October 7th RESEARCH

You asked for it, we are giving it to you! RESEARCH TIME!
Please join us on October 7th at our usual time and place. We will have two short presentations. First, we will finish up our Cemetery Class that ran over time last month. Dee LeClair will tell us about the benefits of using Creative Memory software with your photographs, and how it an help you with your cemetery research. Secondly, Vicki will give a short presentation on Identity Theft.
The remainder of the time will be for research!

What are some of the benefits of researching with 

Our Genealogy Group at Clayton State University?

1. There will be a lot of people there to help you over your brick walls!
2. You can use Ancestry.com for FREE at the University. You can bring your laptop and work in our class room. If you do, you will need to connect to the University's network, which is "Maurut". ( I might have spelled that wrong, but, you will figure it out) If you don't have a laptop, or don't feel like lugging yours to the class, you can use the computers in the library.
3. You can use Fold3 for FREE at the University.
4. Rosemary has a private library of Genealogy books for our use. You can see a list of the books available at the very bottom of this page.
5. You can get away from the distractions at home.

We are planning a field trip! Sunday Oct 21st! Get your tickets if you want to join us

"Spirits of McDonough City Cemetery Tour" The tour provides an entertaining look @ the history & heritage of Henry County through the people who experienced it. Nine 'spirits' dressed in period attire (Civil War thru early 1890's) will share tales of life as it was back then. Sat. October 20, 5:00 to 7:00pm & Sun. Oct. 21, 2:30 to 4:00. 

Advance tickets; $10.00 adults, $5.00 kids. info @ 404.660.3813 orwww.mcdonougharts.net

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE STATE ARCHIVES

I was asked to send this information out. Please share it with anyone you think could help. If you can make it to the rally, please go and show your support. 

"Last week the Governor made a promise to "keep the Archives

open".  We are still waiting for the details of that promise.  Did
he mean open at the current level, open by appointment only or what?

Seven employees have been given formal notice that their employment
will be terminated October 31.  We cannot afford to wait for details
from the Governor's office."

Among other things, a rally is being planned for October 3 from noon to 1:00 in the Capitol.  

Please check www.FOGAH.org for updates.

UPCOMING CLASSES

November's class will be about Citations! "Remember: Undocumented Genealogy is Mythology" A part of documenting is citing your sources. 

We will have our annual holiday party in December at Rosemary's house. 

Next year, we will be changing things up a bit. In the new year, we will have a person or two available from 2 to 3 pm before each meeting to help you "one on one" with your research. Then we will have our class, or meeting from 3 to 5 like usual. 

Here is a recap of a few of the things we have discussed in 2012:

1.Pedigree Charts

2. Genealogy Research Trips

3.The 1940 Census

4. Family Reunions

5.African American Research

6. Google Search Tips and Google Earth

7. Findagrave, and other Death Records

What can we bring you next year? Would you like to lead a class? Do you know of any "guest speakers" who would be helpful to our group? Does anyone know about, or want to discus their American Indian research? What about overseas research? Who wants to tell us about their DNA testing? We are waiting to hear from you. Send me an email with your ideas. ourgenealogygroup@gmail.com

A Sad Day for the Georgia Archives

The Georgia Archives will be closed to the public as of 11/1/2012 and open by appt. only depending on work load of employees that remain. Georgia will be the only state that does not have a working archives open to the public for research. 
They can go to the league of women voters web site and find the emails addresses of their Senators and rep the sec of state and gov. and send them an email. And on Dick Eastmans web site this morning 9/14/2012

I urge each and everyone of you to sign this petition!
https://www.change.org/petitions/the-governor-of-ga-leave-our-state-archives-open-to-the-public#


Statement from Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp on Public Closure of the State Archives Effective November 1, 2012
The Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget has instructed the Office of the Secretary of State to further reduce its budget for AFY13 and FY14 by 3% ($732,626). As it has been for the past two years, these cuts do not eliminate excess in the agency, but require the agency to further reduce services to the citizens of Georgia. As an agency that returns over three times what is appropriated back to the general fund, budget cuts present very challenging decisions. We have tried to protect the services that the agency provides in support of putting people to work, starting small businesses, and providing public safety. 
To meet the required cuts, it is with great remorse that I have to announce, effective November 1, 2012, the Georgia State Archives located in Morrow, GA will be closed to the public. The decision to reduce public access to the historical records of this state was not arrived at without great consternation. To my knowledge, Georgia will be the only state in the country that will not have a central location in which the public can visit to research and review the historical records of their government and state. The staff that currently works to catalog, restore, and provide reference to the state of Georgia’s permanent historical records will be reduced. The employees that will be let go through this process are assets to the state of Georgia and will be missed. After November 1st, the public will only be allowed to access the building by appointment; however, the number of appointments could be limited based on the schedule of the remaining employees.
Since FY08, the Office of the Secretary of State has been required to absorb many budget reductions, often above the minimum, while being responsible for more work. I believe that transparency and open access to records are necessary for the public to educate themselves on the issues of our government. I will fight during this legislative session to have this cut restored so the people will have a place to meet, research, and review the historical records of Georgia.

