Lectures, Classes, and Workshops

If you’re interested in having me come speak to you group, please contact me. Upcoming presentations are listed first. A full list of presentations I currently offer is further down, broken down between DNA-related talks and historical/biographical presentations. If you don’t see exactly what you were looking for, I am happy to work with you to develop custom presentations or workshops.

Upcoming presentations:

Before They Were Founders: The Lives of Benjamin Gervais and Genevieve Laurence to 1844
Saturday, September 7, 2019, 10:00am – noon
Little Canada History Center, 515 Little Canada Rd E, Little Canada, MN

Benjamin and Genevieve Gervais helped found two of Minnesota’s earliest Euro-American settlements: St. Paul in 1838 and Little Canada in 1844. They hold a special place in the history of each city.

Benjamin donated land for, and helped build, the first church in St. Paul—the church that gave the city its name. Genevieve was a key witness in St. Paul’s first murder trial. A few years later Benjamin built Minnesota’s first commercial flour mill on the family’s new property six miles north of St. Paul. Their home and mill became the nucleus of Little Canada.

But what were their lives like before all of that? How did then end up in Minnesota?

In honor of the 175th anniversary of the founding of Little Canada, the Little Canada Historical Society hired me (a Gervais descendant) to find out. I scoured digital collections and microfilm reels from archives in Quebec City, Ottawa, and Winnipeg—and found far more than I ever expected.

On September 7, I will share more than 100 pages of never-before-seen original documents and discuss what they tell us about the early lives of Benjamin and Genevieve. It’s a story of adventure, resilience, and fierce independence.

DNA Testing and Your Privacy
2019 Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International Conference
October 15-19, 2019. Marriott Cornhusker Hotel, Lincoln, Nebraska.

Our DNA is a valuable thing. Even the most avid DNA test-takers have an interest in protecting their genetic information. At the same time, sharing genetic information is the key to solving genealogy puzzles with DNA. How can you balance both your research and your privacy?

In this presentation, we will discuss what risks are involved in DNA testing for genealogy. We will examine the tools testing companies have provided to help you control your genetic information as well as how the companies themselves use it. We will also address privacy risks that are often beyond one’s own control, such as family secrets being exposed. Finally, we’ll touch on perhaps the most controversial issues: access to genetic information by law enforcement and (potentially) insurance companies.

The Proof Is in the DNA (Or Is It?)
2019 Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International Conference
October 15-19, 2019. Marriott Cornhusker Hotel, Lincoln, Nebraska

DNA testing has transformed genealogy. Relationships that were “proven” by the highest standards of documentary research can be overturned in an instant by DNA. In other cases, DNA evidence is the linchpin that ties sketchy or circumstantial documentary evidence together in a convincing way. Unfortunately, as many of us know all too well, DNA results are frustratingly reliant on probabilities. So what constitutes “proof” when it comes to DNA?

In this talk, we will look at the kinds of information DNA tests can provide, from ethnicity reports to shared centiMorgans. We will discuss things like the difference between in-common-with matches and triangulated matches. We’ll also think about how we can combine DNA evidence with other kinds of evidence (or how we can combine multiple kinds of DNA evidence) to become more confident in our conclusions. Finally, we will examine the new genetic genealogy proof standards as a model for analyzing DNA evidence.

Life and Death on the Prairie: A Family History
2019 Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International Conference
October 15-19, 2019. Marriott Cornhusker Hotel, Lincoln, Nebraska.

Life on the Nebraska prairies was difficult for our Czech immigrant ancestors—from living in tiny dugout homes to grasshopper infestations, floods, and blizzards. And it wasn’t just the pioneer years that posed a challenge. A couple generations later, the combination of the dust bowl and the Great Depression wreaked further havoc on Nebraska’s Czech-American families. Even the technology that made life in Nebraska possible—like railroads and farm machines—could pose a hazard.

In this presentation, I will use my own Czech ancestors from Nebraska to weave a story about the history of the region, especially how our ancestors coped with the challenges they faced. As it turns out, mine did not cope very well. An inordinate number of my ancestors died in unusual ways as a direct result of the challenges mentioned above.


Presentation List

DNA:

The End of Anonymity: How I Identified My Sperm Donor Father (A DNA Case Study)

Commercial DNA tests for genealogy don’t just help break down brick walls in the past. They sometimes reveal family secrets in the present. In 2014, after ordering a DNA test from Ancestry.com, I learned that my parents had turned to a sperm donor to conceive me. In this presentation, I walk step-by-step through the research process I used to reconstruct the blank half of my biological family tree and identify my biological father, addressing emotional and ethical issues raised by cases like this along the way.

DNA Testing for Genealogy: The Basics

This presentation covers the basic principles and terminology needed to understand and make use of commercial DNA tests for genealogy. What happens to my DNA after I spit in the tube? What kinds of results can I expect to get? What’s a centiMorgan? What are the key differences between Y-DNA, mitochondrial DNA, and autosomal DNA? What about privacy? And much more… This is a great class for beginner to intermediate genealogists or anyone new to DNA testing. *Recommended: combine with Choosing the Right DNA Test for a single two-hour class. 

Choosing the Right DNA Test

Which DNA test is right for you? In this talk, we explore the different kinds of DNA tests available and what sorts of genealogical questions they can help to answer. We also compare features offered by the four main autosomal DNA testing companies and discuss why you might choose one over the others. *Recommended: Combine with DNA Testing for Genealogy: The Basics for a single two-hour class. 

