Mark your calendars for the Illinois State Genealogical Society 2016 Webinars

Paula Stuart-Warren  Illinois State Genealogical Society, periodicals, Webinars  Leave a comment

The Illinois State Genealogical Society has issued the 2016 lineup for its popular and free monthly webinar series. It’s a nice variety of speakers and topics for the new year. I am pleased to share that I will be doing the one on October 11, 2016. The title is Midwestern Gems:Back Issues of Genealogical, Historical and Sociological Journals. I will be sharing some wonderful articles that are immensely helpful in family history research plus the finding aids to locate these.

For the full lineup check the ISGS brochure and let your genealogy friends and societies know about these learning opportunities.

Woman abandoned as baby finds 3 sisters. DNA solves the story.

Paula Stuart-Warren  Adoption, DNA  Leave a comment

Imagine the frustration of learning you were one of those foundlings left on a doorstep. You are adopted and live a good life. Through years of searching, asking questions, reading old newspapers, and never giving up the quest to find out about your birth parents, you enter our modern era of DNA testing. By testing her DNA via Ancestry.com and then 23andMe,.com a woman abandoned in 1961 here in St. Paul has found 3 sisters. I cried as I read her story.

Tammy Makram’s story is that of many, except that those not doing DNA testing are missing their connections. Read the story in today’s St. Paul Pioneer Press via Twin Cities.com

Have you tested your DNA yet? I highly recommend Ancesty.com, FamilyTreeDNA, and 23and me.

I did note the article states she used older newspapers on microfiche at the Minnesota Historical Society. The newspapers are on microfilm.

Elephants, Memory, Wisdom, and fantastic free genealogy research with HathiTrust

Paula Stuart-Warren  Free, HathiTrust  Leave a comment

I love teaching about the many websites that have digitized books, pamphlets, articles, and more. One of these is HathiTrust. I tell the class or audience that the URL is in the handout or syllabus. They scurry to find it. I get quizzical looks. They hear me saying Hah-tee Trust, not Hah-thee. Hah-tee is the correct pronunciation.

Rudyard Kipling named an elephant Hathi in his Jungle Book series. Hathi is a Hindi word for elephant and elephants remember and have wisdom. HathiTrust and its partners is helping us all to remember all these wonderful published materials.

As the website states, “HathiTrust is a partnership of academic & research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world. This material is in the public domain, in other words not protected by copyright.”

Among the valuable finds on HathiTrust for me are WPA Historical Records Surveys, old laws and statutes, railroad accident investigation reports, county histories, history journals, family histories, Quaker Meeting records, church anniversary booklets, church record abstracts, military history, GAR publications, and the list goes on and on. (and on)

I did a general search on the main page for “james e. stuart” chicago. I received 1,559 hits and most do refer to my Great Granduncle Brigadier General James E. Stuart and his military and postal service careers.

From my own computer I have access to most of the material. I can limit to full view material and on the left hand side of a general search, I can limit the search in many ways including publication dates, time periods, place of publication, what partner the book or journal came from, and other parameters. Wild card searches work in HathiTrust. An advanced search offers more parameters.  Have some fun with searches on it and you will be amazed at the breadth of what is available.  https://www.hathitrust.org/

To learn more:

Registration dates for the 2016 Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh are announced

Paula Stuart-Warren  Conferences/Institutes, Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh, GRIP  Leave a comment

Do you realize how close we are to 2016? One of the Institutes I coordinate and teach at has announced the 2016 registration dates. That would be GRIP, aka Get a GRIP, aka:

The Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh once again has two weeks of courses. The first week takes place June 26-July 1. The second week is July 17-22. Both are held at LaRoche College in the northern end of the Pittsburgh area. I am amazed at the number of students that attended both weeks in 2015!

I am again coordinating and teaching in the Intermediate Genealogy: Tools for Digging Deeper course that is offered during the July 17-22 week. Full details on the classes  will be ready next month.

In the meantime, mark your calendars for registration. The old idiom “the early bird gets the worm” really fits such registration. Some courses fill up immediately and others fill up most seats. GRIP will let us know which ones still have seats after the initial registration day. Don’t delay is the best tactic.

Online Registration Opening Dates: (U.S. time zones)
June 26-July 1:  Wednesday, February 10 at 12:00 noon Eastern Time
July 17-22: Wednesday, March 2 at 12:00 noon Eastern Time

For those of you who might be time zone challenged, that means 11:00 Central: 10:00 Mountain; 9:00 Pacific; 8:00 Alaska; and for Hawaii that is 6:00 a.m. (Ouch)

It’s always a fun, educational, and enlightening week. Discussions over meals, in the dorm rooms and halls, and at the end of each class day are highlights for me.

The course titles are found here.

Next event for me: Illinois State Genealogical Society, Oct 23-24

Paula Stuart-Warren  Conferences, Conferences/Institutes, Illinois State Genealogical Society  Leave a comment

In just under two weeks, the Illinois State Genealogical Society is having its fall conference. The place is Oak Lawn, Illinois, which is a southwest suburb of Chicago and easy to get to. ISGS conferences are special to me, but to learn why, you will have to be there in person to hear the story. Some people do know it, but I hope they keep it quiet.

Wikipedia says “The top five ancestries reported in Oak Lawn as of the 2000 census were Irish (30.4%), German (19.5%), Polish (19.3%), Italian (9.7%) and English (4.4%).” I need to do some checking in my own files to see which of my collateral relatives lived there in the early 1900s.

The conference is at the Hilton OakLawn/Chicago. The lineup of speakers offers something for everyone. I will be presenting 4 sessions on Saturday.

