4080. Free and open to the public. "Evaluating Sources on the Internet" will be presented by Elissa Scalise Powell, CGRS and will discuss how to best determine what you find is fact or fiction. Examples included will come from the Ellis Island database, the Bureau of Land Management database, Ancestry.com, Rootsweb, and FamilySearch. For more information contact Rose at Rmlaudato@aol.com Sunday June 20 through Friday June 25, The Ohio Genealogical Society will sponsor a Summer Workshop at the OGS Library in Mansfield, Ohio. Each day's theme will be presented by knowledgeable lecturers on the subjects: Basics Day, A Sense of Place, Migration Trails into Ohio, Church and State, and High Voltage Genealogy. Students will have exclusive use of the library during the evenings. Although it is possible to register for single days ($50 each day), space is limited and preference will be given to those who register for the entire workshop ($215 for OGS members, $245 for non-members). Make this the summer that you increase your knowledge of genealogical records and methods and break through your brick walls! For more info see www.OGS.org or write to ogs@ogs.org. CGRS, CG, CGL, Certified Genealogical Records Specialist, Certified Genealogist, and Certified Genealogical Lecturer are Service Marks of the Board for Certification of Genealogists used under license after periodic evaluations by the Board. http://www.BCGcertification.org