EGS May 7th meeting with Jennifer Holik

The EGS morning meeting on May 7 at 9:30 am at Gail Borden Public Library welcomes Jennifer Holik as our speaker. Through her program "Finishing The Story"she will demonstrate military records that add details about the service and death of soldiers of World War I and World War II. Jennifer will use case studies of her own ancestors.

Jennifer Holik is a genealogical research professional and the owner of Generations and co-founder of The In-Depth Genealogist. Jennifer has over twenty years of research and writing experience. She has authored articles for local and national genealogical publications; authored and published a set of kids' genealogy curriculum books in 2012; is an Expert Author for Archives.com; and writes for several blogs. 

Be sure to join us for an exciting and interesting morning.

~Becky

EGS Write Up on ISGS Blog

Check out the nice piece about Elgin Genealogical Society on the Illinois State Genealogical Society's blog at http://ilgensoc.blogspot.com/2013/04/society-spotlight-elgin-genealogical.html. It's nice to be noticed :-)

~ Becky

April Evening Meeting Wrap-up

Last night I attended the April 2013 evening meeting of the Elgin Genealogical Society (EGS). The program for the evening was a “members sharing” and, unfortunately, not too many people came to join in with the sharing. I’m hoping the reason was more due to the inclement weather than with the type of program. We had torrential rain for a couple of days and many areas were suffering from flooding. I know if my basement were flooded I wouldn’t have been there.

“Sharing” programs are among my very favorite. Over the years I’ve learned as much, if not more, from such evenings as I have from lectures or talks from experts. People who avoid sharing meetings have no idea what they’re missing. Sitting among them at a normal speaker’s program are some of the most knowledgeable genealogists/researchers/family historians – other members of their local society. These “experts” rarely have credentials but have worked on their own families for many years learning their craft by personal study and trial-and-error. Many of them would feel intimidated standing before a crowd to give a talk but happily share in smaller groups.

EGS meets at the Gail Borden Library which is one of the busiest libraries I’ve ever seen. They have multiple programs going on almost all the time. Last night was no exception and, as it turned out, EGS was moved from its normal meeting rooms to a smaller venue upstairs. Due to this change, we didn’t have the tables we are accustomed to and which we had planned to use to divide into smaller groups. However, again hopefully due to the weather, we had fewer in attendance than normal so we adapted and stayed together as one group.

Before the program began I was telling Larry Pepper, a fellow member of our writers’ group, about the writing challenge I’ve put myself under (to write 500 words before I am allowed to do anything else when I go to work in my office) and why I’ve done so. Sara Taylor and the facilitator for the program heard our conversation and asked me to begin the sharing with that subject. Because of that I probably ended up talking too much, not uncommon I’m afraid, but I think everyone attending shared something during the hour. We learned about a couple of websites being used, groused a little about Ancestry Family Trees but in the end most of us admitted using the site for documents and such. We shared stories about some items used in days gone-by like ice boxes, milk wagons, and clothes drying apparatus which brought up the value of time lines and historical placement. We discussed writing “stories” versus putting notes into genealogy software and the pros and cons of both. We heard about the value of keeping a “to-do list” or research log on software like Evernote so that no matter where you are you have access to what you need. All this in a matter of one hour!

Though not exactly the program we had planned, this is what is so great about this type of platform. You can let the discussion take its course and the attendees direct the flow. I know these programs can be overdone but I’m always happy when I can be part of members sharing.

By the way, this concludes my word count+ for the dayJ.

~Becky

EGS April Evening Mtg - Members Sharing

Our evening meeting this month, April 18, 2013, will be at the Gail Borden Public Library at 7:00 pm. The meeting is, as always, open to the public.

We'll be having a "Sharing" program and hope everyone will come prepared. Bring along a problem ancestor, better known as a Brick Wall, or share about how you managed to overcome the obstacles caused by such an ancestor. If you're new to genealogy research and are looking for direction, come prepared with a notepad because you'll be sitting at a table with plenty of "old hands" who are always willing to share their knowledge.

We'll be breaking into small groups for a time of sharing and then each group will pick something or someone to share with the whole assembly.

Sharing programs are always great fun and more informative than you may think. Come join us and find out for yourself!

~Becky

RootsTech Conference Virtual Tips for us stay-at-homes

The Armchair Genealogist: RootsTech Conference: 10 Tips to Make the Most of Your Virtual Experience:

'via Blog this'
If, like me, you can't attend the RootsTech Conference in Salt Lake City starting tomorrow Mar 21, check out the blog above for some great advise on how to take advantage of the conference virtually (and free). Between the live-streaming of some of the sessions and conversations on twitter and facebook, we can feel involved in the experience.

Lynn Palermo, The Armchair Genealogy, even mentions a great use for Evernote which will be the topic of our EGS meeting tomorrow, Thursday, March 21, 2013 at 7:00pm at the Gail Borden Public Library.

~ Becky

March 2013 Morning Meeting Cancelled

Due to the predictions of  heavy snow for tomorrow, March 5, 2013, the EGS morning meeting will be cancelled. Our speaker, Kristen McCallum, has agreed graciously agreed to present her program Getting the Most out of Internet Archives at our meeting on April 2nd.

Stay safe, comfy, and warm and hopefully we'll see you at the evening meeting on March 21 when we'll talk about using Evernote for genealogy.

Sad News

I'm so sorry to have to report this information. The Daily Herald reported this morning:

Sandra M. "Sandy" Granholm of West Dundee Sandra M. "Sandy" Granholm (nee Warrington), age 61, passed away on Thursday. Arrangements are incomplete in the Miller Funeral Home, West Dundee, 847-426-3436.

Sandy was a long-time member of EGS and an inspiration to many. She was with us just a month ago donating her latest genealogy book to the library. She will be greatly missed.

RIP Sandy

~ Becky