November/December Genealogy Meetings

As we approach the end of another busy year of genealogy meetings, classes, and special events, our StLGS volunteers are now hard at work planning next year's exciting calendar of events for you. We have one more meeting left on this year's calendar, and we have our last Jewish SIG meeting in early December. More information about everything is below.

Genealogical Timelines Can Be Wonderful Research Tools!

Now that summer is in full "Hot" mode, many of us are spending these sunny, sticky days indoors where the air conditioning can be a lifesaver. If you are one of those folks, perhaps it means you are also refocusing on your genealogy and looking for ways to solve baffling problems. One overlooked tool that may help you is a timeline. Let's look at what timelines are and how they might solve genealogical mysteries.

New Naturalization Indices Added to the StLGS Website!

Almost all of us had immigrant ancestors, although not all of them chose to become American citizens. Necessary for voting and to attain some legal status, citizenship was not a priority for those who didn't expect to buy land, weren't welcomed by the often-crowded communities in which they found themselves, or didn't especially care about electing local or national officials. Prior to September 1906, naturalization was a function of individual states and could take place in any court in the country. The number of years one had to be a resident fluctuated over time, and there were no restrictions about where you had to complete the process once you started it. And it was a process. First, an immigrant had to file a declaration of intention to become a citizen; these were often called first papers. The next step, after a certain number of years had passed, was a petition for citizenship, or final papers.

Which Genealogist Doesn't Love a Good Map?

If you had ancestors in St. Louis in the late-1800s, you probably are familiar with the Pitzman's 1878 Atlas that provides maps and the names of property owners in the City of St. Louis. StLGS has sold copies of this atlas in CD format for many years in our secure store. Pitzman's was not the only atlas of the city, though, and if we move ahead a few years, we can enjoy the additional information provided by the Hopkins Atlas of 1883.