Western Massachusetts Genealogical Society, Inc.

WMGS April Meeting
2018-04-04 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
Our speaker in April will be Amy Johnson Crow and she will be speaking on “Ten Years: Census Substitutes” which will help us to locate supporting documents between census years and help with the huge gap between 1880 and 1900.
Amy is a Certified Genealogist with 20 years’ experience helping people discover their family history. She regularly speaks at events throughout the year, including the recent RootsTech 2018 in Salt Lake City, UT. She has served as series editor of the National Genealogical Society Guides and served on several national and state boards. She also holds a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science.

WMGS May Meeting
2018-05-02 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
Do you want to publish a book based on your genealogy research, but have no idea how to start? Our May speaker, Linda Roghaar, will provide a clear road-map to get you started, and explain publishing terms and the process by which your manuscript becomes a finished book. You will learn the important steps to preserve your work in a professional, permanent book that will be read and enjoyed by generations to come.
Linda Roghaar has spent decades in book publishing. In 2007, she recognized that advances in technology could benefit authors; she then developed an exciting, collaborative platform that combines standards of traditional publishing with today’s innovative publishing tools. She founded Genealogy House Publishers and now helps genealogists get their stories written, edited, and published as a printed book.

WMGS June Meeting
2018-06-06 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
Be sure to sign up for our Annual “June Pot Luck Dinner” during our May meeting. Not just a Pot Luck Dinner, it is our Open Mic Night as well! So, bring your favorite casserole or main dish, a side dish, or some sort of dessert, and socialize with fellow genealogists searching for their family tree. Who knows, you might even find a 5th – 9th cousin ‘X’ number of times removed; sort of like Dave Robison and Bruce Cortis (through Deacon Chapin of Springfield). After dinner, members will have an opportunity to speak and share during our Open Mic session. Members are welcome to share genealogy information including ideas, tips, suggestions, research experience, and genealogy projects. If you have a new website to share, a place to visit, or a research success story, please be sure to share it during our Open Mic session that’s how we all learn. Members are encouraged to bring a friend.

WMGS July Monthly Meeting
2018-07-11 18:00 - 20:00
Important Note: Our July meeting will be held one week later on July 11th at 6 PM at the Agawam Senior Center due to the July 4th holiday closure.

Skills Night Sharing Event

Perhaps you’re just beginning work on your family genealogy, maybe you’ve been working on it over the years when time allows, or maybe you’re a seasoned veteran trying to put the finishing touches on your family history. Well, we’re betting that everyone will enjoy this evening!

We’re working on plans for a Skills Night featuring displays of genealogy tools and tips and special interest discussion groups. Some of the ideas we are hoping to showcase include photo scanning and organization tools, ways to record family memories, software program comparisons, and ways to find hidden records and more on Family Search and Ancestry. Besides that, attendees will have an opportunity to have a personal consultation about their research problems with one of our own professional genealogists, our own version of
“Ancestors Roadshow”.

Our July meeting will be informal with attendees being able to freely move around stations to check out the displays and join special interest groups. And, we’ll have a sign-up sheet for personal consultations.

We’re still working on plans for the event and more details will be coming in our next newsletter. We welcome our many multi-talented members to pitch in and to share their knowledge as well. So, if you have a topic that you’d like to facilitate for the discussion groups or would like to have a display of genealogy tools and tricks, or have something else that you’d like to share, please let us know at westmassgen@gmail.com

WMGS August Monthly Meeting
2018-08-01 18:00 - 20:00 | Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History, 21 Edwards Street, Springfield, MA, 01103, United States
Our annual trip to the Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield
History is just around the corner. Join us on August 1st from 6-8 PM for our
highly anticipated exclusive visit for a night of research. We get the place to
ourselves, but remember, you have to be a paid member to attend! Due to
limited space, sign up is required. Email us at WestMassGen@gmail.com
and sign up today (put MOSH in the subject line). The first 30 get on the list
with others put on a waiting list.

WMGS September Monthly Meeting
2018-09-05 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
On September 5th, join us as Marian B Wood presents on the topic Using Facebook
and Twitter for Genealogy – She will reveal the fun, benefits, and mechanics of
Facebook and Twitter to connect with family-history researchers in areas where
ancestors lived, request assistance, obtain translations, and learn more about
genealogy sources, technology, and methodology. The many forms of Social media
are easy to use and offer the opportunity for more immediate response compared with
traditional surname message boards–to jumpstart genealogy efforts at any level.
Marian B. Wood is a popular genealogy speaker and hosts a blog entitled Climbing My Family Tree. She has also written a book “Planning a Future for Your Family’s Past” available at smile.amazon.com.

