by Bruce Karnick

The Dakota County Historical Society will host a virtual genealogy presentation called Finding Pre-Immigration Origins: A 3-Step Approach by Jay Fonkert on Thursday, Aug. 27 at 6:30 p.m. The presentation is offered to the public free

of charge in part to funding provided by the Union Paci_c Foundation’s COVID Relief Grant. To register, please visit

the Dakota County Historical Society website. www.dakotahistory.org Registration is required to receive the meeting room invite and passcode. While the event is offered free of charge,

donations are encouraged to offset the _nancial hardships COVID-19 is having on historic sites while they were closed

from March through June.

There is nothing more exciting in family history research than discovery of homeland origins. Learn about unexpected places to _nd clues to pre-immigration origins, connect families across North American and homeland records, and continue that research in the homeland.

Fonkert is a genealogy researcher, educator, and writer, who focuses on 19th century Midwest research. He is a co-managing editor of Minnesota Genealogist and president of the Minnesota Genealogical Society. He has lectured at numerous regional and national conferences, lectured for genealogy societies in eleven states, and has published more than 80 research and teaching articles.