Genealogical Society of Hispanic America P.O. Box 3040 Pueblo, CO 81005-3040 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Charlene Garcia Simms charlenegsimms@yahoo.com or carmenarteaga@hotmail.com Date Release is sent out: “MEMORABLE HISPANIC WOMEN” IS THE FOCUS OF HISPANIC GENEALOGISTS AT THEIR ANNUAL MEETING Santa Fe, New Mexico Mujeres Memorables del Mundo Hispano (Memorable Women of the Hispanic World) is the theme of the 2015 Annual Meeting and Genealogical Conference of the Genealogy Society of Hispanic America (GSHA). Over 150 members and guests will gather on the weekend of June 5-7 at the Drury Plaza Hotel in Santa Fe. Event is open to the public. Keynote speaker will be Deena Gonzales, author of Refusing the Favor, the Spanish-Mexican Women of Santa Fe 1820-1880. Also featured on the program is: Paris-based, New York Times reporter Doreen Carvajal, author of The Forgetting River: A Modern Tale of Survival, Identity, and the Inquisition . A key tool for modern genealogists: DNA (genetic genealogy) will be the focus of a presentation and panel discussion by Angel Cervantes of the New Mexico DNA Project and Miguel Torrez of the New Mexico Genealogical Society Genetic Genealogy Project. Assistant New Mexico Historian, Rob Martinez will also make a presentation. Doreen Carvajal’s search to recover her Catholic Family’s hidden Sephardic Jewish roots in Andalusia led to walking in the footsteps of her ancestors investigated by the Spanish Inquisition. O The Oprah Magazine: "A book that shimmers with enchantment, pulling the reader into her life with gentle tugs on the heartstrings. What she calls "hunting family ghosts" will resonate with anyone who has ever felt out of place where they were and dreamed of finding another heritage just one layer beneath the one they had always accepted as the bedrock of their self-definition." "Deena González's Refusing the Favor is an essential for understanding the history of New Mexico. This is a capstone work in the field, put together by a thoughtful and brilliant scholar who gives us an insight into the role women played in the survival in two separate universes, that of the conquered and the conqueror." --Rodolfo F. Acuña, California State University at Northridge Registration form with costs and a full lineup of speakers, events, activities, entertainment and tours, available at gsha.net.