Annual Oktoberfest Luncheon & Genealogy Seminar
Saturday, October 17, 2026
TO PURCHASE TICKETS ONLINE CLICK HERE
LOCATION:
German Coast Beer Co. Brewery
13899 Highway 18 (River Road)
Luling, LA 70070
PROGRAM:
9:00 a.m. – DOORS OPEN & REGISTRATION
9:30 a.m. – WELCOME – Jay Schexnaydre GACHGS President
10:00 a.m. – SESSION 1 – Elizabeth “Liz” Louque Martin 
“The New Frontier of Family History: AI for the Modern Genealogist”
This presentation will explore how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can serve as a valuable research
partner. Participants will discover practical ways AI can assist in uncovering and understanding
the past, including translating historical documents, enhancing and restoring old photographs,
analyzing and organizing information from multiple records, and transforming research findings
into meaningful family stories. Popular AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity,
and NotebookLM will be introduced and demonstrated, with examples of how each can support
different aspects of the genealogical research process. Attendees will leave with practical ideas,
tools, and techniques they can begin using immediately to make their research more efficient,
organized, and rewarding.
11:00 a.m. – SESSION 2 – Adele Berthelot
“The Story of the Nita Crevasse: Life Along the Dynamic Mississippi River”
Riding along River Road (Hwy 44), the visible scar of the Nita Crevasse presents as an elevated section of the roadway with an adjacent wooded area to the east. Geological and engineering papers record the record-setting impact of a run-away river, and all that was learned about geologic sedimentation and engineering water flow dynamics. The Story of the Nita Crevasse tells the human-impact part of the 1890-natural disaster event, how people came together when the Mississippi River escaped its banks and taught us many lessons..
11:45 a.m. – LUNCH – Maitland “Spuddy” Faucheux
Chicken & Andouille Gumbo, German-style Potato Salad, Cornbread, Bouillé Cake, Tea, Water, Coffee
1:00 p.m. – SESSION 3 – Leonard Smith III
“Finding Louise“
Finding Louise takes audiences behind the scenes of a nearly five-decade genealogical journey — from a chance discovery in an 1880 census record to a courtroom drama that unfolded over eleven years in Assumption Parish, Louisiana. Filmmaker and author Leonard Smith III shares how he traced his family’s roots back to Louise, an enslaved woman purchased in 1833 whose freedom, and that of her descendants, was ultimately won in an 1853 court judgment. Smith discusses the research, the setbacks (including the loss of decades of material in Hurricane Katrina), and the process of turning a family’s hidden history into both a book and a forthcoming documentary film.
Leonard’s book will be for sale and available for autograph. If you want to pre-purchase you may do so: The Story of Louise: From $500 to Priceless
1:45 p.m. – CLOSING REMARKS – Jay Schexnaydre GACHGS President
PRICE:
$40 per person via USPS mail.
DOWNLOAD FORM & MAIL TO:
GACHGS
PO BOX 122
VACHERIE, LA 70090
$45 online
BUY TICKETS ONLINE