Our next meeting is Tuesday, Feb 22 at 7 pm. We will be meeting virtually using webex. Email the society if you need the webex link.

Pre-recorded Webinar “Finding the Elusive Maiden Name” by Ann G Lawthers

About the webinar: 

Searching for the maiden name of our ancestress can be frustrating. This webinar presents a hierarchy of search strategies for tracing the maiden name. Begin by trying to locate a marriage record, keeping in mind the record will vary by time period and geographic location. If a marriage record search proves fruitless, a second tier of sources is recommended including children’s death records, the women’s death record, census and other sources. Finally, the webinar presents strategies specific to the maiden name search such as following the husband and learning about history where the couple lived.

About the speaker:

Ann G. Lawthers, Sc.D. is a Genealogist with the Brue Family Learning Center at the New England Historic Genealogical Society – American Ancestors. When at the Boston Research Center, she works with patrons to help them explore and expand their family history. She lectures regularly on behalf of American Ancestors at conferences, workshops and meetings. At American Ancestors she collaborates to prepare multi-week online courses, single day online conferences, and single session webinars. Ann focuses on New England and Mid-Atlantic research, and migration patterns. Secondary interests include the Southern Colonies and Atlantic Canada. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and the Harvard School of Public Health with degrees in Health Policy.

Presented with permission from FamilyTreeWebinars and Ann G Lawthers.

The regular 4th Tuesday society meetings will be held virtually until further notice. January and February will be pre-recorded webinars.

For March, we will be hosting Marian Burk Wood for a live online lecture about the 1950 census.

If you want to attend our online meetings and are not a member, just email the society to request the meeting link.

The Society invites all to an online webinar program on the Godfrey Memorial Library Resources presented by Carol Ansel at 7 pm, November 23.

The Godfrey Memorial Library was founded in 1947 by Fremont Rider, retired Head librarian at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut who had a keen interest in genealogy. He started out by donating his own personal collection of material, which amounted to
over 800 books. The collection expanded and grew from there, today comprising over 40,000 works.

In addition to genealogies and biographies, the library offers vital records, local town and county histories, city directories, military muster rolls, family Bible records, and unique collections like the Laput Cemetery Collection, with its data and photos for gravestones in 1,030 Connecticut cemeteries (and counting).

We will introduce you to “The Scholar,” the online research element of the library, and show you how to search it effectively, with an emphasis on the collections which are unique to us.

Non-members can email southingtongenealogicalsociety@gmail.com to request the meeting link.

Let’s get together at the Southington Historical Society on August 24 at 7pm and share stories of our ancestors.

We’ve just enjoyed two wonderful programs on making our family histories come alive – in June Marion Wood Burke’s in person “Bitesize Projects” and July’s live webinar “Adding Historical Context to Your Genealogy Research: A Hands-on Approach” by Kate Eakman. Syllabi for both are available in case you missed the presentations.

Now it’s time to put those lessons into practice! Using Marion and Kate’s ideas, prepare the story of one or more of your ancestors to present to our group. Each participant will have no more than 10 minutes to tell their stories. Pictures and props are encouraged. If time allows, attendees may be able to share a second story if they wish.

Remember – don’t just recite names and dates – let’s try to bring our folks and their times back to life.

Meeting location: Southington Historical Center, 239 Main Street, Southington CT

The Society will be hosting an in person meeting on June 22 7 pm at the Southington Historical Society, 239 Main Street, Southington CT.

Bring Family History Alive in Bite-Sized Projects – How to create practical, bite-sized projects that can be shared and repurposed to bring your family’s history to life today and tomorrow. Each project takes a short time and gives you flexibility to be creative in spotlighting a particular aspect of family history, such as one ancestor or couple, one special occasion, one heirloom, one special photo, or one special place. Includes step-by-step demonstration of bite-sized projects such as brief ancestor bios and booklets, heirloom stories, ancestor coloring books, photo books, and video-based family history.

Marian Burk Wood is an experienced genealogy speaker, an active genealogy blogger, and the author of the Amazon best-selling genealogy book, Planning a Future for Your Family’s Past. Marian has been researching and documenting her family’s history for more than two decades, with special emphasis on sharing ancestral knowledge more widely. Since 2008, she has been blogging about genealogy methodology and developments at https://ClimbingMyFamilyTree.blogspot.com.

The next meeting of the SGS is next Tuesday, March 23, 2021 at 7 pm. 
We will be showing a pre-recorded webinar by Kate Eakman. Email the southingtongenealogicalsociety@gmail.com if you need the meeting link.

