PGS Events for the Week of 2-8 April 2017

Monday, 3-Apr-2017 at 6:00 PM--GENEALOGY PHOTOS: ORGANIZING, MANAGING AND ENHANCING using Picasa, the powerful free program from Google. This class will demonstrate how to manage your digital genealogy photos so they can be easily found and how to enhance their appearance. This includes cropping, straightening, one-touch fix, removing blemishes, adding captions and text to the photo, making a collage, and much more. Bryan, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Tuesday, 4-Apr-2017 at 6:00 PM--"Research Trip Planning--This session will lay out some steps to take to ensure that your trip to your ancestral home area is as successful as possible. Areas to be covered include:

1. Scope of the trip—duration & things to accomplish
2. Make a detailed plan of attack—what, where, when
3. Paving the way for when you arrive
4. Supplies and materials to take
5. Accumulating and recording the data
6. Processing the data back home.

Bryan, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Thursday, 6-Apr-2017 at 10:30 AM--Library Catalog Searching for Genealogists – Libraries are a great place for finding genealogy resources. This class will show you how to find libraries and archives that can help you in your search, how to get the most from catalog searches, and discover other helpful resources available through online catalogs. Fortin, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Friday, 7-Apr-2017 at 10:15 AM--Franco-American Discussion Group. Geographic areas include: Europe (primarily France, but not limited to France)-Eastern Canada (primarily Quebec, some Ontario, but including the Acadians of the Maritime Provinces)-USA (Central North America and New England, also Louisiana and the surrounding Southern states). Grandmaison, Local History Room, Largo Library.

McKinney, Texas Obituaries and More

McKinney, Texas is in Collin County, and has made several indexes available. Thanks to the public library system, you can get, in either Excel or PDF format, three obituary indexes spanning the time period from 1884 to the present. In addition, you can browse indexes of births, engagements and marriages from McKinney newspapers for the period from 1980 to 1993.

Check it out at:  Genealogy | McKinney, TX - Official Website:

'via Blog this'

Debbe Hagner Speaks at PGS Meeting on 15 April...Free and Open to the Public

Strategies for Tracing the Women in Your Family Tree

Kimberly Powell writing in about.com gives us various strategies to use in tracking down the women in our family trees. The landing page is a introduction to the topic. Scroll down to the end of the short article and you will find links to several other articles that address searching for women in various record sets: marriage records, divorce records, cemeteries, census records, land records, and more.

Strategies for Tracing the Women in Your Family Tree:

'via Blog this'

PGS Events for the Week of 26 March to 1 April 2017

Monday, 27-Mar-2017 at 10:00 AM--Immigration Records and Ships Passenger Lists-How to use them. Summers, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Tuesday, 28-Mar-2017 at 11:30 AM--DNA Basics—an introduction to DNA that may be help attendees better understand the discussion in the DNA Interest Group following at 1:00 PM. Manning, Jenkins A.

Tuesday, 28-Mar-2017 at 1:00 PM--DNA Interest Group--Share your DNA knowledge and discuss your results with others interested in making DNA Connections.  This is a group for DNA novices to learn together. Manning, Jenkins A.

Thursday, 30-Mar-2017 at 10:30 AM--MILITARY RECORDS -- This class explores the types of military records produced from the Revolutionary War to modern times. It shows the information contained in those various records, and where to find them in print and online. Summers, Local History Room, Largo Library.

NO FAMILY TREE MAKER USER GROUP MEETING ON APRIL 1— The Library will be closed on Saturday, April 1st due to the Family Extravaganza event in Largo Central Park.

Various Record Sets from The National Archives of Ireland

Those of you with Irish ancestry may find this link to the genealogy section of the National Archives of Ireland beneficial. There are a total of eleven searchable records sets in the collection that include census records, soldiers' wills, crew lists, and more.

Check it out at:  Genealogy:

'via Blog this'

Pinellas Pioneeers Association Annual Picnic on 8 April 2017

The following comes to us from the Pinellas Pioneers Association:

Please come and help The Pinellas Pioneers Association celebrate their 54th Annual Picnic.

Bring our own food, beverage and table service to Eagle Lake Park, Shelter #3 at 1800 Keene Road on Saturday, April, 8, 2017 at 10 am.