Getting the Most Out of DNA Ethnicity Reports

The most frequent complaint about DNA tests is that ethnicity reports don’t match people’s expectations. We’ll look at how these reports are calculated and explore some of the challenges that stand in the way of presenting ethnicity accurately. In the end, you’ll better understand how you can incorporate ethnicity results into your research.

I Received My DNA Test: Now What?

After the initial excitement (or frustration) of looking at new DNA test results, many people ask, “now what?” In this talk, I give you some ideas about what to do next to get the most out of your results.

DNA Testing and Your Privacy

Sharing genetic information is the key to solving genealogy puzzles with DNA. At the same time, our DNA is a very valuable thing. Even the most avid DNA test-takers have an interest in protecting their genetic information. How can you balance both your research and your privacy?

In this presentation, we discuss the risks are involved in DNA testing for genealogy. We examine the tools testing companies have provided to help us control our genetic information as well as how the companies themselves use it. We also address privacy risks that are often beyond one’s own control, such as family secrets being exposed. Finally, we touch on perhaps the most controversial issues: access to genetic information by law enforcement and (potentially) insurance companies.

The Proof Is in the DNA (Or Is It?)

DNA testing has transformed genealogy. Relationships that were once “proven” by the highest standards of documentary research can be overturned in an instant by DNA. In other cases, DNA evidence is the linchpin that ties sketchy or circumstantial documentary evidence together in a convincing way. Unfortunately, DNA isn’t magic. As many of us know all too well, DNA results are frustratingly reliant on probabilities. In this presentation, we’ll examine what constitutes “proof” when it comes to DNA and look at what standards exist to guide us as we learn to incorporate this new kind of evidence.

A Complicated Family: Solving Multiple Paternity Questions Using DNA

Close relationships can usually be determined unambiguously based on total shared centiMorgans. But not always. In this presentation, I discuss a complicated case involving four siblings who faced multiple paternity questions. Their case raises issues such as: Can we definitively tell the difference between a first cousin once removed and a half-uncle/niece based on shared cM alone? And how much DNA would we expect 3/4 siblings to share?

Historical/Biographical:

French-Canadian Settlement in Minnesota: History for Genealogists

From le Grand Portage on Lac Supérieur to Le Sueur and Petit Canada, Minnesota is truly L’Étoile du Nord. French-Canadians and French-Metis were the first people of European heritage to settle in what later became Minnesota. Though small in numbers compared to the German and Scandinavian immigrants who arrived after 1850, French-Canadians continued to migrate to Minnesota through the end of the 19th century. In this talk, learn why our French-Canadian ancestors left Canada, where they chose to settle, and how to find sources about their lives. 

Maids in Minnesota: The Garceau Family and Henry Hastings Sibley, 1846-1850

Marie and Marguerite Garceau were just teenagers in 1846 when their parents, an aunt and uncle, and a bunch of siblings and cousins set out from their farms in Lower Canada to cross the continent. Their destination was the Willamette Valley in Oregon, where another uncle had recently begun farming after a long career in the Columbia River fur trade. But they never made it to Oregon. Instead, they settled near a tiny French-Canadian village at the western fringe of white settlement in Wisconsin Territory. Almost as soon as they arrived, Marie and Marguerite were sent out of the house to work as servants in the home of prominent fur trader and politician Henry Hastings Sibley. In this talk, I explore why the Garceau family never made it to Oregon and some of the consequences (both welcome and unwelcome) that resulted from the young women’s time at the Sibley House.

King William’s War and the Creation of a Mutli-Ethnic Family

In 1688, war broke out between colonists in New France and New England. The violence committed by the colonists and their Indian allies was horrific. Called King William’s War, it ripped apart families on all sides. Learn about one unique family that emerged from the rubble of this 17th-century war.

Life and Death on the Prairie: A Family History

Life on the Nebraska prairies was difficult for our Czech ancestors—from tiny dugout homes to grasshopper infestations, floods, and blizzards. And it wasn’t just the pioneer years that posed a challenge. A couple generations later, the combination of the dust bowl and Great Depression wreaked further havoc on Nebraska’s Czech-American families. Even the technology that made life in Nebraska possible—railroads and farm machines—posed a hazard.

In this presentation, I use my own Czech ancestors from Nebraska to weave a story about the history of the region, especially how our ancestors coped with the challenges they faced. As it turns out, mine did not cope very well. An inordinate number of my ancestors died in unusual ways as a direct result of the challenges mentioned above.

Benjamin Gervais and Genevieve Laurence: A New Look at Little Canada’s Founding Family

Benjamin and Genevieve (Laurence) Gervais are celebrated as the founding family of both Saint Paul and Little Canada, Minnesota. In this presentation, developed for the 175h-anniversary of Little Canada in 2019, I discuss newly uncovered sources that shed light on the lives of “Ben and Gen” before 1844, the year they founded Little Canada and finally settled down for good. It’s a story that ties together a number of wildly different topics–from Thomas Jefferson’s Embargo Act to the Northwestern fur trade; from the epic Red River flood of 1826 to the first murder trial in Minnesota history. Never-before identified sources include military, land, and legal documents from a number of Canadian archives.

Family History Resources in the Chippewa Valley: The Example of Henry Pattison

With my 3x-great-grandfather Henry Pattison as our guide, we explore the full range of sources available to family historians in Wisconsin’s Chippewa Valley. Venture from newspaper articles to court files to land records, county histories, and more, as we discover just how many great resources are available right here in our own backyard.