Maine Genealogical Society's
2009 Annual Conference
Meet our Speakers
Marcia Melnyk
Marcia
Iannizzi Melnyk is a professional genealogist who has taught
beginning and advanced genealogy courses for more than 15 years.
She is the author of The Genealogist's Handbook for New England
Research, Fourth Edition, The Weekend Genealogist: Timesaving
techniques for effective research, The Genealogist's Question and
Answer Book and Family History 101.
Marcia is President, and a founding member, of The Italian Genealogical Society of America, a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG), former executive board member of the New England Regional Genealogical Conference (NERGC), as well as many local and national societies.
Joseph C. Anderson II, FASG
Joe is editor of The Maine Genealogist and of the
Maine Families in 1790 project of the Maine Genealogical
Society. He is also co-editor of The American Genealogist,
an independent genealogical journal devoted to the elevation of
genealogical scholarship. Actively involved in genealogy for
some 25 years, he has authored or edited 18 books, including eight
volumes of the Maine Families in 1790 series, and more than
40 articles published in national and local genealogical journals.
He was elected a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists in
2000.
John F. Battick, Ph.D.
A Connecticut native, he traveled widely with his
service-connected family. "Jack" earned his doctorate at
Boston University and was a member of the History department at the
University of Maine for over thirty years. His initial
specialty was British history but he shifted his teaching
concentration to the history of early modern Europe. At the
mid-point of his career, he developed a deep interest in the
peaceful uses of the sea with a concentration on the social and
economic history of seafaring families and communities. He
also taught naval history in conjunction with the NROTC unit at UM.
He has given talks on seafarers, seafaring and ocean travel to many
genealogical societies. Currently, he is researching the
history of his family both in the U.S. and Europe, specifically in
Germany and Hungary.
Dennis Prue
Dennis Prue is a News Analyst by profession. Raised in a military family (aka Air Force brat). He has been an avid genealogist for the past 41 years, and has done research from Virginia to Quebec working on both sides of his family: McConnells from Virginia and Ireland to Prues / Proulx / Proust from Maine, New Brunswick, Quebec and France. Dennis is the past-president of Aroostook County Genealogy Society and is the current vice-president. He is a volunteer at the local Family History Center (only non-LDS staff member). He is co-editor of Ashland, Maine, The Early Years History. He has written many articles for the A.C.G.S. newsletter.
Dennis' s personal genealogy reflects the different styles of record keeping. His father's ancestors of French-Canadian origins have nearly no missing persons due to the wonderful records found in Catholic parish records. His mother's side of the family tree has more missing branches due to very bare bones English style records. The records of his father's family has enabled him to go five more generations back in France itself. This took nearly three years of research; learning to read Latin as well as convoluted French-Latin used during the switch from Latin in church records to the vernacular French and old French itself.
Jerry Gower
Jerry Gower is a native of Washington county, Maine, and was
raised in South Portland. He has a political science degree
from Boston University and did graduate studies at The American
University in Washington, D.C., and at The Fletcher School of Law
and Diplomacy in Medford, MA. Jerry is a retired Senior
Foreign Service Officer of the United States Agency for
International Development, for which he served in Brazil, Vietnam,
Peru and Jordan, as well as in various headquarters' capacities,
including Deputy Director of the The Office of Caribbean Affairs and
Director of Egyptian Affairs. He and his wife, Janice, who was
MGS membership secretary for six years and now serves as a director
for MGS, now reside in Raymond, Maine.
Jerry has been actively involved in genealogical research since 1981. As he worked in Washington, D.C., at that time, he made extensive use of that area's genealogical resources at The Library of Congress, The National Archives, The DAR Library and The Library of the National Genealogical Society, supplementing those resources with research at NEHGS and in sitio research in Maine and New Brunswick, Canada. Shortly after returning to Maine in 1992, Jerry began contributing to the Maine Families in 1790 project of MGS, to which he has now contributed over 130 sketches. Beginning in 1989, Jerry authored several articles on his ancestors which appeared in Generations (The journal of the New Brunswick Genealogical Society) and in Downeast Ancestry. Since 2000 he has written several problem solving articles for The Maine Genealogist relating to Maine Families in 1790 families on which he has worked. In 2007, Jerry was appointed a contributing editor of The Maine Genealogist.
