Tuesday, June 17, 2025

All Day Virtual Seminar - Discovering New Paths with Thomas MacEntee

 


Explore innovative and practical tools to enhance your family history research. Whether you're just starting your journey or have years of experience, these dynamic sessions will inspire you. 

Join us from the comfort of your home, or if you already have plans for August 16, the sessions will be recorded and available for you to watch later. You won't want to miss this opportunity. 

When: August 16, 2025 - Zoom room opens at 8:30 am, and the first session starts at 9 am CT

Register: On or before August 2, 2025 -  Members $40 Non-Members $60

                Beginning August 3, 2025 - Members $55 and Non-Members $65

We have a membership special - $45 for a membership that covers through September 30, 2026. With this, you can save $20 on this seminar and next year's seminar, in addition to getting access to handouts and recordings of our Saturday Monthly Seminars. 

Sessions:

Creating An Ancestor Sketch - Face it: most genealogists never get around to publishing that family history book based on their genealogy research. How about a different approach: producing short 3-5 page "sketches" about an ancestor? You'll learn how to include a cover, photos, facts, family stories, source citations and more! And guess what, once you get a few of these ancestor sketches done, you can compile them together for one big book!

Translating, Transcribing and Summarizing Documents With AI - Learn how to harness the power of artificial intelligence to assist in translating, transcribing, and summarizing a variety of genealogical records. A handwritten baptismal record from the 1800s? No problem. A faded newspaper obituary? No problem. We'll cover the AI platforms as well as how to craft a solid prompt to get you the results you need. 

Internet Archive: A Gold Mine for Genealogists - The Internet Archive (www.archive.org) is a free, on-line repository rich with genealogy source documents including census images and e-books. 

Managing the Genealogy Data Monster - It is so easy to let large amounts of data involved with genealogy overwhelm you - to the point that family history research is no longer fun! Learn how to tackle the three main problem areas of genealogy data: research data, project data and file data so you can put the fun back in your research!

Speaker: Thomas MacEntee is a Baby Boomer guy with a love of punk rock music but also art history who somehow "fell" into the technology industry almost 40 years ago, and then left a lucrative IT career to pursue his love of family history and genealogy. Technology and historical research are opposites, but "tech people" like Thomas are needed to guide today's genealogists through the maze of options so they can deploy the best apps and devices to break down research brick walls. Thomas MacEntee: author, educator, advocate, entrepreneur, and that "genealogy guy" who helps you accomplish your family history goals. 

 


Wednesday, June 11, 2025

June Genealogy News

Chronicling America

 The Library of Congress is upgrading its search engine and interface for Chronicling America. The official change is scheduled for August 4, 2025.

Old Maps of Ireland

The first detailed land survey on a national scale was in Ireland in the mid-17th Century. Here is a link to a blog article from IrelandXO about maps. 

Reddit

Reddit is a kind of message board. Messages are posted in interest-based forums called subreddits. The genealogy subreddits are:

r/Genealogy

r/AncestryDNA

r/AskHistorians

r/Translator

Here is a link to an article about using Reddit. 

New York Genealogical and Biographical Society - Report on Tracing Immigrants to New York City

NYG&B has published a report of sources available to research immigrants to New York City held in their collection and at the New York Public Library. We might not be able to visit to take advantage of these items but could possibly find them in a library nearby. Here is a link to the report. 



Thursday, May 22, 2025

Lunch at Chocolate Angel - June 17, 2025

 


Join Genealogy Friends Members and Enthusiasts for Lunch!

When: June 17, 2025 at 11:30 am ct

Where: Chocolate Angel in High Street Antique Mall, 800 Central Expressway, Plano, TX

Cost: $20 - Pick from a limited menu. Drinks & dessert are not included. 

RSVP to dining@genealogyfriends.org

Saturday, April 26, 2025

DNA Day Specials

DNA Day was Friday, April 25. Many DNA related companies are offering specials on their products, here are a few:

Your DNA Guide - Offers expire on April 30th

YourDNAGuide Book and Workbook have been updated to include information about Ancestry ProTools Shared Matches on sale 20% off.

Genealogy Solves It! Use coupon code GSIDNA to take 20% off on-demand forensic investigative genetic genealogy experience.  

Here is a link to their blog post with more information. 

Ancestry DNA Ask Me Anything with Crista Cowan - here is the link to the replay

FamilyTreeDNA Test Kits Sale - Offer expires April 30th. Here is a link.

Legacy Family Tree Webinars 50% Off - Offer expires April 30th. New members only $25 for annual membership use code Spring25 at checkout. Link to website. 


Membership Special

Our normal individual membership year from October 1st through September 30th is $30. If you join or renew after April 1st, we have a special deal available—$45 for membership from April 1 to September 30, 2026. 

Members can access handouts and recordings for the Saturday Seminars and attend our August All-Day Seminar at a discounted rate. 

More information is available on the Membership Page on our website. 

Volunteer Opportunities - We Need Your Help!




Genealogy Friends is an all-volunteer organization that depends on our members' help to keep the society running. We need to fill these positions:

Treasurer: Accounts for income and expenses for the society using Quicken, PayPal, and the bank website. Procedures are documented. You will be trained on the procedures and technology. If you can reconcile your checking account, you can do this. Duties can be done monthly and take about 30-45 minutes. More work will require extra time in Sept/Oct for Membership Renewals and August for the All-Day Seminar. 

Blog - Posting on the Genealogy Friends News on Blogger, including the calendar, summary of Roundtable and DNA Group meeting content, current events in Genealogy, and other items of interest. Training material and help with content are available. Tim required 1-2 hours per week. 

Photographer - Take pictures at in-person Gen Friends events and upload them to Google Drive to be posted on the website. 


Friday, April 4, 2025

Fold3 War of 1812 Pension File Update

 Fold3 Content Update:

In the past three months over 3,000 War of 1812 Pension files have been digitized. Most of the surnames begin with S and T. Link to their Blog Post.