Family History Fanatics Online Conference Coming on 29 June 2019

Family History Fanatics will be producing a "Research Strategies and Historical Writing" online conference on June 29th.  Speakers and topics will include:

Amy Johnson Crow - Writing Your Family History in Bite-Sized Pieces
Devon Noel Lee - A Recipe for Writing Family History
Lisa Lisson - Adding Social History to Family History Writing
Dan Earle - You Down with KDP? Ya You Know Me!: Preparing Your Manuscript for Self Publication

The online sessions will begin at 9 am Central Time on June 29th. A final panel discussion will end the day.  All registrants will be able to view the conference for 30 days.  Register and get your questions answered by some of the most popular genealogy educators! Presentations are live, not pre-recorded, and you can ask questions throughout.

Price is only $19.99 until June 19th and then it will be $24.99. 

More information is available on the website: https://www.familyhistoryfanatics.com/writingconf

Grave Locator for Bismarck's St. Mary's Parish Online

For those with ancestors from the Bismarck, North Dakota area, a grave locator for St. Mary's Parish Family is at online. Instructions for using the site are front and center on the landing page.

Check it out at:  https://stmarysbismarck.org/grave-locator

Gulfport History Museum Reopening Celebration on 1 June

This comes from out Organizational Partner in Gulfport:

At long last, the museum reopens! Join us?

Join us for a very special grand re-opening of the Gulfport History Museum!

After months of renovation following last summer's Labor Day fire, our museum is in beautiful shape and we're excited to officially open to the public on June 1, 2019. 

We'll be open to everyone this Saturday, June 1, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. for a meet and greet with volunteers, board members and our first-ever operations manager. You can learn more about GHS's plans for the coming year and our ongoing efforts to digitize and preserve Gulfport's town records, all while enjoying our beautifully restored museum space. Our exhibit The Gabber: 50 Years of Hyper-Local News will be back on display for your enjoyment.  

We'll have a light buffet brunch, courtesy of Stella's, with some muffins from A Friend Who Bakes. We always welcome dogs and well-behaved children.

Let us know you're coming to our grand reopening!

The Gulfport Historical Society operates the Gulfport History Museum, located at 5301 28th Ave. S., in Gulfport. 

PGS Events for the Week of 27 May to 1 June 2019

Tuesday, 28-May-19 at 11:00 AM--DNA for Genealogy: The Basics. Learn about the types of DNA tests used for genealogy and popular testing companies. We compare the benefits of each type of test and each company’s database. Instructor: Manning. Jenkins A

Tuesday, 28-May-19 at 1:00 PM--DNA Interest Group: Learn how to interpret your DNA test results, and apply those results to your current family history research. Join our casual group as we research and learn together. Instructor: Manning. Jenkins A.

Wednesday, 29-May-19 at 10:00 AM--Orphan Trains and the Children Who Rode in Them. The story of the Orphan Trains, which relocated children from the eastern cities to rural farmlands, has become a part of American popular culture. This presentation explores the facts behind the legends; follows a group of children “placed-out” in 1880; and, provides resources available to learn more about the orphan trains and their riders. Instructor: Fortin.      Local History Room.

Saturday, 1-Jun-19 at 1:00 PM--DNA Basics-Part 1. Learn about the types of DNA tests used for genealogy and popular testing companies. We compare the benefits of each type of test and each company’s database. Instructor: Manning, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Open Archives Has Largest Collection of free Dutch Historical Records

This is reputedly the largest collection of references to people in Dutch historical records. They recently achieved their 200 millionth entry.

Check it out at:
https://www.openarch.nl/

Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild - A Different View of Passenger Lists

If you are not familiar with the Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild, you are in for a treat. This collection of transcribed ship passenger lists is volunteer driven, and may reveal a passenger name that has been alluding  you.

You can search by passenger name, or browse by ship name,. In addition you can browse by special ship grouping, port of departure, port of arrival and captain's name.

If you find your ancestor in these transcriptions, then you have the information you need to seek out the original passenger list.

https://www.immigrantships.net/

PS Events for the Week of 20-25 May 2019

Monday, 20-May-19 at 10:00 AM-- Local and County Histories—CLASS CANCELLED. Instructor Karen Fortin had a death in the family and had to be out of town. Class will be re-scheduled later this year.      

