Merrimack Valley Chapter Meeting

Attend in Person or Virtually via Zoom Register below.

10:00 am to 12:00 pm EST

 

 

Come along for an introduction to DeepStory, MyHeritage's groundbreaking new AI-based tool which enables your family hsitory to come alive. Built upon their previous photo enhancement and colorization tools. MyHeritage has added very realistic animation and audio, allowing your ancestors to tell thier own personalized stories. You can edit and expand the basic narrative, and by adding photographs and maps, provide context in time and place. If you have struggles with attempts to provide afun and easy way to reach out to family members. DeepStory's simple template creates and exciting and unique product to document, preserve, and share your most treasured family memories.

 

 

If you attended her June lecture on Demystifying the Three Big Free Digital Sites for Genealogists you will see some of the research from the search examples show up in the DeepStory Video!

 

If you wish to attend via Zoom/Virtually Pre-REGISTER:

 

#TrailsandSails

A gripping story of a family tragedy brought about by witch-hunting in Puritan New England that combines history, anthropology, sociology, politics, theology and psychology.

 

Dan Earl presents Internet Archives

 

Worcester Chapter Meeting

 

Genealogists spend a lot of time in archives, but have you been to the Internet Archive? Come find out how to use this invaluable tool that will change the way you do research online. This lecture will cover what the Internet Archive, or 'Wayback Machine' can do to help genealogists with their online research. The Internet Archive is a treasure trove of information. Participants will learn how to find old webpages that have changed or been taken down, search thousands of texts, videos, audio recordings, and more!
 

Dan Earl is a popular genealogy educator. He lives near Lansing, Michigan with his family. He is a teacher in an inner city school district. Some people think he’s funny.

 

 

 

Register at  https://tinyurl.com/z7u6wjrk 

MSOG members, we are changing the way we run the DNA SIG meeting.  These will be every other month starting in October. These will be for Members Only and instead of a lecture, these will be a discussion with a different person leading the group at each meeting.

 

Seema Kenney has offered to lead our first meeting the topic will be:

 

History and geography are inextricably linked, so genealogical research requires an ability to accurately identify and locate places mentioned in historical documents.  It is also important to understand the administrative hierarchy for the government of a place, since different types of records were created at different levels of government.  Julie will help us unravel this so we can understand our Polish family roots. 

 

Julie Roberts Szczepankiewicz is a genealogist, writer, and speaker with nearly 30 years of
experience in researching her family's origins in Poland, Germany, the U.S. and Canada. She holds a bachelor's degree in biological sciences from the State University of New York in Buffalo and a master's degree in endocrinology from the University of California, Berkeley. Her passion for genealogical research started when she was a graduate student, after she was given a copy of her great-grandparents' marriage record as a gift. After reading the names of a previously-unknown generation of ancestors on that document, she was hooked. She currently volunteers as
administrator to several genealogy-related Facebook groups, and serves as President of the Polish Genealogical Society of New York State, Vice-President for the New England Regional
Genealogical Consortium, Inc., and Secretary for the Polish Genealogical Society of Massachusetts. Her articles have been published in the journals of the Polish Genealogical Society of America, the Polish Genealogical Society of Massachusetts, and the Western New York Genealogical Society, and she is the author of a genealogy blog, From Shepherds and Shoemakers.

 

SOMERSET PUBLIC LIBRARY
1464 County Street
Somerset, MA 02726
 
Business Meeting   11:00-11:30 am
Member Sharing     11:30-11:55 am
Presentation Begins at Noon. 
 
This program is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
For more information contact: bristol@msoginc.org
Schedule of Events Available at: https://msoginc.org
 
Those who wish to attend virtually, can pre-register at https://tinyurl.com/BristolOct2023

 

Hybrid Meeting  In Person or Virtually via Zoom If you wish to attend Virtually Pre- Registration at http://tinyurl.com/MVOct2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

Worcester Chapter Meeting

 

Paula Wood presents Letters to Ancestors

 

