Maine Genealogical Society's
2010 Workshop & Conference
Genealogical Research into England, Scotland and Wales
with George G. Morgan
We are pleased to have George returning to Maine to conduct this workshop. He was the featured speaker at our 2007 annual conference and was very well received.
George is the President and Principal Trainer for Aha! Seminars, Inc., a company which organizes workshops, conferences, genealogical research tours in the U.S. and the U.K., and even the first modern genealogical ocean cruise in 2001.
A little background on George...
George was a training manager for Sears, Roebuck, Co., in the 1980s. He spearheaded the development of the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) implementation program for Montgomery Ward & Co. and then for Sears, Roebuck & Co. He also managed the development of an award-winning PC-based EDI software package while with Sears Technology Services, Inc., coordinated the construction of two state-of-the-art training facilities, and developed the training program to support a roll-out of the software to over 600 of Sears' smaller suppliers. George worked for Advantis, a subsidiary of IBM, coordinating development and production of over 60 training sessions for its annual customer conferences, attended attendance and participation by between 1,500 to 2,000 of IBM's and Advantis' largest customers. These sessions spanned a broad spectrum of mainframe, mid-range, and microcomputer applications including the Internet and email, network communication technologies such as dial, leased line, ATM, ISDN, DOV, and LAN gateway, and customers' applications using the IBM network, its products, and services.
In addition to his extensive responsibilities with Aha! Seminars, Inc., George is an avid genealogist. His interest began at the age of ten when he and his paternal grandmother and aunt divulged his paternal history extending back before the American Revolution. In the years since then, George's genealogical research has expanded to include all the branches of his family tree and he has investigated leads in materials in all sorts of places. Libraries, archives and courthouses are among his favorite haunts, but he will leave no stone unturned, even to the point of tracking down the original 1914 newspapers containing his great-grandparents' obituaries in a records retention facility owned by a county board of education. He is a master of working with and understanding all types of genealogical record types in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. With the advent of electronic research materials, he has become a recognized expert in using software programs, databases, Internet resources, online databases, Internet genealogical mailing lists and message boards, search engines, directories, subscription databases, and all the major online services in the world.
George is the author of seven landmark genealogy books. These include: The Genealogy Forum on America Online: The Official User's Guide; the award winning Your Family Reunion: How to Plan It, Organize It, and Enjoy It, both published by Ancestry Publishing. His award-winning book, How to Do Everything with Your Genealogy, published by McGraw-Hill/Osborne has been a part of its highly successful "How to Do Everything" series, and has been one of the best-selling genealogy "how-to" genealogy books published in the last 20 years! He also has written the first and second editions of The Official Guide to Ancestry.com. His Genealogical Research in the Major Repositories of London, published through Lulu.com ( http://www.lulu.com ), a print on demand publisher, has sold hundreds of copies. He has just completed the manuscript for the second edition of How to Do Everything: Genealogy for McGraw-Hill after a highly successful sales history of the first edition. He has another book and a chapter contribution to another genealogical reference book in the planning and negotiation stages.
George is a prolific writer in other areas as well. He began in 1996 by writing an award-winning weekly online genealogy column, 'Along Those Lines...' that appeared first in the Genealogy Form on America Online and then exclusively at the Ancestry.com website from January 2000 to March 2006, and additional columns for Ancestry Daily News. He also appears weekly in the Plus Edition of Eastman's Online Weekly Newsletter (at http://blog.eogn.com), at the bi-monthly electronic genealogy magazine, Digital Genealogist (at http://www.digitalgenealogist.com), in the Ancestry Weekly Journal at Ancestry.com, and at other online venues. He has written literally hundreds of articles for genealogy print magazines: Ancestry Magazine, the Association of Genealogists Quarterly, Discovering Family History, Everton's Genealogical Helper, Family Chronicle Magazine, Family Tree Magazine, the Federation of Genealogical Societies FORUM, Genealogical Computing (published by Ancestry Publishing), Heritage Quest Magazine, Internet Genealogy, the NGS News Magazine, and Southern Queries Magazine. His other online venues over the last decade have included Sony Communications' Emazing.com "Genealogy Tip of the Day" and a stint with ChineseRoots.com.
George is a highly popular speaker at international genealogical conferences. He has presented all across the United States in national, state, and local conferences. He also has presented in Canada, in the U.K., and on several international genealogical cruises. His range of genealogical interests and speaking topics is among the most diverse among the genealogical speaking community.
George is a past president of the International Society of Family History Writers and Editors and a former director of the Genealogical Speakers Guild. He is currently a director of the Florida Genealogical Society of Tampa and the Public Relations Chair and Publicity Director of the Florida State Genealogical Society. He is the list administrator for the MONTFORT-L genealogical research mailing list. He was program chair for the highly successful Federation of Genealogical Societies 2003 Conference held in Orlando, Florida. He is a member of many genealogical societies in the U.S. and the U.K.
George has won a number of prestigious awards over the last decade:
- "Excellence in Writing Award" (2001) ~ International Society of Family History Writers and Editors
- Florida State Genealogical Society "President's Citation" (2003)
- Federation of Genealogical Societies "Award of Merit" (2003)
- Florida State Genealogical Society "Genealogy Outstanding Achievement Award"
- Florida State Genealogical Society "Distinguished Service Award" (2008)
