Sunday, September 27, 2009

Explore Your Swedish Roots This October

Kathy Meade, of Genline North America, returns to Lindsborg to repeat her popular class ‘Using Online Records to Trace Your Swedish Ancestry.’ The hands-on workshop will be presented at the Salina Public Library,Sunday, October 11, from 1-4:30 pm. Ms. Meade will be joined by experienced Swedish genealogist Mr. Jan Eurenius, from Stockholm, Sweden, for this workshop. If you are ready to learn more about your family’s roots in Sweden, don’t miss this great workshop presented by experts in the field. The session is free and open to the public, but participants are asked to call 785-227-3595 or email oldmillmuseum@hotmail.com to register.
This workshop teaches participants how to access Swedish records online and how to use them to trace families back through time. The Swedish record books, which include information dating back to the 17th century, have been digitized by the Genline company, making access to information much easier than ever before. Ms. Meade and Mr. Eurenius will be in Lindsborg for the Svensk Hyllningsfest celebration October 9 and 10, but will have extended time to work with people on their family history during the workshop on Sunday the 11th.
Based in Chicago, Illinois, Kathy Meade brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the subject of Swedish immigration and tracing Swedish ancestry. Jan Eurenius is an experienced researcher from Sweden who enjoys helping people solve the puzzles of their past. This workshop is co-sponsored by Genline and the McPherson County Old Mill Museum. For more information, call 785-227-3595 or email oldmillmuseum@hotmail.com.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Volunteers Needed for the Midtown Historic Home Tour

The annual Midtown Historic Home Tour will be Saturday, Oct 10 and Sunday Oct 11. Midwest Historical & Genealogical Society intends to participate only on Sat, Oct 10 from 9am till 4pm. We need two volunteers (one for the morning and one for the afternoon). MHGS will have a table near the Tour registration table in the Fairview Christian Church, 16th and Fairview, Wichita. Beverly Arbuckle will provide a MHGS poster and MHGS brochures to the MHGS volunteers. The volunteer task is to tell Tour attendees about MHGS and invite them to stop by the MHGS Library. Please email Beverly Arbuckle.

Friday, September 18, 2009

The Lincoln Cottage

Saturday November 14, 2009
Program: “The Lincoln Cottage” by Dr. Frank Milligan
Time & Place: 1:00 pm till 2:30 pm at the Alford Branch Library
Free and open to the public

Dr. Frank Milligan, is the Director of the Lincoln Cottage, near Washington DC. The purpose of his visit is to accept an original journal authored by Albert See, a Civil War soldier that was on duty at the Lincoln Cottage during Lincoln’s residence there. Albert See’s great granddaughter, Betty Kessler, a resident of Wichita, presently has the journal. She will present the original journal to Dr. Milligan on Nov 14, along with some garments worn by Albert See at Lincoln funeral. These items are to be retained in the Lincoln Cottage archives.

Located on a picturesque hilltop in Washington, DC, President Lincoln's Cottage is the most significant historic site directly associated with Lincoln's presidency aside from the White House. During the Civil War, President Lincoln and his family resided here from June to November of 1862, 1863 and 1864. On July 7, 2000, President William J. Clinton declared the Lincoln Cottage and 2.3 acres of surrounding land the President Lincoln and Soldiers' Home National Monument in honor of the site's notable role in the presidency of Abraham Lincoln.

Midwest Historical & Genealogical Society Library

Saturday October 24, 2009
Event: MHGS Members preview of the MHGS Library Addition
Time and Place: 11:00 am till 2:30 pm at the MHGS Library
The MHGS Options Committee invites MHGS Members to come to the MHGS Library for a preview of the potential MHGS Library Addition. The development of the requirements for the Addition is still at an early state, so now is the time for Members suggestions and comments. Architectural drawings will be available for your review and we hope to have the Architect available t answer your questions. Also we intend to have an outdoor “walk through mock-up” (weather permitting) that will visually demonstrate where the addition will be located.

Kansas Genealogical Society Fall Seminar

The Kansas Genealogical Society Annual Meeting and Seminar will be held 08 October 2009, Lower Level Meeting Room of the Village Square Mall, 2601 Central, Dodge City, KS. Registration and coffee at 9:00 A.M. Lunch on your own from 12:00 – 1:15 P.M.
The featured speaker will be Alice A. Walker, Blue Mound, KS. Alice is a certified genealogist. She has conducted many workshops of various kinds including how to prove genealogical steps. Alice is an author, having written two well documented family genealogies.
“Back to New England”, will be featured at the morning session, and “New York – Impossible?” in the afternoon. Fee prior to 1 October 2009 is $15.00. At the Door is $20.00. Handouts, prizes and refreshments. Non-members are always welcome to join us.
For additional information call 620-225-1951.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

WeRelate and Ancestry

From FGS conference.

The Dallan Quass discussion of Discovering WeRelate <https://wiki.familysearch.org > was really interesting. WeRelate is the world's largest genealogy wiki. A wiki website is where anyone can edit or add information quickly. Pages are created collaboratively. It is Wikipedia for genealogists. Gedcoms may be uploaded, information about how and where to look for data. Our cousins might upload some information about the people we have been researching, maybe the very dates, places, connections that have been eluding us for a long time. If someone adds something to an article in an effort to correct it, i.e. perhaps claims the wrong ancestor, and we know their information is faulty, it is possible to correct the error. A discussion can be held with those cousins and information can be shared. A history of all the changes made is kept. Managers monitor the site against vandalism. All this is free for downloading also.

Ancestry is offering FREE access to all its databases through December 21. Also they are giving new subscribers $10 off the annual subscription so it costs $49.95. Subscribers will receive a Free Ancestry Reference Library CD-ROM.(contains 15 genealogy reference books)

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

"How Genealogists Seek Information" by Scott Lucas

September 12, 2009, MGHS Library, 1203 North Main, Wichita, KS, 1:00 pm till 2:30 pm.
Free and open to the public.

Scott Lucas has been an avid genealogist for fifteen years. He has presented at several library and Genealogical conferences and workshops around Kansas. Dr. Lucas received a PH.D from Emporia State University in Library and Information Management in December 2008. His dissertation topic was "The Information Seeking Process of Genealogists". He also currently serves on the library boards ar Clearwater Public Library and Wichita Area Technical College. Dr. Lucas resides in Clearwater with his wife and 2 girls.