2010 Membership Dues are Due!

Membership dues for the Florida Genealogical Society are due. The membership year runs from January 1st through December 31st, and dues must be received by February 15th. The dues are very reasonable: $20 for individuals and $25 for a family.

Please print a copy of the FGS Membership Application at http://www.rootsweb.com/~flfgs/FGS_Member_Appl%20-%20010109.pdf or at http://tinyurl.com/FGS-Membership and complete it so that we have your most current information. Please make your check payable to the Florida Genealogical Society and mail it and the application form to:

The Florida Genealogical Society, Inc.
P.O. Box 18624
Tampa, FL 33679-8624

Otherwise, you can bring these your check and application form to the January or February meeting.

Your dues pay for the extraordinary speakers and programs that FGS presents each month, including the Fall Seminar. We have some great new things planned for the society in 2010 and you don't want to miss out!

In addition, FGS also has a membership incentive program! If you bring in two new members during 2010, your 2011 membership will be free! Make sure the new member specifies on the membership application form that he or she was referred by you.

News from Other Societies - South Bay Genealogical Society

The South Bay Genealogical Society is holding a "Seminar by the Bay" on Thursday, January 28, 2010, from 8:30 AM to 3:45 PM at the Sun City Community Hall in Sun City, Florida. The speaker will be Hank Z (Hank) Jones, FASG. FGS Tampa members will remember Hank from our own 2005 Fall Seminar, and know what a great speaker he is. He will present four lectures:

• "When the Sources are Wrong!"
• "Tracing the Origins of 18th Century Palatines and Other Emigrants"
• "The Great Genealogists & What Made Them Great"
• "How 'Psychic Roots' Became an Unsolved Mystery!"

Registration is $45.00 ($40 for SBGS members) and includes morning coffee and muffins and a hot buffet luncheon. More details can be found at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry/~flsbgs and questions can be emailed to South-bay@juno.com.

FGS Meeting - Saturday, January 2, 2010

Start your New Year with the first of a great series of genealogy speakers and programs for 2010!

The Florida Genealogical Society will hold its January monthly meeting at 10:30 AM on Saturday, January 2nd, in the auditorium of the John F. Germany Public Library, 900 North Ashley Drive in Downtown Tampa. Our speaker will be Sharon Tate Moody, CG, certified genealogist, columnist for the Tampa Tribune, and former president of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG).

Sharon will present a program titled "Finding Missing Links in Land Records." Land records are among the most plentiful but least used records that contain genealogical information and clues. This presentation will help you learn how to locate them and glean new information for your research.

Join us for a great presentation to start the New Year 2010!

CG is a registered service mark of the Board for Certification of Genealogists.

News from Other Societies - Pasco County Genealogical Society

The Pasco County Genealogical Society will meet on Saturday, January 9, 2010. The speaker will be Ann Bergelt and she will present a program titled “German Research Suggestions”. If you are in need of pinning down where and how to find your ancestors before they came to America please attend this informative session by Ann Bergelt. It will be an opportunity for descendants of German immigrants to find new ways to determine the geographic location of the original ancestors and to gather hints on obtaining record copies and the possibility of meeting more distant generations. An added bonus is that many of her tips can help in other foreign research. Ann is an accomplished speaker and winner of multiple awards from the Florida State Genealogical Society.

For more information, you may send an email to Pcgslibrary@yahoo.com or visit their website at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~flpcg.

News from Other Societies - Jewish Genealogical Society of Tampa Bay

Jewish Genealogical Society of Tampa Bay Meeting
"SHOW AND TELL"
Members' Genealogical Research Success Stories
Sunday, December 13, 2009

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Tampa Bay will meet at Gulf Coast Jewish Family Services, 14041 Icot Blvd., Clearwater, Florida on Sunday, December 13, 2009. Library access and a social with refreshments begin at 1:30 PM, and the program starts at 2:00 PM.

The program will include a celebration of the 10th year of the Society's existence and will include lighting of the candles to celebrate the third night of Hanukkah. Refreshments will be served appropriate to the Hanukkah holiday and will be followed by a "SHOW and TELL" segment by members Lynn Arroya, Carol Jaffe, Deborah Radstrom, Barbara Smith and Linda Zolinsky, all of whom have experienced a breakthrough or an amusing incident in their personal research. Each will relate the circumstances of their experience and the success or failure of their effort. These "show and tells" will provide insight and give encouragement to others on how they too can achieve success in their family research. Bring a success or interesting research story with you, and tell us about it.

The Jewish Genealogical Society’s library and research resources including printed materials and Internet access, along with guided assistance and information exchange from experienced researchers will be available to participants at the meeting. Members may check out library materials to take home.

The purpose of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Tampa Bay is to assist interested individuals in learning about Jewish genealogy and how to research and document their own family histories. The Society does this by facilitating the exchange of research information, encouraging and facilitating research activities, educating members to help themselves and others, making available research resources and materials, arranging genealogical research tours and presenting monthly programs of interest to Jewish genealogical researchers.

