Auckland Libraries and the Genealogical Computing Group are hosting the Auckland Family History Expo again from 5pm, Friday 11 August through till 6pm Sunday 13 August at the Fickling Convention Centre at Three Kings.

Dirk Weissleder

Chris Paton

This year, our international
guest speakers are Chris Paton (Scottish/Irish),
Dirk Weissleder (German/European) and Helen Smith (Australia/British).

Helen Smith

Friday night's programme
Friday 5pm-6pm: Reception. Mix and mingle with tea, coffee, beverages and canapés. Seats confirmed on receipt of payment.
Submit bookings by email with “Family History Expo welcome event” in subject line, including names of attendees to arc@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz
6pm-7pm: Welcome and opening address followed by: Chris Paton, Genealogy without borders.
7pm-7.30pm: Living DNA: High definition Ancestral DNA testing (live webinar from the UK).
7.30pm-8.30pm: Chris Paton, Dirk Weissleder and Helen Smith, panel discussion and Q&A session: The future of family history.

Satuday and Sunday are free. We have over over 40 seminars and workshops and more than 24 family history exhibitors including:

• Ancestry
• Auckland Council Libraries
• Auckland War Memorial Museum
• Beehive Books/HOG Tours 
• Chinese genealogy researchers 
• Families in British India (FIBIS) 
• FamilySearch 
• FamNet/Jazz Software 
• Guild of One Name Studies (GOONS),
• Kippenberger Research Library - National Army Museum - Waiouru 
• Indian genealogy / West Research Centre
• My Heritage 
• New Zealand Fencible Society Inc
• New Zealand Micrographics/Recollect 
• New Zealand Military Historical Society,
• New Zealand Society of Genealogists Head Office and Interest Groups:
  English, European, Irish, Maori, Pacific Island, Scottish; 
• Unlock the Past/Gould Genealogy
• Wales – New Zealand Family History Society.

Download a .pdf of the full programme here

Sponsors

Brad Argent (Ancestry) gave a talk in October at the Central Library on DNA.  The talk came after the Family History Expo in Auckland, and was focused on the science of identity. As Brad said, DNA testing is no longer "just" a tool to help you work out your family history. It is so much more than that and it brings with it potential issues.
He posed some thought-provoking questions:
Does the absence of something in you change who you are, and how you see yourself? For example, if you grew up in a Maori community, and saw yourself as Maori, then get a genetic result back that says you're not Maori... do you stop being Maori overnight? He talked about the memetic self  - that is, the part of you made up of those "things" passed down to you through your culture, your family, and the family stories.
What, he asked, happens when you've grown up hearing stories but learn you are not biologically connected to them? Do they just go away?
Likewise, if you learn you're adopted and want to find out who your parents are, does that then negate all the family stories your adoptive parents gave you, that you grew up with, that have shaped who you are?
Someone raised the point in the talk about the security of your DNA with the firms that test it. Brad asked the question: what is your responsibility with your DNA and the information contained in it, that could affect a whole lot of people?
I could go on and on, but take a listen (or a re-listen) to this fascinating talk yourself on YouTube.
The talk is captioned, and you can check out other speakers from the Auckland Libraries Lunchtime series on our website here.
DNA is an incredible new tool but also with an unknown future. Brad made the point that we no longer build up our identity over years and years of painstaking research, microfiche-by-microfiche, card-by-card, record-by-record. Now we spit in a tube, six or eight weeks later click on a button, and suddenly we are, potentially, someone else. A lot to think about in the amazing world of family history research.


Joanne - Central Research

Bridging the tension between cultural and genetic histories
with Ancestry's Brad Argent and Dr Carla Houkamau, University of Auckland

A sense of identity is usually formed over time by memetic (or cultural) history, while revelations of genetic identity often happen in an instant. DNA tests can reveal multiple stories at play, creating a dichotomy where cultural histories conflict with genetic background.

Dr Carla Houkamau from the University of Auckland (Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāti Porou) and family historian as well as Ancestry international spokesperson Brad Argent will explore the concept of identity today, and what it means to be a contemporary New Zealander in an increasingly multicultural society.


When: 6:30pm Tuesday 11 October (refreshments begin at 5:30pm)
Where: Whare Wānanga, Level 2, Auckland Central City Library, 44-46 Lorne Street, Auckland
Booking: Free event - Booking recommended

Summary:
When it comes to identity, many of us have grown up thinking we’re a part of a singular story, yet our identity is informed by many factors, including culture, community and oral traditions, as well as family history informed by lineage and records.

Memetic (cultural) as well as genetic (DNA) histories can play a role in the formation of identity. With the rise of products such as AncestryDNA, discovering one’s ethnic background and finding people with whom you share a common ancestor have become increasingly more accessible. In addition, as databases have grown to more than two million people globally, that information is becoming more accurate and comprehensive.

