WMGS Training: That Scoundrel George
2021-07-22 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Online
We’re going to be trying something new this night. With permission from Legacy Family Tree Webinars, we’ll be rebroadcasting a webinar presentation called “That Scoundrel George” by nationally known genealogist Judy G. Russell, JD, CG, CGL. After the presentation, we’ll have a short discussion about the topic.
Tracking a rascally ancestor through the records can be great fun and a great challenge. When every record he ever left appears to be a lie, where is the
truth to be found?”

WMGS Monthly Meeting: Warning Out and Settlement Law in Early New England
2021-08-04 18:00 - 20:00
Come find out about “strangers taken in” records, “warning out” records, and settlement law. Settlement law impacted all New Englanders whether rich or poor, transient or long-time resident. Discover what records were created as a result and why. You will be surprised at the level of detail you can find about your ancestors. Marian Pierre-Louis will take you into the depths of these rarely discussed New England records to reveal a wealth of information about your ancestors.

WMGS Training Session: Preserving Your Family Treasures - Choosing the Right Storage Solutions
2021-08-26 19:00 - 20:30
Buffered or unbuffered? What does acid-free really mean? What is the best way to preserve my family Bible? Abby Shaw from Hollinger Archival Products will answer these questions and more about the best storage solutions for your family papers, photos, and textiles. Please bring your questions about your treasures to the meeting and she can recommend the approved method of storage.
This will be a wonderful opportunity to get professional advice from Abby Shaw. After Abby’s presentation, we’ll have time to ask for advice on preserving our family heirlooms and treasures. We’re hoping that you can join us and share your items on camera for Abby’s evaluation. We’re letting you know early about this event, so you’ll have plenty of time to dig your items out of closets and other hiding spaces and prepare your list of questions!

WMGS Monthly Meeting - Navigating Naturalization Records
2021-09-01 18:00 - 20:00
We are kicking off our 2021-2022 membership year with a fantastic presentation by Lisa A. Alzo! Lisa will be presenting a lecture titled “Navigating Naturalization Records,” a difficult area of research for many of us. First papers, petitions, certificates, and registrations are some of the key documents for naturalization – the process of becoming an American citizen. Due to changing laws and an evolving process over time, locating the appropriate official paperwork can be a challenging task for family historians. Lisa will explain how to navigate naturalization records and what information they contain about your ancestors.

WMGS Training: I Have a Civil War Ancestor....Now What?
2021-09-16 19:00 - 20:30

WMGS Board Meeting
2021-09-20 18:30 - 20:30, 2021-10-18 18:30 - 20:30, 2021-11-08 18:30 - 20:30, 2022-01-10 18:30 - 20:30, 2022-02-14 18:30 - 20:30, 2022-03-14 18:30 - 20:30

WMGS Monthly Meeting: New Englanders Become Americans
2021-10-06 18:00 - 20:00
We’ve got another great presentation with John Putnam lined up for our October meeting. John will be presenting a lecture titled “New Englanders Become Americans.” This lecture is the 2nd part of John’s earlier presentation to us, “Untangling Your England Roots,” in July 2020. (If you missed it, it’s archived in the Members Only section of our website.)
John will discuss the genealogy and history of New England from the French and Indian War to the 1800s. Did you have ancestors living in New England immediately before, during, or after the American Revolution or in the early years of the new republic? Do you know their history and how they coped with the many historic disruptions during this time? Even though you may not share any roots from this geographical area, there are many factors that started here that still impact us all.
In many respects, New England was a catalyst of the revolution — very active in the formation of the new republic, the site of the start of the American industrial revolution. It was also the source of many people who emigrated west during this time. John will share the importance of understanding these events and the very stressful times in which our ancestors lived, helping to improve your chances of tackling New England brick walls. While records are important to prove your genealogical past, it is often difficult to know where to look for these 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. Certainly, events as disruptive as these can also disrupt the records, too.

