3:00 PM via ZOOM

Led by Kelly Martin

The topic of this month’s meeting was:  Back to Basics of Irish Genealogy Research, Irish Names and Easter Traditions.

 Webinar:  In one of our previous meetings during a discussion we talked about Irish names.  I happened to find a recent webinar on this very subject.  It is presented by the International Institute of Genealogical Studies and was presented live on January 20 th , 2025.  It is titled “Learn the basics of Irish Genealogy Research” but the presenter focuses on Irish first names and surnames. 

 Here are some of the links that the presenter shared in the webinar:

Irish Genealogy 

John Grenham 

Kelly shared a PowerPoint presentation on Irish Easter traditions. Easter Presentation The presentation includes links for further research on Easter traditions and recipes.

 May Topics of Discussion: Charlotte will give us a presentation about Irish miners.  Here ancestry research has roots in Butte, Montana.

Attendees:  Kelly Martin    Paula Davis  Marge Mero  Charlotte Sullivan  Nancy Todd  Pat Bundy  Barbara Gumm  Lola McCreary  Brusann Wells  Oweta Floyd  

TAG Meeting Notes 10 April 2025  

Leader: Janice Moerschel

We discussed DNA Journeys on Ancestry.com for potential ancestral connections and migration patterns. 

"Journeys show where a group of Ancestry DNA members may have lived in the past 50 to 300 years, sometimes down to specific towns and counties and where they may have moved around the world. "Journeys" also provide information as to what their daily life may have been like and events they experienced, as well as showing maps and tracking movements. You get an ancestral journey when you're part of a group of DNA matches who all have relatives living in the same place at the same time. Ancestry journeys use maps and timelines to show patterns and how your ancestors may connect to you today.

New capabilities at Ancestry: 1) You can 'tag' people in a photo. If you upload a photo in a picture where you don't know a person or people, Ancestry can search to see if they can find out who that person is and will offer possible matches. Click on a person's face to use this function. This feature is currently in BETA. Also, be sure to tag people in your photos (the ones you do know) to help with photo recognition and identification features.

2) Another feature in Beta is document transcription. Upload an old document or family letter, and Ancestry gives you the capability to transcribe it. On left side of view of an image, there is a "transcribe" feature. You can rate how well Ancestry has done with the transcription. If you want to save the transcription, for now, it seems that you can only copy and paste it into a document.

3) Ancestry has a new "Smart Search." You can switch from the *classic* mode and into the Smart Search and back again. See how search results compare.

4) We briefly discussed Ancestry Networks. It is currently available only to "ProTools" subscribers. Add people to a network and they'll float in your tree. Build in records, images, and add sticky notes. Maybe you can solve a research problem.

5) The buzz is that Ancestry will soon be offering something called the "Ancestry Club 900." We're not sure what it will entail, but it could be that they will offer individualized help with research. We'll be on the lookout.

In re "RootsTech," videos from 2025 (and earlier) are available to view for a few years from the date they were recorded. Lots of good stuff to check out on a variety of research topics, DNA, etc. FamilySearch continues working on transcribing and bringing forth old records: wills, deeds, etc., and offers transcriptions. 

You can download and save. Video: On using FamilySearch and Ancestry together, by Connie Knox. Click Here for link

Both platforms have overlapping and unique records, and using both can help find more records and improve legibility. Connie demonstrated how to conduct a search on both Ancestry and FamilySearch platforms. She emphasized the importance of using both platforms to maximize the chances of finding records. She also highlighted the unique features of each platform, such as Ancestry's military records and DNA testing, and FamilySearch's vital records. Connie also explained how to use the card catalog feature on both platforms and how to narrow down search results. She concluded by encouraging users to take advantage of the unique features of each platform to enhance their family history research.

Kelley clarified that using images from FamilySearch on Ancestry is against FamilySearch's terms of use, but creating a web link is acceptable. Karen shared her practice of saving records from both platforms in RootsMagic.

