Correction to Irish SIG Meeting

So sorry. The Irish SIG meeting is Tuesday, 30 January and not Wednesday. We hope you will get there and enjoy the talk.

Timely Reminders and an Upcoming Meeting

Irish SIG Meeting

The first Irish Special Interest Group meeting of 2018 will be held this Tuesday, 30 January, at 7:00 p.m. in the auditorium at St. Louis County Library Headquarters. SIG co-leaders, Carol Hemmersmeier and Kay Weber, will discuss "Irish: The Movers and Builders." Curious about why and how early Irish immigrants came to Missouri? Want to know where they lived and what they did? Come learn the answers to these and more questions. SIG meetings are always free and open to everyone.

Reminders . . .

New on This Site

Are you checking the "New on This Site" button on the StLGS website's home page? Whenever we add anything new to the site, we link it to that button so you can find it easily. For instance, in December 2017, we added:

1. The 2018 StLGS calendar
2. The 2018 monthly meetings and special events flyer
3. More biographies to the StLGS City/County Biographies project
4. Records from Compton Hill Congregational and Centenary Methodist Churches

And, so far this January, we have added:

1. The winter/spring class schedule
2. The handout from the January 2018 monthly meeting, "Ask Your Questions," which is packed full of helpful information from our panel of genealogy professionals.
3. Records from St. Andrew UCC
4. Indexes and records from Messiah Lutheran Church 

Ready to check it out? You can click here to go to the 2018 "New on This Site" page.

Registration Open for Classes, Trivia Night, and the Family History Conference

Classes and Trivia Night tables are filling; you don't want to be left out! Have you registered yet? The first of our winter/spring classes is coming up next Sunday, 4 February, followed by four more interesting classes on the schedule. Classes are free to StLGS members and open to non-members for a fee. If you haven't yet taken a look at our early 2018 offerings, click here to go to the "Classes" page on our website.

As we mentioned last week, Trivia Night, our largest fund raising event, will be held on Saturday, 3 March 2018, at the Richmond Heights Community Center. This event is always a wonderful way to show support for the society while having lots of fun. Enjoy the wide variety of questions, the silent auction, the snacks, the extra ways to win prizes, and the camaraderie as you help us continue our mission of education, preservation, and publication. For more information and/or to register for Trivia Night, click here.

Our 47th annual Family History Conference, "Genealogy . . . Finding Your Way Online!" is coming up on Saturday, 7 April 2018, at Orlando Gardens, 2050 Dorsett Road, Maryland Heights, Mo. Featuring Pam Sayre, CG, FUGA, and Missouri State Archivist, John Dougan, this year's conference will also have five additional local speakers, exhibitors, prizes, raffles, and much more. This all-day event is a perfect way to enhance your research skills as you learn from experts in the field of genealogy. The doors open at 7:30 a.m. for registration material pick-up. The program begins at 8:15 a.m. You can learn more about the program, get directions to the venue, and/or register by clicking here.

StLGS Meetings and a Death in the Family

German SIG Meeting: FamilySearch

Even if you have no German roots, you will likely be interested in the first German Special Interest Group (SIG) meeting for 2018. StLGS Infosystems Director, Bob Goode, will speak on the important website FamilySearch.org at the meeting this Wednesday evening, 24 January, at 7:00 p.m. in the auditorium at St. Louis County Library Headquarters. The FamilySearch website, maintained by the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, is much more than just a catalog. Learn about the FamilySearch wiki, how to navigate the catalog, digitized books, and many more features included in this comprehensive free site. Although the focus will be on finding more information on German ancestors, all are welcome to come find out more about using this excellent resource.

Trivia Night: Saturday, 3 March 2018

Looking for a fun way to spend a Saturday evening in early March? Like to challenge your knowledge of all kinds of facts in a variety of subjects? Or maybe you would just like to show your support for St. Louis Genealogical Society and all our ongoing projects that need some financial backing? Whatever your motivation, we hope you will join us for the 9th annual Trivia Night, our major fund raising event of the year.

Trivia Night is held at the Richmond Heights Community Center, 8001 Dale Avenue, conveniently located one block south of I-64, just east of Hanley Road.

Doors open at 6:15 p.m. and the program begins promptly at 7:00 p.m. Soft drinks and light snacks are provided; outside food and beverages are welcomed. (PLEASE NOTE: Glass containers MUST be carried home at the end of the evening. The Center does not permit them in their recycling or trash.) 

Your trivia enjoyment includes a silent auction of fabulous baskets. (We'll show you some sneak peaks in a future blog!) In addition to the trivia rounds, we'll play 50/50 and Dead or Alive. There will be cash prizes and mulligans will be available. Questions are NOT about genealogy; they are prepared by an experienced trivia hostess and cover an assortment of topics at levels that range from "easy-peasy" to "Really? Who knows that one?"

Ready to register? We welcome you to come individually or with a friend or two for $20 per person. If you have a group, it's $160 per table of eight. You can buy your tickets online or download a registration form from our website and mail it into the StLGS office. Questions? Contact Karen Goode, Trivia Night chair, at programs@stlgs.org .

For more information and a flyer, click here.

To register online at our secure store, click here.

For a link to Google maps, click here.

In Memoriam: Barbara (Lusk) Savalick

We are sorry to report that former StLGS president, Barbara Savalick, passed away on Sunday, 14 January 2018. Barb was very active in the society in the early 2000s, when she served as president from 2001 to 2005. During her tenure, StLGS was invited to be local host for one of the first GEN-TECH conferences, then under the auspices of the National Genealogical Society. Held in downtown St. Louis, the conference attracted a very large crowd in the early days of using technology to enhance genealogy research. Barb was chair of the annual Family History Conference in 2006 and continued to write for the society's Quarterly journal, where she contributed book reviews and some articles.

