Next Up: Rochester (NY) Genealogical Society April 25

What are you doing on April 25th? If you are in the area of Rochester, New York, why not join me and the Rochester Genealogical Society for a day-long event. I will be presenting four lectures:

  • Developing Successful Research Habits
  • The WPA Era: What It Created for Genealogists
  • Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Research
  • New York State Research: The Changing Face of the Modern Era

RGS members may attend for FREE! Non-members may register for the full day for $25. Even better, join RGS for just $20. What a deal!

Visit the RGS website for details and to register: http://nyrgs.org/

 

The NEW Ancestry Academy has 15 educational courses!

Ancestry Academy has launched!

I am privileged to be among the first instructors for Ancestry Academy. Choose from 15 courses to enhance your genealogical education. This is just the beginning for this new venture of Ancestry.com.

These courses enable you to learn at your own pace. The sessions may be started, stopped, reviewed, and then do it all over until you have grabbed every detail. Many of the courses have additional information that is found when you begin a course. Look for a book symbol in the upper right hand corner and click on that for a handout, more (more…)

Minnesota websites for genealogical and historical research: Part 2

I am challenging myself to discover these and other links. The historical societies, libraries, and archives I mention in this series also have fantastic in-house resources for researchers.

 

My Irish background, after all it’s St. Patrick’s Day

Yesterday morning one of my sisters wanted to know what nationalities we had in our background. Her two oldest grandchildren really wanted to know if they were Irish for St. Patrick’s Day. No question about that heritage as I mentioned in yesterday’s post.

My maternal grandmother was 1/2 Irish. Her father was the son of two people that immigrated from Ireland to Faribault, Rice County, Minnesota. Those were the Cook, Moriarty, and Green ancestors. Yes, Green from Ireland. Grandma might be a bit more Irish because the story told by her Great Great Grandfather Copping is that his wife, Elizabeth Saggers, was Irish. They were married in London, emigrated to Canada where they raised their children, and that is all I have discovered about her so far. I need a trip to London.

My maternal grandfather was all Irish. Both of his parents immigrated to Winona County, Minnesota from Ireland. His mother was a Walsh/Welch from the Dingle Peninsula of County Kerry. Her ancestral names include Bowler and Fitzgerald. His father is a Hanley and I have yet to find his place of birth in Ireland. They first came to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and then to Winona.

I heard that my youngest grandson wants to know how he is related to some of the family that live  in California. His mother told him how she had it figured and told him to ask me. His reply was that I would keep talking about it. Yep, he knows me well.

 

 

Free Webinar on St. Patrick’s Day: Are You Ready to Be a Professional Genealogist?

On St. Patrick’s Day, I am Irish. I am Irish all year round due to several ancestors from Ireland.  All my Irish blood is from my Mom’s forebears. Her mother was 1/2 Irish and her father was totally Irish.

Instead of having a party, I want to spend the evening with you.  I am  putting the final touches on a free webinar that I am presenting tomorrow (St. Patrick’s Day). The Association of Professional Genealogists is the sponsor.

My topic is “Are You Ready to Be a Professional Genealogist?” Join me on your computer or tablet on 17 March 2015 at 9:00 PM EDT, 8:00 CDT, 7:00 MDT, 6:00 PDT. I am not even going to figure out Dublin, Tipperary, London, Paris, Aberdeen, or Auckland time!

Register now at:  https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/477982617  At the beginning of the webinar you will be shown a link to download or print the handout.

I look forward to being with you tomorrow evening. After the webinar, I will hang around to answer questions.

 

Minnesota websites for genealogy and other research: Part I

This is the first of occasional posts regarding websites that are helpful to researchers working on their Minnesota ancestry, a community history, biographies, and other projects. All are free sites unless otherwise noted. Even though searching is free, some have a cost involved when ordering a record that is not digitized.

Dalby Database: www.dalbydata.com  [The Dalbys have indexed and abstracted a variety of publications and records. Each type of record must be searched separately. They started with Rice County, Minnesota and then expanded to many other southern Minnesota locations. I found details on many family members thanks to the Dalbys.]

Minnesota Official Marriage System: www.moms.mn.gov  [Index to Minnesota marriage records. Be sure to check the details under “County Index Dates” to learn what is and is not included. For example, most Ramsey County (more…)

Findmypast.com is free March 6-9

Nice news for researchers who haven’t yet explored Findmypast.com. It is free this weekend, March 6-9, 2015.

Specifically, from 7 am on Friday, March 6th (EST) to 7 am on Monday, March 9th (EST), the collections of billions of historical records will be open to everyone, totally free.

As the website says:

“Why try Findmypast?

Findmypast can give you all the tools and resources you need to discover your family history.

  • We have hundreds of millions of US census records dating as far back as 1790
  • We have military records covering conflicts that include the American Revolutionary War
  • Our newspaper archive contains millions of pages dating back as far as 1710
  • With our Hints feature, also free this weekend, we search our records on your behalf and suggest potential matches to the people you add to your family tree

This weekend you can explore all of these records and many more for free, as well as testing out some of the great features on our site. Bring your past to life today with Findmypast.”

Midwestern & Plains State Level Census Records Webinar

Thank you to those of you who were able to join me for tonight’s Minnesota Genealogical Society webinar on Midwestern and Plains State Level Censuses. In the next couple of days, it will be archived on the MGS website along with the handout. Not a member of MGS? Join for just $35 a year and the archived webinars are just one of the benefits. http://mngs.org

I love to share the excitement of these superb censuses that are numerous for most of these states. They have solved some of my own family history questions. I share details of the censuses and where to find them today in the presentation.

Did you know that Iowa has a 1925 state census and South Dakota has one for 1945! The next time I present this lecture will be in June at the Southern California Genealogical Society’s Jamboree. http://genealogyjamboree.com.

 

 

 

Seminars & Webinars: 8 are members of the Federation of Genealogical Societies

I love statistics and tonight I had a thought about the genealogical organizations for which I am doing webinars or in-person presentations in the upcoming months.  I checked and found that eight of the organizations are members of the Federation of Genealogical Societies. That’s an impressive number that understand the importance of having a strong organization by banding together for the good of all the groups and their members.

These eight member societies are the Minnesota Genealogical Society, 3M Genealogy Club, Ohio Genealogical Society, Iowa Genealogical Society, Rochester Genealogical Society [NY], Southern California Genealogical Society, Anchorage Genealogical Society, and the Utah Genealogical Association. Congratulations to the boards of these organizations for continuing this relationship. (more…)