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Traffic report for August 10

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Homicide trial set to start in 2013 Wilkes-Barre shooting death

<p>Polish ancestry in Northeastern Pennsylvania will figure into two talks at an upcoming genealogy conference in Connecticut. Sponsored by the Polish Genealogical Society of Connecticut and the Northeast, the conference is set for Oct. 2 and 3 at Central Connecticut State University, New Britain.</p><p>The talks are &#8220;Pennsylvania&#8217;s Coal Mines&#8221; and &#8220;Pennsylvania Resources for Polish Genealogists.&#8221; There will be a separate talk on &#8220;Introduction to Polish Research.&#8221; Speakers will be available for private consultations.</p><p>&#8220;The speakers are well known in Polish genealogy circles and their discussions will enable attendees to fill in the missing pieces of their family history,&#8221; the group says in a release.</p><p>Individual consultations with experts will be available.</p><p>For additional information and for registration forms, visit the group&#8217;s website at <a href="http://www.pgsctne.org" target="_blank">www.pgsctne.org</a>.</p><p>Huge numbers of Northeastern Pennsylvania residents can trace their ancestry to Poland. Polish genealogy, however, presents some unique difficulties because politics and war caused boundaries of that nation to shift repeatedly over the centuries, causing spelling and other changes in town names as well as people&#8217;s assignments to different countries.</p><p>There are resources in this area for studying Polish genealogy. The Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society has held occasional seminars about tracing Polish ancestry and holds vital resources such as historic maps. The website of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Scranton (<a href="http://www.dioceseofscranton.org" target="_blank">www.dioceseofscranton.org</a>) lists churches that have merged and is a good guide to finding records.</p><p>Also, historical societies in towns that historically have had large Polish populations have compiled information. Even if you live far from Wyoming Valley, joining the appropriate historical group will make it easier for you to research your particular ethnicity.</p><p>Resources: The current (September) issue of Family Tree Magazine has its annual list of &#8220;101 Best Websites for Genealogists,&#8221; and that is more than worth a look.</p><p>Some of the websites, of course, are so specialized that most genealogists would not be interested in them. But others could be just the ticket, such as those on migration to America, Native Americans and the Library of Congress and other major repositories of information. The magazine&#8217;s December issue every year carries a complete listing of all the articles published that year, available as reprints.</p><p>News Notes: Ted Baird will speak on &#8220;Archaeology of the Conrail Site&#8221; at the next meeting of the Genealogical Research Society of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The meeting is set for 7 p.m. August 19 at the society&#8217;s research center, 1100 Main St., Peckville. To inquire about membership, phone 570 383-7661 or email at info@grsnp.org.</p><p>Don&#8217;t forget the DNA Interest Group meetings of the Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society, where you can learn how to make DNA testing help you establish family connections. The event is held at 6 p.m. on the first Wednesday of the month at the society&#8217;s research library, on the grounds of the Hanover Green Cemetery, Main Road, Hanover Township. DNA Interest group is free to members, with a cost-defraying charge of $5 for non-members. For more information, search online for my July 26 column about the program.</p><p>The genealogy-based TV series &#8220;Finding Your Roots,&#8221; shelved for an investigation into claims of improper influence on program content, will return, Public Broadcasting Service recently said in an Associated Press article. The exact return date had not been announced as of last week. The investigation focused on whether producers suppressed information that a guest,</p><p>actor Ben Affleck, had a slave-owning ancestor, information that he found embarrassing. Also uncertain is whether the show will return next year for a fourth season.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Tom Mooney Out on a Limb </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/web1_TOM_MOONEY1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Tom Mooney Out on a Limb </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>Tom Mooney</p><p>Out on a Limb</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Tom Mooney is a Times Leader genealogy columnist. Reach him at tmooney2@ptd.net.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Out on a limb: Uncovering Polish roots in NEPA