For any comments or questions on this message please email Elissa Scalise Powell, CGRS at ESPowell@juno.com Please feel free to come to all Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Society regular meetings since they are free and open to the public! They are held at the Carnegie Lecture Hall, 4400 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213 unless otherwise noted. The last meeting of the fiscal year is April 10. Look for more beginning in September! For more information call 412-687-6811 or visit our website: www.clpgh.org/clp/Pennsylvania/wpgs.html SPRING HAS SPRUNG, THE FLOWERS "RIZ," DO YOU KNOW WHERE THAT CEMETERY IS? Saturday, April 10, 1999, 10 a.m., Carnegie Lecture Hall. This informative day of how to best utilize the information from cemeteries, gravestones and other records resulting from death will be the last regular meeting of the fiscal year of the Western PA Genealogical Society. 10 a.m. Welcome and announcements 10:15 a.m. Documenting Cemeteries. Jeff and Diane Nesmeyer are members of the Prince William County Genealogical Society (Virginia) Cemetery Committee. Documenting cemeteries is a two-year old project for PWCGS. Many of the hundreds of cemeteries in Prince William County are small, family cemeteries that have all but disappeared in the encroaching forests when the land was abandoned, or were bulldozed to make way for the on-going development of this Washington Suburb. The Nesmeyers have assisted the co-chairs in locating many of these 'lost' cemeteries and documenting what has been found. The committee used the recommended forms for documentation from the Association of Gravestone Studies, a non-profit organization headquartered in Massachusetts. As the local project has progressed additional documentation techniques and forms have been developed for the types of cemeteries found in Prince William County. Diane and Jeff would like to share the forms, techniques, trial and errors, and experience in documenting cemeteries. The processes that they use can be adapted to many types of cemeteries found in rural and urban settings. They will also incorporate the use of videotaping, photography and digital imaging into their talk. 11:15 a.m. The Cemetery and Its Archives: A Genealogical Treasure. Marilyn Evert has worked at Homewood Cemetery for 10 years and is the assistant treasurer there. She began studies as a graduate student in Anthropology with examinations of material culture. From these studies she wrote the book "Discovering Pittsburgh Sculpture." She is a member of the Association of Gravestone Studies and a contributor to "The Homewood Chronicle," the biannual publication of the education arm of The Homewood Cemetery Historical Fund, a Charitable Trust. noon - Lunch break; brown bag lunch room with vending machines available 1 p.m. So You Belong to the Dead People's Society?: Genealogical Sources that Arise From an Ancestor's Demise. Many genealogists, beginner and experienced alike, do not take that extra step and go beyond the basic death record, tombstone, and will. This lecture concentrates on everything from a simple death certificate to mortality schedules, funeral home records, coroners inquests, land partitions, quit claim deeds, the exact contents of an estate packet, obituary sources, hair (not heir) books, inventory and vendue list analyzation, social security records, insurance forms, and more. Samples of each document type is shown and explained. Tom Neel is the office manager of the Ohio Genealogical Society in Mansfield, OH, where he has been a member since 1976. He has authored several books including the "Ohio County Courthouse Guide," and "The Ancestors and Descendants of Daniel White and Sarah Ford." 2 p.m. Messages From the Grave. Tombstones are the last monuments to our lives on this earth. They can speak of the lifestyle of the deceased or the attitude of death of the loved ones left behind. There are signs that show where abandoned cemeteries lie and ways to read "illegible" stones that may be the last time a person may hear the tombstone "speak." This slide lecture illustrates these techniques. Learn how the dead can still speak to us & how we can all preserve their memories. Elissa Scalise Powell, CGRS, past president of WPGS, is the Cemetery Chairperson for the Allegheny County Cemetery Location project. OHIO GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY ANNUAL CONFERENCE "Searching the Sands of TIme" will be held April 22-25, 1999 at the Toledo Hildton and Dana Center, Toledo, Ohio. Dr. George K. Schweitzer, Ph.D. will be the main speaker on Friday, April 23 and Dr. John P. Colletta, Ph.D. will be the main speaker on Saturday, April 24. Elissa Scalise Powell, CGRS is also a speaker. For more information contact OGS at OGS@OGS.ORG or for 1999 OGS Conference email: OGS1999CONF@Yahoo.com NATIONAL GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY CONFERENCE May 12 to 15, 1999, National Genealogical Society Conference in Richmond, VA. Come and meet other WPGS members in Virginia and see the Western PA Genealogical Society Booth! Elissa Scalise Powell, CGRS, past president of Western PA Genealogical Society and Lifetime member of Ohio Genealogical Society is one of the speakers. WESTERN PA GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY 25th ANNIVERSARY CONFERENCE Friday and Saturday, June 25 and 26, 1999. Sheraton, Station Square, Pittsburgh, PA. WPGS 25th anniversary conference with Henry Z Jones, Jr. as the keynote speaker. Cyndi Howells of (www.CyndisList.com) and John Humphrey and 17 others will also be speaking. Riverboat banquet honoring our charter members of the First Families of Western Pennsylvania lineage program. WPGS members have a conference brochure in their February JOTS newsletter. Non-members can send a SASE for more information to WPGS, 25th Anniversary Conference, 4400 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213. A downloadable registration form and more detailed information on the speakers and lectures is available at www.clpgh.org/clp/Pennsylvania/wpgs25th.html FEDERATION OF GENEALOGICAL SOCIETIES and St. LOUIS GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY "Meet Me in St. Louis" will be held August 11 - 14, 1999 at the Regal Riverfront Hotel. For more information vist the FGS website at www.fgs.org/~fgs/ or the St. Louis Genealogical Society website at www.rootsweb.com/`mostlogs/STINDEX.HTM email at <fgs-office@fgs.org> or <stlgsmail@primary.net> See you in St. Louis!!