Noted Genealogist Ceil Wendt Jensen will be in Ann Arbor Sunday, April 26, 1:30 p.m. at the Education Center on the St. Joseph Mercy Hospital campus to present Strategies for Locating Ancestral Villages sponsored by the Genealogical Society of Washtenaw County. You don't have to travel to Europe to unlock the past, there are plenty of print and online sources available in the U.S. to help you in your quest and Ms. Jensen will discuss and demonstrate these valuable resources. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Curious about your family history, but don't know where or how to get started? If this sounds like you, then we invite you to attend our program, Genealogy for Beginners, Thursday evening from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the Downtown Library. Our staff will demonstrate how to search for historical records in databases, Ancestry and HeritageQuest, as well as how to use various genealogical websites. They will also share tips on how to begin the research process. If you have never conducted genealogical research before and want to know how to get started, then this is the class for you.

Census records are an invaluable tool in genealogical research but they are a tool that presents challenges for both new and seasoned genies. The Geneaolgical Society of Washtenaw County will host a lecture by genealogical masterwonk Barb Snow on Sunday, Sept. 28, 1:30 p.m. at the St. Joseph Merch Education Center Auditorium. AADL has Census records on microfilm, remotely through Heritage Quest and online at the library through AncestryPlus.

Alexander Murray Palmer Haley was born on August 11, 1921 in Ithaca, New York. As a young boy, Alex Haley learned of his African ancestor, Kunta Kinte, by listening to the family stories of his maternal grandparents while spending his summers in Henning, Tennessee. According to family history, Kunta Kinte landed with other Gambian Africans in "Naplis" (Annapolis, Maryland) where he was sold into slavery. Alex Haley's quest to learn more about his family history resulted in his writing the Pulitzer Prize winning book Roots. The book has been published in 37 languages, and was made into the first week-long television mini-series, viewed by an estimated 130 million people. Roots also generated widespread interest in genealogy and eventually helped spawn the Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Foundation.
Other Haley publications include many well received Playboy interviews (including Martin Luther King, Jr.), his first major book, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, A Different Kind of Christmas, a 1990 book about the underground railroad, and Queen, the story of Haley's paternal ancestors. Perhaps one of Alex Haley's greatest gifts was in speaking. He was a fascinating teller of tales. In great demand as a lecturer, both nationally and internationally, he was on a lecture tour in Seattle, Washington when he suffered a heart attack and died in February 1992.

Piecing Together Our Past, the 2008 Abrams Genealogy Seminar, Friday, July 25-Saturday, July 26 at the Library of Michigan in Lansing has something for every genie! On Friday, experts will concentrate on the many local history rooms, special collections and organizations throughout Michigan that can help you with family history research. Dr. George K. Schweitzer, author of some 20 genealogy books, will lead two seminars, "Tracing Ancestors Back Across the Atlantic" and "Civil War Genealogy." You can print and mail in the registration form. For more info, contact Randy Riley or Kris Rzepczynski at (517) 373-1300.

Lauren Groff's "exuberant" debut The Monsters of Templeton* is a "fantastically fun read, a kind of wild pastiche that is part historical novel and part mystery, with a touch of the supernatural thrown in for good measure".

Pregnant and troubled, archaeology student Wilhelmina (Willie) Upton slinks home to Templeton, N.Y., after a disastrous affair with her professor, on the very day a long-feared sea monster surfaces in Lake Glimmerglass, quite dead. When Vi, Willie's flower-child mother let slip that Willie's father is in fact a respected citizen in town rather than a nameless hippie from Vi's commune days, Willie dives headlong into untangling the roots of the town's greatest families and her father's identity.

Brilliantly incorporating accounts from generations of Templetonians — as well as characters borrowed from the works of James Fenimore Cooper, who named an upstate New York town Templeton in The Pioneers, Groff, a native of Cooperstown(on which Templeton is based), will delight readers with Willie's sharp wit, literary/historical references and lore.

* = Starred Reviews

There are still a few seats left at WCC's FREE genealogy workshop this Friday, June 13, 9:00 - Noon. The workshop will be held in the Morris Lawrence Building and experts will discuss the use of census, naturalization, death, and military records in genealogy research. Register by calling 734.973.3379 or email lrosser@wccnet.edu.

Looking for new ways to research the family tree? "Learning More at the Library of Michigan," a free annual genealogy seminar set for Saturday, March 29, will focus on utilizing online resources for family history research. The workshop runs from 1 to 4:30 p.m. at the Michigan Library and Historical Center. Seating is limited, so registration is recommended. Sign up online at www.michigan.gov/familyhistory, by e-mail at librarian@michigan.gov or by phone at (517) 373-1300.