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Sarah Busse Spencer PhD

Genealogical Lecturer, Writer, Researcher, emphasis in Germany and Eastern Europe
United States
 
Currently accepting clients for...
  • Family History Research
  • Speaking / Presenting
  • Writing /Publishing
  • Other Speciality
Family History Research
  • Ethnicity / Religion
  • Family History Research
  • Heraldry / Lineage Societies
  • Immigration / Naturalization
  • Tutor / Coach
Speaking/Presenting
  • Family History Research
  • Methodology & Resources
  • Writing & Publishing
  • Available for in-person events
  • Available for virtual events
Writing/Publishing
  • Author/Writer
  • Editor
  • Tutor / Coach
Other Speciality
  • Document Translation
  • Event / Reunion / Travel Planning
  • House Historian / Local History
  • Oral Historian
  • Handwriting / Palaeography

I love both doing research and teaching people how to do their own.  I help people get started, get organized and get their ancestors across the pond.  I regularly give lectures and run workshops for groups of beginning and intermediate genealogists.
My areas of specialty are immigration research (and finding that elusive home town in Europe), and within Europe, the areas of the former German Empire and the areas of the former Russian Empire.  I speak, read and write Russian and German fluently.  I analyze genealogical documents in those languages as well as Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian, Polish, Ukranian, Serbian, Croatian, Belarus, and Latin.  

Geographic Specialities
Germany, Eastern Europe
Lectures
Digging Up German Roots: Finding Your German Ancestors
Getting the Most out of FamilySearch and Ancestry.com
Getting Started and Getting Organized
Research Time Periods
  • 20th Century
  • 19th Century
  • 18th Century
  • 17th Century
Languages
Fluent: English, Russian, German
Read Genealogical Records: French, Latin, Polish, Hungarian
Honorifics/Credentials
Family History Advanced Research Certificate, Brigham Young University Idaho
Certificates
Family History Advanced Research Certificate, Brigham Young University Idaho
Affiliations
National Genealogical Society
Association of Professional Genealogists
SiouxValley Genealogical Society
South Dakota State Genealogical Society
Degrees
PhD Sociology and Russian Studies, University of Chicago
MS Sociology and Russian Language, Brigham Young University
BA Social Studies, Harvard University