GenealogyClassBlog

Boston Avenue Church

It’s time again for the School of Continuing Education at Boston Avenue United Methodist Church. My five-week genealogy classes will move from their usual Tuesday evenings to Wednesday mornings, from 9:30 to 10:30 and from 10:45 to 11:45. Registration for the school is $12.00, and includes all of the classes you can take for that same price. Other classes are listed in the brochure or in the church newspaper, available at BostonAvenue.org.

Genealogy classes are in two different series — one to learn the basics and the other to pick up particular topics in a lecture format. All five of these are programs that I have presented locally, including two that I presented at the 2009 Federation of Genealogical Societies National Conference. Here are the specific titles:

GENEALOGY:  FAMILY HISTORY BASICS  9:30 – 10:30 am

Oct 6 – Important First Steps
Oct 13 – The Census
Oct 20 – The Family History Library
Oct 27 – Court, Land & Military Records
Nov 3 – Tour of Internet Resources

FIVE GENEALOGY TALKS  10:45 – 11:45 am

Oct 6 – How Do You Know? Understanding Evidence and Citing Your Sources
Oct 13 – How to Be a Power Hitter: Improve Your Online Searching Skills
Oct 20 – What’s New at FamilySearch®?
Oct 27 – Oklahoma Settlement:  Territorial Homestead and Allotment Records
Nov 3 – Deutsche Vorfahren:  German Ancestors

For more information call Boston Avenue at 918-583-5181 or visit the church’s web site at www.bostonavenue.org/newspaper.shtml and download the newspaper from 24 September 2010.

I have been initiated into the fraternity of national genealogy speakers! I presented two lectures at the 2009 Federation of Genealogical Societies National Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas, which was held Sept. 2-5. The first lecture was How To Be a Power Hitter, which was about getting better results when searching in online genealogy databases. I had presented an earlier version to the Tulsa Genealogical Society as the first part of a mini-workshop in May 2009. I really enjoy doing this lecture and presenting examples of how you and I won’t be able to find what we’re seeking until we have conquered the limitations of the index.

The second lecture was one I had proposed because of Little Rock’s proximity to Oklahoma, because attendees often decide to attend conferences in areas relating to their geographic area of interest. This one was called Oklahoma’s Settlement: Territorial Homestead and Allotment Records, and was one I had presented for the Tulsa City-County Library in July. I had updated the graphics on my slides with maps from the Historical Atlas of Oklahoma, 4th edition, (Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 2006), with the permission of the University of Oklahoma Press. For those with an interest in tracing individuals or families in pre-statehood Oklahoma, this is a great resource.

Recordings of the audio portion of each lecture are available for purchase through JAMB Inc..

From all that I’ve heard, the Family History Month programming at the Tulsa City-County Library’s Genealogy Center was a great success! I had three large groups for my three presentations, including faces both familiar and new.

There were many interested in Oklahoma’s settlement July 23, when we explored a little history of Oklahoma and her two territories, Indian allotment records, and homestead records. I described the history of the settlement of the different areas of the state, then I explained how to locate land entry case files, which contain documentation of purchases of land from the federal government, as well as how to access Indian allotment files.

I had an even larger group on the morning of July 25, to learn about the resources of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We spent two hours and some would have stayed longer, I think. The Genealogy Center is now a Family History Center lending library, and therefore a new place to access microfilms and microfiche of original records from all over the world. I described using Family History Centers, ordering microfilm listed on the Family History Library Catalog, and visiting the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. I described the various databases on FamilySearch, the website of the LDS Church, and the new Record Search feature, which allows study of digital images of original records that have been indexed by volunteers. I showed a video of an interview with David Rencher, the Chief Genealogical Officer of the Family History Library. The link to the RootsTelevision interview is available at Dick Eastman’s recent blogpost.

On Saturday afternoon, about 80 attendees came (or in many cases, stayed) to hear my presentation on organizing genealogy records. I described several different considerations to trying to get control of the piles of paper that we collect as we learn more about our ancestors. Because there is no one organization scheme that will work for everyone, each person needs to determine his or her own best system. I had some recommendations about a variety of different techniques and resources.

I hope to post the slides from one or more of these three presentations, but it may be a few weeks before I have them ready, so check back for a later posting. The Genealogy Center has my extra handouts for those who may be interested.

Kathy Huber, MLS, Genealogy Librarian for the Tulsa City-County Library, will present a mini-workshop for the the Tulsa Genealogical Society on Monday, February 23 at the TGS Library, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. The mini workshop, “Early Oklahoma Records,” will include land run records, marriage records, Indian Territory records, and Native American records.

I had mentioned in an earlier post that Janice Meredith, FTGS was scheduled to present a mini-workshop on 26 January, but on that date Tulsa was hit by icy weather. That event has been re-scheduled for Monday, 20 May. Her topic is, “Tracing Your Ancestor Using Land Records.”

The suggested donation, for either of these fundraisers for the society, is $7.50. TGS is located just east of 31st and Mingo in Tulsa. For a map to the library, or to read more about the Tulsa Genealogical Society, visit their website.