Bring your family and friends and meet the Pinellas County Pioneers. We eat at 12 pm and then linger awhile. Bring a chair if you can.

For more information call 727-441-1338.

Lee County Genealogical Society Features Military Records at April Meeting

The Lee County Genealogical Society, Inc. features "A Few Good Men - and Women:
Searching for Family Military Records" by Linda Ryan, Ed.D. at the April 20, 2017 Membership Meeting

This will be an exploration of basic references for American military research using DAR, ARA/NPRC, Ancestry/fold3, and books from the American Revolution forward.

The program will also discuss using the Internet to connect with people for research questions and
information. In addition, Dr. Ryan addresses issues related to militaria (such as weapons, uniforms,
and medals) that are connected with warfare or military service, including finding your family
member’s medals or other memorabilia, for sale on eBay!

The event will take place at the Cypress Lakes Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall at 8260 Cypress Lake Drive, Fort Myers, FL The doors open at 9:30 am.

For more information see www.LCGSFL.org

Forest Hill Cemetery, City of Madison, Wisconsin

This cemetery in Madison, Wisconsin dates back to 1857. From the landing page you can click on links for a map, a walking tour (via PDF), and to search. Searches can be done by name or section. The records you will find are very complete and go well beyond just tombstone inscriptions. You will see such information as deceased name, name of the owner of the plot, funeral home, occupation, cause of death, and more.

Check it out at:
Forest Hill Cemetery - Find a Park - Madison Parks - City of Madison, Wisconsin:

'via Blog this'

City Directories of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada

This site by the City of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada by way of the site archive.org, gives us digitized city directories of that city from 1858 to 1934. Just click on the image of the directory you are interested in to be taken to a viewer for the entire book.

Peterborough, Ontario, Canada - City Directories : Free Texts : Download & Streaming : Internet Archive:

'via Blog this'

PGS Events for the Week 19-25 March 2017

Tuesday, 21-Mar-2017 at 6:00 PM--ANCESTRY FAMILY TREES – Part 2. Publishing your tree on Ancestry.com can be a great way to share your research with others, as well as to provide a backup for your work. This presentation covers how to start a family tree on Ancestry.com, and how to maintain it. That includes working with people, events, images, and sources. Summers, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Friday, 24-Mar-2017 at 10:30 AM--German Genealogy Interest Group--we will spend some time on reading-interpreting handwriting and defining some of the terms used. This will be followed by a general discussion. Dietz, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Saturday, 25-Mar-2017 at 10:00 AM--RootsMagic User Group--Questions and answers and demonstrations of how to use the RootsMagic genealogy database software program. Summers, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Free Irish resources at a number of websites in honor of St. Patrick’s Day

Free Irish resources at a number of websites in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. Check them out.

• American Ancestors-- https://www.americanancestors.org/irish-research
• Findmypast.com-- http://www.findmypast.com/
• Ancestry.com-- https://www.ancestry.com/

Photos from the US Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information

This site is just for fun...unless, of course, you run into one of your ancestors! The site gives you around 170,000 photos from 1935 to 1945, and they cover the United States.

Click of the "Start Exploring" tab and you will be presented with an interactive map showing all of the counties with photos. Click on the outline of the county and you can see those photos. At the map page, you can control the time line, choose the photographer of interest, or search on a variety of fields.

Photogrammar:

'via Blog this'

Florida State Genealogy Society Holds Spring Virtual Conference on 25 March 2017

Daylight savings is returning and brings with it longer days for us to enjoy doing genealogy. Join us for our first Virtual Conference – a way for you to renew your genealogy research skills without having to leave home. The conference will be presented via GoToWebinar. Attendees will be able to attend the “live” presentation or listen to the recorded video which will be available to registered attendees only, for a period of 2 weeks after the conference.

 

What you will get:

• 5 hours of lectures by noted genealogy presenters.
• Viewing “live” or attend via recording up to 2 weeks after the conference.
• Door Prizes throughout the day.

Register Now

 

Members:  $35.00    Non-Members:  $40.00

For more information and registration see http://flsgs.org/cpage.php?pt=268 .

Lancashire Indexes to Births Marriages and Deaths

If you have ancestors from this part of England you may find the Lancashire BMD site helpful.

