Connecting past to present through educating, preserving, publishing.
The DCGS board would like to let you know the dues structure is changing for the DCGS 2012/2013 membership year (June 1, 2012 – May 31, 2013). The membership rates will be as follows.
Individual: $20
Family: $30
Institution: $20
Youth: $10
Life: $300
Breaking Down a Brick Wall: A Case Study in Unlocking My Irish Ancestry How I Found the Marriage Record of My Irish Great-Great Grandparents
Presented by Nancy Thomas
Learn how listening to family stories can lead you from known facts to the unknown. Newspapers, census records, church records, online indexes, and maps resulted in the breaking down of a major brick wall. This presentation will show the step-by-step process and analysis used to tackle Irish research successfully.
Next General Meeting – March 21, 2012 – Social starting at 6:30 PM – see Meetings
This meeting will be held in the:
Lower Level Meeting Room
Wheaton Public Library
Join DuPage County (IL) Genealogical Society in indexing the 1940 U.S. Federal Census!
Step 1: Go to: http://the1940census.com
Step 2: Click GET STARTED from the menu at the top.
Step 3: Download and install the Indexing Software
Step 4: Register for a FamilySearch account, if you don’t already have one.
Step 5: Select “Another group”, then select DuPage County (IL) Genealogical Society from the dropdown list.
Time to put on your detective hat and wander over to The Geneajourneys Blog.
DCGS member, Patricia Biallas wrote an intriguing post on her blog called Frank Fay: Fact, Fiction or Family Legend?
Read through it carefully because just as you think Pat is figuring it out, she has a “And yet…” or “However….” or “but….”
Can you help her solve the mystery? Stop by and take a look at it and leave her some comments.
Guest Post by Linda Herrick Swisher
On February 25, I attended my first DuPage Genealogical Society Conference. I was drawn by the All-Star speaker lineup of Lou Szucs and Juliana Smith from Ancestry.com, as well as Paul Milner, Tony Burroughs, Maureen Brady, and Jennifer Holik.
Coming from the southern suburbs, and never having been to St. Charles, I wanted to start the day well-rested, without worrying about travel time or getting lost. I made reservations for Friday night at the Hilton Garden Inn, a very clean, attractive, quiet facility with a VERY comfortable bed.
The next morning, I headed downstairs where there was a good walk-in crowd. Having pre-registered, sign-in took just seconds — simply a matter of picking up my name tag and syllabus. Door prize tickets were already tucked into the name badge, which sported a color-coded dot to allow hotel staff to quickly serve one’s preselected lunch option.
The vendor area seemed quite busy, with a good variety of products and services, societies and repositories. The schedule allowed for ample time for browsing or rest breaks between sessions. One could choose from a great selection of door prizes.
A three-track conference gave attendees a choice. Trying to decide which session to attend was the hardest part of the day! Lecture rooms were good-sized, and nicely filled. Having the speaker remain in one room was a convenience for the speaker, and attendees seemed to have no problem finding the correct room. Upstairs, lunch was served quickly and there was even enough time for more shopping before the afternoon sessions started.
The sessions I attended ran smoothly, with volunteer monitors to watch the door, do introductions, and also alert speakers of the five minute mark. The evaluation form stapled to the back of the syllabus made it easy to complete the form and turn it in at the end of the conference, along with name tags.
I understand that attendance figures were nearly record-setting. It sounds as though attendees were drawn by the topics, as well as the recent focus on genealogy due to “Who Do You Think You Are?” Kudos to Carole Magnuson and the conference committee. A great deal of planning goes into such an event, and from what I could see, they had all the bases covered. Thanks also to the vendors and door prize contributors.
Jennifer Holik, of Generations, will launch a brand new series of books in the Branching Out series on March 28, 2012. Each book contains 15 lessons, teaching the basics of genealogical research to children. On this day you will be able to purchase the textbook in paperback form, PDF, or PowerPoint. The paperback will be available on CreateSpace. The PowerPoint and PDF versions will be available on the Generations E-Junkie store. The PowerPoint version has the same content as the book but with a few extras. It was designed for the visual, hands-on learner in mind.
Be sure to sign up for the Generations newsletter to stay in touch with what’s going on with Generations. This is only the beginning of a major kids’ series. Also sign up for the series editor, Stephanie Pitcher Fishman’s newsletter at Corn and Cotton. This year Generations will be collaborating with Corn and Cotton on more educational resources. You will want to know what she is working on as well!
The following will be released March 28 and the links will be live on the Generations website.
1st-3rd Grade Students
Books
PowerPoint
PDF Version
4th-8th Grade Students
Books
PowerPoint
PDF Version
High School Students
Books
PowerPoint
PDF Version
Join the DuPage County (IL) Genealogical Societytomorrow for their 37th Annual Genealogy Conference. The conference will feature speakers: Paul Milner, Loretto (Lou) Szucs, Juliana Smith, Tony Burroughs, Jennifer Holik, and Maureen Brady.
Date: Saturday, February 25, 2012
Place: Hilton Garden Inn, St. Charles
Time: 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Registration: On site
Twelve lectures to choose from which include:
1A Finding Your English Ancestors: The Big Four Paul Milner
We will examine available indexes, how to access and interpret the four primary records groups for English research: civil registration, census, church records and probate. These are the primary records you need when searching for anyone from the fifteenth to the twentieth century.
1B Advanced Search Tips for Ancestry.com Juliana Smith
Ancestry.com is home to more than 6 billion records in more than 30,000 collections. But what’s the best way to find what you’re looking for in all that information? This class will teach you how to make the powerful search tools at Ancestry.com work for you to help you locate your ancestor, discover their stories, and so much more.
