Celebrating the Winter Holidays, Part 2

Last week’s blog post focused on some winter holiday traditions, including Christmas trees. (If you missed it, you can read it here.) Of course, a lot of the fun in having a tree for Christmas is decorating it with ornaments. However, decorating indoor trees with man-made objects was much slower to catch on than previous traditions, and, like the trees themselves, the first ornaments came from Germany. This week we will meet a fascinating German immigrant who made St. Louis his home and might very well have helped your family to have a brighter Christmas.

Celebrating the Winter Holidays, Part I

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, you’ve probably begun decorating your house for the rest of the holiday season. Whether it’s lights and inflatable snowmen outside or an “Elf on the Shelf” resting comfortably on the living room mantel, most of us are fascinated by holiday decorations. If you celebrate Chanukah, you have started lighting candles and spinning dreidels, and if you are celebrating Christmas, you have likely already got your Christmas tree up and have hung all the family's favorite ornaments on its branches. As we like to do around the holidays every year, let’s look at how our ancestors passed down these traditions to us.

StLGS to Host Photo Scanning Event with Missouri State Archives

Do you have photographs documenting Missouri history tucked away in your attic, closet, basement, or even on your cellphone? Are you interested in safeguarding these treasures and helping to grow the photographic history of the state? You can help the Missouri State Archives preserve the Show-Me State’s now 200+ year history by submitting images to the Missouri Bicentennial Photograph Drive. Attend a photo-scanning open house at the St. Louis Genealogical Society office in January 2024, and help preserve some of our state's history. Learn how you can be part of an important ongoing project by reading on!

It's Time for Our Annual Genealogy Gift-Giving Guide!

Every year about this time, we publish our "Genealogy Gift Guide," filled with ideas for the genealogists on your holiday shopping list. We have a wide variety of gift suggestions. You can purchase some in the stores and most online. Something here is sure to fit the bill for that family historian on your annual gift-giving list whether you get into your car or shop comfortably at your computer. Have fun fulfilling someone's (or your own) wish lists!

New Additions to the StLGS Website, Part II: Cemetery Maps

Last week, we announced the first of some wonderful new additions to our StLGS website, and, as promised, this week we have more! We told you about the new Missouri Territorial Papers collection, with hundreds of names of early St. Louis residents who signed petitions concerning their governance and land ownership. If you missed that post, you can read it on our Blogspot site. This week, we have another exciting addition to the website, thanks to our resident mapping guru, Jim Bellenger. Read on for all the details . . .

Announcing Exciting New Additions to the StLGS Website: Part I

The St. Louis Genealogical Society's website, https://stlgs.org, reflects the society's ever-growing commitment to its mission of "collecting, preserving, and publishing genealogical and historical records." Almost all our volunteers work towards enhancing the website in myriad ways so that anyone with an interest in St. Louis can benefit from our efforts. During the past few months, we have been adding some exciting new online collections, and we are now ready to share them with you. The first will be of special interest to anyone whose roots go back to the earliest years of St. Louis and the Missouri Territory. Even if your ancestors are not represented in these lists, you may find the historical information and the familiar old St. Louis names to be fascinating. Here are the details.

StLGS Election Results and Three New Books for Sale in Our Store!

Thanks to all of you who voted in the election for two of our 2024–2025 officers. With unanimous votes, Michelle Pearce has been reelected treasurer, and Donna Foelsch will take over as vice president for programs beginning in January. We’d like to say a huge thank you to Kay Weber, who currently holds that position and is ready to step down and hand the reins to Donna. Kay has worked tirelessly during the past few years to ensure the society’s meetings, classes, and special events have been of wide-ranging appeal. She has juggled countless schedules, phone calls, texts, and emails, so our meetings could run as smoothly as possible. Because of her efforts, all of us have greatly benefitted, and we thank her from the bottoms of our hearts for all she has done for StLGS. In addition to her job as vice president for programs, Kay is co-leader of our Irish SIG, and we look forward to her continuing in that position in the future.