WMGS Training Session: Railroads Around Amherst and Northampton, MA
2021-10-21 19:00 - 21:00
Ever wonder how our ancestors traveled in the 19th and 20th centuries? What railroad or trolleys were available in our area? Or perhaps your ancestor lived near enough to railroad tracks that they heard the whistle or rattle as they rumbled by?
Join us for a fascinating tale of the “Railroads Around Amherst and Northampton, MA” presented by WMGS member Philip E. Johnson, a railroad historian and author. Phil has put together a presentation about railroad and trolley lines that some of our
Hampshire County ancestors may have used.

WMGS Monthly Meeting: Misbegotten Children: Tracing the Family Lines of the Illegitimate
2021-11-03 18:00 - 20:00
Peggy Clemens Lauritzen, AG, FOGS will be joining us again on November 3rd for another not-to-be-missed presentation! Her topic will be “Misbegotten Children; Tracing the Family Lines of the Illegitimate.” Nearly all families have children with seemingly missing fathers. Yet there may be clues and resources to help us determine their ancestry. Illegitimacy can be both a surprise and an embarrassment as we discover more and more about our family’s history. Treated with care and sensitivity, we can use many available resources to help us in our research.

WMGS Training Session: Our Ancestor's Clothing - Howard Vincent Kurtz
2021-11-18 19:00 - 21:00
We’re very excited that Howard Vincent Kurtz will be joining us at our November 18th training session for another presentation of Our Ancestors’ Clothing! If you participated in Professor Kurtz’s first visit to WMGS last April, you’ll know what a great opportunity he provided to our members.
As he did last time, Prof. Kurtz will review a selection of photographs sent in by our members, analyzing the clothing worn and other clues in them. His analysis may help you to identify the subjects, time, place, reason for the photo, and more.
If you have photographs of people that you can’t identify, want to know more about, or you think other members would find intriguing, we encourage you to submit them to us. We sent out an email notifying our members of this opportunity a few weeks ago, but if you haven’t submitted your scanned digital photographs yet, we’ve extended the deadline for submitting them until Monday, November 1st. There is a limit of 10 submissions per member.
Time permitting, Prof. Kurtz will analyze as many photographs as he can, selecting photographs that represent features that are useful for genealogical research. They might represent various time periods or have other clues that can help to identify our ancestors.
Note: If you submitted photos last time and a particular photograph that you hoped would be selected wasn’t analyzed, feel free to submit it again. Let us know which photograph you would like to prioritize for analysis.
Please send your scanned digital photogs to WMGS at: westmassgen@gmail.com. Again, the deadline is Monday, November 1st, so that Professor Kurtz has time for his analysis.
Whether you submit photographs or not, please join us for this session as we promise an enjoyable learning experience.

WMGS Holiday Zoom Party!
2021-11-26 08:00 - 17:00
It’s bring your own hot chocolate, hot mulled wine, hot cider, or something stronger if you’d like! Dress up in your holiday finery or your ugliest holiday sweater if you wish! Get in the holiday spirit!
We’re hosting a genealogy-focused holiday Zoom party for members on Thursday, December 9th at 7 p.m. We’d love to have our members send in holiday photos from their childhoods or family collections. Do you have a photo of you or an ancestor sitting on Santa’s lap? Or perhaps a photo of your family around the Christmas tree or enjoying a holiday gathering? Anything holiday related will be appreciated. We’ll create a slideshow of the photos in the form of a genealogy timeline for everyone to enjoy!
We’ll also have several holiday genealogy-related topics to get the conversation flowing. If you have a family recipe that you’d like to share, we encourage you to send it along so we can send it out in advance. (Wish we could send the actual cookies or treats through the mail, but we don’t have the resources to do that!)
We’ll talk about holiday traditions, favorite heirlooms, and cherished memories. And we’ll host a holiday genealogy trivia game. Do you know all the vital records details of our beloved holiday figures? We’ll see how many questions you can answer!
Send your photos or recipes to westmassgen@gmail.com. We hope that you’ll join us at this virtual event! We look forward to visiting with all of you!

