Dutchess County Genealogical Society

Topics of Meetings Held in 2008-2009

September 16, 2008 Projects in Progress at FamilySearch.org

David Bishop will talk about ongoing projects at the Family History Library including a project to scan the 3.5 million microfilms at the library and make them available via the Internet. This will eventually provide researchers with almost all of the content available in Family History Centers, over the internet 24/7. This website will be free of charge. Currently, pilot.familysearch has hundreds of thousands of microfilms already available for viewing. David will talk about ways to access this information as it becomes available, and will also discuss a related indexing project.

David Bishop has been the director of three Family History Centers, (Scarsdale, Bronx, and Poughkeepsie). Currently, in the Church, he oversees the four Family History Centers in the Newburgh area, (Kingston, Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, and Middletown). He is also responsible for promoting pilot.familysearch and familysearchindexing in this area.
October 25, 2008 Fall Seminar
"More Genealogy for Less Money"

8:30 AM - 3:30 PM
Hyde Park United Methodist Church
Hyde Park, New York

Click here for details.

November 18, 2008
Opportunities to Work Together: New Initiatives of the Dutchess County Historical Society
 
Steven Mann will discuss with us future plans for the Dutchess County Historical Society in relation to the Quadricentennial of Hudson-Fulton-Champlain, programming efforts that have been developed for the next few years, and new work being done with the various collections within the Society. He will also speak about the upcoming October 2009 conference focusing on the Quakers and their influence in education, business and the arts in Dutchess County and the Hudson Valley.
 
Mr. Mann, a native of Catskill, is president of the Dutchess County Historical Society and a trustee and former president of the Museum of Rhinebeck History. He has dedicated much time to the history of the Hudson Valley and the influence of the large Quaker community in this area.  
 
The meeting is open to the public and all are welcome.
January 20, 2009
Members Helping Members

Our traditional January meeting is an informal, open forum where attendees can discuss their research problems and see if others have suggestions to help them.  Attendees are also invited to share research breakthroughs and tell how they made them.  Members who have had DNA testing done are invited to share how this has helped them.  Bernie Rudberg will bring DNA testing information.
March 17, 2009

Evaluating Internet Web Sites

  

These days, many genealogists research on the Internet before checking any other source. With the ease of posting material on the Internet, both correct and incorrect data tend to spread at a geometric rate. If we find information about an ancestor on the Internet, how can we assess its potential accuracy?

 

Christine Crawford-Oppenheimer will give us some guidelines to help with this question. Ms. Crawford-Oppenheimer has spoken at several national genealogical conferences as well as at regional and local societies. Her book, Long-Distance Genealogy: Researching Your Ancestors from Home, was published in 2000.

May 19, 2009 Crossing the Ocean with the Internet

With more sources coming online all the time, tracing your ancestors across the ocean to their European home towns has never been easier. Leslie Albrecht Huber will discuss some important web sites for making your cross-ocean connection.

Ms. Huber is a genealogical lecturer and freelance writer. She formerly worked as a professional genealogist, helping many families trace their U.S. and Western European roots. Dozens of Leslie’s articles have appeared in over 20 different magazines and journals, including Family Chronicle, Everton’s Genealogical Helper, Ancestry, Internet Genealogy, Family Tree Magazine, The History Channel Magazine, and others. She has also written articles for scholarly publications and genealogical journals.

Leslie’s areas of specialty are Western European, particularly German, research. Visit her web site at www.understandingyourancestors.com for lots of information about how our Western European ancestors lived.