Genealogy seminar taking place April 27

On Saturday, April 27, the Goshen United Methodist Church will be hosting an all-day seminar of the Orange County Genealogical Society, featuring tips from expert researcher Melissa Johnson.

Johnson is a professional genealogist, writer and editor. According to the Society, she has expertise in researching families with origins in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and England, and works on forensic cases, dual citizenship matters, and lineage society applications. She is also proficient in using DNA test results to “break through ancestral brick walls.”

The seminar includes four sessions.

Session one, titled “Researching Beyond the Death Certificate,” will run from 10 to 11 a.m. and break down how to use funeral home, cemetery, family, probate, bible, church, social security, court and land records, as well as mortality schedules, coroners’ inquests, headstones, newspapers and pensions, to uncover additional clues about your family.

Session two, “Discovering Immigrant Origins,” will run from 11:15 a.m. to 12: 15 p.m. and include a discussion on the various records and strategies that can be used to help discover the origins of immigrants who came to the U.S. during various time periods. This lecture will cover immigration, naturalization and alien records, as well as other record sets and strategies for studying groups to identify immigrant origins.

Session three, “Diving Deeper into Genetic Genealogy,” will run from 1 to 2 p.m. and include the basics of DNA testing and how it can be useful in supplementing the traditional paper trail for genealogical research.

Session four, titled “Going Paperless: Digitizing Your Genealogical Research,” will run from 2:15 to 3:15 p.m. Participants will learn how to digitize genealogical research using advances in technology such as mobile apps and metadata tagging to help people become more effective, organized genealogists.

The fee is $20 per person. For registration information, visit ocgsny.org.