Genealogy Friends from Afar - look to local historical/genealogical societies where your families lived

 

Small historical or genealogical societies are wonderful for getting to know more about your relatives' FAN Club.  Here's an example on my mother's side of the family in Upstate New York (Scriba farming community established in 1811 in Oswego County).

https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Scriba,_Oswego_County,_New_York_Genealogy

My journey started by reaching out to the Scriba Historical Society on Facebook.  Then, I started emailing the society's President (Mary).  I really wanted to borrow a copy of Charles D. Young's out of print, two volume books - A Scriba Anthology.  I already had attempted Interlibrary Loan and received the Table of Contents. Going low tech, Mary sent them to me via US Mail, and I later returned them the same way.

I also have enjoyed watching videos that this small welcoming group posts:

https://scribahistoricalsociety.org/video/

Success came yesterday. After trying to join a monthly Friday roundtable sharing call via Facebook didn't work last month, I was able to join via ZOOM with the Scriba NY folks in the audience and a Wichita KS man who grew up in Scriba and knew my grandparents. 

Tip for working with local societies:  Free ZOOM works well - log back if needed. Also, volunteer to help remotely such as I did with some scanning.

"Grandma's Recipes" was the roundtable sharing topic. I brought my copy of the 1982 Oswego County Historical Society Cookbook.  The participant from Kansas showed a Scriba Baptist Church cookbook from before I was born.  I now literally have some more of my Grandma's recipes for apple cake, doughnuts, wine drop cookies, baked corn, tomato conserve, salmon loaf, and popcorn balls. If only I can find her directions for making homemade cottage cheese. I loved making and eating it with her.

WPA Guide to Churches in Manhattan

 The New York Genealogical & Biographical Society added digital images of the WPA Guide to Vital Records in the City of New York, Borough of Manhattan: Churches on their website. https://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/online-records/wpa-historical-records-survey-new-york-state-research-volumes/572-030/1

This is one of five volumes covering the vital statistics records of religious organizations in New York City published by the Historical Records Survey of the Works Progress Administration. There is a volume for each borough. The publication is designed to help locate proof of birth or marital status facts. 

Here is a sample entry:

New York Genealogical and Biographical Society Free Seminars

 NYG&B is offering a free week of seminars Nov 3-7. Programs include getting started with New York research, what to do if your ancestor's military personnel file burned in the fire, veterans of WWI, resources available at newyorkfamilyhistory.org, and more. 

For more information or to register https://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/events/nygb-week-november-2025

September Genealogy News

Citations

 "The Main Citation Types" video by Lisa Stokes is available on  YouTube.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1lNAFj_jWU She also offers a free Master Citation Template Starter Kit on her website https://lisa-stokes-heritage-research.kit.com/master-citation-template

New York State Death Index

NYB&G has a image browse-only collection of official Department of Health death index records for every county in New York State (excluding New York City, Albany, Buffalo, and Yonkers until around 1915), covering the years 1880-1956. https://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/online-records/collection/new-york-state-death-index

For more recent deaths, researchers should use New York State's Interactive Ancestry/Genealogical Research Death Index, which begins in 1957 and contains deaths up to 1974. https://health.data.ny.gov/stories/s/Interactive-Ancestry-Genealogical-Research-Death-I/x83h-k5ey

Railroad Maps, 1828 to 1900

The Library of Congress has images of  635 railroad maps on its website. Our ancestors traveled on railroads and possibly settled near the railroad. https://www.loc.gov/collections/railroad-maps-1828-to-1900

RootsMagic 11

RootsMagic 11 is available and on sale until September 30th. New Users $29.95 and Upgrades $19.95 - that's $10 off. Improvements include a clearer, more comfortable workspace, a life story at a glance, better editing and a new sources view, better searching, and an AI prompt builder. https://www.rootsmagic.com/rootsmagic/buy

Dallas Genealogical Society Fall Seminar

DGS presents "Strategies for DNA Breakthroughs" with Kelli Bergheimer on October 25, 2025.  Information is available on their website https://dallasgenealogy.org/meetings-events/2025-fall-seminar/

TxSGS Live

Texas State Genealogical Society presents "Deep In The Heart" on Friday and Saturday, November 7-8, 2025. Ten live sessions featuring nationally recognized speakers on the two live days are paired with 20+ recorded lectures that you can watch at your convenience through February 6, 2026.

Speakers and Topics https://www.txsgs.org/2025-txsgs-conference-speakers-and-topics/

Registration https://www.txsgs.org/2025-conference-registration/

DAR Annual Reports to the Smithsonian Institution

When the Daughters of the American Revolution was incorporated in 1896, it was required to submit an annual report to the Smithsonian Institution. The reports are available on the DAR website. Records for female ancestors are often hard to find. If you have an ancestor who was an officer of the DAR they will be listed. These reports also include projects the group worked on.   https://www.dar.org/collections/archives/smithsonian-report

John Grenham - Griffiths Valuation New Features

When you choose a surname you see the results for all of Ireland. You can add a county and or parish, and you can now drill down in Griffith's Valuation to the townland level. This might help locate your ancestors in Ireland. https://www.johngrenham.com/blog/2025/09/17/the-greatest-thing-since-sliced-bread/

Genealogy Websites

Check out these genealogy websites:

Old Job Titles From German Church Records 

http://baseportal.de/cgi-bin/baseportal.pl?htx=/JGorsler/Berufs/Beruf&localparams=1

Alte Berufsbezeichnungen aus Kirchenbüchern is a list of 3,179 alphabetically listed entries of occupations along with their descriptions. There is a search feature (Suchen). The website doesn't have an English option but you can use the translate this website in Chrome once you find the occupation to get an English version of the explanation. 

Odessa A German-Russian Genealogical Library

http://www.odessa3.org/  

A digital library dedicated to the cultural and family history of the millions of Germans who emigrated from Russia in the 1800s and their descendants. The collection is primarily digitized books and records plus indexes of microfilms and research aids. The website is free and provided by Roger Ehrich. 

International German Genealogy Partnership Conference  

https://iggp.org/2025-iggp-conference/

"Celebrate Your German-Speaking Ancestor" conference will be held June 13-15, 2025 in Columbus, Ohio. Registration opens December 1, 2024.

Applied Genealogical Institute Spring 2025

https://appliedgen.institute/

The Spring 2025 schedule is available for AppGen. They have courses on Irish Research, Southern States Research, Land Records in Public States, Genealogy & The Law, and Write As You Research. 

GRIP Genealogical Institute 2025

https://grip.ngsgenealogy.org/

GRIP 2025 virtual class week will be 22-27 June 2025 and In-Person in Pittsburgh, PA will be 13-18 July 2025. Registration Opens February 4, 2025.

Digitize New York

https://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/content/digitize-new-york

The New York Genealogical & Biographical Society has two digitization centers that are working to preserve at-risk documents. A list of the completed projects is available on the website.  

Voting 

https://stlgs.blogspot.com/2024/11/voting-in-americaa-genealogical.html

The St. Louis Genealogical Society has an interesting blog post about the history of voting in America with links to resources.