Today more than ever before, the availability and accessibility of primary source materials have allowed family researchers to extend their trees back further in time and fill in gaps with all sorts of new information. Yet in the information age, we are left with the need to filter information for relevance and to discern fact from fiction. This workshop with Darvin L. Martin will focus on these points, using a whole host of available resources, both online and at the Mennonite Heritage Center.
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- Learn to distinguish between primary source and secondary source materials.
- Determine how to filter relevant family history information from the pool of available information.
- Find useful ways to discern between what is fact or fiction when researching family history.
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Instructor Bio:
For the last twenty years Darvin L. Martin has explored the connections between his Colonial Pennsylvania ancestors and the context(s) in which they lived. His focus on family roots, science, geography and history, particularly the local history not found in common textbooks, has compelled him to blend these interests to stitch together the stories of these ancestors in their own context—using all kinds of available sources for information. He has published numerous books and articles focused on the themes of family history, local cemeteries, the colonial period of American history and local colonial interactions with Native Americans. He is currently working a new book describing the detailed lives of early European settlers in the Groffdale area of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.