And now for some great new books just added to our online store, of special interest to those of you whose ancestors may have served in the military fighting for the Union during the Civil War . . .

November/December Genealogy Meetings, Classes, and a Special Event at Sappington House

Happy Halloween! We are coming to the end of another year of genealogy meetings, classes, and special events, and, as fall finally arrives, StLGS volunteers are hard at work planning next year's exciting calendar of events. Our November monthly meeting will again be at the Grant's View branch of St. Louis County Library but will also be livestreamed for those who can't attend in person. We have our last Jewish SIG meeting in early December, and two more classes are on the fall schedule. Our friends at Historic Sappington House have a very special event to announce, of special interest to those whose roots go back to early St. Louis. Also, StLGS members, tomorrow, Tuesday, 31 October, is the last day to vote in our annual election of officers! More information about everything is below.

Baby Gardens and Potters' Fields: Burying Babies and Poor People

With Halloween around the corner, this week seems like a good time to talk a bit about burial customs for the most vulnerable of our ancestors. In the past, we have covered several related topics, and you might want to check out some of them before we move into looking at how some infants, children, and poor people were treated at the ends of their lives.

“Did Our Ancestors Trick or Treat?” 25 October 2021

“Funeral Rituals and Traditions, Part 1” 19 April 2021

“Funeral Rituals and Traditions, Part II” 26 April 2021

“Broken Mirrors and Spilled Salt: Some of our Ancestors’ Superstitions,” 26 October 2020

If Only Geographic Borders Didn't Change!

It certainly makes it easier to do genealogy if your family lived in the same place for hundreds of years, doesn’t it? Well, maybe. The reality is that over time, borders are always changing. As America became more settled by non-native people, the borders of cities, counties, colonies, and then states were forever shifting. In Europe, centuries of disputes over who ruled what and where meant that stability was the exception and not the norm. What do movable boundaries mean for those of us trying to research our families?

Newly Revised Missouri Birth and Death Indexes Online!

Just about a month ago, our friends at Reclaim the Records announced the release of birth and marriage indexes from Connecticut (which we told you about in a post on 6 September; if you missed it, you can read it here.) This week, they announced another exciting victory, one which may be much closer to home for many of us. Although this hardworking group had already obtained indexes for some births and deaths in Missouri, they have now been able to add about a million new names to what had previously been published. But it was not without an expensive fight! Here are all the exciting details.

Google Patents May Add to Your Family History AND StLGS Members, It's Time to Vote!

We already know that many of our ancestors were hard-working and industrious. They often had to be in order to survive. A lot of our ancestors were also extremely creative as they made their way through what often was a difficult world. Not satisfied with the status quo, they looked for ways to improve their lives. A few weeks ago, we told you about a woman named Nancy Donaldson Johnson, who invented and patented an ice cream freezer in 1843. (Did you miss that post? You can find it here.) How can you learn more about your own ancestors who might have been inventors? Once again, Google is your friend. Read on to learn about one of its best-kept secrets, Google Patents. (And if you are a member of StLGS, be sure to check out the information at the end of this post; it's voting time again!)

October StLGS Genealogy Meetings and Events

We hope our recent post on pumpkins got you thinking of autumn, even if it still feels summery outside. (Did you miss that blog? You can find it here.) We thank everyone who helped make our Fall Speaker Series so successful, and we look forward to welcoming all of you to some upcoming meetings and classes. Our October monthly meeting will be at the Grant's View branch of St. Louis County Library, but it will also be livestreamed for those who can't attend in person. We have an Irish SIG meeting in October, and some great classes are coming up. More information about everything is below.

Another Farewell and Calculating Days of the Week for Genealogy

We learned this week of the death of another St. Louis Genealogical Society volunteer, Don Wallace, who was instrumental in getting the society's congregations and cemetery projects underway on our website, and we were sorry to hear of his passing. More on Don and his contributions to StLGS in the "In Memoriam" section at the beginning of this post.

