TxSGS 2016 Speaker Spotlight: Diane Richard

We are thrilled to introduce you to one of the dynamic speakers teaching at our 2016 Family History Conference in Dallas Texas on October 28-30! Registration opened September 1st...grab your spot now!

About the Speaker

Diane L Richard is the Principle of Mosaic Research and Project Management (MosaicRPM), www.mosaicrpm.com. She has M.E. and M.B.A. degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). She has been doing genealogy research since 1987 and since 2004 professionally focused on the records of North Carolina, neighboring locales and migration paths to the Mississippi River. She has researched NC roots for the popular TV show Who Do You Think You Are? and appeared on the Bryan Cranston episode.

Since 2006 she has authored over 200 articles on genealogy topics for such publications as Internet Genealogy, Your Genealogy Today (was Family Chronicle), NCGS Journal, and local WCGS publications (newsletters and journal). Since 2010 she has been the editor of Upfront with NGS, the blog of the National Genealogical Society, and published over 1000 posts. She is currently editor of the journals for NCGS and WCGS.

She is a member of the national and local chapters of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG), the National Genealogical Society (NGS), the North Carolina Genealogical Society (NCGS) and the Wake County Genealogical Society (WCGS).

She is a member of the Genealogical Speakers Guild (GSG) and as a speaker she has done webinars for NCGS on Freedmen’s Bureau Records and pre­-1913 Vital Records, has taught 6 week Beginning Genealogy Research sessions (NC State Continuing Education), presented at the 2012 Federation of Genealogists Conference (FGS), the recent 2016 NGS Conference (speaking on Freedmen’s Bureau Records and “Poor” Records), spoken frequently across NC on many topics, given presentations to out-of­-state audiences from Augusta GA to Fairfax VA, is scheduled to speak at NERGC 2017, and record several more webinars for NCGS. She loves to talk about the availability and richness of records documenting North Carolinians and African­Americans and the tools that help us solve our genealogical conundrums.

Presenter Sessions

Freedmen’s Bureau Records – More Valuable to Anyone’s Southern Research Than You Might Have Thought
We overlook records that we think pertain to only one group of people. Though an excellent resource for information on freed slaves, these records cover many southerners from DE to TX – including ex‐soldiers, impoverished widows, and destitute parents.

Get Excited About Your Pre‐1870 African American Research
Researching emancipated slaves and their ancestors before 1870 can be extremely challenging and not necessarily impossible. We’ll explore records where you just might find them!