ISGS arranged for a special rate at the hotel and I urge to stay there, sleep a bit later each day, and then take a quick elevator ride to the sessions!

For details on the topics, speakers, banquet, and hotel, check the ISGS website.

 

 

Chronicling America free newspapers: now 10 million pages strong!

Paula Stuart-Warren  Uncategorized  Leave a comment

I love good news. This news release from the Library of Congress shares some. If you haven’t used Chronicling America, head over to the website and begin searching in this FREE resource. Not every newspaper is there, but I did find a story about my Great Great Grandmother Marie Slaker falling down stairs at a family residence here in St. Paul!

“Online Resource of Historic Newspapers Posts 10 Millionth Page

 Chronicling America, a free, online searchable database of historic U.S. newspapers, has posted its 10 millionth page.

Launched by the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in 2007, Chronicling America provides enhanced and permanent access to historically significant newspapers published in the United States between 1836 and 1922. It is part of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), a joint effort between the two agencies and partners in 40 states and territories.”

Read the full news release with interesting statistics here.

 

Intermediate Genealogy Course in January: It’s for you!

Paula Stuart-Warren  Family History Library, Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy, SLIG  Leave a comment
  • Are you not sure where to go next after exhausting many online resources?
  • Do you think the are more online resources you don’t know about?
  • Wish you had a highly experienced genealogy professional with whom to discuss your research?
  • Want to take other courses at an institute but know you aren’t quite ready to keep up?
  • Thinking about learning more about analysis and methodology?
  • Need to know you do have a pretty good grasp on genealogy?
  • Need to learn in-depth about a number of records?
  • Wish you had some assistance at the Family History Library?
  • Been away from family history research for a while?

Then join us at the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy’s intermediate course from 11-15 January 2016. For all these reasons and more, this is the course for you. SLIG’s Course Intermediate U.S. Records and Research, Part II will handle all those questions and more.

Part 1 was offered this past January and will return in 2017.  These two parts do not need to be taken in any specific order. Students that took this course years ago, return for a refresher when a number of years has passed! Plus the session content and the syllabus are always being updated by the instructors. The changes in the field of family history are numerous and often.

This course offers greater understanding of records, learning more unusual resources, one-on-one consultations at the Family History Library, a computer lab session, and some surprises.

Please join me, Debbie Mieszala, CG and Josh Taylor, MA, MLS, for a great week of learning, some fun, and camaraderie that is amazing.  If you have any questions, please add it in the comments for this post.  If you are thinking winter is not the time to be in Salt Lake City, you couldn’t be more wrong. It’s warmer than my home state of Minnesota. The sidewalks and streets are kept clear if there is snow. (I have been there many times in January when we barely saw snow).

More than 600 of your fellow genealogists have taken this course over the years. What are you waiting for? Visit the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy website to learn more and to register.

 

ISFHWE 2016 Excellence-in-Writing Competition Now Open: Your Turn?

Paula Stuart-Warren  Awards, Writing  Leave a comment

The International Society of Family History Writers and Editors (ISFHWE) has an annual writing competition that is broad in nature. Whether you write for magazines, newspapers, journals, websites, or blogs, it’s time to think about entering the 2016 Excellence-in-Writing Competition.

The competition is open to both members and non-members of ISFHWE. Members of ISFHWE receive a discount on the entry fee. The deadline for entries is 15 June 2016.

Full information on the competition and the six categories of writing is available on the ISFHWE website. 

October: Family History Month and American Archives Month

Paula Stuart-Warren  Archives, Family History Month  Leave a comment

What a great combination of designations for this month. In many places, the temperatures are cooling down. We aren’t going on as many picnics, to the beach, or using the swimming pool.  Children are back in school. The genealogist’s minds turns to FAMILY HISTORY.

October seems fitting to be both Family History Month and American Archives month. I usually don’t celebrate chewing gum day or ice cream month. The former two are more worthy of celebration and doing something concrete to celebrate.

What is more perfect than working on your family history in an archive! A couple weeks ago, I wrote about “When Is The Last Time You Were A Tick Mark” and this is the month to be sure you are marked as present!

Go to the website of a state archive or maybe a college or university archive. Perhaps one of the National Archives locations. Study any catalogs, finding aids, newsletters, digitized images, and start a “To Do” list. Do you need to work at one too far away for this month? Plan a trip for later this fall or into 2016.

I am going to celebrate this month by presenting family history seminars in Arkansas (Arkansas Genealogical Society), Alaska (Anchorage Genealogical Society), and Illinois (Illinois State Genealogical Society). I will also be doing in-person research at some archives in Washington State. What is your genealogical society doing to celebrate?

It’s time to firm up your plans to celebrate Family History Month and American Archives Month. Do your own research, join a genealogical society, help someone to get interested in family history research, thank an Archivist, sort and file those stacks of paper in your work area, and remember to let your legislators at all levels know the importance of archives, preserving records, granting access to records, and funding places needed to research all facets of history.

My Family Tree DNA ethnic makeup

Paula Stuart-Warren  DNA, Family  Leave a comment

My FTDNA ethnic makeup is not all that different from that on AncestryDNA as shown in the preceding post except that FTDNA doesn’t show my Danish and Swedish roots. My oldest son’s ethnic makeup is 100% European and does show some Scandinavian. On Ancestry I have 7% Iberian Peninsula and this FTDNA maps shows that I have that makeup, too. Time for lots more research and uploading all these results to GedMatch.

 

FTDNA list and map