Third
Joint
Seminar
About Our Speakers
Ariel
Blondet,
researching his family since 1994,
discovered that his ancestors came to Puerto Rico as African slaves. He has
lectured at several genealogy workshops, served as treasurer of the Puerto
Rican/Hispanic Genealogical Society for eight years, and is currently involved
in a project transcribing early to mid-1900’s passenger lists.
Felicia
Bentiné-Padilla began
her genealogical pursuit in 1999 and has researched at the major New York
repositories and at the National Archives in DC, in addition to the Archivo
General, the Archdiocese of San Juan and several churches in Puerto Rico. She is
a lecturer and current Secretary of the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Genealogical
Society.
Tony
Burroughs, FUGA, internationally
known genealogist, graduate of Samford University Institute of Genealogy and
History, and of the National Institute of Genealogical Research, has co-authored
the African-American
Genealogical Sourcebook and Black Roots. Besides receiving awards from, and serving on the boards of, our
national genealogical societies, he was lead investigator for the Discovery
Channel’s BBC production The
Real Family of Jesus.
Laura
Murphy DeGrazia, CG,
a board-certified genealogist, is
a Trustee of the Board for Certification of Genealogists. She has written
articles for several prestigious genealogical publications, been interviewed on
CNN American Morning and NBC Nightly News, and is the co-compiler of two books
of “information wanted” advertisements from nineteenth-century
Irish-American newspapers.
Michael
S. Genovese, a teacher of
secondary education for 37 years who currently teaches a New York City History
Course for high school seniors, began his family research in 1997. He is
Co-President of the Italian Genealogical Group; maintains their surname data
base and writes the “From the Four Corners” column in the IGG newsletter.
Richard
Haberstroh, AG,
an accredited genealogist and a
founding member of the German Genealogy Group, has been involved in genealogical
research since 1984. In addition to lecturing, he has published numerous
genealogical articles, including a portion of his own family’s history in the New
York Genealogical & Biographical Record,
and is the author of The
German Churches of Metropolitan New York: a Research Guide.
Christine
LeFoll,
a former newspaper editor, is now with the Godfrey Memorial Library utilizing
both her information technology skills and her public and media relations
experience to assist with their ongoing digitization project, and in the
production of The
Godfrey Update. She represents
GML at several genealogy conferences and seminars.
Joysetta
Pearce, CG, a board-certified
genealogist and licensed private investigator, is co-founder, newsletter editor
and Executive Director of the African
Atlantic Genealogical Society.
She provides expert
mentoring in genealogical
research for Family Roots, Hempstead, NY and co-hosted a weekly broadcast on
Genealogy Talk-Radio.
Arthur
F. Sniffin, MA, retired New York
State Archives and Records Administration Regional Advisory Officer, also served
as archivist for The Rockefeller University, for Stony Brook University Library,
and as a Field Archivist for Cornell University. He is founding chairman of the
Genealogy Workshop of the Huntington Historical Society and a past president and
board member of the Federation of Genealogical Societies.
Marilyn Verna, PhD,
an
associate professor of education at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, NY and
Co-President of the Italian Genealogical Group, has had genealogical articles
published in journals in Italy. She has been diligently pursuing her family
roots for twelve years and is in the process of obtaining a license as a
professional genealogist.
Meldon
J. Wolfgang III, former Director
of Academic Programs for the State University Urban Center at Albany, served as
trustee for the Albany County Historical Society, and for Albany Public Library.
He was
an original trustee of the joint Albany City-County Archives, served
as chairman of the English Department of Mutolere Senior Secondary School in
Uganda, and is owner of Jonathan Sheppard Books and Martlet Books.
Updated: 02/22/2008