Discussion: Included talking about possible duplicates created when there are family intermarriages, e.g., when cousins marry. Ron suggested clicking the "edit relationships" feature to make sure that a person is designated correctly so that they will not be designated as a possible duplicate.

The next meeting of TAG is scheduled for Thursday, May 8th. Marge suggested dedicating the May meeting to mothers and sharing special stories of our members. Additional question (please bring answer): Where was your mother born and how far away do you live from that place? Additional topic suggestions/presenter needed for the May meeting. If you have an idea or would like to volunteer, please let me know.

In attendance today: 18 people:  Albert Calderon, Brusan Rhoda-Wells, Chris Murphy, Dianne Bongarts, Don Walter, Gail Clark, Janice Moerschel, Juanita McBride, Karen Lehfeldt (Clarkston, WA), Kelley Taylor, Lance Gromme (Springdale), Linda Shorb, Lola McCreary, Marge Mero, Nancy Todd, Patricia Robison, Ron Marvin, and Ruth Halligan (California). Janice Moerschel moerschelj@gmail.com TAG (The Ancestry Group)

 10 February 2025 Meeting Notes Monday, February 10, 2025, 3:00 PM via ZOOM

This group is led by Kelly Martin

• The topic of this month’s meeting was “Irish Immigration into Louisiana.”

• Kelly shared a Power Point presentation about this topic. An attachment to access this PowerPoint will be in the e-mail.

 Oweta shared her genealogy roots in Louisiana. Her family immigrated to the port of New Orleans and then moved on to Tennessee.

• Marge discovered that one of the links Kelly shared had a link to research in Acadia Parish. This is an area for research she has for her husband’s ancestry line, • Paula shared information about webinars about the Famine’s in Ireland. I will add them to the e-mail.

• Upcoming Topics March: Everything St. Patrick’s Day

April: The Irish Famine

Attendees: • Kelly Martin

• Ron Marvin

• Paula Davis

• Oweta Floyd

• Lola McCreary

• Marge Mero

• Janice Moerschel

• Brusann Wells

This group is lead by: Lynda Keenan, PLCGS Certified Genetic Genealogist

A Sapling to A Family Tree

Website: STAFT.org Email: staft2020@gmail.com

Key Takeaways:   Lynda presented numerous free and paid genealogy research sites, including historical records databases, surname research tools, and specialized search engines.

   Group agreed to explore one of the presented sites before next meeting and share findings.    

Next meeting scheduled for April 15th

• Topics Genealogy Research Websites
•    International List of Causes of Death Revision: Useful for decoding number codes on death certificates and mortality census records.   
•  FamilySearch Military Bounty Land Warrants: Online resources for researching military land grants    
• National Archives Catalog: Free access to historical documents, including Revolutionary War pension papers    
• HistoryGeo.com: Provides historical landowner maps and records (subscription required)    
• MyTopo.com: Offers historical topographic maps for purchase.    
• Meetsandbounds.com: Genealogy-focused site with surname histories and vital records    
• Stephen P. Morse's One-Step Webpages: Powerful search tools for passenger lists, census records, and vital records    
• FreeBMD: Free access to UK birth, marriage, and death records    Wolfram Alpha: Provides demographic data on surnames    
• American Ancestors (NEHGS): Extensive genealogical database (paid subscription)    
• Genealogy.com: Platform for connecting with other researchers and accessing family trees    
• Newberry Library: Extensive genealogy collection, including city directories (in-person research required)    
• Genealogy in Time: Search engine for genealogical records and obituaries
• Inventions in Family History    
  • Janice shared her grandfather's patent for a game invention    
  • Karen discussed her grandfather's invention of an early computer punch card system for law enforcement

Upcoming Events    

• Genealogy Detectives meeting on Thursday at the Hive   
• All-day genealogy event on the 30th (registration required)

Next Steps    

• Attendees to explore one of the presented websites below and share a discovery at the next meeting (April 15th)    
• Members are encouraged to register for the upcoming all-day genealogy event for April 5th.