The landing page gives you a quick explanation of the site, pointing out what is completed and what is still being worked on. It also give you a FAQ page that gives you good information to help you understand what the site offers and how to use it.

If you wish to search the collection, look in the upper right corner of the landing page for the colored tabs labeled "Births," "Marriages," and "Deaths." Each of those tabs gives you a drop-down menu of topics you can select from.

Lancashire Births Marriages & Deaths Indexes:

'via Blog this'

PGS Events for the Week of 12-18 March 2017

Monday, 13-Mar-2017 at 6:00 PM--Eastern European Research -  for ancestors who came from Galicia/Halychyna, Bukovina, Poland, Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Germans from Russia, Rusyns, Boykos. Help on how to start - with information obtained in the New World. van Heerden, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Tuesday, 14-Mar-2017 at 6:00 PM--ANCESTRY FAMILY TREES – Part 1. Publishing your tree on Ancestry.com can be a great way to share your research with others, as well as to provide a backup for your work. This presentation covers how to start a family tree on Ancestry.com, and how to maintain it. That includes working with people, events, images, and sources. Summers, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Wednesday, 15-Mar-2017 at 10:00 AM--NATURALIZATION RECORDS -- Many of our ancestors became naturalized citizens, and left a paper trail when they did so. This class explains the naturalization process, what information can be found in the records, and where those records can be found. Summers, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Thursday, 16-Mar-2017 at 1:00 PM--Irish Genealogy Interest Group--a discussion group regarding techniques to find your Irish ancestry. Padgett-Focareta, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Saturday, 18-Mar-2017 at 10:00 AM--Computers in Genealogy Q & A, Bryan, Jenkins B.

Saturday, 18-Mar-2017 at 11:00 AM--It’s the luck of the Irish on March 18th, as the spring PGS Lecture Series brings back Donna Moughty, who will be giving two talks to help us research our Irish ancestors. The first talk, “Strategies for Finding Your Irish Ancestors”, will take place at the usual time, just after our 11:00 am business meeting.  There will be a break for lunch from approximately 12:45 – 1:30. At 1:30 pm Donna will begin the second talk, “Online Sources for Irish Research”.  Don’t forget to bring your lunch.  Alternatively, the Bookmark Café will be taking lunch orders ahead of the 11:00 am meeting, which you can pick up at the lunch break.  Water will be provided. Moughty, Jenkins B.

Pinellas Genealogy Society Free Lecture Series Features Donna Moughty

It’s the luck of the Irish at the Largo Public Library

on March 18^th, as the spring PGS Lecture Series brings back Donna Moughty, who will be giving two talks to help us research our Irish ancestors. The first talk, “Strategies for Finding Your Irish Ancestors”, will take place at the usual time, just after our 11:00 am business meeting.  There will be a break for lunch from approximately 12:45 – 1:30. At 1:30 pm Donna will begin the second talk, “Online Sources for Irish Research”.  Don’t forget to bring you lunch.  Alternatively, the Bookmark Café will be taking lunch orders ahead of the 11:00 am meeting, which you can pick up at the lunch break.  Water will be provided.  

Free Genealogy Courses at FamilySearch.org

The Learning Center at FamilySearch.org is filled with free online classes and presentations on all manner of genealogy subjects. If you have not visited the site lately, you should do so because content is added continuously.

The home page of the Learning Center lists new courses, those that are most popular, and courses organized by place, skill level, topic, language, etc. It is difficult to imagine that you could not find a course of interest or helpful to you.

Check it out at:
Learning Center: Genealogy Courses | FamilySearch.org:

'via Blog this'

The Civil War Through the Harper's Weekly

Harper's Weekly was arguably the most popular newspaper during the Civil War, featuring pictures and accounts of the struggle. You can now read the paper online at the website sonofthesourth.net by following the link provided below.

Each page displayed is surrounded with links you can explore: in the left pane are the years of the Civil War you can click on to display that section of the collection, throughout each page are hot links to specific names and places, and thumbnail images will take you from page to page.

