Thursday, March 20, 2014

MCGG Resource Development Session is tomorrow Friday, March 21

Got some free time tomorrow afternoon? 

On Friday, March 21, at 1:00 pm in the auditorium of the Mount Clemens Public Library, we are holding one of our MCGG Resource Development Sessions.
What is a Resource Development Session? It is where those of us who want to contribute back index circuit court and other Macomb County records to create databases to help other researchers. It does not matter if you have Macomb County ancestors or not. It's a nice way to help others; learn what is involved in an indexing projects; and if you do have Macomb County ancestors ... who knows you might just find one. 

So for those of you who are in the Mount Clemens area, PLEASE JOIN US

See you soon at the Mt. Clemens Public Library! 

LE

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Cancelled -- Wednesday, March 12th Let's Talk...Genealogy Meeting

Hi Everyone!

Due to the long snow storm today that likely will not stop until after 3 p.m. and the probability that only the main roads will be cleared by tonight, I have decided to cancel today's Let's Talk...Genealogy discussion group meeting (Wednesday, March 12, 2014).

We will reschedule the topic for the Fall Session.

Sorry for the short notice. Please stay warm and safe. We'll see you at the April meeting.

LE

Monday, March 10, 2014

'Your Tallest Brick Wall' is the topic for this Wednesday's Let's Talk....Genealogy

This Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Genealogy/Local History Room of the Mount Clemens Public Library is MCGG's Let's Talk...Genealogy meeting. The discussion topic of the night is Your Tallest Brick Wall. Tell other attendees your brick wall problem and hopefully they might have some suggestions of what to do to solve it.

Also, the topic of Let's Talk...Genealogy's April meeting will be Back to Basics: How to Record Sources 2.0 where we'll revisit sourcing/citing our genealogy.

With April's topic in mind, last Friday Legacy Family Tree through its Family Tree Webinars site held a webinar entitled, Sources and Citations Made Simple, Standard and Powerful. Though the webinar does show/focus on the sourcing tools in Legacy Family Tree software, a lot of the principles of sourcing and citation that are covered can be applied to whatever genealogy program you use. It appears this webinar will remain free and there is a free syllabus available.

See you soon at the Mt. Clemens Public Library!

 LE


Sunday, March 9, 2014

War of 1812 Webinars Viewable for a Limited-Time at FGS until April 27

In the Summer of 2013 the Federation of Genealogical Societies hosted a webinar series on the War of 1812. For a limited-time (February 28 to April 27), FGS is allowing access to two of the webinars again.

The webinars which are slightly over an hour long each are viewable at the FGS website webinars page. Syllabus materials are available for each.

Discovering Local and State Militia Records was presented by J. Mark Lowe. It takes a look at the wide variety of possible records and how they can be used for family research. And about the military organization of citizens for local defense.

Researching in the Post War Records of 1812 was presented by Craig Roberts Scott. It focuses on the War Department records created after the war including service records, pensions and pension payments.

If you think you have a War of 1812 veteran in the family, it might pay (these are free webinars) to take some time and watch these before they expire.

See you soon at the Mt. Clemens Public Library! 


LE

More Webinars on Government Records that may Help Your Research

Here are some additional webinars you might be interested in watching.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is offering several webinars during March/April/May. They are available on the History and Genealogy Webinars page of the website. Topics include: History Library and Catalog Services; Genealogy Program Introduction; Guide to I&N History Research; and "Records Found" Case Studies.

The Friends of the National Archives - Southeast Region is also hosting a variety of webinars throughout the year. You can review the various topics and register for them on the group's webinar page. Upcoming topics include: Learning about Alien Files; Introduction to Military Records; Reporting to Yourself: Keeping Track of What You've Already Done; WWII Home Front Records; Federal Land Records; Civil War Medical Records and more. Though many have active register now links, for others you will have to visit the page again to see if registration has opened up yet. Though I am not positive, I think these webinars will be applicable to any region of the National Archives.

See you soon at the Mt. Clemens Public Library! 


LE

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Ancestry.com Old Search appears to be Dead -- March 6, 2014

It appears that Ancestry.com officially killed Old Search this afternoon.

This morning Old Search was still working. This afternoon after logging in again, I discovered that the little link (new search/old search) in the upper-right hand corner was no longer under the tab bar.

I have not found any official announcement from Ancestry.com yet.

See you soon at the Mt. Clemens Public Library! 

LE

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

So You Want to Write Your Family History Story is Friday, March 7 Meeting Topic

On Friday, March 7, at 1:00 pm in the auditorium of the Mount Clemens Public Library, MCGG member William Krul will present So You want to Write Your Family History Story.

William Krul is the chair of the MCGG Ancestral Writing Group. 

If you are in the Mount Clemens area, PLEASE JOIN US.  

See you soon at the Mt. Clemens Public Library! 

LE

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Second Saturday hours begin in April 2014 at the Library of Michigan

The Library of Michigan announced in a press release yesterday the introduction of "Second Saturdays" to its regularly scheduled hours.

"Second Saturdays" begin April 12, 2014 with the library open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dates included extend through December 2014.

The press release says, "Library of Michigan staff is excited to offer this weekend access each month to the library’s services and specialized research collections, which include Michigan newspapers, periodicals, books, maps and government documents as well as electronic databases available only on site. The Library’s main Reference Desk will be open on 'Second Saturdays.' The Martha W. Griffith’s Rare Book Room will require 48-hour advanced notice for access."

See the press release for further details.

At this time we do not know if the Archives of Michigan will do the same with its hours. The Archives is the keeper of the genealogy collection that many of us fought to keep together in one place several years ago. Since then The Library of Michigan was moved under the Department of Education while the Archives of Michigan was moved under the Department of Natural Resources.

See you soon at the Mt. Clemens Public Library! 

LE