The official blog of the St. Louis Genealogical Society. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter! Send news to publications@stlgs.org .
It seems that no matter where you are this summer, the weather is going to play a part in your daily life. For most of us, it's been hot and humid, but the good news is that all of our StLGS events are in comfortable air-conditioned meeting rooms. If you prefer, you can stay at home enjoying your own cool house and attend our events via Zoom. So, check out the August schedule, and make plans to join us soon.
There have always been poor people, in every society and every time period. However, our treatment of those less fortunate has not always been exemplary. Sometimes a poor person might have had family or friends to help them out, but if not, a poor person might be dependent on the community for care, and their treatment would vary, depending on where and when they lived. If you had an ancestor who was in a poorhouse, you may want to learn more about what that meant and how to discover what might have caused them to be there. Read on for details.
Most people who can trace their ancestors back to Ireland learn quickly that a terrible fire at the Public Records Office (PRO) during the Irish Civil War destroyed about 700 years' worth of records. Documents that went back to the fourteenth century when the British ruled in Ireland plus "thousands of wills, title deeds and parish registers" went up in flames on 30 June 1922. According to an article recently published in The Irish Times online, the 1861 and 1871 census records had been destroyed by the British, and during World War I, the 1881 and 1891 censuses were repurposed because of a lack of paper, as it wasn't deemed necessary to keep the data. What did remain in the PRO were the censuses of 1821, 1831, and 1841—all particularly valuable because they were created in the years before the Irish Potato Famine. These records also burned in that disastrous fire. However, Irish historians, archivists, and genealogists are making a concerted effort to rebuild what was lost and make as much as possible available to researchers. They have created a website called "Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland," and it's growing all the time.
Happy Almost Fourth of July! We hope you have a safe and enjoyable holiday! After you put away your barbecue supplies and polish off the last of the leftovers, be sure to pull out your calendar and make note of our upcoming genealogy meetings, all indoors and air conditioned! Please don't forget that the deadline for early registration for our Salt Lake City Research Trip is today! And remember that the deadline for watching the digital recordings of the Family History Conference is Sunday, 3 August. You can still register to see them. All the information you need is below. . . .
St. Louis Genealogical Society has a very active presence on Facebook, both a News and Events page and a wonderful group just shy of 4,300 members. No politics, no precocious baby or animal videos, no endless goofy jokes—OK, maybe a few occasionally, but only about genealogy! We know that many people avoid social media, but our Facebook group provides a safe space for people to ask and answer genealogy questions, announce meetings and other special events, and spread the joy of genealogy. Sometimes inquiries are posted in the group that need a bit more time and space to answer, and this week brought up one that is so important, we thought we'd devote a post to it. So, for all of you asking about online death certificates, please read on . . .
If you are lucky enough to have a father in your life, we hope you had a wonderful day this past weekend enjoying his company and celebrating his accomplishments. We also thought you might like to know how Father's Day came about, and you might be surprised to learn how far back the tradition goes.
