Blaine Bettinger explaining the latest developments in genetic genealogy.

The last day of the 2016 Northwest Genealogy Conference brought us Blaine Bettinger, intellectual property attorney by day and genetic genealogist by night. His first session was “Genetic Genealogy Year in Review.” So many changes, improvements, adjustments and announcements in the ever-changing field of genetic genealogy. No wonder I have a hard time keeping up with what to do with the results I have from all those kits I’ve paid for! It was so helpful to know what was happening — and what might be happening soon. His other sessions for the day were “Using Third-Party Tools to Analyze Your DNA” (oh…so that’s what I need to do with all that confusing data!) and “Using Autosomal DNA to Solve Family Mysteries.”

I only had time to take one workshop on Saturday (then off to a family reunion). Used the opportunity to listen to Jim Johnson from Heritage Quest Research Library share “Five Steps to Finding your Ancestors Who Passed Through Canada.” His one-hour lecture proved to me that you can always learn something (or many things) new in classes like this. Will be looking for the Murphy’s and Ryan’s in some of the new places Jim shared.

Some of the many volunteers from the Stillaguamish Valley GS.

The conference attendees also got the opportunity to thank the Stillaguamish Valley Genealogical Society for their hard work, sponsoring this conference. More than 40 members work year-round to give us a first-rate learning experience.

Patty Olson and Donna Potter Phillips welcoming visitors to the WSGS table.

In no time, it was time to close up the Washington State Genealogical Society‘s vendor booth where we talked to everyone who came by about the WSGS and signed up almost 70 new members. It was also time to say good-bye to old and new friends with promises of seeing them next year: August 16 – 19, 2017!! I’ll be there. Will you?