When you were young, you might have had an older relative who delighted in reciting an old English nursery rhyme to you concerning the day on which you were born. Or perhaps, you may have pulled the poem out when your first child, grandchild, niece, or nephew was born. It's a sweet ditty, although how accurate it is is questionable, but it reminds us that knowing the day of the week on which an event falls is sometimes important. This week we will take a look at perpetual calendars, how they work, and where you can find them.

Autumn Traditions are in the Air

Although it's still very warm in parts of the United States, those of us in the Midwest are enjoying some cool, comfortable weather this week. In fact, the nights are feeling downright autumnal! Stores are filled with the bright colors of Halloween decorations, and those of us who need our yearly fix of pumpkin doughnuts, pumpkin muffins, and the ever-popular pumpkin spice lattes, are blissfully eating and drinking our way into the season. Did you know that pumpkins have a long, interesting history? If your ancestors were in this country or in South or Central America, they likely ate, cooked, and/or carved pumpkins throughout their lives. Read on for more!

Another Victory for Reclaim the Records!

We want to thank one of our readers, Bob Meinhardt, for reminding us about the newest accomplishment of the exciting, hardworking genealogy group, Reclaim the Records. The last time we wrote about this amazing organization was in February 2020, when we introduced you to them and what they were doing on behalf of all genealogists throughout the U.S. to make public records truly public. (You can read that previous post here.)

September Genealogy Meetings, Upcoming Classes, and Fall Speaker Series

It feels like the summer has flown by, doesn't it? But fall is almost here, and we are excited about our remaining meetings, some new upcoming classes, and our hybrid Fall Speaker Series. All the details to get you started with our fall event schedule are below.

St. Louis Through the Ages: Exploring the City of Your Ancestors

Many of us have deep roots in St. Louis. Even if you don’t have ancestors who lived here, if you have lived in St. Louis for a good part of your life, you likely feel very close to the city’s history. For those reasons, we invite you to attend “St. Louis Through the Ages: Exploring the City of Your Ancestors,” our annual Fall Speaker Series, featuring Emily Jaycox and Dennis Northcott from the Missouri History Museum’s Library and Research Center. Emily and Dennis will present four lectures on Saturday, 16 September 2023, from 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. (Central) at the StLGS office, 4 Sunnen Drive, Suite 140, Maplewood, MO 63143.

Our Ancestors' Killer Cures: Part Three of Three

Long ago, people’s knowledge of medicine was quite limited. Doctors, who were accessible mostly to the rich, were trained in the best way they could be, given no one really understood what was making people ill until well into the nineteenth century. For hundreds of years, most people never saw doctors; they relied on “wise-women,” monks and nuns, apothecaries, and barber-surgeons who understood and likely grew herbs and other plants that might or might not be effective in treating illness. People were extremely superstitious, believing in magic and witchcraft, so cures based on magic stones and charms and driving out evil spirits were popular. 

NGS Announces Continuation of War of 1812 Project

The War of 1812 began on the heels of the American Revolution and had the new nation scrambling once again for sovereignty over Great Britain. Having won their independence in 1783, the former colonists now found themselves facing British troops hoping to keep them from moving further westward into North America. Enlisting the help of several indigenous tribes also eager to keep the restless settlers from taking more land, Great Britain’s troops began an assault on America from both land and sea.

StLGS August Meetings AND Registration for the Fall Speaker Series Opens!

We usually refer to the hot, humid, days of August as the "dog days of summer." But that doesn't mean you should be deprived of exciting genealogy events! Join us for these upcoming August meetings that should allow you to stay cool and learn at the same time! And registration is now open for our exciting hybrid Fall Speaker Series. Read on for all the details . . .

Biographies for Sale at the StLGS Trading Post and Beyond

Do you often wish someone had written a biography or family history to help move your genealogy along? Maybe someone did write an article or a book. You can use search engines to find books about your family, or you can see if someone has donated a book to the StLGS Trading Post, where we sell gently-used history and genealogy books donated to the society by members and friends.

Even Our Ancestors Enjoyed Ice Cream!

