The following was received from Debbie Parker Wayne:
This year the National Conference of the Palatines to America (PAL-AM) will be held at the Sheraton Station Square in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Co-sponsor and local host of the conference will be the Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Society. An array of eminent speakers with strong roots in German-American history highlight the conference program: James M. Beidler; Keith Brintzenhoff; Marilyn Cocchiola Holt, MLS; John T. Humphrey, CG; Barbara L. Jones; Richard L.T. Orth; and Michael R. Shaughnessy, PhD. Optional events include an Allegheny City Bus Tour, a Gateway Clipper Dinner Cruise, and a German lunch. “Molly’s Trolley” provides rides to and from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and to the PAL-AM Awards banquet.
Palatines to America is a German genealogy society dedicated to the study of ancestors from all German speaking lands. The society takes its name from the fact that some of the earliest German- speaking immigrants to the American colonies came from a region in present-day Germany known as the Palatinate and were called Palatines. The founding members of PAL-AM all had ancestors from this area of Germany.
Once known as the smoky city where the streetlights came on at 3:00 PM., Pittsburgh has shaken that dismal image and is now famous as the City of Champions, with multiple trophies won by the Steelers and the Penguins. Beyond its sports fame, the city is a cultural zone anchored by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and the home of many nationally prominent universities, hospitals, research and technology centers.
See http://www.palam.org/pdf/PalamNationalConference2011.pdf for the conference flyer and http://www.palam.org/ for more information about PAL-AM.
