April Genealogy Events AND Registration is Open for our Family History Conference AND Our Annual Salt Lake City Trip!

Our Open House on Saturday, 22 March, was a great success, and now we have more exciting events and meetings for you to attend, either in-person or via Zoom, coming up soon. Registration is open for our 53rd annual Family History Conference featuring Steve Little, Jim Brewster, and Josiah Schmidt. Remember that early registration ends on 17 April! By registering before that date, you save some money and help us plan more efficiently. In addition, one of the events we look forward to most each year is our annual research trip to Salt Lake City, and registration is now open for that. Read on for more!

 April StLGS Hybrid Monthly Meeting

Saturday, 12 April 2025

"Widowhood in French St. Louis," featuring Sharon Person, 10:00 a.m. (Central); free, open to all. This meeting will be held at the Clark Family Branch of the St. Louis County Library. It will also livestream via Zoom, but preregistration is needed to attend virtually.

Early St. Louis residents were bound by French law, and regulation of inheritance and property especially affected widowed women. The story of two widows, one of whom remarried and one who did not, will be our focus for this meeting, using French and Spanish archival manuscripts, the 1776 St. Louis census, and religious records. More details, a map to the library, and instructions for registering if you plan to attend via Zoom are on the StLGS website.

April StLGS Hybrid Irish SIG Meeting

Irish Special Interest Group Meeting: Saturday, 26 April 2025

"Irish Superstitions and Curses," by Gabrielle Ni Mheachair Woeltje, 1:00 p.m. (Central); free, open to all. This is a hybrid meeting; in-person at the StLGS office or virtually via Zoom. Preregistration required to attend virtually. More details and instructions for registering are on the Irish SIG page on the StLGS website.

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53rd Annual Family History Conference!

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and DNA:

Tools for Unlocking Your Past

Saturday, 3 May 2025

Featuring Steve Little, Jim Brewster, and Josiah Schmidt

Maryland Heights Community Center, 2300 McKelvey Road, St. Louis, MO 63043

This will be held as a hybrid event. Join us for a full day of lectures, exhibitors, and a chance to chat over morning coffee or lunch. If you can't attend in person, join us via Zoom. All the lectures will be recorded, and registered attendees will have access to all seven lectures after the conference. For those coming to the Maryland Heights Community Center, a box lunch can be purchased for an additional fee.

Saturday's Program (All times are Central Time Zone)

9:00 a.m.: Doors open

9:45 a.m.: Opening Remarks 

10:00 a.m.: "First Steps with AI-Assisted Genealogy" by Steve Little AND "Autosomal DNA and Artificial Intelligence: 21st Century Genetic Genealogy," by Josiah Schmidt

11:15 a.m.: "AI-Genealogy," by Steve Little AND "Add Some Might to Your Research with Mitochondria!" by Jim Brewster

1:15 p.m.: "AI Q&A: Time to Answer Your Many AI Questions," by Steve Little AND "Y-DNA: Making Men Feel Important Since 300,000 B.C.E.," by Jim Brewster

2:30 p.m.: Joint Session in the Millennium Room: "Training our AI Overlords: A Guide to Actually Useful Chatbots," by Steve Little and Jim Brewster

Complete details of each lecture and speaker bios are on our website. To see them, click on the Lectures and Speakers links in the upper right-hand corner of the page.

Conference Registration

Registration for the 2025 Family History Conference (FHC) is now open. Registration prior to 17 April is $65 for StLGS members and $75 for nonmembers. All of the information you need to register is on our website. Prices go up on 18 April, so register soon!

Once you have registered, you will receive an invitation to the FHC via the email address you provide. (Note: The email will come to you during the week before the conference.) Those attending in person will receive a paper syllabus. Everyone will have access to the syllabus as a downloadable PDF from a link on our website as well as all seven digital recordings.

Questions? Email programs@stlgs.org and the vice-president for programs will get back to you. 

We can't wait to see you at this year's Family History Conference!

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32nd Annual Research Trip to Salt Lake City

Ready to travel to the world's largest genealogy library? Each year we take a group of researchers from all over the U.S. to spend a week immersed in their favorite hobby. Five floors of books, microfilms, computers, scanners, and maps await you at the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, plus unlimited assistance from experienced group leaders and on-site library staff. It's a fabulous way to spend a week!

This year's trip . . .

Sunday, 5 October through Sunday, 12 October 2025

• Trip includes: Seven nights at the Salt Lake Plaza Hotel, next door to the library
• Six full days at the FamilySearch library
• Monday orientation tour of the surrounding area and the library
• Two group dinners
• Pre-trip hybrid meeting with instruction on using the FamilySearch website and library catalog
• Two group leaders available all week for help when you need it

Early registration for this year's trip closes on 30 June 2025; you save $100 by registering before that date. All the prices for double and single rooms are on the Salt Lake City Research Trip page of our website, and if you still have questions, just drop a note to slctrip@stlgs.org.