Immigration Family History Expo
March 11, 2010 by Luxegen Genealogy and Family History
Filed under genealogy
#FHexpo
The Immigration Family History Expo
This is one event I wish I could attend. Alas my schedule won’t allow me. I’m posting it here in case any of you can!
[News Release]
Join us at this event that will feature World Trade Center Utah President and CEO Lew Cramer and the Center’s Executive Vice President and COO, Elizabeth Goryunova in an opening address at the event to be held at Historic Masonic Temple, 650 E. South Temple. At the door registration begins at 8 a.m., the day’s session will begin at 8:30 a.m. Cramer and Goryunova will focus on the importance of migration, immigration, and emigration today and in the future.
The Immigration Family History Expo, hosted by Family History Expos, Inc., will feature notable speakers throughout the day. The event will culminate with author, producer, and director Lorie Conway’s in-depth look in to the history of immigration to America. Her presentation will include a special screening of Forgotten Ellis Island: The Extraordinary Story of America’s Immigrant Hospital.
Other notable speakers include:
Brigham Young University Professor Fred E. Woods. Professor Woods is the author or co-author of seven books and many articles, including three dozen on the topic of Mormon immigration/emigration in the 19th century. He is the editor and compiler of the Mormon Immigration Index CD released by the LDS Church in 2000. Dr. Woods will release his Mormon Migration website this year from the BYU Harold B. Lee Library.
Arlene Eakle, PhD, president and founder of The Genealogical Institute, Inc. Eakle is a consultant, lecturer, author and researcher specializing in the geographic areas of New York, Southern U.S., British Isles, Switzerland, and parts of Germany.
Kory L. Meyerink, MLS, AG, FUGA, vice-president of ProGenealogists, Inc. in Salt Lake City. Meyerink has worked with Ancestry and the Salt Lake City Family History Library. He is past president of the Utah Genealogical Association and founder of the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy. Meyerink is a nationally-known speaker, editor of Printed Sources, and adjunct faculty for BYU and San Jose State University.
Holly T. Hansen, Family History Expos, Inc. Founder and President, is a lifelong resident of Croydon, Utah. She has been a family history educator for more than 15 years. Although she sponsors elaborate events, she also enjoys helping people one-on-one as they learn how to make technology work for them. An author, lecturer, and editor, Hansen devotes time every day to education.
Exhibitors will be at the event to offer hands-on demonstrations and techniques and technology to help researchers trace their roots.
Click here to register and here for FHexpos free newsletter.
Did you like this? If so, please bookmark it,QR Codes and Genealogy – The Wave of the Future?
March 10, 2010 by Luxegen Genealogy and Family History
Filed under genealogy
Have you heard of QR codes for genealogy?
Thomas MacEntee of Geneabloggers* recently wrote a two part article that discusses QR codes and how they could be used for genealogy.
- Part 1 explains what QR codes are.
- Part 2 explains their use for genealogy including Historic Sites, Records, Libraries, Tombstones and Conferences.
QR codes are similar to bar codes that can be read by one’s cell phone. They are catching on all over the world and are even being used in Japan on tombstones.
In Japan, QR codes allow you to capture the information about the deceased onto your cell phone by scanning. They are also used on monuments and in libraries and museums to pass information to the visitor.
I first encountered QR codes at a recent conference. A vendor scanned my name tag for a free draw. It was quick and easy and took only a few seconds.
I even made my first QR code of this website’s url.
*Thomas MacEntee will be speaking at an Alberta Family Histories Society special event in October.
-
Related:
Did you like this? If so, please bookmark it,No Time No Money for Genealogy?
March 9, 2010 by Luxegen Genealogy and Family History
Filed under genealogy
Four Inexpensive Ways to Do Genealogy
A recent discussion caught my attention. History Forum members were discussing NBC’s newest TV show. “Who Do You Think You Are”. This show takes the viewer on a journey with various celebrities as they discover their family tree and has sparked a lot of interest in genealogy and family history.*
Many of the members on the history forum wanted to research their family tree but were concerned they would have:
a) No Time
b) No Money
I couldn’t let that go by without comment!
Researching your family tree doesn’t need to be expensive to get started. I’ve been doing my own genealogy and my husband’s for about 20 years and it hasn’t cost that much.
Researching your family tree doesn’t need to take up all of your time. It certainly doesn’t take up all of my time. (unless I want it to!)
I share with you 4 inexpensive ways to get started in genealogy and my comments about managing the time.
1. Join a Genealogical Society
Membership in my local genealogical society gives me free access to ancestry.com and a whole library of great genealogical books, and expert advice from others. Cost is minimal to join.
2. Check out the local public and university libraries
The public and university libraries have a wealth of great genealogy/family history resources and librarians that will help. There is also the option of interlibrary loans and programs such as Worldcat.org, a service that lets you search many libraries at once and find the item you are seeking at a library nearby.
3. Check out the LDS (Mormon) Family History Libraries
The LDS (Mormon) church offers free access to their Family History Libraries to non-members as well. The one near where I live allows visitors free access to all the large expensive online genealogy databases. They also offer a lot of free resources on their webpages FamilySearch.org
4. Cyndislist
Cyndislist is a FREE database of virtually every genealogy resource one could think of. Start there.
