The Margarine Moonshiners from Minsk: Conducting Story-Driven Research

The Jewish Genealogical Society of the Conejo Valley and Ventura County (JGSCV) will hold a general meeting, co–sponsored with Temple Adat Elohim, on Monday, November 3, 2014 at Temple Adat Elohim 2420 E. Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks, 7:00-9:00 p.m.

The Topic:
The Margarine Moonshiners from Minsk: Conducting Story-Driven Research
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Tammy Hepps takes a journey through story-telling that is funny and yet a genealogical journey that teaches us how to research. Hepps’ routine search on her great-grandfather revealed the shocking surprise that he had been incarcerated in Leavenworth, which led her to trace a group of brothers and brothers-in-law recently emigrated from Minsk, who set out to sell margarine as butter in defiance of the law. Hepps uncovered the hijinks of her great-grandfather, who fled with his family repeatedly before the feds finally nabbed him, the brother-in-law he fingered who was excommunicated for selling lard as butter, another brother-in-law who was arrested for threatening to kill a witness, and more. Hepps uses numerous historical and genealogical repositories to retrace her journey to get to the bottom of this long-concealed chapter in her family history. You will learn how you can better pursue the fascinating leads in your family trees when you think like a story teller.

Speaker: Tammy A. Hepps is the creator of Treelines.com, a family story-sharing website and winner of the RootsTech 2013 Developer Challenge. She has fourteen years of experience in digital media with a degree from Harvard. Hepps has been working on her family tree for more than twenty years and combines in Treelines.com her depth in genealogy, technology, and storytelling. She serves on the Board of Directors for JewishGen and the Philadelphia Jewish Archive Center, and the Board of Advisers for the NY Family History School and the Board of Advisers for the NY Family History School.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of the Conejo Valley and Ventura County is dedicated to sharing genealogical information, techniques and research tools with anyone interested in Jewish genealogy and family history.

There is no charge to attend the meeting. Anyone may join JGSCV. Annual dues are $25 for an individual and $30 for a family. Join now for 2015! Light refreshments will be served.
For more information contact: information@jgscv.org or
Jan Meisels Allen @ 818-889-6616