Happy New Year! What's Happening this Winter 2018?

Happy New Year! 2018 promises to be an exciting year for genealogists. Here is a preview of what is happening in and around Tucson this winter.

Visit our website at https://azpimagensoc.org for details of these and other events.

JANUARY
Pima County Genealogy Society Special Interest Groups are all meeting in January: RootsMagic on January 6, DNA Group on January 13, and Family Tree Maker on January 20. SIGs are a benefit of PCGS membership and are open to members only. Visit our website for meeting location and times.

Top: Sherri Hessick
Bottom: Nicole Dyer

Our first meeting of the year featuring Sherri Hessick and Nicole Dyer will be on January 20 from 1 to 3 p.m. Sherri will Explore the PCGS Website, giving us tips on managing the Members only section and purchasing workshops and seminars. Nicole will answer the question How Can I Use Twitter and Other Social Media in My Genealogy Research? Non-members are welcome to attend up to two of our meetings as a guest. All attendees are eligible for the door prize.

Note Location Change for This Month’s Meeting
DATE:	Saturday, January 20, 2018
TIME:	1:00pm – 3:00pm
PLACE:	Operations Division Midtown Hardesty Multi-Service Center 1100 S. Alvernon Tucson, AZ
	Parking is free

The Pinal County Genealogists will host their 15th annual genealogy workshop in Casa Grande. All workshop information, registration forms, and lecture descriptions are at http://www.pinalctyazgen.com/workshop2018.htm.

FEBRUARY

February starts out with the annual Tucson Family History Fair on February 3 at the LDS East Stake Center, 6901 E. Kenyon Dr. The Fair opens at 8:30 a.m. with Bob Ives, Executive Director of The Family History Guide, presenting A Digital Revolution in Family History. The Fair is offering a choice between seven different classes during each of the five hour-long class sessions. The class descriptions, schedule, and handouts are on the Tucson Family History Center wiki page. 

NOTE: Handouts will not be available at the Fair. Attendees must print them in advance from the wiki page.

PCGS is back at the Banner-University Medical Center on February 17 when we will be talking about researching our German ancestors.  The Family Tree Maker members-only SIG meets from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on the same day.

The Green Valley Genealogical Society annual seminar featuring Gena Philibert-Ortega is also on February 17. Registration and details are on the GVGS website.

West Valley Genealogical Society is also hosting a seminar on February 17 with Cyndi Ingle in Sun City. Visit their website at http://azwvgs.org/seminar.asp for details and registration.



MARCH

CeCe Moore

The Pima County Genealogy Society is hosting a workshop and seminar featuring CeCe Moore, Genetic Genealogist on March 9 and 10. The March 9 workshop, I Have My Results, Now What??, is sold out. However, there are still seats available for the March 10 seminar. Seminar topics include:

• The Power of DNA
• Autosomal DNA: Discovering Your Ancestors In You
• Using Mitochondrial DNA and X-DNA for Genealogy Research
• Jefferson-Hemmings: Revealing the Truth Through DNA

CeCe Moore has never spoken outside California before. Don't miss this once in a lifetime event. Visit the PCGS seminar webpage for details and registration.

Our March 17 general meeting will feature Howard Mathieson of Winnepeg, Canada and a member of the Guild of One Name Studies, speaking on Surnames and One-Name Studies-the Origin of British Surnames.

The Family History Society of AZ is hosting their annual seminar with Thomas W. Jones on March 23 and 24 in Mesa. Details and registration are on the FHSA website. 

Got DNA? Register Now to Explore Your DNA with CeCe Moore in Spring 2018

CeCe Moore with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Photo used with permission from CeCe Moore

Registration is officially open for our 2018 DNA event featuring Your Genetic Genealogist, CeCe Moore!

Ms. Moore will be in Tucson March 9 and 10, 2018, for a Seminar & Workshop. Both events are being held at:

Fountain of Life Lutheran Church
710 S. Kolb Road
Tucson, Arizona
(north of 22nd, just south of Kenyon, on the west side of the street)

The seminar, Explore DNA with CeCe Moore, is Saturday, March 10, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. We will explore DNA topics:

• The Power of DNA
• Jefferson-Hemmings: Revealing the Truth Through DNA
• Autosomal DNA: Discovering Your Ancestors in You
• Using Mitochondrial DNA and X-DNA for Genealogy Research

The workshop, I Have My Results, Now What??, is from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, March 9.

Registration for Saturday's seminar is open to the public now.

