Special Value Audio Packages from #NGS2019GEN & #NGS2018GEN

NGS Offers Special Value Audio Packages

from its 2019 and 2018 Conferences

The National Genealogical Society (NGS) announces the availability of two special value audio packages from our 2019 and 2018 conferences featuring twelve sessions for the price of ten. Listen to a variety of topics in the field of genealogy spoken by nationally recognized speakers. These audio packages are an excellent option for those who were not able to attend the conferences in person.

Both packages—the 2019 NGS Family History Conference and the 2018 NGS Family History Conference—feature some of the most sought-after speakers and topics. Speakers include Blaine Bettinger, John Grenham, Thomas Wright Jones, Elizabeth Shown Mills, David E. Rencher, and Judy G. Russell. Topics focus on DNA’s role in genealogical research, documentation, ethnicity, immigration, methodology, problem-solving techniques, and more. A sampling of titles include “Advanced Research in Passenger Arrival Records,” “Proving Your Case: Using the Rules of Logical Argument,” “Starting Research in Irish Records,” and “Using Evidence Creatively: Spotting Clues in Run-of-the-Mill Records.”

Individual audio recordings can also be purchased for $14 each. Family historians can find details about the special value audio packages, individual audio recordings, and on-demand video from the PlaybackNGS website.

NGS Awards Excellence in Genealogy Scholarship and Service

NGS Awards Excellence in Genealogy Scholarship and Service at

Family History Conference

At our annual banquet on Friday evening on 10 May at the 2019 Family History Conference in St. Charles, Missouri, NGS presented awards that acknowledge and honor genealogical scholarship and service. The banquet speaker, David E. Rencher, AG, CG®, FIGRS, FUGA, spoke about the precarious future of tombstones in his presentation, “If Carved in Stone, Your Epitaph is Already Disappearing!” Awards Committee chair Janet L. Bailey opened the awards portion of the banquet.

Each year, NGS presents awards to organizations and individuals who have made outstanding contributions to NGS programs or have done outstanding work in the field of genealogy, history, biography, or heraldry.

National Genealogy Hall of Fame
Beginning in 1986, the National Genealogy Hall of Fame program, administered by the National Genealogical Society, has honored outstanding genealogists whose achievements in American genealogy have had a great impact on the field. Qualified nominations are solicited annually from genealogical organizations. Those nominated must have been deceased for at least five years and actively engaged in genealogy for a minimum of ten years.

Their contributions to genealogy in this country need to be significant in a way that was unique, pioneering, or exemplary. Such contributions could have been books or articles that added significantly to the body of published works, served as a model of genealogical research or writing, or made source records more readily available. Nominees could also have been a teacher or lecturer, or a person who contributed to the field through leadership in a genealogical organization or periodical. Entries are judged by a panel of genealogists from various parts of the United States.

This year, George Harrison Sanford King, FASG, who was nominated by the Virginia Genealogical Society, was elected to the National Genealogy Hall of Fame. Born in 1914, he was a life-long resident of Fredericksburg, Virginia. He graduated from Virginia Tech in 1935 with a chemistry degree. As a young man he developed an interest in genealogy, emphasizing a scholarly approach to research and documentation. In the 1930s he along with others lobbied the Virginia General Assembly for funds to restore deteriorating records, for which all Virginia researchers are grateful.

King was known as an expert on the complex family relationships of Virginia's Northern Neck, an area that includes what are often referred to as burned counties. Using numerous sources, he made extensive notes and transcriptions on early Virginia families. A card index to his more than 100,000 papers is available at the Virginia Historical Society and abstracts are being published in the Magazine of Virginia Genealogy.

Virginia did not keep early vital records. King recognized the need to find and preserve other source materials. He published record abstracts for many church parish records. He also had the foresight to collect and preserve bible records. He published articles in numerous periodicals. In 1947 he was elected a fellow of the American Society of Genealogists. He was active in many societies and was a registrar for Virginia's Order of the First Families.

King was one of the experts who assisted in the compilation of the first edition, published in 1956, of Adventurers of Purse and Person. This publication has been revised and expanded several times and is considered an essential reference for early Virginia families.

The NGS Fellow
Fellowship in the National Genealogical Society recognizes outstanding work in genealogy or the related fields of history, biography, or heraldry, in addition to outstanding service to the National Genealogical Society. This year’s Fellow is Connie Miller Lenzen, CG®, of Portland, Oregon.

Lenzen is a highly regarded contributing author to national and local genealogical publications. She won the NGS Quarterly’s 1995 Award of Excellence and is a two-time winner of the International Society of Family History Writers and Editors Award. From 2005 to 2008, she served as president of the Board for Certification of Genealogists.

