Michael's Topics will be:

• Locating Emigrant Origins

  This lecture discusses sources and methods for possibly locating from where an immigrant ancestor originated.

• Research Through Footnotes: Using Historical Books and Articles for Genealogical Research

  Perhaps a historian has researched a topic extensively that is relevant on your ancestral quest. This lecture discusses how to find these academic articles and put them to use for your own family history research.

• I Found it: Now What?

  Part of finding something is completely analyzing it. This lecture looks at a dozen or so documents found in actual research and sees what additional sources and methods are suggested by each individual document.

• Where did the Farm Go?

  Your ancestor owned a farm? How it was transferred from his ownership may provide more genealogical clues than you suspect.

Michael John Neill has been actively involved in genealogical research since the early 1980s. He began his research at the age of thirteen, growing up a few miles from the courthouse in the county where many of his family had lived since the 1850s. An experienced courthouse, library, and archive researcher, he has researched his children's ancestry in over fifteen states and six European countries. Michael has lead research trips to the Allen County Public Library and the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. He has written hundreds of genealogy how-to columns, formerly for Ancestry.com and now writes a regular column, "Casefile Clues," for Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter.

A native of West-Central Illinois, Michael has a master's degree in mathematics and is on the faculty of Carl Sandburg College where he also conducts an annual week-long series of genealogy computing workshops. Michael has given all-day seminars and workshops on a wide variety of genealogical topics across the country. He maintains a web presence at http://rootdig.blogspot.com/.

Seminar Schedule

• 8:15-9:00am - Registration
• 9:00am - Welcome and opening remarks
• 9:05 - 10:15 am: Immigrant Origins
• 10:15am - Break (15 min.) and door prize
• 10:30 - 11:30 am: Research Through Footnotes
• 1:30 am - 12:30 pm: Lunch (one hour)
• 12:30 - 1:30 pm: I Found it, Now What?
• 1:35pm - Break (15 min.)
• 1:50 - 2:50 pm: Where Did the Farm Go?
• 3:00pm - Closing Remarks and Silent Auction announcements

Seminar Cost

The seminar is $35.00 per person, but if you pay early, we will give you a $5.00 discount.
So, register before October 3, 2011 and the seminar will only cost $30.00.

Lunch is $15.00 for the soup and sandwich bar.