Paula’s book invites readers to walk in the steps of real people with real joys and terrible heartache as they make the fateful decision to leave behind everything they knew in La Rochelle France and begin life anew in New France. After serving indentureships, they began families, and some of her ancestors were caught up in the Acadian Dispersal. In the more recent past her ancestors immigrated once again, this time to the U.S. Through genealogical research of Paula’s ancestors that was gifted to her by a family member, she learned the bare facts of the many generations of her forbears’ lives. One day these ancestors began speaking to her heart. She responded by delving into the broader story of the times they lived through. She began writing a series of letters to specific grandparents, asking them unanswerable questions and telling them how she longed to know them better. Her family’s Ceinture Fléchée (Arrow Sash) has been passed down through six generations. The Sash binds the various parts of Paula’s story into a coherent whole. Undertaking a quest to bring the family’s heirloom to each ancestor’s grave, she discovered one ancestor after the next. With each discovery, she wrapped the tombstones with the family’s Sash. While learning and then writing about her 9x grandparents she walked the Long Trail in Vermont, discovering parts of herself she had never known existed. Along with her growing sense of closeness with these ancestors, she found her way back to the Catholic Church. Every step of her journey, she knew her ancestors were praying for her. 

 

Paula's Website: https://paulagrandprewoodsash.com/

 

About Paula: Paula Grandpre Wood is an author, physical therapist, wife and a person who heard the call of her ancestors! Paula was born in Pawtucket, RI close to the train station where her De Grandpre ancestors arrived from Quebec. Her family lived in Central Falls, RI in a tenement house, as her father’s family had when they immigrated to the United States. She became “The Girl from Central Falls,” not to be confused with the actress Viola Davis, who also grew up there. North Central Massachusetts is where Paula lives with her husband Michael and their three energetic dogs. The dogs get her outside in every kind of weather where they can run free.

 

Save the Date for our first in-person Annual Meeting since 2019.
Attend in person for the entire event or via Zoom for the Business Meeting and 2 presentations.

 

The day will include the MSOG Business Meeting

2 Speakers:

Door Prizes

Raffle items

Chapter Photos

Buffet Lucheon

 

Registation will begin in early October, check back for more information as it becomes available.

Looking forward to seeing you there.
AnnualMeeting@msoginc.org

 

 

Details to follow. 

 

This workshop is for members only.

 

Don’t let your unique memories from the past be lost forever. Have you ever come across a journal entry or letter written by a loved one no longer with you? Hearing their voice come through the page creates an instant connection that can warm your heart. Imagine creating a written history of your own life.  

 

 

SOMERSET PUBLIC LIBRARY
1464 County Street
Somerset, MA 02726
 
Business Meeting   11:00-11:30 am
Member Sharing     11:30-11:55 am
Presentation Begins at Noon. 
 
This program is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
For more information contact: bristol@msoginc.org
Schedule of Events Available at: https://msoginc.org
 
Those who wish to attend virtually, can pre-register at TBA

 

Event TBA, check back  Presentation starts at 10:00 AM EST.

Worcester Chapter Meeting

 

Billy McCarthy presents Congregational Church Library

 

 

Billy McCarthy graduated with a B.A. in History from Bridgewater State College and completed his Masters of Library and Information Science at Simmons University with a concentration in Archival Management. Billy started working at CLA through a graduate internship where he processed a collection about the Congregational Training School for Women. He stayed on a part-time basis processing collections and staffing the reference desk until he was hired full-time in 2018.He is the Head of Reader Services, helping the CLA's visitors with reference requests and facilitating in-person research.

 

 

 

 

 

Has your concern for privacy prevented you or a family member for taking a DNA test? What about sharing your genealogy research data online with practical strangers (even though you might be related)? Especially as personal DNA testing increases in popularity, and with increased media attention about cold cases solved using DNA data and the use of genealogy databases, today’s genealogist needs to stay on top of the latest information concerning privacy. We’ll review the current status of privacy practices by the five major DNA test kit vendors, current laws and regulations, the role of law enforcement, and what we might expect to see related to privacy in the future.

 

Thomas MacEntee is a professional genealogist specializing in the use of technology and social media to improve genealogical research and as a means of interacting with others in the family history community. Currently Thomas shares many of his articles and videos for free at the popular Genealogy Bargains website!

 

 

Worcester Chapter Meeting

 

Debra Dudek presents:

 

Mixers and Shakers- Tracing Bartending, Saloonkeeping, and Tavernkeeping Ancestors

 

 

 

 

As 21st century genealogists, we have a tool for identifying and confirming relationships not available to earlier generations: DNA testing. Its use in identifying male family members, through YDNA testing, is fairly well understood. The use of mitochondrial and autosomal DNA to identify women and link children to parents is not as well understood. Yet these are powerful tools particularly when used in a targeted fashion to test particular theories.

