Officer Election Results, Exciting Website News, and Thank You to Our Supporters!

Thanks to all of you who voted in the election for our 2025–2026 officers. With unanimous votes, we will have co-presidents for the next two years as Kathy Franke and Jeani Ward share that position. Jim Yochim has been reelected as vice president for membership, and Debbie Benoit will take over as secretary beginning in January. We’d like to say a huge thank you to both Karen Goode and Cindy Finnegan, our current president and our society's secretary, who are ready to step down and hand the reins to our newly elected officers. Cindy has prepared board meeting notes, tackled dozens of thank you letters, scanned years' worth of old documents, and assisted at many of our events. As president for the past four years, Karen has managed to guide us successfully through one disaster after another. Her tenure began with a complete shutdown due to the pandemic, which led us to learning from scratch how to set up Zoom and hybrid meetings. After the office opened again, and we settled back into a more normal routine, it was time for a massive cleanup so we could get new carpet and a much-needed paint job. When all was finally sparkling clean and everything in place, we were faced with water damage due to a badly leaking roof, which shut us down for weeks again, and now, Karen is leading us through a complete redesign of our website. (More on that in just a bit.) Her leadership skills and her determination and perseverance in the face of one obstacle after another have kept our society on a steady course during some incredibly difficult times. We thank both Cindy and Karen for their hard work and look forward to seeing both of them enjoying some new adventures in the coming year.

And now for some exciting news about our StLGS website  . . .

Voting in America—A Genealogical Perspective

With such an important election upon us, and with all of us who are of age and citizens of the U.S. entitled to vote, this seems to be an opportune time to look back at how our ancestors may have viewed elections. We know, of course, that many of our ancestors came from places where there were no national elections. Kings, queens, czars, and czarinas either inherited or took their positions without input from local citizens. When elections were held, they may have been symbolic only, and voting was often limited to certain groups of eligible men. Democracy was not something most of our ancestors knew in their homelands.

StLGS Election Results and Three New Books for Sale in Our Store!

Thanks to all of you who voted in the election for two of our 2024–2025 officers. With unanimous votes, Michelle Pearce has been reelected treasurer, and Donna Foelsch will take over as vice president for programs beginning in January. We’d like to say a huge thank you to Kay Weber, who currently holds that position and is ready to step down and hand the reins to Donna. Kay has worked tirelessly during the past few years to ensure the society’s meetings, classes, and special events have been of wide-ranging appeal. She has juggled countless schedules, phone calls, texts, and emails, so our meetings could run as smoothly as possible. Because of her efforts, all of us have greatly benefitted, and we thank her from the bottoms of our hearts for all she has done for StLGS. In addition to her job as vice president for programs, Kay is co-leader of our Irish SIG, and we look forward to her continuing in that position in the future.

And now for some great new books just added to our online store, of special interest to those of you whose ancestors may have served in the military fighting for the Union during the Civil War . . .

Looking for Genealogy Book Bargains? We've Got You Covered!

St. Louis Genealogical Society has operated a Trading Post of gently used genealogy books for many years. However, having the society office closed during COVID and because of many generous donations during the past two years but few opportunities to interact with the public, we have built up an almost overwhelming number of used books, and they are priced to sell! The Trading Post is open to anyone coming into our office on Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday mornings and is located in the front lobby to the left of the new books for sale. (And, of course, if you live too far to visit, we can ship to you—although we will have to add postage to your order).