COOKBOOKS ARE HERE

Hello, PCGS members

Just a reminder, the cookbooks are here and ready to picked up at the December meeting Dec. 12, 2009.

See you there.

Virginia

Look at this Blog, it is Wonderful

The topic of blogging comes up now and then on this BLOG. I do read other blogs as well for my interests and seeing what else this BLOG might do.

While I was helping in the FHC/PCGS Library, one of the PCGS member came in to print pages from a blog that was about where she was from and it included families see was descendant from.

I welcome, rather challenge, you to look around this blog. Click here! Look down the left-hand column and peek at some of the families and places and topics.

You may not be from there. But is there a resource like this for where you are from? Do you know others from your "back there" who might like to make your own version of this blog? Do you find this blog friendly?

Maybe you should ask for a workshop on how you can start your family blog.

Three 19th Century Georgia Newspapers Now ONLINE

The Genealogy Blog reported, "Digital Library of Georgia Brings 3 Georgia Historic Newspapers Online." These two links are active so clicking the underlined titles will take you to the blog or the article.

Yes, they are and access is free. You might be required to add a plug-in to your browser in order to view the newspaper images. I had success using a surname and a place name.

There is antebellum coverage in each of these historic newspapers, as well as, civil war and decades after the war.

There are a number of our society's members with ties to Georgia so this and other old historic Georgia newspapers might be helpful.

Another Local Graveyard Story

On Thursday, October 29, 2009 in the Tampa Tribune on page 8 in the Metro section there is a story, Body, skull maybe reunited. The next day another news story ran in the newspaper on the front page, After 20 years, skull at rest.

The story involves the Royal Palms Cemetery in Pinellas County (one of our neighboring counties), gravediggers, USF anthropologists, family member, sheriff's officers and more.

This story may become part of some novelists fiction in the future.

There have been other stories concerning graveyards in the Tampa Bay area in recent months. Most have not involved disrespect, but quite the opposite. The earlier blog mentions are about attempts to identify individuals in unmarked grave.

Native American Art Exhibit

A number of our society's member claim Native American heritage. Several from tribes that no longer exist.

At the Dale Mabry Campus Art Gallery the is an exhibit Native American Inter-Tribal Art that features "Florida's Lost Tribes."

The paintings are by Theodore Morris and the portrayals have been researched to be as authentic as possible.

The campus is in Tampa across Dale Mabry from Raymond James Stadium. The address is 4001 Tampa Bay Blvd. on the 2nd Floor of the Library Building. The exhibit will remain open until December 5 with hours Monday-Thursday 10 am - 7 pm and Friday-Saturday 10 am-2 pm.

An url was provided: http//www.floridalosttribes.com/artist.htm

More Graves News

According to a Tampa Tribune article of 17 Oct 2009 titled, Sumter County votes against Relocating Black Cemetery. As the county investigated this graveyard they discovered at least 70 graves with the oldest dating to 1888. This is in the Lake Panasoffkee area. (Sumter County borders Pasco County to the northeast.)

Was this another boom community that quickly died out after Florida's the Great Freeze and Bust? Pasco was peppered with a number of them as well.

Here history is coming out ahead of progress.

Florida State Genealogical Society Conference Update

As announced earlier on this blog the conference, Florida State Genealogical Society Conference for 2009, will take place in Melbourne on November 13-14.

The Florida State Genealogy Society has posted a Speaking schedule for all speakers and topics. Most topics are beyond strictly Florida interests.

Check out the highlighted links above.

Research - a - Rama - FGS - TAMPA!

The Florida Genealogical Society (Tampa) will host a VERY special monthly meeting on Saturday, October 3, 2009 at the John F. Germany Library in downtown Tampa.

The event is to provide members of the society and the public with a day of GREAT presentations and insights into using the excellent genealogical databases AND the Genealogy and Local History collection of the library.

It will take place from 10:30 am to 4:30 pm in BOTH the auditorium on the 2-East and in the Genealogy and Local History collection located on 2-West, with concurrent activities in both areas.

IN THE AUDITORIUM

There will be 4 presentations given in the auditorium during the day:

"Finding the Books You Want" - Presented by Drew Smith
" Using Ancestry Library Edition (Part 1)" - Presented by George G. Morgan
" Using Ancestry Library Edition (Part 2)" - Presented by George G. Morgan
"Online Newspaper Research" - Presented by Drew Smith

The auditorium will be set up with the library's training laptops. In addition, you can bring you own laptop and there will be power AND Wi-Fi Internet connectivity so that you can follow along in the presentations and gain hands-on experience.

IN THE GENEALOGY AND LOCAL HISTORY DEPARTMENT

The FGS Baord members and volunteers will provide two 1-hour period during the day when they will staff two tables. One session will be held in the morning and antoher in the afternoon as follows:

Table 1 - "How to get Started with genealogical research".
Table 2 - "Brick Wall Suggestions"

This is a great chance to spend an entire day not only reseraching, but getting tips and hints.


For more information either click on the title of the post or copy and past this link into your browser:

http://fgstampa.blogspot.com/2009/09/florida-genealogial-society-octobers.html

A Scattered Family from Maine Reunited

The short article, Scattered Family Reunited, in the September 26, 2009 issue of the Tampa Tribune on page 12A. The story starts in Biddeford, Maine and now includes family members in Sarasota.

From the Tampa Tribune: USF to help county identify buried paupers

USF to Help County Identify Buried Paupers, appeared in the 17 Sep 2009 issue, page 4A, of the Tampa Tribune.

No, this is not in Pasco County, but it is nearby and may provide some lessons learned.

The article is not specific other than only one location has been selected (not identified) and the USF participants are not identified.

If you find this interesting, don't comment here instead write to (or call) the reporter Lindsey Peterson and ask for continuing coverage.

Library of Michigan Petition

I received this email from George Morgan of the Florida Genealogical Society (Tampa.) I suggest you read it and decide whether you should act.

===============================

Please communicate this information to your society's members as soon as possible.

George G. Morgan
Director, Florida Genealogical Society (Tampa)

===============================

Within the genealogical community, the Library of Michigan has long been recognized as one of the premier state libraries in the country.

The cohesive Library of Michigan collection with over 180 years of Michigan history, literature and culture records and reflects the lives of not only those who remained to raise their families within the state but of millions more whose migration to other parts of the country left their footprints in the soil and records generated by their passage. Visitors come from all across the country to research at the Library of Michigan.

In addressing a $2 Billion deficit in the Michigan budget, Governor Jennifer M. Granholm issued an executive order in July, which would abolish the Department of History, Arts and Libraries. As originally proposed, the collections of the Library of Michigan would be scattered and the building built and designed to house the state library would be renovated to house a new function.

In meetings held during the Federation of Genealogical Societies/ Arkansas Genealogical Society Annual Conference in Little Rock this past week, the Records Preservation and Access Committee (RPAC) representatives have initiated a petition drive in support of the Library of Michigan. This is the first time it has exercised this option since 2006, something of an indicator of the seriousness with which the genealogical community views this situation.

The RPAC petition became available for signature on Sunday, the 6^th of September. The RPAC will close the petition drive on the 1^st of October, the date the governor’s order is scheduled to take effect. The earlier one signs, the greater the impact.

Although the prospects for reversing this action are remote, we would not want it to be said that a state library can be closed without its users caring (or for other governors to think it a politically expedient thing to do).

Genealogists from within and without Michigan are encouraged to sign the online petition found at http://www.PetitionOnline.com/RPAC2009/petition.html. The RPAC then ask that you urge the members of every society of which you are a member to do likewise.

Additional background and the latest developments can be found at the web site of the Michigan Genealogical Council at www.mimgc.org/LOM.html . They may also suggest legislators to whom individual letters might be addressed at appropriate points in the legislative process.

Don't Miss the Florida Genealogy Society (Tampa) Activities

A link to the blog of the Florida Genealogy Society (Tampa) is in the right column of this blog.

They have two big Fall Openers.

The 2009 FGS Fall Seminar with Elizabeth Shown Mills. This will be on the campus of the Hillsborough County Community College, Dale Mabry Campus on September 26th all day and cost non-members $40.

Florida Genealogical Society - October's SPECIAL Meeting - Research-a Rama. This will be October 3rd at the John Germany Library on Ashley St. in downtown Tampa 10:30 am to 4:30 pm. If you ever had a question about anything in the library the people with the answers will be there. It looks to be free, however you will need to pay for parking.

Both the above links should take you to additional information.

Overcoming the Brick Wall – Simple Solutions To Your Major Problems

Debbe Hagner who some PCGS members may remember from a talk or classes for our society has this new presentation, Overcoming the Brick Wall – Simple Solutions To Your Major Problems.

The presentation will be presented at the University of South Florida Genealogy Interest Group meet­ing at Lake Magdalene United Methodist Church, 2902 W. Fletcher Ave., Tampa at 9:30 on Friday September 18th. They meet on the 3rd Friday of the month, for de­tails, call (813) 977-6484. [This information came from the Tampa Tribune's weekly HERITAGE HUNTING article by Sharon Tate Moody.]

The same presentation will also be made at the Genealogy Society of Hernando County meeting on October 27th at 6:30 PM in the LDS Family History Center, 21043 Yontz Road, Brooksville. [This information came from Kathleen Marsh, the Program Chair.]