September's Class on Cemeteries

September's class will be on Sunday September 9th from 3 to 5 pm. We will be discussing cemeteries! 

We will be discussing how to prepare for your research trip to the cemetery, and what to do (or not to do) when you get there. We will also be discussing iconography - what do those symbols mean anyway, and why are there so many tombstones shaped like logs? We will rediscover findagrave.com and billiongraves.com. We will also learn how Creative Memories software can help us with organizing the information we have found from the cemeteries we have visited.

Do you have any interesting cemeteries or tombstones in your family tree? If so, please bring pictures if you have them and do a little show-and-tell for us.

Who is this guy in the tombstone above? It is 19th century poet Georges Rodenbach. He is most famous today for his novel Bruge-la-Morte, which later was turned into the opera Die Tote Stadt. The tombstone is in the Cemetry du Pere Lachaise in France.

Don't forget to check out Selma and Vicki's blogs. The links are over there on the right. --->

Genealogy Events Coming Up

A few of Our Genealogy Group's members asked me to share the following with you:
http://www.henryherald.com/news/2012/aug/10/genealogical-society-discuss-dna-ancestry-link/

and

http://www.archives.gov/southeast/secret-city-symposium/#.UCzkidTqe0c.email

Look for an email next week about our upcoming meeting on September 2nd. It will be all about cemeteries!! Research, iconography, findagrave, and more!! Stay tuned.

August Workshop! August 5th from 1 - 5

Are you dying for some time to yourself ? Is your living family getting on your nerves? Do you want to spend some quality time with your ancestors? Well, you can leave all those distractions behind on August 5th and come to our mini Genealogy Group Research Workshop.
 Our Genealogy Group will hold the monthly workshop at Clayton State University, The workshop will be all about YOU, so bring your research, your questions and your expertise. Use your laptop or the library’s resources. The group meets in the library, L200 from 3-5 p.m. Come early and stay late; the library will be open for YOUR research from 1-5 p.m. The school is closed so you will have the entire library to yourselves!  Normally, you would come to the meeting through the Student Center, but since the school is closed you can come into the library through the courtyard doors.


There will be plenty of group members there to help you get started or break through that brick wall. Bring your friends! You may want to bring a lunch or bring some change for the vending machines. If you don't mind, please bring a dessert to share.

Next meeting July 8th from 2-5

Our next meeting will be July 8th from 2-5pm in the usual location. (An extra hour of research time for this meeting!) This will be a workshop type class focusing on technology and software. Please bring all your computer/scanner questions and any questions on genealogy software and we will all get together to try and help each other out. A few scanners will be available for use. Please bring your laptop if you have hardware questions. We will also be showing or helping you use the resources in the Clayton State University Library.

I can't guarantee that we can give you an answer to every question, but we will try.  

Please note that this meeting is on the 2nd Sunday.

June's Class: Medical Terminology, Plagues and Dental History

Medical Terminology, Plagues and Dental History

Do you want to know more about how your ancestors died? What are the causes of death in your ancestor's obituaries? Perhaps our guest speaker, Dr. James Davis Jr will be able to enlighten you. June 3rd from 3 to 5 like usual.
There will also be time for research and discussion.

Dr. Davis practices Maxillofacial Prosthodontics in Tucker Ga. He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  This talk will cover outdated medical terminology, diseases of various eras and Dentistry's role in the development of civilizations.

Heads up:
July's class (on the 8th) will be all about equipment and software. Do you have a scanner and have no idea how to use it? Do you have questions about Windows or other software. Do you want to discuss genealogy software? Hopefully we can help each other out!
August 5th: Research workshop. Bring your stuff, bring your laptop and use the library's resources to research your ancestory. Are you up against a brick wall? Perhaps we can help. It will be study/research time.