A popular speaker about genealogy and family history is guest speaker at the Monday, Nov. 8, Fountain Hills Genealogy Club meeting.

Sue Clark, who is a member of the Tempe chapter of the Family History Society of Arizona and author of four books, is speaker at the 9 a.m. meeting. The hybrid meeting will take place in person at Fountain Hills Community Center and livestreamed via Zoom. Her talk is entitled “Ellis Island and the Immigrant Experience.”

Clark uses historic photos to give attendees a sense of the immigrants' entire experience from purchasing a ticket, to shipboard conditions with a focus on steerage, to processing on Ellis Island and being granted a landing card into the United States. Clark also addresses the name change mythology attributed to Ellis Island in addition to how to research family history of ancestors who entered the U.S. through Ellis Island and Castle Garden before it.

Clark’s eighth great-grandparent was first generation American with parents from Switzerland and Germany. She has written four books about her family.

Those wishing to attend via Zoom may visit the fhsa.org website and click on the Fountain Hills Chapter's Zoom meeting link.

For more information contact Kathleen Maci Schmidt at kvmaci@hotmail.com or consult the Family History website fhsa.org.