Tuesday, 21-May-19 at 10:00 AM--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.  Instructor: Summers, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Friday, 24-May-19 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). Instructor: Grandmaison, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Saturday, 25-May-19 at 10:00 AM--RootsMagic User Group--Questions and answers and demonstrations of how to use the RootsMagic genealogy database software program. Instructor: Summers, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Cemetery Listing for Oak Hill Cemetery in Siloam Springs, Arkansas.Online

Oak Hill Cemetery was founded in 1880 in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. The landing page gives  you a link to "Burials Roster," That roster is a complete alphabetic listing of the burials, providing such information as name, burial location, and year of death.

Check it out at:
https://www.siloamsprings.com/152/Burial-Records

Suncoast Genealogy Society Features Debbe Hagner at 25 May Meeting

Getting Started in Scots-Irish Genealogy by Lisa Cooke

Lisa Louise Cooke, writing in her Blog "Genealogy Gems," gives us a guide to getting started in Scots-Irish genealogy. The article is a good starting point giving some general background, available resources, and links to further study.

Check it out at:
https://lisalouisecooke.com/2018/01/29/scots-irish-genealogy/

PGS Events for the Week of 13-18 May 2019

Tuesday, 14-May-19 at 10:00 AM--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.  Instructor: Summers, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Thursday, 16-May-19 at 1:00 PM--Irish Genealogy Interest Group. Topics vary monthly. Customs and culture, review of online resources, strategies for breaking down walls. Members are given an opportunity to share their ancestor discoveries, their travels to Ireland, and topics of interest. Jenkins C, Largo Library.

Saturday, 18-May-19 at 10:00 AM--Computers in Genealogy: Question and Answer session on the use of computers in genealogy research and record keeping. Jenkins B, Largo Library.

Saturday, 18-May-19 at 11:00 AM--Program Meeting: Hiking the Pilgrim Paper Trail-Tips for Documenting your Early Arrival Ancestors for Lineage Society Use. Join Pilgrim speaker Lori Coffey as she outlines how to prepare for membership in a hereditary group like the Mayflower Society. This fun and interactive presentation will provide ideas on how to document your early arrival ancestors. Jenkins B, Largo Library.

Yellow Medicine County, Minnesota Birth and Death Index Online

Birth and death indexes for Yellow Medicine County, Minnesota are online for the years 1872 to 1910 thanks to the county Museum and Historical Society.

To see the index you must download an Excel file...which means  you need the MS Excel software on your computer, or at least the Excel reader. There is a link to download the reader if you need to.

The links to the birth and death indexes are in boxes to the right in the landing page.

http://www.co.ym.mn.gov/index.asp?SEC=ABA349CA-E420-415B-A89E-69E13E517FEF&DE=3695BEFC-A48D-4F89-9B70-541A3F35E16D

Central Database of Victims of the Spanish Civil War and the Franco Regime

This is a specialize collection, but could be valuable if you have Spanish ancestry. It is an attempt to document the 125,000 people who were victims of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). The fate of many is still unknown to their families.

Enter your search term and click on a name in the resulting hit list for additional information on the source of the information.

https://scwd.ihr.world/en/

Plain Township, Ohio Provides Online Cemetery Burial Search

A burial index for the Maplewood Cemetery, located in Plain Township of Franklin County, Ohio is available online. From the landing page, click on the link "Maplewood Cemetery Online Burial Search."

Fill out the search form presented and you will be given a hit list giving a name and a grave location. Each name is a hot link to additional information about the deceased.

Check it out at:
https://plaintownship.org/cemeteries/maplewood-cemetery-online-burial-search/

PGS Events for the Week of 6-11 May 2019

Monday, 6-May-19 at 10:00 AM--Introduction to Genealogy (Beginner). Basics of how to get started in researching your family history—what to do first, where to look & how to do it. Instructor: Bryan, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Tuesday, 7-May-19 at 6:00 PM--Writing Brief Narrative Sketches – Sharing Interesting Ancestors with Family. Do you want to share your family history research and enthusiasm with your relatives, but find that their eyes tend to glaze over when you pull out your pedigree charts and family group sheets? Try presenting the information to them in bite-size chunks, one interesting ancestor at a time, using brief, 1-3 page narratives with visual impact. Instructor: Fortin, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Digital Michigan Newspaper Portal Available Online

Central Michigan University offers us a portal for access to Michigan newspapers. Some of the papers are available for free and some require payment, but the links in the portal tell you which is which.

Michigan newspapers available through the Library of Congress (Chronicling America) are included in the portal, so this site is very inclusive.

Check it our at:
https://www.cmich.edu/library/clarke/Pages/Michigan-Digital-Newspaper-Portal.aspx