Tracing the Family Lines of the Illegitimate on Saturday, January 19, 2019

Join us on Saturday, January 19, for a fascinating look at archaic medical terminology and researching illegitimacy in the past. We are meeting at our new location, the Truly Nolen Leadership Training Center at 436 S. Williams Blvd.

Archaic Medical Terminology

First we will hear from Dr. Rudy Byrd for our class, Archaic Medical Terminology. Dr. Byrd will be teaching about understanding the cause of death for our ancestors. He says, “many old death certificates from the 1700s through about 1930 contain diagnoses that are puzzling to people living in the 21^st century. … . Also you must realize that before the days of modern testing equipment such as CT scans and MRIs, medical diagnoses were often educated guesses, or even downright wrong.” Read more from his syllabus, uploaded to the Members Only section of our website, under Secure Download.

Dr. Abraham Byrd, III MD known as Rudy to all, is a practicing physician in Tucson with the Sonora Family Practice. He joined Sons of the American Revolution in 1904 and has been very active since – Local chapter and state president, National Surgeon-General 2011-2014, co-founder of the local and state color guards in Revolutionary War uniform and shooting black powder muskets. Currently he is Chair or Vice-chair of two national committees of SAR, Adjutant for Artillery for the National SAR Color Guard, and local chapter genealogist and color guard educator. In addition, he is a member of the Tucson Presidio Trust and Garrison since 2008, and is their peluquero-chirurgeo (barber-surgeon). He has given talks on medical care in the Civil War. He has a unique voice and presentation style.

Misbegotten Children: Tracing the Family Lines of the Illegitimate

For our program we are looking forward to a live webinar presentation with Peggy Lauritzen, AG, FOGS. She will be teaching us about a fascinating topic – how to research illegitimate children and their parents in historical records in the 1600s-1800s.

Nearly all families have children with seemingly missing fathers.  Yet, there may be clues and resources to help us determine their ancestry.  Illegitimacy can be both a surprise and an embarrassment as we discover more and more about our family’s history.  Treated with care and sensitivity, we can use many available resources to help us in our research.

I had the opportunity to interview Peggy last week about the lecture she will be sharing with us. Here is the video:

To read more about Peggy’s presentation, download her syllabus at the Members Only section of our website, under Secure Download.

Peggy Clemens Lauritzen, AG, FOGS, Author of several Legacy QuickGuides on Appalachia, she is an instructor at Ancestry Academy, Family Tree University, and columnist for Reminisce magazine.  Peggy was named Fellow of the Ohio Genealogical Society, and is the 2018 recipient of the Laura G. Prescott Award for Exemplary Service to Professional Genealogy.

We look forward to seeing you Saturday!