In this seminar, University of Auckland senior lecturer Dr Carla Houkamau will discuss the diversity evident in Māori society today in terms of cultural, social as well as political differences, and how identifying as Māori can be shaped by socialisation and family relationships.

Ancestry’s international spokesperson, Brad Argent, will explore how ethnicity identified through DNA tests can confirm or disrupt a person's notion of identity. In some cases, the genetic and memetic dichotomy can see them reassessing who they really are.

Seminar speakers:

Dr Carla Houkamau, Senior Lecturer, University of Auckland

Dr Carla Houkamau is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Management and International Business at the University of Auckland, where she specialises in the areas of personal identity, inter-cultural communication and diversity management.

Carla is of Pākehā and Māori descent, specifically Ngāti Kahungunu (Ngāti Kere) and Ngāti Porou (Whanau o Tu-Whakairiora), and has special interest in psychological (particularly social psychological) understandings of identity, particularly with regard to contemporary Māori identity.

Brad Argent, Family Historian & International Spokesperson, Ancestry

Brad Argent is a family historian and international spokesperson for Ancestry, as well as expert on the AncestryDNA product.

Based in Europe, Brad has recently been featured in a video series created by international travel search site Momondo, which showed how we are more genetically connected than we might at first assume.

The clips have been viewed more than 100 million times on a number of social media platforms, including Facebook and YouTube.

Colleen Fitzpatrick, forensic genealogist and author

On 20 April, 2015, we were extremely fortunate to have Colleen Fitzpatrick PhD, visiting forensic genealogist and author from the US, come and speak for us at Central Library.

Colleen is a nuclear physicist, who is a consultant in some high profile cases that involve using both genetic and forensic genealogy to solve a case. 

She has a really impressive CV.

Colleen is also the author of 

• Forensic genealogy, 
• DNA and genealogy and 
• The dead horse investigation: forensic analysis for everyone.

Colleen is a talented researcher and an excellent speaker with a wide choice of subjects to choose from and has a real talent for making the complicated and the technical both easily understood and entertaining.

Fortunately, her visit to us coincided with our "pilot" scheme and we were able to video her talks which you can find here on our website.

The presentations she gave us were:

CSI meets Roots
Forensic genealogy has established itself as the modern approach to family research. Reference materials such as photographs, databases, and DNA can provide much more information than you ever dreamed. But are you really using your genealogical materials to your best advantage? The goal of this talk is to spark your imagination to discover new ways of looking at your family mysteries.

Adoption searches
This talk will give you insight into adoption searches – how to use explicit and implicit information in conjunction with DNA to locate someone even if don’t know his or her name.
So make yourself a cup of tea, sit down for an hour or two and enjoy!

Happy watching

Seonaid

Surnames, DNA, and family history by George Redmonds, Turi King, and David Hey

This title is a cross-disciplinary exploration of the links between surnames, DNA and family history, and also includes linguistics (for the history of surnames).

The majority of the book is dedicated to the history of surnames: their origins, distribution, linguistic changes, etc. There follows a comparatively smaller section exploring the ways DNA can contribute to surname and family history. A fascinating discussion on the derivation and meaning of some surnames is included, in some cases, taking issue with some traditional interpretations. (Well, fascinating for the person interested in etymology.)

When reading such a book, I always wonder whether there will be anything directly related to my family history. And, there on page 80, is my biological maternal grandfather’s surname! Alas, it is not one of the names studied in more depth, but it’s there nonetheless. It also quite thrilling to see references to names of people you know. Most of the names looked at in the book are considered uncommon, so it was surprising to have links to people you know, and not just famous people. Scanning down the surnames and by-names index, just in the first column, I personally know an Agnew, an Alfrey, an Allen, an Anderson, an Arnold, a Bathgate…

Some of the factors that influence the link between surname and DNA resonated with my family history. There are adoptions within (and without) my family. My step-grandfather was illegitimate and, to his dying day in his 90th year, always wanted to know who his father was. (This impacted on my uncles, too, as there was some fluidity between my grandfather’s legal name, and the one we all used, and he signed most legal documents under.) My maternal great-great-grandmother was nearly nine months pregnant on her wedding day, so it is possible that she did not marry the biological father. (My paternal side, which is of most relevance to my surname, obviously, is much less involved. So, I wouldn’t expect too many surprises if there was DNA testing of my brother and his male descendants.)

This is quite an academic read, meant for serious genealogists - for me, who is a dabbler, it was eye-opening. However, it did make me very grateful for the eclectic mix of subjects I studied at university, the most relevant to this book are: genetics, Middle English, linguistics, history, Latin. Thankful, also, for my interest in etymology. So, you have been given fair warning – this is not a light read for the weekend. It is, however, fascinating and absorbing.

Annie, Central City Library