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Presenter Bios and Titles

Ogden-Family History Conference:

17 September 2011

 

Juan Balderas

I was blessed with a mother who had a lifelong strong interest in the genealogy of her people; her expectations that I continue her research, have continued to motivate me to develop my skills and pursue the identification of my “grandcestors.” My first formal instruction was a very helpful foundational undergrad course taught by Grant Stevenson. About that time I was also privileged to attend the First World Conference on Records and Genealogical Seminar in ’69 as a wide-eyed genealogy newbie. My later technology applications work in public schools always seemed to suggest to me ways to use technology to enhance and empower ordinary folks who desired to discover their roots.  I currently enjoy frequent opportunities to help others discover their family history in ward, stake, and the Ogden Family History Center, in English y también en español.

Presentation Title:

52.  Parish and Diocesan Records in Spanish Speaking Countries

Marco Barranca

Asesor de Historia Familiar en la zona norte de Utah, Consultor de Historia Familiar, Misionero en la Biblioteca de Historia Familiar en S. L. C.

Presentation Title:

11.  Actas Civiles y Religiosas

Doris Bateman

Doris Bateman graduated from Davis High, attended WSU and graduated from BYU with a degree in sociology and psychology.  She has worked in various social service work positions.  She has been actively working in and teaching family history for the last twenty years, and has been a Stake Family History consultant. Currently she is a Family History Consultant in her ward and serves on the staff of the Ogden Family History Center where she has taught classes in Roots Magic, newFamilySearch, and documentation.  She is married to Douglas G. Bateman and has 6 children and 8 grandchildren.

Presentation Title:

34.   Documentation Made Easy

Laura Best

Laura Best is a popular author, lecturer and genealogist. As the CEO of EchoRoad, Laura directs her team in developing products that link family heritage, including KinKards and the Belonging to Family Series. Laura has authored five books furthering genealogy techniques. Her book Genealogy for the First Time holds a starred review in the Library Journal, has been translated into 5 languages, and is in stores and libraries throughout the world.

Presentation Titles:

4.   I Got Stuck with Grandma's Stuff: What Do I Do with It?

21. Genealogy for the First Time

38. Genealogy Online for the First Time

Warren Bittner

Warren Bittner, holds an M.S. (History), and works full-time in genealogical research, lecturing, consulting, and writing. He was assistant director of the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy in 2010. He is the former German Collection Manager for the Family History Library in Salt Lake where he planned microfilming, indexing, and internet publications.  He made several appearances on the PBS television series, Ancestors 2.   He has done extensive research in U.S., German, and Swiss records, and is an expert in late nineteenth-century New York City Research.  He is a former member of the board of directors for the Utah Genealogical Association.  He is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, the National Genealogical Society, the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, The Palatines to America Society, and the Mid-Atlantic German Society.  He is married to Nancy Ruth Christensen and is the father of three children.  Warren has been using Millennia Corporation's Legacy Family Tree genealogy software for both his personal and client research for over ten years.  He has been actively involved in the beta test for Legacy 7.4 since it was initially released in January 2010.

Presentation Title:

10. Legacy Family Tree Software Overview

16. Legacy Family Tree and newFamilySearch

 

 

David Blaylock

David Blaylock has been a stake indexing director for 4 years. He has 40 years of teaching experience and holds degrees from BYU and WSU in education. He and his wife, Peggy are volunteers at the Ogden Family History Center. They live in Ogden and have 5 children.

Presentation Title:

27.  FamilySearch Indexing

Mike Booth

Michael T. Booth is vice-president of RootsMagic, Inc. An accomplished trainer, Michael used over 30 years of computer programming experience to create "Personal Historian" (organize and write personal and family histories) and "Family Atlas" (create and publish maps of your family tree).  He is also a developer of the RootsMagic genealogy software.  He, wife Sandy, and their five children reside in South Ogden, Utah.

Presentation Titles:

33. Roots Magic 4: Family History Made Easy

51. FamilySearch made easy with Roots Magic 4

Karen Clifford, AG

Karen's lifetime work has been to identify successful research practices, distill from those best practices the principles that make them successful, arrange those principles into organized strategies, and then teach others how to use those successful strategies to unite generations.

 

She began her genealogy career as a volunteer serving in family history centers in Minnesota, Texas, Virginia, and California where she helped thousands of patrons, was asked to develop staff training, and eventually to serve as a director.  She has earned credentials as a college instructor and professional researcher and has been sought after as a staff trainer for genealogy companies, served twelve years on the Federation of Genealogical Societies board, and still works as a volunteer to organize local genealogy societies.  As president of a California research genealogy corporation with offices in Utah, she has worked with some of the brightest and most accomplished professional genealogists of this generation, and has learned something from each of those associations. 

