Don Anderson is a native Oregonian,
and an adoptee.
He is married to Diana, and they are the parents of four
children, and fifteen grandchildren. He is a vocal coach, sung
professionally, Artistic Director of the Conchords Chorale, and Founder of the
Rose City SingOff competition for High School Acappella groups.
As an adoptee, Don wondered about his birth parents.
In 1995, He began searching for his birth mother, leading to
a successful reunion in January, 2001. He had no information on the birth
father and began the next leg of his journey in 2013. The mystery was
solved in October, 2015, as DNA testing revealed who Don’s father was.
Since confirming his father’s identity, Don has assisted
fourteen other individuals in successfully finding their birth
fathers/families. Don currently is a Project Administrator for Family
Tree DNA.
His story has been featured in numerous publications and on
Radio and is in demand as a speaker with genealogical societies and cultural
festivals in Oregon and Washington.
A recent accomplishment was the publication of “Paper and
Spit: Family Found: How DNA and Genealogy Revealed the Identity of My First
parents” released May 5, 2017.
Gordon Rouse - Has been doing
family history research since 1996. He has been a Family History Consultant at
the Milwaukie Stake Family History Center for almost 15 years. During that time
He has taught classes at the Center. He has also taught Family History classes
in Georgia, and California. Being an artist, he always likes to put more than
just names and dates on a Family Group Sheet and enjoys teaching people the
importance of preparing and using photos to “put a face with the name”.
Nicole Faunt - Family History has
been a lifelong interest and passion. Helping others find their ancestors
and their stories has become just as exciting. I have been seriously
researching my own family for about ten years and have served as a Family
History Consultant in the Milwaukie, Or Stake Family History Center.
Currently from the Longview, WA Stake, I am mom to four and grandma to two.
Pam Vestal is a professional
genealogist and speaker from West Linn, Oregon, and the owner of Generations
Genealogy, LLC. Her articles have appeared in the Association of
Professional
Genealogists Quarterly and FGS' Forum
Magazine, and her lectures take her from coast to coast. When she isn’t giving presentations or researching on
behalf of her clients, she offers
private training to those seeking to improve
their research skills.
Janice Sellers is a professional genealogist specializing in Jewish, black,
dual citizenship, and newspaper research. She edits a Jewish genealogy journal,
is the coordinator of the African American Special Interest Group at the
Genealogical Forum of Oregon, and serves on the board of San Francisco Bay Area
Jewish Genealogical Society. She is also a member of Association of
Professional Genealogists, Genealogical Speakers Guild, and Council for the
Advancement of Professional Genealogy. Before becoming a professional
genealogist, she worked in publishing for many years as an editor, indexer,
translator, and compositor. Her Web site is ancestraldiscoveries.com.
Cindy Webb discovered her passion
for family history shortly after she joined The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-Day Saints at age 19. Since then she has served in numerous genealogical
societies as an officer and board member, as a family history center worker and
director, stake extraction coordinator and was previously a certified
genealogist. She now serves as a ward temple and family history consultant in
the Clackamas Ward. Cindy has spoken throughout the Pacific Northwest and at
the BYU Family History Conference in Provo, Utah. She especially loves
helping others with their family history quest. Besides genealogy, she loves to
garden, sew, and with her husband, Martin, they love to travel.
Tricia Oberndorf has been engaged in
genealogy research for 30 years, the last 6 years professionally. Her research
has spanned most of the United States, from the colonial period to the 20th
century. In the process she has had the opportunity to perform her research in
a wide variety of facilities, including the libraries and archives covered in
this talk. Living in Columbia County, Oregon, she has also become engaged in
local history and research there, volunteering with the Columbia County
Historical Museum.
Leslie Brinkley Lawson
is a full-time professional genealogist, specializing in forensic genealogy
(missing / unknown heirs, and probate research). She is credentialed by the
Council for the Advancement of Forensic Genealogy (CAFG), and is a past
president (2010-2015). She is past president of the Oregon Chapter of the
Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) and active in that chapter.
Tom O'Brien has been researching
his family since 1983. He enjoys sharing what he has learned with fellow
genealogists.
He previously was a research assistant at the Family History Center in Milwaukie and the Genealogical Forum of Oregon. These volunteer positions enabled him to help others with their research. Assisting others provided the opportunity to learn how to research in geographic areas where he has no personal family research. It also provided the opportunity to learn of resources he would otherwise not have used or known about.
Tom's personal genealogical pursuits have inspired him to visit Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, and Switzerland. His U.S. focus has been in the states of California, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Oregon and Washington. He has been fortunate to walk in the villages of his ancestors and meet distant cousins.
Tom is a co-leader of the Oregon City Genealogy Group and regularly participates in local genealogy groups in Lake Oswego, Wilsonville and at Concordia University.
He has been speaking on a variety of genealogy subjects for the past 14 years.
He previously was a research assistant at the Family History Center in Milwaukie and the Genealogical Forum of Oregon. These volunteer positions enabled him to help others with their research. Assisting others provided the opportunity to learn how to research in geographic areas where he has no personal family research. It also provided the opportunity to learn of resources he would otherwise not have used or known about.
Tom's personal genealogical pursuits have inspired him to visit Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, and Switzerland. His U.S. focus has been in the states of California, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Oregon and Washington. He has been fortunate to walk in the villages of his ancestors and meet distant cousins.
Tom is a co-leader of the Oregon City Genealogy Group and regularly participates in local genealogy groups in Lake Oswego, Wilsonville and at Concordia University.
He has been speaking on a variety of genealogy subjects for the past 14 years.
Matthew Vanderpool is a graduate of Rex Putnam High School. Matthew is
currently serving a church service mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints. As part of that mission Matthew serves weekly in the
Milwaukie Stake Family History Center where he assists patrons with questions
about family history and how to find material on the computer.