Barb had a distinguished career before coming to volunteer at StLGS. She was a supervisor at the Defense Mapping Agency Aerospace Center in St. Louis and was appointed manager for the Federal Women's group representing St. Louis. She went on to become president of the St. Louis chapter of that group. She also served as mayor of Bella Villa, a small village just south of the St. Louis City limits in St. Louis County. She was re-elected several times and was quite proud of that.

In addition to her love of genealogy, Barb was always surrounded by pets, especially her beloved dogs, and she was happiest when she was spending time in the country, on her farm in Monroe County, Missouri, where she was born.

A memorial service will be held in the spring in Shelbina, Missouri, where Barb will be at rest with family members. We extend our deepest sympathy to her sister Ruth, her step-daughters, Debbie and Pattie, and her nieces and nephews.

Ask Louie Relaunches and Registration is Open for Winter/Spring Classes

Ask Louie Relaunches

For the past few years, StLGS has had a lookup service called Ask Louie. Originally meant for members only to ask for research strategies, Ask Louie often was flooded with requests that took hours of volunteer time to fulfill. As a result, in late fall 2017, we decided to take another look at how the service worked to see if we couldn't do a better job of helping our members.

The Ask Louie committee has now proudly relaunched the service with a few major changes.

• Ask Louie is now open to everyone, not just StLGS members.
• The committee will answer just one question at a time and only after the submitter has done some research on his/her own.
• Volunteers will not do research for you; they will, however, direct you to sources, repositories, and websites, or, if necessary, suggest you try hiring a professional genealogist who can help answer your question.

On the Ask Louie page on the StLGS website, you will find specific instructions and a link to some suggestions for how to ask a good question. You will also find a link to a flyer that lists St. Louis resources for research. All of these items may prove to be helpful as you think about how Ask Louie can be of service to you.

To access the Ask Louie web page, click here.

❀

2018 Winter/Spring Classes

One of the benefits of StLGS membership is free classes for members, and the winter/spring classes are now posted online so you can register. Please remember that you must pre-register as classes may be cancelled or filled to capacity and we need to be able to notify you.

Featured for this session are five classes:

• Foundations of Genealogy, Part One, Sunday, 4 February
• Foundations of Genealogy, Part Two, Sunday, 11 February
• Intermediate Irish Research, Saturday, 10 March
• Advanced RootsMagic, Saturday, 24 March
• Meyers Gazetteer and Other Parish Finding Aids, Saturday, 28 April

For more details and information on how to register, click here. 

Society News

Happy New Year! We hope you had a wonderful holiday season and have made it through the freezing cold, snow, ice, and airport turmoil of the past few weeks. Time to turn thoughts to genealogy once again in preparation for an exciting year of new discoveries.

We'll start this new year by sharing some updates on society news and events. As you know, we suspended publication of our monthly newsletter, News 'n Notes, with the December issue. Now it's important for you to stay up to date with us via social media and our website (and, of course, this weekly blog!) If you aren't part of our Facebook or Twitter groups, please join. It's free, simple, and wonderfully interactive. You'll get the latest news in minutes and can also meet other genealogists and learn from them, if you are interested.

 

You can join us on Twitter by clicking here.

You can join us on Facebook by clicking here.

Office News

Just before the holidays, we updated the telephone system in the office. For the first time in almost two decades, we now have a modern, reliable phone network. Thanks to our technology director, Eric Wilson, and his trusty assistants, Mark Madrasz and Bob Goode, for their hard work on getting everything set up. And thanks to those of you who have called in while we were learning to use the new system for your patience. We now have the voice mail working properly and can usually transfer a call without losing it!

With the new year also came new positions for some of the office staff. Karen Goode has assumed her elected position of vice-president of programs. Viki Fagyal, who had held that position, has moved into the treasurer's seat, and Ed Dolata, former treasurer, has taken over as vice-president for membership. Both Viki and Ed have held those jobs before, so they are already up and running at their respective desks.

We had some website issues during the late fall that caused us to fall a bit behind on processing pages for St. Louis Congregations, St. Louis City/County Biographies, and back issues of the StLGS Quarterly. Again, thank you for your patience as we now begin to catch up on all of these pages. Watch the "New on This Site" page on our website during the next few weeks to see all of the exciting additions we have for you!

Reminders . . .

January Monthly Meeting

Our first monthly meeting of the new year will take place on Saturday, 13 January, at 10 a.m. in the auditorium at the Headquarters building of the St. Louis County Library, 1640 South Lindbergh Boulevard. We'll start the year with a panel discussion where you can "Ask Your Questions." We hope to see you there.

Trivia Night

This popular fundraiser will take place on Saturday, 3 March, at the Maplewood/Richmond Heights Community Center. Always a fun-filled occasion, this evening event has rounds of interesting questions, a fabulous silent auction, and bonus rounds with excellent prizes. Registration is now open, and we do hope you will invite friends or just come by yourself and make new ones. Click here for more information and/or to register on our website.

Annual Family History Conference: Genealogy . . .  Finding Your Way Online!

Please join us at this year's all-day conference: Genealogy . . .  Finding Your Way Online! Featuring nationally-known author, instructor, and lecturer, Pam Sayre; Missouri State Archivist, John Dougan, and some of our experienced local speakers, this year's conference will take place on Saturday, 7 April, at Orlando Gardens in Maryland Heights. Registration is now open. Click here for more information and/or to register on our website.