 

As an adjunct college instructor in Monterey, California and Salt Lake Community College, she is sharing her expertise with a new generation of technologically friendly students.  She has published books with Genealogical Publishing Company, Ancestry.com, Genealogy Research Associates, and the former Genealogy.com.  Her instructional manuals, textbooks, and online curriculum materials cover both traditional and electronic research – and they address the full range of abilities from the complete beginners to those desiring to become professional researchers. 

Keynote Address:

"Uniting Generations through The Changing Face of Family History Research

Presentation Title:

18.   Too Many with the Same Name

Neil De Jong

Neil serves as an Associate Director at the Ogden Family History Center, where he supervises the book digitizing project & serves on the curriculum committee.  He has taught many classes in Family History.

Presentation Titles:

5.   How Do I Start?

Arlene Eakle PhD, AG

Arlene H. Eakle, Ph.D., is the president and founder of The Genealogical Institute, Inc. and a professional genealogist since 1962.  She is an expert in tracing ancestors from the Southern States including the Appalachian Triangle-southwest Virginia, northeast North Carolina, southeast Kentucky and east Tennessee. Her research for Scots-Irish and Native American pedigrees from this Triangle, although difficult to document, is especially successful. She is experienced in New York research, tracing ancestors from New England and New Jersey across New York into Pennsylvania, Ohio and Tennessee. And she is skilled in researching English, Scottish, Irish and Swiss German ancestors.  Dr. Eakle was one of the founders and original trustees of the Association of Professional Genealogists.  She currently edits four serials, and is a prolific writer with more than 90 titles.

Presentation Title:

3.   Tracing Ladies on Your Pedigree

23. Evaluating Genealogical Evidence

41. How to Find Birth, Marriage, & Death Records in the Southern States

Debbie Edward

FamilyJournals is the nom de plume for Debbie Edward. Debbie is the memory keeper for her family and is an active genealogist ever since the marriage of family history with computers.  Her area of research experience is focused in migration patterns, Midwest research and internet navigating. She is a teacher, researcher and coach. When newFamilySearch was first rolled out, she volunteered to be a world wide support missionary, but was asked instead to be an author for the FamilySearch Wiki, which was in it's very beginnings. The mission is now over but her love for the wiki continues.

Presentation Title:

7.   FamilySearch Wiki

Barry Ewell

Barry J. Ewell resides in Riverton, Utah.  He is the founder of MyGenShare.com. He is a writer and researcher with extensive genealogical experience in internet and field research, digital and software resources and mentoring genealogists. Research interests include Eastern U.S., United Kingdom, Scandinavia, Germany, and Russia. 

Presentation Titles:

2.   If Sherlock Holmes were a Genealogist

14. Digitally Preserving your Family History & Heritage

31. Digital Photography for the Genealogist

44. How to Cut Ten Years Off Your Learning Curve

Gaylon Findley

Gaylon Findlay is the president of Incline Software, the company that creates Ancestral Quest. Incline Software is based in South Jordan, Utah. Gaylon has been developing genealogy software since 1993, and is the primary author of both Ancestral Quest and Personal Ancestral File. Prior to his work in genealogy, he spent his High School years in Frankfurt, Germany, served an LDS mission in Finland, graduated from Brigham Young University and spent 12 years in the San Francisco Bay Area as a computer consultant. He is married to Gale Johnson of Westminster, California, and they are the parents of 5 children.

Presentation Titles:

9.   Getting Started: Why Use Ancestral Quest

15. newFamilySearch Made Easy with Ancestral Quest

Emil Hanson

Emil O. Hanson, PhD., is currently serving as the Director of the Ogden Family History Center. He has been an educator most of his adult life, retiring 15 years ago, as the Dean of Student Administrative Services at Weber State University. He is married and is the father of 6 adult children with many grand and great grandchildren. He is a convert to the LDS faith and will testify of the importance of family history work.

Presentation Title:

26.   Writing your Personal History

Joanne Hanson & Joy Shelton

Joanne Hanson, and her daughter Joy Shelton have taught classes in organizing family history materials at many local area conferences.  Joanne is on the staff of the Ogden Family History Center where she also teaches classes in research methods.  She is the wife of the center director, Emil Hanson.

Presentation Titles:

17. “I didn’t know that!”

