Last week I was privileged to help with a very successful family history fair sponsored by the East Texas Genealogical Society and The Tyler Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There were about 200 people in attendance at the fair, held at the Tyler Texas Public Library. Here are the specific events I took part in:

Friday, Sept. 9 – Fireside. This was attended by family history consultants and members of the East Texas Genealogical Society. I led a discussion on the importance of family history work and how me can spread our efforts and get more people involved and blessed by it.

Saturday, Sept. 10 – Keynote address. This was an Introduction to The Family History Guide, where I demonstrated the website and held a Q&A session at the end.

Saturday, Sept. 10 – Research with The Family History Guide. This class covered the research tools and resources available in The Family History Guide, including United States and international research.

There quite a few other classes held throughout the day in various parts of the library. One that I was able to attend was an overview of slavery and African American research given by expert genealogist Don Payton. He is based in the Dallas, Texas area and is a popular genealogy speaker and historian. See more about Don at the end of this article.

Photo Gallery

Here are a few photos of note that were taken at the East Texas Family History Fair …

Organizing Committee, left to right:

• Jill Taylor – Planning Committee Member for the Family History Fair; Communications Specialist, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Tyler Texas Stake
• Dorinda Williams – Planning Committee Member for the Family History Fair; Chairperson, African American Research – Special Interest Group, East Texas Genealogical Society
• Rick Featherston, Planning Committee Member for the Family History Fair; 2^nd Vice President, East Texas Genealogical Society
• Michele Bailey, President, East Texas Genealogical Society; Chairman of the Planning Committee for the Family History Fair; Director of the Athens Family History Center, Tyler Texas Stake; Senior Service Missionary for FamilySearch, NA – Texas Records
• Karla Clark, Planning Committee Member for the Family History Fair; 1^st Vice President, East Texas Genealogical Society; Assistant Director of the Tyler Family History Center, Tyler Texas Stake
• Dale Wade, Webmaster, East Texas Genealogical Society
• Rozanna Bennett, Planning Committee Member for the Family History Fair; Reference Librarian for the Tyler Public Library
• Daren Yeager, Planning Committee Member for the Family History Fair; Tyler Texas Stake Presidency, 1^st Counselor

Bob Taylor leading the discussion at the Friday evening fireside, Tyler Stake Center

Bob Taylor delivering the keynote session in the Tyler Library Auditorium

About Don Payton

I WAS JUST THINKING: Donald “Don” Payton – our Dallas African griot. Look it up.