Genealogy Societies

Athens- COGS meeting -20 February

~ Georgia Gen

Clarke Oconee Genealogical Society meeting and program- Athens Clarke County Library Heritage Room-  Multipurpose Room C – 2025 Baxter Street, Athens, 2 pm–

“Your Family’s Legacy in Recipes” is the topic. Family recipes are instructions for recreating the nostalgic tastes of yesteryear, but there is often more to them than what you see at first glance. If you’ve ever wanted to reproduce a beloved family favorite only to find the recipe is sketchy, outdated or simply unwritten, you know that there may be a lot of tricks and tips involved with turning out a satisfying dish. But did you ever stop to look at your recipes with a genealogist’s eye? Valerie J. Frey, author of Preserving Family Recipes: How to Save and Celebrate Your Food Traditions (UGA Press), will explore various aspects of your family’s heirloom recipes. Website:  Clarke Oconee Genealogical Society

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Reminder- George Morgan 12 March- Birmingham

~ Georgia Gen

Alabama Genealogical Society Spring Seminar- 12 March 2016

8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Samford University- Birmingham, Alabama

The Alabama Genealogical Society Spring Seminar will be held on Saturday, March 12, 2016, at Samford University in Birmingham.  The speaker will be George G. Morgan presenting It’s All in the Details.

The first topic, “The Genealogist as CSI”, will set the foundation for the day with the research process.

Next will be  “Bring “Em Back to Life – Developing an Ancestor Profile”.  This topic addresses evidence types and analysis; helps the thought process for writing a biographical profile, a family history or a lineage application; and helps identify research gaps.

“Clues in the News” will address the often neglected newspaper research and focuses on online newspaper sources.

“Getting Past Brick Walls” concentrates on the best approaches for addressing brick walls and research impasses.

For more information on George G. Morgan and to REGISTER. You may also contact Caroline Horton, Program Chair, at carolineh@knology.net .

Bulloch County- Historical Society seeking documents

~ Georgia Gen

Historical Society seeking documents about 1904 tragedies

Book to spotlight Hodges family murder, subsequent lynchings

Statesboro Herald
January 31, 2016

The Bulloch County Historical Society is in the process of gathering factual information to be published in a book about the 1904 Hodges family murders and the lynching of Paul Reed and Will Cato, two of the most horrible episodes in Bulloch history.

The basis of the book will be the more than 40 years of research and writings of Georgia Southern professor emeritus of history Dr. Charlton Moseley. Moseley’s first published writings on the subject appeared in 1981 in the “Georgia Historical Quarterly” and in 1985, he presented his paper to a meeting of the Southern Historical Society in Houston, Texas.

The Historical Society has asked Jenny Foss, editor of Statesboro Magazine, to serve as editor for the project.

“We hope to add pertinent legal documents, photographs, court transcripts, letters, and other supporting documentation to the original text, expanding on Dr. Moseley’s work on the subject,” Foss said.

In the introduction to the transcript Moseley stated:

“One hundred and twelve years ago, in 1904, two related incidents of great horror occurred in Bulloch County. The first of these involved the murder of a family of five and the burning of their rural home near Colfax in the western area of the county. The second horror saw the lynching of the two men held accountable for the crime, Paul Reed and Will Cato, by burning alive. Both the murders and the lynching were sensationalized locally and nationally. Few incidents in Bulloch County history have held a greater fascination than these two incidents of human atrocity and suffering.”

Moseley, the author of this paper, is a native of Bulloch County and for many years had heard stories handed down by word of mouth about the killing of the Henry Hodges family and the subsequent lynching of the two murderers, itinerant workers on the farms of two prominent citizens in the remote western part of the county.

“About 1972, I made a decision to investigate these crimes and as accurately as possible try to ascertain the basic facts about what really happened during those hot and frightening weeks of July and August, 1904 in Bulloch County,” Moseley said.

“As a historian primarily interested in local history I learned early on that there are often folks who believe that unpleasant history should not be exposed but rather kept under cover,” he said. “Indeed, in 1972 when I made a public appeal for information on those sordid events in our history involving murder and lynching, a prominent county leader tried to dissuade me from the task on the grounds that it would bring embarrassment to the community.  I chose to ignore the suggestion and found that there were large numbers of people who supported my efforts and many brought pertinent information to my attention.

“While murder and lynching are not ‘good’ history, nevertheless such subjects are still history and must be examined and considered along with those things in our past which are praiseworthy and which bring us pride and pleasure. May we examine all of our past activities as a community, good and bad, and may we learn to profit from all of them! It is with this sentiment in mind that this paper is offered to the members of the Bulloch County Historical Society.”

