VGS News & Events: May 30 through June 5, 2021

 

UPCOMING SIG MEETINGS
Monday, May 31
Italian SIG
Zoom Meeting – 1:00pm
Coordinator: Mary Frances Gerace

OTHER EVENTS OF INTEREST

Southern California Genealogical Society: GENETIC GENEALOGY 2021

VIRTUAL CONFERENCE  – Friday & Saturday, June 4th & 5th

A world-class DNA conference! Get in on the latest discoveries through sessions from 20 genetic genealogy experts including keynote speaker Roberta Estes, MBA. Other notable presenters include Maurice J. Gleeson (MD of Genetic Genealogy, Ireland), Leah La Perle Larkin, PhD (creator of WATO), and DNA authors Emily Aulicino, MEd, and Richard Hill, MBA. Complete details and registration links can be found on the SCGS Jamboree website.

WEBINARS

Solving Family Mysteries with mtDNA Projects

Wednesday, June 2 @ 2:00pm (EDT)
Presenter:  Mags Gaulden

Working your mother's mother's mother's line. We will work a case study of how adoption was disproven in this family from the dark recesses of Appalachia. We will follow the maternal line of a family from the mountains of South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee, to solve this family mystery. This is a free webinar – advance registration is required – click HERE.

African Americans in the U.S. Revolutionary War

Fridayday, June 4 @ 2:00pm (EDT)

Presenter:  Janice Lovelace

Nearly 10,000 people (mostly men) of African ancestry fought in the Revolutionary War on both sides of the conflict – hoping that freedom from slavery would come with the end of the eight year war. What records exist and how can genealogists discover them? This is a free webinar – advance registration is required – click HERE.

TECHNOLOGY

How to Install Windows 10’s May 2021 Update (21H1)

howtogeek.com

Windows 10’s May 2021 Update was released on May 18, 2021. As always, Microsoft is slowly rolling this update out to Windows 10 PCs, bit by bit. Windows Update should automatically install the 21H1 update on your PC, but it may take a few weeks. Here’s how to get it right now … continue reading

RESEARCHING

New English and Welsh Parish Records Are Ready to Search

findmypast.com

Another Findmypast Friday, another fresh batch of family history records and newspaper pages for you to enjoy. Take a look at what’s new … continue reading 

Transcribing History

legalgenealogist.com

The Citizen Archivist Program

There can be no better time than the Memorial Day weekend to join the ranks of the transcription warriors. No better time than this to add the brainpower of the genealogical community to the Citizen Archivist program of the U.S. National Archives (NARA).

The program offers all of us — The Legal Genealogist included — a chance to add to the findability and usefulness of records held by NARA. All it takes is a little bit of time, a little bit of effort and an interest in history.

History like, for example, one set of records particularly apt for this Memorial Day Weekend: the Escape and Evasion Reports from World War II, now featured as a Citizen Archivist Mission. This is a project where any of us can transcribe “reports that typically include typed or handwritten narrative …” continue reading

It’s time to say good-bye to the VGS Blog.

Due to low subscriber and readership levels, and the discontinuation of the free email subscription service provided through Blogger,

this edition of the Blog will be our last.

VGS News & Events: 15 July 2018 through 21 July 2018

Coming Events:
No Scheduled Meetings this Week!

Reminder:

The June General Meeting was a live webinar and the general consensus following the meeting was "Wow, I didn't know there were so many free research websites."
Members can download a copy of the handout and/or watch the presentation by logging in under "Members Only."

Gen News and Announcements:

3 Kinds of Newspapers Every Genealogist Should Know:

Amy Johnson Crow
"Newspapers are a gold mine of information for genealogy research. Facts, context, photographs — what more could you ask for? But if you're stopping with the "regular" daily and weekly newspapers where your ancestor lived, you might be stopping too soon. Here are 3 other types of newspapers that every genealogist should know."
Continue reading...