WMGS October Monthly Meeting
2018-10-03 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
Our speaker on October 3rd, will be Susan Sit. She presented for us back in March on the topic of Welsh and other ethnic research challenges. This time she will be speaking on Wales, Scotland & England – Similar but Different Research.
Susan Davies Sit was born in North Wales and has been researching her own family tree and others’ trees for almost 40 years. She also enjoys helping others in their genealogy research including her husband’s Chinese American tree, which is as difficult as it sounds! Her specialty is researching in Wales, Scotland and England. She is a Professional genealogist (APG); President of the Welsh Society of Western New England (WSWNE); a member of the Gwynedd Family History Society (Wales); and the Welsh-American Genealogy Society (WAGS).

WMGS November Monthly Meeting
2018-11-07 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
David Ouimette, CG, CGL from FamilySearch.org will be our November 7th speaker. His presentation is entitled, “Discovering Your Ancestors Using Family Search.”
FamilySearch has the most comprehensive collection of family history records in the world, with billions of images and billions of indexes of the best records for ancestral discovery across much of the globe. Come and learn how FamilySearch prioritizes, digitizes, publishes, and indexes records that tell the stories of your ancestors. With that background, we will then demonstrate effective search strategies across the FamilySearch website, covering historical records, family trees, published genealogies, the research wiki, and the FamilySearch catalog.

WMGS December Monthly Meeting
2018-12-05 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
Cliff McCarthy, archivist at the Museum of Springfield History (MOSH), archivist at the Stone House Museum of Belchertown, local historian, published author, avid genealogist, and president of the Pioneer Valley History Network, a non-profit consortium of historical institutions, will be our December 5th speaker.
Cliff will be presenting on the history of our four Western Massachusetts counties (Hampden, Hampshire, Berkshire, and Franklin) and the treasure-trove of genealogical resources for anyone doing research or with ancestors in them.

WMGS January Monthly Meeting
2019-01-02 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
Our January 2, 2019 presenter will be Katherine R. Willson of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Katherine is an engaging & dynamic lecturer at local, regional and national conferences. She’s the founder and president of the Virtual Genealogical Society, member of the Board of Directors for the Association of Professional Genealogists, President of the Michigan Genealogical Council, Secretary for the Genealogical Speakers Guild, Social Media Manager for GRIP /Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh, and member of the National Genealogical Society.
Katherine’s presentation to us at the Agawam Senior Center is titled: Seeking Dead People: Getting the Most from Cemetery Research Online & In Person. Katherine will discuss cemetery, funeral home, and online research and provide tips and techniques to help locate photos, family trees, obituaries, and death certificates, and more.

WMGS February Monthly Meeting
2019-02-06 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
The Finer Points of FamilySearch: Six ways to Jumpstart Your 2019 Research
Pat Richley-Erickson, AKA DearMYRTLE, will be presenting for us during our February 6th meeting. Pat is the author of the award-winning DearMYRTLE Genealogy Blog, which is consistently among the top 5 family history blogs internationally, where her focus is on beginning genealogy topics. She also hosts several weekly hangouts including Mondays with Myrt, Wacky Wednesday and moderates more intense study groups including Beginning Genealogy, Mastering Genealogical Proof, The Written Conclusion, and Genealogy and the Law.
Of the 100’s of on-line genealogy search sites, few rise to the top of the list. Imagine having access to a premier research website that is consistently rated as one of the best that is also FREE to use! Welcome to FamilySearch.org. In a constant state of being updated with new collections of historical records, Family Search is the “go-to” site for thousands of family researchers around the world.
DearMYRTLE will be coming to WMGS via a remote webinar from her home and offices near Salt Lake City, Utah. She will share her deep knowledge of the website and how to use it effectively. Finding the records that you need and doing it in a logical, step-by-step manner can be a huge time saver. WMGS is very fortunate to be able to bring her to our virtual “doorstep” and take advantage of her broad and deep experience.

