SA21 Bits and Pieces: Merging Identity Fragments to Reconstruct Lives

Saturday, 24 May 2025, 12:15 p.m., Carroll Ford

Ancestors left identity fragments across time and space. Learn how to merge those fragments into lives, and how to avoid the same name-different person trap.

This is a GenThink lecture – challenging genealogists to think about how they know what they think they know. Certain identity is a prerequisite for successful genealogy research. This lecture will demonstrate the importance of beginning with a uniquely identified research subject and sifting evidence scattered across time and space (geography) to accurately reconstruct a research subject’s life.

J. H. Fonkert, CG, has taught in the SLIG Advanced Practicum and coordinated the 2024 GRIP Midwest course. He researches 19th-century Virginia migrations to Kentucky and beyond.

Registrants who check in at the Louisville registration desk can access this and all the lectures they don’t catch in person on the Whova app until 15 July 2025.