We need to Preserve our Family Stories

You might think that those stories are quaint or cute, but they are part of our being human.

On March 13th there was a oped piece by Bruce Feiler titled "Stories that Bind Us."  He proposes that hearing or reading these old family tales strengthen us for hard times.  I can say that "my people lived through hard times and so can I," without the stories you can feel alone.

A link to the article is: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/fashion/the-family-stories-that-bind-us-this-life.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

After reading this article, I saw that Dick Eastman was also recommending his readers to look at the article.

Personally I have used stories as a starting point in investigating some of my ancestors.  I still have parts of stories that I haven't been able to verify, but I may still have to find the link or someone changed the story.

There are some great blogs by people telling their family stories.  Orlando Stone Soup is written by mostly newspapers professionals about the area around Orlando WV. (Ann Baker introduced me to it.)  Annette's Stories of the South is written by a non-professional writer.  She tells stories her late husband told her and stories from her family that she learned growing up.

Do you remember the presentation a earlier this season, "The Two Gails"?

Are you preserving your family stories?

April PCGS Membership Meeting will feature Debra Fleming

The Ancestry Detective will speak at the April 13 meeting of the Pasco County Genealogical Society.  Debra Fleming is the principal of The Ancestry Detective LLC., a genealogical research firm in Pasco County.  She is a practicing genealogist for thirteen years, as well as a Genealogy Instructor for the University of South Florida OSHER Lifelong Learning Center.  She will speak on Using Newspapers in Your Research.

The Pasco County Genealogical Society meets at the Dade City LDS Center on Ft. King Road at 10:00 a.m.  The meeting is open to the public, come early for a good seat.  For additional information or questions feel free to call Janet (813) 788-8894 or Peggy (813) 715-7133.

Overcoming The Brick Wall-Simple Solutions to Your Major Problems

DO YOU WANT TO TEAR DOWN SOME BRICK WALLS?  

Come to the Pasco County Genealogical Society meeting March 9, at 10 AM to hear a presentation by Debbe Hagner on “Overcoming The Brick Wall-Simple Solutions to Your Major Problems”.  Debbe Hagner is a professional genealogist.  She attended Brigham Young University and received her Diploma in Family History.  She is one of the few professional and accredited genealogists in the Tampa Bay area.  

Come and join us at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 9016 Fort King Road, Dade City on March 9, at 10 AM.  For additional information call Janet at 813-788-8894 or Peggy at 813-715-7133.

What a Great 1st Meeting of the New Year

Mark your calendars January 12th at the Dade City LDS Center on Ft. King Road at 10 a.m. the meeting will open (come early to be assured of a seat.) This meeting is free. The meeting is, as always, open to the public.

The guest speaker will be Ann W. Palmer. Ms. Palmer is the Senior Librarian in charge of the Florida History and Genealogy Library which is housed in the John F. Germany Public Library in downtown Tampa located at Ashley and Cass St.

For almost 18 years, Ann has been researching her family. Ann is a member of several genealogical societies and served as president of one while living in North Carolina. By the way, she earned a Masters degree in Library Information Services (MLIS) from the University of North Carolina.

Does “Florida History and Genealogy Library” mean only Florida stuff? No, it doesn’t. The name was created because the library has an extensive collection of books about Florida plus an outstanding photographic collection of the Tampa Bay area taken between 1880 and 1960. As for genealogy, the collection has books on 49 of the 50 states with an emphasis on the northeastern and southeastern states. In addition to genealogy books, the library has cabinet after cabinet of microfilm from NARA and local newspapers. Ancestry Library Edition is available at any of the Hillsborough County Libraries and you do not need a library card to use it. Many other popular databases are also available at all the branches and if you have a Hillsborough County library card, you can access them from your home.

The Florida History and Genealogy Library occupies the entire 2nd floor of the West wing of the John F. Germany Library. It’s a library inside of a library. The entire floor has reference only books on the United States and many foreign countries. Many genealogy books are also circulating but they are located in the East building and require a library card to check them out.

Ann will be able answer many of your questions, but do some homework on your own.

• The Blog for the Florida History and Genealogy Library is at: http://flhg.wordpress.com/
• The Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library has a FaceBook page.
• The searchable library catalog is available online: http://ipac.hcplc.org/ipac20/ipac.jsp?profile=dial  (would asking for Nebraska Genealogy be a fair test under keywords?)
• There is a web page with details about the John F. Germany Library at: http://www.hcplc.org/hcplc/locations/jfg/
• And check out the Learning & Research feature: http://www.hcplc.org/hcplc/research/genealogy.html

Don't be lazy check it out.  So you can ask smart questions!