WMGS March Monthly Meeting
2019-03-06 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
At our March 6th Meeting, Russ Worthington will be presenting “Recording Your Family Research – The Dash Connection.” Russ will show us how to make better use of the features in various genealogy software programs to help make that Dash Connection, that is, the time between birth and death dates to create a story. His tips and tricks will help you on the journey, perhaps to even in writing a book on your ancestors.
Russ Worthington is an expert with Family Tree Maker (FTM 2017) as well as other genealogy software programs, student of genealogical methodology, Find-a-Grave volunteer, blogger, and public speaker. He’s a real-life cousin to Pat Richley-Erickson a/k/a “DearMYRTLE,” and handles the technical aspects of all of her webinars. Many of you will remember his excellent presentation on City Directories in a previous webinar visit to WMGS in October 2015.

WMGS April Monthly Meeting (starts at 6:30 p.m. in "Veteran's Room" on upper level)
2019-04-10 18:30 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
Kathy Kaldis will be our April speaker on the 10th (note the change in date) and her talk will be “What’s in a Name? Strategies for Identifying Maiden Names”. Why is it so difficult to identify maiden names? ~The Recipe for Success in Finding Maiden Names: Practical Skills; Analytical Skills; Creative Use of Evaluating Evidence.
Kathleen Kaldis fell in love with genealogy at a young age, she is a professional genealogist known as The Ancestor Finder. Her interest in genealogy started when heard stories about how her great great-grandfather, who was born on Cape Breton Island, came to Boston to build Fenway Park. She used to be a Genealogist at the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston and enjoyed working with the patrons. She holds a Certificate in Genealogical Research from Boston University, and has successfully completed many genealogical institute courses though the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) and the International Society for British Genealogy and Family History (ISBGFH). Kathleen is very active within the genealogical community serving in many leadership positions within many organizations. She is a member of the Lexington DAR and personally brought in 125 new members in two years. As a lecturer her enthusiasm will show through as she shares her passion of genealogy with the audience.

WMGS May Monthly Meeting
2019-05-01 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
Our May 1st meeting is our annual meeting but after all the administrative tasks, we will be having a presentation on the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) by Dave Robison and the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) by Hillary Schau. You know our two presenters as the WMGS president, Dave, and our Newsletter Editor, Hillary. Each of our presenters is very knowledgeable about their organization. If you have branches that go all the way back to the 1700’s and were curious about the process of applying to the SAR or DAR, there will be a Q&A session after their presentation. If your ancestors do not go back that far in the US, there are many other lineage societies that you can consider. Cyndi’s list here is a good place to explore.
Dave Robison and Hillary Schau are both professional genealogists working as speakers on genealogical topics and as researchers for individual clients. On top of this, both Dave and Hillary volunteer with their respective lineage societies to help prospective members to assemble documents for their applications. Dave Robison is the Registrar in the Pomeroy Chapter of SAR. Hillary Schau has been the Registrar at the Mercy Warren Chapter of DAR for the past three years.

Skills Night
2019-06-05 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
June 2019 Meeting – Skills Night
Our 2nd annual Skills Night will be held at our June 5th meeting this year. This is an opportunity to explore a variety of topics, tools, and resources that will assist you in your genealogy research. It is an informal event with attendees being able to freely move around stations, with facilitators at each station to chat and answer questions. We’ll be set up in the Dining Room this year, allowing us to spread out more.
We’re bringing back some of the topics from last year, but we’ll also have a few new ones. There will be something for everyone, whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned pro. Need help with general research? We’ll have tips, techniques and search methods. Are you having difficulty finding ancestors in early census records? Or, perhaps you’re having difficulty finding military records for those who served our country. We’ve got these covered!
Would you like to know more about capturing family memories and recording methods? We’ll cover that with displays of photo & document scanning tools. Want to learn about an easy-to-use online tool to help you make sense of your DNA results?
Do you focus your genealogical research on Ireland, Quebec and other provinces in Canada, Western Massachusetts, upstate New York, or Palatine research? Do you need general resources? Or, would you like to chat about a specific research problem? If so, bring a description of the problem and you’ll be able to talk with researchers who might be able to help.
Perhaps you want to plan a research trip, but it seems overwhelming. We’ll provide information on what you should do in advance, so that you’ll make the most of your time and maximize your chances of finding what you need.