Marlene A. Groves
Marlene Groves was born in Bath, Maine, and following her
marriage, she and her husband moved to Rockland. They have one
daughter, Heather, who is currently living in South Carolina with
her husband and their nearly 3-year-old son. Since 1992
Marlene has been employed by Picton Press of Rockland, a publisher
of genealogical and historical books. Her husband is now
retired. Marlene has been interested in her family's history
since her junior year in high school and has researched not only her
family's history but that of her husband. She has published
books on three of her own family lines: Clark, Hinckley and
Malbon. For the last several years she has been transcribing
the vital records for towns in Knox County which had not been
previously published. Since then she has branched out into
other counties and has transcribed the records of a few of the towns
in Lincoln, Kennebec and Somerset counties. Prior to the end
of 2007 she was a certified genealogist. When she is not
working on her transcription projects, she enjoys knitting and
crocheting prayer shawls for their church, homemaking and gardening.
Melvin W. Johnson
Melvin W. Johnson, a native of western New York state, earned a Master of Library Services degree at Columbia University in 1985. Now a Reference Librarian at the University of Maine, he was formerly at Barnard College in New York City and at the University of Michigan. He is a specialist in the social sciences and humanities, including history, literature and languages. From relatives born in the 1870s, he absorbed stories of Civil War ancestors and the financial panic of 1893. He resides in Garland, Maine.
Nancy Lecompte
Nancy (Coffin) Lecompte (aka Canyon Wolf) is the founder and
research director of Ne-Do-Ba (http://www.avcnet.org/ne-do-ba),
a non-profit organization devoted to exploring and sharing the
Wabanaki history of the Northeast. Born and raised in Auburn
and a graduate of ELHS, she is currently living in Lewiston.
Nancy has roots tracing back to many early families in Androscoggin
County and has at least one Native branch in the family tree.
The name Canyon Wolf under which she writes was gifted to her many
years ago. It very loosely translates to "history teacher;"
something she was not at the time she received the gift, but has
since become. Nancy is a current and long time member of MGS
and a life member of Androscoggin Historical Society.
Dale W. Mower
Dale is currently serving as president of the Maine Genealogical
Society. A self-proclaimed addict, Dale is involved in many
areas of genealogy. He is past-president and founder of
Penobscot County Genealogical Society, for which he currently writes
GenBytes, a column for their bi-monthly newsletter relating
to internet research. He serves as webmaster to not only those
two societies, but for Wassebec Genealogical Society, Dover-Foxcroft
Historical Society, and Pejepscot Genealogy Society. He also
volunteers as the USGenWeb volunteer for the Town of Greene, Maine,
for which he maintains a website, has transcribed and photographed
the majority of gravestones in the town, and is currently working on
transcribing the early vital records. He also is a
Find-A-Grave volunteer and frequent contributor to that site.
Dale has been accepted into the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil
War through his 2nd-great-grandfather, Hiram N. Parker. Also,
a member of NGS, NEHGS, and New Brunswick Genealogical Society, and
an occasionally finds time to research his own family history, blogs
and maintains a personal website devoted to his family
history. Dale is a frequent lecturer on the benefits and
use of the internet for genealogical research (among other topics)
and has led workshops on beginning genealogy.
Dale is a native of Bangor, the sixth (and last) generation to live on the family dairy farm. A graduate of Husson College, Dale is a part-owner of Creative Print Services in Bangor, serving as the accounting and operations manager. He lives in Bangor with his wife, Patti, and their 3 children - Meaghan, Derek and Melissa - who are familiar to past conference attendees.
Betsy Paradis
Betsy Paradis has been an avid genealogist since 1980 and has worked happily in libraries since 1981. Since 1993, she has had the pleasure of serving other genealogists in her role as a library professional. Currently, she is the Reference and Special Collections Librarian at the Belfast Free Library in Belfast, Maine. Prior to accepting the position in 2002, she was a Special Collections Librarian at the University of Maine's Fogler Library. She enjoys speaking to both genealogists and librarians about the benefits of working together to enhance the library experience for genealogy and local history researchers. She earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Maine and an M.L.I.S. from the University of South Carolina. She is on the Executive Board of the Maine Library Association, a Director of the Old Town Historical Museum and was a founder of the Wawenoc Chapter of the Maine Genealogical Society.
Janet K. TeBrake
Dr. Janet K. TeBrake, a native of New Castle, Pennsylvania, is Lecturer in History at the University of Maine where she earned her doctorate in 1984. Her dissertation "Peasants and Politics: Local Origins of the Land League Movement" has given her insights into the troubles in Ireland in the 19th century. Her publications include "Irish Peasant Women in Revolt: The Land League Years" in Irish Historical Studies (May 1992) and "Personal Narratives as Historical Sources: The Journal of Elizabeth Smith 1840-1850" in History Ireland (Spring 1995). She resides in Bangor, Maine.
We are very excited to announce our line-up of speakers!
By popular demand, we're bringing back some old favorites! We're sure you will recognize many of these names.
We are mixing in a few new people as well.
Good luck choosing who you want to listen to!