Summit of Excellence Track Highlight: Getting Started

New to genealogy and family history research? Or perhaps it has been a while and you want to make sure you've covered the basics? We've got the experts to help you build a solid foundation and prevent self-constructed brick walls in your research.

Acknowledging UGA's 50th anniversary and our ongoing commitment to providing premier educational experiences, this track is FREE to the general public and to all registered Summit of Excellence participants. By giving back to the community, we honor the vision of UGA's founder, Jerry D. Wells.

Track Presentations

The following sessions run on Wednesday, September 15th:

Genealogy 101 with Crista Cowen: Brand new to family history? Join Crista Cowan as she guides you through the steps to getting started with building a family tree and shares some basic genealogy standards. 

Beginning Your Genealogical Journey with Katherine Willson: Build your family tree as you discover how to gather basic information, fill in common charts, locate public records, and navigate Internet resources. Overcome obstacles and avoid common pitfalls with these resources that will guide you towards excellence in your research.

Location, Location, Location! Surveying the Places Your Ancestors Lived with Jana Greenhalgh: This class will teach the importance and process of gathering geographical context to aid in our genealogy research.  techniques.

Records, Rules, and Repositories with Katherine Willson: Learn where to locate genealogical documents for your ancestors and his/her family members, as well as the methods for analyzing those records. Our discussion will include records such as birth, marriage, and death records; census forms; military draft registration forms; and passenger lists.

Beginning Strategies for Searching Online Records and Resources with Cheri Passey: Learn the best methods for searching online records. From how to get more out of your research results to locating record collections, discover strategies for searching online records and resources.

The full schedule of all presentations and links to presenter biographies may be found here. 

Join Us in September!

The 2021 UGA Summit of Excellence celebrates UGA's 50th year. This exciting virtual conference, held September 15-18, 2021, is a four-day event with multiple tracks offering a premier educational opportunity at an extremely reasonable price. Each track features a different record set or research area such as legal records, methodology, technology, or DNA. 

Learn more about the Summit of Excellence or register to attend. Questions may be directed to the registrar: registrar@ugagenealogy.org.