Archaic Medical Terms

Have you found a death certificate or obituary that gives a cause of death that you don't recognize? Internet Genealogy and Your Genealogy magazines produce an occasional newsletter with research tips and other items. In today's email there were links to websites that provide terms and definitions that might help you decipher those antiquated terms.

The website where the information can be found is at www.rmhh.co.uk/medical.html. The details were posted by Gena Philibert-Ortega.

Trees By Dan

Ray has suggested a website called "Trees By Dan" for members to consider. Also known as "The History Guy," the website manager is from Brighton, Northumberland, Ontario. His index of surnames would be of interest to anyone researching in that area of Canada. If you are interested in looking at the name index, click on the following link.

www.treesbydan.com


Dan has another webpage of historical interest to genealogists with a focus on history, the books he has published, a blog, and activities planned for the Northumberland area.


www.danbuchananhistoryguy.com

December 17 Workshop

The mini-topic was a case study about using cluster and collateral research to discover the connections between the three Durrant families who turned up in Waupaca County in the late 1850s. There seemed to be no relationship among the families, but subsequent research resulted in a surprising connection.

Workshop: December 10

Skye told us all about her "one place study" for the village in Galicia where her ancestors originated. After researching in the church records for her families, she began a study of the history and boundary changes of the area. This led to the creation of a WikiTree page for the residents of the village. Skye has also devised a Facebook page for any researchers who are connected to the village. They can ask for help or contribute their own research.

Thanks to Skye for a very interesting presentation giving us lots of food for thought.

The overlay map shows the original location of Galicia in present day Europe.

Craft Fair Table: December

Tell us all about the Genealogy Club

We participated at the December Craft Fair and had several interested folks again. Each time we are hopeful that we gain a few new members. Thanks to this month's volunteers: Dick, Jan, Bob, Susan, Nancy, Diane and Annie!

Susan and Nancy

Fees Rising for Citizenship and Alien Registration Files

According to a recent article in the Washington Post, the genealogy boom has hit a roadblock.

"At a time when researching family history is booming, the nation’s immigration and citizenship agency has proposed dramatically hiking fees to access records from the first half of the 20th century. The move has outraged professional and amateur genealogists, who argue that the increase would effectively put valuable immigration information out of reach for many.

The fees would nearly triple, and in many cases, they would rise nearly 500 percent, from $130 to $625 to obtain a single paper file. The little-known Genealogy Program administered by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services allows genealogists, family historians and other researchers to obtain citizenship and alien registration files, visa applications and other records documenting the lives of deceased immigrants who arrived in the United States between the late 19th and mid-20th centuries."

Reach the entire article by searching "genealogy" on FaceBook. The headline you're looking for is "The genealogy boom has hit a roadblock. The Trump administration plans huge fee hikes for immigration records."  Scroll down to the sixth paragraph and click the "public campaign" link. The page has a clear explanation of the background of the rate hike and instructions for submitting your objections to the increase in fees.

Comments will be accepted until December 30, 2019. If enough people object, it may result in a change in this policy.

December 3 Workshop

We saw examples of the problems listed above using our own members' research questions. There were suggestions for analyzing situations where two people of the same age lived in the same area. We also looked at difficulties caused by unusual names and cases where the indexers were careless.

Making use of research time

December Plans

We have three workshops planned for December, and we will need volunteers for our table at the December craft fair.

December 3: We will be talking about census research and providing a few examples of difficulties encountered. There will be a brief review of FamilySearch and Ancestry research techniques. 

December 10: Our speaker will tell us about a "one-place study" that she has produced for a village in Galicia, including researching all the residents.

December 17: The topic will be cluster and collateral research with a story about researching several families with the same surname in one county to decide whether they were related.

Join us!