The Sioux Valley Genealogical Society hosts its Genealogy Seminar every other year, featuring nationally recognized speakers and educational sessions designed to inspire and advise family history research. In 2027, we are pleased to welcome Sara Cochran.
Over the course of 5 presentations, Sara will help us build strategies to locate and dig into immigration records and land records to trace our family journeys across the ocean to the breadbasket of America.
Friday Evening, April 9, 2027
Session 1: From Shamrock to Sod House: Journey to the Dakota Territory
One Irish family, four locations, decades of records. Follow the Ronaynes from Ireland through Minnesota and Iowa to Dakota Territory, using a wide variety of record types to piece together a multi-generational migration story — and the research strategies that made it possible.
Saturday, April 10, 2027
Session 2: Everywhere to the Dakotas: Immigrant Ancestors and Their Paper Trail
The Dakotas drew settlers from across the globe — Irish, German, Scandinavian, and beyond. This session explores immigration and naturalization records for tracing these diverse origins, from ship manifests to declarations of intent and final papers. Learn how record-keeping varied by era, ethnicity, and jurisdiction — and where the gaps hide.
Session 3: Filed with the Feds: Beyond the Census
From homestead claims to bankruptcy cases to Depression-era relief loans — the federal government kept records on nearly everything, and most researchers only scratch the surface. This session maps out where these overlooked collections live and what they reveal that more familiar records can't.
Session 4: Home on the Range: Filed at the Courthouse
The county courthouse holds more family history than most researchers realize. This session digs into land and probate records — tracing a chain of title, tracking inheritance, and untangling family relationships through deeds and wills — plus a few lesser-known courthouse records worth adding to your research checklist.
Session 5: From Chaos to a Family Story: Planning, Tracking, and Following Through
You've spent the day gathering ideas — now turn your to-do list into a real research plan. Learn how to survey online versus offline sources and set up a tracking system that keeps sources, hypotheses, and next steps from slipping through the cracks, turning a pile of records into a coherent family story.
