Ancestral Endeavors A MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF LAFAYETTE GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY www.nettally.com/lgsla Volume 2004 Issue 9 September2004 The Minutes of the September 16, 2004 Meeting Our regular scheduled meeting was held at the Lafayette Public Library and was called to order at 6:35 p.m. By President Earl Gates. The meeting consisted of a general Welcome, Moment of Silence for our military, followed by the Pledge. New Business: A work in progress! After countless hours of volunteer work from a few select members. The society has its first vital record CD. In a presentation Charles Patterson showed just how the CD works and how much value it has to genealogist. Charles recommended downloading Acrobat Reader to view the CD since it is not added with this CD. The cost of the CD is just $15 and one all members should have. Website Cindy Hofmeister showed what she has been working on for our future website. The site should be launched sometime in November. Our website will be a work in progress. Rayne Family History Fair September 25, 2004. The Raine Family History Fair was a success. They had about 10 different booths that included societies, Family organizations and Hebert publications. Hebert publications stated that the latest book would be coming out soon. We had our new Vital Records CD and sold some of our publications. Attendees came from all over Louisiana, making it a perfect time to chat with old friends, meet new ones. And share our love for genealogy and family history. We would like to personally Thank Earl Gates, Charles Patterson, Brenda Fuselier, Regena English, Cindy Hofmeister, Warren LeBlanc, and Ann Booth. For helping in our booth at the Rayne event. Your help is truly appreciated. Preserving Your Past For The Future Conference: Our conference was a success! We had about 97 attendees including speakers. Earl Gates had ordered lunch to be delivered from Honey Baked Ham. And during lunch we passed out the many door prizes given from vendors in Austin. Door prizes included 15 different genealogical tapes from Repeat Performance (Donated by History of Family Search); Family History CD( Donated by Family History company); Genealogy Quick tips (Donated by Fun Stuff for Genealogist); Legacy program (Donated by History of Family Search); all attendees got a $30 gift certificate for a consultation with My Ancestors found. (Donated by My Ancestors Found) Address CD, etc. from My Ancestors found (Donated by History of Family Search); Several mouse pads and Pedigree Resource File indexes (Donated by Family Search.org); Godfrey Scholar yearly membership (Donated by History of Family Search) two Roots Magic genealogical programs (Donated by Roots Magic); several area vendors gave pins, etc to place in our goodie bags. We would also like to Thank Coca Cola for making up our signs; the Lafayette visitors center for giving us the goodie bags; and Sir Speedy for doing such a nice job on our syllabuses. We had nine different speakers, Antoinette Herrell-Miller; Annette Womack; Sue Badeaux; Cindy Hofmeister; Lyndia Raiford; Jeff Johnson; Regena English; Francis Hazmark; C. Qadriyyah Aleem. Classes were African American Genealogical Connection Inc.: What is available in the Lafayette Family History Center; Scanning and Technology; Beyond The Dioceses Records; Picture Your Heritage; African American… Researching the Salve Owners and Beyond; Where do I begin?; Access The Worlds Largest Family History Library From Home; The Do's and Don'ts of Cemetery Research; Researching in & on Northern Louisiana; Finding an In Slaved Ancestor; Online Ordinance Index; Research & Technology; Diamonds In A Court House; Organizing Your Paper Files; African Americans… Understanding the Past through Oral History and the use of Obituaries in Research; Submitting To the Temple; Breaking Down A Wall… With Land Records; So You Think You Know How To Read A Census; Newspapers: For those members that were not able to attend the conference, we have a few syllabuses left. The price for the syllabus is $5. (While supplies last) Checks should be made out to Lafayette Genealogical Society. Please contact Earl Gates Gatesearlg@aol.com or Cindy Hofmeister hofsearch@aol.com Society Plan for Next Year: The board has been working on ideas to better serve our members. At several of our meetings it has come to the attention that members are looking for different ways to improve their family research. In trying to please everyone we have come up with the proposed schedule for next year. If you have any ideas for a presentation you would like to have? Please let us know. We are doing our best to try and make everyone happy. January- Finding Your Family Through The Move: Using Ani Map members will learn the years different Louisiana parishes were organized, Parish line changes, how to follow their families migration. In addition, to saving maps and many other valuable tools of this program. All of which can possibly help solve brick wall problems. February- Picnic In The cemetery: This class will be society organized cemetery recording session. (cemetery of society choice) the information we gather will be used in our 2005 "Les Memories" Followed by a family style picnic where we will share genealogical stories. (Depending on weather) March- Planning a Genealogical Trip: This class will be on courtesies and formalities necessary to conduct research in records repositories: appropriate dress; calling or writing ahead for directions, how to pack for the trip, what can and can't be used in the facilities, etc. April- A Visit To The Court House: A trip is planned to meet at the local Lafayette Court house. We will learn what is available for genealogist in our local court house. As well as, how these records can be used to solve brick wall problems. May- A Needle In A Hay Stack: By using deeds and land records. We will learn how these under used resources can solve major genealogical problems. Examples will be shown. June- Scanning For Genealogy: This class will teach proper ways to scan and store your genealogical documents and pictures. As well as how to share and send these files with family and friends. (Note: Just because you scanned your documents in your genealogical data base doesn't mean they will automatically go with a shared GEDCOM.) July- Did your Confederate Ancestor cross over to the Union Line? This class is geared to help researchers locate information and documents often over looked when researching their southern soldiers. August- A Southern Melting Pot: How the many faces of Louisiana culture can affect your genealogical research. September- My Favorite Ancestor: Members will each be given 5 minutes to discuss their brick wall ancestor. In which time they can tell what resources they have used or procedures they have taken to solve their genealogical problem. We will then place these genealogical problems on our web site page called "BREAKING DOWN A BRICK WALL" All success stories will then be shared in "Les Memories" our yearly publication. October- Preserving Fragile Documents: This class will be hands on, showing steps and procedures for preservation of your genealogical pictures and documents. A member sign up sheet will be available starting in January (Limited to LGS members only) November- PERSI An Often Over Looked Resource: Come learn about Periodical Source Index, an under utilized resource. That will help you in your genealogical research. Attendees will learn how and where to find information they never new may have existed. Including such things as family histories; Family stories; town histories; extracted indexes, etc. Note: PERSI is an index available on CD and online at Ancestry.com and Heritage Quest. However, for the purpose of this class the CD version will be used. December- Christmas Party! Banquet: Our Christmas Banquet will be on December 2nd, 2004 cost per quest is $15.00. Pet Club 6:30 open 7:00 Dave Petitjean will be our banquet speaker. Dave is a Cajun humorist...and caters his humor to each event. He is now searching his repertoire and that of his professional friends for genealogical humor Elections Elections will be happening in November. The following positions will be available President Elect Vice President Secretary Old Business: Date has been set for the "Ancestor Road Show" January 15, 2005 We need your expertise! Please put your name on our list as to what type of experience you have and in what areas of specialty. Such as South West Louisiana Records; Court Records; Brick Wall problem solving, African American Research, etc. Our next schedualed meeting is October 21, 2004 6:30 PM held at the Lafayette Public Library. Board members please meet at 5:30 to talk about up coming projects and ideas