FGS Radio Show: Facebook Issues Confronting Genealogy Societies

Paula Stuart-Warren  Federation of Genealogical Societies, FGS Radio  Leave a comment

The Saturday, September 24th, the online episode of the Federation of Genealogical Society’s radio show is entitled “Your Society’s Facebook Presence.” Using a Q&A format which was popular in workshops at the recent FGS 2011 conference, host Thomas MacEntee will review some of the issues involved with making sure your genealogy society can harness the power of Facebook. Has your society wanted to create a Facebook page to attract new members and to keep current members posted on society news and events? Do you have concerns about privacy or the proper way to create a solid Facebook presence?

The Elgin (IL) Genealogical Society will be in the weekly FGS Member Society in the “Society Spotlight” feature.

Click here to create a reminder to listen to FGS Radio this Saturday.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mysociety/2011/09/24/your-societys-facebook-presence

Saturday, September 24, 2011
2-3pm Eastern US
1-2pm Central US
12-1pm Mountain US
11am-12pm Pacific US

Join us for the next episode of FGS Radio – My Society, an Internet radio show on Blog talk Radio presented by the Federation of Genealogical Societies. Facebook is a great and free way to promote your society and its events.

Need a reminder for the show? Click here, now: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mysociety/2011/09/24/your-societys-facebook-presence

A bit of disclosure: I am a member of the Board of Directors of the Federation of Genealogical Societies.

FamilySearch.org adds 16 million more images

Paula Stuart-Warren  FamilySearch  1 Comment

Have you checked FamilySearch.org lately? Just this week alone more than 16 million digitized images have been added.

As their press release says, “Among the 16 million records added to FamilySearch.org  this week, over six million are from the United States, including new collections from California, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, New York, Oregon, and Vermont. Additionally, five million new Civil Registration and Catholic Church records from Mexico are now available for free viewing at FamilySearch.org. Begin searching now!”

Click here to see the full list that is accompanied by the number of images. It will be worth your time!

Education in Minnesota during Family History Month

Paula Stuart-Warren  Family History Month, Minnesota Genealogical Society  Leave a comment

October is Family History Month and the Minnesota Genealogical Society offers some opportunities for us to expand our knowledge including these:

October 7-8, Edina Minnesota: North Star Conference featuring one of the Genealogy Guys, George G. Morgan, and other great speakers.

October 22, Minneapolis, Minnesota: Family History Fair in conjunction with the Minneapolis Central Library of the Hennepin County Library system.

Click here to visit the MGS website for more details.

Alzheimer’s Action Day: My Mom

Paula Stuart-Warren  Alzheimer's, Family  1 Comment

My Mom passed away in 2008. For far too many years before that she suffered from Alzheimer’s. Far too many years. Looking back to the early 1990s we can now recognize behavior that may have been early signs.

Mom was also having those small strokes that affected her behavior. We had begun to talk every 2-3 days in the 1980s and that is something I miss a lot. My Mom was not easy to live with. She was a stickler for neatness, things being done only her way, and at her time no matter what worked for everyone else. Plus she was a strict mother. All that said, no human being should ever have to go through what she did.

Mom would have been mortified if she knew her once careful and coordinated dressing, haircut, and classy jewelry were reduced to stained clothing, bedhead, and no jewelry. She would have be embarrassed to realize that she hit the people she loved and those who helped care for her. She would have rather missed going out in public than to have others be embarrassed by her behavior. To know that she had to be fed at the end would have given her nightmares and they probably did happen.

She did have a few lucid moments. One time she asked me whose little boys those were in her living room. I said they were Katie’s (my daughter) boys. She said Katie was too young to have kids. I would watch old movies with her and she would nod when I talked about watching movies in our old living room where I grew up. I never told her my husband had left me as it wouldn’t have been understood or so I thought. I was sitting with her one day as Sarah, one of the caregivers, was feeding her. Sarah and I were talking about the change in my life and we suddenly noticed tears running down my mother’s face. She understood. From then on I talked to her as if she really did understand things and just told her about things going on in the family. I would sometimes explain in detail about the person to whom I was referring. She lost her ability to speak but at times the frightened look in her eyes said volumes.

