StLGS July Genealogy Meetings

Summer has arrived most definitely throughout the world, so we hope you are staying cool and dry! We have some interesting meetings this month, air conditioned at both our office and the St. Louis County Library! Please don't forget that the deadline for early registration for our Salt Lake City Research Trip is tomorrow, June 30th, and remember that you can still watch the digital recordings of our Family History Conference for another two weeks by registering to view them. All the information you need is below. . . . 

Juneteenth and Father's Day: A Weekend to Celebrate!

This past weekend was one for honoring the men in our lives, particularly those who helped make our very existence possible. The courage and perseverance of our ancestors who fought for our rights, stood up to injustice, and worked tirelessly for our betterment is vividly portrayed in the following short biographies of some lesser-known but outstanding St. Louisans. We wrote recently about Archer Alexander and John Berry Meachum; if you missed that post, you can find it here. And now we hope you enjoy learning about the contributions of some additional important men of color.

Reclaim the Records Needs Us Again

We always try to help our friends at this wonderful organization because they are fighting our battles for us all over the United States. We've written about Reclaim the Records many times, and for those of you just joining us, let us introduce you to one of the most vibrant and hardworking of genealogy organizations. This not-for-profit group of genealogists and lawyers goes head-to-head with governmental agencies over and over again to keep public records public, prevent bureaucrats from denying vital records to genealogists and historians, and ensure that Freedom of Information Act requests are granted as they should be everywhere. It's a hard job, and they rely on all of us to help them, since they are doing it for us.

Happy Fourteenth Anniversary to Our Blog!

Unless Sunday, June 7th is an important one for your family, you probably did not have the date marked on your calendar. Honestly, neither did we until we started going through some past blog posts to begin the long process of discarding out-of-date information in preparation for some big changes coming to the StLGS website. It was, therefore, a complete surprise to rediscover that the StLGS News Flash began its run on 7 June 2012, fourteen years from yesterday.

June 2026 Genealogy Meetings

Summer is in sight, and many of us are firming up our vacation plans. Luckily, all of our upcoming meetings will be recorded, so you can attend in person when you are able or watch them at your leisure if you have a scheduling conflict or two. We are planning some exciting fall events, but until those plans are finalaized and ready for us to announce them, we want to remind you about the deadlines for registering for our Salt Lake City Research Trip or watching the digital recordings of the Family History Conference. Here's what's on tap for June . . . 

Honoring Our Deceased Military Ancestors for Memorial Day: National Cemeteries and Monuments

On this day of remembrance, we’d like to acquaint you with a government entity that you may not be aware of but which holds burial information on thousands of our military ancestors. The American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), located in Arlington, Virginia, “maintains twenty-six permanent American military cemeteries, thirty-one federal memorials, monuments, and markers in seventeen foreign countries.” A total of more than 200,000 deceased service members are honored at ABMC sites, and you can visit in person or search on the website to see what information may be available for your ancestors.

Those Pesky Passwords are the Key to Your Digital Legacy

You’ve just encountered a new website, created a username and a unique password, and are ready to spend a few hours researching, looking for a special gift, or just watching a recording or two. We do this mindlessly now, since we have to do it so often. For most websites, it hardly matters, since we may only use them for a little while and then move on. But think about those websites that you use all the time, perhaps where you do your banking or access your stock market updates, places where you’ve stored credit card numbers, and, for most of us, sites where we have stored family trees, photos, documents, and DNA results. Have you thought of what happens to that information when you can no longer maintain it? It's scary to face our own mortality, but let’s look at some options.