StLGS News! Open House, Trivia Night, and a Recording We Hope You'll Watch on KMOV-TV

Thanks to everyone who attended our Open House this weekend (Saturday, 7 March 2026) and made it such a success! Our office was glowing with smiles and warmth in spite of the drizzly, cold weather outside, as our volunteers greeted dozens of members and visitors who came to spend a few hours learning about what we do and how we can help with your genealogy questions. We'll share a few photos here and hope to entice you to join us again in a few weeks for a fun night of trivia on Saturday, 21 March. We also want to share a beautifully moving recording that started as a telephone inquiry and ended as a feature segment on local television. Read on for more!

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!

It's Time for Our Annual Genealogy Gift List!

It's become a holiday tradition to publish our "Genealogy Gift Guide" each year to bring you timely suggestions for the genealogists on your holiday shopping list. As always, we have a wide variety of gift suggestions that are easy to find either locally or online. Something here is sure to fit the bill for the 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!

StLGS March Genealogy Meetings and Events

We've had a little taste of spring in St. Louis this week, and we are looking forward to our March meetings and events. If you missed the February meeting on "Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Genealogy," featuring our co-webmaster Jim Ross, you can still watch the digital recording on our Monthly Meeting page and get some great ideas for how you can incorporate this new technology in your own family history research. You can dive deeper into AI at our upcoming Family History Conference! Later this month, the German SIG has a meeting, and we are excited to welcome you to our annual Open House on Saturday, March 22nd. Read on for more information. 

A Message from Outgoing StLGS President, Karen Goode

With the election of new StLGS officers behind us, current StLGS president, Karen Goode, will be stepping down from her whirlwind four years in office. For those who may not know, Karen was vice-president of programs when COVID shut down our society for most of 2020. We had a Family History Conference featuring noted genealogist Judy Russell already planned and a full schedule of meetings and classes on our calendar, since, like most, we had no idea how long it would take to resume normal operations. When it became clear that business as usual was not going to happen, Karen grabbed the reins, gathered a committee around her, and plunged us into learning how to do Zoom webinars. Her foresight saved StLGS from what might have been a devastating blow. After Karen assumed the presidency, hybrid meetings were an ingrained part of our programing, opening up almost all of our events to those who cannot attend in person. In addition, Karen led us through an office overhaul that included moving tons of furniture for a long-overdue paint job and new carpeting, and then, just a few months later, weeks of leaky roof damage and plastic drapery covering most of our work space. She was clearly the right person at the right time for the right job!

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.

Open House Brings Out a Crowd!

For the first time in many years, St. Louis Genealogical Society hosted an open house on Saturday, 23 March 2024, and it was a great success! It was wonderful to see so many new faces as well as some old friends who stopped by to chat. Our hardworking volunteers provided coffee, cookies, and soft pretzel bites to munch on and were available all morning to greet visitors, give tours of the office, answer a myriad of questions, and encourage people to explore our website, attend our meetings, and be part of the exciting genealogical community in St. Louis.

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.

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 . . .

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.)

Ancestors with No Children: Why You Need to Research Them!

One of the basic guidelines of doing thorough genealogical research is to always work on collateral family lines. That simply means we should not just attempt to go back in a straight line from child to parent to grandparent, etc., but to remember that all our ancestors were part of families, and every sibling is important to our research, whether they had children of their own or not. In fact, sometimes the childless members of our families provide us with the exact information we need to break down our stubborn brick walls. This is one of the four topics our guest speaker, D. Joshua Taylor, will present at the StLGS Fall Speaker Series, Saturday, 1 October 2022, and we have stories from our own genealogical research to share.

"All Roads Lead to Missouri" at the StLGS Annual Family History Conference, Virtual for 2021

For the second year (but the forty-ninth conference!), the StLGS Annual Family History Conference will be virtual. Since we are still unable to safely gather together in large groups, we are offering this year's conference as a two-day online event, just as we did last year. "All Roads Lead to Missouri" for Saturday and Sunday, May 1st and 2nd, as we present research librarian and teacher, Patti Hobbs, CG, and other local speakers in eight lectures covering migration, military, and immigration in the early years of our state's history. Whether your ancestors were early settlers or just passed through Missouri on the way to another location, you will find helpful hints and lots of unique resources for your research when you join us for these interesting webinars. Read on for more details!

Genealogy During the Pandemic: Digitizing Your Slides

If you are old enough to remember when photography meant cameras, film, and flash attachments, then you probably also have boxes of photos, negatives, and slides. Travel has always involved photography, but for those of us "born in the day," that meant dozens of rolls of slide film, leading to hundreds of slides each time we took a trip. Years of vacations and family reunions before digital cameras came along led to thousands of slides sitting in Kodak Carousel trays taking up a vast amount of shelf space.

How to Find an Old Post and Other Social Media Search Tips

Have you ever seen a post in a Facebook group, then later couldn't find it when you went back to look for it? Social media can move fast these days, and as we have all been at our computers and using social media more and more, it's important we sharpen our search skills so we can more easily find what we want. For instance, you can search most blogs, including this one, for names, topics, places, and more. Similarly, you can search for people, surnames, and places (and more) in the St. Louis Genealogical Society's Facebook group. You can also quickly locate genealogy-specific accounts and tweets on Twitter. Here is how you can search smarter when you are using social media.

Updates to the StLGS Website

FHC Conference Recording Update and More

Registration for the 2020 virtual Family History Conference will remain open until early July. As of this week, there are six digital recordings available to registrants. "Civil War Eyewitnesses" from Dennis Northcott and "Using Technology in Genealogy Research" from Cathy Amen have been added to the original four recordings from "The Legal Genealogist," Judy Russell, and are now online. We expect to add John Dougan's lecture this week, followed by the last three talks as soon as the speakers are able to record. Remember that registering for the virtual FHC entitles you to all ten lectures plus the complete syllabus! Each of the lectures is available to view for ninety days from the date they are posted online. For more information on the conference, and/or to register, see the conference page on our website.

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Although many St. Louis researchers know Dennis Northcott, assistant archivist at the Missouri History Museum's Library and Research Center, our newest speaker on technology, Cathy Amen, is a first-time lecturer for our Family History Conference. We thought you might like to learn more about her, so Laura Mackinson, StLGS social media chairperson, asked her these questions:

Laura: What's the most useful new tech for genealogists? Why?
Cathy: Actually, my must-have is my smart phone. There are so many apps available now that make researching quick and efficient. All of the major genealogy research sites (Ancestry, FamilySearch, My Heritage, etc.) have mobile apps that allow you to research, access your trees, review DNA matches, and more, wherever you are. I also love the ability to review physical records, scan them into PDF or JPG format, and upload to my notetaking or genealogy software easily with a few clicks. My research time has become so much more efficient, allowing me to spend time doing what I love—actual research!

Laura: There's nothing wrong with using pencil and paper to do your research, but if you avoid technology, what might you miss out on?
Cathy: The above answer alludes to this question as well. If I relied just on paper and pencil, I would limit my time and ability to research. Technology allows me the ability to organize my findings, attach copies of documents to my tree, and become more efficient. I can easily share my findings with family members, whether by emails, blogs, or Facebook groups. Plus, the use of technology ensures that my research findings will be available for future generations.

Laura: If you had to select only one or two, what tech should genealogists adopt first?
Cathy: I encourage everyone to use a designated genealogy program for organizing and maintaining their tree. It can be an online product, such as Ancestry.com, MyHeritage, etc. or a personal program that can be modified to suit your needs: Reunion, RootsMagic or Legacy. Please move from paper! Your descendants will thank you!

Laura: What originally sparked your interest in genealogy?
Cathy: I have always loved to read, especially biographies and history. I tried to imagine how my family members lived in other historic times and places. My grandparents always shared family stories and I wanted to validate them. A funny story, my maiden name is Todd. We were told that we were related to Mary Todd Lincoln, since our family came from Kentucky, as did her family. My husband believed it, because as he said, I’m a shop-a-holic and "crazy like she was reported to be.” However, research and DNA totally disproved this family story. None of my family members are happy with me! Our only claim to fame shut down, although I can’t confirm they still don’t use it!

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New on the StLGS Website: Master Index to the St. Louis City/County Biographies

With 170 biographies now online and more waiting to be uploaded, it was time to make it a little easier to find the subjects of the biographies. From the beginning, we have had an every-name index, divided into alphabetical segments, with the subjects' surnames in all caps. However, as the project grew, so did the indexes, making it difficult to just browse. Now, with the addition of the master list, you can see at a glance exactly who is the subject of a biography and go directly to the page. As in most of our indexes, women are listed by both married and maiden names. Check out the new index on the St. Louis City/County Biographies page under the "Indexes" heading. 

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We're Still Here for You!

As we continue to social distance throughout the upcoming weeks, the StLGS office remains closed for the safety and protection of our volunteers and visitors. However, our online store remains open for registrations, memberships, and merchandise, and all volunteers with StLGS email accounts are monitoring their email daily. So, if you have any questions or need anything, don't hesitate to send a note. We love to hear from our members and friends! For a complete list of email addresses, visit the Contact Us page on our website.

First of the FHC 2020 Digital Recordings Now Online!

St. Louis Genealogical Society is delighted to announce that digital recordings of the four Judy Russell lectures are now available online! During the upcoming week, recordings of three additional lectures from the 2020 StLGS Virtual Family History Conference lectures will be ready to post as well! We all know what a curator does in a museum. Do you know what he/she does in a legal document? Have you thought of using mind maps to help you solve genealogical puzzles? Those who had the opportunity to watch Judy Russell live on Saturday, 18 April and Sunday, 19 April, have those answers and many more. With Judy's recordings available online, you now have a chance to watch at your leisure, either for the first time or to review the large amount of detailed information this noted genealogist shared with her audience.

Next up for recording will be Dennis Northcott, associate archivist at the Missouri History Museum's Library and Research Center. Dennis is an expert on the collections in the Missouri History Museum's archives and will share firsthand accounts of the Civil War taken from letters, diaries, and other unique materials in his talk called "Civil War Eyewitnesses."

Also coming soon will be a lecture from John Dougan, Missouri State Archivist, who will speak on "Life and Death at Missouri Statehood: Gleaning Genealogical Details from Frontier Inventories." John will give us insights into what life was like on the Missouri frontier prior to statehood and how you can learn more about early ancestors from their inventories and other estate papers.

Cathy Amen's talk on "Using Technology in Genealogy Research" will also be posted soon. She will discuss software, scanners, photo-editing apps and organizational tools that will help make you more productive.

The remaining three conference lectures will be added as soon as the speakers have access to their workspaces and equipment. Registrants will be notified as soon as those recordings are ready for viewing.

All digital recordings will be online for ninety days, beginning with the day they are posted. You may watch as many times as you like within that time frame.

Registration Process

 

1. Registration for all ten of the digital recordings will continue to stay open until at least the beginning of July. The cost is the same as it was for the in-person conference: $55 for StLGS members and $65 for non-members. All of the information you need to register is on our website.

2. Once you have registered, you will receive an email with a link to a page on the StLGS website that contains the complete syllabus, in two large files, including all of the handouts. These are downloadable PDFs, which you can print and/or just save to your computer. Links to all the digital recordings will be added to that page as soon as each recording becomes available.

Questions? Send an email to programs@stlgs.org and the vice-president for programs will get back to you. No one is currently in our office, so please do not call.

Interview with Judy Russell & Final Instructions for Registration for the FHC

Last week, we announced our first-ever virtual Family History Conference (FHC), featuring nationally known genealogist and legal expert, Judy Russell, "The Legal Genealogist," and the excitement is mounting as we approach the dates for live-streaming her lectures. On Saturday, 18 April, and Sunday, 19 April, we will present Judy's four talks live, including time for questions and answers at the end. Have you registered yet? If you would like to participate in the live-streaming, time is of the essence. We need time to contact you prior to the broadcast, so registration for the live-stream presentations will end on Wednesday, 15 April at 10:00 p.m. (Central Daylight Time).

If you register but cannot attend the live session, you will still be able to watch all of Judy's lectures on the Zoom website afterwards. Recordings will remain active for ninety days, so you may watch them at leisure.

The remaining conference lectures, six digital recordings, will be added as soon as possible and registrants will be notified as soon as those recordings are posted. These will also remain available for viewing for ninety days from the date they are posted.

Registration Process

1. Registration for the live Judy Russell webinars AND all ten of the digital recordings is now open. The cost is the same as it was for the in-person conference: $55 for StLGS members and $65 for non-members. All of the information you need to register is on our website.

2. FOR ALL REGISTRANTS: You will receive an email with instructions a few days after you register. On Thursday, 16 April, you will receive an invitation, sent to the email address you provided at registration, to each of the four lectures. Please check your email inbox and/or your spam/junk mailbox to retrieve the messages.

3. LINKS TO SYLLABUS AND PRESENTATIONS: The email with instructions will also include a link to a page on the StLGS website that contains the complete syllabus, in two large files, including all of the handouts. These will be available as downloadable PDFs. You will need both files for all four of Judy's lectures: the morning file for Saturday and the afternoon file for Sunday.

4.  It is your choice as to whether you watch the lectures live or view the recordings. If you choose to watch live, remember that only the first 100 who sign into the Zoom website will be admitted. Use the link and password provided in the invitations to attend the webinars. If you choose to watch later, use the link on the instruction email to access the recordings.

Questions? Send an email to programs@stlgs.org and the vice-president for programs will get back to you. No one is currently in our office, so please do not call.

Q &A with Judy Russell

(Thanks to Laura Mackinson, our social media chairperson, for interviewing our featured speaker, Judy Russell in preparation for the FHC.)

Laura: When did you first realize you wanted to explore your family history?

Judy: When my oldest cousin's husband died, and I realized that not only had I lost my grandparents and my parents, but even my own generation was starting to fade. I'd been playing at genealogy before then, but at that point it became really important to me to do what I could to see that the stories weren't lost.

Laura: What's the best "Aha-moment" story you most love to tell?

Judy: Oh, there are so many . . . Choosing just one is hard! I guess if I had to pick one, it'd be the moment I realized that there weren't two men by the same name in 19th century Texas—my perfectly law-abiding, tax-paying, child-rearing second great grandfather and a thorough-going rascal by the same name. Nope, same guy. He's my favorite ancestor—and a total scoundrel.

Laura: When did you first see the important connection between understanding the intersection of historical laws and family history research?

Judy: From the first moment I looked at a court minute book from Burke County, North Carolina, and realized that even with my law degree I had no idea what the clerk was recording with certain abbreviations. There is almost no record we can think of that doesn't exist because of the law, or contain information required by the law, or that makes no sense at all unless we know the law. That intersection is critical all the way across the board.

Laura: What's the most frequent question (or topic) that people ask on your "Ask The Legal Genealogist" website?

Judy: It's pretty much a tie between copyright issues and DNA ethics. And that makes sense to me because they really stem from the same basic notion of doing what's right with respect to things (work products on one hand, DNA results on the other) that belong to other people.

Laura: What are you looking forward to at the StLGS Family History Conference?

Judy: This will sound corny but . . . getting to visit with old friends and meet new ones is the biggest reason why I do genealogical speaking. It makes it all fun.

2019 Holiday Gift Suggestions for your Favorite Genealogist (or You!)

Lucky for us, there is an abundance of wonderful possibilities for holiday gifts for your favorite genealogist or historian. We offer you the following ideas to make your genie-buddy's holiday just a bit brighter (or to gift yourself!)

St. Louis Genealogical Society

1. An individual or family membership, just in time for the start of the 2020 year's events and our ever-expanding collection of online databases
2. Gift certificates, available in any amount, good for discounts on workshops or items in the StLGS store (Check the website for how to order.)
3. Copies of society publications, such as The War of 1812 in Missouri (volumes 1 and 2) or Orphanage Care in St. Louis; all available in our online store or at the office

Technology-related Gifts

1. Flash/thumb drives to use in libraries or to move, share, or store files
2. A portable external hard drive for extra storage or backing up files
3. A subscription to an online/cloud backup plan such as Backblaze or Carbonite
4. Extra supplies for digital equipment: memory cards, batteries, portable mini-tripods
5. A subscription to Ancestry, FindMyPast, Newspapers.com or any similar service
6. A DNA testing kit (Choose one of the major companies: FamilyTree DNA, Ancestry, or 23andMe. Select the one that has the most people in its database that are similar to your recipient. The more people with the same background in the database, the more accurate the results.)
7. A genealogy software program or an upgrade to an existing program
8. Gift cards to the Apple App Store or Google Play Store or to the appropriate store for their particular smart phone or tablet so they can buy additional apps
9. Gift certificates to local community colleges or adult education sponsors for classes and practice in using technology

Not Technological

1. Archival quality photo storage boxes or photo albums
2. Acid-free photo mounting supplies and/or photo marking pens
3. Acid-free, archival quality sheet protectors and/or paper
4. Good quality three- or four-inch D-ring binders for storing copies of sheets and documents
5. Gift certificates to historical/genealogical societies in areas where ancestors lived for membership, publications, and/or special events

Books!

Almost all genealogists are book lovers and you can't go wrong by adding to their collections. Try some of these . . .

1. Any of the QuickSheets by noted genealogist Elizabeth Shown Mills (or, better yet, her excellent book on source citations, Evidence Explained)
2. The series of Genealogy at a Glance laminated booklets available in a variety of ethnicities: German, Irish, French, etc.
3. Books on American states of interest; for instance, any of the NGS Genealogy in the States series
4. Books that are specific to areas of interest: neighborhoods, religions, occupations, or any other unique aspect of their family history

Remember, as a StLGS member, you are entitled to a discount on many of the products in our online store. Be sure to log in as a member to get your discount code before you shop. Click here to go to the StLGS online store. Or come by the office and see what we have available in our lobby sales area. Have fun doing your holiday shopping or just treating yourself to a gift!

John Philip Colletta Headlines "Your Family Stories: What DID They Say?"

(Thanks to Laura Mackinson, StLGS Quarterly co-editor and chair of the Social Media Committee, for being our guest writer this week.)

St. Louis Genealogical Society (StLGS) is honored to host John Philip Colletta, Ph.D., for the 2019 Summer Speaker Series. A Washington, D.C.-based genealogist, Colletta lectures nationally and is on the faculty of both the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR) at Athens, Georgia, and the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG). He has authored two manuals, many genealogy articles, and a "murder-mystery-family-history" book, titled Only a Few Bones: A True Account of the Rolling Fork Tragedy and its Aftermath, about his great-great-grandfather. It is his ability to turn family history into focused written narrative that he will emphasize during his series of lectures for StLGS.

"Your Family Stories: What DID They Say?" is the theme for this exciting day-long event. Colletta says, "Detective work is challenging and fun. But creating a family tree is only half the goal. The other half is learning about your ancestors as men and women with personalities, character traits, motives and aspirations, joys and disappointments, just like you." His point gets to the heart of writing your family's story: seeing your ancestors in sharp focus and committing their true stories to paper. His four lectures will be:

• Breaking through Brick Walls: Use Your HEAD!—Pick up guidelines and methodology for overcoming research obstacles.
• Turning Biographical Facts into Real Life Events: How to Build Historical Context—Depict your ancestors as distinct individuals in and of their time period.
• Principles of Good Writing and Storytelling—Learn to craft an engaging true story.
• Writing a Narrative Family History: The Snares and Pitfalls—Avoid hazards that can cloud your narrative.

The Summer Speaker Series will be held Saturday, 13 July, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Maryland Heights Community Center, 2300 McKelvey Road, Maryland Heights, Missouri 63043.. Registration booklet and more details on our website.

 

Want more? Attend the Writing Institute the following week! Details here.

StLGS Celebrates Its Volunteers; Plus, Early Registration Expires Soon!

Without its many volunteers, St. Louis Genealogical Society would not be able to accomplish any of its goals. We are the largest local genealogical society in the United States and there is not a single paid staff member! Although "thank you" is heard all the time around our office, once a year the society says a special thank you to those who have given outstanding service during the previous year. Award winners must be members of the society, not a recipient in the last two years, and not currently on the board of directors. Usually the award winners are recognized at the annual Family History Conference, but we did not have one this year because of the NGS conference in May. Instead, StLGS volunteer coordinator, Marilyn Brennan, organized a thank you luncheon on Thursday, 20 June, at the StLGS office.

Those who regularly work at the office or at home on special projects were invited to a delicious lunch of salads, sandwiches, fruit, and cake. Afterwards, StLGS president, Kay Weber, honored the men and women chosen for this year's awards.

 This year's honorees were as follows:

• Appreciation: Ray Barbeau, Steve Butler, Mary Cornell, Joe Gildehaus, Ann Hodges, Mark Madras, and Buddy Van Arsdale 
• Achievement: Jean Marie Meyer, April Webb, Ken Webb
• Special Achievement: Ted Steele
• Special Awards: Bob Goode and Joyce Mercer

Ted Steele received the Special Achievement Award for the projects he has spearheaded to organize the society's archives and to sort out and update all the cemetery information on the StLGS website. Ted's efforts have led to dozens of web pages being corrected and modified, which will be uploaded to the site very soon.

Bob Goode and Joyce Mercer received their Special Awards for the time and effort each puts into their jobs at the office. Bob tirelessly works to keep the StLGS website running and current. He helps to maintain the office computer network and is a teacher and lecturer for the society. Joyce answers the phone, handles the front desk, helps with event registrations and sales, and generously shares her knowledge of rural cemeteries.

Congratulations to all our 2019 award winners! (For more photos, check out the StLGS Facebook group.)

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Reminder: Just one week left to get the early registration discount rates for three major genealogy events! All prices go up on 1 July!

1. Saturday, 13 July: Summer Speaker Series featuring Dr. John Colletta, including four lectures plus lunch. Registration booklet and more details on our website.
2. Monday through Thursday, 15–18 July: Summer Writing Institute; four days of intensive workshops, including morning snacks and lunch each day. Learn more about the Institute and how to register on our website. If you register early for both of the above events, you save $15.
3. Sunday through Sunday, 27 October–3 November: Salt Lake City Research Trip. Just a few rooms remain for our annual trip to the world's largest genealogy library. Save $100 and take part in all pre-trip preparations if you register by 30 June. More information and a four-page registration flyer are on the StLGS website.