One of the most entertaining features of the Northwest Genealogy Conference is the “Dress Like Your Ancestor Day.” It was so fun to see attendees dressed as their Salem Witch ancestor (complete with noose), Norwegian (or German or New England or Irish or…other parts of the globe) ancestor. We all love to talk about our ancestors and today it was so fun to see them walking around the conference.

Peggy Lauritzen was our keynote speaker today. Her presentations ranged from migrations into the Shenandoah Valley to the Amish and Mennonites to researching school records. She’s always entertaining and certainly “delivered the goods” today!

My two “extra” classes today were Katherine Willson’s “40+ Sources for Finding Females’ Maiden Names” and “Coming to Your Census: Using State Census Records” with Daniel Earl. Really good stuff! I’m excited to use the tips and resources they shared.

The evening closed with the annual banquet at the Gleneagle Golf Course. CeCe Moore once again entertained the sold-out crowd with stirring stories of reuniting families, healing old wounds and solving criminal cases using genetic genealogy. We are so lucky to have her at the Northwest Genealogy Conference as her travels and professional demands are mounting. Lucky us!

Tomorrow’s the last day of the conference, but a full one. Besides hearing three plenary sessions with keynoter Beth Foulk and two other classes, I need to make sure I visit the vendors, including the Heritage Quest Research Library book sale. So much to pack in!