Don’t let the cost stop you. There are even free family tree programs to manage the data.
Managing the Time
1. Don’t let the time aspect stop you either.
There are organizational techniques that can speed up your research. Also joining a genealogical society can speed up the learning curve and provide you with research tips.
I’ve been researching my personal family tree and my husband’s for 20 years. I certainly don’t do this all the time. I enjoy the sleuthing, the detective work and the fun but I do have a life outside of genealogy too.
2. It is not something that has to be done all at once
Researching one’s family tree is an evolving process that can be done over the years. It is fun and if you find you enjoy it, you’ll make time. Enjoy!
Please comment below.
–
Related:
*Genealogy Gems Podcast Interview with Lisa Kudrow of “Who Do You Think You Are”.
Did you like this? If so, please bookmark it,Irish Heritage & Culture: Early Irish Methodists
March 9, 2010 by Luxegen Genealogy and Family History
Filed under genealogy
[This blog post is part of the Carnival of Irish Heritage & Culture, 18th Edition sponsored by Small-Leaved Shamrock.]
Religion in the Homeland
Do you know much about Methodism in Ireland in the 1800s? I sure didn’t when I started my latest quest. My goal was to learn more about the probable religion of my ancestors during the time leading up to when our James KERR (married to Jane HENDERSON) left Ireland for Canada (which was sometime between 1841 and 1847).
Our KERR ancestors were Methodists in Quebec and I suspect they were Methodists in Ireland.
The Irish Methodist states that the Founder of Methodism, John Wesley first visited Ireland in 1747. John went on to pay twenty-one visits to Ireland, lengthening in time and extent until they covered almost all of it. Samuel Handy offered his residence, Coolalough in the parish of Ardnurcher, as a base from which they might work in the Irish Midlands. Methodist societies were established within a 50 km radius of his home.
“The development in the Midlands encouraged John Wesley to send preachers from England to pioneer in different counties. They tended to visit the cities and market towns, and to attract attention by preaching wherever they could attract a crowd. Wesley began to visit Ireland regularly to encourage the societies they formed, and the growth of the movement can be plotted by his lengthening itineraries, first to south and west, but then to the north. His first visit to Ulster was in 1752.”
A large British garrison, finding themselves in Ireland, considerably strengthened, or even started Methodist societies in garrison towns.
Member of TWO Religions
From the Irish Methodist:
Although there have been Methodists in Ireland since the 1740s, for the first 70 years Methodists usually had dual membership as both Methodists and also members of the parish church. In terms of births, marriages and death the place to look for these will normally be in the local Church of Ireland parish register.
The first tentative step in breaking the sacramental link with the Established Church was taken at the Methodist Conference of 1816 but not finally authorized until 1818 when for the first time Methodist societies and preachers were permitted to have the sacraments of baptism and Holy Communion in their own preaching houses. Societies in the north of Ireland were quicker to avail of this facility than those in the south but by the 1830s most societies were recording baptisms in their local chapel or in central ‘circuit’ registers.
Finding the concentrations of historical Methodist societies along with KERR and HENDERSON surname concentrations could narrow my search down somewhat but this could also be equivalent to searching for the proverbial needle in the haystack.
Irish Methodist Reminiscences
Add to the search areas of poverty in Ireland on the eve of the Great Famine in 1841; the areas where the Great Famine of Ireland hit the hardest in 1845-1847 and regions where the population fell the greatest from the time period of 1841-1851 may lead to a clearer understanding.
One book a genealogy friend suggested was Irish Methodist reminiscences; being mainly memorials of the life and labours of the Rev. S. Nicholson – Thomas, Edward, of Lisburn, Antrim, published in 1889. The full text is available free through Cornell University Digitized Library Collection (under no known copyright).
I downloaded the pdf file of this 268 page book and did a quick search on the word “county” to see what I might find. Mentions were of County Derry and County Monaghan. I also searched for my two surnames and didn’t find a mention. I then went back to the online version of the book so I could ‘flip’ pages like I would if I was reading it. This time I was looking for anything of interest including more county names and any mention of Canada where my ancestors settled after they left Ireland. There was a Mission to Canada mentioned and I had to chuckle at these words:
The Rev. W. McClure, himself a first-class penman, in a letter to Mr. and Mrs. Nicholson, from Canada, in 1867, says, Dear Mrs. Nicholson, write yourself, for I can’t read some of Mr. Nicholson’s writing; if he don’t preach better than he writes, it must be awful.”
Talk about getting side tracked…back to the search at hand 
Missions
I did find this under “Places Missioned” on page 81.
