Patricia Penka French
Lecture Titles: “Bulgarian-Macedonian Culture/Research”
Patricia Penka French is the president of the BMNECC — the Bulgarian Macedonian National Education & Cultural Center in Pittsburgh.
She has spent a lifetime in Public Relations, Promotions, and Development for worthwhile organizations and projects.
Patricia is an interpreter for the U.S. State Department in Bulgarian.
She is recognized throughout the world as one of the truly great forces in Bulgaria’s cultural life.
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Irmgard Hein-Ellingson
Lecture Titles: “Austria-Hungary Part I: The Habsburg Heart of Europe”; “Austria-Hungary Part II: Galicia and Bukovina: Multi-Ethnic Overview and Research Resources”; “A Survey of Monotheistic Religions in Central and Eastern Europe with Implications for Archival Research”
Irmgard Hein Ellingson is a previous past president of FEEFHS. The American-born daughter of Volhynian German refugees, she has spent more than 30 years engaged in eastern European study and research. A former public school and college instructor, she serves as an associate in ministry in the Mission Unity Lutheran Parish in Grafton, Iowa.
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Karen Hobbs
Lecture Titles: “Finding Grandfather’s Regiment in the Austrian Army”; “German-Bohemian Tract”; “Recruiting Rules of the Austrian Army and Their Affects on Life Decisions of Men Who Served”
Karen Hobbs is an author, lecturer, and independent scholar. She works as a translator of Imperial Austrian military history and of German-Bohemian history, folk culture and tradition. Karen has contributed translations and original articles to various genealogical periodicals. She has been speaker at academic and genealogical conferences in Minnesota, Texas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Kansas and at the East European conference in Regina, Saskatchewan. Karen lived in Germany for four years in the 1970’s and conducted research trips in 1993 and 1997 to Germany and the Sudeten area of the Czech Republic. Karen has published the book, One Hundred Tales from Sudetenland and is currently working on the Tips for Using the LDS Library Catalog CD.
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Marilyn Cocchiola Holt, MLS
Lecture Titles: “Genealogical Resources in Western Pennsylvania”; “Climbing Your Family Tree: Beginning Genealogy”
Marilyn Cocchiola Holt, MLS, is Department Head of the Pennsylvania Department of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh of Pittsburgh and Past President and Director of the Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Society. She also currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. Ms. Holt has worked with genealogical patrons for 24 years and has presented numerous programs on local and family history topics, as well as teaching courses on genealogy since 1988.
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Ceil Wendt Jensen, M.A., C.G.
Lecture Titles: “Polish Archives: Behind the Scenes in Gdańsk & Poznań”; “Marianna: Researching the Female Line –Mariana: Matka, Zona, Córka, Siostra” (in costume) ; “Maps for Genealogy: Old, New and Electronic”; “Newspapers: Three Generations ‘In The News’”
Cecile Wendt Jensen, MA, CG, (Certified Genealogist), has documented her ancestry back to East and West Prussia, Galicia, Russian Poland and Posen and has done on-site research in Europe. Ceil Jensen presents practical examples and suggestions on how to use records, databases and archives to start or advance your genealogy research. She dispels the myth that records were destroyed during the World Wars and that language barriers make European research difficult. She is the author of Sto Lat: a Modern Approach to Polish Genealogy and three books from Arcadia Publishing : Detroit’s Polonia, Detroit’s Mount Elliott Cemetery and Detroit’s Mount Olivet Cemetery. She is a 2008 recipient of the MTU Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections Research Travel Grant. She will be documenting the Polish Miners of Calumet, Michigan. Her lectures, workshops and website Michigan Polonia http://mipolonia.net are devoted to helping researchers find their Midwestern and Polish heritage.
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Robert Jerin
Lecture Titles: “Finding Your Grandma at Ellis Island”; “Searching for Your Croatian Roots”
Robert Jerin’s interest in genealogy dates back to 1986 when he began researching his Croatian family roots. He has conducted workshops throughout the US as well as Croatia and has self-published a Croatian Genealogy Handbook. Since 2005 he has led heritage and history tours to Croatia. In 2006 he was a presenter at the Ohio Genealogical Society Annual Conference, “What’s in a Name: A Study of Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian Surnames”, which was later published by the National Genealogical Society. Robert is a member of The Croatian Genealogical Society based in Zagreb, Croatia, The Hungarian Genealogy Society of Ohio, Lake County Ohio Genealogical Society and the Cleveland District (genealogy) Roundtable. He is a regular contributor to several online genealogy message boards and has done research in the US as well as Croatia.
