April 2021 Genealogy Meetings, Classes, and Events

Spring is here! We know the temptation is to get outside, but on those days when it's cloudy, cool, and rainy, or even if it's a sunny day but you just want to continue your genealogy journey, we have you covered! Our 2021 virtual schedule continues, with more interesting online webinars and classes, and, of course, the excitement is building for our annual Family History Conference, which also will be online again this year. Get out your calendars and be sure you have these April (and early May) dates jotted down!

"Now You Know Your A, B, C's," Or Do You?

One of the first songs we learn as children is the “Alphabet Song,” and even though we don’t really understand what “ellamenopee” means, most of us somehow get the sequence of twenty-six English letters down pat by the time we are ready to read. We know, of course, that our language is always changing. Think of all the new words added to our vocabulary just in the past decade. But when you are working with documents generated by previous generations or those created in countries from which your ancestors arrived in America, you may not realize how much alphabets change, and how those changes can affect your family history research.

Free Genealogy Webinars are Just a Click Away!

Twelve months of mostly being at home has given many of us the chance to explore new ways of learning using our computers or tablets. Have you discovered the benefits of free webinars yet? Did you know you can watch thousands of digital recordings without any fees at all? Yes, sometimes there are advertisements, but they are relatively unobtrusive and easily passed over. By now, many of us also know that there are instructions online for just about anything we want to do. In fact, just last week, like magic, a two-minute YouTube video saved this writer a trip to the store and the price of a new pneumatic door closer when just a few squeezes of a piece of metal with a strong pair of pliers was all it needed. OK, that was fixer-upper stuff—what about our favorite hobby? Are there free webinars available on genealogy? Indeed there are, and here are some places you can start to look for them.

Locating Records for Sisters of St. Joseph at the Carondelet Consolidated Archive

(Thanks to StLGS office manager, Margie Giblin, for presenting the idea and some information for this week's blog.)

March has been designated Women’s History Month, and there are numerous websites, articles, and exhibits everywhere this month honoring women who have served in their communities in many capacities. We often discover that finding our female ancestors can be difficult for a variety of reasons, and so we sometimes stop trying because we’ve run out of ideas on where to look next. What if one of your ancestors was a Catholic nun? Are there records you can search to find out more about her? Well, if she was part of the Sisters of St. Joseph, the answer is a surprising “Yes!” and many of those records are right here in St. Louis where the motherhouse is located.

March 2021 StLGS Genealogy Meetings, Classes, and Events

Just a few more weeks, and spring will arrive, at last! As we are moving into 2021, it's become clear that Zoom meetings are here to stay and that we can continue to learn and share with each other via technology. We are so excited about engaging those of you who reside outside the St. Louis area or who cannot travel to an in-person meeting. We miss you and look forward to the day when we can meet again in person, but in the meantime, we are continuing to plan for many interesting and exciting programs for the rest of this year as webinars. Here is what is coming up in March and a bit beyond, like our annual Family History Conference!