If you think you might have Revolutionary War ancestors and you would like some sound advice on where to find records to locate your patriots, join us at our next meeting on Saturday, July 14. Shelley Murphy will share valuable tips with us on finding records that might help you apply for membership in a lineage society such as the Daughters of the American Republic.

The meeting will take place from 1:30 pm-3:30 pm at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The address of the Church is 1275 Timberwood Blvd., Charlottesville, VA. It is located on the corner of Airport Road and Timberwood. Coming from U.S. 29, the entrance is on the right (north) side of Airport Road immediately before you reach the church. Drive to the back of the building where you will see the entrance to the Family History Center.

Do you use genealogy software to organize your data? Have you ever thought of trying it out? Join us on Saturday, June 9, 2018, when Patricia Lukas will tell us how to get started with RootsMagic, a genealogy database program.

Which way do I go?

Bring your brick walls and your roadblocks to our next meeting on Saturday, March 10 for a roundtable discussion. We will put our heads together to help find a way to break through those pesky problems.

Don’t forget that we always like to hear about genealogy success stories, too, so if you have found a long sought-after marriage record or identified a mysterious person in an old photo or any such genealogy happiness, please bring it the meeting and tell us about it.

The speaker for our February 10 program will be Alison Bell.  She teaches Anthropology at Washington & Lee University.  She holds a Ph.D in anthropology from the University of Virginia and an M.A. in anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley.  She is a Virginia Foundation for the Humanities Residential Fellow and has been studying cemeteries in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.  

Ms. Bell is currently writing a book for the University of Tennessee Press, tentatively called The Vital Dead: Making Meaning, Identity, and Community through Cemeteries. The book will focus on some recent changes which she has observed in the cemeteries in the Valley of Virginia, commonly called the Shenandoah Valley.

In the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and well beyond, profound changes are underway in cemeteries: grave markers are still etched with images of bibles and flowers, but motorcycles, monsters, cats, and footballs are also appearing. Inscriptions (“Gone Hunting for the Lord” or “Had a Good Ride”) and objects lefts on grave sites — bird feeders, whirligigs, letters to the deceased — echo this florescence.

The meeting will take place from 1:30 pm-3:30 pm at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The address of the Church is 1275 Timberwood Blvd., Charlottesville, VA. It is located on the corner of Airport Road and Timberwood. Coming from U.S. 29, the entrance is on the right (north) side of Airport Road immediately before you reach the church. Drive to the back of the building where you will see the entrance to the Family History Center.

Hope to see you there!

IMAGE: https://timquilts.com

This month we are having an “Ancestor Show and Tell”. Bring something that has a special meaning to you as a family historian and if you like, tell us about it: who it belonged to, what it means to you and where it came from. It could be a handmade item, such as a quilt or a doily, a dish or a doll with a special significance, a family scrapbook or family bible, or even an exciting, unexpected document that you have found.

NOTE: We will treat your special items as museum pieces and ask that no one touches anything without your permission.

NOTE: this meeting was originally scheduled for December but was cancelled due to inclement weather.

The meeting will take place from 1:30 pm-3:30 pm at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The address of the Church is 1275 Timberwood Blvd., Charlottesville, VA. It is located on the corner of Airport Road and Timberwood. Coming from U.S. 29, the entrance is on the right (north) side of Airport Road immediately before you reach the church. Drive to the back of the building where you will see the entrance to the Family History Center.

Hope to see you there!

Our meeting scheduled for today, December 9, 2017, has been cancelled due to the snow.

At our next meeting on Saturday, January 13, 2018, we will have our ‘Ancestor Show and Tell’.

Have a safe, non-slippery day!

Join us on Saturday, November 11 to hear about “Something Old, Something New”, what’s current in the world of online genealogy.

The meeting will take place from 1:30 pm-3:30 pm at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The address of the Church is 1275 Timberwood Blvd., Charlottesville, VA. It is located on the corner of Airport Road and Timberwood. Coming from U.S. 29, the entrance is on the right (north) side of Airport Road immediately before you reach the church. Drive to the back of the building where you will see the entrance to the Family History Center.

Hope to see you there!

On Saturday, November 4, 2017, at the Library of Virginia in Richmond, the Fry-Jefferson Map Society is presenting an “Intermediate Geography Genealogy Map Workshop” using historical maps to further your genealogy research.

Aimed at genealogists and those researching family history, this workshop will explore the symbols and mapping conventions used on maps from the 17th through the 20th centuries, focusing on how to read maps, identifying the different types of maps that can be used in genealogical research, and why maps are critical to family research. Cassandra Farrell (the Library’s senior map archivist) will team up with Eliane Dotson (vice president of the Washington Map Society, Fry-Jefferson Map Society Steering Committee member, and owner of Old World Auctions) to present this workshop.

The workshop will take place from 10:00 am-11:30 am.

Location: Conference Rooms

Cost: $20 (Free for Fry-Jefferson Map-Society Members, $15 for Semper Virginia Society Members)

Preregistration required. To register: http://bit.ly/2tRucnk

Download Workshop Flyer Here

For more information, contact dawngreggs@lva.virginia.gov or 804.692.3813 for more information on this event and/or the Fry-Jefferson Map Society.