Legacy Tree Onsite: A Guide to Spanish Genealogy & Family History Resources:

LegacyTree Genealogists
"One of the great things about Legacy Tree is that we have onsite researchers all over the globe. We have had several clients with Spanish ancestors, and to research these projects we have gone onsite in Spain. Let me share with you some of the wonderful things about Spanish records and archives that may help you as you research your Spanish genealogy and family history."
Continue reading...

British Isles Genealogy Records New Online:

Genealogy Gems

"New U.K. suffrage records are online—and so is a related historical experience at Google Arts & Culture! Also: U.K. slavery notices, Scottish memorial inscriptions, British newspapers, and Irish school records."

Continue reading...

New Historical Records on FamilySearch: Week of July 2, 2018

FamilySearch
"FamilySearch expands its free online archives this week with new records and or images from Australia, Billion Graves, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Find A Grave, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Slovakia, Uruguay and the United States (Arkansas, District of Columbia, Georgia, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas). Those with Native American Heritage ancestors in the Ute Tribe will be excited to search new content for the tribe's 1944 Census."
Search now...

FamilySearch Family Tree Hints:

Legacy News
"FamilySearch has a fairly new feature where they will email you document hints. I got an interesting one today."
Continue reading...

Confusing Military Terms from the American Revolution and Civil War Period Explained:

Family History Daily
"As you dive deeper into your family history you will likely run across terminology that you have not seen before or that you may not fully understand. Even those of us who have made history a profession will sometimes run across terms that are no longer used or that have a specific application that's unfamiliar. This guide explores confusing military terms from the Civil War and the American Revolution to help you..."
Continue reading...

Technology:

7 Ways To Free Up Hard Disk Space On Windows:

How-to-Geek
"Hard drives are getting larger and larger, but somehow they always seem to fill up. This is even more true if you’re using a solid-state drive (SSD), which offers much less hard drive space than traditional mechanical hard drives."
Continue reading...

Education:

Charts and Forms for Genealogy, and How to Use Them:

Ancestral Findings
"On today’s episode of the Ancestral Findings Podcast, I’ll talk about how to use charts and forms in your genealogy research. They are an important part of joining lineage societies and storing your work as a physical copy."
Listen now...  7.24 minutes

Webinars:

Special Tools that can Take Your Research to the Next Level:

Legacy Family Tree Webinars
"In this webinar you will learn about a unique collection of extremely useful and less well known tools and technologies available on MyHeritage. Maximize your genealogical research with our statistics, pedigree map, ancestral birthplaces, consistency checker features and more."
Tuesday, July 17, 2018 at 2:00 p.m.
Presenter: MyHeritage Webinars
Learn more or Register for this webinar...

It's a Numbers Game! Understanding Recognized Genealogical Formats:

Legacy Family Tree Webinars
"Effective genealogical writing is based on standardized formats and numbering systems. Learn to understand the numbers you see in published genealogies and how to present your own findings in recognized formats. Discussion includes basic genealogical numbering conventions, including the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) Register system, National Genealogical Society (NGS)  Quarterly system, Sosa-Stradonitz (Ahnentafel) System; and how to identify European ancestors."
Tuesday, July 17, 2018 at 8:00 p.m.
Presenter: Alice Hoyt Veen, CG
Learn more or Register for this webinar...

Trails of Daniel Boone and other Western Travelers:

Legacy Family Tree Webinars
"Learn about the historic trails and trailblazers that lead early settlers to and from Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and the West. Get specific clues to help you solve difficult research questions."
Wednesday, July 18, 2018 at 2:00 p.m.
Presenter: J. Mark Lowe, CG, FUGA
Learn more or Register for this webinar...

Organizing Your GENETIC Genealogy:

Florida State Genealogical Society (FSGS)
"Most individuals have hundreds of genetic cousins. Come learn a few methods you can start using today to help you organize your genetic genealogy research."
Thursday, July 19, 2018 at 8:00 p.m.
Presenter: Diahan Southard
Learn more or Register for this webinar...