The Historical Society will honor Moseley’s vision by continuing to research all aspects of the tragedy that unfolded in the summer of 1904, expanding on his original investigation. Community participation is invited.

“We’re looking for supporting documentation that will help us tell the story of what led up to the tragedy at the Hodges home, the search for suspects, the apprehension of the defendants, the court trial, the mob’s actions, and the impact on the community overall,” said Joe McGlamery, Historical Society. “While examining such terrible events from our past is painful, we believe it is necessary to tell the bad with the good to get a true historical perspective on life in Bulloch County during that time.”

Anyone who would like to share family history, photographs, or related documents from the incidents is asked to contact Foss atjfoss@statesboromagazine.com; McGlamery atjoe@morrisnews.com; or Moseley at cjmoseley@bulloch.net.

 

http://www.statesboroherald.com/section/1/article/72537/

Free database access during Black History Month

~ Georgia Gen

 

Fold3.com and American Ancestors are opening their African American databases for free access during the month of February 2016.  At Fold3.com some of the databases include other than African American records. For example, the Southern Claims Commission Records and the WWI “Old Man’s Draft” Registration records are complete collections. 

FOLD3.com

Fold3.com free databases include records documenting slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, the World Wars and the Civil Rights Movement.

For example:

  • Court Slave Records for Washington, DC
  • South Carolina Estate Inventories and Bills of Sale, 1732–1872
  • US Colored Troops Civil War service records
  • Southern Claims Commission records
  • The Atlanta Constitution newspaper
  • WWII “Old Man’s Draft” Registration Cards

Click here for the Fold3.com Black History Collection home page to see samples of the records and links leading to more information about each collection. You will need to obtain a free registration to search the databases.

AMERICAN ANCESTORS

As part of their Black History Month promotion, guest users of AmericanAncestors.org will have free access to the following databases:

To help your research efforts, American Ancestors has created a guide to two of these databases, both focused on African American families in Massachusetts: Hampden County, MA: Black Families in Hampden County, 1650-1865 and People of Color in the Massachusetts State Census, 1855-1865.

These resources provide users with the ability to trace families throughout this period of history. American Ancestors will walk you through a case study of using both of these databases, and we’ll talk about other database collections available to research African American families. Search Spotlight: African American Records

AmericanAncestors.org

 

GGS- Call for volunteers

~ Georgia Gen

Georgia Genealogical Society: Volunteers Urgently Needed

Education committee:

1. Person or persons to edit the webinars to eliminate dead time and other issues to create a better product to listen to. Person will retrieve the files from Dropbox, convert from wmv format to MP4, edit them, and then upload to the GGS Vimeo account . We have a large backlog so this is urgent.

2. People willing to be trained to conduct/moderate webinars online since it works better with two people from GGS to be online with the presenter.  One can answer questions and work on technical issues that might arise while the other person takes care of speaking online and working with the presenter.

3. Volunteers to serve on a planning committee to focus on multiple areas of education to meet the requests coming in from members, libraries, from societies and from the Board. Meetings will be online so driving will not be required.  We hope to get input from GGS members from throughout the country. We are looking for people who have ideas and opinions about what will help GGS serve its educational mission

  • Society Education – There needs to be education for societies similar to what FGS does in helping local societies build stronger organizations and they need GGS to also provide educational opportunities for their members.
  • Board Education – some time ago the Board requested more training on how to be effective board members and different technology and tools to make their jobs as GGS board members easier.
  • Webinars – one person to oversee all the elements of presenting the webinars and developing multiple people who can serve as moderators for the webinars. Webinars includes planning and scheduling the webinars, and getting them uploaded to Vimeo to be available to our members.

No great expertise in genealogy is required, so do not feel you are not “expert” enough to help. This committee does require an application that is attached to be filled out. Representatives from societies in Georgia are especially encouraged to participate We need to find creative ways to educate more people in cost effective ways as Education is one of the largest budget items for GGS and growing annually. Deadline for application to serve on Education Planning Committee isFebruary 14, 2016. We will start meeting online in early March in the evenings.

Please contact Laura W. Carter at gagensocprograms@gmail.com  or phone 706-369-9420 with questions and/or offers to help.

