Conference – Fox Valley Genealogical Society

2026 Fall Conference

MOVING ON:
Early American Migration

Join us IN PERSON for our 32^nd Fall Conference!
Saturday, 26 September 2026

Conference begins at 8:00 am (CT) | Conference concludes at 4:00 pm

GENERAL REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!
Members, log in first to unlock your discount
Meal Option Deadline: 13 September 2026 |
(Meal selections are not available after this date)
Registration Closes 20 September 2026

CONFERENCE BROCHURE

From tracks to tracts, explore how and why early Americans migrated to and through Illinois—and learn to uncover the records that trace your ancestors’ journeys.

Join us in person for the Fox Valley Genealogical Society’s 2026 Fall Conference. “MOVING ON: Early American Migration” features four engaging lectures by nationally respected speakers Michael John Neill and Dr. David McDonald. Blending practical research strategies with rich historical context, these sessions will help you trace your ancestors’ migration paths, master Bureau of Land Management land records, explore Illinois settlement patterns, and understand the religious forces that shaped 19th-century America. Discover not just where your ancestors lived—but why they moved.

Extended 30-minute Q&A sessions follow both the morning and afternoon lectures. This is your chance to dive deeper into the material and get expert insight on your own migration research challenges.

LECTURES:

Determining Your Ancestor’s Migration Path by Michael John Neill

This lecture discusses sources (aside from maps) that may directly or indirectly provide information on your ancestor’s unique path of migration from one place to another. We will see how to determine who may have been in your ancestor’s migration cohort group and how to build on those relationships to discover more about your ancestor specifically.

Using the Bureau of Land Management Website and BLM Tract Books by Michael John Neill

This lecture discusses using the Bureau of Land Management website and how the Bureau of Land Management tract books are organized, what information they contain, how to search them, and accessing the actual records of federal land acquisition referenced in these books.

Illinois Settlement Patterns from the Colonial Era to 1850 by Dr. David McDonald

For modern Illinois researchers, the Prairie State has long been known as the Land of Lincoln… because it’s on the license plates! And while Lincoln looms large in the state’s mythic memory, the Land of Lincoln is really the land of Everybody! From the French explorers of the 17th Century, and the native peoples who populated the pre-European Illinois country, to the waves of Yankees arriving after the opening of the Erie Canal, and the lightly alloyed Southerners moving across the Ohio in the early Federal Era, the admixture of people making up Illinois may surprise you. We’ll consider the people, the pathways, and the venues that they found in Illinois, and the records they left in their wake.

The Second Great Awakening: Religion in America in the 1800s by Dr. David McDonald

With the close of the American Revolution in the late 18th Century, the colonial-era state churches that dominated quickly found themselves awash in democratizing principles that led to a government of, by, and for the people. Those same principles came to apply to a very American understanding of religion and frontier life. We’ll explore religious movements and traditions that became denominations, as well as the influx of European emigrants who brought their Catholic and Jewish faith to bear, while we carefully deconstruct the myth of Yankee Puritanism to better understand the people, places, and records available to us as we consider religious records in our genealogy research.

EXTENDED Q&A SESSIONS:

Extended 30-minute Q&A sessions follow both the morning and afternoon lectures. This is your chance to dive deeper into the material and get expert insight on your own migration research challenges. Take time beforehand to review your research and come prepared with specific questions for the speakers.

REGISTRATION INFORMATION:

$50 Members* | $60 Non-Members
*Members, please log in before registering to access the member rate.

Registration Deadlines:

Member registration opens 12 March 2026.
General registration opens 09 April 2026.
To ensure we can accommodate catering arrangements, meal selections must be submitted by September 13, 2026. Registrations received after this date will not include a meal.
Conference registration closes 20 September 2026.

Meal Selection:

An optional boxed lunch is available for $20. The options are listed on the registration page.
All sandwich boxed lunches include chips, a cookie, and a selection of beverages.

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE & SYLLABUS:

The venue opens to attendees at 8:00 AM. Attendees will be issued name tags at the check-in table located on the 2nd floor.

The syllabus with speaker handouts will be emailed to registrants as a PDF by Friday, 25 September 2026. Printed copies of the syllabus will not be available at the conference.

Meeting Room Number: TBA

8:00 AM	Attendee Check-in + Door Prize area open
8:45 AM	Welcome
9:00 AM	Determining Your Ancestor’s Migration Path by Michael John Neill
10:00 AM	BREAK + Door Prize area open
10:15 AM	Using the Bureau of Land Management Website and BLM Tract Books by Michael John Neill
11:30 AM	Q&A Session with Michael John Neill
12:00 PM	LUNCH + Door Prize Winners Announced
12:45 PM	Illinois Settlement Patterns from the Colonial Era to 1850 by Dr. David McDonald
1:45 PM	BREAK
2:00 PM	The Second Great Awakening: Religion in America in the 1800s by Dr. David McDonald
3:00 PM	Q&A Session with Dr. David McDonald
3:30 PM	Closing

DOOR PRIZES:

Registered attendees are eligible for door prize drawings. Winners will be announced during the lunch break. Watch here for prize details as the conference approaches.

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES:

Learn from these nationally respected genealogy professionals. Explore how and why early Americans migrated to and through Illinois—and learn to uncover the records that trace your ancestors’ migration journeys!

Michael John Neill has been an active genealogical researcher since the early 1980s. Michael has a master’s degree in mathematics and was formerly a community college mathematics instructor. He has given seminars and lectures across the United States and at numerous national and regional conferences. Michael leads research trips to the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, the Allen County Public Library in Ft Wayne, Indiana, and the Library of Virginia. Michael maintains a website at www.genealogytipoftheday.com and has published two books of tips from his Genealogy Tip of the Day.

Dr. David McDonald, The Preacher Genealogist™, a native of Mr. Lincoln’s Hometown, is a genealogy professional with 50 years’ experience as a researcher, teacher, and writer on genealogy. He is a past president of the Board for Certification of Genealogists and the Association of Professional Genealogists, and a former director of the National Genealogical Society. He is currently a member of the Wisconsin State Genealogical Society board and is the principal of Old Northwest Research, LLC, a Madison, Wisconsin-based genealogy research firm. He is the founder, with Billie Stone Fogarty, of The Genealogy Symposium, a state-archives-based, in-person, intensive genealogy intensive for advanced researchers. He’s also the founding editor of “Z,” a teaching journal for genealogists. A retired Protestant minister, Dave specializes in religious traditions and their records, migration and immigration, and helping researchers grow their genealogical skills to better advance their family trees.

VENUE:

The FVGS Fall Conference will be held at the NIU Naperville Conference Center located at 1120 E Diehl Rd, Naperville, IL 60563. Parking is free and conveniently located near the main entrance. The classroom is on the second floor and is accessible via stairs or elevator.