VGS Latest News & Tips: 8 February 2017

Reminders:
Today: February 8, 2017

Irish Genealogy SIG Meeting

10:00 AM in the Osceola Room at the Chula Vista Recreation Center

Tomorrow: February 9, 2017

German Genealogy SIG Meeting

9:30 AM in the Reliance Room at the Late Miona Recreation Center

Topic: Ken Weaver of the Southwest Florida German Genealogy Society will present: "Getting Through that !@#@!? German Handwriting"

Gen News:

9,686 Nazi SS Commanders & Auschwitz Guards Names & Photos Posted Online:

Genealogy Blog
"The Polish Institute of National Remembrance (INR) has posted the names of nearly 10,000 Nazi SS commanders and guards who helped in the extermination of more than a million Jews at Auschwitz. It’s been claimed that many of the guards were Poles – and the INR set about disproving this theory."
Continue reading...

Disposessing Loyalists and Redistributing Property in Revolutionary New York:

NY Public Library
"The American Revolution was a civil war. It may have given rise to a republic in which the foundation for government legitimacy is a democratic citizenry offering its voluntary consent to law. But that was the hard-won outcome of a violent conflict during which loyalty to the Revolutionary cause was often coerced at bayonet point. Revolutionary governments likewise met non-allegiance with punitive measures. The lingering effects of coercive state policies enacted in the 1770s and early 1780s muddled the transition to consensual government. Nothing makes this clearer than the widespread seizure of property owned by known loyalists."
Continue reading...

What Sources You Should Be Looking At In 15th-17th Century English Research:

Family Tree Tips
"Most people can trace their tree back to at least the 1800s using conventional methods such as Birth/Marriage/Death and Census records but not many realise they can go back a lot further than this using other record collections. Most records still need a visit to an Archive especially older more specialist ones as they aren’t often digitised, and when they are they haven’t always been transcribed to be searchable."
Continue reading...

Tech:

How to Take Good Travel Photos:

How-to-Geek
"Whether you want to document a family holiday or aspire to shoot for National Geographic, there are some simple things you can do to take better travel photos."
Continue reading...

How to Take a Screenshot of an Entire Webpage:

How-to-Geek
"A simple screenshot is great for capturing what’s immediately visible on your monitor, but what if you need to capture an entire webpage? Here are three simple ways you can capture a long web page as one continuous image and, in the process, preserve it exactly as it appears to the viewer."
Continue reading...

Education:

How to do Custom Searches with Google for Genealogists: Part One Introduction:

Genealogy's Star
"As genealogists, our basic activity is the process of searching for information about our ancestors. This process centers on historical documents and records. Because our families very likely moved from one place to another, to find these historical documents and records we are compelled to do wide searches in a large number of repositories, archives, and libraries."
Continue reading...

VGS News & Tips: 17 January 2016

Reminders:

Today: January 17, 2017

Italian Genealogy SIG Meeting

1:00 PM in the Atlanta Room in the Savannah Center

Tomorrow: January 18, 2017

Board of Directors Meeting

9.00 AM in the Pinellas Library

Tomorrow: January 18, 2017

Mid-Atlantic States SIG Meeting

9:30 AM in the Defender Room at the Lake Miona Recreation Center

Tomorrow: January 18, 2017

New to Genealogy SIG Meeting

Cancelled

Gen News:

Battle of Cowpens: January 17, 1781:

Fold 3
"In the early morning of January 17, 1781, in South Carolina, American troops under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan defeated a force under British Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton in one of the more decisive victories for the Americans in the south during the Revolutionary War."
Continue reading...

DNA Solves a Family Mystery, but Not in the Way You’d Think:

AncestryDNA
"For her entire life, Julie Martini had considered herself German-American, even though she had been born with an Italian family name.
Looking to learn more about her family history, Julie joined Ancestry to find records that would uncover her Old World roots in Germany or, perhaps, Italy."
Continue reading...

50 Years Later, DNA Sleuthing Reunites Family With Long-Lost Brother:

Newsworks
"The night of Sept. 18, 1966, 18-year-old Nancy Oakes Dewitt was in labor in the back seat of her car. Her boyfriend, Patrick, was just 17 at the time. He delivered the baby, cut the umbilical chord, and tied it off with a shoelace. He wrapped the baby in white towels, and left him in a random car parked outside a New Jersey bowling alley."
Continue reading...