WMGS July Monthly Meeting
2019-07-10 18:30 - 20:30 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
July 10, 6:30 p.m. – – Not July 3, 6:00 p.m.
Our July 10th presenter will be Kathleen Reilly, local History and Melville Collections Supervisor at the Berkshire Athenaeum in Pittsfield, MA. Kathy’s presentation will focus on the extensive and rich collection of genealogical resources at the Athenaeum.
The Berkshire Athenaeum has long been a popular place to conduct research, because of its extensive New England state resources, and French-Canadian parish repertoires and other resources.
When the Sylvio Conte Branch of the National Archives in Pittsfield closed in 2011, the Berkshire Athenaeum acquired the books, finding aids, and microfilm collection of that branch. The microfilm collection includes US & State census records, naturalization indexes, compiled service records for Revolutionary war solders, Revolutionary war pension and bounty-land warrant applications, index to New England naturalization petitions from 1796 to 1906, ship manifests, and more.
The Athenaeum is also a FamilySearch affiliate library providing access to many FamilySearch databases that are only accessible at a center. Kathy’s presentation will pique your interest and help you to maximize a research trip there.
Please note that due to the Independence Day holiday, our July meeting will be held on July 10th at 6:30pm in the Veterans’ Room at the Agawam Senior Center.

WMGS Monthly Meeting
2019-08-07 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
Do you have boxes of old family photographs just sitting in your closet? Are they fading, yellowed, damaged, water stained, or do they have mold damage? The solution is to scan them and then restore them, turning them into digital files. Does the idea of tackling that project overwhelm you? Do you even know how or where to start?
At the August 7 WMGS monthly meeting, Dave Lapierre, WMGS Vice President and Website Coordinator, will do a presentation/demonstration on “Photo Scanning and Restoration”. If you were at Skills Night on June 5, you may have had a chance to watch some of the photo scanning features Dave was demonstrating.
He will be expanding his presentation from Skills Night to include information on:

what file format to save scanned photos in
what’s the difference between a JPG and a TIFF file, and which format should you use when
the steps to take when tackling that box of photos
software programs for photo editing & photo restoration (there is a difference), and
the options available for saving/storing your scanned images

WMGS Monthly Meeting
2019-09-04 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
Genealogist Melanie McComb will present on September 4 on the resources available at NEHGS and AmericanAncestors.org- NEHGS: Who We Are, What We Do, How We Can Help.
Melanie assists library visitors at NEHGS, both on-site and online, with their family history research. She also provides lectures on a variety of genealogical topics. Melanie holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the State University of New York at Oswego. Her areas of research interest include Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Kansas, Prince Edward Island, Québec, and Ireland, and she is experienced in DNA, genealogical technology and social media, Jewish genealogy, and military records.

WMGS Monthly Meeting
2019-10-02 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
Our October 2nd meeting will feature Maria Beiter-Tucker, the Visitor Center Manager at Quabbin Reservoir who will present Exploring the History of The Quabbin Valley Through Gravestones. Maria will take our members on a virtual walk through the Quabbin Park Cemetery to explore the history of the former Swift River Valley Towns and some of its residents. The Quabbin Park Cemetery was developed in the early 1930’s for the reinterment of those who were buried in cemeteries in the flooded towns of Dana, Enfield, Greenwich, and Prescott. Nearly 8,000 graves were moved from the four towns’ 34 cemeteries, but not every family chose to have their ancestors buried in the newly created cemetery. Maria will tell us what happened to them. Before any graves were moved, detailed information was recorded about each grave, including mapping where it was located and photographing the gravestone. Maria will describe how to access that information and will tell us about the ongoing Quabbin Park Cemetery Digital Commonwealth project. Maria’s presentation will provide resources to help you locate ancestors who lived in the Swift River Valley. Whether or not you have ancestors who lived there, her presentation will be intriguing to anyone with Massachusetts roots.