GenealogyInTime 

Stephen P Morse 

Newberry Library

Genealogy.com

American Ancestors

WolframAlpha

FreeBMD

Relative Race

Metes, Bounds & Meanders

David Rumsey Map Collection

MyTopo

HistoryGeo.com

National Archives Catalog

US Military Bounty Land Warrants

International List of Causes of Death

Group led my Janice Moerschel

Brief Summary: Our meeting covered various topics related to genealogy and family history research, including upcoming events, new features on genealogy websites, and personal experiences. Members discussed the EWGS 90th anniversary celebration, Ancestry's new "Networks" feature, and updates to DNA analysis tools..

Announcements: EWGS members should send photos from past EWGS events to Ron Marvin for the 90th anniversary slideshow

Register for the Spring Seminar, April 5th at the EWGS website: Thomas MacEntee on creating an ancestor sketch and EWGS will be celebrating its 90th anniversary.

The date for Walking with Ancestors has been changed. Instead of Memorial Day, it will be in July - date to be announced.

NOTE: Be sure to check regularly for new and updated records. Recently updated records include New York City voter registrations and some Naturalization records. Program: We viewed videos by Aimee Cross and Connie Knox about Ancestry's new "Networks" feature, currently in beta and available to Pro Tools subscribers. The feature allows users to create networks of people based on shared characteristics such as family milestones, immigration, shared experiences, or local communities. Users can add people from their tree to these networks, attach media and sources, and use them to explore connections between individuals. While still in development, the tool shows promise for organizing research and identifying patterns among groups of people in family trees.

Links about "Networks": Connie Knox:  Aimee Cross: 

Also discussed new features at Ancestry.com, including the transcription feature for old hand-written documents, and photo recognition capabilities. The transcription feature is currently in Beta and can be used to transcribe handwritten documents that you've uploaded.

Ron recounted a story about Irish soldiers in the Mexican-American War, some of whom defected to the Mexican side. The group discussed the role of Irish and Scots-Irish soldiers in American history, including the Revolutionary War, when most joined the Rebels against England.

Attendance: 19 people today.  Albert Calderon, Brusan Rhoda-Wells, Carol Hsu, Chris Murphy, Dianne Bongarts, Dolly Webb, Duane Beck, Gail Clark, Janice Moerschel, Judy Benson, Julie Rosenhoff, Karen Lehfeldt (Clarkston, WA), Kelley Taylor, Marge Mero, Patricia Robison, Ron Marvin, Ruth Halligan (California), Sandi Gaffney, and Virginia Omoto.

Next meeting is April 10. We'll talk about the DNA "Journeys" feature, and using FamilySearch and Ancestry together. Maybe more about RootsTech.

Minutes created by Kelly Martin, Leader

The topic of this month’s meeting was “Irish Migration Patterns”. Kelly shared a short video presentation about Irish American immigration history. In the video the presenter shares a vintage map from 1880.  He zooms in and looks at various historical aspects of the map.  He addresses the various regional areas throughout the Us that saw the largest growth of Irish Immigration. The link for this presentation will be provided at the end of the meeting notes. Kelly Shared some links that society members have provided.  The links will be provided to the group at the end of the meeting notes.

Paula shared her recent book purchase titled:  The Townland Atlas of Ulster (Click Here)

 Here is the video I shared with you regarding the 1880 map with the information on Irish Immigration history in the US:(Click Here)

This is the link that Charles sent me for the Family Tree Magazine Shop Irish Genealogy cheat sheet: (Click Here)

(Note: should be noted that cheat sheets are also available on this website) This is the link that Diane shared regarding the magazine “Irish Lives Remembered”, Ireland's premier genealogy magazine.  (Click Here)

This is the link that Donna sent me for the free download for the “Getting Started with Irish Records Guide.” (Click Here) 

This is a good article I found regarding called:” From Ulster to the US: Irish migration patterns and their impact on Irish genealogy.”  (Click Here)

Marge sent me this: A Letter from Ireland Did you know you can find all our past letters here for free? (Click Here)