Speakers Bureau

Pamela J. Cooper

Lecture Topics

Skills and Methodology

• Library or Labyrinth: Getting through the Maze
• Timing Is Everything! Have You Timed Your Ancestor? [Timelines]
• How to Begin Your Family History Research (Can be presented in 2 parts.)

Record Sources

• Searching Newspapers Online
• Are Your Ancestors “Taxing” You? Try Using Their Tax Records!
• Border-to-Border – Statewide Sources and Indexes
• Census History and 1790-1840 census records
• How Accurate Are Your Senses? Getting Past the Errors in Census Records
• The Four C’s – Census, Court, Church & Cemetery – A Beginner’s Lesson
• Galusha A. Grow and the Homestead Law
• Invaluable Manuscripts
• Pray That You Can Find the Church or Better Yet the Records!
• Under Used, Unheard of and Not So New Resources or Where You Have NOT Looked?

Immigration

• Stop the Ship! I Want to Get On: Emigration, Immigration, Naturalization and Passports

Florida (See also Military below)

• Florida’s Treasures from 1777-1845

Foreign Research

• Navigating Back to England

Military

• Records of the War of 1812
• Military Records at the National Archives (Online and Offline)
• Seminole Wars - Did Uncle Sam Give Your Ancestor an All-Expense Paid Trip to Florida?

Willing to travel up to 150 miles.  Meals and travel expenses must be compensated. Lecture fees will be provided on request.

National Organizations

• Federation of Genealogical Societies
• National Genealogical Society

State Organizations

• Florida State Genealogical Society
• Florida Library Association
• Florida State Archives and Library
• Society of Florida Archivists

Biography

Pam has been the supervisor of the Archive Center and Genealogy Department for the Indian River County Main Library in Vero Beach, Florida since 1986. She built the collection from 250 to over 30,000 titles. The Archive Center is a rich resource for Florida and local history.

She served as a Director of the Federation of Genealogical Societies in 1995-1998; Director of the Florida Historical Society in 1997-1999, President of the Florida State Genealogical Society 1999-2003 and with her husband, served as National Conference Co-chair of the Federation of Genealogical Societies 2003 National Conference, which was held in Orlando.

Since 1986, she has served as President, Editor, and Program Chair of the Indian River Genealogical Society and as Trustee, Vice-president, and several committee chairs of the Florida State Genealogical Society. In 1994, she established the East Central Florida Genealogical Society Co-op.

Pam is a teacher and lecturer on genealogy at local, state and national levels and has been a genealogist since 1977. Working together with her mother, she published her first family history in 1993, Descendants of John W. Clark and Francis Hoff of Lincolnshire, England. She assisted in publishing the book World War II at the Vero Beach Naval Air Station, which became available January 2003. In 2005, she wrote the Florida chapter in the Red Book: American, State, and County Sources published by Ancestry. She is currently working on two Florida books to be published in 2009 and 2010.

Awards and Accomplishments

• In 2007, she received the Indian River County Laurel Award for Professional Leadership.
• With her husband they received the Award of Merit from the Federation of Genealogical Societies for their leadership on the 2003 national conference.
• At the National Genealogical Society conference in May of 2000, she received the P. William Filby Prize for Genealogical Librarianship.
• In 1994, she established the East Central Florida Genealogical Society Co-op. The Co-op has successfully provided a database of family histories that are located in nine county libraries.
• Received the Florida State Genealogical Society Distinguished Service Award in 1991.

Publications

1. Currently working on two Florida books that will be published in 2009 and 2010.
2. In 2005, Pam wrote the Florida chapter in Red Book: American, State, and County Sources published by Ancestry.
3. Assisted in publishing World War II at the Vero Beach Naval Air Station - 2003
4. Descendants of John Clark and Frances Hoff of Lincolnshire, England and Oakland County, Michigan - 1993
5. Cemeteries of Indian River County - Indexing
6. Military Veterans Buried in Indian River County, Florida
7. Numerous articles in the IRGS Newsletter.
8. Numerous articles in the FSGS Quarterly

References

National Organizations

1. Federation of Genealogical Societies
2. National Genealogical Society

State Organizations

1. Florida State Genealogical Society
2. Florida Library Association
3. Florida State Archives and Library
4. Society of Florida Archivists

County Organizations

1. Amelia Island Genealogical Society
2. Brevard Genealogical Society
3. Charlotte County Genealogical Society
4. East Hillsborough Historical Society
5. Family History Fair, Orlando
6. Family History Fair – Kingsland, Georgia
7. Genealogical Society of Collier County
8. Genealogical Society of Okeechobee
9. Genealogical Society of South Brevard
10. Highlands County Genealogical Society
11. Historic Ocala / Marion County Genealogical Society
12. Lee County Genealogical Society
13. Martin County Genealogical Society
14. North Brevard Genealogical Society
15. Ocala-Marion Genealogical Society
16. Okeechobee County Genealogical Society
17. St. Augustine Genealogical Society
18. Suncoast Genealogy Society
19. Treasure Coast Genealogical Society
20. Volusia County Genealogical Society
21. Numerous lineage societies and business groups.