By JAMES BELL
Hays Post
Every family has a story — the trick is finding it.
To aid in that search the Kansas Council of Genealogical Societies, in conjunction with the Ellis County Historical Society, 100 W. Seventh St., will host a genealogy conference at 8 a.m. Saturday, June 11, in the Whiskey Creek Wood Fire Grill Conference Center, 3203 Vine.
“It’s an annual conference that the Kansas Council of Genealogical Societies holds every year,” said Lee Dobratz, ECHS director. “It’s for anybody that’s interested in researching their family.”
The ECHS serves as a local contact for the genealogical society, helping spread information about the yearly event.
This year the conference will feature keynote speaker Annette Burke Lyttle, owner of Heritage Detective LLC, who has worked as a full-time genealogist since 2012.
While the official conference begins on Saturday, events have been planned for Friday as well, to give participants a taste of Hays history.
Friday’s events kick off at noon at Old Fort Hays, 1472 Hwy 183 Alt., followed by a presentation and tour at Fort Hays State University’s Forsyth Library at 2 p.m., a tour of the ECHS museum and archives at 3:30 p.m., dinner at Gella’s Diner, 117E. 11th St. at 5:30 p.m. and a narrated tour through Mt. Allen Cemetery at 7 p.m.
Each of the Friday’s events require admission to be paid at the corresponding locations and dinner is “on your own.”
Four sessions are planned for Saturday, including social history and why should a genealogist care; a path to your next research steps; prospecting for family history in unexpected places; and turn family history facts into stories you can share.
A mini-session covering the use of vintage cookbooks for geological history is also planned.
While the conference will have a research focus, Dobratz said the event is open to anyone interested in genealogy.
“Even if you’re not interested in learning more about your family, if you’re interested in learning about history this will help provide some skills and ideas on how to go about that,” she said. “It’s really just a weekend of history and research and commiserating with other people who enjoy research.”
For more on the event or to register for the conference, visit the KCGS conference page by clicking here.
Registration is $60.