Citrus County Genealogical Society Seminar:

The Citrus County Genealogical Society will host a seminar on February 18 at the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 439 E. Norvell Bryant Highway, Hernando from 10:00 AM to 2:30 PM. The speaker, Drew Smith, nationally known lecturer and author, will give 3 presentations: “Organizing your Genealogy Research Process,” “Your Ancestor’s FAN Club:Using Cluster Research to get Past Brick Walls,” “Something Wiki this Way Comes.” The cost is $18 for members and $25 for non-members. Bring your own brown bag lunch. Free coffee, tea and cookies. Get registration form at www.citrusgenealogy.com or call Mary Ann Machonkin at 382-5515

Tech:

Add Another User to Your Mac:

Lifewire
"You might not know this, but your Mac is actually ready to be a multi-user system. That means you can add your child or spouse (or anyone, it's your Mac) and it'll be like they have their own Mac. That's right, they won't be able to delete your files or mess with any of your stuff! "
Continue reading...

Don’t Be Fooled: The Mac App Store Is Full of Scams:

How-to-Geek

"You love technology, but not everyone does. For many people computers are confusing, even scary. Malevolent actors know this, and try to deliberately trick people online. From ads that look like download buttons to ransomware pop-ups, the web is full of deception-based design, intended to take advantage of the less technically inclined."
Continue reading...

Education:

5 Minute Find: Use Default Settings

Ancestry
"This week's 5-Minute Find focuses on search and the "Use Default Settings" links on the Advanced Search form. Juliana Szucs Smith teaches you how that little link can make a big difference in your searches."
Watch Video...  4.29 minutes

VGS Latest News & Tips: 12 July 2016

Today: July 12, 2016

Genealogy Writers SIG Meeting: (Our newest SIG)

Organizational Meeting

2:30 PM in the Churchill Downs Room at Pimlico Recreation Center

American Civil War Newspapers Now Online:
Virginia Polytechnic
"For many years the newspapers of the Civil War era were probably the most neglected of all sources, and yet they are one of the richest. The reason no doubt lay in the sheer mass of them, their inaccessibility, and the fact that they were not indexed. Few if any scholars had the time or resources to spend weeks and months scanning page by page in the hope of finding something of use to their projects. Yet the newspapers are the surest windows on the attitudes of the time, despite their inevitable editorial bias."
Continue reading or search...

RootsMagic 7 Deals on Amazon Prime Day:
"In case you haven't heard, today (July 12) is Amazon's annual "Prime Day", a one-day only day of deals for Amazon Prime members.  RootsMagic is participating in Prime Day, but we aren't limiting our deals to Prime members, and we aren't limiting it to one day either.
From July 12th (midnight PT) through July 14 (midnight PT), you can get $10 off either RootsMagic 7, or the RootsMagic 7/Book bundle.  There is a limited quantity so this deal could end earlier depending on stock."
RootsMagic 7

RootsMagic 7 plus Getting the Most Out of RootsMagic book

How to Use Google Chrome to Identify Old Photos and Images for Genealogy and Family History:
Lisa Louise Cook on YouTube
"Here's how to use Google Chrome to identify some of your photos and imagesfor family history and genealogy research. Google Chrome attempts to match the image you upload to other images on the web. This is great for distinct or well-known images, such as a location or perhaps an important person in your family tree. It's not geared for your family photos yet, but this tool can help you identify and confirm important places and faces in history!"
Watch video...   (4.23 minutes)

How to Find a Revolutionary War Patriot:
Dick Eastman eogn.com
"If your ancestor served as a Patriot and lived long enough after the war to apply for a pension, you can probably find a pension application for him. Almost all federal pension applications have survived, even the applications of those who were later turned down."
Continue reading...