Board for Certification of Genealogists announcement

~ Georgia Gen

For Immediate Release, Board for Certification of Genealogists

18 January 2016
BCG today released a 2016 edition of the BCG Application Guide. The new guide implements two changes for initial applicants approved by the board last May. Two clarifications address common problems in new portfolios.
The most significant change will see applicants evaluated on their genealogically related educational activities. Initial applicants have long been asked to describe the activities that helped them prepare for certification but only now will this information be evaluated. The new practice is meant to stress the importance of development activities as these have been statistically shown to increase an applicant’s chances of attaining certification.
The second change limits the size of new applications to 150 pages. The new limit more realistically portrays the amount of material an applicant will need to prepare than did the two-pound limit it replaces. A related change limits Requirement 7, the kinship-determination project, to three generations. Applicants were previously allowed to submit additional generations if they wished, but extra generations are invariably more than judges need for evaluation purposes.
One of two clarifications addresses Requirement 5, the research report prepared for another person. Applicants submit many types of projects for this requirement, including genealogies, biographical narratives, case studies, and lineage-society applications. However, the application guide specifically requests a research report, not other types of commissioned projects. The 2016 guide makes this point clear.
The new guide also clarifies the request for a research question that is part of BCG’s two document work assignments, Requirements 3 and 4. Many applicants submit broad multipart questions that are too poorly framed to meet genealogical standards and that impede their ability to show evidence-evaluation and research-planning skills. The new application guide specifies that a “single” question be supplied.
BCG today also released a revised set of new-application rubrics. Several rubrics have been reworked to more clearly reflect evaluation criteria. Like the application guide’s clarification affecting the document work, two of those changes clarify the importance of Standard 10 and the need for research to address focused questions.
None of the changes affect renewal portfolios.
The new guide and rubrics can be downloaded from BCG’s website. The guide is available at http://www.bcgcertification.org/brochures/BCGAppGuide2016.pdf <http://www.bcgcertification.org/brochures/BCGAppGuide2016.pdf>. The rubrics are available athttp://www.bcgcertification.org/brochures/BCGNewAppRubrics2016.pdf <http://www.bcgcertification.org/brochures/BCGNewAppRubrics2016.pdf>.

Historical society looks back and forward-Dawson County

~ Georgia Gen

Staff reports- editor@dawsonnews.com- 20 January 2016

Historical society looks back and forward

At the January meeting of the Dawson County Historical and Genealogical Society members reviewed the major achievements of the past year and made some decisions concerning the future.

Officers filling major positions remain the same: Peggy Hulsey, president and secretary; Pat Floyd, vice president and Faye Bruce, secretary.

New for 2016 are Colby Hunter joining Betty Love as newsletter editor; Hunter and Judy Harris joining Mildred Gaddis on the society’s board of directors.

Highlighting major events was the publication of the much-anticipated official history, with a reception and book signing, sponsored by the board of commissioners.

Hulsey reported that more than 300 copies of “DAWSON COUNTY, GEORGIA: A HISTORY” have been sold; members voted to authorize publishing up to 500 additional copies as needed.
Other books published by the society are still available, although in limited numbers.

Those include: “DAWSON COUNTY, GEORGIA, HERITAGE; 1857-1996,” “CEMETERIES OF DAWSON COUNTY” and “DAWSON COUNTY, GEORGIA, PICTORIAL: THE
FIRST HUNDRED YEARS.”

All the books can be purchased through the society office in the historic old courthouse on the square by writing to P.O. Box 1074, Dawsonville, or by calling (706) 265-3985, and leaving a message.

Your call will be returned to fill your order by mail or by making an appointment to meet at the society’s office. The books are also available for purchase at the Dawson County Library.

The recently published history books are also on sale at the Dawson County Chamber of Commerce office. The price is $38, with $5 additional if the book is to be mailed.

Society members expressed concern about the current state of a number of old cemeteries, especially small, private, non-church-connected ones, and the need to have them restored and preserved. The possibility of working on that project was discussed.

Residents interested in activities of the Dawson County Historical and Genealogical Society are invited to attend the quarterly meetings scheduled for 5 p.m. the third Tuesdays in April, July, October and January at the Dawson County Library.

 

S.C. roots, Irish Parish registers, Jewish genealogy

~ Georgia Gen

Focus on Georgia columnists:

South Carolina roots should be considered

Kenneth H. Thomas, Jr. – for the AJC– Saturday, 9 January 2016

When dealing with Southern research, genealogists always should consider that some of their ancestors might have come from South Carolina.

Many of our ancestors may have immigrated directly to South Carolina and started their American journey there. Others may have just passed through the colony/state on their way westward. I have ancestors in both categories.

Brent H. Holcomb is the editor and publisher of the South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research, in its 44th volume this year. With four issues of the journal per year, he has covered a lot of South Carolina genealogy resources.

While the last issue of each year contains an index for that year, Holcomb also has published comprehensive decadelong indexes for earlier decades. Anyone with any South Carolina research questions should check for an individual name, but also for sources, since he includes various record groups, such as the current running of federal equity cases covering South Carolina, and extracts from the Christian Neighbor religious newspaper, among others.

Each issue includes book reviews and queries from subscribers. Placing a query in such a well-known publication is a great way to let others know for whom you are looking.

Holcomb also has published hundreds of books on South Carolina sources, so look for his name in any genealogy library collection.

