January Topics

January 6: The Vista Grande Public Library's genealogy class meets on the first Monday of each month. Next week's topic is "Writing Your Ancestors' History." Be there at 10AM.

January 7: Our club year begins with a workshop. The topic will be Ancestry and the FamilySearch Family Tree. We'll look at the suggestions and hints on Ancestry to see how to evaluate them. I'll highlight a couple of new features on the tree and answer any questions about its use.

January 14: Pam Ingermanson will talk about the new Full-Text Searching option on FamilySearch. I think we'll all be making more use of this process in the future.

January 21: Diane plans to talk about My Heritage and its DNA features during this week's workshop. 

January 28: "Researching in New England" is the final topic of the month.

Workshop - December 17

There were a few members who attended this past week's "work night." Camille was working on an ancestor involved in a mining accident in Colorado. Beth was trying to move data and sources between Ancestry and Family Tree Maker. Deb is planning to use her Ancestry information to write a family story. She is also in the beginning stages of DAR research. 

We also took a quick look at Santa Claus' family history, beginning with a "real" Santa Claus who lived in Missouri in the 1930s. 

 

Courthouse Research: Workshop December 10

Approximately 10% of genealogical material is available online. This means we need to find alternate sources for research. One of the venues is your county courthouse.

Vital records (birth, marriage, death) are the main reasons to visit a courthouse in person. Annie gave examples of actual vital records and compared them to what is found online. Much of the information is missing from online transcriptions.

Progress is being made, however. Most land and probate records are now accessible through Ancestry or FamilySearch. 

If you plan to visit a courthouse, you should verify hours as many require a reservation. Also of importance is a plan of attack, such as making a list of names to research.

December 3 Workshop

Diane began the DNA session with a review of the basic terms. We have a couple of essential books in our library if you would like more information on the topic. There is also a helpful Facebook page dedicated to answering DNA questions.

We learned how Diane used DNA research to prove the correct parentage of her great grandfather. It was interesting how her original research involving census information and vital records was changed after the DNA results.

Diane recommends that you download your information from 23andMe because that company is in flux at present. 

Thanks, Diane for another educational presentation!

Workshop November 26

We participated in a roundtable at last week's workshop where we shared a new discovery or a favorite website.

Maureen brought a baby book that she had rescued several years ago. She researched the baby and its mother and has found a grand niece of the mother who would like the book returned. 

Nancy has been researching vital records in Canada and found an example of a 4th cousin who needed a birth certificate from the 1880s. She located the delayed birth certificate that had been filed for that cousin.

Debi had been trying to break down a brick wall regarding a g. grandfather who left the family. When she renewed her Ancestry membership during our meeting, someone had posted the death date for that ancestor!

Dennis recently found the arrival date for his 6th great grandfather in one of the Great Migrations books.

Royal was shown a four-generation photograph with his great grandmother's son from her first marriage and will be able to continue research into that family.

Diane used the Manitoba probate records mentioned in a FamilySearch demonstration to locate information about her great uncle.

Annie was using the Fold3 Civil War widow's pension files. One of the files contained full records of adoptions of two surviving children of a Civil War veteran.