29. Organize in Color (Pt1)

43. Organize in Color (Pt2)

Mary Hill

Mary E. V. Hill, MLS., AGCM (Southern States and Eastern States) CG; reference librarian - BYU, 1989-1992; genealogy instructor BYU, 1992-1995; Family History Library US/Canada Reference Consultant, 1995-2006; UGA Board of Directors, 2006-2008; LDS missionary Family History Library, 2006-2008. She authored Saga of a Southern Loyalist: William Riddle of Virginia and North Carolina; Angel Children; and Family Roots Organizer Video Series.  She is a lecturer with emphasis on U.S. research methods and genealogical organization, and a mother and grandmother.

Presentation Title:

50. Colonial Immigrants: Who They Were and Where They Came From

 

 

 

Janet Hovorka

Janet Hovorka received a B.A. in Ancient Near Eastern History and a Master's Degree in Library and Information Science from BYU.  She accepted teaching and library positions at BYU and Salt Lake Community College before having her three wonderful children.  She and her husband, Kim Hovorka, own Generation Maps (www.generationmaps.com), an online genealogy chart printing service that was the first company to be FamilySearch Certified by the LDS Church.  She writes The Chart Chick blog (www.thechartchick.com), winner of the 2009 Geneablog award.  She is currently serving as Vice President of the Utah Genealogical Association and has presented 100s of lectures all over the country to help countless people find out more about their family’s history.

Presentation Titles:

19. Where to Start on nFS when your Family History is “All Done"

32. Basic Research Practices in the Age of nFS: the Genealogy Proof Standard

49. Free Genealogy Charts from nFS with Family ChArtist

Eleanor C. Jensen

Eleanor C. Jensen lives in Riverside with her husband, Robin.  She is the mother of 11 children and 33 grandchildren. She is an elementary school teacher two days a week and serves two days a week at the Church History Library in Salt Lake City as a service missionary.  Family history has always been a favorite hobby and she currently serves as Family History Consultant in her ward.  She loves to collect new stories that continue to build and bind her family to each other.

Presentation Title:

47. Binding Generations through Family Stories

Jeff Kinney

Jeff Kinney has taught computer software training classes for over 10 years.  He is currently serving as a missionary in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City where he teaches missionaries newFamilySearch.  He also volunteers at the Ogden Family History Center where he
teaches newFamilySearch classes.  He is a family history consultant for his ward.

Presentation Titles:

22. newFamilySearch  (Pt2): Matching Possible Duplicates

48. Providing for LDS Temple Ordinances with nFS

Ryan Koelliker

Ryan Koelliker is a product manager at FamilySearch. He has worked for FamilySearch for 10 years. During that time, he has been involved in several product experience with FamilySearch. He currently manages different aspects of the data.

Presentation Title:

1.   FamilySearch 2011

Don Koldewyn

Don Koldewyn graduated from Weber High School, Weber State College and the University of Utah.  After retiring ten years ago, he has been “anxiously engaged in a good cause,” which is family history research, specializing in the Netherlands.  He is a ward Family History Consultant and a volunteer at the Ogden Family History Center, where he is always excited to help people learn how to use the online Netherlands databases.  

Presentation Title:

37. Netherlands Internet Research

Barbara Lewis

Barbara has done considerable research in England, Scotland, and Ireland and has created websites with links to take you step by step through the best websites for those countries.  She has served on the staff of the Ogden Family History Center for several years, where she is a popular instructor.

Presentation Title:

20.  English Internet Research

Sam Lower

Sam received a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from USU, followed by a Master’s of Engineering and Technology Management from Southern Cal.  He has served as the mayor of Plain City and is the chairman for the Weber Area Council of Governments.  He has served at the Ogden Family History Center since 1994, spending many years as an Associate Director.  He is the father of six children, 19 grandchildren, and some really great great grandchildren

Presentation Title:

30 & 42. Think your Family History is All Done?—Try Cousin Research (Two hour class)

 

Earl Mott

Earl graduated from Brigham Young University in 1974 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.  He became involved in computer systems long before the personal computer burst on the scene.  He has worked with computer systems for such companies as John Deere, Haworth, Black & Decker and i2 Technologies.  In 2005 he returned to BYU and received a Master of Business Administration Degree.  Earl founded Real-Time Collaboration/SharingTime in 2009 so that he could apply his long experience in computer systems to the problems faced by genealogists.  In February of 2011, Real-Time Collaboration/SharingTime combined with Ohana Software to marry desktop technologies with web technologies to solve even more of the issues facing the genealogy world.