 

Judy Russell, The Legal Genealogist, has worked as a newspaper reporter, trade association writer, legal investigator, defense attorney, federal prosecutor, law editor and, for more than 20 years before her retirement in 2014, she was an adjunct member of the faculty at Rutgers Law School. A Colorado native with roots deep in the American south on her mother’s side (from Virginia to Texas and just about everywhere in between!) and entirely in Germany on her father’s side. It’s an odd mix, finding records of her ancestors from 1680 Virginia on one side to being a first-generation American on the other. She holds credentials as a Certified Genealogist® and Certified Genealogical LecturerSM from the Board for Certification of Genealogists®, a member of the National Genealogical Society, the Association of Professional Genealogists, and, among others, the state genealogical societies of New Jersey, North Carolina, Virginia, Texas and Illinois. She is privileged to serve on the faculty at the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR), the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG), the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP), the Midwest African American Genealogy Institute (MAAGI), and the Genealogical Institute on Federal Records (Gen-Fed).

 

 

 

 

Worcester Chapter Meeting

 

Olivia Millunzi presents: A User’s Guide to the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Library

 

     The Daughters of the American Revolution Library in Washington D.C. isn’t just for descendants of Revolutionary War soldiers!  As one of the largest genealogical libraries in the country, the Daughters of the American Revolution [DAR] Library has something for everyone tracing their family history. 

 

     This presentation will give an overview of the resources available both on-site in D.C. as well as digital tools and resources available for free from wherever you normally do your family history work.  Come find out how your family history is on our shelves!

 

     Olivia Millunzi is the Reference Librarian at the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Library in Washington, D.C.  She holds a BA in History and Museum Studies with a French minor from Juniata College, and an MLIS focusing in Diversity & Inclusion from the University of Maryland’s iSchool.  Before coming to the DAR, Olivia worked at the Middletown Valley Historical Society, Heritage Frederick (formerly the Historical Society of Frederick County), Schifferstadt Architectural Museum (part of the Frederick County Landmarks Foundation), the National Park Service, and the National Anthropological Archives at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.  She began working at the DAR as a Staff Genealogist in June 2019, and in June 2022 became the Reference Librarian for the DAR Library.  Olivia lives in Frederick, MD with a cat and an unconscionably large number of books.

 

 

 

 

Every year, several members from the “Bristol Chapter” volunteer to share interesting stories and research anecdotes about their family. Members will enlighten attendees with their triumphs, journeys, family stories and roadblocks in their quest to find their ancestors. In an entertaining way, you will learn fascinating facts about our members and their families. Not all the research will result in a happy ending but nevertheless everyone will leave enlightened and energized to solve a family lore. Regardless of what you learn, the day will prove to be fun and educational.

 

SOMERSET PUBLIC LIBRARY
1464 County Street
Somerset, MA 02726
 
Business Meeting   11:00-11:30 am
Member Sharing     11:30-11:55 am
Presentation Begins at Noon. 
 
This program is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
For more information contact: bristol@msoginc.org
Schedule of Events Available at: https://msoginc.org

 

Worcester Chapter Meeting

 

Caroline White presents:

 

                                                

 

Bristol County Town/City Clerk’s will be our guests. They will share what vital records and resources are available for their town or city. You will have the opportunity to ask questions and gain valuable information.

 

SOMERSET PUBLIC LIBRARY
1464 County Street
Somerset, MA 02726
 
Business Meeting   11:00-11:30 am
Member Sharing     11:30-11:55 am
Presentation Begins at Noon. 
 
This program is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
For more information contact: bristol@msoginc.org
Schedule of Events Available at: https://msoginc.org

 

Worcester Chapter Meeting

 

Frances Lyons presents: 

 

SOMERSET PUBLIC LIBRARY
1464 County Street
Somerset, MA 02726
 
Business Meeting   11:00-11:30 am
Member Sharing     11:30-11:55 am
Presentation Begins at Noon. 
 
This program is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
For more information contact: bristol@msoginc.org
Schedule of Events Available at: https://msoginc.org

 

 

SOMERSET PUBLIC LIBRARY
1464 County Street
Somerset, MA 02726
 
Business Meeting   11:00-11:30 am
Member Sharing     11:30-11:55 am
Presentation Begins at Noon. 
 
This program is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
For more information contact: bristol@msoginc.org
Schedule of Events Available at: https://msoginc.org

 

 

On the night of July 25, 1956, a collision between the ocean liners SS Andrea Doria and MS Stockholm killed 51 people and prompted one of the largest civilian maritime rescues in history, off the Nantucket coastline.