Western Massachusetts Genealogical Society, Inc.

WMGS June Meeting
2018-06-06 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | 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.

DNA Boot Camp - Session 3
2018-05-24 18:00 - 20:00 | First Church in Ludlow, MA, 859 Center Street, Ludlow, MA, 01056, United States
Join us for “DNA Boot Camp” sessions. We are using the recorded webinar series “DNA Boot Camp” by Thomas MacEntee featuring DNA expert Mary Eberle of DNA Hunters, LLC. The boot camp includes handouts with powerful DNA educational materials.

DNA Boot Camp is for WMGS Members Only.

DNA Boot Camp meets from 6 to 8 p.m. on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of every month beginning from now into October 2018. Since the interest was strong, the group now meets at Fellowship Hall at First Church in Ludlow, 859 Center Street, Ludlow, MA

Genealogy Research Clinic
2018-05-24 18:00 - 20:00, 2018-05-17 18:00 - 20:00, 2018-04-26 18:00 - 20:00, 2018-04-19 18:00 - 20:00, 2018-03-22 18:00 - 20:00, 2018-03-15 18:00 - 20:00, 2018-02-22 18:00 - 20:00, 2018-02-15 18:00 - 20:00 and 10 more dates | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
Members have free use of our Ancestry Library subscription and other research sites while seeking assistance from WMGS members with family research experience. Non-members may participate for only $10 per session…or join for $25 per year!
Sessions are held on the third and fourth Thursdays of the month in the computer room of the Agawam Senior Center.

DNA Boot Camp - Session 2
2018-05-10 18:00 - 20:00 | First Church in Ludlow, MA, 859 Center Street, Ludlow, MA, 01056, United States
Join us for “DNA Boot Camp” sessions. We are using the recorded webinar series “DNA Boot Camp” by Thomas MacEntee featuring DNA expert Mary Eberle of DNA Hunters, LLC. The boot camp includes handouts with powerful DNA educational materials.

DNA Boot Camp is for WMGS Members Only. (Still time to sign up and attend)

DNA Boot Camp meets from 6 to 8 p.m. on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of every month beginning from now into October 2018. Since the interest was strong, the group now meets at Fellowship Hall at First Church in Ludlow, 859 Center Street, Ludlow, MA

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 April Meeting
2018-04-04 18:00 - 20:00 | 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 March Meeting
2018-03-07 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
Our speaker on March 7th will be Susan Davies Sit. She was born in North Wales,UK, 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 WelshSociety of Western New England (WSWNE); a member of the Gwynedd Family HistorySociety (Wales); and the Welsh-American Genealogy Society (WAGS). Some of the topics presented will be the Welsh patronymics and the difficulties when researching Welsh records including birth, marriage and death records. Many of the strategies presented can also be applied to English and Scottish Research.

WMGS February Meeting
2018-02-07 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
Our meeting on February 7th will feature Elissa Scalise Powell, CG, CGL, with the presentation “Rubik’s Cube Genealogy: A New Twist on Your Old Data.” Elissa will be exploring the additional information we can discover from the patterns of the names, dates, and places we have been collecting in our pedigree charts and family group sheets. She will help us to see life events in the context of history and geography, and reveal the new questions to research and stories that appear with the use of timelines, genograms, and other data presentation tools and strategies.
Elissa is a western Pennsylvania researcher, a Trustee for the Board for Certification of Genealogists; an instructor for Boston University’s on campus and online Genealogical Research Certificate courses; coordinator for the Professional Genealogy Course at the Samford University’s Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research and an instructor for Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy. She is co-director of the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP). She is a regional and national speaker on methodology, Pennsylvania records, professional development, and society management

WMGS January Meeting
2018-01-03 18:00 - 20:00 | Emily L. Partyka Central Library, 449 Front Street, Chicopee, MA, 01013, United States
On January 3rd, at the Chicopee Library on Front Street, David Ouimette, CG from FamilySearch.org will be presenting a webinar on From Wojtowa to Chicopee: The Story of Polish Immigrant Millworkers. This presentation will be collaborative presentation funded by both WMGS and PGSM (the Polish Genealogical Society of Massachusetts).
David manages Content Strategy at FamilySearch, prioritizing the acquisition and online publication of records worldwide for family history research. He holds BS and MS degrees in Mathematics. In addition to being a certified genealogical lecturer, he has authored the book, “Finding your Irish Ancestors: A Beginners’ Guide” and many articles in genealogy magazines and journals.

Seating is limited to 100. Please call (413) 594-1800 x3 to reserve a seat. If seating is not available at the library, contact westmassgen@gmail.com for the link to view the event live. WMGS members will have access to the recording in the members only link at www.westmassgen.com

WMGS December Meeting
2017-12-06 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
Our December 6th monthly meeting will be a Pot Luck Dinner and Show & Tell.
It’s the last meeting before the holidays! Come to our “Pot Luck” dinner and enjoy holiday music while you dine. After dinner, we will host an “Open Mic” session for members to share their genealogy tips, ideas, or projects (documents/pictures to brag over are acceptable!).

WMGS November Meeting
2017-11-01 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
Our November 1st meeting features Dr. Shelley Murphy with a presentation entitled “Timeline’s You gotta do one!” Timelines are a critical strategy that most genealogists and the family historians do not use. Why is that? Is it too time consuming or the lack of knowledge on how to set one up? This webinar will provide an overview and challenge you about the benefits of timelines by taking you step-by-step on how to set a timeline up and use it to further your genealogy research.
Shelley Murphy is a native of Michigan residing in Central Virginia, and has been an avid genealogist for 25+ years. She is a Coordinator and Faculty for the Midwest African American Genealogy Institute (MAAGI) and presents genealogy workshops at the local state & national genealogy conferences.
Shelley’s blog is familytreegirl.com and has publications with the Central Virginia Heritage, a publication of the Central Virginia Genealogical Association. She holds membership with NGS, APG, AAHGS, and is the membership chair for the DAR Jack Jouett Chapter in Charlottesville.

WMGS October Meeting
2017-10-04 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
Our October meeting will consist of a presentation by Nora Galvin on the topic of DNA. Nora has a website called Aunt Lizzie’s Trunk http://www.auntlizziestrunk.com/ and originally came from Cincinnati. OH. She holds a BS in Biology and a Master’s degree in Liberal Studies. Her careers include being a secondary-school science teacher and a research scientist at a major pharmaceutical company. It was here that she learned the power of DNA in research.

WMGS September 2017
2017-09-06 18:00 - 20:00 | Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main Street, Agawam, MA, 01001, United States
Our September meeting will feature Diane Brooks-Sherry, a genealogist, speaker, researcher and educator located in the Boston area, speaking on DP.LA (the Digital Public Library of America), a fabulous source for free digitized books.