WMGS Monthly Meeting
2019-11-06 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
We’re pleased to be bringing genealogist Kathy Kaldis back to WMGS for our November 6th meeting to help us prepare for the upcoming 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims’ landing on our shores. Kathy’s presentation, Land Ho! Calling All Mayflower Descendants, will focus on how to find Mayflower ancestors and how to apply to a Mayflower lineage society. She’ll tell us about plans for the 400th anniversary and celebration, as well. Kathleen Kaldis fell in love with genealogy at a young age. She is a professional genealogist known as The Ancestor Finder. Her interest in genealogy started when she heard stories about how her great-great-grandfather, who was born on Cape Breton Island, came to Boston to build Fenway Park. She used to be a Genealogist at the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston and enjoyed working with the patrons. She holds a Certificate in Genealogical Research from Boston University, and has successfully completed many genealogical institute courses though the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) and the International Society for British Genealogy and Family History (ISBGFH). Kathleen is very active within the genealogical community, serving in many leadership positions within many organizations. She is a member of the Lexington DAR and personally brought in 125 new members in two years. As a lecturer her enthusiasm will show through as she shares her passion of genealogy with the audience.

WMGS Monthly Meeting
2019-12-04 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
We’re excited to be bringing nationally-known Thomas MacEntee, Founder & CEO of High-Definition Genealogy, LLC, to our December 4th meeting.
The title of his presentation is,
The Genealogy Do-Over tm:
A Year of Learning from Mistakes
It isn’t often that we get a “do-over” when it comes to stuff that matters in life. When you first got started researching your family history, did you do some things that now are just plain “embarrassing” such as name collecting, not citing sources and more? Well now there’s hope since genealogists from beginner to advanced are employing new research methodologies and documentation practices. Follow genealogist Thomas MacEntee as he basically starts his genealogy research from scratch but includes sound research practices and methodologies as well as new templates, tools, and the latest technology to create a better body of family history research.
Thomas will be coming to us via a webinar. We will present the webinar at the Agawam Senior Center, and will also broadcast it to members who are watching remotely. Stay tuned for webinar details as we get closer to the event.

WMGS Monthly Meeting
2020-01-08 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
In January, our presenter will be Katherine R. Willson of Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Katherine is an engaging and dynamic lecturer at local, regional, and national
conferences. She’s the founder and president of the Virtual Genealogical Society, a
member of the Board of Directors for the Association of Professional Genealogists, the
Publicity Chair for the Federation of Genealogical Societies 2019 Conference, and a
member of the National Genealogical Society. In addition, she is the author of The
Genealogist’s Guide to Grand Rapids, Michigan (published in 2018 by The In-Depth
Genealogist). A noted expert on the use of Facebook for genealogy, she’s continually
updating her list of Facebook genealogy/history links on her website, with a current total of over 14,500 links.
She also maintains a list of 160+ links to instructional genealogical channels on YouTube on her site. Her website at https://socialmediagenealogy.com/resources/ contains those lists, as well as a variety of other resources.
Katherine’s presentation to us at the Agawam Senior Center is titled “They Didn’t All Come Through Ellis Island! Finding & Analyzing Passenger Arrival Lists.” As Katherine says, “If as many ancestors came through Ellis Island as families are led to believe, the island would have sunk!” She will explain the multiple points of departure from Europe, ports of entry into the U.S., how to find passenger arrival lists online, and how to analyze these lists as a means of filling in your ancestors’ life stories.
Be sure to join us for Katherine Willson’s presentation on Wednesday, January 8th, 2020!

WMGS Monthly Meeting
2020-02-05 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
Our February 5th monthly meeting will feature Kathryn Lake Hogan, live from Ontario,
Canada. Kathryn Lake Hogan, UE, PLCGS is a Canadian professional genealogist who
revels in teaching people how to find their ancestors in Canada. She is the founder and
owner of the Canadian-based genealogy business, Looking4Ancestors. The author of
research guides featuring Canadian genealogy, Kathryn has written articles for Family
Tree magazine, The In-Depth Genealogist, and the Association of Professional
Genealogists journal, APG Quarterly. Kathryn is the past Dominion Genealogist of the
United Empire Loyalists’ Association of Canada (UELAC), a past board member of the
Association of Professional Genealogists, and the past virtual chat coordinator of
Canadian studies with National Institute for Genealogical Studies. Most recently,
Kathryn was the producer, host, and presenter of the weekly webinar series, “Genealogy with a Canadian Twist.” Recognized for her knowledge of Canadian genealogy, Kathryn is a popular speaker and instructor at regional and national genealogical conferences and institutes throughout North America.
Kathryn’s presentation is titled, “What’s in Your Canadian Genealogy Toolbox?” Explore the top websites for researching your ancestors in Canada. Learn where to find the best online resources for Canadian and provincial record groups, history, newspapers, maps, photographs and more to help you fill your Canadian toolbox.
You might be surprised to discover that many of our ancestors spent time in Canada. Do you have Loyalist ancestors? Or provincial, Eastern Townships, or ancestors who immigrated through Canadian ports? Did your American ancestors go back and forth across the border for employment or to get married? If so, you won’t want to miss Kathryn’s presentation.

