Our Next Meeting:April 12, 2025 |
Presentation: Laurie Werner Castillo Lost Towns & Cities: How to Research Places That May No Longer Exist |
The regular monthly meetings of the Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group are held on the second Saturday of each month, except December, from 10 AM to noon. The meetings are free and open to the public. They are held at the Red Brick LDS Chapel, 4050 North 650 East (Timpview Drive), Provo, Utah, usually in the Cultural Hall. If you would like to receive email notification of classes planned for the next meeting, go to our blog page for instructions on how to subscribe. The Group is experimenting with live streaming of the main presentations through Facebook. To watch it online live click on UVTAGG Facebook website link in the box above and view the meeting remotely.
Laurie Werner Castillo
Title: Lost Towns & Cities: How to Research Places That May No Longer Exist
Description:
Locating the towns inhabited by our ancestors can be difficult. Many of them have not survived. Some have had several names over the course of time and may be hiding in plain sight. The presentation will cover best practices for locating and Identifying ancestral towns, in general. There will also be discussion of “lost towns,” why they no longer exist and where to find their records.
Bio:
Laurie Werner Castillo was born in Santa Monica and raised in West Los Angeles with beagles and land tortoises for pets and playmates. She played on the girls basketball team for two years in high school and also loved participating in tennis, volleyball and basketball. She misses the palm trees in her front yard and the smell of the ocean every day. After a really great educational experience in Los Angeles, she attended BYU, earning an AA in Communications and Fine Arts and a BS in Consumer Economics. She met Jerry Castillo, from San Antonio, Texas, in Utah and they have 2 children and 7 grandchildren. Laurie is currently first vice president of the Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group; She is former Vice President, Executive Secretary and Board Member, of the Utah Genealogical Association; She has been a BYU FH Library consultant, tour guide and teacher for 32+ years; She has been a professional researcher and writer 34+ years; She has presented at many conferences including: RootsTech 2016-2020, BYU FH Conference 2014-2019, and BYU Education Week 2016-2017, We Are Cousins Conferences 2-7 (2021-2024); She is a former Red Cross Instructor, Girl Scout Troop Leader, Boy Scout Merit Badge Counselor and Chihuahua breeder. Her research specialties include: Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Canada and Hispanic Research; And New England, Midwest, Southwest, Mountain States and Pacific Frontier regions of the US. Her interests include: history, mystery, geography and genetics. Add those up and you have family history.
There will no longer be a class after the main presentation.
The meetings are always open to the public and generally open with announcements that include what is happening in technology that effects family history work. A featured guest speaker will then make a one hour presentation on a topic of general interest relating to some aspect of technology and genealogy. Following the main presentation 3 or 4 classes are taught relating to technology and genealogy. These are at all levels from beginning to advanced and typically include classes about various genealogy programs and instruction for using the Internet for Family History work. The classes vary from month to month. There is a list of teachers and their specialties on the Teachers page. A few of the teachers have provided class outlines or summaries for some of their classes. For information about the meetings or about the Group, email us at uvtagginfo@gmail.com or call or text Gerhard Ruf at 801-602-5048.