palatines to america
german genealogy society


The 2024 PalAm National Conference was held June 6-9
Albany, NY at the Albany Hilton



KEYNOTE SPEAKER

The New York Chapter of PalAm is hosting the event. Our keynote speaker will be PHILIP L. OTTERNESS, PhD. Professor Otterness earned his PhD in History at the University of Iowa. He is a professor of history at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina.

In addition to various academic positions, Professor Otterness has been studying the Palatine immigrants for many years. He authored the book, “Becoming German: The 1709 Palatine Migration to New York” published by Cornell University Press in 2004. He continues to research the Palatines and has had many articles published in scholarly journals and is a frequent lecturer in the U.S. and abroad.

special CONFERENCE EVENTS

RESEARCH DAY AT THE NEW YORK STATE LIBRARY
The State Library is just a few blocks from the Albany Hilton.
Thursday June 6 9:30 AM - 5:00 PM

UpstateNYer, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

RESEARCH DAY AT THE HENRY Z JONES JR
PALATINE RESEARCH CENTER
Germantown Library, 31 Palatine Park Road,
Germantown NY
Sunday June 9 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM

Both research days are free, but attendees are responsible for arranging their own transportation. 

Your organization is invited to be a vendor or exhibitor at the conference!

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Please consider being a sponsor!

This is a great opportunity for your organization to advertise to a national audience of genealogists and historians as well as the Capital Region of New York.

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Cobb, Sanford H. (Sanford Hoadley), 1838-1910, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

VENUE 

The Albany Hilton at 40 Lodge Street, Albany, NY. The link for booking hotel rooms at the Albany Hilton is: https://www.hilton.com/en/attend-my-event/palatines-to-america-2024/

This is a great location as there are several historic buildings within a couple of blocks from the hotel. One is St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, which is literally across the street. The parish was established in 1715, and it has a silver service from Queen Anne herself. It is the burial site of the only British general buried in North America, General George Howe, killed by the French at Ticonderoga. It is a 10-minute walk to the First Church of Albany, the Dutch Reformed Church with the oldest pulpit in North America. It was the church of Teddy Roosevelt and FDR when they were governors. The State Capitol is just up the street, and the State Library is a 15-minute walk from the hotel.

CONFERENCE REGISTRATION INCLUDES:

  • Access to all of the lectures, including those of keynote speaker, Philip Otterness
  • Breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Friday and Saturday
  • Invitation to a meet and greet on Thursday evening
  • An overview of how to use the State Library for genealogy on Thursday
  • An over view of the Henry Z Jones Jr Palatine Research Center on Sunday

2024 PalAm National Conference speakers:

Jon Marie Pearson, The Simple Living Genealogist
Daniel Horowitz, Genealogy Expert, My Heritage
James M. Beidler, Executive Director, Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania
William P. Tatum III, Dutchess County Historian
Philip Otterness, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor of History, Warren Wilson College

Tentative Schedule Subject to Change: 

Thursday, June 6th

9:30 AM to 3 PM - Research day at NYS Library

3:30 PM to 5:45 PM - Ancestral Narratives in Motion: Creating Reels and TikToks for Genealogy and Cultivating Your Genealogy World: Growing a Personal Community on Social Media by Jon Marie Pearson

Friday, June 7th

- Will Tatum - Wurtemberg settlement in Rhinebeck, NY
- Daniel Horowitz - Finding New German Records in MyHeritage Search Engine
- Lunch
- Philip Otterness - Adventures in the Archives
- Daniel Horowitz - Using Advanced DNA Tools to Understand Your Germanic DNA
- James Beidler - Palatine Resources in Pennsylvania Repositories

Saturday, June 8th

- James Beidler - Getting Best Use of Ancestry.com’s Hank Jones Database
- Daniel Horowitz - Finding the Places Your Relatives Arrived
- Lunch
- Philip Otterness - Conversational Q and A led by NY PalAm President Tom Shannon
- Daniel Horowitz - Creating Beautiful Charts of Your Family Tree on MyHeritage
- Philip Otterness - Gone to Carolina: the New Bern Palatines

Sunday, June 9th

Research Day at the Henry Z Jones Jr. Palatine Research Center, Germantown, 11 AM to 6 PM

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