Check it out at:  The Civil War:

'via Blog this'

PGS Events for 5-11 March 2017

Monday, 6-Mar-2017 at 6:00 PM--Family Tree Maker 2014 Basics--Part 6. A detailed explanation and demonstration of the many features of this most popular genealogy database program. This is the last session. Hahn, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Tuesday, 7-Mar-2017 at 6:00 PM--Brick Walls—You will eventually reach a point where you seemingly can’t go back further on a particular line. This class will offer some ideas and suggestions for overcoming dead ends in your family history research. Bryan, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Wednesday, 8-Mar-2017 at 6:00 PM--Newspapers.com--this class will demonstrate how to use this valuable subscription database of scanned online newspapers now available at Largo Library for free. Summers, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Thursday, 9-Mar-2017 at 10:30 AM--Familysearch.org—the class will demonstrate how to search the vast databases available on this rapidly-expanding site made available from the LDS (Mormon) genealogy collection. Bryan, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Saturday, 11-Mar-2017 at 12:00-4 pm--Family History Assistance Day--One-on-one assistance in finding your family tree. Especially for beginners so invite your friends and neighbors, too. Local History Room and the adjacent Reading Room, Largo Library.

"Speaking of History" Presentation at Heritage Village on 12 March 2017

This bulletin was received from the Pinellas County Historical Society:

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

MARCH 12 ~ SPEAKING OF HISTORY LECTURE ~ 2:00 PM

Heritage Village Pinellas Room

THE ISLANDER – A Play by Elizabeth Brincklow.

Myrtle Scharrer Betz was born and grew up on Caladesi Island.  Myrtle’s life, as related in her autobiographical Yesteryear I Lived in Paradise, illustrates the wonders, discomforts, challenges, and joys of pioneer life on a barrier island when Florida really was a tropical paradise.  Performed as a reading, The Islander focuses on a pivotal time in Myrtle’s life when she must choose to remain living on Caladesi Island or to move to the mainland with her husband and young daughter.  A post reading discussion with questions and answers will take place with Dunedin playwright Elizabeth Brincklow and Terry Fortner, Myrtle’s granddaughter.

Links to State Library Home Pages

If your research leads you to the need for a link to a particular state library, this website is for you. The states are listed alphabetically, and furnish links to their state libraries. In some instances, more than one link is provided.

This is a good link to put in your browser favorites so you have it close at hand.

State Libraries:

'via Blog this'

Cherokee Genealogy Workshop Offered 18 March at Tamp Library

This free workshop is being offered at the John F. Germany Library in Tampa. The following information explains the event.

Cherokee Genealogy Workshop

Saturday, March 18, 2017

Beginning at 10 AM

John F. Germany Library

900 N. Ashley Drive

Downtown Tampa

The Cherokee Nation of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and the local satellite group, the Cherokees of Central Florida. are sponsoring a FREE workshop for Cherokee genealogical research.  The workshop is “Beyond the Dawes Rolls” which will present other sources for Cherokee research.  Roy Hamilton, Cherokee Nation Genealogist and Catherine Foreman Gray, Cherokee Tribal Council member and History and Preservation Officer will be here from Oklahoma to present the workshop.  Librarians are setting aside a special area for our workshop and are assembling all the Cherokee materials in one location.  Volunteers from the Cherokees of Central Florida will be on hand to help with individual questions after the workshop.  Street parking is free near the library on Saturday.  The Poe Parking Garage is adjacent to the library where parking is available for a fee.  Walk across the connecting elevated walkway to the Annex of the library and go to the second floor Historical and Genealogical Section.  A light lunch will be served at no charge.  Please come and join us for this very special event.  The workshop will begin at 10 a.m., but you are welcome to remain in the library until closing at 6 p.m.  You may want to bring a thumb drive to copy material from the library’s computers.  Registration is encouraged but not required.  For more information, please contact Scott L. Peeler Jr., Genealogy Committee Chair, Cherokees of Central Florida, at slpeelerjr@yahoo.com.

Scott L. Peeler, Jr., Facilitator 

Lee County Genealogical Society Features Ray Liberatore on Dating Old Photographs

The notice was received from the Lee County Genealogical Society:

The March 16, 2017 Membership Meeting will feature "Dating Old Photographs" with Ray Liberatore. The event is at Cypress Lakes Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall, 8260 Cypress Lake Drive, Fort Myers, and the doors open at 9:30 a.m.

For more information visit www.LCGSFL.org