Genealogy: It’s Not a Tree or a Chart – It’s a Story!

Sunday, May 19, 2019; 1pm to 4pm; doors open at 1; talk begins at 2
Join genealogist and author Maureen Wlodarczyk at Durand-Hedden House & Garden in Maplewood, NJ, on Sunday, May 19, at 2pm to learn how to layer historical context (social, economic, religious, military, and other aspects) of the times in which your ancestors lived into your family tree, giving dimension to their lives, struggles, and experiences. Researching your family history and authenticating names, dates, and places is only the starting point. Maureen uses her own New Jersey Irish family in her Powerpoint talk to illustrate how adding “flesh” to our ancestral “skeleton” brings our forebears alive. She will provide handouts and welcome questions.

An unrepentant history and genealogy addict, Maureen Wlodarczyk is an officer and genealogical researcher with the Flannery Clan organization based in Dublin, Ireland, and is a member of the Irish American Writers and Artists organization, the Genealogical Society of New Jersey, and the Hudson County Genealogical Society. She has helped many people research and discover their own family history and ancestral roots and offers her genealogical services to the public upon request. She is a frequent speaker on topics of genealogy research, New Jersey history, writing your own family history, and self-publishing how-to. Maureen has a blog (www.past-forward.com/blog) with additional genealogical and historical stories. She writes a genealogy column, “History & Mystery: Perfect Together,” for Garden State Legacy magazine and is a contributing writer for the genealogy e-magazine Irish Lives Remembered. Maureen has authored four books, each focusing on 19th and early 20th century life in New Jersey.

Durand-Hedden House & Garden will be open from 1 to 4pm for visitors who would like to view the house and herb garden, take in the popular exhibit Exploring Golf Island, and shop at the Country Store.

Country Shopping
Check out our Country Store’s historic-themed treasures: early American games, books, and toys; facsimile documents; quill pens and ink; historic cookbooks; cookie molds; tin lanterns; and reproductive decorative items and ceramics. There is local honey and the Original 1910 Chocolate Fudge Sauce. You’ll also discover the hard-to-find original Doors of Maplewood poster, Smile: A Pictorial History of Olympic Park 1887-1965, and the acid-free reproduction of the charming 1931 Map of Maplewood.

About Durand-Hedden House and Garden
Durand-Hedden House is dedicated to telling the history of the development of Maplewood and the surrounding area in new and engaging ways. It is located in Grasmere Park at 523 Ridgewood Road in Maplewood. For more information or to arrange group tours call 973-763-7712. You can also visit our website at durandhedden.org and find us on Facebook and Twitter.