Randy's Presentations

RANDY SEAVER'S PRESENTATIONS

Chula Vista, CA.

email: rjseaver@cox.net
phone: 619-422-3397
Website: www.geneamusings.com 

1) “Discovering Jane's Roots in California, Australia and England.” (60 minutes)

In this presentation, Randy will explore the research journey to find the ancestors of his wife's great-grandmother, Jane (Whittle) McKnew (1847-1921). She married in Gold Country, had a family of 11 children, survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and died in San Francisco. Jane was born in Australia to parents who were born and married in England. Most of the research was done with online resources and in a collaborative environment. Come watch Randy unveil a fascinating family history worthy of a “Who Do You Think You Are?” television episode.

2) “ Genealogy and Cloud Computing” (60 minutes)

Can we do all of our genealogy research, data organization, analysis, collaboration, and writing online – in the “cloud” on remote servers and computers rather than on our desktop or laptop computers? What about using smart phones and tablets for genealogy? This talk will discuss the elements of cloud computing, including mobile devices, and their application to genealogy tasks, along with an evaluation of the benefits and drawbacks for these exciting technologies.

3) “Exploring FamilySearch - The Very Best FREE Genealogy Website” (60 minutes or 90 minutes)

FamilySearch (owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) has completely revised their website (https://www.Familysearch.org) to host all of their past and future online offerings.  There is a wealth of FREE historical record collections on the site, with more being added every month as a result of image processing and Volunteer Indexing.  The online Research Wiki, which replaces the paper Research Guides, provides educational material about genealogy research techniques, historical record collections, and localities (countries, states, counties). The Family History Library Catalog has been improved with links to online books and records.  Many online Research Courses (video presentations) have been provided for continuing education, with more added regularly.   FamilySearch Forums provide an opportunity to interact with FamilySearch and subject matter experts.  The new FamilySearch Family Tree is now available to all registered users.

4) “Searching Ancestry.com Effectively” (60 minutes or 90 minutes)

Ancestry.com has many wonderful features--a lavish buffet where it is hard to choose what to use and how to use it. Randy will discuss the effective use of such features as new or old search algorithms, basic or advanced search forms, exact or ranked matches, full names or wild cards, specific or all databases, restricted or whole collection, and site navigation.

5)  "Growing Your Ancestry Member Tree" (60 minutes)

There are over 46 million Ancestry Member Trees with over 4 billion person profiles.  They are useful as an online backup for your tree, for finding records for your ancestors, as "cousin bait," and to enable you to find matches with AncestryDNA.  In this presentation, Randy will describe how to create a FREE Ancestry Member Tree, how to find pertinent records, add stories and media, sync with Family Tree Maker 2012, create a coffee table book, and much more.  

6) “Finding Your Elusive Ancestor:  The Genealogical Proof Standard, and Doing a Reasonably Exhaustive Search” (60 minutes or 90 minutes)

Are you familiar with the five elements of the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS)?   It deals with information, sources, evidence, analysis and proof, and was developed by the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG).  It is the "standard" methodology for professionals proving assertions of genealogical facts.  The first element of the GPS is "to do a reasonably exhaustive search." 

In this presentation, Randy Seaver will explain the GPS, take a whirlwind tour through traditional and online resources that should be included in a search, discuss his favorite search strategies and techniques, and describe several Case Studies of his still elusive ancestors that illustrate the concepts of the GPS.

7) “New England Research” (60 or 90 minutes)

New England has a rich trove of genealogical and family history records, starting with the founding of each town, county or colony in the six present states. In this presentation, Randy will describe the sources for vital records, land records, probate records, town records, family history books and periodical articles for Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont, including significant brick-and-mortar repositories and online research opportunities.

8) “Wikis for Genealogy Collaboration” (60 minutes or 90 minutes)

What is a wiki, and why do I care? A wiki is a website that permits easy creation and editing of interlinked web pages using a markup language or WYSIWYG text editor. Wiki software is used to create collaborative and community websites, corporate intranets and knowledge management systems. The origin of the word: "Wiki-wiki" in Hawaii means something quick and fast. The best online example is Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org) - the online collaborative encyclopedia.  

In this presentation, Randy will show and demonstrate some of the currently available wikis for genealogy that permit collaboration on genealogy information and family trees. The benefits and drawbacks of contributing to, and participating in, collaborative efforts will be discussed.

9) Genealogy is Fun! Seriously. (60 minutes)

Believe it or not, there is a lot of humor in genealogy research – names, epitaphs, wills, cartoons, videos, poetry, apparel, wisdom, genealogisms, etc. This presentation takes a light hearted look at the best of the genealogy humor sites.

10) Genealogy Blogging – What? When? Why? Where? How? (60 minutes)

What is blogging about genealogy all about? Randy will tell all, with examples of genealogy blogs, and a basic how-to of starting one and writing one for you to share your family history and genealogy knowledge with the world.

11) Genealogy - Be An Ancestry Detective! (suitable for non-genealogists, 30 or 60 minutes)

Have you always wondered what information is available in records and on the Internet about your family? How much do you really know about your family? Now is the time to find the answers to questions about your ancestors: where they lived, how they lived, how they came to the U.S. and lots more. Knowing your ancestors is knowing yourself.

Updated June 2013