At our December 14, 2024 meeting, we will discuss the book, The Lost Family: How DNA Testing Is Upending Who We Are, by Libby Copeland.

THIS WILL BE A ZOOM MEETING.

This book examines consumer DNA testing, including its history and its use as a tool in genealogy research. Throughout the book, we follow the story of Alice as she searches for answers about her father’s ancestry. “Woven throughout The Lost Family is the story of one woman, her unusual results, and a relentless methodical drive for answers that becomes a thoroughly modern genetic detective story.” – from the book jacket.

Check out the link below for a list of discussion questions. Join us on December 14 and bring your perspective on DNA testing.

The Lost Family: Book Club Discussion Topics

NOTE: This book is available as a free download for Amazon Kindle Unlimited subscribers. It is also available as an e-book from JMRL, the library system in the Charlottesville area. It was recently available online as a used book at ThriftBooks for $5.89.

Yesterday, 9 September 2023 was a Zoom meeting . We watched two short videos on Artificial Intelligence or AI and its uses in genealogy. Links are included below:

You CAN use ChatGPT for genealogy (with accuracy)! Here’s how

A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) at Ancestry – How it’s Used & What’s in Store in 2023

Join the Jack Jouett Society, Daughters of the American Revolution and the Central Virginia Genealogical Association for a Genealogy 101 Workshop. Expert genealogists will show you the basics of researching ancestors using birth, death, and marriage certificates. There will also be time to answer individual questions. Register for this program at jmrl.org or call 434-973-7893 ext. 4 for more information.

This program is scheduled from 10:30 am to 12 pm using the computer stations at the library.

Go to Ancestry and look for the small SALE (in green) sign in the upper left portion of the screen.

FindMyPast, a subscription database, has announced new records that are now available:

Irish Army Census 1922

Norfolk, Churchyard Graves and Memorials (This is England not the US)  There are also images available.

They have added over 250,000 pages to the Newspaper Collection.

The 2023 National Genealogical Society (NGS) Family History
Conference will be held in Richmond. Mark your calendars for 30 May through 3 June, 2023.  More information about this conference will be released shortly.
The Virginia Genealogical Society is the local society host.  VGS is looking for volunteers to help during the conference.  VGS will be releasing more details about this volunteer opportunity soon.

Hi, all — I wanted to announce a new page on the website, a central place where those interested can see and purchase CVGA Occasional Papers:

CVGA Occasional Papers

Finding the Freedmen: Records From Louisa County, 1865-1870,
by Elaine L. Taylor

The identity of enslaved people, the names of their parents and siblings, where they came from, the work, and the wounds that filled their lives are extremely challenging to uncover. This book brings together public records and a few family papers containing information about the Freedmen of Louisa County, Virginia, in the years immediately after the Civil War. Many of those sources are now online but sometimes identifying, let alone accessing those online sources, creates another brick wall for many researchers. My experience in assisting people with research in the Louisa County museum convinced me that the most useful format for these records would be to make them available in a single source in print format. The following records are combined and presented in two forms, alphabetically by the Freedmen’s names and alphabetically by the names of employers….

To see the rest of this article, CVGA members should go to “Members Only” on the menu bar above, and choose “Central Virginia Heritage — Current Issue.” (Note: You have to be logged in to this website in order to see “Members Only.”)

If you have trouble logging in to the site to download your copy, please contact me at the webmaster link at the bottom of this page.

For those who are not members of CVGA, we offer the opportunity to purchase a printed copy of each issue. The Summer 2022 issue is available from Amazon.com at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B3MXKT29 for $6.50. Click on the Amazon.com link above or search for “Central Virginia Heritage” on Amazon.com.

Contents of the Summer 2022 issue:

• Two New Central Virginia Tools for Genealogists, by Elaine L. Taylor
• Marriage Announcements in the Daily Progress (Charlottesville, VA), November 1895, transcribed by Diane Inman
• Marriages in the Virginia Advocate (Charlottesville, Va.)
• Death Announcements in the Virginia Advocate (Charlottesville, Va.)
• The Best Way to Safely Label Photos, by Maureen A. Taylor
• Orange County (Va.) Sheriffs, 1734-Present
• Louisa County (Va.) Sheriffs 1742-Present
• More About the Bell Family of Buckingham County, by Jean L. Cooper

If you have any articles you’d like to share with CVGA members, please send an email to the editor, eleanordew at gmail dot com — The Editor.

Hi, all — Over the past few years I have been running lists of the people who have served as sheriffs of counties in Central Virginia in the Central Virginia Heritage. In order to complete this collection of information, I need lists of sheriffs from the following counties:

• Amherst
• Buckingham
• Campbell
• Culpeper
• Madison
• Page
• Rockingham

If anyone has done research in these areas, or has seen research that has been done, please contact me. I would love to be able to give credit to the compilers of such lists. Thank you for your help,

Jean (eleanordew at gmail dot com), Editor, Central Virginia Heritage