Important Information About our Website and Online Store!

Many of you know that our StLGS website is in the process of undeergoing an update. Our busy technology team has been working diligently on ways to best redesign our site to make it more user-friendly, easier to access on mobile devices, and more visually appealing. It's been a long, involved process of meetings and planning, but we finally settled on a local website development company and began to move ahead when a wrench flew into our plans. 

You are Invited to Our Annual Open House!

Last March, St. Louis Genealogical Society revived our annual Open House after a hiatus of several years, and it was a great success. Moved from Sunday to Saturday afternoon so more people could attend, the Open House allowed our volunteers to meet old and new friends, show off our newly painted and re-carpeted office, and answer lots of questions from interested attendees. Now that spring is finally in the air, we are excited to welcome you once again to this year's Open House. Read on for all the details!

Second Batch of Cemetery Maps Now Uploaded to our Website!

In August of this year, we announced that our resident map guru, Jim Bellenger, has been using his talents to superimpose old cemetery maps onto new Google maps and georeference them so that exact locations of even long-gone cemeteries are now visible. Jim has worked with dozens of people in St. Louis City and County and beyond to obtain maps of the cemeteries, get permission to use them, and link them to the cemetery pages on our website. Because this is so time-consuming, we are releasing the maps in groups of about twenty to thirty, and now, we are happy to share the next batch of maps with you. (If you missed the post about the first set, you can read it here.)

StLGS News to Start the New Year

As the new year begins and a huge storm engulfs most of the country, we thought we'd bring you a bit of cheer with a few items of interest from our society. Our social media reach is expanding, and we want you to know how and where to get the latest information from us. And, at this time of end-of-year giving (and upcoming spring cleaning), we're restating our policies on what types of donated materials we can accept.

A Thanksgiving Genealogy Gift and Another Farewell

StLGS bids farewell to another past-president with the passing on 26 October 2024 of Neil Fiala, who served in 2000–2001. Neil and his wife Barbara were active volunteers throughout the 1990s, and you can read more about them below. We also have a very special gift to all of you, courtesy of our intrepid "geospatial genealogist," Jim Bellenger, who has been working non-stop on creating maps for every cemetery on our website. This past week, we have finalized and uploaded about forty new maps, and the linked list below is a thank you for your generous donations to the society. Read on for all the details . . .

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  . . .

October Genealogy Meetings and Time to Vote for StLGS Officers

Leaves are starting to fall and it's finally feeling a bit more like autumn. As our year winds down, we hope you will continue to join us for our remaining 2024 meetings and classes. For those of you who are members of StLGS, voting is now open for the election of officers for 2025. Our recent bylaws revision provides for co-presidents to share the expanding job responsibilities of leading our very active society. Also up for election this year are vice president of membership and secretary. Luckily, we have some talented and caring volunteers running for each position, and, although they are unopposed, they would appreciate your support by voting. More information about everything is below.

First of Many Cemetery Maps Added to the StLGS Website AND StLGS Members: Please Vote on Amended Bylaws!

Although we have had data on many St. Louis-area cemeteries on our website for more than a decade, we have not had the ability to add maps to the pages until our resident map guru, Jim Bellenger, turned that task into his own pet project. For the past year, Jim has hunted down whatever maps exist for as many cemeteries as he could find and has used his talents to superimpose the old maps onto new Google maps and georeference them so that exact locations of even long-gone cemeteries are now visible. Jim has worked with dozens of people in St. Louis City and County and beyond to obtain the maps, get permission to use them, and link them in several ways to the cemetery pages on our site. Because this is so time-consuming, only the first batch of completed maps is now on the website, but lots more are coming!

We Bid Farewell to Longtime StLGS Core Volunteer, Edward E. "Ted" Steele

Usually on the first of each month, our weekly blog features upcoming meetings. Because of the importance of the following "In Memoriam," we'll hold that post until next week. In the meantime, please use the Annual Family History Conference, Calendar of Events and Current Classes pages on our website for the latest news. Also, registration for our annual Salt Lake City Research trip has just opened. And now, please read on as we bid farewell to a beloved member of our genealogical family.

How StLGS Members Can Help the Society

Recently, StLGS members received a letter from our president asking for donations to the society. As we approach the holiday season, we hope you will find some space in your end-of-year planning to support StLGS.

Unlike some larger non-profits, StLGS is funded completely by donations, dues, and sales. We have no grants or benefactors. What we do is only possible because of your donations. Every dollar that comes into our office goes towards fulfilling our mission: "promoting family history research by providing educational and research opportunities, offering community services, and collecting, preserving, and publishing genealogical and historical records."

Our all-volunteer staff continues to work tirelessly:

• Assisting researchers, answering questions, and greeting visitors
• Offering members free classes and lecturing and teaching throughout the community
• Scanning, indexing, and proofreading a wide assortment of original records
• Posting new data to the website, creating new web pages and informational flyers, publishing our Quarterly journal, and curating this blog, and our Facebook and Twitter feeds 
• Planning exciting programs and events for the coming year

Updated Technology

Because our website and our office computer network are so vital to our ability to communicate with the public, we must keep both entities protected and current. Website security is maintained by an off-site professional company, a fixed expense we willingly pay. Volunteers maintain the integrity of our office network. Next year, we will upgrade our office software and increase the level of security in our office network.

New Projects and Data

We also are actively exploring livestreaming, webinars, and other online options to expand our classes and meetings to out-of-town members. Our website continues to grow with the addition of more congregations, biographies, and other St. Louis-related material. You can always discover what is new by going to the New On This Site page.

How Can You Help?

Any amount you can send will be much appreciated, and we hope you will use the envelope you received to return a check or credit card donation. Your gift to StLGS is tax deductible to the extent allowed by current law.

Matching Donations, Amazon Smile, and Schnucks eScrip

Because StLGS is a not-for-profit 501(C)(3) organization, we qualify for matching donation funds from companies that offer them. In the past, we have received matching funds from AT&T, MasterCard, and Boeing. Does your employer support matching donations? If so, please think of earmarking your donation to StLGS that way.

For the past five years, we have also been a member of the smile.amazon.com donation program. If you are planning to shop online this holiday season, please log on to https://smile.amazon.com and choose St. Louis Genealogical Society as the recipient of your donation. It costs you nothing, but Amazon will donate a portion of every one of your purchases to the society.

In addition, Schnucks grocery stores still accept eScrip/Community cards. You cannot, however, use them with the current rewards program, but if you choose to forego your personal points, you can still designate rewards to go to the charity of your choice. If you have an eScrip/Community card, please select StLGS as the recipient of your points. They turn into dollars for us! You can learn more about the eScrip program on the eScrip website.

All of these programs are open to all. If you have friends or relatives who would like to join you in supporting the society, please encourage them to do so.

From the bottom of our hearts . . .