There will be various sessions for everyone from beginner to expert. We're very pleased to be able to offer four presentations by nationally known genealogical lecturer and author Patricia Law Hatcher, CG, FASG of Dallas, Texas. Ms. Hatcher's first session will be based on her well-known book, Producing a Quality Family History (Ancestry). She is a Certified Genealogist, a former trustee of the Association of Professional Genealogists, and in 2000 was elected one of the fifty Fellows of the American Society of Genealogists. A popular lecturer and instructor she has spoken at many national conferences and institutes. She will also present sessions dealing with documentation and with adding context to the lives of your ancestors as you "Tell Their Stories".

Other sessions are devoted to learning about ways to gather and use information to help "tell their stories". Sessions will include: Beginning Genealogy, Using On-line Card Catalogs, Researching With Newspapers, and a panel of experienced genealogists who will explain how to compile and submit a sketch to the well-known genealogical series, Maine Families in 1790.

Additionally there will be presentations that "tell their stories". Dr. Jean Harkins, historian, uses the extensive diaries of two women of very different social-economic backgrounds who lived at the same time in Western Maine, to "tell their stories". Costumed storyteller Marian Novak "tells the story" of her relative, Charles Obourne Libby, from his early life in Maine, his Civil War service, his southern bride and the ups and downs of his life until his death in Oklahoma in 1917. Dr. John Battick, historian and genealogist, will use a slide presentation to explain some of the difficulties in tracing genealogical information for seafaring families who lived under rather different constraints than land-bound families.

Registration begins at 8:00 a.m. and vendors will be available from that time. Conference fee is $30.00 at the door or if prepaid by August 23, 2003 it is $25.00 for the day. (MGS members $20.00, if prepaid.) Fairfield Historical Society is providing lunch at $6.00 for those who pre register for the conference and lunch.

For more information visit the Maine Genealogical Society Web site at www.rootsweb.com/~megs/MaineGS.htm or cpatten@tdstelme.net or contact Flossie Dere at Flossie@megalink.net or by mail at Flossie Dere/MGS, P.O. Box 342, E. Wilton, ME 04234.