Co-Presidents Kathy Keyser and Susan Court represented the Society at RootsTech in Salt Lake City, Utah, on March 4-6, 2025. RootsTech is a global, annual family history conference and trade show hosted by FamilySearch and sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is the world’s largest family history conference, both online and in-person, serving as a hub for family history enthusiasts to connect, learn, and discover. Over 3,000 genealogists and other interested people attended this year’s conference in person or online.
Plans for Kathy and Susan to attend the conference were laid months before the event. Board Member and Former Society President Chris Padgett made the arrangements so that when Kathy and Susan arrived at the Expo Hall of Salt Palace, the conference venue, everything was waiting for them. It took very little time to set up a very snazzy booth. Thanks, Chris! They then spent most of three days staffing the booth, thoroughly enjoying meeting members and prospective members who stopped by to talk about their Kentucky heritage.
Here are just a few of the Conference highlights:
Over two hundred attendees placed a “dot on the Kentucky map” where their ancestors lived, covering over 90 counties, and sharing stories of their ancestors.
Attendees bought 75 of the Society’s genealogy books: Essential Guide to Kentucky Family Research and Kentucky & Its Kin. At times, Kathy had people waiting in a queue to buy the books.
Susan presented a talk on “Researching Kentucky Records” on Friday, March 7, with over 200 people in attendance.
Member Greg Hile joined Kathy and Susan for a few hours on Friday and Saturday and gave them a very much appreciated break. Thanks again, Greg!
Board Member Melissa Barker (The Archive Lady) gave a virtual presentation on “Preserving Documents and Ephemera” (still available at https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/session/preserving-documents-and-ephemera). This was the third RootsTech where Melissa has given a presentation.
Be sure to look for Kathy, Susan and other Board Members at upcoming events:
- Northern Kentucky History Day in Burlington, KY (April 26)
- National Genealogical Society 2025 Family History Conference in Louisville, KY (May 23-25)
- 2025 International German Genealogical Partnership Conference in Columbus, OH (June 13-15)
- Kentucky History and Genealogy Conference in Erlanger, KY (August 8-9).
Need more information? Contact Susan Court at susancourt@kygs.org.
