Western Massachusetts Genealogical Society, Inc.

Family Search: The Basics and Beyond
2019-10-24 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
We’ll cover the basics of using the free Family Search website, which contains the world’s largest collection of genealogy records from around the globe. Learn how to use the search engine, card catalog, wikis, and family trees to find what you need. We’ll also cover search techniques that go beyond the search engine to maximize your results, explain indexing, and look at the pros & cons of creating a family tree on the site.

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.

Canadian (Quebec & Provinces) Special Interest Group (SIG)
2019-11-14 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
Our agenda for this session will be a hands-on exploration of research in Canada. Whether you have Quebec or Provinces ancestry, hosts Jeanne Leblond and Dave Lapierre will help you find the information that you need. This will be a hands-on exploration of Canadian resources, so bring your research questions and brick wall problems. Please bring your ancestor’s name and whatever facts that you have discovered, such as date and place of birth, marriage, death, spouse’s name, children, and parents. If you have a success story, bring that along as well, so we can share our knowledge!

WMGS Board Meeting
2019-11-18 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
Board meeting moved from November 11 to November 18, due to Veteran’s Day holiday on 11/11.

Special Interest Group (SIG) - Irish Research
2019-11-21 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
Join host Fran Malone as he explains how to find more about your Irish ancestry. Fran will explain how to find the information that’s needed to get across the ocean to Ireland. He’ll cover resources available on this side of the Atlantic, and then he’ll cover the many resources that are available for Irish research, including Ireland’s National Archives, Griffith’s Valuation, the Tithe Applotment Books, and other resources and websites. If you’d like help with a research problem, bring your ancestor’s name and whatever facts that you have already discovered. Bring your research questions and brick wall challenges!

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.

Training: Using Twitter for Genealogy
2019-12-12 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
Stay tuned for details.

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 Board Meeting
2020-01-13 18:00 - 20:00, 2020-04-06 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States

Special Interest Group (SIG) - Canadian (Quebec & Provinces)
2020-01-16 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
Our agenda for this session will be a hands-on exploration of research in
Canada. Whether you have Quebec or Provinces ancestry, hosts Jeanne
Leblond and Dave Lapierre will help you find the information that you need.
This will be a hands-on exploration of Canadian resources, so bring your
research questions and brick wall problems. Please bring your ancestor’s
name and whatever facts that you have discovered, such as date and place of
birth, marriage, death, spouse’s name, children, and parents. If you have a
success story, bring that along as well, so we can share our knowledge!
SIGs and Trainings are held from 6 pm to 8 pm in the Handcraft Room at the Agawam Senior Center. The Handcraft Room is located on the 1st floor at the end of the hallway, to the left of the reception desk. Feel free to bring your laptops, as the Agawam Senior Center is wi-fi equipped.
Please join us!

Training: Be a Good Ancestor!
2020-01-23 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
How many of us wish that our ancestors left more information or clues about their daily lives! Learn how you can be a better ancestor for your family. We’ll cover some of the simple techniques that will help you to leave a lasting legacy beyond just names and dates in your database. Topics will include what to do with photos, easy ways to record memories, creating a short biography, identifying family heirlooms and treasures, organizing your research, interviewing techniques and questions, and creating a plan for your legacy after you’re gone. And we’ll discuss a few ideas to get the younger generation involved. None of this costs much money, nor does it take much time.
Join hosts Jeanne Leblond and Carol Lynne Bagley for this fun training.
SIGs and trainings are held from 6 pm to 8 pm in the Handcraft Room at the Agawam Senior Center. The Handcraft Room is located on the 1st floor at the end of the hallway, to the left of the reception desk.
Feel free to bring your laptops, as the Agawam Senior Center is wi-fi equipped.
Please join us!

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 Board Meeting
2020-02-10 18:00 - 20:00, 2020-03-09 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
WMGS Board Meeting at the Agawam Senior Center. Open to
Members!