These presentations are open to the public without fee. They are just over the county lines to the south and the north.

Pasco County Genealogical Society Meeting - 12 Sep 2009

PCGS MEETING: 12 SEP 2009

MILES H. PLOWDEN, III

BOOK AUTHOR - PROFESSIONAL STORYTELLER – HISTORIAN
 —∞—∞—∞—∞—∞—∞—

MR PLOWDEN WILL ENTERTAIN US WITH EXCERPTS FROM HIS BOOK “CRACKERS IN THE SCRUB” A NOVEL ABOUT THE FLORIDA CRACKER COWBOYS.

PLOWDEN’S POLITE DEMEANOR AND TALENT FOR DISTINCTIVE SPEECH CAPTIVATES THOSE LISTENING TO HIS STORYTELLING.

HIS WRITING REFLECTS THE SAME TALENT.

HE WILL HAVE BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO READ MORE OF HIS INTERESTING TALES ABOUT EARLY FLORIDA.

—∞—∞—∞—∞—∞—∞—

COME JOIN US FOR OUR FIRST MEETING OF THE FALL.

Florida Digital Newspaper Library

There is a collection of old Florida newspapers that we can search and read on our own computer screens and even print out what we find.

Scott Black brought this website to my attention.

The Florida Digital Newspaper Library «www.uflib.ufl.edu/UFDC/?c=fdnl1&m=hhh» is just a click away.

There are hundreds of newspapers here and there is a search engine. The problem is the collections are incomplete and the search engine has difficult read the text in the images.

If you know something happened in a specific area on a specific date, now you can look for a newspaper in that area that the collection has issues covering that date. Plus you can do it from your home computer or worse the local library's computer.

CHALLENGE TO SOCIETY MEMBERS FROM OTHER STATES: Where are the collections in the other states? Please share! Send it as a comment so others will know.

The Ledger Newspaper of Lakeland is Google Searchable

The Ledger, Lakeland's daily newspaper is searchable online back to November 1971 on Google.

Back on June 30, 2009 TheLedger.com's Blog, Whats New Online, there is a posting with how-to directions: More Ledger Archives Searchable Online «whatsnewonline.theledger.com/default.asp?item=2395426».

The Ledger covers all of Polk County and beyond. (This is not to say there are other newspapers in Polk County as well.) For those researching family in eastern Pasco County, you have another resource at your fingertips.

Florida Baptist Historical Society

If you have Florida Baptist in your family tree, the Florida Baptist Historical Society «www.floridabaptisthistory.net/» might have information that interests you. The website has biographies and histories that are available online for free. Copies of their journal and newsletter are online too.

I learned of this website by talking to a lady at the library who is researching the history of the Richland Baptist Church. The church will be 125 years old soon. Richland is a settlement along County Road 35 (the Old Lakeland Highway) between Dade City and Zephyrhills.

Do other denominations have similar organizations and websites? Please share your information as a comment.

Blogging and Family History

The Ancestry Insider posted a link that includes lots of links to articles that discuss blogging and family history. If you were thinking about creating a family blog, you may want to see what other have been doing. Here's the address

http://ancestryinsider.blogspot.com/2009/08/blogs-and-family-history.html

Can Face Recognition Software Help

There has been some online discussion about Face Recognition Software for genealogical use. But it has involved software that is not available to most of us. The Genealogy Guys even talked about it on one of their recent Podcasts.

The Ancestry Search Blog has a report on How Google Picasa Face Recognition Software Can Help Genealogists. Google Picasa is another one of those free Google products. All the directions are given in this Ancestry Seach Blog posting.

If you try this, please share what you find. Add comments here or create a new post.

Cracker Culture

On August 6th, the East Hillsborough Historical Society in Plant City invited Miles Hampton Plowden III to speak about his new book, Crackers in the Scrub.

The presentation was informative and entertaining. Mr. Plowden spoke of his Florida heritage in the Lake Wales area. He spoke about how he came to write the book, his interests in history, and his unique opportunities to learn it first and second hand. He had stories about his family coming to and settling in Central Florida.

The book is historical fiction. The names have been changed so that no one is offended «that is southern». The time setting is 1890-1900, but he does create setup the time with a history of what went before.

After Mr. Plowden introduced his book, he had a show and tell with whips, lasso, spurs and cowboy things.

He has a few more books coming out. One is about women in this cowboy setting. another about the birth of the Lake Wales airport.

There was a Mr. Herrman of PC there asking for his brother of San Antonio about a presentation up our way. I suggest if you are interested check the newspapers.

It is too bad that there isn't a Special Interest Group (SIG) in the Pasco County Genealogical Society for those interested in Florida and Southern U.S. matters.