More to follow . . .

Members, Out and About

The Pasco County Genealogical Society will meet Saturday Dec. 8, 2012 at 10 AM, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 9016 Fort King Road, Dade City.   

This is our Annual Meeting with  Election of Officers for the coming year.  

We will also hear from several members regarding “Members, Out and About”, conferences, seminar’s etc.  

For additional information please call Peggy at (813) 715-7133 or Janet at (813) 788-8894.

Evidence Your Ancestor Left

Are you interested in finding your Ancestors? 

Come to the Pasco County Genealogical Society Meeting on Saturday November 10, at 10 AM, to hear a presentation by Board Certified Genealogist, Sharon Tate Moody. Sharon will present If Living Were a Crime: Evidence Your Ancestor Left at the Scene.  Sharon is a retired law enforcement officer and graduate of the FBI National Academy, with this background she brings a unique perspective to finding evidence and genealogical proof to the search for our ancestors. 

She also write a column for The Tampa Tribune, Heritage Hunting. 

Come and join us at the LDS Church, 9016 Fort King Highway, Dade City at 10 am.  Feel free to call Janet Avery at 813-788-8894 for additional information.

Preserving and Presenting Personal Histories

This Saturday, October 13 is the next meeting of the Pasco County Genealogical  Society, 10 a.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 9016 Fort King Road, Dade City.  Our guest speaker will be Gail Drederick, a reporter for Hometown Pasco, the Tampa Bay Times, Pasco edition.  She will give a presentation entitled "Preserving and Presenting Personal Histories."  

Gail has written a book, Tale of Two Gail’s,  which comprises of thirty-eight stories and 68 photos telling the stories of the two Gail’s--Their lives as children and adults, reflecting significant people and events that led them on a positive journey in life.  

She also has a website http://www.talesoftwogails.com/ .

We look forward to seeing you all on Saturday.

Our research has garnered stories that give color to our genealogies.  Are they worth preserving, are ours?

Interested in Writing Your Family Story

The second FREE Florida State Genealogical Society webinar is coming up September 19th (that is just around the corner.)

The title is "Technology Roundup" and it is to focus on what technologies are available to aid our research and the publishing of our family stories.  For this webinar, Marlis Humphrey is the speaker with Patti Martin moderating.  Check the link below to read about Marlis Humphrey's expert status on the topic.

Click HERE to get to Countdown to the BEST of TIMES: Genealogy + Technology.  Read about the second presentation (the first webinar is over) and REGISTER for it.

Again it is free in the comfort of your computer spot.  Since it is a webinar, you can submit questions.

Membership Meetings Resume Saturday, September 8th

The Pasco County Genealogical Society Invites you to join us for the 1st meeting of the 2012/2013  year.  Jeff Miller, Teacher at Gulf Ridge High School, New Port Richey and webmaster for www.fivay.org will be our guest speaker.  Jeff has a pictorial history of early Pasco County.  He will speak about the location of Fivay in Western Pasco county and how it originated.  He will do a presentation with pictures of the Pasco County area in earlier times.

We will meet on Saturday, September 8 at 10 am, at the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, 9016 Ft. King Road, Dade City.

Look forward to seeing all of you after our summer break.

OneNote - SkyDrive, Mobile and More

Everyday Genealogy: OneNote - SkyDrive, Mobile and More: Three weeks ago I wrote about how I discovered  OneNote . I can say that I use it daily either at work or for personal use and keep finding ...

Webinars highlight upcoming Florida State Conference

The Florida State Genealogical Society (FSGS)will be having its 36th Annual Conference in Deerfield Beach (Boca Raton).  The conference theme is The Best of Times - Genealogy + Technology.


To promote the conference the FSGS is hosting three free webinars to introduce the keynote speakers, the technology available to genealogist, and how-to-make-the-most of the conference.


If you are interested in joining one or all three of the webinars, click the link:
http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=402156f7275f3e5cb2ad4abbd&id=48a5052389&e=8919ff7088

The webinars have a limited numbers of attendee and require a registration so don't delay.