No one should have to live almost as a vegetable, unable to talk any longer, and unable to enjoy life for a dozen years or more. My father became her security blanket and she would panic if one of us took him to do errands. That knowledge would have shocked this once strong woman who was very self-sufficient and yes, controlling. In the study of my family’s history I have not come across knowledge that would lead me to think we have a history of Alzheimer’s or any form of prolonged dementia. So, why Mom?

2011 FGS Conference is over and I am smiling

Paula Stuart-Warren  Federation of Genealogical Societies, FGS  Leave a comment

Am I glad? Somewhat. Am I sad? Very much so. It was a great week made even greater because of wonderful volunteers. I have some new friends. They understand me. They love research, learning, networking and working well together. We laughed, teased, and even addressed issues together and I am still smiling. This was the second time I co-chaired a FGS Conference and I will do it again in 2013 for FGS Fort Wayne with Dawne Slater-Putt. I am smiling about that. It really is a neat volunteer experience.

Post-conference let-down hit me really hard. I was tired but also found it difficult to leave Springfield where I had so much fun. Springfield treated us royally. The main conference team was also amazing. They know who they are and I hope I don’t miss any names. They all made me smile. Josh, Pat, David, Susie, Janice, Thomas, Linda, Julie, Kim, Cath, Sue, Amy, Jane, Carol, Karen, Polly, Stephanie, Dan, Sue, Tim, Jean, James, Gordon, George, and Drew. The Illinois State Genealogical Society, the local host, rocks!

I found this to be a conference where the education seemed to have great importance. The level of chatter around the convention center and the hotels showed that networking was right up there, too. During breaks in sessions the aisles of the convention center filled. The new FGS Booth design was a smash hit. Sue T. did an amazing job on that. FGS board and committee meetings went well with many folks piping up to take on tasks and give sensible advice. I walked away from those meetings with a good feeling. The volunteer training that Josh and I did for many of those who helped out over the week was fun. We joked a bit, were silly, but also talked about our guests for the week and that we needed to see to as many of their needs as possible. That made me smile.

I watched some of our key volunteers walk up to the folks from Birmingham (FGS 2012, August 29-September 1) and offer help and advice. That made me smile. Yes, I am working on the team for that conference, too. I will be once again be doing the conference blog and also co-chairing National Publicity with Thomas MacEntee.

I have heard from many who attended that they had a good time during the week. That makes me smile. Though I didn’t get to spend as much time with friends as I hoped to, it was still great to see them. I was able to see many of the speakers and greet them. One plan I had was to get around to each vendor in the Exhibit Hall and thank them for being there but too much running around and also some need to rest the tired feet kept me from doing that. Their dedication to the genealogical audience makes me smile.

We could not have put this conference together without the platinum sponsors, Ancestry.com and FamilySearch. More smiling. And other sponsors Family Chronicle, New England Historic Genealogical Society, RootsMagic, and ProQuest, too. And the many participating organizations that sponsored lectures and luncheons and the many door prize donors. Many other reasons for smiles.

I want to publicly thank my co-chair, Josh Taylor, a special colleague and friend who asked me to join the committee. Pat Oxley, President of FGS, was there with us every step of the way. FGS 2011 was truly a team effort and I thank each and every one of you who was a part of it.

Register for SLIG 2012 soon and save $50.00

Paula Stuart-Warren  Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy, SLIG  Leave a comment

Five days of in-depth genealogical education. Five days of networking in small groups. Five days of learning from faculty representing a wealth of knowledge. That’s SLIG 2012. Plus, of you register for the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) by October 30th you save $50.00. SLIG offers multiple courses taught by some of the top U.S. genealogists. There is still room in some of the courses. Another neat aspect of the SLIG courses is the proximity to the Family History Library so that you can put your new or enhanced knowledge to work immediately.

I am the coordinator for Course I, an intermediate level offering: American Records and Research: Focusing on Families. In addition to some hands-on work, interaction with the instructors, and one-on-one consultations at the FHL, the course line up is helpful. Check out the details here.

No matter which course you choose, your week will be amazing. Save January 23-27, 2012 on your calendar and participate in a great week.

