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• Ohio Chapter Spring Seminar and Membership Meeting

  • When
    18 Apr 2026
  •  
    9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

  The Ohio Chapter of Palatines to America
  2026 German Genealogy Spring Seminar and Membership Meeting
  

  Via Zoom with Speaker: Stephen Wendt, MLIS

  Stephen Wendt, MLIS, is a professional genealogist, speaker, instructor and writer. Stephen assists global clients with their diverse genealogical research needs. A specialist in Prussian/Germanic and Scottish genealogy, he regularly speaks on a variety of genealogical topics at the international, national and at the state and local level.

  Four Sessions

  Exploring Your German Roots: Essentials for Finding Records Gain a better understanding of German genealogy in the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the pursuit of records with numerous resources and examples.

  How to Discover Your German Ancestral Hometown More often than not, getting across the Atlantic is challenging.  Explore some of the most common North American records used in the pursuit of discovering the German ancestral hometown .

  Top Research Sites for the Former Eastern Prussian Provinces Explore the most common websites for doing research in the former Eastern Prussian provinces. Learn how to overcome barriers when it comes to sites that are in a foreign language.

  Navigating Shifting German Surnames Learn how to better navigate the recurrent, shifting nature of German surnames on both sides of the pond.

  A Zoom link and handouts will be emailed to paid registrants a few days prior to the seminar.

  For more information, please go to the Ohio Chapter website:

   https://oh-palam.org/

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• Colorado Chapter Spring Seminar

  • When
    18 Apr 2026
  •  
    9:30 AM - 4:30 PM
  • Location
    Highlands Park CO & ZOOM

  Colorado Chapter SPRING SEMINAR
  18 APRIL 2026
  Featuring Fritz Jeungling
  In-Person & ZOOM

  Registration is Now Open

  The Colorado Chapter of Palatines to America is pleased to announce that Fritz Juengling Ph.D., AG®, AGL™ Genealogist/Linguist has accepted our invitation to be the speaker at our Spring Seminar April 18, 2026. Visit www.copalam.us for more details. Visit www.copalam.us for more details.

  About Fritz Juengling:

  Doctor Juengling received his bachelor’s degrees in German studies and Secondary Education at Western Oregon University, his Master’s and Doctorate in Germanic Philology with minors in both English and Linguistics at the University of Minnesota. Germanic Philology is a highly specialized field of study, combining languages, linguistics, paleography and history.

  For his graduate degrees, Dr. Juengling was required to demonstrate competence in English, German, Medieval Latin and two other modern languages. He chose Dutch and Norwegian. He also took courses in Old, Middle, and Early Modern English, Old and Middle High German, Old Norse (Old Icelandic), Gothic, Old Frisian, Old Saxon, and Middle Dutch, history of the English, German, Dutch, and Scandinavian languages, Latin and Greek philology, Latin paleography, and Middle English paleography. He also took a number of courses on English dialects and wrote his dissertation on the formation of Southern Hemisphere dialects of English. He has taught German, English, Latin and Old English (Anglo-Saxon) at the high school and university levels.

  Dr. Juengling is an Accredited Genealogist® for Germany, Austria, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden through the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists and certified by the Verband deutschsprachiger Berufsgenealogen. He runs a genealogy research and translation business.

  Fritz’s Topics:

  1. Historical Events: How they Affect your Genealogy Research
  2. Austro-Hungarian Empire Geography
  3. A History of the Low German Language
  4. Extracting Information from German Church and Civil Records, German Handwriting.

  The seminar will be a hybrid event.
  A recording will be made available for 30 days to those who register.
  In-person attendees who register by 4 April 2026 will be eligible for lunch with Fritz.
  There will be lots of door prizes for both in-person and virtual attendees.

  Online registration is now open: click here

  The seminar flyer and off-line registration form is available here.
  Questions on the seminar: contact Jennifer Bigham at president@copalam.us;
  questions on membership: Sandy Carter-Duff at registrar@copalam.us.

