Did our Ancestors Have Chocolate for the Spring Holidays?

This past weekend saw the overlapping of the Jewish Passover and the Christian Easter, and most of us celebrated by sharing special holiday meals and treats with our friends and families. Our ancestors likely did the same, but they may have approached their indulging in chocolates in different ways. One of the traditions you probably enjoyed with the children in your family was filling an Easter basket with chocolates or munching on specially prepared chocolate chip coconut macaroons after a Passover meal. Chocolate has always been special and for many reasons, which we will take a look at this week.

Please Join us on Saturday, March 7th for Our Annual Open House!

Last March, St. Louis Genealogical Society revived our annual Open House after a hiatus of several years, and it was a great success. And now it's time to do it again! Our Open House offers an opportunity to meet old and new friends, take a tour of our spacious office, learn more about upcoming meetings and events, and get answers to your genealogical questions. With the hint of spring finally in the air, we are excited to welcome you once more to this year's Open House. Read on for all the details!

February Genealogy Meetings and Class AND Information on Special Upcoming Events!

As we dig out from the massive snow and ice storm this past weekend, we want to remind you that if you missed any of our January genealogy meetings, you can snuggle up on the couch and enjoy some of the recordings posted on our website. Then, you can plan ahead to join us in February. Our annual "Ask Louie at Your Service" meeting started the new year with many interesting questions, and the recording is available on our Monthly Meeting page. The German Special Interest Group (G-SIG) hosted Timo Kracke, a German genealogist, who spoke on databases hosted by German genealogical societies. That recording and Mr. Kracke's handout are available on the G-SIG page. The Irish Special Interest Group (SIG) hosted a Zoom presentation featuring Susan McKee, who provided helpful tips on "Organizing Your Genealogy: Getting Your Research Year Off to a Good Start." The recording of the meeting and Ms. McKee's handout are posted on our Irish SIG page. We hope to see you at our February meetings and our first class for 2026. Read on for details. 

January Genealogy Meetings are Coming Your Way!

We hope you had a festive Chanukah, Christmas, and/or Kwanzaa and that your new year will be off to a good start. As we head into January 2026 this week, we want to remind you of our upcoming genealogy meetings, and we hope you will take out your calendar, whether on your phone or that old fashioned but still reliable paper version, and note the following dates. We hope to see you very soon at a meeting or two. And stay tuned for a busy and exciting genealogy schedule for this coming year!

We're All Set for 2026 and a Reminder About Giving Tuesday!

We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and with the arrival of our first measurable snow in St. Louis this weekend, most of us are now well into the mood for the upcoming holiday season! We have a sneak peek for you now of the first StLGS genealogy programs of 2026, and we also want to remind you how important it is to help your favorite nonprofits as much as you can on Giving Tuesday. Please read on for details.

A Preview of 2025 AND It's Giving Tuesday!

As this year begins to wind down, the StLGS Programs Committee has been hard at work getting all of our exciting events for 2025 in place. We are ready to open registration for the January meetings, we have a full-day Jewish genealogy seminar coming in early February, an Open House planned for March, and much more! We offer you a teaser of January events this week with much more to come as we get closer to the new year. And, this week brings us Giving Tuesday, which all non-profits, like St. Louis Genealogical Society, rely on for much-needed donations. Please read on for details.

Updated Congregations Maps Added to the StLGS Website!

Suppose you had a female ancestor who lived in St. Louis in the 1860s, but you couldn’t discover her birth date. There are no statewide birth records in Missouri prior to 1910, and, although the City of St. Louis kept a birth register, compliance was not compulsory; hence, it is incomplete. Religious records would be very helpful, as births, baptisms, confirmations, and other life events were usually recorded by religious leaders and kept on site. You know where your ancestor lived and what religion her family practiced, but how do you know what congregations were active at the time she was born? A new set of congregations maps is now live on our website, and an exciting feature of the maps is the ability to see exactly which churches and synagogues were open in the city and county at any given time. Let’s take a look!

StLGS Congregations Index Pages Now Include Maps to Locate Churches and Synagogues

More maps for our website! Yes, we have spent a lot of time and energy recently on maps, but they are so incredibly valuable for genealogists, that we feel it’s worth devoting more than the usual amount of attention to them. During this past week, our map guru/technology volunteer, Jim Bellenger, uploaded a whole series of locator maps for all of our congregation indexes! That’s right––now you can click on a link and go to an exact location for every church and synagogue for which we have an address in our indexes.

StLGS August Genealogy Meetings and Events

We hope you were able to join us for our exciting Summer Speaker Series, "Navigating DNA Testing Websites," with Diahan Southard and representatives of four of the largest testing companies, but if you missed the livestreaming, you can now watch the digital recordings. Read on for everything you need to know about how to access them. We are continuing to hold our StLGS events virtually, but we hope that later this year, we can offer some events as hybrid, meaning that some people will be able to meet with us in person while we also connect via Zoom with other attendees. We'll keep you posted on progress, but meanwhile, here is what is coming up in August.

StLGS May Genealogy Meetings, Classes, and Special Events

Yes, it will eventually be warm enough to call it spring! Or, for those of you in the St. Louis area, it is quite likely that we will skip spring entirely and just jump into the hot, humid puddle we know as summer. As you enjoy the cool temperatures and abundance of rain in the Midwest (or whatever is happening in "your neck of the woods"), think about filling your leisure time with virtual learning. Our 2021 virtual schedule is expanding, as we continue to add new family history meetings, classes, and events. We are currently in the planning stages for a wonderful Summer Speaker Series, and are looking forward to new monthly meetings and classes. Read on for details!

February 2021 Upcoming StLGS Meetings and In Memoriam for Three Long-time Volunteers

As we enter the heart of winter, we hope that wherever you are located, whether it's snowing, raining, or mild and sunshiny, you can brighten up your February by attending some of the upcoming StLGS meetings we have scheduled. In addition, we hope those of you who are society members will take advantage of our free classes for members coming up in March and April.

August Genealogy Meetings and Classes

August StLGS Monthly Meeting

Saturday, 10 August 2019

"Finding the Civilian Conservation Corps," by Nancy Schuster, St. Louis County Library Headquarters Auditorium, 10:00 a.m.; free, open to all, no pre-registration needed

More information on the StLGS website.

Jewish Special Interest Group (SIG) Meeting 
Wednesday, 28 August 2019

"Interpreting and Caring for Jewish Tombstones," by Diane Everman, Ilene Murray, and Rabbi Jeffrey Stiffman; St. Louis County Library Headquarters East Room, 7:00 p.m. Free, open to all, no pre-registration needed.

 More information on the Jewish SIG page on the StLGS website.

Other Upcoming Classes/Meetings

StLGS Class: Saturday, 17 August 2019

"Foundations of Genealogy, Part I," by Ilene Murray; StLGS Office, 1:00 p.m. Free to StLGS members; fee for non-members; pre-registration required at 314-647-8547.

StLGS Class: Sunday, 18 August 2019

"Using FamilySearch," by Bob Goode; StLGS Office, 1:00 p.m. Free to StLGS members; fee for non-members; pre-registration required at 314-647-8547.

StLGS Class: Saturday, 24 August 2019

"Foundations of Genealogy, Part II," by Ilene Murray; StLGS Office, 1:00 p.m. Free to StLGS members; fee for non-members; pre-registration required at 314-647-8547.

View the entire summer/fall 2019 genealogy class schedule here.

St. Louis County Library Classes
Numerous classes at all branches in August. More on the library website.  

Click on the August calendar and scroll down the page.

Carondelet Historical Society Meeting
Sunday, 11 August 2019

Discussion of early French settlements by Dr. Terry Norris, 6303 Michigan Avenue, St. Louis, 1:30 p.m.; free, open to all, no pre-registration needed.

More information on the group's website.

Czech Genealogical Researchers Monthly Meeting
Saturday, 10 August 2019

"Serfdom in Bohemia," by Marcella Milcic, St. Louis County Library Headquarters East Room, 3:00 p.m.; free, open to all, no pre-registration needed.

More information on the group's website.

May Genealogy Meetings and Special Events

Upcoming Special Event

National Genealogical Society (NGS) 2019 Family History Conference
Wednesday–Saturday, 8–11 May 2019

Journey of Discovery

St. Louis Genealogical Society volunteers have spent the past two years preparing to be the local hosts at the National Genealogical Society's 2019 Family History Conference and now the event is just days away! Volunteers will be at the St. Charles Convention Center on Monday morning, 6 May 2019, to be sure that all registrants have a goodie bag filled with information, and on Tuesday, 7 May, the pre-conference activities begin. The registration area opens at noon. Volunteers will be on hand to lead those who are interested on tours of the facility and help anyone who needs assistance with the conference app.

Also in the afternoon is the Society Showcase, from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. on the upper level of the Convention Center. Meet representatives from fifteen Missouri and Illinois genealogical and historical societies and learn more about how they might help you with your research.

The conference officially begins bright and early on Wednesday morning, 8 May, and we can't wait to meet and greet our friends, make new ones, and welcome everyone with our famous St. Louis hospitality. Be sure you stop by to say hello at the StLGS booth, 101, in the Exhibit Hall!

Upcoming StLGS Meeting

StLGS Monthly Meeting: No meeting in May; next meeting: Saturday, 8 June 2019

"Migration from the Eastern U.S. to Mid-America," by Carol Whitton, CG, St. Louis County Library Headquarters Auditorium, 10:00 a.m.; free, open to all, no pre-registration needed.

More information on the StLGS website.

    
Upcoming Jewish Special Interest Group (SIG) Meeting

  Wednesday, 29 May 2019

"Treasures Found in Legal Documents," by Mike Everman, archivist; St. Louis County Library Headquarters Auditorium, 7:00 p.m. Free, open to all, no pre-registration needed.

 More information on the Jewish SIG page on the StLGS website.

Upcoming Classes

Missouri History Museum: Wednesday, 15 May 2019

"Civil War Notables at Bellefontaine Cemetery," by Dan Fuller. Hear about those from both sides of the war who are buried at Bellefontaine Cemetery. Lee Auditorium, St. Louis History Museum in Forest Park, 10:30 a.m. Free but pre-registration required through St. Louis Community College at 314-984-7777.

Dan Fuller will also present this lecture at the St. Louis Public Library, 1301 Olive Street, on Wednesday, 29 May 2019 at 7:00 p.m. in the Training Room on the second floor. Free and open to the public; no registration required. More information on the library's website.

Missouri History Museum: Thursday, 16 May 2019

"Sage Chapel Cemetery," by Dorris Keeven-Franke. Learn about the history and the people buried in a small African American cemetery in O'Fallon, Missouri. Lee Auditorium, St. Louis History Museum in Forest Park, 10:30 a.m. Free but pre-registration required  through St. Louis Community College at 314-984-7777.

  More information on these events and more on the Missouri History Museum website.

  
 

 

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