L is for ... LOCAL PROGRAMS!

L is for ... LOCAL PROGRAMS!

Don't get me wrong.  I'm very excited about going to the Federation of Genealogical Society's 2012 conference in Birmingham next week.  But there's something to be said about conferences and workshops put together by your local society.

This past Saturday, my local society (Delta Genealogical Society) teamed up with another local society (Signal Mountain Genealogical Society) for the Chattanooga Area Genealogy Workshop.  We are two relatively small societies, so when our expected attendance almost doubled in the last 4 days before the workshop, we were pleasantly surprised!  We had about 120 people show up.

It went from 9 a.m. until about 3 p.m.  Lunch was provided.  Sessions ran about 1-1/2 hours and there were two sessions running simultaneously (one was aimed at beginners and the other was more for intermediate/advanced researchers).

There was a session on "Beginning Your Family History from Scratch" presented by Jim Douthat, Vice President of Programs at the Chattanooga Area Historical Society (CAHA), and just this past March was the first recipient of the James W. Livingood Historian of the Year award from CAHA.  Also on tap for beginners was "Treasures Hidden in Census Records," also presented by Jim Douthat.

I attended "The Times in Which They Lived" by Linda Moss Mines.  She is the Hamilton County (Tennessee) Historian, as well as a History instructor at Girls' Preparatory School here in Chattanooga.  (There were a few other things on her resume, but I forgot what they were).  What a fantastic speaker!  Although we probably had about 75 people in the room, I felt like we were sitting in someone's living room.  She really held my attention.  Quite honestly, I could have listened to her for the rest of the afternoon.

Unfortunately, I was asked to help with some behind-the-scenes duties that conflicted with the presentation by Rufus Williamson, President of the Delta Genealogical Society.  His topic was "DNA - Using Genealogy's Newest Tool."


Our main speaker was George K. Schweitzer, who has his own Wikipedia page.  If you ever have the chance to hear him speak, take it.  Do not hesitate.  Dr. Schweitzer has been researching for over 50 years and has so much information in his head, he rarely had to look at his notes (and even then it was probably just to make sure he was staying on time).  His topic was "Searching for Our Ancestors Across the Ocean," which was perfect timing for me now that I'm getting ready to start doing some overseas research.  Dr. Schweitzer always presents his topics in character (see lederhosen at left).  His presentation was not only incredibly informative, but also entertaining.  

I had the honor of meeting Dr. Schweitzer prior to his presentation.  He is probably one of the sweetest, cleverest, most personable, and smartest people I have ever met!   I was even able to get him to sign the book that I bought!

Overall, the program was very well done, and I'm glad I went.  The best part?  Only $20 to get in.  Yep, local programs rock!



Special thanks to Alona at Gould Genealogy for coming up with the Family History Through the Alphabet challenge!

Do we share any ancestors?

Please email me at lostancestors [at] gmail [dot] com

Chattanooga Area Genealogy Workshop - August 18, 2012

"Aiming to Locate Our Ancestors"

SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER - DR. GEORGE SCHWEITZER

The Delta Genealogical Society and The Signal Mountain Genealogical Society, in joint sponsorship of this event, bring together genealogists and family historians - people who have done research all their lives, and those who have only recently become interested; professionals and non-professionals - who have a common desire to learn how to find more information about their ancestors. The conference will include programs for all skill levels of research experience and will feature tracks on census records, methodology, migration, and more! Lectures, workshops, meal events, and social events all provide networking opportunities with other genealogists. View the class schedule here.

When: 

Saturday, August 18, 2012
9:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Where: 

First Centenary Methodist Church
Oak Street Center
418 Oak Street
Chattanooga, Tennessee

Cost: 

$20 per person at the door (box lunch included)

Hope to see you there!

Do we share any ancestors?

Please email me at lostancestors [at] gmail [dot] com

Delta Genealogical Society Annual Genealogy Workshop

Delta Genealogical Society

Genealogy in 2011

What:    "Genealogy in 2011" Workshop

Where:  Rossville Public Library, 504 McFarland Avenue, Rossville, GA

When:    Saturday, October 29, 2011   10 a.m. to noon

Who:      Rufus Williamson, President; one other speaker to be named

Why:      To inform the genealogy hobbyist of changes in resources available for genealogical research over the last few years, and useful techniques for taking advantage of those resources, including recent changes at FamilySearch.org.

The workshop is free to the public.

Delta Genealogical Society is an association of those interested in the genealogy and history of Northwest Georgia, Northeast Alabama, and Southeast Tennessee.  The Society meets on the second Tuesday of each month at the Rossville Public Library at 7 p.m.  Visitors are welcome.  Delta publishes "Southern Roots & Shoots" three times per year.  Issues contain historical and genealogical data for Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee, as well as book reviews and other topics of interest to the researcher.

Delta Genealogical Society Annual Genealogy Workshop

Delta Genealogical Society

Genealogy in 2011

What:    "Genealogy in 2011" Workshop
Where:  Rossville Public Library, 504 McFarland Avenue, Rossville, GA
When:    Saturday, October 29, 2011   10 a.m. to noon
Who:      Rufus Williamson, President; one other speaker to be named
Why:      To inform the genealogy hobbyist of changes in resources available for genealogical research over the last few years, and useful techniques for taking advantage of those resources, including recent changes at FamilySearch.org.


The workshop is free to the public.


Delta Genealogical Society is an association of those interested in the genealogy and history of Northwest Georgia, Northeast Alabama, and Southeast Tennessee.  The Society meets on the second Tuesday of each month at the Rossville Public Library at 7 p.m.  Visitors are welcome.  Delta publishes "Southern Roots & Shoots" three times per year.  Issues contain historical and genealogical data for Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee, as well as book reviews and other topics of interest to the researcher.

Delta Genealogical Society - 10.11.11 Meeting

The TAG/Delta Genealogical Society will meet on Tuesday, October 11 at 7:00 p.m. at the Rossville Library (504 McFarland Avenue, Rossville, Georgia). 


The program will be introduced by Virginia Lerch, and is the recorded key note speech by David McCullough at last year's National Genealogical Society Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.  


McCullough is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winning author, historian, narrator, and lecturer.  He is also a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States.

I Finally Joined a Local Genealogy Society

I was batting around the idea of joining a local genealogy society for a while, and after seeing a post from Amy Coffin at We Tree Genealogy, I was convinced.  I needed to find one!


I looked on my local library website to see if there was any information.  It listed the Hamilton County Tennessee Genealogy Society, so about 3 months ago I decided to see what they were all about.  When I first found their website, I was confused because the "Membership" link didn't work.  So I went to the "Members" link and found a promising-looking candidate and sent an email to them (none of the members were identified as officers, so I sort of just took my chances).


I received a pleasant email reply informing me that they were a strictly online society (which is a bit of a contradiction-in-terms, if you ask me), but that I was more than welcome to join for a small fee, or I could transcribe and post an historical document of some sort (it had to be from or pertaining to Hamilton County, Tennessee) and join for free.


Since I have no known ancestors from Tennessee, I haven't really done any research here so I don't have any documents to offer up.  Besides, I really wanted a genealogy society where people actually meet face-to-face and talk to each other and learn stuff.


Incidentally, now the link for Membership is working again and this is what it says:

The Hamilton County Tennessee Genealogy Society is an on-line, non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of the history and genealogical records of Hamilton County Tennessee. The primary purpose is to provide an online format for the documentation and publication of these records for use by anyone with an interest in Hamilton County.

Not exactly my definition of a genealogy society.  Anyway, that was a bust.  A few weeks ago, I decided to give the library a call and see if they knew of any other local societies that actually meet.  The librarian was very helpful and gave me the contact information for two other societies in the area: Signal Mountain Genealogical Society (they have no website) and Delta Genealogical Society.  The Signal Mountain group meets on the first Tuesday of the month at 1:00 p.m. for light refreshments, with the educational portion of their meeting beginning at 1:30 p.m.  Well, that's all fine and dandy for the rich and retired folks and housewives on Signal Mountain, but us working class folk need a group that meets in the evenings after work!


So I emailed Dale Harrison, who is the membership coordinator - which is plainly displayed on their website along with all the other officers under "Members."  I received a very prompt reply inviting me to attend their next meeting, on the 2nd Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. (woohoo!)  The group meets at the public library in Rossville, Georgia, and the drive (literally) took me about 6 minutes.


Okay, so now I've found a group that meets in the evenings, now I'm just hoping it's an active group.


I arrived at the library a little bit early (I thought it would take a lot longer to get there than it actually did), so I got to meet the President, Rufus Williamson, right off the bat.  He is probably one of the sweetest little old men I've ever met.  He's gotta be about 80 years old and just as spry as you please.  He welcomed me and gave me a complimentary copy of the society's quarterly publication Southern Roots & Shoots.  The folks at the library hadn't set up the room for the meeting beforehand, so I helped him set up the tables and chairs before everyone got there.  Bless his heart, it's a good thing I was early.  There's no way he could have done all that by himself.  Those tables were humongous.  So I asked him ... "how many members do you usually have at your meetings?"  He said, "Oh, sometimes about 20 or so ... but since it's the summer, we may be short a couple of people who are on vacation."  Wow!  To me, that's a pretty big group for this little area.


Then people started coming in, about 14 total.  After some of the horror stories I have heard about newbies at some society meetings feeling like they were on the outside looking in, I braced myself for that "left out" feeling ... that never happened.  It was amazing.  Rufus introduced me by name (and that I was doing Crowe research) to every person as they walked in the door, including the speaker!  Everyone was very welcoming and gracious.  I felt like a rock star!  Almost everyone there was older ... much older ... than me, but it felt like a big family.


Our speaker was Marnie Pehrson, a local author.  She spoke about her book The Patriot Wore Petticoats.  It's a truly fascinating fictional story based on the life of her 4th great grandmother during the Revolutionary War.  I bought a copy.


The meeting lasted a little over an hour, and I was stopped several times on the way out by the members, thanking me for coming and asking me to come back to the next meeting and how happy they were to have a fresh face in the group.  Since it's a month until the next meeting, I have already mailed my membership fee (can't beat $15 a year!), and I'm looking forward to the next meeting and seeing all the wonderful people there!