The workshop is limited to fifty (50) attendees. The first two weeks of registration for the workshop are open to PCGS members only.  If space is still available, registration will be open to the public on September 3, 2017. Please check back on our website then.

You must be logged in with your PCGS member account to see the worskhop registration page and to receive the discounted member pricing.

Visit the PCGS Marketplace on our website at https://azpimagensoc.org/ to register for this exciting weekend with CeCe Moore.

Registration deadline is February 17, 2018.

Two + Two = One Dream Weekend

Two presenters for two days make for a Genealogist's Dream Weekend!

There are still seats available for the Fall Workshop and Seminar featuring Pamela Boyd Sayre and Richard G. Sayre. And the registration deadline has been extended to October 31.

Pamela Boyd Sayre and Richard G. Sayre
Image Source: Sayre & Sayre (http://www.sayreandsayre.com/index.htm)

The weekend opens on Friday, November 4 for a 2-hour workshop on Maps! Wonderful Maps!

"Maps enable genealogists to understand more about an ancestor's migration, community, and occupation. In this two-hour hands-on workshop, students will learn about traditional and online resources for finding historical, topographical, birds-eye view, and other maps, how to interpret the maps’ symbols and notations, and how to correlate other information with map data to place an ancestor in time and place.

"In on-line demonstrations, students will see some of the myriad sites for finding and downloading appropriate maps. For hands-on exercises, students will be provided with hard copies of maps, documents, and other tools to be used in correlating deeds, censuses, newspaper articles, or other documents with maps to solve genealogical problems using various kinds of maps, from deed plats to land ownership maps to panoramic maps. Demonstrations and exercises will include a mix of rural and urban problems and solutions." (Sayre & Sayre Lecture Topics, http://www.sayreandsayre.com/pdf_files/Sayre_Joint_Lectures.pdf)

Image Source: Ryde District Historical Society

The all day seminar will be presented the following day, Saturday, November 5. Beginning at 9:00 a.m. and running until 4:00 p.m., topics presented are:

Enough is Enough. Or Is It? : "Tips and a step-by-step case study help attendees learn how to decide when adequate research has been conducted to meet the goals of a project. This session covers determining what other sources might be available, analyzing, and organizing research to ensure that a reasonably exhaustive search has been conducted." (Lecture Topics, http://www.sayreandsayre.com/pdf_files/Pam_Sayre_Lectures.pdf)

Apps Galore for a Genealogist : "Learn about some of the many iPhone or iPad applications that will increase productivity for a genealogist. In this two-hour session, the speakers will discuss and demonstrate applications for the iPhone (or other smartphone) and iPad, from eBooks to genealogy programs to deed-platting to GoogleEarth, and beyond that to apps that help organize our busy lives—from accounting to contact management to file sharing. Live demonstrations from the iPhone and iPad will be shown on the projector, enabling attendees to see the usefulness of these apps for themselves." (Lecture Topics, http://www.sayreandsayre.com/pdf_files/Sayre_Joint_Lectures.pdf)

Capital Treasures : "This presentation features four brief case studies that demonstrate the wealth of records that can be found in the Washington, DC area or on websites of repositories such as the National Archives, Library of Congress, Bureau of Land Management General Land Office, National Park Service, and Civil War Trust. Cases show how to find records of birth, marriage, and death for a burned county in which all such records were destroyed; how to learn how a Civil War veteran was shot to death in his old age; how to locate detailed facts about a person’s life from a simple land record; and why numbers of Union Civil War soldiers are buried at a site far from where they fell." (Lecture Topics, http://www.sayreandsayre.com/pdf_files/Sayre_Joint_Lectures.pdf)

Burning of Del Norte County Courthouse, Crescent City, CA
Image Source: David Berry (https://www.flickr.com/photos/dberry/528751474)

The Civil War-A Valuable Genealogical Resource : "More than 3 million men fought in the Civil War (2,213,363 Union and 1,050,000 Confederate). The eligible military population (ages 18–45) in the 1860 census was about 4.5 million men. When compared to other eighteenth-and nineteenth-century wars the greatest probability of a military-aged individual serving is in the Civil War. The enormous quantity of extant records combined with the broad scope of the war make this event a unique and extraordinarily rich genealogical resource." (Lecture Topics, http://www.sayreandsayre.com/pdf_files/Rick_Sayre_Lectures.pdf)

Image Source: Pixabay

The Saturday seminar includes lunch. Vendors and book sales will be present and some very nice door prizes will be awarded to some lucky winners!


