49th Annual Family History Workshop

Name: 49th Annual Family History Workshop
Start: 2025-09-20T08:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-09-20T16:30:00-05:00
Location: 615 14th St S, Moorhead, MN 56563-1018, United States

Schedule

Sat Sep 20 2025 at 08:00 am to 04:30 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

615 14th St S, Moorhead, MN 56563-1018, United States | Moorhead, MN

The Family History Workshop is a one-day genealogy workshop. Breakout sessions run in four concurrent tracks, including a Beginner Track for those new to or interested in genealogy, a featured main speaker, and everything in between, giving attendees a wide variety of topics to choose from.
The registration fee includes session attendance, a workbook containing outlines and handouts from all sessions, vendor booths, light refreshments, and a catered lunch.
The Family History Workshop will be held at Minnesota State University Moorhead's Comstock Memorial Union.
The $59 registration fee ($49 for MSUM students, faculty, and staff) includes session attendance, a workbook containing outlines and handouts from all sessions, vendor booths, light refreshments, and a catered lunch. Preregistration is required to guarantee lunch availability, allergen alternatives, and a copy of the workbook (digital copies are not available).
Register online, via mail (Heritage Education Commission PO Box 292 Moorhead, MN 56560), or on the day of the event - day of registration begins at 8am. Cash, checks, and cards accepted.
Register online here: https://mnstatetickets.universitytickets.com/w/event.aspx?id=4735&p=1
Preregistration is required if you want lunch. Walk-in registration is available the day of the event.
Main Speaker, Diane Schmidt, President of the Germanic Genealogy Society
Diane Schmidt is President of the Germanic Genealogy Society (GGS) of Minnesota, Chair of its Library Committee, and a board member of the Pommern Regional Group (PRG). She has written a monthly column about library resources for GGS’s electronic newsletter and has given several presentations for GGS, PRG, the International Germanic Genealogy Partnership, and other societies.
She has also had an article, “John Schmidt: A Case Study in Common Names”, published in the Germanic Genealogy Journal, Spring/Summer 2021. Her German ancestors come from Baden, Württemberg, and Pomerania. A former Biology Librarian at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she enjoys sharing knowledge of Germanic genealogy topics and helping beginners.
Diane Schmidt will give the following presentations:
Germanic Genealogy 101. A very basic presentation for beginners; discusses the need to find birthplaces for emigrant ancestors using US resources, how to learn to read a little genealogical German and the old German script, and where to find church records. I also show several church records and cover a few common misconceptions and general trends German genealogists may encounter such as illegitimacy and naming patterns.
Finding an Emigrant Ancestor’s Birthplace. One of my emigrant ancestors was actually, for real, named Johann Schmidt. Using this ancestor with a generic name and his FAN club as examples, I discuss more than 20 common birthplace sources and briefly cover several less likely but still worthy places to look.
Mangled Place Names. German genealogists often find that the birthplaces for their emigrant ancestors were misspelled in American records. This presentation provides some techniques for figuring out the correct spelling of place names including websites, books, information on German pronunciation and spelling, and more. I also cover several tactics that can make the job easier.
What’s in a Name? German Surnames. People are often fascinated by the meaning of their surnames. While surname research is often not very useful in finding a birthplace in some cases it can be valuable, and even if not it can add some interest to your family tree. This presentation discusses the origins of German surnames, how to discover their meanings and distribution, variant spellings, and the value of examining your surname for genealogy.