Genealogy Forum NEWS
December, 1998
BEGINNERS SIG
Announcing a New Beginners' Chat!
Starting on Wednesday 2 December 1998
Please join
GFSLadyJay and GFS Cindy
in FOR STARTERS
Time 11 AM - 12 PM EST
Welcome!
Submitted by GFS Susi@AOL.com
Welcome to the Golden Gates Genealogy Forum! I read in this morning's paper that AOL now has 14 million customers. That means a lot of people could pass through this forum on any given day. We in the forum are striving to make the entry to rooms and research easier all the time. We are working to make the chats educational, as well as "people-linking."
Whether you are new or experienced at genealogy and/or computers, we recommend that you start here with us and learn how to move through the forum for maximum benefit of your research. We can show you certain procedures used around the Internet as far as procedure and protocol.
We have a small rule change in our chats which would be called rude elsewhere. When asked to list your surnames, you do it in CAPS, so all can see it easily. All other caps are considered shouting. (One possible exception is a person whom has true vision difficulties. If this is your case, please notify the host. He or she can inform the rest of the room so that your necessary caps will be understood by all. :)
Message boards are a great place to work from within the system. Be sure to set your preferences when first you access them. Also, don't forget to read the already-posted genealogies, Bible records, histories and other information in the Resource Center. Some areas of the Resource Center are specific to areas of research or nationalities. We have hosts from around the world and that makes the Special Interest Groups (chats) more interesting. I dropped in on Europe and learned about an area in Germany. I visited the British Isles Group and learned about Ireland; even spoke to someone from there! Come join in the fun and find new family and friends.
SCHEDULE for December Beginners' Tuesday Night Talks
Submitted by GFS RA@AOL.com
Tuesday Dec. 1st at 9 PM EST
Tubes14 AKA GFH TEG will be with us doing a talk on
Land Records and Probate Records:
How to Begin
Tuesday Dec. 8th at 9 PM EST
GFS NanC will be with us again doing a talk on
Canadian SIG and Research
Tuesday Dec. 15th at 9 PM EST
GFS Jayne will be with us to do a talk on
Civil War Chat "Research and how to begin!"
Tuesday Dec. 22nd at 8 PM EST
We Are hoping to do a Talk on UK Research
How To's and Where to Begin!
Please, if anyone has any ideas or anything they would like to share on a subject we would love to hear it. We enjoy hearing special talks (Civil War, Italian, UK, German, Native American, etc.) and we have folks who have many questions and would love a question & answer time!
So all of you GF staff out there, please help us out! (Don't make me beg, LOL!) Send e-mail to GFS RA, GFSLadyJay or GFS CO2. We would like to start the year of fresh with lots of info and talks for our newbies :) This is helping them a great deal!!
At this time I would love to thank ALL the wonderful people that made this ALL work, and helped devote time and talks:
Pegleghill - DAR
CWhit71439 - Cemeteries
GFSnanc - Loyalists
GFS LBall - Slave & Wills
GFS Carol - Immigration
GFSLadyJay - Census & Vital Records
GFS CheriM - Portuguese
MowEq - SAR
And the folks For December:
GFSnanc - Canadian
GFH Teg - Wills & Probate Records
GFS Jayne - Civil War
Bradbox - UK Beginnings
Thank you! Thank You !!!! {{{{{{ megga }}}}}}
Encourage Family Memories During the Holidays
Submitted by GFSHeather@AOL.com
The Beginners Team has been working very hard lately providing new and exciting things for those of you who are just starting out on your research. This time of year especially is a great time to get your family and relatives involved in adding to your research.
We look forward in seeing you there! Also feel free to check out the Beginners' Center for lots of great helpful tips and guidelines in doing Beginning Genealogy.
The holidays are a great time to interview your family and relatives on everything they can remember about their families, themselves, and what life was like earlier this century. You might want to have a tape recorder or a video camera to do the interviews. (Ask Santa for one! ;)
Some questions you could ask, especially since it is the holidays:
-What was your favorite holiday and why?
-How did you spend Christmas?
-What was your worst and favorite Christmas present?
-What was the traditional Christmas meal and dessert in your family?
-Can you recall any stories your parents or grandparents told about the holidays?
-How many siblings did you have and what were their names?
-Can you remember their birth, marriage and death dates and who they married?
-Who were your parents?
-What were they like?
-Who were your grandparents? Your great grandparents?
-Can you remember any funny stories that they would tell?
This gives you an idea of what to ask, and you can expand on it.
Another great thing to do on the holidays, is to bring all the old photos out and ask your parents, aunts, uncles, etc., about the people in the pictures. Have them help you identify them. You might want to number the photos and tape record them as they talk. It's amazing what stories come out of pictures. As they say, one picture is worth a 1,000 words!
Make this year a very memorable one for you and your family. One of the greatest gifts we can give each other, is ourselves. The gift I plan on giving my family this year for Christmas is all I know on our family history. What better gift than to share our heritage!
Come by and join us in For Starters Chat Room
Something to Keep You Merry
While Christmas Shopping!
Submitted by GFS Loni@aol.com
In Salt Lake City, Utah, everyone is into "researching the family." Even the big department stores sell genealogy supplies.
A newcomer to SLC, and a non-researcher, got a job as a clerk at one of the big department stores. She received her introduction to genealogy one day when a customer came into the store and asked, "where do I find the Family Group Sheets?" The new clerk, with a puzzled look on her face, answered, "Family Group Sheets? All we carry are the king, queen, double & twin-sized sheet sets."
Webmaster's Note: Chat schedules are presented for historical information only. The Genealogy Forum no longer hosts chats.
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Content © 1998 - 2004 GFNEWS, a monthly publication of Golden Gate Services, Inc. of Armada, MI The Editors welcome your ideas and articles, success stories, favorite genealogy research tips, comments and suggestions. The Genealogy Forum is a proud member of the FGS - Federation of Genealogical Societies