Melinda Kashuba, Speaker at Family History Day

Please welcome Melinda Kashuba as a speaker at Family History Day at the California State Archives.

Melinda Kashuba holds a PhD in Geography from the University of California, Los Angeles.  She is a popular lecturer and author of Walking with Your Ancestors: a Genealogist’s Guide to Using Maps and Geography (Family Tree Books, 2005) plus numerous articles in genealogical magazines and other publications. Her specialties include nineteenth and twentieth century American records and maps.  She performs genealogical research for clients and is a member of the National Genealogical Society, the Association of Professional Genealogists, California State Genealogical Alliance, and the Shasta County Genealogical Society.

Melinda possesses archival, library and courthouse research experience throughout California, Nevada, and Hawaii as well as at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, the National Archives in Washington, D.C., the Library of Congress, the Daughters of the American Revolution Library, and The Newberry Library in Chicago.  Her expertise is in nineteenth and twentieth century American genealogical sources including, of course, maps.  She lives with her family in Northern California.

Melinda Kashuba will be presenting two classes:

(1) Civil War Genealogy:  The Civil War was the first American war that created a vast amount of information about participants: their military service, regimental and battle histories, and pension records as well as social and demographic information.  Success in navigating through these records comes from knowing the full name of the ancestor, whether he served on the Union or Confederate side, and the state from which he served.  This session will introduce you to the basic sources available to jump-start your Civil War research.

(2) Map Resources for Genealogists:  This session will present digital sources for maps – where to find old maps and how to make your own maps to enhance your research and illustrate events in your family history. Popular map collections such as the American Memory Project at the Library of Congress, David Rumsey, Ancestry.com and Historical Map Works will be featured.  Mapping web sites such as Google Earth, the National Atlas, and the University of Virginia Historical Census Browser and others will be demonstrated.