SOMERSET, N.J. – On November 4-5, the Nashi Predky – Our Ancestors Family History Group at the Ukrainian Historical and Educational Center of New Jersey will hold its third annual fall conference: “Research Essentials: Combining the Basics with 21st Century Technology.”
The Nashi Predky initiative began in 2014 with a goal to help Ukrainians, Lemkos, Boykos, Rusyns, Jews with Ukrainian roots and others in the U.S. learn about their own family histories, collect stories and documents about their immigrant ancestors, get advice on preserving family records, and offer workshops on how to trace lineages in American, Ukrainian and Polish archives. It is the most active, if not the only active, group of this kind in the United States, and Nashi Predky events have in the past attracted attendees from as far away as Virginia, Ohio and California.
This year’s conference will be held at the Ukrainian Cultural Center located at 135 Davidson Ave. in Somerset, NJ 08873, and speakers will include nationally known experts in Eastern European genealogy. For the first time, the conference will include dual-track afternoon presentations, as well as a choice of optional sessions on the preceding evening.
The main day of the conference will be on Saturday, November 5, with two morning sessions. In “I Found my Village! Now What?” Julie Szczepankiewicz will suggest resources and strategies to help researchers find their ancestral village. “Now I Found It! What Does It Say?,” a linguistic overview by Prof. Jonathan Shea will examine various phonetic and grammatical features of the languages encountered in Eastern European research, and attendees will work through the translations of sample documents.
In the afternoon, participants will be able to choose from talks on either the “basics” or “technology” tracks. The basics track will include talks on “U.S. Alien Registration Files” by Shellee Morehead, “How to Locate Those Elusive Military Records for Ancestors who Served in the Austro-Hungarian Army” by Carl Kotlarchik, and “Finding Uncle Frank: Confirming the Identity of a U.S. Soldier Buried Under the Wrong Name” by Ms. Szczepankiewicz. The technology track features three presentations for those researchers wanting to add tools to their genealogy toolbox: “Using Polish Language Websites for Genealogical Research in Galicia (Halychyna)” by Prof. Shea, “Genetic Genealogy (DNA) Tools” by Ms. Morehead, and “UAGenealogy: Discovering Online Genealogy Resources” by Michelle Chubenko.
Registrants for the conference will have the option of signing up for an additional session on Friday evening from a choice of three options: a hands-on Cyrillic handwriting workshop, a presentation on genetic genealogy titled “Which Autosomal DNA test is right for you?” or an appointment with a language expert for personal assistance with document translation. Space is extremely limited for both the workshop and the translation service.
For full details on the program, speakers, venue and registration, readers may visit the conference website at www.NashiPredky.org/conference. To register by phone or for more information, call 732-356-0132.