CORRECTION (Tuesday, April 30, 2024): This press release has been updated to remove incorrect information about Katherine R. Willson's presentation in March.

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The next meeting of the Genealogy Club of Newtown will be held via Zoom on Wednesday, May 8, at 7 pm.

The club will welcome back Katherine R. Willson, who spoke in March. Her topic in May will be “Resources for Genealogical Research in Foreign Countries,” which is relevant for most family history researchers.

Willson’s focus will be the challenges of (and starting points for) genealogical research in foreign countries with regards to name spellings, reading foreign language documents, border changes, place name changes, and the knowledge of laws that resulted in helpful record sets.

Many records for foreign countries are available on “for fee” sites, but Willson will share information about sites that are available for free. Throughout the presentation, additional tips and resources will be provided to help guide you through your genealogy research in any foreign country.

Katherine R. Willson is a frequent lecturer at regional and national events. She has been a genealogy educator for over 25 years, and she is a full-time researcher for private clients. She is the founder and past president of the Virtual Genealogical Association, past president of the Michigan Genealogical Council, and past board member for The Association of Professional Genealogists.

Her genealogy interests began as an 8-year-old Junior Girl Scout working towards the now-retired “My Heritage” badge, and her passion was fueled when, after college, both her mother’s and father’s relatives gave her binders containing generations’ worth of family information.

She is a seventh generation Michigander with pre-statehood ancestors arriving from New York in the 1830s. She maintains a website at SocialMediaGenealogy.com which contains multiple resources, including a catalog of over 17,000 genealogy/history links on Facebook, a catalog of 190+ genealogy YouTube channels, and a catalog of 76 genealogy podcasts.

Members of the Genealogy Club will receive a link to the Zoom meeting in the May newsletter.

Guests may request a link by sending an email by May 6 with their name, address, phone number and email address to genclubnewtownct.secretary@gmail.com. All should plan to sign in at 6:45 so that everyone can be admitted before the meeting begins promptly at 7 pm.