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.

November/December Genealogy Meetings and a Reminder to Vote for StLGS Officers

Happy Halloween! We are coming to the end of another busy year of genealogy meetings, classes, and special events, and our StLGS volunteers have been hard at work planning next year's exciting calendar of events for you. Since the beautiful Clark Family Branch of the St. Louis County Library opened this summer, we have been welcomed by our friends in the Emerson History and Genealogy Center to a comfortable meeting room in the new building. Our November monthly meeting will be in our main floor meeting space but will also be livestreamed for those who can't attend in person. We have our last Jewish SIG meeting in early December, and one more class remains on the fall schedule. Also, StLGS members, Thursday, 31 October, is the last day to vote in our annual election of officers! More information about everything is below.

Sharing the Results of the Genealogical Hunt!

We love tracking down our ancestors through online databases, in courthouses, and at county clerks’ offices and can easily spend hours and hours in the pursuit. In the process we uncover the details of our forebears’ lives—birth and death dates that tie them to a place, marriage records that tell us who some of their closest friends or family were, and census records that show us the makeup of their families. Digging a little deeper, we can also discover fascinating details about their occupations, their brushes with the law, whether they left their homeland to start over in a new location, and much more. DNA has taken genealogical research to a whole new level and provides another tool to break through those brick walls we all seem to have. We learn so much as we are pursuing our ancestors, it's wonderful to pay it forward to others. Jane Theissen, our StLGS Quarterly editor, hopes to inspire you to take the plunge into writing for our journal. Jane writes . . .

New Naturalization Indices Added to the StLGS Website!

Almost all of us had immigrant ancestors, although not all of them chose to become American citizens. Necessary for voting and to attain some legal status, citizenship was not a priority for those who didn't expect to buy land, weren't welcomed by the often-crowded communities in which they found themselves, or didn't especially care about electing local or national officials. Prior to September 1906, naturalization was a function of individual states and could take place in any court in the country. The number of years one had to be a resident fluctuated over time, and there were no restrictions about where you had to complete the process once you started it. And it was a process. First, an immigrant had to file a declaration of intention to become a citizen; these were often called first papers. The next step, after a certain number of years had passed, was a petition for citizenship, or final papers.

David Rencher, Irish Research Specialist, to Speak at October Irish SIG Meeting!

For anyone doing Irish research, knowing where to look and what is available, especially in Europe, can be confusing. What records are there? Where are they located? How does a researcher access them? The October meeting of the StLGS Irish Special Interest Group (SIG) will feature all the answers to these questions presented by one of the foremost authorities in the U.S. on Irish research, David Rencher. Best of all, this meeting will be open to everyone and will be absolutely free! Read on for all the details.

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.

Did Cousin John Go to Jail?

As we do our family history research, some of us are horrified to discover that not all of our ancestors were law-abiding citizens. We may find cattle rustlers, murderers, extortionists, bigamists, and any number of people in our family trees accused of and possibly incarcerated for their criminal activities. Our first thoughts might be to skip over those people because of their misdeeds, but the notoriety of these ancestors should alert us to record sets we might otherwise miss.