WMGS Monthly Meeting
2020-03-04 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
Lisa Louise Cooke is CEO of Genealogy Gems, a genealogy education company
featuring The Genealogy Gems Podcast, available at iTunes, and the Genealogy Gems app. Her books include Mobile Genealogy, The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox Second Edition, How to Find Your Family History in Newspapers, and she has published 100+ videos at the Genealogy Gems YouTube Channel. She also produces The Family Tree Magazine Podcast, regularly writes for the magazine, and teaches for Family Tree University.
Lisa will be our featured speaker at our Wednesday, March 4, 2020 meeting. Her presentation is titled “Get the Scoop on Your Ancestors with Newspapers.” Yearning to “read all about it?” Newspapers are a fantastic source of research leads, information and historical context for your family history. Learn the specialized approach that is required to achieve success in locating the news on your ancestors. Lisa’s presentation includes 3 Cool Tech Tools that will get you started.
Everyone will want to check the incredible resources available at Lisa’s website at https://lisalouisecooke.com.
Mark your calendars and plan to join us for an exciting presentation!

WMGS Monthly Meeting
2020-04-01 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
At our April 1st monthly meeting, we’ll be welcoming back Sara Campbell. Sara is a popular lecturer and educator in Western Mass where she has been active in the genealogical community for over 25 years.
Sara is the author of a recently released book, Six Generations in Otsego, the story of the Colman family, spanning 150 years from the early years of the Republic in the late 1700s, to the mid-twentieth century. She maintains a blog about history and genealogy at http://rememberingancestors.blogspot.com.
An expert on maps and their historical significance for genealogists, Sara has a background as a civil engineer, which gives her a unique perspective on her research. Sara will be presenting “Historic Massachusetts Maps” to our society at our Wednesday, April 1st meeting. Mark your calendars for an interesting presentation!

WMGS Monthly Meeting
2020-05-06 18:00 - 20:00 | Online
Our May 6th monthly meeting will feature a live webinar with genealogist and author
Michael John Neill. His topic will be “Researching the Entire Family.” Focusing only
on a direct line can cause significant information to be overlooked and larger patterns to
go unnoticed. Michael discusses, via examples, the importance of researching the
siblings and at least first cousins of a direct ancestor.
Michael has been an active genealogical researcher since the early 1980s and has researched his or his children’s families in most states east of the Mississippi River and several European countries. He has lectured nationally, gives day-long seminars, and regularly leads research trips to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and the Allen County Public Library in Ft. Wayne, Indiana.
Michael has a master’s degree in mathematics and has been on the math faculty of
Carl Sandburg College in Illinois since the early 1990s. His research interests
include methodology, land records, the immigrant experience, chain migration,
and researching female ancestors.
In addition to hosting several blogs and Facebook sites, including Rootdig and Genealogy Tip of the Day, Michael has recently published a collection of his most popular daily tips titled Genealogy Tip of the Day. It’s a must read for all genealogists – guaranteed that you’ll learn something new.

WMGS Monthly Meeting
2020-06-03 18:00 - 20:00 | Online
We’re looking forward to bringing back nationally- and internationally-known genealogist, Thomas MacEntee, Founder and CEO of High-Definition Genealogy,
LLC to our June 3rd virtual meeting.
Thomas is the author of over 10 genealogy books and editor of over 100 publications.
After spending over 25 years in the information technology field, Thomas branched off into genealogy education and marketing. Known as one of the most generous genealogists in the field, he shares many of his articles and videos for free through his Abundant Genealogy.com website and Facebook groups. He also runs the popular GenealogyBargains.com and DNABargains.com websites to keep us updated on the latest in genealogy offerings and bargains in the marketplace. Some of you may also remember Tom as he was a keynote speaker at NERGC 2017 in Springfield.
Tom will be presenting “Genealogy Pit Stop: Research in 15 Minute Increments.” Tom will teach us what race car driving teams already know: you can accomplish important, detail-oriented work in a short amount of time. You’ll learn how to leverage to-do lists, research logs, tracking systems, clue-gathering tricks and more to actually do genealogy research every day! No more saving that research for when you have a large block of time . . . which never seems to happen.
Join us for our virtual monthly meeting on Wednesday, June 3rd at 6 PM.

