Western Massachusetts Genealogical Society, Inc.

WMGS Annual Survey
2019-05-03 - 2019-05-11
Our Annual Survey is being distributed via separate email to all of our members. We hope that you will take the time to click on the link and complete the survey. During the last year, WMGS officers, board members, and volunteers have been working hard to improve our society, to provide quality programs that meet y our needs, and to increase our membership. We value your input to let us know how we’re doing, your ideas to move us forward, and your participation.
The Annual Survey will be available until May 11th. If you did not receive this survey via email, please let us know at westmassgen@gmail.com. You can also find a link to the survey on the Members Only page.
Please take the time to respond to the survey as we want to hear from you!

WMGS May Monthly Meeting
2019-05-01 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | 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.

Genealogy Research Clinic
2019-04-25 18:00 - 20:00, 2019-04-18 18:00 - 20:00, 2019-03-28 18:00 - 20:00, 2019-03-21 18:00 - 20:00, 2019-02-28 18:00 - 20:00, 2019-02-21 18:00 - 20:00, 2019-01-24 18:00 - 20:00, 2019-01-17 18:00 - 20:00 and 5 more dates | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States

WMGS Board Meeting
2019-04-17 18:00 - 20:00, 2019-03-11 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States

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.

NERGC 2019
2019-04-03 - 2019-04-06
Join us for the New England Regional Genealogical Consortium’s 15th conference!
NERGC 2019 will feature special tracks on Wednesday and regular conference presentations Thursday through Saturday.
When you’re not attending sessions, check out the Exhibit Hall, Ancestors Road Show, Society Fair, and other fun and educational events.
Manchester is a vibrant city with world-class entertainment and fine dining, all within walking distance of the conference hotel. Explore museums or visit a spa in the mill district along the riverfront, or take in live music and nightlife at Irish, Mexican, Asian, and American establishments.
For more information, go to nergc.org. We look forward to seeing you at the conference!

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.

Board Meeting
2019-02-11 18:00 - 20:00, 2019-01-14 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
Board meeting for the Officers of WMGS. Members are welcome to attend the meetings which are held at the Agawam Senior Center in the Garden Room.

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 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 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.

Board Meeting
2018-11-26 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
The November, 2018, Board Meeting is being rescheduled from Monday, November 11, to Monday, November 19, due to the Veteran’s Day holiday.
Board meeting for the Officers of WMGS. Members are welcome to attend the meetings which are held at the Agawam Senior Center in the Garden Room.

Thanksgiving Holiday
2018-11-22

Veteran's Day
2018-11-12

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.

Board Meeting
2018-10-24 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
The October 2018 Board Meeting is being rescheduled from Monday, October 8, to Wednesday, October 24, due to the Columbus Day holiday.
Board meeting for the Officers of WMGS. Members are welcome to attend the meetings which are held at the Agawam Senior Center in the Garden Room.
