New Mexico: Two gen, history conferences, October

New Mexico genealogists have two October treats in store.

New Mexico Genealogical Society Conference, Friday-Saturday, October 15-16, in Albuquerque, will be followed by the New Mexico Jewish Historical Society, Friday-Sunday, October 22-24, in Las Vegas.

The New Mexico Genealogical Society Conference is its 50th anniversary. Details: Early registration (through September 15) is $35, members ($55, others); banquet, $35; hotel, $69 per night(Marriott Pyramid Hotel). The theme is ¿Quién Eres? (Who are you?). See below for speakers. Another reason to go: The New Mexico History Museum will debut “Hilos de la Memoria,” an exhibit on oral histories relating to New Mexico.

The New Mexico Jewish Historical Society Fall Conference - the 23rd - is themed "Adventures Along the Santa Fe Trail," set for Friday-Sunday, October 22-24, at the historic Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas, NM. The focus is on the Jews of Las Vegas and Northeast New Mexico. See below for speakers. Pre-conference tours include: historical Jewish Las Vegas, Montezuma Castle and Montefiore Cemetery, the oldest Jewish cemetery in the state. For more details, send an email. Saturday night includes a 19th-century liturgical music at the old Congregation Montefiore. See below for speakers.

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Speakers: New Mexico Genealogical Society Conference

-- Paul Hutton, Ph.D, Keynote, "Billy the Kid"
Award-winning speaker and UNM history professor

-- Al Regensberg, "Migration around New Mexico"

Learn to use migratory patterns to solve the mystery of where or when your ancestors

came from; the process of reversing migratory patterns to locate appropriate Catholic parish records for genealogists with a New Mexico heritage.

-- Robert J. Tórrez, "Rio Arriba County"

Overview of a new to-be-published book on the county where New Mexico was first settled. Author, former state historian and historical lecturer.

-- Krysten Baca, "Getting the Most Out of Ancestry.com"

A genealogist on the Ancestry.com public relations and conference team, her responsibilities

have included conducting research on new content and celebrity research.

-- Jim Greene, "FamilySearch.org"

Explore how FamilySearch proposes to help curb the loss of records worldwide and increase the volume of records accessible online.

-- Krysten Baca, "Best Strategies for Researching using Ancestry.com"

Workshop and "how to" strategies on the fine points of online research.
-- Richard Melzer & Robert J. Tórrez, "Rich and Powerful Hispanic Leaders in the Rio Abajo"

Historians, authors and lecturers.

-- Rick Hendricks, "Research In and About Durango and Parral"

Researcher, author and NMSU history professor; learn how to research the archives of Durango and Parral.

-- Bennett Greenspan, "FamilyTreeDNA"

President & CEO of FamilyTreeDNA.com, Greenspan; DNA testing for Genetic Genealogy, how to pick the right person to test, understanding results and other questions regarding DNA. Bring your questions!

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Speakers: New Mexico Jewish Historical Society Conference

-- Susan Califate Boyle, National Park Service

"History of Hispanic Participation in the Santa Fe Trail Trade"

-- Laura Gonzales, New Mexico Highlands University

"Las Vegas: Place of Encounter"

-- Sharon Niederman, Raton

"Synagogues on the Santa Fe Trail - History of Temple Aaron (Trinidad, Colorado) & Congregation Montefiore (Las Vegas)"

-- Melanie LaBorwit, Albuquerque
"History of the Jews of Las Vegas"

-- Noel Pugasch, University of New Mexico

"The Jewish Commercial Presence in Mora County, New Mexico, 1860s to the 1940s: A Brief Overview"

-- Panel 1: Crypto-Jews in Las Vegas and Northeast New Mexico:
Isabelle Medina Sandoval, Santa Fe (Mora)
Orlando Mondragón, Santa Fe (San Luis, Colorado)
Hon. M. Christina Armijo, Albuquerque (Las Vegas)
-- A. David Scholder, Founder
"Reflections on the Establishment of the New Mexico Jewish Historical Society"
-- Panel 2: Legacy of Las Vegas’s and Northeast New Mexico’s Rich Jewish Past:
Betty Mae Hartman, Albuquerque
Gerald Meyer, Laramie, Wyoming
Nancy Paxton, Albuquerque
Mortimer Herzstein, San Francisco
-- Panel 3: Renaissance of the Las Vegas Jewish Community:
Diana Presser
Kate Immerman

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In words that are moving for all genealogists, the New Mexico Genealogy Conference theme is taken from a poem by Sabine R. Ulibarrí, PhD. See the conference link above for the Spanish version of ¿Quién Eres?

Who Are You?

If you forget where you came from, can you know where you're going?

If you've lost your past, where is your future?

If you're a man without a history, you're a man without a future.
If you turn your back on your parents, what can you expect from your children?

If you have no kinship with your family and your community,
when you laugh, you laugh alone, when you cry, you cry alone.

A solitary present without a yesterday or a tomorrow without parentage,
without fellowship, without friends, without brothers.

How alone you are in the world, How lost in the white mist.
Alone, with your guilt on your back. Alone, with your loneliness.

We can all relate to those words.