Family history and genealogy is all around us. As an original colony, memory in Maryland stretches to the 1600s.  While much information can be found on the Internet, there is so much more at the places where history is recorded and preserved in Maryland. The Dorchester County Historical Society offers this two day genealogy series, for beginner and experienced alike.  Discover your roots and grow your family tree. The speakers and topics will speak to Delmarva and Maryland.

All sessions will be held at  the Dorchester County Historical Society,  902 LaGrange Avenue, Cambridge, Maryland 21613, 410-228-7953.
Questions? Please call us.
The deadline for reservations is 5 days before the desired session.

Payment by credit card accepted.
Costs for a Half-day sessions – : $5 members of Dorchester County Historical Society; $10 non-members
Costs fo an All-day session: $10 members of Dorchester County Historical Society; $15 non-members

 SESSIONS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

December 6, 2008
9:30 am - 12 noon
Lunch on your own
1:00 pm – 4:30 pm

Starting out and staying on track  - 9:30 am - 12 noon - Deanna E. Marshall

Practical approaches to researching Dorchester families – sound and simple ways to plan your family research and organize what you find. The talk will use examples from 30 years of experience as a genealogist and family history researcher and active audience participation,

 Mrs. Marshall is a native of Dorchester,. She is the author of  George Whitefield Woolford Family (2002). She was a co-Editor of the Dorchester County Genealogy Magazine and has lectured on various topics of  local history.

Lunch on your own   12:00 noon – 1:00 pm

Maryland Records: Finding them and using them - 1:00 pm – 4:30 pm

Tips from the experts on where to look for your Delmarva and Maryland roots – hear about two comprehensive storehouses on Marylanders, and  how to best use these collections

Maryland State Archives (Annapolis): Frank Potter

What is there and how to find what you are looking for and other nearby resources

Frank Potter is a Dorchester native and past co-editor of the Dorchester County Genealogy Magazine; Volunteer at  Maryland Archives
 

Nabb Center (Salisbury):  -   a treasury of Delmarva history and genealogy with materials from and about ESVA and Maryland
Ray Thompson, Co-Founder Nabb Center
 

December 13, 2008 (two co-current sessions)

9:30 am – 4:00 pm
 Lunch on your own
12:00 noon – 1:00 pm
 
 

9:30 am – 4:00 pm Land Records – How and Why to Use Them:  [Session A]
John C. Lyon, speaker

Maryland land records are rich and extraordinarily detailed.  They allow us to place people in their real context from earliest settlement.  The many kinds of accessible records open numerous doors to the past, directly connecting ancestors to neighbors and relatives, and when they came, where they lived, when they left, what they did and sometimes colorful anecdotal insights discovered nowhere else.  They tend to link and explain many other records.

The morning session:  We begin with (1) review of the essential records and how to locate and interpret them, showing many of the surprising research opportunities available to the informed genealogist.  We continue with (2) an overview of the mapping process: how to place properties on a map, to reconstruct and visualize ancient neighborhoods.  We conclude with (3) a broad sampler of results from the speaker’s database of all land grants in “Old Somerset”, the whole of Maryland adjoining Dorchester southeast of the Nanticoke – over 10,000 patents and other surveys, showing what can be done genealogically and historically with this complete data in hand.

Mr. Lyon is an aerospace consultant who lives in Columbia, Maryland.  His database of Somerset land has been developed over many years; he speaks often to genealogical and historical groups on this work and related topics.

The afternoon session:  As many Dorchester families trace to Somerset, we invite all those who have Somerset ancestry (including Worcester, Wicomico and much of Sussex County, Delaware) to bring their problems, puzzles, or just their curiosity to explore the Somerset mapping database with us, looking for answers to old questions.  We will have three PCs set up with three experienced Somerset researchers (Mr. Lyon, Dr. John Polk, and Mr. Mike Hitch) on hand to help locate your ancestors on the land and to point you to the source records in which you can learn more.  This sort of interactive personal opportunity almost always discloses the unexpected or the unknown.
 
 

African-American Genealogy and History:  [Session B]
William Jarmon, chair and moderator
 

~History of African-Americans in Dorchester County and Delmarva

~Barriers to Researching African-American Family History and Genealogy and how to overcome them

Mr. Jarmon, a Dorchester native, has 38 years experience as an educator: classroom teacher, instructional resource assistant, vice principal and principal. He has served on the following: Preservation and restoration of Old Field Vaughn Chapel in Church Creek, Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad History Discussion Network, and the Underground Railroad Byway Advisory Committee