Presentation Title:

25. SharingTime - Making NFS Easier and More Efficient

Edith Reeves

Edith Reeves graduated from Davis High and Weber State College with a major in History and minor in Library Science.  She selected both fields with the intent of researching family history.  She served a mission in the Switzerland Zurich Mission.  She married Ben Reeves a year after return.  They have 5 children and 5 grandchildren.  Currently she is serving as Family History Consultant, and as a church service missionary in newFamilySearch and Product Support.  As a staff member at OFHC, Edith teaches classes in newFamilySearch.

Presentation Titles:

6.   newFamilySearch (Pt1): Registering, Navigating and Using the Help Center

39. newFamilySearch (Pt3):  Adding and Correcting Records

Andrea Schnakenburg

Andrea Schnakenburg is the Design Director and Training Coordinator at Ohana Software.  After graduating from BYU, she started work as a web designer. It didn't take long for her to catch the genealogy bug and has been teaching classes about FamilyInsight and genealogy for over 3 years now. She currently lives in Provo, Utah with her husband of 5 years and their beautiful baby girl.

Presentation Titles:

35. FamilyInsight and newFamilySearch.

53. Wow It Can Do All That?

Marlo Schuldt

Marlo Schuldt is President of LifeStory Productions, Inc., an Orem, Utah based company that develops family history software and provides assistance to individuals desiring to gather, prepare, print and share family history. He earned both BS and MS degrees from Brigham Young University in Communicative Disorders. Mr. Schuldt is married with five children and 12 grandchildren (we're expecting twin grandsons this summer) and recently received a patent on Heritage Collector Software - see http://heritagecollector.com/.  Please visit the following link to view over 35 free newsletters covering a variety of family history topics http://www.heritagecollector.com/Newsletter/Newslist.htm

Presentation Titles:

40. Scanning for Better Results

55. Heritage Collector Software

Mollie Shutt

Mollie Shutt has been the Administrator for the FamilySearch Forums since their release in 2008. She has worked for FamilySearch for over ten years in various positions.  Originally from Oregon, she came to Utah to attend Brigham Young University, where she majored in music performance.  In her free time, she enjoys mountain biking, riding horses and playing bassoon with the Orchestra at Temple Square.

Presentation Titles:

46. FamilySearch Forums

Annie Strawn

When Annie came to the US years ago as a young bride who spoke only Danish, she found a job at the Family History Library, where she worked for several years.  She knows Denmark and Danish research from the point of view of a native and has taught these skills to others for many years. 

Presentation Title:

45. Danish Research on the Internet

 

 

 

 

Tristan Tolman, AG

Tristan L. Tolman, AG is a professional genealogist, author, editor and publisher. She has a BA in Family History and Genealogy from Brigham Young University and is accredited in the Mid-Atlantic States. Tristan has been actively involved in the genealogical field for nearly twenty years. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICAPGen). She specializes in U.S. research, documenting early LDS ancestry and preparing genealogical information for publication. She and her husband, Blair, are the parents of five children.

Presentation Titles:

8.   Naturalization Records

54. Becoming a Professional Genealogist

Steve Vander Does 

Steve resides in Ogden where he has been a Family History Consultant for about 6 years.  His research interests include using the Internet in genealogy research, all things computer, and Dutch research.  He serves on the staff of the Ogden Family History Center where he is a trainer and on the committee that writes curriculum. He programmed and designed the Generation Research computer files.  He just finished writing and programming the prayer meeting discussions software used at the OFHC. He is also a popular instructor there.  

Presentation Titles:

12. Internet Research

36. How to Effectively Google for Family History

Russell Webster

Russell Webster is an area manager for FamilySearch and provides family history assistance to priesthood leaders, family history consultants, family history centers and patrons in the United States and Canada.  Russell has over 15 years of experience in the area of support and training, and has been with FamilySearch since 2006.  He and his wife, Sarah, live in Ogden, Utah with their family of four daughters and one son.

Presentation Title:

13. Family History Work, a Vital Resource in the Work of Salvation

Arron Wheeler

Arron Wheeler received his BS and Master of Education Degrees at Weber State.  He served and LDS Mission in Ecuador from 1982-1984.  He is a Spanish teacher in a junior high school and has traveled to schools in Ecuador, Spain & Costa Rica.  He has been involved in genealogical research for several years and is a well known family history teacher and consultant in his local area.  Arron and his wife, Dianna, have four children and live in Plain City.

Presentation Title:

28. Why Do We Need More than newFamilySearch?