| DATE:November 21, 2026 TIME:1:30 PM Pacific; 2:30pm Mtn; 3:30pm Central; 4:30pm Eastern TOPIC:Genetic Genealogy in Context: ITALY PRESENTER: Paul Woodbury |
| Description: While the biological principles of genetic genealogy apply in all geographic contexts, the application of these principles is sometimes influenced by cultural context in different regions of the world. In this presentation learn about the basics of genetic genealogy methodologies, as well as particular considerations for pursuing genetic genealogy in Italy and the Italian diaspora. Explore considerations for endogamy, the best tests and companies for Italian populations, Y-DNA and mtDNA context for the region, and record-keeping and cultural context that can affect genetic genealogy questions. |
 Presenter: From a young age, Paul Woodbury fell in love with genealogy research. To pursue his passion for this field, he studied genetics and family history at Brigham Young University. To aid in his desire to share his knowledge with others, he has also received a master’s degree in instructional design and educational technology from the University of Utah. Over the course of his career, Paul has solved hundreds of challenging genetic genealogy research challenges. He currently works as a senior researcher on the VIP Hosting and Research Services team at FamilySearch. In addition to genetic genealogy, Paul enjoys French, Spanish, Italian, and Scandinavian research. |
| COUNTDOWN TO THE MEETING: |
 Days Hours Minutes Seconds |
| Italian Interest Group (IIG) of theEastside Genealogical Society P.O. Box 374 Bellevue, WA 98009-0374 |
Presenter: Debbie Gurtler, AG®, graduated with honors from Brigham Young University with a bachelor’s degree in Family History. She has made research trips to Spain, Portugal, Virginia, and North Carolina. Fluent in Spanish, she can also read genealogical documents in Portuguese, Italian, and French. Debbie holds five AG® credentials they include the U.S. Mid-South region, Spain, Mexico, Chile, and Portugal.
Days Hours Minutes Seconds
Presenter: Joel Cole was born and raised in Padova, Italy. He has been involved with Italian Family History for over 30 years. He accompanied his father Trafford for his first genealogical research in Maniago, Italy, when he was 15 and since then he has been fascinated by family history. He has worked as a researcher for over 25 years, visiting almost every State Archive in Italy and almost 1,000 parish archives. He is familiar with paleography having taken several classes in Italy, and with Latin documents, having studied it for over 10 years. Joel has presented in many international genealogical conferences about Italian Family History and has worked for years for private companies performing research in all of Italy, consulting Civil records, Parish and Diocesan Catholic records, Notary records and many more sources. In 2015 he moved to Utah covering several roles for FamilySearch. He is currently the content strategist for Southern Europe, including Italy. Joel’s research specialties are: Italy, Southern Switzerland and Istria-Croatia. Expert at deciphering ancient Italian and Latin documents.
Days Hours Minutes Seconds
Days Hours Minutes Seconds
Presenter: Suzanne Cope is a scholar and narrative journalist, and is the author of Women of War: The Italian Assassins, Spies, and Couriers Who Fought the Nazis and Power Hungry: Women of the Black Panther Party and Freedom Summer and Their Fight to Feed a Movement. Her work on themes of political and social change, feminism, food, and culture has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Los Angeles Review of Books, Food & Wine, BBC, Washington Post, Aeon, and others. She is a professor at New York University.
Days Hours Minutes Seconds
Description: This presentation will discuss daily life in Italy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the period of mass emigration. The presentation will include information about home life, economics, society, gender roles, the emigration process, and what life was like for those who remained behind. This presentation gives a fuller perspective of the migration process, including not just those who migrated, but including those who never migrated, showing how their lives were affected just as much as those migrating.
Presenter: Victoria Calabrese
Presenter: Suzanne Russo Adams
Days Hours Minutes Seconds
Presenter: Sunny Jane Morton
Days Hours Minutes Seconds
Presenter: Kathy Kirkpatrick Kathy Kirkpatrick earned her B.A. in History from Humboldt State University at Arcata, California.