Lenzen joined the NGS Board of Directors in 2004. That year the Society was facing financial insolvency and its future was in question. With her fellow board members, she worked tirelessly to ensure its survival. She served on the board for six years, 2004–2010. As chair of the Education Committee, she managed and edited the revised Home Study Course, 2005 revision. By the time she retired from the Board, NGS was again on firm ground. Its membership was strong and its educational programs were flourishing.

The President’s Citation is given in recognition of outstanding, continuing, or unusual contributions to genealogy or the Society. Miriam Weiner, CG Emeritus, was awarded the 2019 President’s Citation, honoring her years of service to the field.

Weiner dedicated her career as a genealogist to discovering and publishing lists of surviving Jewish and civil records from archives throughout Eastern Europe previously thought to have been destroyed during the Holocaust. The New York Jewish Week Newspaper described Weiner as “The Genealogist Who Lifted the Archival Iron Curtain.” In 1990, Weiner organized the first customized Jewish genealogy tours to Eastern Europe. Participants received unprecedented access to archives with family documents, toured ancestral towns, and sometimes met previously unknown relatives. An author of two books, Weiner has received numerous awards for her writing including the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies’ Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Distinguished Service Award recognizes outstanding contributions to the mission of NGS. At the banquet, the Board of Directors presented the award to Terry Koch-Bostic for her outstanding service to NGS as she shepherded the new NGS website from its inception through its launch in October 2018.

Completely redesigned with a focus on the NGS Learning Center, the site includes new content and educational resources for genealogists of all levels and is available to NGS members and the genealogical community at large. Koch-Bostic meticulously managed all phases of this two-year project even as she continued to serve as the NGS vice president and marketing/communications chair.

The Shirley Langdon Wilcox Award for Exemplary Volunteerism recognizes a volunteer whose generosity of spirit and time has greatly benefited the National Genealogical Society and the genealogical community in general over a period of years.

Ann Fleming, CG, CGL, FNGS, of St. Louis, Missouri, is this year’s award recipient. Fleming, who has spent the past two years planning the 2019 NGS Family History Conference, has in fact chaired more than six conferences for NGS as well as numerous events for other societies over the years. Active in local and state organizations, she served as president of the St. Louis Genealogical Society, where she was involved in helping with the creation of the Julius K. Hunter and Friends African American Research Collection established at the St. Louis County Library. She has served NGS as president, vice president, and secretary and was instrumental in preserving the NGS Book Collection by negotiating its move to the St. Louis County Library.

The Award of Merit is presented to an individual or non-profit genealogical or historical organization to recognize exceptional contributions to the field of genealogy over a period of five or more years, which have significantly aided research or increased interest in genealogy. This year the NGS Board of Directors presented awards to three winners.

In recognition of their efforts during the past sixty years, NGS awarded The Florida Genealogical Society, Tampa, Florida, with the Award of Merit.

Founded in 1958, the Florida Genealogical Society is the oldest genealogical society in the state of Florida. It is celebrating sixty years of service to the genealogical community. In addition to monthly educational programs and an annual seminar, the Society has worked on projects that have made genealogical and historical information available to the public. Some of these projects include the digitization and indexing of naturalization records; photographing more than 500 graves; collecting and uploading over 115,000 county cemetery records to FindAGrave; and sorting and indexing 16,000 Burgert Brothers historical photographs depicting Tampa life between 1899 and the 1960s.

The North Carolina Digital Heritage Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, received the Award of Merit in recognition of its exceptional contributions to researchers.

The Center brings together collections from more than 230 libraries, archives, museums, and other institutions into a single, searchable website, DigitalNC. Unlike other genealogy sites, DigitalNC’s locally focused content is chosen by community-based librarians, archivists, and curators. The thousands of yearbooks and newspaper pages are just part of this ever-growing archive.

The third Award of Merit was presented to Carolyn Carter of Detroit, Michigan, in recognition of her significant efforts to increase an interest in genealogy.

Carter is a professional genealogist and academic instructor in genealogy at the Wayne County Community College District in Detroit, Michigan. For the past six years, she has designed and taught research methodology and family history techniques to the students in the college’s downtown campus. She helped to maintain and grow the students’ enthusiasm by creating a student genealogy club and by providing opportunities for them to attend genealogy conferences (most recently at the 2018 NGS conference in Grand Rapids) as well as research field trips to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the Allen County Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Awards for Excellence are presented for a specific, significant single contribution in the form of a family genealogy or family history book, a publication discussing or demonstrating genealogical methods and sources, or an article published in the NGS Quarterly. Entries serve to foster scholarship and/or otherwise advance or promote excellence in genealogy.