1C Don’t Get Burned: Getting Around the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 Tony Burroughs
The entire city burned in 1871, but many records survived to aid your search for Chicago ancestors. Learn which records survived, and methods of getting around the fire.
2A 10:30 Effective Use of England’s National Archives Website Paul Milner
Learn how to effectively use the research tools, indexes and catalogs on this large website to find your ancestors and to put them into their correct historical context.
2B A Dozen Ways to Jumpstart Your Family History Project Lou Szucs / Juliana Smith
With so many new sources and methods popping up, it’s hard to keep up with it all. This lecture is designed to point to ways to stay on top of it all, and to provide the ideas you need to get going!
2C Creating Order Out of Chaos Tony Burroughs
Have you searched in every courthouse, every library, and every archives and still haven’t solved your riddle? One of the keys to success in genealogy is doing more with what you have. Sometimes the pieces are there, we just need to look at them in different ways. Reorganizing and analyzing may solve your riddle.
11:45 Luncheon served upstairs.
3A 1:30 Buried Treasures: What’s in the English Parish Chest? Paul Milner
The English parish was both an ecclesiastical and a civil jurisdiction. Both jurisdictions created informative records and kept them in the Parish Chest. This presentation will examine the breadth and wealth of information that can be found, going well beyond the baptism, marriage and burial registers.
3B Discovering Midwestern Repositories Lou Szucs
In terms of research opportunities, the Midwest is the land of opportunity! This presentation will be a mini tour of some of the best places to find your family records. Not only will you learn what some of the greatest libraries, archives and other institutions have to offer online, but you’ll better understand the benefits of a personal visit.
3C Navigating the National Archives Tony Burroughs
The National Archives has 33 facilities, which hold approximately 21.5 million cubic feet of original textual materials, in addition to microfilm and electronic
records. It’s the largest archives in the United States and most of the 4 billion pieces of paper in its collection are not on the Internet. It can be very intimidating,
unless you understand how it operates, and can master the finding aids.
4A 3:00 Branching Out: Connecting with others using Social Networking and Online Family Trees Jennifer Holik
Learn how to use social networking and online family trees to branch out and expand your family research.
4B The “New” FamilySearch Website Maureen Brady
The FamilySearch website was completely redesigned in December, 2010, with a new look and much more content, including indexes linked to the images of original documents and a library of instructional videos. This presentation will provide an overview of the new content, as well as search techniques and navigational tips and tricks.
4C The Six Phases of African American Genealogy Tony Burroughs
This is an overview of the methods and sources in the six distinct phases that are the building blocks of African American genealogy. It progresses from beginning to more advanced research, highlighting some of the problems and complexities of African American genealogy along the way.
This is a guest post by DCGS President Nancy Thomas
I arrived yesterday, January 25, after a very early morning flight out of Chicago. The hotel has a free shuttle van that picked me up at the airport. My room was ready. I unpacked, ate a quick lunch in the hotel’s restaurant, and set off to find the group at the library. There’s an exit out the back of the hotel that leads to an alley that is a shortcut to the library. Very handy. However, after looking for the group on several floors with no luck–I didn’t realize that the seven other members of the group would be scattered around doing there own research (and I had no idea what any of them looked like!)–I decided to get on with my own research and try to meet up with the group later. Later turned out to be 9:00 p.m.
I started out by ordering some microfilms that were listed in the FamilySearch online catalog as located in the vault which is off site. In a few days, I will look in the film drawers to see if they are there yet. I did not accomplish much that first day on my own, but had a good consultation session with Nancy Ellen Carlberg, the professional genealogist with the group, this morning. She had looked over several Family Group Sheets that I had sent to her before the trip. She was able to suggest resources and orient me to where things were located on the various floors of the library. This individual attention was what I needed to really get started.
After getting passes from the lobby desk, the group went to lunch together at the LDS Church Cafeteria. This is located across the street in the LDS Office Building, about a 4 minute walk through beautiful Temple Square. This is an amazing cafeteria that is actually for employees of the LDS Church, but patrons using the LDS library are also welcome. It has a wide variety of food to eat, but the best thing are the prices! They are subsidized; for example, I had the special grilled sandwich of the day and a cookie for $3.28! Something I have noticed both at the library and the cafeteria is that all the men wear suits, white dress shirts, and ties. The women wear either skirts or dresses. They look and act very professional, and are friendly and helpful as well. It is very impressive.
I am preparing tonight for another day of research tomorrow. How great is this!
Nancy Thomas
President, DCGS
On Monday I spent the majority of the day researching in the Special Collections Department of the Daley Library at the University of Illinois – Chicago. I was looking through some of the Italian Americans in Chicago collection for a client. I requested a few boxes of materials that were not related to my client’s work but thought might provide a little more context for his genealogy book. The information I discovered was amazing. BUT, the one thing I found so sad and disappointing is the fact that many of the photos donated to the collection or copied for the collection were unmarked.
There were no names identifying all these people.
The research conducted was used to put together a special exhibit of the Italians in Chicago, originally housed at the Cultural Center and then later, and still today, at the Italian Cultural Center. You can view the photographs there, in the collection or online at the Italians in Chicago photo collection.
I encourage you to take a look at these photos and if you can identify anyone in them, please leave a comment. If you have Italian roots in Chicago, visit UIC or the Italian Cultural Center and investigate their collections. You may uncover something new and wonderful for your family history.
Join us November 16, 2011 at the Wheaton Public Library to hear Discovering the Naperville Family History Center.
This presentation will include what you can do before you visit and tips on searching the Family History Library catalog. Find out why you may want to join the patron’s mailing list and Yahoo groups. Attention will be given to Chicago ancestor resources at the Center.
The meeting will be held at the library’s lower level meeting room. The library is located at 225 N. Cross Street, Wheaton.
See you there!