Desperate Brits Searching For Hidden Irish Heritage After Brexit Vote:
Daily Star
"UK residents are flocking to find out more about their family tree in a last-ditch attempt to keep an EU passport.
Genealogy website Ancestry, which allows users to trace back their family tree, has seen a 40% surge in memberships following the UK vote to leave the EU."
Continue reading...

How to Test Your Computer’s RAM for Problems:
How-to-Geek
"Is your computer unstable? There may be a problem with its RAM. To check, you can either use a hidden system tool included with Windows or download and boot a more advanced tool."
Continue reading...

This Day In History: 12 July

1691: William III defeats the allied Irish and French armies at the Battle of Aughrim, Ireland.

1954: President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposes a highway modernization program, with costs to be shared by federal and state governments.

1957: The U.S. surgeon general, Leroy E. Burney, reports that there is a direct link between smoking and lung cancer.

1854 Birthday: George Eastman, photography pioneer.

State Timelines:
Even though it is hard to tell what made people move or disappear, these are just a few possibilities.
Pennsylvania:
1699: Yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia
1710: Mennonites settled Lancaster County
1714: Scots-Irish begin major influx

VGS Latest News & Tips: 17 November 2015

Today: Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Italian Genealogy SIG Meeting

1:00 PM in the Atlanta Room in the Savannah Center

* = Note Date changes for the Brick Wall SIG and the November General Meeting due to the Thanksgiving Holiday

* Tomorrow: Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Brick Wall SIG Meeting

8:30 AM in the Atlanta Room in the Savannah Center

* Tomorrow: Wednesday, November 18, 2015

General Monthly Meeting

10:00 AM in the Atlanta Room in the Savannah Center

Tomorrow: Wednesday, November 18, 2015

New to Genealogy SIG Meeting

2:30 PM in the Chateaugay Room at the Chatham Recreation Center

How to Find Your Wi-Fi Password:
How-to-Geek
"What’s the password to your Wi-Fi network, anyway? Whether you’ve changed the default password or not, it’s simple to find it. You can look up any Wi-Fi network password if you’ve previously connected to that network from a Windows PC or Mac."
Continue reading...

Help Provide More Free Records Online:
FamilySearch
"Searchable historical records are made available on FamilySearch.org through the help of thousands of online volunteers worldwide. These volunteers transcribe (or index) information from digital copies of handwritten records to make them easily searchable online. More volunteers are always needed (particularly those who can read foreign languages) to keep pace with the large number of digital images being published weekly online on FamilySearch.org. Learn how you can volunteer to help provide free access to the world’s historical genealogical records online."
Learn more...

How to Find a Revolutionary War Patriot:
Dick Eastman eogn.com
"After earlier skirmishes, the American Revolutionary War started with the battle between British troops and local Massachusetts militia at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, on 19 April 1775. It ended eight years later with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783. If you have been able to trace your ancestry in America back to those years, you have an excellent chance of finding at least one ancestor who had some type of service related to the Revolutionary War effort.
Continue reading...

How to Recover Images Off a Corrupted SD Card:
How-to-Geek
"Just because your SD card is spitting out file errors and gibberish file names doesn’t mean your photos are gone forever. Read on as we show you how to recover your images (and for free, at that)!"
Continue reading...

Rattle-Skull, Stonewall, Bogus, Blackstrap, Bombo, Mimbo, Whistle Belly, Syllabub, Sling, Toddy, and Flip:
Drinking in Colonial America
Colonial Williamsburg
"Colonial Americans, at least many of them, believed alcohol could cure the sick, strengthen the weak, enliven the aged, and generally make the world a better place. They tippled, toasted, sipped, slurped, quaffed, and guzzled from dawn to dark."
Continue reading...

This Day In History: 17 November
1558: Queen Elizabeth ascends to the throne of England and the Church of England is re-established.
1800: The Sixth Congress (2nd session) convenes for the first time in Washington, D.C.
1918: Influenza deaths reported in the United States have far exceeded World War I casualties.
1887 Birthday: Bernard Law Montgomery, British field marshal who defeated Rommel in North Africa and led Allied troops from D-Day to the end of World War II.