Award for Excellence: Genealogy and Family History Book
This year’s recipient is Henry B. Hoff, CG, FASG, of Burke, Virginia, who collaborated with Nancy Sands Maulsby of Greenwich, Connecticut. The title of their book is Ancestors and Descendants of Robert Alfred Sands and Kate Van Volkenburgh: Enduring Relations.

Award for Excellence: Genealogical Methods and Sources
Scott Andrew Bartley of West Roxbury, Massachusetts, is this year’s recipient. The title of his entry is Early Vermont Settlers to 1771, Volume 1—Southern Windsor County.

Award for Excellence: National Genealogical Society Quarterly
Worth Shipley Anderson, JD, of Vienna, Virginia, received the Award for Excellence for his article, “John Stanfield ‘as he is cald in this country’: An Illegitimate Descent in Eastern Tennessee,” published in the June 2018 issue of the NGSQ.

The Rubincam Youth Award was established in 1986 to encourage and recognize our youth as the next generation of family historians. It honors Milton Rubincam, CG, FASG, FNGS, for his many years of service to NGS and to the field of genealogy.

Adriana Sela of Miami, Florida, is the winner of this year’s Senior Rubincam Youth Award for students in grades ten through twelve. Ms. Sela’s paper documents her maternal ancestry from Ecuador to Miami.

Andre Galistinos of Ridgefield, Connecticut, is the winner of the Junior Rubincam Youth Award for students in grades seven through nine. The title of his entry is “An Unexpected Surprise.”

Honorable mentions were presented to Wyatt Anderson Taylor of Long View, Texas (Senior) for his paper, “The Walkers: A Sawmill Family,” and Tyrone Kearse of New Castle, Delaware (Junior) for his paper, “A Biography of Irving S. Young.”

Online Pre-Registration Ends 19 April for NGS Conference and Events

Online Pre-Registration for the NGS Conference

and All Ticketed Events Closes 19 April 2019

There are only a few days are left to pre-register online for the NGS Family History Conference in St. Charles, Missouri, 8‒11 May 2019. Pre-conference registration ends 19 April. On-site registration and check-in will be available beginning at 12:00 noon, 7 May, in the St. Charles Convention Center. For conference information and to register, go to https://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/register/http://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/event-registration/.

Registration for all social meal events and pre-conference tours also closes on 19 April. Ticket purchases will not be available on-site at the conference for social meal events, workshops, or tours. Only a few spots remain for the St. Louis Research Trip and the Civil War Museum Tour. Seats are still available for meal events including the Friends of the Missouri State Archives lunch, the GSG-ISFHWE co-sponsored lunch, and the NGS lunch. There are also seats available in the pre-conference African American Seminar and the Librarians’ Day event.

Be sure to make your reservations now at https://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/register/. To add meals, tours, and pre-conference events to your current registration, log on to the NGS website, click on Store>My Account>Select View next to 2019 Conference>Select View Again>Select Add Sessions.

The conference, “Journey of Discovery,” will showcase more than 150 lectures featuring a variety of tracks and topics including ethnicity, genetics, immigration and migration, military, Missouri, religion, technology, and more. The program will include all levels of genealogical skills from basic to advanced, as well as four days of the Board for the Certification of Genealogists® (BCG) Skillbuilding lectures. The DNA track will feature eighteen presentations on genetic discoveries, science, and methodology.

The Family History Expo will feature more than seventy-five exhibitors and be open to the public Wednesday through Saturday. Check the website for a list of exhibitors and the accompanying floor plan. You do not want to miss this year’s exciting conference program. Register today!

Hope to see you soon in St. Charles!

Free Mobile App for the NGS 2019 Conference

Mobile Conference App Now Available for the

NGS 2019 Family History Conference

Whether you plan to go to the NGS Conference or not, you may want to take a look at our free NGS Conference App. The Mobile Conference App for the National Genealogical Society (NGS) 2019 Family History Conference is now available. With thousands of family historians and genealogists attending more than 150 lectures, special programs, luncheons with guest speakers, and an expansive Family History Expo, the NGS Conference App will enable you to stay organized and on top of the latest information. If you have not yet registered for the conference, which is being held in St. Charles, Missouri, 8‒11 May 2019, visit https://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/register/.

If you cannot attend, the app is a good way to take a look at the fantastic program NGS has prepared and you can order our video or audio recordings from the PlaybackNGS website.

The free NGS Conference App is available for iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone, and web-enabled devices. Go to the NGS Conference website to download the app or search your app store for NGS Family.