  
  

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• PA Chapter Third Tuesday for April 2026

  • When
    21 Apr 2026
  •  
    7:00 PM
  • Location
    ZOOM

  PA chapter Third Tuesday Zoom PROgram

  The Pennsylvania Chapter’s series of Third Tuesday Zoom programs continues. Presented at 7:00 PM ET, they are free and open to all. Join us for our April program:

  LancasterHistory Collection Highlights: Palatines in Lancaster County
  Tuesday, May 19, 2026

  LancasterHistory Librarian Jessica Barbera will guide us through historic highlights of Palatines in Lancaster County and share tips on searching for items in LancasterHistory’s collections. She will also discuss the unique challenges related to researching German heritage items and offer suggestions on how to request access for digital and in-person viewing. If you are thinking of attending the National PalAm conference in Lancaster in June, this is a great opportunity to learn more about resources you might access while you are in the area.

  Jessica Barbera, nee Gutacker, is a Pennsylvania German Lancaster native with a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Computing and Information, as well as a BFA from Kutztown University. She believes any topic can be interesting, but her current areas of interest are migration, intercultural relations, visual culture, local ecology, and food history.

  Register here to join us for this program. If you have a question that you want to ask, feel free to email us in advance at info@pennpalam.org or pennsylvaniapalatines@gmail.com.

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• PA Chapter Third Tuesday for May 2026

  • When
    19 May 2026
  •  
    7:00 PM
  • Location
    ZOOM

  PA chapter Third Tuesday Zoom PROgram

  The Pennsylvania Chapter’s series of Third Tuesday Zoom programs continues. Presented at 7:00 PM ET, they are free and open to all. Join us for our May program:

  Researching German Ancestors in Chester County, PA
  Tuesday, May 19, 2026

  
  

  Large numbers of German settlers emigrated to Pennsylvania in the colonial era and during early statehood. Learn  how these trends influenced settlement patterns by way of research tools at the Chester County History Center and Chester County Archives, dating to the early 1700s. This talk encompasses the original geography of Chester County and its current shape. It also addresses other repositories that should be included when researching the 1600s.

  

   Ellen Endslow is the Director of   Collections/Curator at the Chester County   History Center, West Chester, PA. She is   responsible for the museum collection and   oversees the library and photo archives. Ellen   works extensively with the community on   exhibition, oral history, and program   development. Ellen supervises collections   management activities with community volunteers and student interns. She grew up in Lancaster County, has numerous German ancestors, and is a big fan of scrapple!

  Register here to join us for this program. If you have a question that you want to ask, feel free to email us in advance at info@pennpalam.org or pennsylvaniapalatines@gmail.com.

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• 2026 Pal Am National Conference

  • Start
    18 Jun 2026
  •  
  • End
    20 Jun 2026
  •  
  • Location
    DoubleTree Resort Hotel Lancaster, Pennsylvania

  

  Our German Ancestors: Building America

  The Palatines to America 2026 National Conference will be held
  

  June 18-20, 2026 at the DoubleTree Resort by Hilton Hotel in Lancaster, PA.
  Join us in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch Country near where many early Palatines settled.  Learn from local experts and nationally recognized speakers.  Celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday just a few miles from where it all started. Registration opens January 2, 2026.

  Planning to attend?  Save the dates!
  Coming up June 18-20, 2026: the Palatines to America 2026 National Conference - presented by us - the Pennsylvania Chapter!

  We're deep in the planning phase at the moment but here's what's real so far:

  • The conference will take place at the DoubleTree Resort by Hilton Hotel in Lancaster, PA. Registration will open January 2, 2026. (When you register for the Conference, we'll be sending instructions with your conference registration confirmation about how to get "Conference Pricing" if you choose to stay at the DoubleTree.)
  • There will be two days packed with (as yet unconfirmed) speakers / presenters on a variety of topics for anyone who is interested in their German Heritage.
  • We are planning for a variety of exhibitors and vendors with materials to support or enhance your German genealogy.
  • The schedule of events will be published here, so bookmark the page and check back often. Also, keep an eye out for more information in upcoming issues of the PennPal and Palatine Patter newsletters.
  • When confirmed, the speakers, exhibitors, vendors and activities will be published on this page.

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