Topics Include

The four presentation titles and descriptions are below. All tie to the America 250 theme.

Muskets and Manuscripts: Navigating Militia and Military, Pension, and Bounty Land Records

Revolutionary War service varied widely — militia records, Continental Army records, pension files, and bounty land warrants each tell a different part of the story, and knowing where to look can make or break your research. This presentation untangles the distinctions between militia and military service and guides you through the pension and bounty land collections that often contain rich family details. You'll leave with a clear strategy for locating and interpreting these records whether your ancestor fought under

state or federal command (or both).

Reading Between the Lines: Historical Context as a Genealogical Research Tool

Genealogical research often stalls not because records are missing, but because researchers lack the historical and social context interpret the records they're finding. This presentation shows how factors like religion, migration, and inheritance laws can point to overlooked sources to reconstruct the world in which your ancestor lived — revealing why families moved, why records were created or destroyed, and how to distinguish your ancestor from everyone else with the same name. You'll leave with a sharper eye for the story hiding between the lines of every document.

Dirt, Dollars, and Disputes: Tracing Early American Families Through Land, Tax, and Court Records

Before vital records and census schedules, there were land, tax, and court records. These records are essential for researching early American families. Using a detailed case study to identify a woman's maiden name, this presentation shows how these sources work together when no direct evidence exists. You'll leave with a hands-on methodology for connecting with the founding generation through the records they left behind.

Trust but Verify: Using DAR and SAR Resources in Your Genealogical Research

The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) maintain extensive genealogical resources for colonial-era research — searchable databases, application files, compiled lineages, and library collections —that are valuable to any researcher, whether or not lineage society membership is on your radar. This presentation introduces the types of records these organizations hold, how to access them, and how to use them effectively to document colonial ancestors. You'll also learn why a trust-but-verify approach is essential: many early applications were based on limited evidence and contained errors, and those errors have been compounding ever since. You'll learn how to get the most from these resources without

inheriting the mistakes.

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