Recent Meeting Topics (through May 2025)

Trilogy at Vistancia Genealogy Club strives to keep its members informed and up-to-date on the wide range of resources that are available to advance one's family history research.  Below are the topics covered in recent monthly meetings.  If you are not yet a member, we hope these will inspire you to consider joining! 

(Content, which is restricted to members, can be found by topic under the MEMBERS tab.  If these public ABOUT pages are whetting your appetite to become a member of our club, please visit our JOIN/RENEW pages!) 
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  • From Boxes to Breakthroughs: Analyzing Old Family Photos (May 2025)
    In this last regular monthly meeting before our summer hiatus, we enjoyed a hands-on exploration of how to uncover the hidden stories in your family photos. Together, using favorite photos shared by members, we took a detective's approach and looked for clues that revealed history hiding in plain sight.  We learned that these images are more than just keepsakes; they're evidence!  Members can find presentation materials posted on the INTERNET RESOURCES & TECHNOLOGY page under PHOTO DATING & EDITING.

  • You've Found the Record!  But... Are You Barking Up the Wrong Ancestral Tree? (April 2025)
    Are you sure it's YOUR Jane Austen?  Nobody wants to end up hugging the wrong branch of the family tree. Imagine showing up to a family reunion only to find out you're celebrating with the "Other Austens" from three counties over. We discussed how to spot the differences between Jane Austens, how to compare documents without going cross-eyed, and how to make sure we’re not adopting someone else’s 6x great-aunt. In genealogy, it's not just about finding a needle in a haystack – it's about finding YOUR needle in a stack of very similar-looking needles.  Members can find the presentation posted on the GENEALOGY BASICS page under ERROR PROOFING.
 
  • CLUB RETREAT:  Anchors Aweigh!  Tracing Immigrants in Your Ancestry (March 2025)
    Tracing your ancestors’ path to and through America can be thrilling! This half-day immersive session at WVGS began with Suzanne Brayer's keynote presentation. Then members broke out into groups based on their type of research question and dug into their work, utilizing WVGS's vast resources and being guided by TGC leaders along the way.  
 
  • Cracking the Ancestor Code: Mastering Research Questions and Plans (January 2025)  
    ​New club president John Spearman led a hands-on learning session that explored why developing an effective research question, a clear research objective, and a timeline are essential in guiding your research, whether you're just starting or are an expert confronting a seemingly unbreakable brick wall.  
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  • Love's Labour's Lost - Finding Female Ancestry (December 2024)
    Guest speaker Janna Larson's lecture presented many useful techniques, sources, and suggestions to help you identify the elusive maiden names of female ancestors.  Members can find Janna's handout posted on the GENEALOGY BASICS  page under GETTING STARTED.
 
  • The Value of Using Maps (November 2024)
    Guest speaker Suzanne Brayer walked us through how to use various maps for US genealogy research, including interactive boundary changes, the historical Dave Ramsey map collection, and the Sanborn fire maps for cities.      Members can find Suzanne's handout posted on the RESEARCH BY RECORD TYPE page under MAPS.
 
  • The Hidden Wealth of Tax Records  (October 2024)
    Club president Vicki Reisenfeld walked us through the valuable genealogical information that can be uncovered in non-indexed tax records.  Members can find Vicki's presentation posted on the RESEARCH BY RECORD TYPE page under TAXES.
 
  • Weaving Cultural History into Our Family History Writing  (May 2024)
    Guest speaker Duane Roen inspired us with his talk about using cultural/social history to flesh out the stories that we write about our ancestors, giving us a better understanding of what our ancestors experienced. Sometimes family historians have only names, dates, and places for ancestors. But the more we gather names, dates, and other genealogical facts, the more we yearn for more personal connections to and understanding of those who came before us, found in stories about their lives and accounts of their daily struggles, hopes, and dreams. We learned about how can we enrich the stories that we write about our ancestors even if we have relatively few details about their lives.  Members can find Duane's presentation materials posted on the WRITING YOUR FAMILY HISTORY page under HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE.
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  • Artificial Intelligence Hands-On Workshop  (April 2024)
    Vicki & John helped us practice what we learned about using ChatGPT during the March FHC by developing & refining prompts for different genealogical research scenarios.  Members can find the presentation materials posted on the INTERNET RESOURCES & TECHNOLOGY page under TECHNOLOGY.
 
  • Overview of The Family History Guide Website  (February 2024)
    Club president Vicki Reisenfeld walked us through The Family History Guide website, a free online tool to help genealogists of all levels research their ancestors.  Its topics include getting started, exploring major genealogy websites, record types, and countries from around the world, as well as family and youth genealogy activities. Each topic is organized in easy-to-follow lessons that include examples, tips and videos. Members can find the handout and website link posted on the INTERNET RESOURCES & TECHNOLOGY page under GENERAL INFORMATION WEBSITES.
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  • Color-Coding your DNA Matches  (January 2024)
    Club secretary Sheila Griffin walked us through simple ways of color-coding Ancestry family trees by surnames to help filter and process DNA matches.  Members can find the presentation materials filed on the DNA page under ANCESTRY DNA.
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  • Error-Proofing Your Tree Using Family Tree Analyzer  (December 2023) 
    In this workshop, we learned how to use Family Tree Analyzer, a free software program that analyzes a GEDCOM file and identifies potential errors in your tree (e.g., potential duplicate ancestors, children born after mother's death, etc.).  Vicki also walked us through how to export a GEDCOM file.  Members can find the presentation materials filed on the GENEALOGY BASICS page under ERROR PROOFING.
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  • Finding Unindexed Non-Searchable Records on FamilySearch.org  (November 2023) 
    TGC president Vicki Reisenfeld shared what types of records are unindexed (not searchable by keyword) on FamilySearch.org, why they are important to a genealogist, and how to find them.  Members can find the presentation materials posted on the INTERNET RESOURCES & TECHNOLOGY page under GENEALOGY RECORDS WEBSITES.
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  • Buried Treasures II:  The Real-Life Amazing Story of My Remarkable Family  (October 2023)  Thomas Drummond is a local Vistancia author who shared his genealogy adventures as he researched his recent book “Buried Treasures, The Real-Life Amazing Story of My Remarkable Family.”  His research has revealed a very colorful ancestry including Mayflower, Revolutionary War and presidential & royal associations.  Members can find the presentation materials filed under the MEMBERS' FAMILY HISTORY STORIES topic on the WRITING YOUR FAMILY HISTORY page.​
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  • Steve Morse's One-Step Webpages  (September 2023)  
    An overview of Steve’s "One-Step Webpages," which enable you to search multiple online databases using a single search box. Steve is best known for his immigration search that searches Ellis Island, Castle Garden, Baltimore, Boston, Galveston, Philadelphia & San Francisco passenger records at the same time. He has expanded this concept to search US, Canadian and British censuses, and New York & Illinois vital records. The website also contains other valuable genealogy information.  Members can find the presentation materials filed under the GENERAL INFORMATION WEBSITES topic on the INTERNET RESOURCES/TECHNOLOGY page.
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  • ​Genealogy Research OneNote (GRON) Workshop  (June 2023)
  • Tree Building Software - How to Choose  (May 2023)
  • Using the Google Suite of Products for Genealogy Research  (May 2023)
  • Genealogy Gems in Government Documents  (March 2023)
  • Using County Histories as a Resource  (February 2023)
  • A Conversation I Wish I Could Have with an Ancestor  (January 2023)