Jeff Miller has been passionately involved in research, leadership and education in genealogy for 17 years and addressed audiences at the  2011 and 2012 IAJGS Conferences. He’s written articles for Avotaynu and Mishpacha; is the immediate past Vice President for Programs of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington (JGSGW) where he’s also served as President and Recording Secretary. Jeff chaired the donation committee which raised almost $50,000 for the 2011 International Conference on Jewish Genealogy held in Washington, DC.

Jeff is proudest of reconnecting family branches from all over the world and has initiated many reunions with newfound cousins, most recently in Jerusalem.

“Putting the Truth to Family Myths, Stories and Jokes” (Sun-128), 3:00-4:15 P.M.

We like to put family before paper if we can in conducting genealogical research, but we often are faced with family members whose memories are hazy, whose knowledge may be limited, and who tell us stories or jokes that try our patience, frustrate us in our efforts to learn the truth about our ancestors, or send us down paths that prove to be blind alleys. I’ve encountered a number of such situations in my research, and I will share how I got back on track after running into brick walls, how I overcame obstacles to track down elusive relatives and learn about my family history.

My presentation addresses methodologies that the researcher can use despite name changes, misidentification or misspellings of town names or surnames, or other problems.

Topics: Ashkenazic research, Beginning genealogists, Cemetery research, DNA research and genetics, Genealogy and Jewish history related to WWI, Immigration and migration over the ages, Jewish history and culture, Jewish surname adoption and naming patterns, Rabbinic research, Repositories, Sephardic research, Specific countries or geographic areas