Our speaker will be J.H. (“Jay”) Fonkert, CG
Merging or separating identities is a core genealogical problem. Sometimes we find a man or woman of the same name in several different places over time and need to merge identity fragments. Other times, we find two easily confounded individuals in the same place and time, and have to separate identities. A series of research vignettes, including the case of two Johan Sebastian Welhavens of Chicago, illustrate the importance of certain identity in genealogical research.
J. H. (“Jay”) Fonkert, CG, is a genealogy researcher, educator, and writer, who focuses on 19th-century Midwest research. He is a co-managing editor of Minnesota Genealogist and president of the Minnesota Genealogical Society. He has lectured at numerous regional and national conferences, lectured for genealogy societies in eleven states, and has published more than 80 research and teaching articles, including three in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly. He is a former trustee of the BCG Education Fund and a former director of the Association of Professional Genealogists.
Our speaker will be Craig Pfannkuche, CGS Ancestor Certificate Committee Chair
For years the Chicago Genealogical Society has been offering a series of frameable certificates which certify when a Chicagoan first came to settle in Chicago.
There are two good reasons why such certificates are issued by our CGS and valued by recipients. The first is simply, pride. For descendants of those who came to and experienced the growth of a relatively new large city on an empty prairie and who played a role, no matter how large or small, in that development should feel a sense of pride in what their ancestors have accomplished.
The second reason for the value of the issuance of such certificates is that submissions for those certificates are helpful to both genealogists/family history researchers and those researching the history of our fine city. Before a certificate can be issued, the submitter for a certificate must submit written/printed (photocopied) documentary evidence which proves a linkage between the setter and the submitter.
Join us for this webinar to learn more about why you should apply for a Chicago Ancestor Certificate, what specific types of certificates are offered, the steps to apply, documentation, mistakes often made and how you can be successful with your application.
Craig is an independent research professional and President of Memory Trail Research, Inc. He volunteers for the CGS Board as the Ancestor Certificate Committee Chair and is our awesome bus tour guide for our annual genealogical tours. He is also the archivist for the Chicago & North Western Historical Society.
Registration is required via the Chicago Genealogical Society website under Events. Registration will close 1 hour prior to the event. The webinar will take place virtually via ZOOM. All people registered will receive an email the morning of the event with log-in instructions and a link. This information is not to be shared.
Mark Hansen, the author of The City in a Garden: A Guide to the History of Hyde Park and Kenwood, will recount episodes in the history of Chicago through brief portraits of ten South Side families.
John Mark Hansen is the Charles L Hutchinson Distinguished Service Professor in Political Science and the College at the University of Chicago. He joined the Chicago faculty in 1986. A native of Kansas, he received his bachelor’s degree at the University of Kansas in 1981 and his Ph.D. at Yale University in 1987. Hansen’s research in political science ranges in top from elections and citizen activism to Congress and interest group politics. Lately, he has set out to chronicle the history of Chicago’s South Side. His first book from the project, The City in a Garden: A Guide to the History of Hyde Park and Kenwood, appeared in 2019.
Chicago Genealogical Society is a 501(c)6 non-profit organization. Address: PO Box 1160, Chicago, IL 60690-1160
