Speaker Profile-Ted Steele

Ted Steele

Ted Steele began researching his family history in 1977. His book, A Steele Family History, was named the “Best Family History of 2001” by the Connecticut Society of Genealogists. He is also the author of Ebbets: The History and Genealogy of a New York Family. In addition to his conference lectures, he was the national chair of the GENTECH 2004 Conference in St. Louis and was the keynote speaker for the Maine Genealogical Society’s annual conference in 2012. Ted is a past president of the St. Louis Genealogical Society.

Saturday, 8:00 a.m., S408–“Family Stories: Analyzing the Evidence to Learn What Really Happened”

Every family has them. This lecture will explore several family stories that I either heard as a child or discovered as I was researching my family history. After all, it’s the stories that bring our ancestors to life. So, as a family historian, you must have the stories. But you also want your stories to be accurate. As we will see, many of these stories are not true in every detail. And some are a long way from reality.

I will introduce each narrative as I heard it. We will then explore the research processes used to learn the truth. And then we will re-examine the original stories in light of what really happened and gain insight into how these stories come about. Finally, we will apply the BCG Guidelines for Evaluating Genealogical Resources and discuss those genealogical “dos and don’ts” as you deal with the stories in your family.

Speaker Profile-Ted Steele