We have examined the letters of the Superintendents
and those of the Missionaries which appeared in the New
Methodist Magazine, from 1825 till 1840, and have collected
the following list of preaching places, with the view of
giving some idea of the extent of the Society’s operations
during those years. The names were transcribed as they
occurred, without reference to geographical situation or
connection. Some names may have escaped our notice :
Belfast Bangor Newtownards
Ballinahinch Lisburn Smithboro’
Newtownbreda Priesthill Downpatrick
Newcastle Broomhedge Selchin
Antrim Moira Blackwater
Ballymuldery Lurgan Tonnycoogin
Cornearney Eichill Largey
Ballymena Gracehill Carnlea
Randalstown Tubbermore Cullybackey
Gloonen Seuford Lanehill
Drumnall Bryansford Killough
Ring-Woody Armagh Lismore
Ardglass Quintin Bay Magerhafelt
Scotchtown Cohan Monagban
Drumnail Anna Cramp Deny Corr
Portadown Ballyhaise Dumnali
Woodburn Xockranagan Innisrush
Derrehalla Tullyserran Loughgall
Stradone Slash Charlemount
Glasslough Crossforth Ballyhay
Clones Bailieborough Ballyhornen
Ballyhulbert Crewe Stonyford
Ballinderry Moyrusk Milltown
More place names are mentioned on page 82 and 89 including mentions of members leaving to emigrate to Canada and the United States. Bangor and Newtownards are mentioned on page 156 and 157.
On page 88:
but migration and emigration were, as they continue to be, a constant drain upon the membership, keeping the numbers down. Young people cannot find suitable or sufficient employment in the small
or rural districts in Ireland, in which most of the mission Stations are situated. All over the Island, the population has been steadily going down. Some of the Irish missionaries were early induced to leave for Canada, and their reports and letters from the “goodly land “attracted many of the Irish members to the Dominion, and these, in their turn, induced others to follow : so that there continued a constant exodus of Irish Methodist New Connexionists to Canada.
Famine, Pestilence and Death
The Irish had additional burdens. Cholera was ‘alarmingly prevalent in 1846-1847. (Irish Methodist Reminiscences, page 155.) The church members attended to the sick, starving and dying.
From page 157:
The years 1816 till 1849 in Ireland were years of famine and disease following upon the “potato blight,” when thousands of sufferers perished. Newtownards suffered from the “famine” more than any other town in the North.
Page 159 by Mrs. Nicholson, wife of Reverend Nicholson.
Oh ! the scenes of filth and wretchedness, hunger,
nakedness and disease which my dear husband witnessed
and tried to relieve. Hundreds had no bed-clothes whatever,
and but an excuse for a bed or none at all ; and they
covered themselves at night with the scant garments
which they wore during the day. I can never forget
many individual cases which came under our special notice.
A poor man came for a ‘ line ‘ to get his wife into the
hospital. The poor woman was ‘ down in fever,’ and had
a baby just six weeks old. The man said he ‘ dooted they
wad both d’e, but he added ‘ a dinna care for ‘am caught
mysel’.’ They were all admitted to the hospital : the
poor fellow himself was the only one that succumbed. We
had meal to give out to the starving ones ; and of a morning
above a hundred poor creatures would be gathered
about our door. One day a poor woman fainted in the
crush. The patients in the hospital were dying daily
These were likely the conditions my ancestors were fleeing when they left Ireland for Canada sometime between 1841 and 1847.
Does this foray into one of the books of Early Irish Methodists give me the answers I am seeking? Not yet, but it does give me a better understanding of the Irish Methodist church and its localities and the horrific conditions of the times. This was the era when my ancestors left for Canada. The more I understand about the times and their religion the more likely I will find my answers.
Please share your thoughts below.
–
Resources:
Historical county map of Ireland
Ireland’s Historical Mapping Archive ($)
History of Rootsweb
March 8, 2010 by Luxegen Genealogy and Family History
Filed under genealogy
Genealogy Online
Hands up if your first forays into genealogy online were with RootsWeb? Maybe you go back as far as the ROOTS-L mailing list? Or net.roots? If you do, you’ve been online for a long time! Even before the web was really a web.
The internet, and genealogy on the Internet, have both been around far longer than many online genealogists realize. In 1969, four computers were linked together and the network was born.
About a decade later, newsgroups and the USENET were began. By 1983, the newsgroup net.roots, named after the popular Roots miniseries, had been launched, and with it, genealogy on the internet.
According to “An (Almost) Unexpurgated History of Rootsweb” by Dr. Brian Leverich in an article written way back in June of 1998 (okay…I know that’s not THAT long ago, unless you are talking internet years), the RootsWeb Surname List began in 1989 and it was his wife Karen Issacson, who maintained it.
From these auspicious beginnings we now have millions of online resources both personal and commercial. Despite all of the online resources it is important to remember that they represent only a small fraction of the genealogy and family tree resources available.
Offline Genealogy Resources
Remember to check out the following resources OFFLINE:
- Public and University Libraries (arrange interlibrary loans to get resource material)
- Genealogical societies (can offer expert help and research guidance along with resource libraries)
- Archives (State, Province, National)
- Court records
- Gazetteers
- Church Records
- Notarial Records
- Maps from the times your ancestors lived in the area
- Land Records
- Legal Records
- Education Records
- Vital Records (Birth, Marriage, Death)
- Divorce Records
- Cemeteries
- Newspaper Obituaries
This isn’t a comprehensive list by any means. RootsWeb is still a good place to start searching for the surnames in your family tree, but please remember that many genealogy finds will also be found OFFline.
–
Related:
