The following biographies of speakers we are planning for the programs for the 2024-2025 program (September 2024, November 2024, (possibly January 2025), March 2025 and May 2025. We have the following speaker(s) confirmed for the next new years programs. More will be posted here as they are confirmed:
September 9, 2024 – Paula Stuart-Warren, “They Joined, They Associated: Finding Records of Germanic Organizations and Other Collections”
U. S. libraries, historical societies, archives, and university library special collections sections hold the records from many organizations that our Germanic ancestors joined. The organization may have been a German heritage, charitable, religious, resettlement, political, social, or other organization. Additionally, as our parts of our families migrated, so did the records. Frequently genealogists think that there may be no records for some of the family. However, there may be substantial information buried away in a manuscript collection. Finding these collections with e records of membership, donations, necrologies, stories, activities, and more has become easier in recent years. Many finding aids online and off lead you to these research nuggets that represent hundreds of years of material.
November 11, 2024 – Teresa Steinkamp McMillin, Certified Genealogist®
March 10, 2025 – Allen County Public Library – John Beatty, CG – “Germanic Resources at the Allen County Public Library“
John D. Beatty, CG, has been a reference librarian in The Genealogy Center since 1984 and also serves as its principal bibliographer. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree with high honors in History from the University of Michigan in 1982, and a Master of Arts degree in History and Library Science with honors from that university in 1984. He became a Board-certified genealogist in 2014. He is the author of sixteen books on local and family history, including works on German and early American families, abstracts of town vital records from Biddeford, Maine, and annotated narratives from the Irish Rebellion of 1798, as well as numerous articles on a variety of genealogical and local historical topics. In 2006, he served as principal editor for volume one of a two-volume History of Fort Wayne and Allen County, Indiana, 1700-2005, the first history of Allen County produced since 1917. Because of a diversified family background, he has genealogical expertise in a variety of areas. He has conducted original research on families from colonial New England, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Kentucky, as well as on seventeenth and eighteenth century families from Ireland, Germany and Switzerland. He serves as archivist for the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana, and his interests also include local Fort Wayne and Allen County history.
May12, 2025 – Scott Norrick – “Germans to America Midwest, 1848-1900“
Scott Norrick’s passion is connecting people to their past. While providing a list of names, dates, and places for ancestors is a start, Scott enjoys helping others discover the stories of triumphs and tribulations that defined our ancestors’ lives. He does this by assisting others with breaking down their genealogical brick walls and by helping them document the rich stories of their family history.
His areas of expertise include research in the American Midwest along with the immigration to the Midwest from Britain, Ireland, and Germanic countries.
He has an undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois and a graduate degree from Northwestern University. With over 30 years of family history research experience, he is familiar with all the latest and time-tested genealogical tools. Through his company, Ancestral Past, he welcomes the opportunity to assist others on their genealogy journey. He has presented to dozens of genealogical societies, history centers, and libraries. He also recently presented to the Association of Professional Genealogists.