Training: Genealogy Writing Workshop
2020-02-20 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
Interested in writing about your ancestors, but not sure where to start? Or are you
thinking about writing your own story to pass down to your family? Join us for
an evening of writing exercises designed to get your pen moving (or fingers
typing). Host Joanne Mason will guide us through several audiovisual prompts,
including photographs and music, to see where our thoughts take us on paper.
After each prompt, we’ll write for 10 minutes, then share what we’ve written.
(Note: Sharing is not required! You are more than welcome to just listen.) The
goal of this workshop isn’t to complete a story or polish the grammar and punctuation. Instead, we’ll be working on nuggets to take home.
Please bring a notebook and pen. If you prefer typing on a laptop or tablet, that’s fine too.

Google Search Strategies for the Family Historian
2020-02-27 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
Our February 27th Irish SIG (Special Interest Group) has been postponed. We will now feature a webinar entitled, “Google Search Strategies for the Family Historian” with Lisa Louise Cooke. Lisa, a nationally known genealogist and owner of Genealogy Gems, will also be our speaker at our March 4th monthly meeting.
This is a recorded webinar, not a live presentation. We will watch the recording, and then have time for hands-on practice and Q&A. It should be a fun night!
Remember, Trainings and SIGs are Members-Only events!

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!

Training: Institutional Records Research Methods
2020-03-19 18:00 - 20:00 | Online
From schools and orphanages to prisons, hospitals, asylums, workhouses, and more, there’s a good chance one or more of your ancestors might be found on record in one of the many types of institutions. In this video we will cover some of the methods for finding institutional records that may contain information on your ancestors.

Training: Google Earth for Genealogy
2020-03-26 18:00 | Online
In this video class you will learn how to unlock mysteries in your research, from unidentified photographs to pinpointing homesteads.
And there’s good news: Google Earth Pro is now available for free. Everything covered in this class can be accomplished in both versions of the program. The main difference is that Google Earth Pro can print and save HD quality images. Today, the current “Pro” version of the software is now simply called “Google Earth.”

Census Day 2020
2020-04-01

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!

Training: The Big Picture in Little Details
2020-04-16 19:00 - 20:00 | Online
April 16 – 7 pm – “The Big Picture in Little Details”
Oftentimes the road to assembling the big picture in your genealogy is paved with lots
of little details. In this video webinar class, we’ll explore examples of how to inspect
the big picture genealogical problems we face and identify the little clues that we can
use to move our research forward. (Length: 43 minutes)

Training: Beginning Evernote
2020-04-23 19:00 - 20:00 | Online
April 23 – 7 pm – “Beginning Evernote”
Evernote is a free tech tool that enables you to instantly capture and retrieve
everything that is important to your research. Cloud storage of your notes allows you
to access them from any computing device, no matter where you are. And OCR
(optical character recognition) adds another level of searchability. (Length: 50
minutes)

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 Board Meeting
2020-05-11 18:00 - 20:00, 2020-06-08 08:00 - 20:00 | Online

Training: Genealogical Cold Cases: A Step-by-Step Process
2020-05-21 19:00 - 20:00 | Online
Apply principles used by cold case detectives to your genealogical brick wall
“cold cases” in this vital video session. You’ll learn to track ancestors like a
bloodhound, sniffing out holes in your research and getting missing information
on the record.

Training: Time Travel Technology
2020-05-28 19:00 - 20:00 | Online
In this video you will explore the innovative and technological advancements that
can help you in your genealogy research today! You’ll discover ways to find
content that can immerse you in the past to explore the cultural and historical
events, places, and people that affected your ancestors’ lives. Then you’ll dip into
some of the exciting new technological frontiers that can help bring the past to
life. You’ll explore interactive timelines, advances in video, and geographic tools
that can dramatically impact your understanding of your family history. The
handout will include links to all the websites mentioned in this presentation so that you can put what you learn
into action.

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.