An Evening with David Silverman: This Land Is Their Land
2021-11-30 19:00 - 20:30
See December Newsletter for details and how to register for this free event.

WMGS Monthly Meeting: "European Immigrant Ancestors: Why They Left and How They Got Here, 1865-1920"
2021-12-01 18:00 - 20:00
Have you wondered why your European ancestors decided to emigrate to the United States, beyond hearing they were told the streets were paved in gold?
Many factors pushed or pulled our European ancestors to emigrate to the United States. Genealogist Nancy E. Loe, MA, MLS will help us follow in the footsteps of ancestors who arrived between 1865 and 1920.
What did they experience when they decided to leave their homes and communities to sail to America? What was the voyage like? Discover essential and unusual resources for migration research for all United States ports.

WMGS Training: Topic To Be Determined
2022-01-20 19:00 - 20:30
Stay tuned. We have plans, but are still finalizing what the topic will be.

An Evening with Paul Joseph Fronczak: The Foundling, True Identity
2022-01-31 19:00 - 20:30
In 1964, a woman pretending to be a nurse kidnapped an infant boy named Paul Fronczak from a Chicago hospital. Two years later, police found a boy abandoned outside a variety store in New Jersey. The FBI tracked down Dora Fronczak, the kidnapped infant’s mother, and she identified the abandoned boy as her son. The family spent the next fifty years believing they were whole again—but Paul was always unsure about his true identity.
In 2012—spurred on by the birth of his first child, Emma Faith—Paul took a DNA test that disproved the story he’d been told about his identity–that he was “Baby Fronczak,” the infant who’d been kidnapped from a Chicago hospital in an infamous 1964 crime. In an instant, he became a man without a name, birthday or medical history–an “unidentified living person,” in official terminology. Since then Paul has searched for answers looking for the real Paul Fronczak. “I’m on a mission,” he says, “and I can’t stop until I find out what happened.”
Join us to learn how Paul uncovered his origins thanks to modern technology, the help of several experts, and the luck involved in matching relatives who had also submitted their DNA to genetic genealogy databases and were willing to help.
This presentation is free, but registration is required! For more information, go to www.massgencouncil.org/m-o-r-e

WMGS Monthly Meeting: Navigating Naturalization Records
2022-02-02 18:00 - 20:00
We’ll finally get a chance to welcome Lisa Alzo to WMGS! Lisa was originally scheduled to present at our September 2021 kickoff meeting, but the aftermath of Hurricane Ida interfered with those plans.
Lisa will be presenting a lecture titled “Navigating Naturalization Records,” a difficult area of research for many of us. First papers, petitions, certificates, and registrations are some of the key documents for naturalization – the process of becoming an American citizen. Due to changing laws and an evolving process over time, locating the appropriate official paperwork can be a challenging task for family historians. Lisa will explain how to navigate naturalization records and what information they contain about your ancestors.

WMGS Training: Finding Your 19th Century Ancestors on Fold3 - Is There a Better Way?
2022-02-17 19:00 - 20:30
Ever get confused on Fold3? Learn what records are available for your 19th century military ancestors there and pick up some search strategies to narrow down what you’re looking for. Yes, there is a better way to search! Brian Rhinehart will be back with us to help us learn how to use Fold3 effectively.

WMGS Monthly Meeting: Marriages Here, There, and Nowhere: Finding Gretna Greens
2022-03-02 18:00 - 20:00
We’re thrilled that we’ll be joined by J. Mark Lowe for a presentation titled “Marriages Here, There, and Nowhere: Finding Gretna Greens” on March 2nd.
Throughout history, many couples chose to marry in a location away from their home. Often there were reasons why it was a more convenient location to tie the knot. Sometimes, this decision was based on a romantic location or a place that would allow them to marry quickly without a three-day waiting period. These locations are often referred to as Gretna Greens, named for the historic town in Scotland where thousands of English couples ran because of Scotland’s sympathetic marriage laws. We will consider the reasons for a different marriage location, alternate sources to determine the location, and a few of the towns known as “Gretna Greens” in the United States.

RootsTech Connect 2022
2022-03-03 - 2022-03-05

WMGS Monthly Meeting: "The 1950 U.S. Federal Census - Are You Ready?"
2022-03-24 18:00 - 20:00
Mark your calendars! We have rescheduled Tom MacEntee’s presentation titled
“The 1950 U.S. Federal Census: Are You Ready?” to Thursday, March 24th
at 6 p.m.
Unfortunately, Tom was unable to present to us at our January meeting because of
illness. We had more than 75 members signed up for his presentation, as we’re all
anxious to learn more about the 1950 census which will be released on April 1st.
We hope you’ll join us!
Many genealogists remember the excitement around the release of the 1940 U.S. census in April 2012. Following the “72 year rule” for records at the National Archives, the results of the 1950 U.S. census will be made public on Friday, April 1, 2022. It’s never too early to prepare for this valuable data related to U.S. genealogy research!
Tom will discuss the history of the 1950 U.S. census, the reasons why the 1950 U.S. census form is radically different from previous forms, and the ways that data will be accessed. In addition, he’ll cover what you can do NOW to prepare for the release of the 1950 U.S. census and talk about volunteer projects related to indexing and finding aids. Finally, he’ll cover how you can always get the latest information related to the release of the 1950 U.S. census data!

1950 U.S. Federal Census Release!
2022-04-01

WMGS Monthly Meeting: Bring Your Ancestors to Life: Connect via Social History
2022-04-06 18:00 - 20:00
We’ve all wished that we could go beyond the names and dates for the ancestors we’ve found through research. If only we had asked our most recent ancestors questions about their lives, we would know them better. But what about our more distant ancestors?
Lori Lynn Price, MAS, MLA will help us transform our ancestors from names and dates on a piece of paper to people who led full and interesting lives through social history. She will help us learn how to incorporate local history and other sources of social history—such as occupation, military service and war, daily life, and recreation—into our genealogical research to gain a great understanding of our ancestors.

WMGS Training Session: Unlocking Stories of Our Female Ancestors Through Effective Research Methodology
2022-04-21 19:00 - 20:30
Join us for a genealogy rap session on Thursday, April 21st at 7 p.m. when we’ll watch and review “Unlocking Stories of Our Female Ancestors Through Effective Research Methodology,” a webinar presented by Denyce Porter Peyton.
Denyce will describe how implementing standard research methodology may help us to learn about our female ancestors’ life stories. She’ll describe resources and present two case studies of females born in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The webinar will be presented live on April 20th at 2 p.m. on the Legacy Family Tree Webinars website at www.familytreewebinars.com. We’ll show the webinar and have a chance to chat about it afterwards. If you are unable to join us, the webinar will be available for free on the Legacy Family Tree Webinars website until April 27th.

WMGS Monthly Meeting: Adoption Research in America: History, Genealogy, Legacy
2022-05-04 18:00 - 20:00
One of the most difficult challenges in genealogical research is the area of adoption. At our May 4th meeting, forensic genealogist Michael Brophy will be joining us to present “Adoption Research in America: History, Genealogy, Legacy.”
Adoption has been practiced in America since its founding. This presentation explores many aspects of adoption, including the history, genealogical research practices, current issues, and legislation. Join us as Michael describes methods that may help your research and move it beyond roadblocks.

WMGS Training Session: The Connecticut State Library Website
2022-05-19 19:00 - 20:30
Join us at our Thursday, May 19th training session when Mel E. Smith takes us on a tour of the Connecticut State Library website. The library has a gold mine of information for genealogists who have ancestral ties to Connecticut.
