Family History Institute

Family History Institute (FHI) 2024

Family History Institute (FHI) 2024

The Wythe County Genealogical and Historical Association (WCGHA) will host its Twenty-Seventh Family History Institute on Saturday, 6 April, 2024. This day-long affair will be held at the Wytheville Meeting Center.  The purpose of the day is to provide information of interest to genealogists, historians, authors, and researchers.

Our lead speaker for the 2023 conference is Barbara Vines Little, CG, FNGS, FVGS. She is a professional genealogist whose primary interests are Virginia research and brick wall problems. A former president of both the National Genealogical Society (NGS) and the Virginia Genealogical Society, she has served as editor of the Magazine of Virginia Genealogy since 1996.

Our second speaker. Vincent T. Brooks is a Senior Local Records Archivist, Library of Virginia.

Dr. Richard Straw is a Professor of History at Radford University.

Dorette Sobolewski is Director of Research at the Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia, in Staunton, VA.

Our banquet speaker is Frieda Davison, Retired Dean of Libraries at the University of South Carolina Upstate. She is a native of Russell County and has had an interest in history and genealogy since she was a child Anne Gillespie Mitchell.

Friday afternoon, April 5th, we are having a Plotting Workshop (capacity 15) at our 11th Street offices. Attendees will learn how to decipher an old deed, draw the outlines of the property, and locate it on a modern map. At this time, the workshop is sold out.

For those people coming from out of town, we recommend you book your lodging early. We will be having an optional get together for out-of-town visitors the night before the conference (Friday, April 5, 2023), to give everyone a chance to talk with old acquaintances and with WCGHA volunteers. If you are interested, contact us by phone or e-mail.