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!

Potpourri of Genealogy Events for Summer's Dog Days

Summer is waning; didn't it seem to go by quickly? The days are still bright, but cooler weather is finally in the forecast for those of us in the St. Louis area, and there are several interesting and exciting genealogy meetings and tours coming up around town. We'll talk about St. Louis Genealogical Society meetings for September next week; this week, we'll feature some things you might be interested in sponsored by our friends in St. Clair County (Illinois), the Missouri Historical Society, and Bellefontaine Cemetery.

Finding American Ancestors Before 1840

What would we genealogists do without the U.S. federal census? We have come to rely on it for so much: names, ages, occupations, locations, neighbors, and, in some years, military and citizenship information, health status, individual wealth, and more. But . . .  all that bonus information only applies to the censuses from 1850 onwards. What about our ancestors who lived in earlier years? The earliest censuses captured only basic information, so how do we find out more about the lives of our pre-1850 ancestors?  There are genealogical methods you can use to learn more, and noted genealogist, D. Joshua Taylor, will go into depth on this in his presentation, "Bridging the Gap: Finding Ancestors in the United States Between 1790 and 1840," at our annual Fall Speaker Series this coming Saturday, 1 October 2022. Read on to learn the details!

Surprises Wait in Courthouse Records!

Our ancestors interacted with government officials on a regular basis at their county courthouses. Not just for recording births, marriages, and deaths, the courthouse was also for paying taxes, settling disputes, filing wills and probates, and obtaining business licenses and a wide variety of permits. The county courthouse was the center of the legal life of the community, and many of them still contain thousands of unique documents that can help us with our research.

May Meetings and Events and We Say Goodbye to Another Volunteer

The days are longer, more of us can now gather in groups without fear of getting terribly ill, and life feels a lot more normal these days, at last. Our April monthly meeting, held as our first "hybrid meeting," was a huge success. We learned so much about the "new" 1950 federal census from Missouri State Archivist John Dougan with about thirty people in our office and another large group watching via Zoom. We will continue offering you meetings in that format so no matter where you are or however you feel safe, you can take part in our society's events, meetings, and classes. Coming up are some great options for you. Read on for details!

Please Help StLGS Move Forward in 2022!

Once again, as we approach the end of our second Pandemic Year, St. Louis Genealogical Society is encouraging all our wonderful, loyal members and friends to remember us in year-end giving plans. As we look back on where we have been and where we are going, it is obvious that only through your support, donations, and participation has our society been able to weather this long storm. 

We are so proud of how much we have learned during these past two years. Having mastered the basics of remote learning in 2020, we spent 2021 perfecting our ability to reach you via Zoom and planning for how to emerge from the pandemic in 2022, once it is completely safe to welcome you back in person. 

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.

"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!

Bunches of Thanks Coming Your Way!

(StLGS president, Kay Weber, who will hand her gavel to Karen Goode on 1 January 2021, has written the first part of this week’s post. Kay has provided four years of excellent leadership to StLGS and has held us together with her calm efficiency and unfailing good humor through this most challenging of years. With Kay’s guidance, we have come out of the pandemic as strong and solid as we were when it started, and we owe her a huge debt of gratitude for steering us through this storm!)

Looking Forward to the StLGS Winter/Spring 2021 Schedule

We hope you are having a healthy and happy holiday season and staying safe. After you are finished celebrating Chanukah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa, it will be time to get back to genealogy! In a more normal year, StLGS would have the whole 2021 schedule ready for you by now, but due to the uncertainty of the times, we are taking it a bit more slowly this year. We have no idea when it will be safe to gather in person, but we are looking forward to bringing you the very best experience possible by continuing our successful livestreamed and digitally recorded virtual meetings and classes. Take a look at what's coming up . . .

Announcing the StLGS 2020 Fall Speaker Series!

Because so many people have been enjoying our online programs, we are especially excited to offer our new, virtual Fall Speaker Series! We are focused on bringing you unique webinars that will enhance your research skills, and this lineup of speakers and topics is sure to hit that sweet spot! We hope you will join us for the livestreamed event, but even if you can't, you will have access to the digitally recorded talks and can watch them at your leisure for three months! Here's what you need to know to register: