Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Help with Dating Photos at Morning Meeting

Our first meeting for 2014 is a program on dating photos through clothing & facial recognition presented by Ellie Carlson. She says about her presentation...Family photographs are hard to date once the generation pictured has passed away. Many people have unidentified photos in their collection. Determining an approximate date may help you to know whether the woman in the photo is your grandmother or your great-grandmother.  This is where costume dating can be helpful. Basic facial recognition will also be covered which will help identify the same person in several photos over time. There are some good, easy tricks which you will learn in this workshop-format presentation.

Please bring photographs with you to the lecture and we will all try to date them for you using the techniques outlined in the presentation. Ideally, attendees will print their photos onto transparency paper (any office supply store or copy shop can do this) so we can all see them projected on the screen but this isn't required.

Hope to see you there! January 7, 2014 at the Gail Borden Public Library, 270 N Grove, Elgin, IL.

Sara

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Set your 2014 Calendar



The end of 2013 is nearly here and most of us are preparing our calendars for events coming up in 2014. Don't forget to mark the third Thursday of each month (except December) for the EGS Beginners' Genealogy Workshops. We'll be meeting at the Gail Borden Public Library, 270 N Grove, Elgin, IL at 7:00 pm. 

Don't think you're a beginner? Think again!! Every time we find a "new" person or a "new" location we need to go back to the beginning. Even those who have been researching for 20 or 30 years will find a review of the basics most enlightening.

Here's the schedule for the workshops:


  • Jan 16 -  Getting Started With Your Research
  • Feb 20 - Getting the Vitals Down – Birth, Marriage and Death Records
  • Mar 20 -  Turning Fiction to Fact: Using, Identifying, and Citing Sources
  • Apr 17  - Making Sense of the Census
  • May 15 - Organizing Your Research
  • Jun 19 -  Using Libraries to Continue Your Research
  • Jul 17 -   Analyzing and Tracking Your Research
  • Aug 21-  Using Websites to Help Your Research
  • Sep 18 - Digging into Land Records: The Neglected Resource
  • Oct 16-   Dusting off those Old Court Records
  • Nov 20-  Fanning the Flames
Can't make an evening meeting? Don't despair. EGS has morning meetings on the 1st Tuesday of each month at 9:30 am also at the Gail Borden Public Library. There's lots of great information to be found at these meetings as well:


  • Jan 07 - Ellie Carlson presents Dating Photographs Through Clothing & Face Recognition
  • Feb 04 - Debra M. Dudek presents Beyond Ancestry
  • Mar 04- Jennifer Holik presents Stories of the Lost (Sequel to Finishing the Story)
  • Apr 01 - Jane Halderman presents From Land Records to Google Earth: Mapping Your Family’s
  • Place
  • May 06 -Sarah Kirby presents The Genealogy Research Process
  • Jun 03 - Thomas MacEntee presents 10 Ways to Jump Start Your Genealogy (webinar)
  • Jul 01 - TBA
  • Aug 05- Marsha Peterson-Maass presents Swab Your Cheek: How to Make the Most of DNA Kinship Results
  • Sep 02- Teresa McMillan presents Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Hanover Military Records
  • Oct 07- Matthew Rutherford presents Introduction to Genealogy at the Newberry
  • Nov 04-EGS Writers’ Group presents Telling Their Stories
  • Dec 03- Annual Meeting and Holiday Celebration


There you have it! Mark your calendars now. Set a reminder. We want to see you there!!

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Sunday, December 1, 2013

EGS Announces its 2014 Beginners' Workshop Series

Press Release:

The Elgin Genealogical Society Announces its 2014 Beginners’ Workshop Series.

Elgin, Illinois
December 1, 2013

Whether you are interested in starting your genealogy research or you have been researching many years, you will benefit from the Elgin Genealogical Society’s upcoming monthly workshops – each one will cover a different topic important to helping you further your research. These workshops are planned to help persons new to tracing their family tree get started and establish a good foundation; but will also benefit even the most seasoned researcher.

The workshops will be held on the third Thursday of each month in the Community Room, first floor of the Gail Borden Public Library, 270 N. Grove Avenue, Elgin, Illinois 60120 and begin at 7:00 pm. All EGS meetings are open to the public.

Mark your calendar for these important dates in 2014:

Date :                                                    Topic:

January 16           Getting Started with your Research
February 20         Getting the Vitals Down—Birth, Marriage, and Death Records
March 20            Turning Fiction to Fact: Using, Identifying and Citing Sources
April 17               Making Sense of the Census
May 15                Organizing your Research
June 19                Using Libraries to Continue your Research
July 17                 Analyzing and Tracking your Research
August 21             Using Websites to Help your Research
September 18        Digging into Land Records: The Neglected Resource
October 16            Dusting Off those Old Court Records
November 20         Fanning the Flames

“We are very exciting about the upcoming workshops” says EGS president, Sara Taylor. “They will provide new researchers the basic knowledge needed to create valued family histories and give veteran genealogists an opportunity to mentor others while brushing up on fundamentals.”

If you are available during the day, consider stopping in to our morning meetings held the first Tuesday of each month as well. They begin at 9:30 am and are also at Gail Borden Public Library. Guests are always welcome!
  
For further information, email ElginGS@aol.com or visit our website at www.elginroots.com.



Elgin Genealogical Society; P.O. Box 1418; Elgin, IL 60121-1418; elginGS@aol.com; www.elginroots.com