Kent Cutkomp

Description:
With billions of records at your disposal, where do you even begin? The MyHeritage Search Engine is a state-of-the-art tool that can help you search for information about your relatives online. In a matter of seconds, it can search across billions of German historical records to pinpoint the ones most relevant to your research. Its advanced algorithms can identify spelling and phonetic variations, understand nicknames, and handle synonyms and ethnic variations. Daniel will show you how to use the MyHeritage Search Engine to find information about your relatives quickly and efficiently.
 

Bio:
Dedicated to Genealogy since 1986, Daniel was the teacher and the study guide editor of the family history project "Searching for My Roots" in Venezuela for 15 years. He is involved in several crowdsource digitization and transcription projects, and holds a board-level position at The Israel Genealogy Research Association (IGRA). Since 2006 Daniel has been working at MyHeritage liaising with genealogy societies, bloggers, and media, as well as lecturing, and attending conferences around the world.

 

Dan Munson will present the “Fascinating Kochendorfer Family Story: Minnesota History Comes Alive”.

 

This is the story of the German immigrant Kochendorfer family and the U.S.-Dakota Conflict of 1862.  It describes their travel to Minnesota, the Homestead Act, what happened to the family and an update about their many descendants.

 

The story is the subject of Dan Munson’s book Malice Towards None, a Minnesota history during and after the civil war.  Dan also wrote “The Dramatic and Historic Kochendorfer Family Story” article which appeared in the 2026 Spring-Summer issue of the Germanic Genealogy Journal.

This webinar introduces the historical background researchers need to understand before exploring the records of Berlin and Brandenburg.

Andrea Bentschneider will present a wide range of sources, from church and civil registration records to records created as a direct result of Prussian and regional history. The presentation will also cover the major federal, state, municipal, and church archives, as well as special archives and collections unique to Berlin and Brandenburg.

Attendees will gain a practical overview of how Prussian history shaped the available sources, where these records can be found, and which additional resources to explore when church and civil records are not enough.

Bio:
Andrea Bentschneider

Andrea Bentschneider is a professional genealogist based in Hamburg, Germany, with more than 30 years of experience researching German families and historical records. In 2004, she founded Beyond History, a professional genealogy and heir research firm, and in 2024 she launched the German Genealogy Collective, an international community that helps English-speaking researchers learn how to find their own German ancestors.

A native German in the archives almost daily, Andrea offers something most German-research teachers cannot: she is actually there, on the ground, reading the records firsthand. Her research has appeared on Who Do You Think You Are? and Finding Your Roots, as well as across German television and press.

She has served as President of the Association of German-Speaking Professional Genealogists since 2013 and previously as interim Vice President of the International German Genealogy Partnership (IGGP). Andrea is a regular speaker at RootsTech, IGGC, and IAJGS. Her guiding belief is simple: every family deserves to find their story.

🔗 German Genealogy Collective: https://germangenealogycollective.com
🔗 Beyond History: https://www.beyond-history.com/

Registration to be posted