Genealogy Speaker

Sandy started her career as a software developer and trainer. For over 30 years, Sandy was the go-to person to train new users in cutting-edge software developing in-house training programs for new development tools. Expanding her interest in teaching outside the software industry, Sandy recently began speaking at genealogical institutes (GRIP, TIGR), conferences, genealogical and historical societies, and DAR Chapters. As a course coordinator for GRIP, Sandy coordinated Documentation for Lineage Societies and co-coordinated Answering the Call of Uncle Sam, an exploration of 18^th & 19^th century American military records.  Email Sandy to invite her to speak at your event.

What an attendee says about Sandy: thank you for the wonderful presentation you did about military records. Your explanations were so clear and detailed. I felt like I was in a college course with a professor who not only knows their material backwards and forwards but who truly knows how to teach others. It was so informative and I got a very helpful reminder that it is always important to check the others who enlisted with relatives who served. So often I get blinded by the thrill of the chase and forget to attend to all the clues! -Delores

Topics

1. American Military Records of the 18th and 19th Century
2. Federal Military Bounty Lands
3. Homesteading Records
4. Lineage Society Applications
5. Researching in Pennsylvania
   1. Colonial Records through today
   2. Using County Courthouse Records: probate files, deeds, orphans court records, tax records, civil & criminal records
   3. Religious records
   4. State Archives records
6. Research Trip Planning
   1. The County Courthouse
   2. The National Archives (US)
   3. Regional Repositories
   4. The State Archives

Recent Presentations

1. Instructor in Beyond the Battlefield: Advanced Military Research Analysis and Methodology (TIGR, Jun. 2025)
   • Some Assembly Required: Reconstructing Military Service
   • Tracking Your Soldier: Using Compiled Military Service Records
   • Where Was the Regiment: Record of Event Cards
   • Corresponding with the Adjutant Generals Office: Bookmark Files
   • 18th & 19th Century Military Pension Records
   • Court Martial Records: Understanding the Uniform Code of Military Justice
   • Bounty Land and Homesteading Records
   • Cashing in on Military Service Land Entry Case Files & Practicum
   • Honoring our Military Ancestors: Understanding Lineage Societies
2. Instructor in Marching Off to War: A Case Study Approach (GRIP, Jun. 2025)
   • Some Assembly Required
   • The Adjutant Generals Office (AGO)
   • Congress to the Rescue
   • Bounty Lands & Homesteading & Practicum
   • Headed to Court
   • 19th Century Military Pensions & Practicum
3. Touring A Pennsylvania Courthouse (North Hills Genealogists, May 2025)
4. 2025 Ohio Genealogical Society Conference (May 2025)
   • The Trails through Penn’s Woods (Workshop)
   • Working to Keep the Family Fed (Luncheon)
   • American Federal Military Records of the 18th & 19th Centuries
   • Territorial Papers of the United States Reveal Early Ohio History
   • Go West Young Man or Woman: The Homestead Act
   • Penn’s Land: The Early Land Records of Pennsylvania
   • The Forgotten Wars of the 19th Century
5. GLO’ing with BLM Records (Tennessee Genealogical Society, Nov. 2024)
6. Penn’s Land Records (Tennessee Genealogical Society, Jul. 2024)
7. 2024 Ohio Genealogical Society Conference (May 2024)
   • GLO’ing with the BLM Records
   • The Ohio-Michigan War: How Michigan Became a State
   • Exploring Early Land Transactions in the Northwest Territory and Ohio
   • Land for Revolutionary War Veterans in Ohio
8. American Military Records, Federal Records for 18th & 19th Century (The Surname Society, Mar. 2024)
9. American Military Records, Federal Records for 18th & 19th Century (Genealogical Society of New Jersey, Aug. 2023)
10. The Trails Through Penns Wood, Records of Colonial Pennsylvania (Tennessee Genealogical Society, Jan. 2023, Wake County Genealogical Society, Jul. 2023)
11. Researching Your Civil War Ancestors (Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum, May 2022)
12. The Forgotten Wars 1796-1850  (Tennessee Genealogical Society, Feb. 2022)
13. Finding Those Who Marched (Bethlehem Chapter NSDAR, Oct. 2021)
14. GLO’ing with BLM Records (Jamboree 2021)
15. Co-Coordinator GRIP 2021, Answering the Call of Uncle Sam
16. 400 Years In America, Joining the General Society of Mayflower Descendants (Mainline Genealogy Club, Nov. 2021)
17. Our Representative Republic (Delaware Valley University, Center for Learning in Retirement, Spring 2020)
18. Coordinator GRIP 2020, Documentation for Lineage Societies