November 26 Workshop

Rick Wood will do a session on some of the free websites available to help you with your research. He will cover a well known cemetery site, an essential site for Canadian research, a book site, and a little known passenger list site. He will be starting at 6:30 to allow for some time at the end for questions and general workshop so please come early.

 

Last week we had a very productive evening following the "How to Get Started in Genealogy" presentation. Various members were learning about Legacy, transcribing copies of wills, using our Scottish research information, taking advantage of the router to visit familysearch.org and asking questions in general. 

 

Come at 6:30 to learn about some new websites and stay to use the internet or get your research questions answered.

 

 

Oxford County Library, Ontario, Canada

Ken Doane subscribes to a weekly email newsletter from the New England Historic Genealogical Society, and he shared information from an issue produced in June.

"The Weekly Genealogist" spotlighted the Oxford County Library, located in southwestern Ontario, where the regional seat is in Woodstock.

Online indexes provided by the library include birth, death and marriage notices found in three Ingersoll newspapers from 1854-1970. The site also contains four vital records databases, cemetery records, census records for Ingersoll, and land records transcribed from microfilm for four Oxford County townships.

We will place a copy of the newsletter in the Ontario file, so that anyone with ancestors in that area of Ontario can obtain more information.

Legacy Webinar for November 20

Thomas MacEntee is presenting a webinar entitled "Mind Mapping Your Research Plans and Results."
 

He says that mind mapping is a process of creating a diagram or flow chart of ideas and concepts and suggests that if you have trouble planning a genealogy research strategy, this webinar might be helpful. Mind mapping can help you create an effective research plan as well as help you connect data points once the research is completed.

Register to watch in real time Wednesday or check it out at your leisure for the next week or so.

www.familytreewebinars.com

November 19 Workshop

We are changing the schedule for this coming Tuesday. Many of our new members are beginners, and we'd like to give them a good start.

I will do the class called "Basics for Beginners: How to Get Started in Genealogy" at 6:30 p.m. November 19. Since it's our regular meeting night, we are hoping that everyone who might be interested will be able to attend. Our regular workshop activities will follow the presentation.

All beginners (and anyone else who might like a refresher course) are invited to arrive at 6:30. Otherwise, plan to come at 7:30 for internet research, browsing our library and getting reacquainted with members.

Legacy's November 13 Webinar

Legacy's webinar this week is researcher-specific. If you have ancestors that traveled through or lived in Ohio, "Researching Your Ohio Ancestors" should be of interest.

Here's the description from Legacy's website:              

"If you have ancestors who lived in or passed through Ohio, you’ll find a wealth of documents waiting for you online, and at archives, libraries, and repositories. Discover what records are available, where they are located, and how to utilize them to trace your roots in the Buckeye state."

Register to watch in real time at www.familytreewebinars.com.  Be sure to check the time for your area. The lecture will be available to watch any time during the next week or so.

November 12 Workshop

Tuesday's workshop begins at 7 PM in the San Tan room. We'll have a brief presentation of tips for using the FamilySearch and Ancestry websites with a short demonstration of each site. Bring your computers if you would like to use the router Tuesday or if you would like some help with those sites or anything else! We will continue to assist beginners.

Free Canadian Records on Ancestry.ca

The following appeared in Family Tree Magazine's weekly newsletter this week:

"Take advantage of these opportunities to find Canadian ancestors free on Ancestry.ca: The 1921 Canadian census collection is now indexed by name and free to search on Ancestry.ca. From now until Nov. 11, you can search 4.4 million of Ancestry.ca's Canadian military records for free." Good luck if you have time for research this weekend!

November 5 Workshop

About 20 members attended our first workshop of this season. It was great to see many familiar faces along with several newcomers. We had a roundtable session to get acquainted. Next week we'll have a short review of census research tips and the family search website.

We are looking forward to the next few weeks, as our members return to Palm Creek. Workshops continue each Tuesday through December 17.

Genealogy Club Library

We are adding three new books to our club library this year. You will find a list of all books available for checkout in your club folder.

The Genealogist's Google Toolbox, by Lisa Louise Cooke, discusses search strategies, Google alerts, Google Earth and several other features that would be useful to a genealogist. Sadly, her chapter on iGoogle no longer seems to be of use.

The Hidden Half of the Family, A Sourcebook for Women's Genealogy, by Christina Kassabian Schaefer, should be helpful for those of us who have a brick wall because we cannot find a woman's maiden name. The introduction provides guidelines for searching federal and state records and non-government sources. Chapters for each state give information about dates in that state's history, marriage and divorce laws, property and inheritance laws, etc.

Mastering Immigration & Naturalization Records, by W. Daniel Quillen, is a concise explanation of the two subjects. He discusses what the records contain and how to locate them.