Registration opening soon!

Every Virginia researcher knows the feeling: a family that seems to vanish behind burned courthouses, common names, and generations of tangled records. This fall, join us as we tackle those brick walls head-on—not by hoping they’ll fall down, but by learning to go over, around, and through them. Follow Angela Packer McGhie as she reconstructs Robert Morrison’s family through correlated evidence, discover the untapped genealogical riches hidden in plantation records with Renate Yarborough Sanders, and watch Gail Jackson Miller untangle the confusing, common-name parentage of William Christian across Goochland County and Fayette County, Kentucky. Kimberly Powell will show us how place and proximity can crack open stubborn Virginia puzzles. If you’ve ever hit a dead end in your Virginia research, this conference will give you the strategies, the persistence, and the record-tracing techniques to work past it. Register today and bring your brick walls—VGS and our amazing line-up of speakers are ready to help you knock them down.

Can’t join us for the live conference, no problem!

Conference recordings will be available for 60 days after the event. An email with the recordings link and password will be sent to all registrants once the recordings are available.

VGS Member Discount: VGS members must be logged in to the VGS website to receive the 20%-member discount. The discount will appear on the checkout page.

Zoom and Syllabus Links: The Zoom link and link to download the syllabus will be sent in the purchase confirmation email.

Program

10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Beyond the Will: Proving Robert Morrison’s Parents and Siblings Through Correlated Evidence – Angela Packer McGhie, CG^®
Robert Morrison’s parents seemed easy to identify but required careful research to prove with confidence. Identifying his siblings required reasonably exhaustive research, contacting living descendants, and creative problem-solving. Discover how family sources, migrating children, and overlooked clues combined to reconstruct a family.

11:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Exploring Plantation Records for Genealogy Research: They’re Everybody’s Business – Renate Yarborough Sanders
Plantation records contain a wealth of genealogical information: not only about property-owning families, but also regarding enslaved persons and others connected to these properties by association or proximity. Learn research strategies to unlock these rich resources and discover the stories waiting to be found in your ancestral past.

1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Digging Deeper to Correct the Virginia Parentage of William Christian – Gail Jackson Miller, CG^®
Finding evidence of relationships can be difficult. Common names are hard to separate, and parentage is often confusing. Is Charles Christian of Goochland County, Virginia, really the father of William Christian of Fayette County, Kentucky? Learn to follow leads from readily available records to successfully sort out difficult problems.

2:15 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.
Where They Lived: Using Place and Proximity to Solve Virginia Brick Walls – Kimberly Powell, AG^®
Understanding where people lived—and who lived nearby—can add important context to difficult Virginia research problems. Through case studies, this session examines how place, proximity, and community can help distinguish same-named individuals, connect families, and point researchers to evidence that might otherwise be overlooked.

Speaker Bios

Angela Packer McGhie, CG®, FUGA, is the president of the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG). She is passionate about genealogy education and enjoys developing and coordinating courses at the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) and the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR). Angela is a popular speaker at various genealogy conferences and institutes.

Previously, Angela held roles including Education Director of the National Genealogical Society and curriculum designer and administrator of the ProGen Study Program. Angela served as a trustee of the BCG Education Fund and a chapter president of the Association of Professional Genealogists, and her articles have appeared in the APG Quarterly and the NGS Magazine.

Gail Jackson Miller, CG®, is a professional genealogist, teacher, writer, and lecturer specializing in Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, and surrounding states with more than 40 years of genealogical experience. She became certified by the Board for Certification of Genealogists in 1999 and has more than 25 years of experience working with clients on their families. She has worked regionally and locally as a speaker and editor, in society leadership, and as a Family Search Center coordinator. In her prior life, she was a nationally recognized biology teacher working with high school and college students. Gail is a native of western Kentucky currently living in Bowling Green.

Kimberly T. Powell, AG®, is especially passionate about researching hard-to-find families in the Carolinas and Virginia and sharing her enthusiasm for genealogy through teaching. She is the Director of Education for the National Genealogical Society and a past president of the Association of Professional Genealogists. She served as the Genealogy Expert for About.com for sixteen years and is the author of The Everything Guide to Online Genealogy, 3rd edition. Her published work also includes “The Challenge of Endogamy and Pedigree Collapse” in Advanced Genetic Genealogy: Techniques and Case Studies and articles for BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are?, Family Tree Magazine, NGS Magazine, and the Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly.

Kimberly teaches at the GRIP Genealogy Institute, the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR), and the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) and was an instructor in Boston University’s online genealogy programs for eight years. Her interests include land records, neighborhood reconstruction, and the use of genetic evidence to solve complex genealogical problems. You can find her online at Level Up Genealogy, https://www.levelupgenealogy.com.

Renate Yarborough Sanders is a nationally recognized genealogist and speaker who has been documenting her family history for over three decades. Renate has been a featured guest on radio and television programs and numerous podcasts and has conducted research for notable organizations and entities. Renate authors two blogs and an online funeral program database. She is a contributing member of a numerous local, state, and national genealogical organizations, holding leadership positions in several – including serving as Vice-President of the Hampton Roads Chapter of the Afro American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS). She is also a proud member of the lineage society, Sons and Daughters of the U.S. Middle Passage, which awarded her the Solomon Northup Family Award, in recognition of her dedication and service to the genealogy community.

Renate lectures on a variety of genealogy topics but specializes in teaching beginning to intermediate research methodology and sharing specific techniques and resources for researching ancestors of color. She is a retired elementary school educator and a proud mother and grandmother.