Topic: Writing Your Family History
Writing our story and that of our ancestors is truly a key result for a 21st -century genealogist. We must break the habit of being “Hunters ‘n’ gatherers,” and learn to assess and compile our research to begin to write the stories we find. each one of us is the best person to tell our own personal story, but also that of our ancestors. This presentation will demonstrate how to assess, compile and write your research so you are leaving stories for your children and grandchildren.
About Emily Coffman Richardson: Emily is a professional genealogist and lecturer living in Denton, Texas. She began her genealogy research working with her mother in courthouses and cemeteries finding records for her ancestors in Ohio and Pennsylvania. In 2019, she retired from higher education as a faculty member and administrator, moved to Texas and opened up Kinsearchers, the original name of her mother’s business as a genealogist. For her clients she often works on lineage applications, for multiple societies, as well as brick walls including research for name conflicts within family trees. She is the president of the
Texas State Genealogical Society (TxSGS) for a two year term that began on January 1, 2025. She previously served as secretary for four years and as the Director-at-Large for the executive committee for TxSGS. She oversees the production of the new TxSGS Podcast,
Lone Star Family Trails..Emily is also active as the programming chair for Robson Ranch Genealogy Club. She teaches genealogy courses for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) for the University of North Texas. She speaks to multiple local genealogy societies throughout the state of Texas on a variety of genealogy topics. Emily’s passion is writing the stories of her ancestors to leave those that follow her in the future. Storytelling is one piece of genealogy that is rarely completed, but her mother requested that Emily work on the stories, since her mom had done a lot of the research. She is completing a four-volume work, scheduled for completion in early 2025 on the children of Melchior Yoder, her 5
th great grandfather, who arrived in the US in the 1750’s. This is being done as part of her role as coordinator for the non-Amish branch of the Yoders for the
Yoder Family Newsletter.