A subscription to SCMAR is normally $35 a year, but he is offering a one-time-only subscription price of $30 to new subscribers through Feb. 10. It would be a good way to treat yourself to a new genealogy resource. Write SCMAR, P.O. Box 21766, Columbia, SC 29221. His website is scmar.com.

Irish parish registers

More than 1,000 Irish parish registers have been placed online, free, by the National Library of Ireland at registers.nli.ie, but there is no countrywide index as yet. Check out the site to see how it works and what you can find. You can read the microfilm of a parish register directly on your computer, but you have to figure out the parish first.

Jewish genealogy

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Georgia is worth knowing about and joining. Check jewishgen.org/jgsg to see what they offer in meetings and research materials, with lots of links online to Jewish research sources elsewhere. Membership also links you to the Breman Museum.

Contact Kenneth H. Thomas Jr., P.O. Box 901, Decatur, GA 30031 or gagensociety.org.

 

NGS- Call for Papers- Raleigh -May 2017

~ Georgia Gen

GIG_National Genealogical Society Logo

Arlington, Va. 1 January 2016- The National Genealogical Society (NGS) will open the call for proposals for the 2017 Family History Conference, Family History Lives Here, on 1 January 2016.  The conference will be held in Raleigh, North Carolina, from 10-13 May 2017.

Throughout its history, North Carolina has been home to a diverse population including Native Americans and those who trace their heritage back to Europe and Africa. During colonial times, it was one of a few colonies that embraced religious diversity, welcoming Quakers, Huguenots, Methodists, and Moravians. It is a land rich in cultural traditions. From the lighthouses on the outer banks to the falling waters on the Piedmont, to the dramatic overlooks in the mountains, this land calls us back to take a closer look. The Tar Heel story is vibrant, shared through the words of each family, and recorded in the wonderful records, manuscripts, and artifacts preserved in the numerous North Carolina archives, special collections, museums, libraries, historical sites, and societies.

Among the topics being considered by NGS for its 2017 conference are presentations on North Carolina history, including available records, and repositories; land grants, and other land records; court system and laws; ethnic and religious groups; military, farming, and other occupations; neighboring states; and migration to, from, and within the Carolinas. The Society will also consider other topics of interest reaching from the Colonial era to the 21st Century. In addition, NGS encourages the submission of proposals for broader genealogical categories, including methodology, problem solving, and technology.

Speakers who wish to submit lecture proposals, and organizations interested in sponsoring tracks or individual lectures, should follow the published guidelines at the NGS website page: http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/call_for_proposals.

Speakers may submit up to eight proposals electronically via https://goo.gl/wCs8wn.

Organizations wishing to sponsor a lecture may submit proposals via https://goo.gl/6SYFcc.

All proposals must be submitted electronically through the NGS website by 11:59 p.m. EDT on 1 April 2016.

Founded in 1903, the National Genealogical Society is dedicated to genealogical education, exemplary standards of research, and the preservation of genealogical records. The Arlington, Virginia-based nonprofit is the premier national society for everyone, from the beginner to the most advanced family historian seeking excellence in publications, educational offerings, and guidance in research. It also offers many opportunities to interact with other genealogists.

 

Repositories: Washington Memorial Library, Macon

~ Georgia Gen

Washington Memorial Library

The Washington Memorial Library’s Genealogical and Historical Room has one of the most outstanding reference collections of its type in the South.

The Library was founded in 1923 by the Mary Hammond Washington Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, who realized the need for the library to provide source material and assistance for people tracing their lineage and searching for facts about their ancestors.  They also believed that certain old and irreplaceable records of local and regional history should be preserved for the future and made available for researchers.

Starting with a small collection, the Genealogical and Heritage Room collection has grown to include more than 32,000 volumes and over 24,000 microfilms. It is considered outstanding by genealogists and historians from all over the United States.
More that 13,000 people visit the Genealogical & Historical Room each year. Last year, researchers came from 38 states and 5 foreign countries. The library holds classes  and The Central Georgia Genealogical Society hold instructional seminars there.
The Genealogical and Historical Collection provides a broad representation of research material, but its most distinctive feature is its collection of records on the 13 colonies. This collection on the original states is recognized as one of the finest in genealogical libraries. Considerable space is devoted to pre-colonial history as well as to colonial history and the Revolutionary War. This includes source material from England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales.
The staff from the Genealogical & History Room are willing to answer question sent by email and letter. Visit Washington Memorial Library
for guidelines and information about submitting your question.
When planning a research trip read all information HERE
Washington Memorial Library
1180 Washington Avenue, Macon, GA.  31201
Current hours:
Mondays  9am- 9pm
Tuesday-Saturday 9am-6:00pm