Illinois State Genealogical Society

Darrel Dexter, an author, historian and high-school teacher from Cairo, writes about stories gleaned from his research of slavery in Illinois at Southern Illinois University's Morris Library.

Lecture 1: Tracing the Genealogy of John Willis Menard (1:45pm)

Lecture 2: Slavery in Southern Illinois (3:15pm)

LaDonna Garner (2 lectures)

LaDonna Garner, M.A., is a Professional Genealogist & Historic Consultant focused on historical preservation and genealogical research in and outside Southeast Missouri. She often lectures on both subjects at conferences, society events, online courses, and one-on-one consultations. Garner is an active Member of numerous organizations. Her current projects regard reenacting, rediscovering forgotten communities, and cemetery preservation for a greater understanding of people, places, and cultural heritage.

Lecture: The Great Migration and the Midwest (10:30am)

Lecture: Investigating Digital Newspapers for Illinois & Missouri Families (1:45pm)

Laura Kovarik

Laura has been involved in genealogy for more than thirty years. Her experience includes leadership, educational, and committee positions with genealogical societies at the international, state and local levels. Laura has been providing educational opportunities for genealogists for almost twenty years through conferences, webinars, and special interest groups.

Lecture: French Settlement in Illinois: Pre-Statehood to 1860 (1:45pm)

Dr. David McDonald (2 lectures)
Dr. David McDonald, The Preacher Genealogist, has a genealogy practice in Madison, Wisconsin, called Old Northwest Research, LLC. He has been actively engaged in genealogical research for 50 years and has taught all across the United States on matters of methodology, religions and their records, the states of the old Northwest Territory, migration and the states of the Great Plains.

Lecture 1: The Draper Manuscripts (10:30am)

Lecture 2: Butternuts to Illinois Prior to the Civil War (3:15pm)

Robin McDonough

Robin is the Outreach and Programming Coordinator for the Emerson History & Genealogy Center at the St. Louis County Library. Prior to that, she was a high school history and geography teacher. She holds bachelors and masters degrees in education. Robin has been researching her family's genealogy for over twenty-five years, including German line.

Lecture: Germany Genealogy Resources at the Emerson History & Genealogy Center (3:15pm)

Pat Stamm

Pat was born and raised on the east coast. For the past 25 years, she has lived in St. Louis. After beginning her own personal research, she started teaching genealogy at St. Louis Community College. Currently, she serves as the Education Manager of the National Genealogical Society and volunteers as the Education Director of St. Louis Genealogical Society.

Lecture: What's in my Grandpa's WWII Military File and Where Is It? (9:00am)

Andrew Theising

Andrew Theising holds masters and doctoral degrees in Political Science from the University of Missouri-St. Louis, where he was a Pierre Laclede Honors Scholar and studied under internationally-respected urban scholar Dennis R. Judd. His research subfield is urban politics, with particular emphasis on industrial legacy issues in urban cores. His research has been used by media nationwide, including Sports Illustrated, Columbia Journalism Review, The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times, and The PBS Newshour – the latter receiving an Emmy Award for the feature on his work. He is the author, editor, or collaborator on five books, including the awary-winning book Made in USA: East St. Louis (Virgiinia Publishing, 2003) – the first comprehensive scholarly account of East St. Louis, Illinois, and companion book to the Emmy-Award-winning public television documentary of the same name (find it at your local library). Most recently, he edited St. Louis Currents: the Fifth Edition, with Dr. Terry Jones (Reedy Press, 2016).

Lecture: Immigration to East St. Louis: The Roles of Settlements (9:00am)

Eric Vavra

Eric Vavra has combined his interest in technology and passion for solving the mysteries of family history to become an avid Genealogist. Eric uses both traditional research techniques and the latest technology to discover and explore family roots. He leverages skills from his professional information technology consulting career with over 25 years of experience in diverse global roles across project management, business, strategy, data analysis, and application development to enhance and accelerate his approach to genealogy.

Workshop 1: AI & Genealogy –– Part 1 (9:00am)

Workshop 2: AI & Genealogy –– Part 2 (10:30am)