Our Next Inspirational Speaker

Mark your calendars for Tuesday evening, November 2, 2010 at 6 p.m. when we will welcome Leslie Albrecht Huber to the meeting room upstairs at the Carnegie Library. Leslie is a local resident who has just returned from a cross-country book tour for her first book, The Journey Takers, relating her ten year journey to trace the stories of her ancestors from Germany, Sweeden and England and across the United States to Utah. Her writing style brings them to life and she will tell us about the research process and how she brought it together as a published work. For more information, go to http://www.understandingyourancestors.com/aboutLeslie.aspx
Many thanks again to the Montague Libraries for sponsoring this talk!

Mass. Society of Genealogists Conference

Here is another event that promises to provide lots of information and networking opportunities. The Mass. Society of Genealogists will hold its 35th annual meeting and conference in Marlboro on Saturday November 6, 2010 from 9:30 to 4:45. The cost is only $25, with lunch an additional $30. For a list of speakers and a registration form go to
http://www.msoginc.org/35index.html

October - What's Next?

There are several projects on the horizon for those who are looking forward to working as a group to share some of our local info.

Now is the time to make a date to do some cemetery photography if we want to accomplish something before the weather changes.

How rusty is your French? The Jean Baptiste society records were discovered when the building on Third Street that is now the Rendezvous was renovated. They likely hold lots of interesting tidbits to our local French community of 100 years ago. We will have the opportunity to view them at our next meeting on the 12th.

I will bring 40 pages from 1900 census of Turners Falls to our next meeting. I downloaded them so we can peruse the variety of nationalities and occupations found there. This is the type of thing we may use as a lobby display for the Abby Paige show on January 30th at the Shea.

September Focus

I have had a busy summer that included time for some gen. research and learning new things. I am looking forward to meeting again on September 1st to see what you have been up to as well!

It is fun to be able to tell someone a little about their family's past. I did a little research for someone I am working with, and found a painting of the ship his great-great-grandfather served on during the Civil War! A little information like that can stir up enough interest to get someone started on their own research, and another historian is born.

I would like to suggest two primary areas of discussion at our next gathering. I have been in touch with a performer/historian named Abby Paige who does a wonderful one-woman show entitled "When We Were French." She takes on several characters and describes what it means to be of French Canadian descent from their points of view. I have arranged for her to come to Turners in January and perform for us. I convinced The Country Players, whose Board I chair, to sponsor this show, and will need your help publicizing it and filling the seats. I guarantee you will not be disappointed. Check out the details at http://abbypaige.com/current-projects/piecework-when-we-were-french/ I thought it would be appropriate to put together some kind of display on our own local French heritage. What form should that take?

Secondly, I'd like to talk about how we might take on a group project, such as collecting cemetery records. Pat Allen has a good start on the records of Montague Town Cemeteries. Planning a photography project would be good to get underway before the weather turns on us. Here's an example of a really well organized cemetery project: http://westport.loreprojects.com/home.cfm There has been a lot of work done in Nothfield recently, but it has not been published on-line. My goal is figuring out how we can share information effectively.

I'd like to continue to share links of interest in this space. The New England Historical and Genealogical Society (NEHGS) has launched a new web site AmericanAncestors.org that has some information available without subscription, and some for members only. They are co-sponsoring a genealogy day in Boston with Ancestry.com on October 16.

Phil Johnson passed on this link for Finnish Genealogy http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Du-Ha/Finnish-Americans.html
and noticed that the Worcester Public Library will be having an all day session on Sweedish Genealogy on October 2nd.

Tina Peters has had good luck with genealogybank.com for newspaper obits and other info from newspapers. I haven't been impressed with the newspaper search feature at Ancestry.com. Has any one else had better luck?

Sorry that I haven't figured out how to make these links "hot" - you'll just have to cut and paste them. I hope they are useful - send me more!

Mark Your Calendars

Jean Nudd, archivist for the National Archives center in Pittsfield, MA will speak to our group on Monday, August 2 at 6 p.m. Jean will review the holdings of the National Archives which are of interest to genealogists, and will discuss how to access them in person and on the internet.

I have set up another field trip for September. Melinda McIntosh, Reference Librarian, will give us a tour of the genealogical holdings at the Dubois Library at UMass Amherst on Monday, September 20 at 6:30 p.m. She is working on a handbook for research at the library and is very interested in getting the word out. We will explore the microfilm holdings, as well as the extensive local history stacks.

From Tina Peters, via NewEnglandAncestors.org: All 1901 and 1911 Census Records for Ireland Now Available.

The National Archives of Ireland, in conjunction with the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, the National Library of Ireland, Library and Archives Canada, the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, and the Irish Railway Records Society has now completed a project to digitize the 1901 and 1911 censuses. The final records were released recently, and now all thirty-two counties in Ireland are available to search for free at www.census.nationalarchives.ie

If anyone is researching SULLIVAN Irish ancestors, I would appreciate the opportunity to compare notes - heylady@mapinternet.com

Peskeomskut Park Music & Arts Festival

The Shea Theater is sponsoring it's third annual festival on Saturday, July 10, 2010 at the downtown park across the street from the Carnegie Library. Beginning at 10 a.m. there will be music and artisans, as well as a book and bike sale to benefit the Shea Theater. We have been given a space with electricity to promote our genealogy efforts, and will bring a scanner to preserve documents for the walk-up public. Volunteers are needed to be available to give genealogical advice during the day. We will make blank forms available for people to begin organizing their family history.
Please contact rememberingancestors@yahoo.com if you can spend an hour or two at our booth. We also need a tent for shade.
See http://www.peskeparkfest.com/ for more details.