Yesterday, Sunday, July 16th, is probably not a date that you had circled on your calendar, unless, of course, there was a birthday in your family or in your circle of friends. So, in case you missed it, yesterday was National Ice Cream Day, giving us a perfect opportunity to celebrate a favorite summer treat that was likely enjoyed by most of our ancestors as well as by most of us!

Find Your Ancestors in the Newly-Released 1931 Canadian Census

If you have ancestors from Canada, you know that there is a Canadian census, like ours, conducted every ten years, but unlike ours, a complete national census is not available before 1871, since Canada did not become a confederation until 1867. The first census for the Confederation of Canada covers just the four original provinces: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario. The next census, in 1881, covered the entire country as it existed then. There are earlier censuses for Canada, but they are for individual provinces and territories. All these early censuses are digitized and available online, most on FamilySearch for free and on Ancestry and Findmypast with a subscription. For a complete listing of available Canadian censuses and where they are located, see the article in the FamilySearch wiki, called “Canada Census.”

StLGS Office Update AND July Meetings and Classes

Happy Fourth of July! As we mentioned a few weeks ago, the StLGS office in Maplewood is getting a much-needed facelift, and work is in full swing. The painters have finished applying a double coat of a soft grayish-white paint on all the walls, a big improvement over the dull pink that was previously there. This last week, the carpet installers removed the old, faded pinkish/gray-blue carpet in the more traveled areas of the office and replaced it with a bright navy/mauve textured one. The next step will be a thorough top to bottom cleaning by a professional crew. This is, of course, taking time and hard work. Read on for more details!

Some of Our Ancestors' Killer Occupations: Part Two of Three

Our first post in this mini-series (published on 12 June 2023) highlighted the chemicals many of our ancestors smeared on and/or ingested as they sought to make themselves look better. This week, we'll focus on how they often endangered their health while working. The hazards of some jobs are obvious. We know that miners of all kinds faced multiple dangers: roof collapse, flooding, and constant inhaling of dust and debris that poisoned their lungs. Our ancestors who worked in factories regularly breathed particles of whatever substance was in the unventilated air, leading to permanent lung damage. The hazards of working in the early years of the industrial age were enormous, as most of the factories were unregulated. But let’s consider jobs that some of our ancestors had that were equally hard on their health but which we don’t often think were all that dangerous. 

Introducing the Genealogy Center at the Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, Indiana

Summer is a perfect time to pack up the car and take a genealogy road trip. Are you ready? How about a ride to northern Indiana through beautiful farmland (and just a few construction zones) to the second largest genealogy collection in the U.S.—the Allen County Public Library? Located in downtown Fort Wayne, the Genealogy Center at the Allen County Public Library is second in size only to the FamilySearch (Family History) Library in Salt Lake City. At 367,000 square feet, it occupies a bright, spacious location on the second floor of a library that was entirely rebuilt in 2007. Here's why you might want to consider a trip there.

Our Ancestors' Killer Fashion Trends, Part I: What We Do for Vanity!

Over the centuries, fashion trends have come and gone, as have humans’ need to follow them. People have coated their faces in makeup, ingested all kinds of materials “guaranteed” to make them look and feel better, and worn clothing and accessories made from a wide assortment of materials. In doing so, they have also exposed themselves and the people who created all these products to an array of toxic chemicals, some of which eventually killed the makers, some the users, and some, both.

Free Genealogy Webinars Offered by the National Archives

Now that the weather has warmed up and spending hours outside might not be an attractive alternative if you live in a steamy summer climate like St. Louis, you may be looking for some online genealogy classes. Of course, we hope you will take advantage of the classes StLGS is offering this summer, and you can check them out on the “Classes” page on the StLGS website.  But if you are looking for more, we want to tell you about a free series of lectures sponsored by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

StLGS Office News AND June Meetings and Classes

Happy Memorial Day! The St. Louis Genealogical Society office in Maplewood has been our home for almost a quarter of a century. Its original pink walls and blue/pink/grey carpet have held up remarkably well, but the years have marched on, and our office is in much need of an update. With our landlord's approval, we have chosen paint to brighten the walls and carpet to replace torn and battered spots, and we have recently received word from our landlord that our long-awaited facelift has been approved and is about to begin. Please read on for details . . .