How to Connect with Your Pilgrim Ancestors to Join the Mayflower Society

If you know or suspect you are descended from one of the original Pilgrims who arrived in Massachusetts on 9 November 1620 there is still time to join the General Society of Mayflower Descendants (more commonly known as the Mayflower Society) before the November 2020 celebration of the 400th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower. Proving your connection to a Mayflower passenger can be challenging. Tracing your ancestry back four hundred years means researching 20 or more generations to provide the necessary documentation to verify the birth, marriage, and death of each generation. This presentation will provide steps to assist you in your quest to become a member of the Mayflower Society. In addition, we will discuss how you can use DNA to become a member of the Mayflower Society.

Speaker: Kate Eakman

Kate Eakman holds an M.A in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has more than 20 years of genealogical experience as well as traditional historical research and writing. Today, Kate is a Senior Researcher and General Research Team Lead for Legacy Tree Genealogists. Her genealogical specialties include Civil War era, African-American, Native American, and general U.S. genealogy as well as Irish, Scottish, English, Canadian, and Italian genealogy. Kate loves the challenge of brick walls and excels at outside-the-box thinking for breaking them down. Kate lives with her husband and his horse in Portland, Oregon.

Attend an online Southington Genealogical Society meeting from home on the 4th Tuesday of the month at 7 pm. Contact the society for the meeting link.

We will be showing the pre-recorded webinar, Comparing the genealogy giants: ancestry.com, familysearch.org, Findmypast, MyHeritage, by Sunny Morton.

Description:

The 2020 “state of the sites” update will focus on the newest and most exciting developments at each of the major genealogy websites, with plenty of hasn’t-changed foundational description to help viewers know where they should be turning next for their genealogical research–and what sites and tools they should keep in mind for the future. This lecture has a global focus.

Speaker Bio:

Sunny Morton is a popular lecturer for the global genealogy community. She’s a Contributing Editor at Family Tree Magazine and the author of hundreds of articles and blog posts, as well as the brand new book How to Find Your Family History in U.S. Church Records, co-authored with Harold Henderson; Story of My Life: A Workbook for Preserving Your Legacy, and the quick reference guide, “Genealogy Giants: Comparing the 4 Major Websites,” She is an official FamilySearch blogger and past Contributing Editor at Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems Podcast.

Future programs:

February 23: Pre-Recorded Webinar- African American Genealogy Resources at the Library of Congress, by Ahmed Johnson

March 23 :Pre-recorded Webinar – How to Connect With Your Pilgrim Ancestors to Join the Mayflower Society, by Kate Eakman 

At the Tuesday, October 27th meeting, Southington Genealogical Society will be hosting historian and author Walt Woodward who will be discussing his new book, Creating Connecticut: Critical Moments That Shaped a Great State. Due to COVID19, the meeting will be online at 7 pm.

Connecticut State Historian Walter Woodward helps us understand how people and events in Connecticut’s past played crucial roles in forming the culture and character of Connecticut today. Woodward, a gifted story-teller, brings the history we thought we knew to life in new ways, from the nearly forgotten early presence of the Dutch, to the time when Connecticut was New England’s fiercest prosecutor of witches, the decades when Nutmeggers were rapidly leaving the state, and the years when Irish immigrants were hurrying into it. Whether it’s his investigation into the unusually rough justice meted out to Revolutionary War hero Nathan Hale, or a peek into Mark Twain’s smoking habits, Creating Connecticut will leave you thinking about our state’s past––and its future––in a whole new way. 

About the Author

Walt Woodward is the State Historian of Connecticut and an Associate Professor of History at the University of Connecticut. He is the narrator and producer of Today in Connecticut History (with CT Humanities) and Grating the Nutmeg: The Podcast of Connecticut History (with Connecticut Explored magazine). He also writes the “From the State Historian” column in Connecticut Explored. A widely sought after public speaker and historian, he lives in Columbia, CT.

For a link to the online event, contact the society at southingtongenealogicalsociety@gmail.com .  There is no fee and no obligation to become a member.

Do you want to learn about British Home Children? Join our virtual Society meeting on WebEx, Tuesday, June 23 at 7 pm to hear from Norma Davis Cook, the granddaughter of two British Home Children.

Norma writes: “Our family lives in Carleton County, New Brunswick, where my Dad’s parents settled after being sent here as British Home Children in the early 1900’s.  My grandparents’ mysterious past has always intrigued me, but I never realized the truth was out there until I started searching on Ancestry a few years ago.  The history of children like my grandparents has become my primary line of research as I attempt to uncover their stories to share with successive generations.”

Email southingtongenealogicalsociety@gmail.com for the WebEx meeting link to join the meeting. The room will be open by 6:30 pm if you want to join and avoid technical difficulties.

If all goes well, the meeting will be recorded and shared for a limited time on our youtube channel (password required).