PRINCETON - The Bureau County Genealogical Society will present a program called “Shaky Leaves . . . YES! Shaky Foundations . . . NO!” on Thursday evening, June 24. The program will begin at 7 p.m. and is available to the public via Zoom. People who are not members of the Society may request the link by contacting BCGS by e-mail at bureaucounty@gmail.com by June 22.

So much wonderful information is available on Ancestry.com that is cannot be ignored, but we must guard against making errors that result in “shaky foundations” in our family trees. The session will explore tips, techniques and strategies to minimize the risks and maximize the results.

The speaker will be Laura Street Chaplin, owner of Willowtree Research Genealogy Services, currently a resident of Sugar Grove. She and her husband, Mark were inspired by the “Roots” miniseries while in college which began a lifelong love of research and genealogy learning. Their three daughters and now six grandchildren have been raised tramping through cemeteries and reading tombstones.

In addition to her research business, she is currently the history and genealogy manager at the Lawrence J. Martin Heritage Center in Elburn, which is a new research facility of the Town & Country Public Library. She is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, the Genealogy Speakers Guild, and several other societies.

Chaplin is particularly well experienced by having lived and researched all over the Midwest. Her personal family research includes the Illinois counties of Pike, Adams, Schuyler, Lee, Peoria and Sangamon. Her topic for the evening is appropriate for all genealogists no matter where their ancestors lived.