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!

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.

Missouri State Archives Has Volunteer Opportunities

StLGS put out a call for volunteers on 22 August 2022 (Read that post here, if you missed it) and now our friends at the Missouri State Archives are also asking for assistance. Although StLGS still REALLY needs people with specific technology and proofreading skills, we are happy to share information about more volunteer opportunities that you can do from home on your computer. Read on for the specifics on how you can help.

“Webtember: All Genealogy. All September Long.”

Legacy Family Tree Webinars are known throughout the genealogy world for being excellent resources. They are taught by experts on a wide variety of subjects but often require a subscription. Now, each Friday in September, in cooperation with MyHeritage, another genealogy company, they are offering a series of free webinars on a wide variety of topics, and all of us are invited to watch and learn!

September StLGS Meetings and Events

Our August monthly meeting on researching the history of your house was the first time for us at the Grant's View branch of the St. Louis County Library, and we were so pleased to see some familiar as well as some new faces for the in-person meeting and to greet many more who attended via Zoom. Our September schedule includes a monthly meeting at the Thornhill branch of the library, a German Special Interest Meeting at the Oak Bend branch, and a hybrid class, for StLGS members, at our office in Maplewood. We are also very excited to be hosting nationally known genealogist, D. Joshua Taylor, for our Fall Speaker Series on Saturday, 1 October. Early registration ends on 17 September, so be sure to register soon! More details coming up . . .

Volunteers Needed!

Like many others in the business world, St. Louis Genealogical Society rode out the storm of the "pandemic years" with a skeleton crew of hard-core workers. This was an amazing feat, considering that our society has no paid staff. Everything we accomplish is because of our volunteers. Elected officers, members of the board of directors, and office "regulars" all pitched in to keep the society moving along during those months of uncertainty. As it became safer to work together at the office, volunteers relied on each other to follow safety protocols, and we were able to pick up the pace. However, although many of our volunteers have returned to work, there is currently more to do than there are people to do it!

Fifteen Years of Google Street View

(Many thanks to StLGS publicity and social media director, Laura Mackinson, for writing this week's blog. All images from Google Street View.)

Go back in time with this interesting Google Maps feature!

By now, most everyone has heard of Google Maps, but perhaps you haven't heard of Google Street View. Essentially, Google sends vehicles with 360-degree cameras mounted on top to drive up and down streets taking panoramic photographs. These images are then uploaded to Google Maps and linked to the corresponding locations on the map. Google Street View began in 2007, and the past images were made available beginning in 2014.