John Cass and Scott Nadler

Using “Neighbor History” to Fill Gaps and Solve Mysteries

Cass and Nadler solved decades-old family mysteries that genealogy alone couldn’t solve. Their presentation follows a family using an innovative approach to fill gaps from Eastern Europe to East 9th Street in New York City, with touch-points ranging from rural “shtetls” to the Holland America ship line to Napoleon and two world wars. They will then turn to the emerging “neighbor history” methodology that makes this kind of approach widely accessible. “Neighbor History” goes beyond genealogy as a mere compilation of names and dates; instead, to understand an individual from the past, it explores their motivations, examines the historical context surrounding them, and analyzes the significance of the emerging data. Finally, they will look at how “Neighbor History” is revealing insights into a very different family story, involving slave-holders and abolitionists in 19th century Kentucky and Illinois.