WMGS Monthly Meeting
2020-07-01 18:00 - 20:00 | Online
Our July 1st monthly meeting will feature John Putnam, who will join us live from Colorado!
A Southwick native, John is a UMass graduate with a degree in government/political science and a past president of the Pikes Peak Genealogical Society. His interest in genealogy started at a young age when his two grandmothers would tell family stories. As John is a twelfth generation New Englander, there were many stories to be told. John’s Putnam ancestors lived in Salem/Danvers, MA where they were very involved in the Salem Witchcraft incident. Both his parents were active in their local historical society and frequently added to John’s interest in Western Massachusetts’ local history.
The title of John’s presentation is “Untangling Your New England Roots: An Overview from Settlement to the Seven Years War.”
John will discuss the history and migration patterns that our ancestors experienced during pre-Revolutionary times. Many present-day Americans can trace their ancestry back to the Great Migration. John will share the importance of understanding New England’s history, its settlement patterns, and its town structure to improve your chances to tackle New England brick walls. It’s often difficult to know where to look for records unless you know the area’s history, not to mention the formative activities that our ancestors undertook, which provide rich stories for your family histories.

WMGS Monthly Meeting
2020-08-12 18:00 - 20:00 | Online
At our August 5th monthly meeting, we will be welcoming back Sara Campbell for a new presentation –“Using Land Records in Genealogical Research.” Sara is a popular lecturer and educator in Western Mass where she has been active in the genealogical community for over 25 years. As many of you know, Sara’s background as a professional civil engineer provides her with a unique perspective on her research.
Sara is the author of a recently released book, Six Generations in Otsego, the story of the Colman family, spanning 150 years from the early years of the Republic in the late 1700s, to the mid-twentieth century. She maintains a blog about history and genealogy athttp://www.rememberingancestors.com.
Sara describes her presentation as follows: “Land records take us a step beyond the top two sources we search when beginning genealogical research: vital records and census records. Deeds can help us understand our ancestors’ movements when buying and selling land, identify neighbors, and sometimes uncover an elusive spouse. Digging into these records should not be any more intimidating than any other source. The terminology may sound confusing, but we can get through it together. We will review a variety of deeds and explore what can be found online as well as in person in repositories.
“I find that some of the institutes and national webinars focus on ‘platting’ and land in the west that was based on ‘ranges’ and everything is square. That is not the case in New England.”
Mark your calendars, as you won’t want to miss Sara’s presentation on Wednesday, August 5th at 6 PM.

WMGS Monthly Meeting
2020-09-02 18:00 - 20:00 | Online
Stephen Morse is the creator of the One-Step Website for which he has received both the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Outstanding Contribution Award from the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies, the Award of Merit from the National Genealogical Society, the first-ever Excellence Award from the Association of Professional Genealogists, and two awards that he cannot pronounce from Polish genealogical societies.
In his other life, Steve is a computer professional with a doctorate degree in electrical
engineering. He has held various research, development, and teaching positions,
authored numerous technical papers, written four textbooks, and holds four patents.
He is best known as the architect of the Intel 8086 (the granddaddy of today’s Pentium processor), which sparked the PC revolution nearly 40 years ago.
The One-Step Website started out as an aid for finding passengers in the Ellis Island database. Shortly afterwards it was expanded to help with searching in the 1930 census. Over the years it has continued to evolve, and today it includes about 300 web-based tools divided into 16 separate categories ranging from genealogical searches to astronomical calculations to last-minute bidding on eBay. Steve’s presentation will describe the range of tools available and give the highlights of each one.
Whether you’re looking for passenger lists, census records, information on Soundex or phonetic matching to find elusive ancestors, searching for living relatives, or even converting script written in several other languages to English, Steve’s One-Step Webpage is the place to find tools to help you.
Steve will be presenting, “One-Step Website: A Potpourri of Genealogical Search Tools,” live on Wednesday, Sept. 2nd at our 6 PM meeting.
*Note: This lecture will be live and will not be recorded. If you miss this presentation, the handout will be available in the Members Only section of our website.