If you have never heard these wonderful presenters speak, you are really missing out. The Sayres are both Certified Genealogists (CG), Certified Genealogical Lecturers (CGL) and Fellows of the Utah Genealogical Association (FUGA). They both have recently broadcast webinars for the Board for Certification of Genealogy (BCG); Richard's topic was Finding Evidence of Kinship in Military Records and Pamela's was Enough is Enough. Or Is It? Visit Family Tree Webinars at http://familytreewebinars.com/bcg to get a preview of those presentations and to see for yourself what wonderful presenters they are.

Both the workshop and seminar will be held at the La Quinta Inn & Suites - Reid Park, 102 N. Alvernon Way, Tucson, AZ. Out of town guests (or anyone not wishing to drive home after the seminar) may book a room at the hotel for a reduced nightly rate.

Don't miss out on this rare opportunity to learn from two of the best presenters the genealogy community has to offer. Hop on over to the PCGS 2016 Workshop-Seminar webpage at http://azpimagensoc.org/cpage.php?pt=28 for details and registration.

Fall 2016 Workshop & Seminar : "A Little Bit of Everything"

We announced our Fall workshop & seminar in a previous blog post from March 10, 2016, A Little Bit of Everything Workshop & Seminar. The deadline for registering is drawing near.

The seminar will take place Saturday, November 5, at the La Quinta Inn & Suites, 102 N. Alvernon Way.  Pamela Boyer Sayre and Richard G. Sayre will be our presenters. Seminar topics include:

• Enough is Enough Or Is It 
• Apps Galore for a Genealogist
• Capital Treasures
• The Civil War-A Valuable Genealogical Resource 

The seminar includes lunch and beverages. Vendors, book sales, and door prizes will also be available. Check-in is 8:30-9:00 a.m. and the seminar runs from 9:00-4:00 p.m. PCGS member cost is $45.00, Non members $55.00.  

An optional workshop on using Maps will also be presented from 2:00-4:00 p.m. (check-in from 1:30-2:00 p.m.) on Friday, November 4th by Pamela Boyer Sayre and Richard Sayre at the above location. The cost of the workshop is $35 for members and $45 for non members.

Special pricing for attending both events will also be available.

Registration deadline is October 22, 2016.

Visit our previous blog post (link above) or our 2016 Workshop-Seminar page on our website for details and registration.

A Little Bit of Everything Workshop & Seminar

PCGS is sponsoring a special two-day event featuring Pamela Boyer Sayre, CG, CGL, FUGA, and Richard G. Sayre, CG, CGL, FUGA. Both Sayres are professional researchers, educators, authors, and lecturers. Both develop, coordinate, and teach courses for university-affiliated programs in genealogy, and they lecture regularly at national and regional genealogy conferences across the United States.

On Friday, November 4, 2016, the Sayres will present a two hour workshop:  

Maps! Wonderful Maps!

Maps enable genealogists to understand more about an ancestor's migration, community, and occupation. In this two-hour hands-on workshop, students will learn about traditional and online resources for finding historical, topographical, birds-eye view, and other maps, how to interpret the maps’ symbols and notations, and how to correlate other information with map data to place an ancestor in time and place. In on-line demonstrations, students will see some of the myriad sites for finding and downloading appropriate maps. For hands-on exercises, students will be provided with hard copies of maps, documents, and other tools to be used in correlating deeds, censuses, newspaper articles, or other documents with maps to solve genealogical problems using various kinds of maps, from deed plats to land ownership maps to panoramic maps. Demonstrations and exercises will include a mix of rural and urban problems and solutions.

A full day seminar will follow on Saturday, November 5. The Sayres will lecture on four topics covering a little bit of everything:

Enough is Enough! Or is it?

Tips and a step-by-step case study help attendees learn how to decide when adequate research has been conducted to meet the goals of a project. This session covers determining what other sources might be available, analyzing, and organizing research to ensure that a reasonably exhaustive search has been conducted.

Apps Galore for Genealogists

Learn about some of the many iPhone or iPad applications that will increase productivity for a genealogist. The speakers will discuss and demonstrate applications for the iPhone (or other smartphone) and iPad, from eBooks to genealogy programs to deedplatting to GoogleEarth, and beyond that to apps that help organize our busy lives—from accounting to contact management to file sharing. Live demonstrations from the iPhone andiPad will be shown on the projector, enabling attendees to see the usefulness of these apps for themselves.

