Greetings, listers, Elissa Powell has just sent me a list of upcoming genealogical opportunities. Here they are: == Spring has sprung, the flowers have "riz"... do you know where your genealogy is? Several learning opportunities for March and April are listed below in western PA and eastern OH. Maybe one of them is near you. They are all worth driving to! ****************************** Saturday, March 9, 2002, 10:00 AM, Western PA Genealogical Society, at the Carnegie Library Lecture Hall, 4400 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213 TWO Lectures Presented by Amy Johnson Crow, CG: “Ten Years is a Long Time: Census Substitutes for the In-between Years” will give the audience more ideas on places to find information between census years. This just might be the key you are looking for! AND "Using Land Records Effectively" will discuss how the recording of all instruments concerned with land can help trace that elusive migratory ancestor and give familial relationships. We are honored to have Amy Johnson Crow, CGSM of Reynoldsburg, Ohio present two lectures at this special Saturday program. Aside from client work, Amy is heavily involved in the Ohio Genealogical Society and its projects. She has served two terms as the Recording Secretary and is now a Trustee of OGS. She is chairperson of their First Families of Ohio program, which is a lineage society for descendants of ancestors who resided in Ohio by the end of 1820. Amy headed the Ohio effort for the Civil War Soldiers System, in which volunteers entered more than 464,000 entries for Ohio soldiers. This nationwide database, which contains both Union and Confederate soldiers, is available at www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/. Amy’s has had articles published in Ancestry, Genealogical Computing, Heritage Quest, and an on-going column in the OGS Newsletter. She is also a Trustee for the Association for Professional Genealogists and has a column in its Quarterly. She is working on a book “Abstracts of the Ohio School for Deaf Admission Records.” You can visit her website at www.AmyJohnsonCrow.com to learn more and to read her genealogy tip of the month. ************************************************************************ Saturday, March 16, 9:30 AM at the Hudson Library, Hudson, Ohio in the Simon Reading Room. "Messages From the Grave: Listening to Your Ancestor's Tombstone" will be presented by Elissa Scalise Powell, CGRS. This colorful 35mm slide show will discuss how to find cemeteries and once found, how to read the tombstones and the symbolism used. For more information contact jackbowers2002@yahoo.com ************************************************************************ Tuesday, March 19, 7 PM at Northland Public Library, North Hills Genealogists meeting: “Documenting and Organizing the Family Narrative: I have 20 years of stuff, now what do I do?” by Richard Hayden. Free and open to the public. For more information contact pioneerbook@juno.com 20 Years of “Stuff” Now What? We have been collecting family history and genealogical items for a few or for many years. Now, what do we do with this “stuff”? Rich wants to encourage us to begin writing up our results, “…even if it’s just a few pages now and then.” “Over time,” he predicts, “the narrative will only grow in depth and meaning.” “For me,” he continues, “ writing is a tool for organizing both my stuff and my thinking, and I don't doubt that others will find it to be such as well. I think the written narrative also helps you to connect and identify more fully with the people you are writing about, certainly more so than the bare bones of a pedigree chart.” Rich Hayden has been married 34 years and has one son. He has worked as a research chemist since graduating from the University of Pittsburgh in 1971. He has over 30 published articles and patents related to his vocation, but has found his avocation of the past 20 years, “…on a personal level, to be even more rewarding in ways that I could not have imagined when I started.” He has published articles in The Virginia Genealogist, The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, and The Genealogist. He has at least a dozen or more drafts in various stages of the writing process some of which he intends to submit for publication in a suitable periodical. His goal? “One day I hope that of all these will become the bases of various chapters in the final product – a book.” ************************************************************************ Saturday, March 23, Slippery Rock Heritage Association annual workshop. Several speakers will give presentations of interest to all levels of genealogical skill. Vendors will have displays of genealogical and other materials. Please save this date. More information is available from http://www.geniespeak.com/ ************************************************************************ Monday, April 1, 2002, Beaver County Genealogical Society at the Beaver County Courthouse Jury Room at 7 p.m. "How did my Pennsylvania Ancestor Get Here?: Migration Trails out of the Keystone State" will be presented by Elissa Scalise Powell, CGRS. Free and open to all. ************************************************************************ A 4-week "Genealogy On-Line and Computer Usage" class will be offered on Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. beginning April 7 at the Community College of Allegheny County, North Campus on Rt. 19 taught by Elissa Scalise Powell, CGRS. Please contact CCAC at (412) 237-2670 for more information or to register. ************************************************************************ On Tuesday, April 9, 2002 the Erie Society for Genealogical Research will have an anniversary dinner meeting. "The Research Cycle: Don't Peddle Backwards" will be presented by Elissa Scalise Powell, CGRS. For more information please contact PSUParent@aol.com. ************************************************************************ WPGS SPRING SEMINAR Saturday April 13, 2002 at 9 a.m. at the Wyndham (formerly Marriott) Pittsburgh Airport, Rt. 60, Montour Run Exit #2, 777 Aten Road, Coraopolis, PA 15108 will be the annual Spring Seminar and presentation of First Family of Western Pennsylvania awards. Rhonda McClure of St. Cloud, Florida will be presenting four lecture topics during the day-long seminar which includes an all-you-can-eat hot buffet lunch with two entrees. You may visit Rhonda’s website at www.TheGenealogist.com and read about Rhonda’s research articles and published works (including "The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Online Genealogy"). Complete registration details can be found at www.WPGS.org including a printable brochure. Everyone is welcome to attend! "Organize, Organize, Organize" offers an in depth look at how to avoid the "paper trap" with filing in conjunction with various genealogy programs which can help keep track of where your research stands, what you plan to research next, and how peripheral programs can keep your database more accurate. "Pitfalls in New England Research" offers a look at the various main record types of New England and some of the problems to be aware of when researching with lots of examples of the main record types that researchers would be using and the peculiarities of the individual states in regard to those records. "I Found It Online: Separating Fact from Fiction" shows researchers how to evaluate the Web sites found to determine how reliable the information is. Just because it’s in print doesn’t necessarily make it so! "Effective Searching on the 'Net" shows how the different search engines and databases work with your information and how to finesse it to get the results you are hoping for. ************************************************************************ Tuesday, April 16 at 7 PM at Northland Public Library, the North Hills Genealogists will have “The Other Federal Census: Non-Population and Special Schedules 1810-1935.” presented by nationally known author and lecturer Sandra MacLean Clunies, Certified Genealogist. For more information contact pioneerbook@juno.com. Free and open to all. At our April 16th meeting we will have the opportunity, to learn more about *the other* federal census records which may contain otherwise unknown information about our ancestors. These agricultural, manufacturing, mortality and social statistics plus a fascinating 1880 collection of Defective, Dependent and Delinquent records may provide new clues in our search for family information. This lecture is a part of the 2001 and 2002 program at the National Institute on Genealogical Research (NIGR) at the National Archives in Washington. Bringing this presentation to us is Sandra MacLean Clunies, CG, professional genealogist, author and lecturer. She has been certified by BCG since 1993, is president of the National Institute on Genealogical Research Alumni Association, vice-president of GENTECH, a director of the Genealogical Speakers Guild, and winner of the 1996 National Genealogical Society Family History Writing Contest. ************************************************************************ Thursday, April 18 through Saturday, April 20 The annual Ohio Genealogical Society Conference to be held in Toledo, OH, now bigger and better this year with seven (7!) different lectures each hour to choose from. Featuring Cyndi Howells, Paul Milner, and Tony Burroughs and many other nationally known speakers. Special Thursday night workshop choices include "Effective Searching on the Net,"The Family Photograph Collection: Identification, Presentation, and Use in Our Family Histories," and "To Be or Not to Be: The Who, What, Why & How of Becoming a Certified Genealogist." Vendors also will be open Thursday evening as well as Friday and Saturday. Please see www.ogs.org for more information and the registration brochure. ************************************************************************ April 20 to May 18, 2002 WPGS will offer beginners classes on select Saturdays. Please see www.WPGS.org for more information. == Justin Justin Kirk Houser Genealogist/Researcher of Central PA and Beyond Main Lines: Houser, Breon, Shawley, Ranio/Hrynio (and others) President, BAHS Class of 2003 Student Representative, BASD Board of Education Listowner, PACENTRE-L@Rootsweb.com Historian, Schürch Association of North America (specialty Central PA lines) Member, Valley View United Methodist Church "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature"