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MSOG, Inc.
PO Box 215
Ashland, MA 01721-0215 |
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Saturday, April 11
Immigration and Naturalization Records (Middlesex)
10:30 am to 12:30 pm Virtual only via Zoom
Rhonda R. McClure presents Immigration and Naturalization Records
Passenger arrival records, border crossings, passport applications, and records of special inquiry are just some of the types of immigration and naturalization records available at the National Archives. We will provide an overview of these important resources, how to access them, and how to make the most of them in your family history research.
Rhonda R. McClure, Senior Genealogist, is a nationally recognized professional genealogist and lecturer. Before joining American Ancestors in 2006, she ran her own genealogical business for 18 years. She has been a contributing editor for Heritage Quest Magazine and Biography, as well as a contributor to The History Channel Magazine and American History Magazine. In addition to numerous articles, she is the author of twelve books including the award-winning The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Online Genealogy, Finding Your Famous and Infamous Ancestors, and Digitizing Your Family History. She is the editor of the currently available 6th edition of the Genealogist’s Handbook for New England Research. Her areas of expertise include immigration and naturalization, late 19th and early 20th century urban research, State Department Federal records, New England, Mid-West, Southern, German, Italian, Scottish, Irish, French Canadian, and New Brunswick research.
10:30 am ET Announcements and Socializing
Presentation begins at 11:00 am ET
This program is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
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Saturday, April 18
Using Military Pension Records (Bristol)
12:00 pm to 1:00 pm Attend in Person or Virtually via Zoom
Presented In-Person by Catherine (Casey) Zahn
Pension records are a fun way to learn more about our families and their military service. Discovering your ancestor’s service can help you discover their life events and new connections in their FAN club. This program will focus on pension records available to researchers online and strategies for finding records after 1900.
Catherine "Casey" Zahn is a retired teacher. Born in CT, she began the Central Jersey Genealogical Club and was a past trustee for the Genealogical Society of New Jersey. She wrote two books on teaching children genealogy and served as the program chair for the Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference in Philadelphia. She often speaks throughout the region for genealogical societies and libraries. Casey currently serves as a governor for the Connecticut Society of Genealogists and works daily on her New England roots.
"This program has applied for support from the Somerset Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency."
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/BristolApril2026 |
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Tuesday, April 21
Writing Special Interest Group (Writing SIG)
7:00 pm Virtual
The Writing Special Interest Group (SIG) will hold its next meeting on Tuesday, April 21st at 7:00 PM (via Zoom).
The group meets monthly to share works-in-progress, exchange constructive feedback, and help one another stay accountable as we work toward our writing goals for 2026 and beyond.
The meeting is open to all MSOG members in good standing. You must be logged in as a member to join the meeting. Once logged in, you will see Event Registration under the Members Only section. You will also find a link there to answer a few questions and sign up for the mailing list. Please complete this before attending your first meeting.
New members are welcome anytime.
We look forward to seeing you there.
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Saturday, April 25
Dead Men Do Tell Tales: Recreating Life in a Community Using Death Certificates (Merrimack Valley)
10:00 am to 12:00 pm Hybrid - Via Zoom or in person at Georgetown Peabody Library
Death certificates can tell us a lot about how our ancestors lived and died. When looked at as a group they can also tell us about life and death in their communities. This presentation focuses on an analysis of death certificates from Attleboro, Massachusetts over a five-year period, and shows how they can provide us with a window into the lives of the people who lived there.
Karen A. Fortin has degrees in history and library and information sciences and a passion for research. She worked in a public library for 30 years before switching to providing genealogical and historical presentations in 2016. She is a member of various genealogical societies and loves to help people explore their family history so that they can better understand their ancestors and the world in which they lived.
Georgetown Peabody Library
2 Maple St
Georgetown, MA
This program is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
For more information contact: merrimackvalley@msoginc.org
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Thursday, April 30
Join us as we talk about AI (Genealogy Discussion Group)
7:00 pm Virtual via Zoom Only
Join us for a relaxed group discussion where everyone is welcome and all voices are important. You are encouraged to ask questions, share your knowledge, and exchange personal experiences and opinions. Instead of conducting research, we'll suggest other resources and ways to find the answers you're looking for. You'll leave with new insights, helpful resources, and connections with others who share your interests.
This event is facilitated by MSOG, Inc.; however, any views or opinions shared are independent and do not necessarily reflect the stance of MSOG, Inc.
This will not be recorded. However, generic questions and resources may be shared on the MSOG website and Past Times Newsletter.
This will be FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
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Saturday, May 2
Holy Cross Library / Dinand Library (Worcester)
9:30 am to 11:30 am In Person
Lisa Villa Presents: Holy Cross Library / Dinand Library
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A discussion of records available at the Holy Cross Library.
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9:30 AM EDT Socializing
9:45 AM EDT Business meeting
10:00 AM EDT Presentation
This program is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
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Tuesday, May 5
The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel (Book Club)
7:00 pm Virtual
Eva Traube Abrams, a semi-retired librarian in Florida, is shelving books one morning when her eyes lock on a photograph in a magazine lying open nearby. She freezes; it’s an image of a book she hasn’t seen in sixty-five years—a book she recognizes as The Book of Lost Names.
The accompanying article discusses the looting of libraries by the Nazis across Europe during World War II—an experience Eva remembers well—and the search to reunite people with the texts taken from them so long ago. The book in the photograph, an eighteenth-century religious text thought to have been taken from France in the waning days of the war, is one of the most fascinating cases. Now housed in Berlin’s Zentral- und Landesbibliothek library, it appears to contain some sort of code, but researchers don’t know where it came from—or what the code means. Only Eva holds the answer—but will she have the strength to revisit old memories and help reunite those lost during the war?
As a graduate student in 1942, Eva was forced to flee Paris after the arrest of her father, a Polish Jew. Finding refuge in a small mountain town in the Free Zone, she begins forging identity documents for Jewish children fleeing to neutral Switzerland. But erasing people comes with a price, and along with a mysterious, handsome forger named Rémy, Eva decides she must find a way to preserve the real names of the children who are too young to remember who they really are. The records they keep in The Book of Lost Names will become even more vital when the resistance cell they work for is betrayed and Rémy disappears.
An engaging and evocative novel reminiscent of The Lost Girls of Paris and The Alice Network, The Book of Lost Names is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the power of bravery and love in the face of evil. (Amazon Review)
Go to "Event Registration" to register for the book club.
Upcoming Book Club Readings:
June 2, 2026 - We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution by Jill Lepore
July 7, 2026 - 1776 by David McCullogh
August 4, 2026 - Last Seen: The Enduring Search by Formerly Enslaved People to Find Their Lost Families by Judith Giesberg |
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Saturday, May 9
Mapping Ancestors on the Move (Middlesex)
10:30 am to 12:30 pm Virtual only via Zoom
Melanie McComb presents Mapping Ancestors on the Move
From tracing ancestors on the move to understanding boundary changes to just becoming acquainted with the landscape of your ancestors' lives, maps are an incredibly important resource in your family history research. In this lecture, we will explore various ways in which maps can help broaden your genealogical horizons.
Melanie McComb, Senior Genealogist, assists library visitors, both on-site and online, with their family history research. She is an international lecturer who teaches on a variety of topics. Melanie holds a B.S. degree from the State University of New York at Oswego. She previously served as the social media coordinator for the NextGen Genealogy Network, a non-profit that creates a community for younger genealogists, where she managed the Facebook and Twitter accounts. She continues her interest in helping younger genealogists get involved at American Ancestors by assisting with educational programs from local schools, scout groups, and universities.
10:30 am ET Announcements and Socializing
Presentation begins at 11:00 am ET
This program is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
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