Speaker : Pam Vestel is a professional genealogist and speaker who turned her focus to her long time love of genealogy after a 20 year writing career.  Her articles have appeared in the National Genealogical Society Magazine and The association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly, and her lectures take her from coast to coast.  Pam specializes in conducting genealogical research and then transferring that information into illustrated stories that even non-genealogists can enjoy. 

One of the biggest hurdles to overcome in genealogy is the seemingly illegible handwriting in our ancestors records.  Whether our struggle to navigate colonial penmanship that doesn't even look like English or wrestle with contemporary documents that are poorly written and a few good strategies can make all the difference.  We'll look at more than 20 techniques to help you figure out what the chicken scratches on the  page say as well as what the style of writing might reveal about our ancestors.