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About Michael...
Activities:
Columnist, Ancestry World Journal. I write a regular column on genealogical research for the world's most popular genealogical ezine.
Board Member, Federation of Genealogical Societies
Instructor, Carl Sandburg College. I am on the mathematics faculty at Carl Sandburg College, a community college in West-Central Illinois.
Course Designer/Instructor, Genealogy Computing Week, Carl Sandburg College. I am the coordinator and instructor for the annual week of genealogical computing workshops held at the college.
Trip Leader. I am the trip co-leader and trip genealogist for an annual research trip to the Allen County Public Library co-sponsored by the St. Charles Community College and the St. Charles County (Missouri) Genealogical Society. I also lead an annual research trip to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Education:
Master's Degree (mathematics with statistical emphasis), Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois.
Bachelor's Degree (mathematics major), Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois.
post-graduate work (education and mathematics), Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois.
Michael's Lectures:
My approach is relaxed, generally lighthearted, yet informative. No one wants to sit and listen to a speaker read their lecture from a handout or give a monotone recitation of what is already on the projection screen. I also avoid the use of constant bullets in PowerPoint, probably because a bullet is how at least two of my ancestors met their demise (another one probably died due to having a sword pulled through his hands, but that's a whole lecture in and of itself).
Experience:
I have researched my own family for over twenty years and have also actively researched my children's ancestry as well. The bulk of this ancestry is centered in the American Midwest and points east. Many of my children's ancestors were post-1850 European immigrants from a variety of countries, including: Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Sweden, and Switzerland. There are also lines from Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia, and Maryland. By ancestry, I am one-half Ostfriesen. I have spent numerous hours in local courthouses, archives and libraries working on these families.
I have written on genealogical research and methods since 1987 for a wide variety of genealogical publications, including Ancestry, Genealogical Computing, the Genealogical Helper, Heritage Quest, and others. I have been actively involved in program planning and promotion of several Federation of Genealogical Societies' annual conferences.
I am a native of West-Central Illinois, and was raised on a grain and cattle farm in Hancock County where many of my ancestors began settling in the 1850s. I attended high school in the same building as my parents and went to junior high school in the building where my grandmother went to high school.
I got started in genealogy when my younger brother had to bring a 4-generation family tree to school. I wanted to know more (read-- "I was nosy") and it's been "uphill" from there.
References upon request.