Long-awaited Changes Come to Find a Grave!

Many of us use the website Find a Grave on a regular basis. Some of us have created memorial pages for our ancestors; some just mine the pages created by others. For those not familiar with the site, Find a Grave is a free website that is owned by Ancestry. It is crowdsourced, meaning the data on the site is submitted by volunteers who visit cemeteries for the purpose of photographing tombstones and adding biographical information on individuals and by others who may have direct connections to the people whose pages they maintain or visit.

New on the StLGS Website . . .

It’s been a while since we have brought you updates from the StLGS website, https://stlgs.org, so this week, we will catch you up. During the past few months, our volunteers have been working hard to add new data to our congregations project, upload new biographies, update and correct cemetery data, and add new information from donated memorabilia.

How Did Our Ancestors Handle Summer?

We genealogists talk a lot about putting "meat on the bones," and this week, we want to coax you once again to do just that. As we finally get into some hot weather, let's reflect on our ancestors who endured summer heat and humidity in the past. How did they cope without modern conveniences? As you transition from your winter wardrobe to your summer clothes, feel the cool air in your house when you turn on the air conditioner for the season, or open the refrigerator to pour yourself a cold drink, think about the people who came before you and how they managed.

May/June StLGS Genealogy Meetings and Events

This time of year is filled with happy celebrations: Earth Day, Mother's Day, graduations, Father's Day, and perhaps you have family birthdays or other special days in the spring too. We hope you enjoy spending time with your loved ones, but we also hope you will find a bit of time to spend with your fellow genealogists enjoying a meeting or other event. Here is what is on offer for May and June.

A Little-Used Genealogy Resource: Legal Notices in Newspapers

One of the lectures in our upcoming 2023 annual Family History Conference will be “Advertising the Law: The Gems in Legal Notices,” presented by our featured speaker, Judy Russell. If you have used newspapers in your research for the wide array of information you can find in them, you have probably seen those notices, but maybe you skipped over them because you were searching for a feature article or an obituary. However, you might want to pay a bit more attention once you see how valuable a resource those little ads can be.

Missouri in the War of 1812

Were your families in what is now Missouri before 1812? Did you know the War of 1812 included men from Missouri? St. Louis Genealogical Society has published a set of books, The War of 1812 in Missouri, volumes 1 and 2, that may move your research forward for those early families. These volumes are rich in the history of the pioneers and Native Americans who were in the Mississippi and Missouri River Valleys during the early nineteenth century. The editors have added maps, glossaries, bibliographies, and indexes filling both volumes with valuable information for researchers of the time period. The maps alone are a Missouri researcher's gold mine.

Planning Ahead to Attend a Genealogy Conference

Have you made plans yet to register for our annual Family History Conference on Saturday, 6 May? Whether it’s your first time or you are an old pro at attending conferences and workshops, there are some tried and true steps you can take to make the most of your experience. So, if you are thinking about (or have already registered for) the StLGS conference, the National Genealogical Society Conference at the end of May, or any other upcoming genealogy day-long or multi-day event, here are some helpful reminders.

StLGS April Genealogy Meetings AND Remember to Register for the Family History Conference!

As the weather warms and spring gets underway, we know you are thinking about getting outside and enjoying more activities with others. So why not join your genealogy friends at St. Louis Genealogical Society for some new and interesting meetings and classes? We have lots going on during the next few weeks, and whether you attend in person or via Zoom, we look forward to seeing you. That said, here's what is coming up . . .

World Backup Day is March 31st; Are Your Genealogy Files Safe?

We all know that April 1st is April Fool’s Day, but you probably didn’t know that the day before, March 31st, is World Backup Day. Now, perhaps you are wondering, what on earth is that, and why does it matter? We have all come to rely on technology for so much in our lives, and we often assume it’s going to just work all the time. Sadly, that is not the case. Anything electronic is subject to sudden glitches, and that could mean a damaged file, a file that doesn’t save properly, a file that suddenly disappears, or, even worse, an entire hard drive that malfunctions. What would happen to all your genealogy research if your computer malfunctioned?

Standards for Sound Genealogical Research from the National Genealogical Society

A cold, blustery, winter day was the perfect time to tackle a pile of old genealogy magazines before relegating them to the recycling bin. It would have been perfectly logical to just pop them into the gaping blue hole, but what if there were something valuable still to be learned in one of those twenty-five-year-old journals? And, of course, there was!

On St. Patrick's Day We Can All be a Little Irish!

Even if you haven't a single drop of Irish ancestry, March 17th, St. Patrick's Day, has become a holiday for everyone to feel Irish. So for at least a day, you can put on something green, eat corned beef and cabbage, drink green beer, and watch or participate in a merry parade. If you are in a big city, perhaps the streets are repainted with green stripes or fountains (or even the Chicago River) are dyed green. But maybe, as genealogists, we should take a minute to determine exactly what really came from Ireland and what has been made more recently in America!

March StLGS Genealogy Meetings and Our 2023 Annual Family History Conference

Our genealogy year is off to a wonderful start! We have been excited to welcome many of you back as our meetings return to in-person. And we are incredibly pleased that many of you are participating in our events virtually when you can't be with us on-site. Thank you all! March is a busy month, as we have begun planning for our 51st annual Family History Conference and for more classes and events later in the year. Here is what is coming up soon . . .

Action Needed from Genealogists to Prevent Unreasonable Fee Hike!

Did you know the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), formerly known as the Immigration and Naturalization Service, has a genealogy records program? This program gives the public access to copies of immigration and naturalization records dating from the beginning of federal immigration records in 1893 into the 1950s. However, the program has not been supported adequately, and now, because of a proposed hike in fees, these valuable documents may become far less available to genealogists. Read on for more information and how you can help to save access to these records.

Ready to Volunteer? StLGS Needs You!

Have you ever thought about volunteering for your local genealogical or historical society? There are so many different volunteer opportunities available, and right now at StLGS we are actively looking for new volunteers. Do you have IT or Windows Server experience? Do you have writing, editing, or graphics and layout publishing skills? Do you have experience working with printing or copying? Do you have the knowledge and expertise to teach a class on a specific topic or topics? Would you enjoy indexing church or synagogue, funeral home, or cemetery records? Are you willing and able to translate Spanish, French, or German?

Registration Open for the 2023 StLGS Annual Family History Conference!

 51st Annual Family History Conference!

Explore Unique Pathways to Smash Brick Walls!

Saturday, 6 May 2023

Featuring Judy Russell, JD, The Legal Genealogist®

Also: Jen Baldwin, John Dougan, Greg Hilton, and Christina Miller

Maryland Heights Community Center, 2300 McKelvey Road, St. Louis, MO 63043

This will be held as a hybrid event. Join us for a full day of lectures, exhibitors, and a chance to chat over morning coffee or lunch. If you can't attend in person, join us via Zoom. All the lectures will be recorded, and everyone will have access to all eight lectures after the conference. For those coming to the Maryland Heights Community Center, a box lunch can be purchased for an optional fee.

Saturday's Program (All times are Central Time Zone)

9:30 a.m.: Doors open

9:50 a.m.: Opening Remarks 

10:00 a.m.: "Through the Golden Door: Immigration After the Civil War," by Judy Russell

AND "Documents to Databases: Using the Missouri State Archives' Newest Resource," by John Dougan

11:15 a.m.: "Advertising the Law: The Gems in the Legal Notices," by Judy Russell 

AND "Documents to Databases: Using the Missouri State Archives' Land and Judicial Databases" by Christina Miller

1:15 p.m.: "Of Delinquents and Common Scolds: Women, Children, and Criminal Justice," 

by Judy Russell AND "Findmypast: Your Source for British and Irish Research," by Jen Baldwin

2:30 p.m.: "After the Courthouse Burns: Rekindling Family History Through DNA," by

Judy Russell AND "Why You Should Care Where Your Family Bible Is," by Greg Hilton

Complete details of each lecture and speaker bios are on our website. When you go to the conference page, be sure to click on the links to the Lectures and Speakers pages. (Those links are in the upper right-hand corner of the page.)

Registration for the Conference

Registration for the 2023 Family History Conference is now open. The cost is $60 for StLGS members and $70 for non-members. All of the information you need to register is on our website. 

Once you have registered, you will receive an invitation to the FHC via the email address you provide. (Note: The email will come to you during the week before the conference.) Those attending in person will receive a paper syllabus. Everyone will have access to the syllabus as a downloadable PDF from a link on our website as well as all eight digital recordings.

Questions? Send an email to programs@stlgs.org and the vice-president for programs will get back to you. 

We can't wait to help you "Explore Unique Pathways to Smash Brick Walls!"

StLGS Trading Post Offers Atlases and Maps for Genealogists

Do you know where your family lived in relation to other family members or to the people who signed as witnesses on baptisms, deeds, wills or other documents? Maps help provide answers to where a family lived. And historic maps may include the names of landowners in a place and time. These maps may even help you locate the exact plot of ground where your family lived, so you can stand at their old homestead or even find a family burial ground.

StLGS February Genealogy Meetings and Events

Our genealogy year has gotten off to a great start, and we hope yours has too. We have had excellent attendance at all of our January meetings, and now we look forward to February. Meetings will continue to be presented as hybrid when possible so those of you who are unable to attend in person can participate. If you missed the January "Ask Louie" Q & A meeting or the first German or Irish SIG meetings, all the digital recordings are posted on our website. February features a fascinating glimpse at cemetery research, a Jewish SIG meeting on Russian revision lists, and two more upcoming classes. Read on for more . . .

StLGS Launches New Registration Process for In-Person Genealogy Classes

As we begin our new year of genealogy classes at StLGS, we are striving to make things easier to attend in-person at our office by updating our online registration process and making it possible for those of you who are not members but live in St. Louis to attend in-person as well. Here are all the details you need to know about our revised registration procedure for in-person attendance. (Please note that Zoom registration for both livestreamed and recorded classes is still for StLGS members only and remains the same.)

Honoring Ancestors of Color in our Genealogy Research

While we cannot change or erase the stormy history of our country, this day honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is a good time to reflect on what we can do to right some of the wrongs of the past and to learn more about members of minority groups that have been long overlooked. To that end, we want to share some stories and websites that might help you learn a bit more about our ancestors of color.

New! Early St. Louis Catholic Baptism and Marriage Records Added to the StLGS Website!

If your ancestors were in St. Louis during its earliest years, there is a good chance they were Catholic, French, Native American, and/or Black, and, if so, they were baptized or married in one of the three oldest of St. Louis’s Catholic churches: the Basilica of St. Louis IX, King of France (otherwise known as the Old Cathedral), Saints Mary and Joseph Church in what is now the Carondelet neighborhood in South St. Louis City, or St. Ferdinand de Florissant in today's North St. Louis County. If you think you had ancestors who might have been here during the mid-eighteenth to mid-nineteenth centuries, we have another treat for you on our website! You will find revised pages for the Old Cathedral and Sts. Mary and Joseph and a brand-new page for St. Ferdinand on which you can find a multitude of additional baptisms and marriages. Read on for details!

January 2023 StLGS Genealogy Meetings and Classes

Happy 2023! We hope you have had a peaceful and healthy holiday season and are now ready to start the new year with some exciting genealogy events. We continue to offer our meetings as hybrid when possible so that those of you who are unable to attend in person can still participate in society offerings. We start the year with what has become a tradition, our popular "Ask Louie" Q & A meeting, which, because of the unpredictable weather in mid-January, will be via Zoom only. We follow that with three SIG meetings and a new list of classes, so get ready for a full year of learning! Read on for more . . .