Videos from 2022 convention posted

 SGGEE members have access to the recordings of the presentations (other than breakout rooms) from the 2022 convention. Please visit the SGGEE virtual page for the links. Login required.

Thank you and see you in 2023

 Thanks to all who participated on our Crossing Borders convention! And especially to our speakers.

We would like your feedback on the convention. Please fill out the SURVEY so we have your thoughts on moving forward.

By the way, it was announced that the 2023 convention will again be entirely virtual. So keep your Zoom hats around.

Registration is open!

Registration for the annual convention, Crossing Borders, is now open. We have a good mix of topics that will appeal to members and guests alike.

There is no charge to attend the convention. To sign up to attend, click the REGISTRATION FORM and complete by Sept. 21. (Please note that all times are in the Pacific time zone. Please adjust for your location. Zoom links will be sent a few days prior to the opening.)

If you are a member of SGGEE, you also are invited to attend the virtual Annual General Meeting on Saturday. If you register for the convention, you will receive a Zoom link specific to the AGM prior to the weekend. If you are not able to join us on Zoom, you may complete the proxy form to vote on the questions that are expected to come before the members. Again, members only!

The Convention Team, convention-sggee@googlegroups.com

Interested in getting your pedigree data into the SGGEE database?

 One of the big benefits of membership in SGGEE is the pedigree database that may show you how your family is related to others and lead to new clues for your research. To take advantage of this database, however, you need to prepare your data according to SGGEE guidelines before submitting.

Gary Warner, the long-time overseer of the MPD (master pedigree database) is presenting a two-part workshop on how to do this during the Sunday afternoon breakout sessions. He's prepared a detailed handout and sample Legacy file on how to prepare your data.

 

Gary STRONGLY RECOMMENDS that anyone attending his workshop review it several days before attending. You'll get the most out of the workshop that way. It looks like a lot, but read his note on page 1 to focus on the material he intends to cover. You, too, can add your family data to the MPD!

 

Click the links to download:

• HANDOUT
• SAMPLE LEGACY FILE

 You can sign up for the workshop when registration opens -- just a few days away.

Convention schedule to download/print

We know many people like to have a printed copy of the convention schedule. Here is a link to one you can print as desired.

Have you marked your calendar?

 Our schedule and speakers are now confirmed. See below for an introduction to our speakers. Registration will open Sept. 1, and in the meantime you can save the dates!

SGGEE 2022 ... Friday, Sept. 23-Sunday, Sept. 25

All sessions are scheduled in the Pacific Daylight Time zone. Make sure you check the start in your time zone so you join at the right time. Here's a time zone tool you can use.

Friday, Sept. 23

9 AM - 10 AM PDT: Three small group Question & Answer sessions based on the virtual programs given earlier this year. If you have questions from attending or viewing the recordings, join the "breakout" room to talk with the presenter. (The links will take you to the recordings, which are available to members only.)

Choices are:

• Edie Adam on border changes 
• Earl Schultz on DNA projects 
• Sigrid Pohl-Perry on databases in Polish archives
  

Saturday, Sept. 24

Our theme for the convention is "crossing borders." So we invited speakers who are experts in regions that surround Poland and Volhynia -- the core area SGGEE covers.

• 9 AM PDT-9:15 PDT Opening and welcome
• 9:15-10:15 Dave Obee (Ukraine)
• 10:30-11 Annual General Meeting
• 11:15-12:15 Donna Schilling (Pomerania)
• 12:30-1:30 Perry Buffie (Galicia)
  

Sunday, Sept. 25

• 9-10 PDT Carolyn Schott (expanding German research)
• 10:15-11:15 Cynthia Jacobson & Owen McCafferty II (East Prussia & Lithuania)
• 11:30-12:30 Small group "breakout" rooms giving you a chance to ask questions on the topic
  
• Gary Warner, submitting SGGEE data Part 1
  
• Karl Krueger, SGGEE databases
• Ray Bloch, SGGEE Journal
• Sigrid Pohl-Perry, research tips & tricks
• 12:30-1:30 small group session repeated
• Gary Warner, submitting SGGEE data Part 2
  
• Karl Krueger, SGGEE databases
• Ray Bloch, SGGEE Journal
• Sigrid Pohl-Perry, research tips & tricks

SPEAKER: Donna M. Schilling

Donna M. Schilling has been the editor of "Die Pommerschen Leute," a quarterly publication of Pomeranian Special Interest Group (PSIG), since June 2019. The former president of PSIG met Donna at the first International German Genealogy Partnership convention in 2017 in Minneapolis where they did presentations, and invited her to be active in PSIG, helping the-then editor. She has enjoyed this very much and has learned a lot about Pomerania, her maternal family’s homeland.

She and her late husband enjoyed many trips to Pomerania, participating in two "heimat treffens" or homeland trips with former residents of Pomerania now living in Germany after WWII. They traveled to Germany a total of six times, taking their son to see his ancestral homeland on their last voyage together there. Donna wrote a book after those experiences about her ancestral homeland, hopefully giving others hints about researching and networking. Her book is German Genealogy Research in Pomerania: With Specific Examples of Kreis Schlawe Research, Family Roots Publishing Company, 2017.

"Why Did Germans Leave Pomerania, and Where Did They Go?"
In this presentation, Donna plans to answer these questions, with references to their daily lives.