Expert Jewish genealogist and author Ron Arons will deliver two
informative presentations at the Sunday, Sept. 25, 2016, meeting of the
Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois, starting at 1 p.m. at Temple
Beth-El, 3610 Dundee Road, Northbrook, Ill.

The titles of his talks at this special meeting will be "Putting the
Flesh on the Bones" and "Evaluating Evidence: Asking a mini-Minnie
Question."

Ron Arons calls "Putting the Flesh on the Bones" his "bread and butter
talk" that he has given for 15 years. Through two related examples he
explains how one can piece together ancestors' lives by collecting as
much documentation about them as possible as well as by looking at the
environments where they lived. The process he describes can enable a
genealogist to go beyond the names, dates, and places commonly
associated with genealogical research.

With his other presentation, "Evaluating Evidence: Asking a mini-Minnie
Question," Arons explains that researching the lives of our ancestors is
a big task, but to evaluate evidence, one needs to examine the bits and
pieces of our research.

When he found the bigamy case of his great-grandfather Isaac Spier, he
wanted to know what happened to Spier's second wife, Minnie Ott. Arons
will present the basic constructs of analyzing documents and evidence,
i.e., the genealogical proof standard, pointing to the research
question: How many times did Minnie Ott marry? In this presentation, he
will apply the evaluation theory to the documents he located toward the
resolution of this question.

Arons has given more than 250 presentations internationally, and has
authored three books, "The Jews of Sing Sing: Gotham Gangsters and
Gonuvim"; "WANTED!: U.S. Criminal Records Sources & Research
Methodology," and "Mind Maps for Genealogy: Enhanced Research Planning,
Correlation, and Analysis."

For more information about Ron Arons and the Sept. 25 JGSI meeting, see
http://jgsi.org/event-2207576 . The Jewish Genealogical Society of
Illinois schedule of future events can be seen at
http://jgsi.org/Events-calendar or phone 312-666-0100.

Submitted by:
Martin Fischer
Vice President-Publicity
Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois