Jewish Genealogical Society webinar to focus on impact of learning family secrets

Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois member Steven Flack will speak on "When DNA or Documents Reveal Life-Altering Origin Secrets" on Sunday, May 3, 2020, in a free live webinar from the Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois. His presentation will begin at 2 p.m. CDT.

To register in advance for this free live webinar, go to https://tinyurl.com/tolrrka. Webinar viewers need not be members of JGSI.

Registrants will receive an email prior to the event with a link to click on just before the 2 p.m. presentation time that will download the "GoTo Opener" software needed to view the presentation. While the email will say the viewer can join the webinar at 1:15 p.m., that time is for webmaster setup, and the actual webinar won't start until 2 p.m. CDT.

For more information, see https://jgsi.org/event-3593169 or phone 312-666-0100.

Genealogists may uncover a family secret of a relative, in some cases someone's origin story, the most fundamental and potent secret of all. This knowledge may arise from DNA test results, which link cousins across generations, or from documents that are passively obtained. In this presentation, Steven will share how to decide on and obtain the additional input you need to learn the truth. The DNA section demonstrates the "What Are The Odds" tool to triangulate unknown or uncertain parentage, as well as an empirical way to calibrate the DNA of highly endogamous families.

"An unknown family secret revelation is life-altering; it's essential to decide whether and how to ethically and responsibly unwrap the secret," Steven said. "I will use five riveting family secret stories, several involving parentage, along with extensive rich graphics to ensure a robust learning experience."

A native New Yorker, Steven Flack has lived in the Chicago area since 1995. His career evolved from entrepreneurship to global product marketing consulting in Europe, Asia and Israel. Flack works as a project manager, leading diverse software developers to facilitate efficient processing of insurance claims.

Flack feels it is important that genealogists learn to maximize the efficiency of genealogy research efforts.

For more information about the Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois or the JGSI schedule of future events, visit http://jgsi.org/ or phone 312-666-0100.

While this program is free, those who join the society have access to several valuable members-only resources on the JGSI website. They include video recordings of more than 50 presentations from past JGSI events, valuable informational handouts from past speakers, access to past Morasha newsletters containing informative articles about Jewish genealogy, and more.

To learn about the benefits of joining the Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois, go to http://jgsi.org/membership_benefits.