War of 1812 Pension Project has a deadline

Paula Stuart-Warren  War of 1812  Leave a comment

This is an ongoing project and fundraising effort to digitize and preserve the 7.2 million images from the War of 1812 pension and bounty land records files. Digitized because genealogists and others wanted them preserved. These files supply individual, family, military, national, state, and community history. And if we get this all funded, then the images will be online for anyone to view and copy for FREE. This is another project of the Federation of Genealogical Societies ongoing Malcolm Stern NARA fund which helps to preserve records at the U.S. National Archives and make them accessible.

A special effort by the Indiana Genealogical Society (IGS) ends tomorrow, August 31, 2011. I donated. Have you? I want to be able to stand and cheer with pride when the IGS check is presented to the War of 1812 Project fund at the Federation of Genealogical Societies conference in Springfield, Illinois next week. I want to say I am a part of this.

From the IGS website: The Indiana Genealogical Society is proud to support the Federation of Genealogical Societies’ “Preserve The Pensions” campaign, which aims to raise $3.7 million to digitize the War of 1812 pension files held at the National Archives and make them freely accessible online. The digitized pension files will be available for free on Fold3.com – see http://go.fold3.com/1812pensions/ to view the files that are available so far. Ancestry.com is matching match ALL donations up to $10,000, meaning that donations made to that point for make to the $10,000+ Match Challenge will actually be QUADRUPLED! And IGS is matching donations up to $15,000

If you donated $50.00 that means IGS’ match made it $100.00 and for that first $10,000 total, a match from Ancestry.com, it means your $50.00 meant $200 to fund the project. 

Donate today so you can stand up and cheer no matter where you will be next week when the check is presented. The Archivist of the United States will be there at the ceremony. Let’s remind him how smart, important, and supportive we family historians are.

Loving a library!

Paula Stuart-Warren  Libraries  2 Comments

And they aren’t even genealogists. Claude Peck and Rick Nelson write for the [Minneapolis] StarTribune on food, clothing trends, culture, and more. They are usually lighthearted and sometimes irreverent in their conversations. I was surprised to see their column today “Downtown library a real town hall” in praise of the Minneapolis Central Library. This library is part of the well-known and heavily used Hennepin County Library system. This location is at 300 Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis. It is a beautiful building and many more items are on open shelves than in the old downtown library which often didn’t look like a library because so many books were in closed storage and had to be requested. Now browsing is wonderful.

Click here to read their conversation.

If you live in the area and haven’t visited the downtown library to do some family history research, it’s time you put that visit on your calendar. Special collections is a must but it is not open as many hours as the main parts of the library. The library has many databases, old city directories, newspaper clippings, newspaper indexes, genealogy periodicals, yearbooks, censuses, and a wealth of things you might be interested in.

Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference online registration ends August 20th

Paula Stuart-Warren  Federation of Genealogical Societies, FGS  Leave a comment

Saturday, August 20th is the last day to register online for the upcoming FGS Conference in Springfield, Illinois. You may also mail in a registration as long as it is postmarked by the 20th.

If you have already registered, what about adding one or more of the luncheons, a workshop, the FGS 35th Anniversary celebration, or purchasing a printed syllabus? The deadline is the same for all these.

If you register on or before that date (or postmarked no later than the 20th) you will be able to have access to the syllabus BEFORE the conference! It won’t be too long till we registrants hear from the syllabus team that it is accessible online. Then we can read the sections of interest and print those for the sessions we plan to attend.

I am a National Conference Co-Chair for this event and I hope to see many blog readers at the conference that takes place from September 7-10. Education, fun, networking, a full Exhibit Hall, and excellent door prizes await. Check out the many details at:

Hastings, Nebraska psychiatric hospital burials

Paula Stuart-Warren  Cemeteries, Nebraska  1 Comment

The Adams County [Nebraska] Historical Society has posted the names of 957 people buried in a former psychiatric hospital cemetery in Hastings, Nebraska. The burials cover 1889 to 1957. It was a state funded institution and researchers can expect to find that the individuals were sent to Hastings from all over Nebraska. This site also has some history of the institution.

In order to obtain this information, the historical society had to battle for in in a court battle. Congratulations to the society for undertaking this important task.

To check the list click here. This site also has some history of the institution