Anyone interested in learning how to do Jewish genealogical research is invited to attend. Beginners as well as experienced researchers are welcome. For further information on the Jewish Genealogical Society of Tampa Bay or directions to the meeting call Sally Israel at 727-343-1652.

News from Other Societies - Manasota Genealogical Society

The next meeting of the Manasota Genealogical Society will be held on Tuesday, January 5, 2010 from 9:30 am-12:00 noon at the Central Public Library. Our guest speaker will be Donna Moughty, whose talk is entitled: “Putting Your Family Tree On-Line”.

Following the guest speaker, our Computer Special Interest Group will meet and is open to all who are interested in learning what's new in genealogy on the Internet.

For more information, please call Jean Morris at (941) 722-5156 or visit us on the web at: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~flmgs/.

FGS Donates to the Malcolm H. Stern-NARA Gift Fund

Our society has renewed its annual membership in the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) for 2010. That organization is involved in many activities that help societies grow and prosper. One of those is their annual conference, which will be held in Knoxville, Tennessee, on August 18-21, 2010.

FGS is actively involved with a number of projects that focus on records preservation. One of the things that FGS's promotes and publicizes is support for the Malcolm H. Stern-NARA Gift Fund. Established in 1983, the Stern-NARA Gift Fund is a nationally supported program to finance the creation of finding aids and the microfilming of valuable research materials now preserved in the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C. FGS is the administrator of this philanthropic organization.

The Stern-NARA Fund makes possible the creation of finding aids and the microfilming of valuable research materials now preserved in the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Washington, D.C. It helps to finance the creation of finding aids and the microfilming of materials now preserved at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Washington, D.C. These microfilm copies, produced without government funding, are then distributed to the 13 National Archives Regional Archives branches for use by researchers. They can also be accessed through any LDS Family History Center in the world. You can view a partial list of microfilmed materials that the fund has facilitated at http://fgs.org/projects/sternnara.php.

Our Board has just authorized a donation of $125 to the Stern-NARA Fund for 2010. This equates to about $1 per member of our society. This is an extremely important way for our society to contribute to the worldwide genealogical community. Private donations are also accepted, and you can learn more about that at http://fgs.org/projects/sternnara.php.

News from Other Societies - Jewish Genealogical Society of Tampa Bay

Jewish Genealogical Society of Tampa Bay Meeting
"THE HISTORY OF JEWISH SURNAMES"
Sunday, January 17, 2010

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Tampa Bay will meet at Gulf Coast Jewish Family Services, 14041 Icot Blvd., Clearwater, Florida on Sunday, January 17, 2010. The group generally meets the 2nd Sunday of the month but because of a scheduling conflict is meeting the 3rd Sunday for January only. The program topic will be “The History Of Jewish Surnames”. A social with refreshments begins at 1:30 PM, and the program starts at 2:00 PM.

This program will be an exact replication (audio recording & PowerPoint) of the Jewish surname program that was presented by Warren Blatt at the 29th International Conference on Jewish Genealogy in Philadelphia in August 2009. While Warren Blatt will not be with us in person, you will hear his recorded voice and see his complete PowerPoint presentation on “Jewish Surnames.” Warren Blatt is an internationally known Jewish genealogist who is the managing director of JewishGen, an affiliate of the Museum of Jewish Heritage. He is the author of Resources for Jewish Genealogy in the Boston area and co-author of “Getting Started in Jewish Genealogy.”

The history of Jewish surnames is complex. This presentation explains their origins, types and etymologies. You will learn how they were developed and their transformation upon immigration. Discover which Jewish surnames are the most common in the U.S., Eastern Europe and Israel. Myths about Jewish names will be dispelled, and sources for learning more about your surname will be presented.

The purpose of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Tampa Bay is to assist interested individuals in learning about Jewish genealogy and how to research and document their own family histories. The Society does this by facilitating the exchange of research information, encouraging and facilitating research activities, educating members to help themselves and others, making available research resources and materials, arranging genealogical research tours and presenting monthly programs of interest to Jewish genealogical researchers.

Anyone interested in learning how to do Jewish genealogical research is invited to attend. Beginners as well as experienced researchers are welcome. For further information on the Jewish Genealogical Society of Tampa Bay or directions to the meeting call Sally Israel at 727-343-1652.

News from Other Societies - Genealogical Society of Sarasota

The Genealogical Society of Sarasota will hold its January meeting on Saturday, January 16, 2010.

10:00 a.m. Networking
10:30 a.m. Program

George G. Morgan, Speaker (Author of "How to Do Everything: Genealogy” and “The Official Guide to Ancestry.com”)
Topic: Bring 'Em Back to Life: Creating an Ancestor Profile

Selby Library, Geldbart Auditorium


For more information, please visit their website at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~flgss/.

News from Other Societies - Genealogical Society of Sarasota

The Genealogical Society of Sarasota will hold its December meeting on Saturday, December 12, 2009.

10:00 a.m. Networking
10:30 a.m. Program

Larry Berry, Speaker
Topic: Genealogy Research in England and Wales

Selby Library, Geldbart Auditorium

For more information, please visit their website at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~flgss/.