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Brian J. Lenius
Lecture Titles: “Locating and Accessing Genealogical Records for Western Ukraine (Galicia)”; “Journey thru Galicia (Poland & Ukraine”; “Land Records and Property Maps in the Austrian Empire – Focus on Galicia”
Brian J. Lenius, a researcher for 24 years, is author of the Genealogical Gazetteer of Galicia and many published articles. He is President Emeritus and co-founder of the East European Genealogical Society, founding 1st VP of FEEFHS, and was editor of the East European Genealogist for eight years. His ten research trips to Poland, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Germany, and Austria have resulted in greatly expanding resources available in North America.
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John J. Matviya
Lecture Titles: “Finding Your Slovak Ancestors”; “Using the 1869 Hungarian Census”
John J. Matviya has been involved in genealogy and family history research for over 30 years. Prior to his retirement in 2007, after 34 years with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, this passion was only “part-time” but now he’s busier than ever! John serves his local community as Archivist/Genealogist for the Derry Area Historical Society in New Derry, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.
Although John was born and raised in Pittsburgh, some 35 miles west of his present home, it was in the Derry area where his parents were born and where his roots were established. John’s mother was born into a predominantly English rooted family with ancestors arriving in Plymouth Colony as early as 1635 while his father’s parents immigrated from present day Slovakia in 1910. After conquering his mother’s side of the family tree, John turned his attention across the ocean to find his father’s roots. In 2000 he jumped on an opportunity to visit Slovakia, “found” previously unknown cousins living in his grandmother’s village and received a quick education in Slovak research at the archives in Presov and village cemeteries. He returned to his new “homeland” in 2004 and 2007.
It was following his first visit to the birthplace of his paternal grandfather, the tiny village of Milpos, that John met Lisa Alzo, another Milpos descendant. Soon John and Lisa collaborated on an on-line “virtual village” of information related to Milpos and the surrounding villages, acquiring a community of over 50 other descendants interested in learning about their Eastern Slovakia “home”. John has made numerous presentations on family history research subjects, including researching in Slovak and Hungarian records.
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Dave Obee
Lecture Titles: “EWZ: World War Two Immigration Records of Germans from East Europe”; “Using Maps and Atlases”
Dave Obee is the owner of Genealogy Unlimited and Interlink Bookshop. He has been a newspaper reporter or editor for several different newspapers in British Columbia or Alberta since 1972 and is currently editorial page editor of the Victoria Times Colonist. An author/compiler of five books on genealogy research, David has been a family history researcher for twenty-five years. Dave has traveled extensively in Russia, Poland, Ukraine, and Germany, visiting major archives and libraries in five countries for genealogical research. He is the current president of the Victoria Genealogical Society.
Dave was born in British Columbia, and his roots there go back to the arrival of his great-great-grandfather from Manitoba in 1890. Some of his paternal ancestors arrived in North America two centuries ago. His mother was born in a German colony in Russia, and came with her parents to Canada in 1928.
Dave has been a guest speaker at several genealogy society meetings and conferences in recent years. A detailed list of topics (along with their links and some of the handout information) may be found at the Dave Obee page on the Interlink site.
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John Righetti
Lecture Titles: “Who are the Rusyns?”; “Rusyns and Slovaks: Similarities and Differences”
Mr. Righetti has been actively involved in Carpatho-Rusyn (Kar-PATH-o ROO-sin) cultural affairs for more than 30 years. A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, he possesses a certificate in Russian and East European Studies. His area of concentration was Austro-Hungarian History with a particular focus on the Carpatho-Rusyns. While at Pitt, he also studied the Slovak and Ukrainian languages.
Mr. Righetti has contributed greatly to Carpatho-Rusyn cultural achievement and preservation both in the United States and Europe. He has studied Carpatho-Rusyn culture on both sides of the Atlantic. He has served in various positions with the Carpatho-Rusyn Research Center, this nation’s premier scholarly organization researching and printing information on Carpatho-Rusyns and their culture. He has served on its Board for over 25 years, as former associate editor of its national newsletter, the Carpatho-Rusyn American, and currently serves as its national communications officer. In 1993, he attended the Second World Congress of Rusyns in Krynica, Poland, representing the American Rusyn community at the world’s largest cultural gathering of Rusyn leaders and again in 2005.
Mr. Righetti is president and one of the founding members of the national Carpatho-Rusyn Society, the largest organization in North America devoted exclusively to Carpatho-Rusyn culture. He has also led that group’s annual heritage tour to the Rusyn homeland. He was the founder, director and choreographer of the Carpathian Youth Choir and Dancers of Monessen, PA, for 10 years and has taught Rusyn dance and song to ethnic ensembles in America.
He has lectured extensively on Carpatho-Rusyn history and culture throughout the nation- including Washington DC, New Jersey, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Bridgeport, CT, and western Pennsylvania. He as been interviewed by Rusyn-language radio and press in Slovakia and Yugoslavia.
A marketing and public relations professional for 28 years, he currently serves as vice president, strategic relationship management, for Butler Health System in Butler, PA.
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