Free Family History Seminar

All are welcome to a Free Family History Seminar where you will discover how DNA can be used to Discover Your Ancestors hosted by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The seminar will feature guided access to on-line genealogy resources and classes on topics such as Using Historical Records to build your Family Tree, Using DNA to Discover Your Ancestors, Preserving Photos and Stories for Posterity using FamilySearch Memories, Finding Lost Cousins, and much more. The teachers include multiple family history consultants who have been involved in genealogy for over 10 years; including Dr. Linda Forrest and Randy Wilson.

Randy Wilson is the Information Architect at FamilySearch.org. He has helped with matching algorithms and data models used to reduce duplication and to help link information in historical records with data in the Family Tree. He received a Ph.D in Computer Science from BYU in 1997.

FamilySearch provides billions of historical records that volunteers have indexed over the years. These records provide the information needed to help build a worldwide, collaborative Family Tree. This presentation gives an overview of family history work and how records are identified, gathered, indexed and linked into the FamilySearch Family Tree in order to benefit everyone who is researching their family history." Interested in how DNA is being used to enhance family history? DNA testing offers an amazing opportunity to confirm our family history research, to help us break through brick walls, and enable us to find lost family members.

The talk by Dr. Linda Forrest is designed to help family historians just beginning their DNA journey. She has attended conferences nationwide to learn how to apply the DNA results to genealogical questions. She regularly teaches classes in using DNA results at the Oregon Genealogical Society here in Eugene.