OneNote, FindAGrave and Debby

OneNote, FindAGrave and Debby

FYI - Florida State Genealogical Society Conference

The annual Florida State Genealogical Society Conference will be November 8, 9 and 10, 2012 at the Hilton Deerfield/Boca Raton in Deerfield Beach, Florida.  The theme for the conference will be “The Best of Times: Genealogy + Technology” and the keynote speakers are Curt Witcher and Thomas MacEntee.


This is to let you know what is being planned and more details will be announced soon.

Deep Ancesrty

Deep Ancestry - The Landmark DNA Quest to Decipher Our Distant Past by Spencer Wells is another ebook available through our Pasco County Library System.  I cannot say I agree with it there is a lot of subjective anthropological guess work and fuzzy feelings involved in the discussions.  But what do you think having your DNA, both y- and mt-DNA analyzed is going to tell you.  Well besides my misgivings about Anthropology the book explains what all the DNA stuff is about.  This book is published by the National Geographic Society and promotes the Genographic Project.

I am suggesting you read it yourself.  If you have an ebook reader simply download it for 2-weeks or you can download the free Kindle PC reader so that you can read it on your computer.  If you have a library card you don't need to leave your house.

Maybe you already know the significance of haplogroups, like R1b1, SNPs, chromosomes, or mitochondria.

Spend Less and See More with Webinars

Everyday Genealogy: Spend Less and See More with Webinars: Every year there are local, state and national genealogy seminars. Some are a few hours or over a weekend and others span the days before o...

Irish DNA Testing?

Back in May, the Irish Times carried a short article, Discover Your Genetic Ancestors.  It was about “Ireland’s DNA” that is a new service similar to the one that has some popularity in Scotland called "Scotland's DNA."  In Scotland about 1,000 people have paid to have their DNA tested (as about 250 euros.)  For Scotland Norse raiders would be expected, but for about 1% there is a Berber line.
There are lots of tales of who and where the Irish came from, maybe there will be some answers and a few surprises. 

1940 U.S. Census for Florida is SEARCHABLE

The Genealogy Guys Podcast mentioned it so I checked it out.


At FamilySearch.org you can find the 1940 Florida U.S. Census,  indexed - searchable - with images of the census sheets. 

>>> https://familysearch.org/1940census/  <<< just click the link

                    and click Florida on the map.

John F Germany Library & Republican National Convention

The main Hillsborough County library, the John F. Germany Library, will be closed for the week prior to and during the convention.  That would be from August 19th through August 31st, 2012.


This has been reported in the Tampa Bay Times, www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/tampas-main-library-to-close-for-republican-national-convention/1232594


Between parking issues, security and other media event then the peaceful library on Ashley Street will be in the way.

Another Online Genealogical Resource

This happens through the Pasco County Library System.  With my library card, I can borrow for 14-days an electronic copy of George Morgan's book, How to Do Everything Genealogy, second edition.  I did it on a Kindle.  If you don't have one, you can for free install from Amazon.com ( click, Kindle for PC.)  The software functions like a portable device.  There are other download (or Apps) for devices and even a Mac.  It is a tease for you to buy a Kindle and the software is fully operational.


Back to the library, open the library's webpage, then from the horizontal list of options move your cursor over Catalog & Research and a list of more choices will open, then move the cursor over Books & Media (downloads) and click.  Search for what you want.  If you choose and borrow the book How to Do Everything Genealogy all of the links in the book will work on your computer.  Unfortunately you will only have a 14-loan of the book, but you may want to buy a copy for yourself or see if the library has a hard copy of it for loan.  You do the borrowing from home and the electronic book doesn't need to be returned (it stops access.)


Besides George Morgan's book, there are many more books available.  There is one on Blogging, lots of "books for dummies," cookbooks, novels and more. 

Medieval Irish Documents are Online

After the Irish Free State was established, a civil war broke out in Ireland over the separation of the northern counties from the Free State.  During this civil war in 1922, Four Courts which houses the written historical records of Ireland was destroyed.  Since that time there has been an attempt to recover what escaped destruction because it was elsewhere or had been copied.  Trinity College, part of the University of Dublin, has been at the heart of this effort and now the World can view what has been recovered online.


The material covers the period from 1244 to 1509.  This is a period that is not well understood.


The link to this online webpage is called: CIRCLE A calendar of Irish Chancery Letters c. 1244 - 1509 at chancery.tcd.ie


Most people of Irish ancestry cannot trace their heritage into this period, but access is free.  Aren't you curious?