COPALAM Seminar

2026 Fall German Genealogical Seminar

Presented in-person and via Zoom
On Saturday, 3 October 2026
9:30 am – 4:30 pm
Featuring Gail Shaffer Blankenau,.

On-Line Registration
Click here to review the topics and speaker's bio.

The seminar will be a hybrid event.
A recording will be made available for 30 days to those who register.
In-person attendees who register by 7 October 2026 will be eligible for lunch with Blankenau,. There will be lots of door prizes for both in-person and virtual (ZOOM) attendees.

In-person:
Highlands Ranch Senior Center
200 E. Highlands Ranch Parkway.
Highlands Ranch, CO 80126

Virtual - via Zoom
An email with Zoom access details and handouts - which can be downloaded will be sent 2-3 days before.
NO refunds will be permitted once the Zoom Link is sent

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Registration is $50.00 per person.

QUESTIONS or for membership info, contact Sandy Carter- Duff at registrar@copalam.us or call 303-478-0876. Questions about the seminar, contact Jennifer Bigham at president@copalam.us or call/text 720-454-9297

2026 Fall Seminar Topics and Speaker's Bio

Gail Shaffer Blankenau's Bio

Gail Shaffer Blankenau Gail Blankenau is a professional genealogist, speaker and author, specializing in German genealogy, land records, and lineage research. As a professional, some of her recent client projects have taken her to Salt Lake City, Utah, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Illinois, Texas and Missouri, as well as numerous projects in Nebraska. Her own roots are from almost every state east of the Mississippi.

In addition to private client research, Gail enjoys speaking and writing about genealogy. Her articles have appeared in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, The Genealogist, Everton's Genealogical Helper, The National Genealogical Society magazine, Family Chronicle, Internet Genealogy, The Ohio Genealogical Society Quarterly and Nebraska Ancestree.

She was a research consultant for the award-winning book, A Question of Freedom: The Families who Challenged Slavery from the Nation’s Founding to the Civil War, by William G. Thomas III. She also serves as the genealogist for the Nickerson Family Association on Cape Cod, a research consultant for the College of Arms in Great Britain (American lines) and as a board member for the Germanic Genealogy Society. She also serves on the Nebraska Historical Society advisory board for digitization of Nebraska newspapers.

Gail has written an award-winning nonfiction history entitled "Journey to Freedom: Uncovering the Grayson Sisters' Escape from Nebraska Territory" (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, Bison Books, 2024).

Gail’s Planned Topics:

Power Combination: German Church Records and Farm Histories

Finding Family in Numbers: How to find and Navigate German Census Records

Finding your Germanic Home Village and Parish

Mountain Peaks and Trails: Your Swiss Ancestral Journey