What’s Up Your Family Tree? Genealogy Program Set at Salem Public Library

“Rubik’s Cube Genealogy: A New Twist on Your Old Data” is the topic to be presented by Elissa Scalise Powell, CG, CGL, on April 18, 2016 beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the Quaker Meeting Room of Salem Public Library, located at 821 E. State St., Salem, OH, 44460. Registration is required online at www.salem.lib.oh.us or by calling the library at 330-332-0042. This program is open to the public and free of cost to attend.

We all accumulate family data and perhaps organize it into pedigree charts and family group sheets. By looking at the data differently and giving it a new “twist,” we can see patterns and holes emerge. Lineage applications may point out weaknesses in our proof of descent from a certain ancestor. By writing the family narrative, whether for a book or a short article for a newsletter, new questions requiring further research are made evident. Even formulating a query for an Internet list will cause us to take a new look at our data. By sifting through old data collected years ago with our more mature genealogical eyes we can see things and relationships we would not have recognized earlier. Placing our ancestors in history through timelines can point out reasons why the records are in the jurisdictions they are found and give suggestions on where to look further. Using land platting techniques will point out relationships previously hidden from the casual observer. Many ideas are presented to help the attendee think about how the data they have already accumulated may give the next clue to continued successful results.

Ms. Powell has been doing genealogical research since 1985 and has been helping others find their ancestral roots since 1990. A western Pennsylvania researcher, she is a Trustee for the Board for Certification of Genealogists; an instructor for Boston University’s on-campus and online Genealogical Research Certificate Courses: coordinator for the Professional Genealogy Course at the Samford University’s Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research and an instructor for Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy. She is co-director of the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP). She is a regional and national speaker on methodology, Pennsylvania records, professional development and society management.

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