Mesa FamilySearch Library

The November newsletter from the Mesa FamilySearch Library arrived in my mailbox yesterday. In honor of Veterans Day, they are focusing this edition on military records. Check their website if you have an interest in learning more about researching these types of records.    http://www.mesafsl.org


Also of note: the Mesa facility will be closed on Veteran's Day and also from November 24 through January 4 due to renovations at the library.

　

Workshops

We will be starting club workshops next Tuesday, November 4, continuing through December 16. As usual, meetings will be held in the San Tan room beginning at 7 PM. Our library, including books, magazines and folders, is available for checkout or use during meetings.

We are looking forward to hearing about summer successes, family reunions attended, libraries or courthouses visited, etc. If you took a break over the summer, that's OK, too!

We hope to see former members who have returned to Palm Creek and anyone else who is interested in chasing ancestors.

Software Programs for Mac

Mac users who are still searching for a software program for genealogy should take a look at the Feb/March 2014 issue of Internet Genealogy that will be available in the club library this year. Nine different programs are reviewed in the article.

We subscribe to several genealogy magazines and add them to the genealogy club library as we finish reading them. Workshops provide a good opportunity to browse the magazines and read an article or two on various subjects pertaining to genealogy. The magazines can also be checked out for a two-week period during the season.

Finding Your Roots

You can get back to genealogy on Tuesdays by watching the PBS series "Finding Your Roots" with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. tonight at 7PM Arizona time.


Chefs Aarón Sánchez and Tom Colicchio learn how their immigrant ancestors brought their heritage and cuisines to America.


Here's the blurb from Ancestry, which is supporting this family history series:


"Many of our family stories began somewhere else. And immigration records can reveal the places and paths that your ancestors followed to get here. Watch Tuesday’s show for inspiration and see what new information you can find in our vast collection of global immigration records."

Draper Manuscripts

Mary Hill will present this week's webinar from Legacy specifically for intermediate and experienced researchers. The synopsis of the webinar follows:


Tracking Migration Using the Draper Manuscripts

"Learn about the manuscript collection of Lyman Draper which include gleanings from the Carolinas, Virginia, portions of Georgia, Alabama, the Ohio River valley, and parts of the Mississippi valley from about 1755 through 1870. Find out how to approach searching this vast collection and the hidden treasures that can be discovered therein. It is estimated that about one and a half million people are named in these folders!"



Draper was a lifelong student of early American history and made it his life's work to document the history of the "heroes of the Revolution" in the South. He bequeathed his manuscript collection to the Wisconsin Historical Society.

According to the WHS, the collection covers primarily the period between the French and Indian War and the War of 1812. The geographic concentration is on what Draper and his contemporaries called the "Trans-Allegheny West," which included the western Carolinas and Virginia, some portions of Georgia and Alabama, the entire Ohio River valley, and parts of the Mississippi River valley.

 

Legacy Webinar

Do you think that one of your ancestors could have been involved in the War of 1812? Thomas MacEntee will be presenting the October 15 webinar for Legacy. This discussion of the War of 1812 will be geared toward beginning and intermediate researchers. The description of the topic follows.



Researching Your War of 1812 Ancestor
               

"The War of 1812, often called America’s Second Revolution, left behind a valuable set of records that have proven valuable for genealogical research. Many of these records can help solve the “pre-1850 census” issues when only the head of household was named in the US federal census. Participants will learn about the War of 1812, the major record sets of benefit to genealogists, how to identify service information such as location and military section of service, and which records are available to access online."


Visit www.familytreewebinars for more information or to register to watch in real time.

 

Midwest Genealogy Center

We came south via Kansas City in order to visit what used to be the Mid-Continent Library. The new facility is now called the Midwest Genealogy Center and is located in Independence, Missouri.

 



 

We spent a day and a half using the second floor books, concentrating on names in our files with a connection to Missouri. Dick had used our GenSmarts program for this specific library to generate a printout of possible books to search. He also produced several custom lists from Family Tree Maker: those born in Missouri, married in Missouri, etc. I also found many books from counties in Iowa and Minnesota, and there are volumes available from all states.

 

The photo below shows the part of the library containing shelves of books dealing with Missouri counties.

 

 



Legacy Webinar

The October 8 webinar is perfect for those of us with extra time on our hands. We have had one or two presentations on indexing for FamilySearch, and this would be a refresher course. The webinar is geared toward beginners. Indexing is a way to say thank you to FamilySearch for providing all the free information online.



Welcome to FamilySearch Indexing!
               

"Indexes created at your fingertips! Be part of an international initiative to index the world’s largest collection of genealogical records. This class will give you indexing background and basics to help you understand where to begin, how to help, and what we can achieve."


The webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, October 8. To register or learn more, go to www.familytreewebinars.com.

Free Vital Records on Ancestry

Ancestry is opening its birth, marriage and death records for free access through October 6 to mark the new season of the PBS series "Finding Your Roots." Ancestry is a sponsor of the program.



You'll need to sign up for a free account with Ancestry.com (or log into the account you already have) in order to see the details of your search results.



This is a great opportunity for any club members who do not have a current ancestry account to access some of the basic records needed for family research. You'll find a link to Ancestry in our menu on the right.