January 24 Meeting

There was terrific interaction and questions at today’s session with 16 attendees.  We covered three main topics with the handouts and links available below.  Our next session will be Wednesday night, February 7^th, 7:00-9:00 PM for those beginning their genealogy journey (everyone is welcome).

1)      We did a refresh of Interpreting your AncestryDNA with focus on using the DNA Matches for cousin fishing.  To get the handout: Click here

2)      Death Certificates, what to look for and how to interpret the information,

        a.       HOMEWORK: to get the sample Death Certificate: click here

                    What information can you get from this death certificate and 

                     where would you look for more information - bring your 

                     observations and recommendations to the next afternoon meeting.

        b.      to access the International Classification of Diseases: click here

        c.       to get the Genealogy Records Checklist: clickhere

        d.      to get the spreadsheet genealogy checklist: click here

3)      Research Project : STATES

        a.       HOMEWORK: Each member of your group should be researching

               one vital record in that state

        b.      to access the FamilySearch Wiki for the homework, click here

4)      Fun Ellis Island 360: click here

       a.       Civil War: A letter from the trenches 360: Click here

       b.      Battle Road: The American Revolution 360: Click here

Quick links:

a.    For obtaining phone numbers for free use: zabasearch.com

b.    New innovations for "FamilySearch.org" in 2018: Click here

January 17 Genealogy 101 Session

We had a great turnout of 15 people to this session, many new members looking for how to get started and current members helping out.  This was a session on "how to get started and how to focus on "Yourself" first", then move backward along your ancestors lines (making sure to go up the father and mother side of the family).  Our next session on February 7th will review the homework assignments and then begin to use FamilySearch.org to look up some of our heritage.  The homework was to start a pedigree chart and then do several family group sheets.

Here are the handouts and a video for refresh:

1) Homework page: Click here
2) Pedigree Chart: Click here
3) Family Group Worksheet: Click here
4) Search Sources checklist: Click here
5) Relationship Chart: Click here
6) Genealogy 101 Video: Click here

Here are some useful websites to look at before our next meeting:

1) FamilySearch.org : click here
2) Family Tree Maker (genealogy software for your computer - $): click here

January 18, 2018:

New resource announcements:

Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter - click here
  - Article about the Journal of Genealogy and Family History

Index of Old Occupation (United Kingdom and Ireland Occupations 1891) - click here
  - Thank you Linda Juchatz for this reference

January 10th, 2018 First meeting of the year

We had a great "2018 Genealogy Fair" today at the Lake House.  We are sorry that some of you could not attend.  We did have 31 attendees to the Fair (not including our guests), with 18 being brand new potential members.  It was great to see these new and enthusiastic "genealogists" with great questions.  It was also fantastic to have 13 DIRT current members in attendance to share their own experiences and meet new people.

I want to thank Denise Doyon and Linda Mecchi for their tremendous help in setting up and running the Genealogy Fair.  I also want to thank Denise and Linda for all they have done for DIRT to start it in 2013 and help it grow to what it is today.  They have passed the Leadership role to Lynn Baker, who will try very hard to keep up the forward progress.

We had guests: Marianne Crawley (South Carolina Room - Charleston County Public Library) and Delsa & Dave Biorn from the LDS Family History Center to share what is available to you and also have tables to talk to attendees about what is available.

Lynn presented "Who is DIRT", "Where to get Free Genealogical Research" and a Map project for everyone to show where their relatives are located.  Linda Mecchi did a Genealogy Crossword puzzle for a prize of "free DIRT membership for a year".  We had a lot of fun and got to meet many new "potential genealogists".

Here are the handouts:
Who is DIRT brochure: Click Here

Where to get Free Genealogical Research: Click Here

We are into the new year of 2018, please look at the upcoming events.  The evening sessions will be more focused on helping those that are new to Genealogy to get started.

See you all soon.