If you already have the NGS mobile app on your phone from a past conference, 

1. go to Settings within the app, 
2. tap “Exit to Conference,” or “Exit to Show List” 
3. choose NGS 2019, and 
4. scroll down and tap download.

Some of the convenient features on the app allow users to:

• stay organized with the Dashboard’s up-to-the-minute information
• notate every speaker, their lecture topics, and descriptions to plan your day, or perhaps you want to remember to order a recording for a session you miss
• find all conference information in one place with “About NGS 2019 Family History Conference”
• receive important real-time communications from NGS with Alerts
• follow and join in on the conference chatter with the built-in Twitter feed, #NGS2019GEN
• sync your schedule across multiple devices
• locate sessions and exhibitors on the convention center’s maps
• connect, message, and share schedules with your colleagues through the Friends feature
• link to syllabus material for each lecture, which will be available beginning in late April 
• take and save notes

If you have already registered, we encourage you to begin using the app now so you can improve your conference experience in St. Charles. If you haven’t registered, we invite you to discover all the NGS 2019 Family History Conference has to offer. Online registration closes 19 April 2019.

Live Stream Registration Now Open for 2019 NGS Conference

NGS to Live Stream Ten Genealogy Lectures
During its Family History Conference in May

The National Genealogical Society will live stream ten lectures by nationally recognized speakers on some of the most popular topics in the field of genealogy during its 2019 Family History Conference. These lectures will be among more than 135 offered at the conference, 8−11 May 2019, in St. Charles, Missouri.

Register Now for NGS Live Stream

On 9 May, three live stream lectures will focus on DNA’s role in supplementing genealogical research. Also on 9 May, two other talks will discuss ethnic research. The five selections on 10 May feature lectures by the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) that emphasize research, analysis, and problem-solving skills. NGS members and non-members across the United States and overseas, who are unable to attend the conference in person, are invited to sign-up for these live stream broadcasts.

Registrants for live stream can sign up for a one-day or a two-day pass.


Thursday, 9 May 2019: Viewers will be able to stream five lectures from 8:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m. (CDT), including:

• The Fisherman Who Wanted to Marry the Executioner’s Daughter: Stories From German Marriage Sources—Warren Bittner, CG®

UK Sources for Irish Immigrants—John Grenham, FIGRS, FGSI

Using a DNA Map to Navigate Your Brick Walls—Blaine T. Bettinger, JD, PhD  Finding Relatives Through DNA When Family Trees Do Not Exist—Bernice Bennett  DNA: King Arthur’s Mighty Genetic Lightsaber—Roberta J. Estes Friday, 10 May 2019: Five BCG Skillbuilding lectures will be live streamed from 8:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m. (CDT), including: Context: A Powerful Tool for Problem-Solving—Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGLSM, FASG, FNGS, FUGA Writing the Family Narrative: A Strategy for Breaking Down Brick Walls—Rebecca Whitman Koford, CG, CGL  Building a Credible Lineage Despite Missing Information, Conflicting and Incorrect Records, and Undocumented Publications—Thomas Wright Jones, PhD, CG, CGL, FASG, FNGS, FUGA  Reporting on Research: Standards Encourage Better Communication—Nancy A. Peters, CG, CGL  Writing a Conclusion Incorporating DNA Evidence—Debbie Parker Wayne, CG, CGL Family historians can find details about the live stream program, plus additional conference recordings, on the PlaybackNGS Website. Registration for the live stream will close at midnight on 8 May 2019, to watch the sessions in real time and as they happen. NGS will offer all ten lectures as video recordings after the conference. Special value pricing for conference packages of video and audio recordings will be available for purchase only from 8─11 May. After 11 May, normal pricing will resume for video and audio packages. Live stream, conference specials, and post conference packages are available to order on the Conference Recordings page. All registrants of packages will receive an electronic version of the NGS 2019 Family History Conference syllabus. Registrants will receive instructions for viewing the live stream about a week prior to the conference. PRE-CONFERENCE & ON-SITE LIVE STREAM PASSES *Delivered live; Access live streamed videos for one year through 11 May 2020 Live Stream Passes Live Stream Details Pre-Conference & On-Site Sale Lectures One Day Pass 5 Video Sessions –Choose Either Day $95 DNA(three), Ethnic(two). Five lectures on Thursday, 9 May 2019, or BCG Skillbuilding. Five lectures on Friday, 10 May 2019. Two-Day Pass 10 Video Sessions –Both Days $149 DNA(three), Ethnic(two). Five lectures on Thursday, 9 May 2019, and BCG Skillbuilding. Five lectures on Friday, 10 May 2019. NGS has selected Playback Now to broadcast the live sessions and to provide the recorded sessions for later viewing. Conference participants can benefit by selecting different presentations while attending the conference and expanding their overall conference experience. Reminder: If you are attending the 4-day event in St. Charles, online conference registration will close on 19 April 2019. Registration by mail must be postmarked by 19 April. Registration in person opens at noon on Tuesday, 7 May, at the St. Charles Convention Center. Please consider joining us in person or by live stream starting 9 May. And you can also check back and order recordings from the 2019 conference at the PlaybackNGS Website.

Hurry! Early Bird Discount Ends for NGS Conference on 19 March

Hurry! Early Bird Discount Ends 19 March

for 2019 Family History Conference

Please don’t miss this opportunity! Time is running out for family historians to receive a discount on registration for the National Genealogical Society (NGS) Family History Conference in St. Charles, Missouri, 8−11 May 2019. After 19 March, the price of registration for NGS members will increase from $215 to $250 for all four days. Non-members will pay $285, up from $250. Genealogists will also no longer be able to order a printed syllabus or flash drive version of the syllabus. To qualify for the early bird discount, you must register online by 19 March or mail your registration postmarked 19 March. 

The conference, “Journey of Discovery,” will showcase more than 150 lectures featuring a variety of tracks and topics including ethnicity, genetics, immigration and migration, military, Missouri, religion, technology, and more. The program will include all levels of genealogical skills from basic to advanced, as well as four days of the Board for the Certification of Genealogists® (BCG) Skillbuilding lectures. The DNA track will feature eighteen presentations on DNA discoveries, science, and methodology.

The Family History Expo will feature more than seventy-five exhibitors and be open to the public Wednesday through Saturday. Check the website for a list of exhibitors and the accompanying floor plan.

The NGS Conference will be held at the St. Charles Convention Center and will run from 8−11 May. For conference information and to register, go to the NGS 2019 Family History Conference website.

Registration for local area tours and social meal events closes on 19 April 2019.

You will not be able to purchase tickets on-site at the conference. Be sure to sign up as quickly as possible.

Add Items to an Existing Registration
To add meals, tours, and pre-conference events to your current registration, log on to the NGS website, click on Store>My Account>Select View next to 2019 Conference>Select View Again>Select Add Sessions.

See you in St. Charles in May!

Hotel Reservations Now Open for the

National Genealogical Society’s 2019 Family History Conference

FALLS CHURCH, VA, 15 AUGUST 2018—Effective 15 August 2018, you may reserve accommodations for the National Genealogical Society’s forty-first annual Family History Conference, Journey of Discovery, which will be held 8-11 May 2019 at the St Charles Convention Center (SCCC), One Convention Center Plaza, St. Charles, Missouri.

The conference will feature more than 150 unique lectures on topics such as census, court, immigration, land, migration, military, and vital records as well as DNA, ethnic resources, government documents, maps, regional topics, technology, and much more.

NGS offers attendees several discounted hotels, convenient to the convention center. Embassy Suites St. Charles is the conference hotel and is connected to the 2019 NGS conference center site. Other conference hotels offer a variety of room rates, free parking, and internet service. Most offer free breakfast each morning. When making a reservation, be sure to ask for the 2019 NGS rate. Seven hotels, within a two-mile radius of the conference site, will have a complimentary shuttle service to the SCCC. Two additional hotels are a little farther away and do not offer shuttle service. Uber and taxi service are also available.

Since past experience has shown that conference hotels tend to fill quickly, early reservations are recommended if you intend to register and attend the conference. The hotels are offering the NGS rate three days before and three days after the conference, based on availability, so participants can do research or go sight-seeing in the area. Please check the hotels’ websites for cancellation rules and for additional amenities. Full details and links for NGS discounted, online reservation can be found on the NGS conference website.

St. Charles has a small-town feel and friendly people. Come early or stay after the conference and take a day trip to wine country, tour the Foundry Art Centre, and dine at a variety of restaurants and breweries. To learn about area research facilities for family history, several of which offer national collections, refer to the conference’s Announcement Brochure on the NGS conference website.

The four-day NGS 2019 Family History Conference promises to be a great opportunity for family historians to advance their research, hone their skills, and network with fellow genealogists. Be sure to reserve your hotel accommodations as soon as possible.

Founded in 1903, the National Genealogical Society is dedicated to genealogical education, exemplary stands of research, and the preservation of genealogical records. The Falls Church, Virginia, based nonprofit is the premier national society for everyone, from the beginner to the most advanced family historian seeking excellence in publications, educational offerings, and guidance in research. It also offers many opportunities to interact with other genealogists.