This Wednesday is the First Let's Talk...Genealogy Meeting for Fall 2017

Wednesday, September 13, at 7 p.m. in the Local History & Genealogy Room of the Mount Clemens Public Library is the first MCGG Let's Talk...Genealogy meeting for Fall 2017. Our topic for the night is ... Where Do I Go From Here?

Bring research questions, brick walls or new finds to share with the group. Let's share our challenges, maybe someone will have an idea to solve them.

New attendees are always welcome.

See you soon at the Mt. Clemens Public Library!
LE

Lapeer County Genealogical Society will Meet on Sep 12, 2017 in Attica

The Lapeer County Genealogical Society is still without a website so as a courtesy MCGG would like to let you know that LCGS's next meeting is on Tuesday, September 12, at 7 p.m.

This month's meeting is a field trip to the Attica Township Museum. A tour will be conducted by Janet O'Donnell.


The museum is located behind the Attica Township Hall at 4350 Peppermill Road in Attica. From Lapeer, go east on Imlay City Road (M-21) to Lake Pleasant Road, right on Lake Pleasant Road; turn right on Peppermill Road, and follow short distance to the Township Hall located on the left. If arriving from I-69, get off at Lake Pleasant Road exit and go north into town. Turn left on Peppermill Road.

See you soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library!
LE

September is Save Your Photos Month and Tomorrow's MCGG Friday Meeting Topic

September is the national month for ... Fall Hats, Hispanic Heritage (Sep. 15 - Oct 15), International Square Dancing, several foods like Chicken, Honey, Potatoes, Rice as well as some others, and Self Improvement to name just a few.

This year, September 2017, marks the fourth annual Save Your Photos Month which celebrates family history, memories and stories by promoting education of how to preserve photos and saving family photos. It it also a reminder to backup your digital photos, and to scan and save the vintage ones.

Tomorrow our Friday meeting topic is Organizing and Preserving Your Photos presented by Cheryl Warnock. Join us at 1 p.m., Friday, Sep. 8, at Mount Clemens Public Library.

See you soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library!
LE

Just a Few Days Left Until Our First Fall 2017 Friday Meeting on Fri., Sep. 8th

It is almost here! MCGG's first meeting of Fall 2017 is on Friday, September 8, at 1:00 p.m. in the Auditorium of the Mount Clemens Public Library, Cheryl Warnock will present Organizing and Preserving Your Photos.

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

See you soon at the Mt. Clemens Public Library!
LE

New York State Death Index on Internet Archive; Ancestry.com Adds "New York, Death Index, 1880-1956" Collection Today

Last year, the group Reclaim the Records won its petition to access the New York City Death Index and made digitized images of the microfilm/microfiche index available for free via the Internet Archive website < www.archive.org > which is a free website. Earlier this year, the Reclaim the Records received access to the New York State Death Index and immediately set to work adding those images to Internet Archive as well.

All of the Reclaim the Records digitized records from a variety of states can be found under the group's name here at Internet Archive. At this time the New York State Death Index collection is still empty showing 0 items. BUT if you search the Internet Archive (not the WayBackMachine) using "New York State Death Index" you will find the individual PDFs for each year are already on the website. Add a year to your search to find the PDF file quickly for that year.

There is a basic search with these PDFs but note it will show the specific characters you search anywhere in the document. So searching Smith will bring up not only Smith surnames but also Smithtown. The other option is to manually browse the images (click thru via entering a specific page/image number to jump ahead or back) in the PDF until you come to the surname you are seeking.

But today, it appears Ancestry.com has created and added an electronic index to images of the New York State Death Index. The collection at Ancestry is called New York, Death Index, 1880-1956, and it is not free. Ancestry's electronic index allows one to limit a search to surnames and craft searches with a variety of search filters. Search a first and last name; search just a last name and a year or range of years; search just a location without a surname and add a year or year range if needed ... the search filter options/combinations are endless.

It is not clear if Ancestry obtained the index microfilm from New York directly and created its own digital images downloadable as individual jpg files, or if it is using the same images created by Reclaim the Records viewable and downloadable as PDF "books." The image quality appears very similar but if you are having trouble reading an entry at one site check the other just in case.

For those without home access, remember many local libraries have Ancestry Library Edition available for patron use while in the library usually on the library's computers or your own via the library's wireless access. Of course, the Internet Archive is available for free to anyone as long as you have internet access from somewhere.

Have a safe holiday weekend and for those who are local we will see you soon at our first meeting of the Fall 2017.

See you soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library!
LE

Free Access Weekend to Occupational Records at Ancestry.com & Ancestry.ca

Don't have an Ancestry subscription for home access to records?

This weekend is a free access weekends at Ancestry.com and Ancestry.ca (Canada) giving free access to occupational records in honor of Labor Day in the United States and in honor of Labour Day in Canada. Free Access lasts until 11:59 p.m. ET, Monday, September 4, 2017. These are two separate free access weekends offers.

A lot of the records available during this free access time are census and directories. See a list of the featured collections available for free on this page for the Ancestry.com website and this page for the Ancestry.ca website. The accessible record collections are different and specific to each country so to see a US record use Ancestry.com website and to see a Canadian record use the Ancestry.ca website. To participate in the free access weekend you need to register for free with the Ancestry website to receive a username and password. (Yes, if you want to take part in both free access weekend offers you need to register for free at both websites.)

Be sure to download any of your finds because access to the records after the free access weekend will require a paid membership.

Have fun searching.

See you soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library!
LE

Free until Sunday, September 3, 2017, Legacy QuickGuide Disaster Planning for the Genealogist by Melissa Barker

Disasters around the world, be it as large as Texas or on a much smaller scale, usually makes one pause and think about their own family and "stuff" and what they would do or should do. And genealogists usually have a lot of "stuff."

Legacy's Family Tree Webinars is offering its Legacy QuickGuide Disaster Planning for the Genealogist by Melissa Barker aka "The Archive Lady" as a download for free through Sunday, September 3, 2017. Legacy's News Blog has a post explaining the reason behind the offer.

The guide is a combination of common sense advice; resources to more information and product types to use; and touches on paper to digital items.

See you soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library!
LE