Capital Treasure

This presentation features four brief case studies that demonstrate the wealth of records that can be found in the Washington, DC area or on websites of repositories such as the National Archives,  Library of Congress, Bureau of Land Management General Land Office, National Park Service, and Civil War Trust. Cases show how to find records of birth, marriage, and death for a burned county in which all such records were destroyed; how to learn how a Civil War veteran was shot to death in his old age; how to locate detailed facts about a person’s life from a simple land record; and why numbers of Union Civil War soldiers are buried at a site far from where they fell.

The Civil War—A Valuable Genealogical Resource

More than 3 million men fought in the Civil War (2,213,363 Union and 1,050,000 Confederate). The eligible military population (ages 18–45) in the 1860 census was about 4.5 million men. When compared to other eighteenth- and nineteenth-century wars the greatest probability of a military-aged individual serving is in the Civil War. The enormous quantity of extant records combined with the broad scope of the war make this event a unique and extraordinarily rich genealogical resource.

The workshop and seminar are priced separately, but there is discounted pricing for registration at both events. Registration deadline is October 22, 2016. Early Birds receive additional discounts if registration is received before May 1, 2016.

Participants may reserve a room at the La Quinta Inn & Suites for a discounted rate of $79 per night just by mentioning PCGS.

Visit the PCGS website for more information and to register.

D. Joshua Taylor appearing in Green Valley February 19-20, 2016

Registration is now open for the Green Valley Genealogical Society annual seminar and workshop. Both are featuring D. Joshua Taylor, MA, MLS.

Taylor has appeared on several episodes of Who do You Think You Are? and is a host of the PBS series Genealogy Roadshow. He is the former Director of Education and Programs at the New England Historic Genealogical Society, the current President for the Federation of Genealogical Societies, and the Business Development Manager for findmypast.

The interactive workshop on Friday, February 19, 2016, is titled The History in your family history. Participants will learn how to use history to provide a deeper context to their personal genealogical research. Visit the GVGS Workshop webpage for details and a printable reservation form.

The seminar will be held the following day on Saturday, February 20. Joshua will speak on four topics that will spark every genealogist's interest. Details and a printable reservation form can be found on the GVGS Seminar webpage.

Both events will be held at the Valley Presbyterian Church, 2800 S. Camino del Sol, Green Valley, Arizona. Seating is limited to 30 participants for the workshop and to the first 100 registrants for the seminar.

Here is a little teaser: PCGS 2014 Seminar and Workshop featuring Lisa Louise Cooke Door Prizes and Raffles

PCGS Door Prize and Raffle 2014 Seminar

Certificate for one night stay at Crystal Inn in Salt Lake City

Three PCGS Research Bags

Family Tree Maker Software

Roots Magic ver 6 software with Book and mapping software

One Year Membership to Ancestry World Explorer

One Year Membership to Find My Past U.S. Subscription

Six Month Membership to Find My Past World Subscription

Onesie from Geni.com 12-18 months

Genealogist tote bag

Book:  Turn Your iPad into a Genealogy Powerhouse by Lisa Louise Cooke

Book "How to Trace Your Family Tree in England, Ireland, Scotland and

                        Wales"

Book "Native American Directory"

Book "Mastering Genealogical Proof"

One year (2015) free membership to PCGS

Shadow Book

and more.....

Everyone receives a door prize ticket.  

Raffle tickets are $1 each or 6 for $5.00

It's not too late!  We will continue to take reservations until September 30th!  See event info above under 2014 Seminar Lisa Louise Cooke.

Jay Fonkert to speak in Green Valley this weekend

Jay Fonkert is speaking in Green Valley on Friday and Saturday, February 15 and 16. He has uploaded a short 90-second video to YouTube describing the topics he will be presenting.

While Friday's workshop filled up a few weeks ago, Saturday's seminar still has a few seats left. Walk-ins are welcome, but they will have to bring their own lunch or buy it at a nearby restaurant. The first 4 walk-ins will get a handout at the seminar; others will get one emailed to them after the seminar.

The Green Valley Genealogy Society annual seminars are always entertaining and educational. Visit their website to learn more.

Click on the video below to get a preview of what we will learn.

Time is running out to register for our Map Workshop

Locating Your Relatives with
Maps and GPS
University Medical Center
1501 North Campbell Ave
College of Medicine, Room 2117
October 6, 2012  9:30 am – 12:00 pm
Learn how to use maps and the Global Positioning System (GPS) in genealogy.  Maps and GPS can provide clues to where your ancestors lived and where to look for written records about them. GPS technology and maps can enhance your family history by showcasing migration routes, family events, and family clusters.    Handouts included.

Please see our previous post at Workshop for details on our speakers.  This is a wonderful opportunity to utilize mapping in your genealogy search.  A registration form can be downloaded here:  Registration  Registration must be received no later than October first.

Green Valley Seminar and Workshop featuring Dr. Tom Jones

Green Valley Genealogical Society Workshop and Seminar
Featuring Dr. Tom Jones — February 17-18, 2012.
Thomas W. Jones, Ph.D, CG, CGL, FASG, FUGA, FNGS, works full time as a
genealogical researcher, writer, editor, and educator. Dr. Jones has co-edited the
National Genealogical Society Quarterly since 2001. He serves the Board for
Certification of Genealogists as trustee and is a past president. He is the 2011 recipient
of the Association of Professional Genealogists' Professional Achievement Award, 2004
recipient of its Grahame T. Smallwood Jr. Award of Merit, and 1997 and 2002 winner of
the National Genealogical Society Award for Excellence for articles in the NGS
Quarterly. He has been certified since 1994.
A professor emeritus at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., he is a genealogical
educator who speaks and writes frequently on genealogical evidence, proof, and
problem solving with broad application across geographic areas, time periods, and
levels of expertise. Dr. Jones is known for meaty lectures benefiting genealogists of all
experience levels. He coordinates and teaches courses at Samford University’s
Institute on Genealogy and Historical Research and the Salt Lake Institute of
Genealogy, and teaches in Boston University’s Genealogical Certificate Program. His
research has encompassed records of every state east of the Mississippi, as well as
Iowa, Missouri, Texas, England, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, and Wales. He
specializes, however, in Georgia and Virginia and is most interested in solving “brickwall”
genealogical problems.
WORKSHOP – FEB. 17, 9 AM - 12 Noon at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints, 17699 S Camino de las Quintas, Sahuarita. Exit I-19 on Duval Mine Road; go
west to La Canada turn right; go north 8.5 miles to W Camino Antigua; turn right; go
east to stop sign. LSD Church is to the right across Camino de las Quintas. The
workshop is for experienced genealogists only. Enrollment is limited to 30 attendees to
allow interaction with the presenter.
Workshop Topics (75 minutes each):
Correlating Sources, Information and Evidence to Solve Genealogical Problems.
Analysis and interpretation principles applicable to any kind of genealogical source;
working with evidence from many sources; seeing patterns, parallels, and conflicts in
evidence; working with records in a series (including censuses, tax rolls, rent rolls, city
directories, communion lists, guardian and estate accounts); timelines, matrices, and
other ways of graphically arranging evidence; explaining how records correlate and
using correlation to build a convincing case.
Resolving Conflicting Evidence. Recognizing agreements and disagreements in
records; distinguishing significant evidence conflicts from the trivial; strategies for
reporting a conclusion when records disagree; evidence-based, rational, nonsubstantiation,
and other approaches to resolving conflicting evidence.
SEMINAR – Feb. 18, 9 AM – 4 PM at the Desert Hill Green Valley Recreation Center
Auditorium. 2980 S Camino del Sol, Green Valley. Exit I-19 on Continental; go west
on Continental to traffic circle; around to Camino del Sol; and south 3 miles just past the
Valley Presbyterian Church. Desert Hills R.C is on the south side of the parking area,
and the auditorium is the first door on your right.
Seminar Topics (60 minutes each):
Five Ways to Prove Who Your Ancestor Was (Some Reliable and Others Not Reliable).
Case studies will illustrate five ways – some reliable and others not – that genealogists
“prove” an ancestor's identity using information provided by others; using a single
source; following a chain of evidence; correlating evidence from multiple sources; and
weighing conflicting evidence. Attendees will learn how to use the Genealogical Proof
Standard (GPS) to identify their ancestors accurately.
Finding “Unfindable” Ancestors. The failure of common research practices to identify
ancestors does not mean they are “unfindable”. This session will describe and
demonstrate nine approaches to locating difficult-to-trace ancestors.
How to Avoid Being Duped by the Internet. The Internet brings increasingly bountiful
amounts of information to genealogists’ desktops – some valid, some erroneous, and
much of unknown accuracy. Attendees will learn practical strategies for discriminating
between correct and misleading information. They also will learn how online
genealogical information – even if its accuracy is unknown – can lead to valid
conclusions about ancestors.
Solving the Mystery of the Disappearing Ancestor. Genealogists may be frustrated by
not finding ancestors in the records and places where they logically expect them to be.
This presentation will explain seven reasons why such ancestors seem to have
disappeared, provide examples of each from actual case studies, and suggest
strategies to help attendees find their elusive ancestors.
 Registration can be found at Green Valley Workshop and Seminar information