Events - Ventura County Genealogical Society

Lectures – Judy Janes @ on Zoom

Aug 21 @ 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Presenter: Judy Janes

“Discover Family History in Online Newspapers”

Newspapers offer a broad range of information about our families. They reveal information that may not have been recorded anywhere else. While genealogists commonly use them to find marriages and deaths, newspapers also published stories about social happenings, legal matters, travel, advertisements, and important community events that shaped our ancestors’ day-to-day lives. Digital newspaper collections have proliferated in recent years, and are searchable by name, keyword, or date. Come learn how to use this powerful new tool to uncover fascinating stories about your families.

Judy Janes is a past President of the Ventura County Genealogical Society, and currently serves on the Executive Board. Judy is a third-generation Californian who has been doing genealogical research for 27 years. She has successfully tracked several of her 17th century immigrant ancestors back to their roots in France, Holland, England, and Germany.

Second presentation:

Presenter: Debra Dudek

“Discovering your UK/Irish Roots Online”

Websites and Resources for English, Welsh, Irish and Scottish Ancestry There is no such thing as “one stop genealogy shopping”! This program will lead you through the resources and search techniques for the three big UK and Irish databases: FindMyPast, ScotlandsPeople and RootsIreland. Learn what’s new on these databases, how you can apply them to your research and how privacy and information rights impact your quest for records.

Debra M. Dudek is Head of Adult and Teen Services at the Fountaindale Public Library District in Bolingbrook, IL. Ms. Dudek specializes in World War I, UK genealogy, and technology topics.

All our monthly lectures and workshops are free to our members and the public. Non-members should request a Zoom invitation here.

The DNA Special Interest Group meeting will precede the general meeting from 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM on Zoom. Contact the webmaster to be added to the invitation list.

Categories: General Meeting

Sep

18

Sat

Lectures – Sue Adams & Brian Rhinehart @ on Zoom

Tickets

Sep 18 @ 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Presenter: Sue Adams

“English Manorial Records” (British SIG)

Manorial records are a rich genealogical source, especially for people who owned copyhold land as manorial tenants. Records for some manors stretch back from 1925 to the 13^th century, and are in English from 1733. Clues that you ancestors may have been manorial tenants include references to land in wills and occupations associated with using the land such as farmers.

My own genealogy adventures started back in 1997, triggered by the death of a cousin of my paternal grand-mother. I was soon hooked and started trying to verify the family folklore from my mom’s ancestry. Family Folklore Blog is where I share my personal research and discuss genealogical issues. It wasn’t long before I wanted to know more, which lead me to study with the Open University, and later to embark on the University of Strathclyde postgraduate programculminating in a Masters degree. I have come to realize that, even with my education, there is still much to learn. Technology makes ever more historical records available, so I am committed to keeping my skills updated so I can take advantage of the opportunities presented.

Second presentation:

Presenter: Brian Rhinehart

“Navigating the Records From the War of 1812”

From bounty land to pensions, there are no shortage of genealogical records for soldiers from The War of 1812. Learn how and why these records were created, how to make sense of them, and what those records can contain for your ancestors!

Brian Rhinehart is a professional genealogist and speaker and is the owner ofCivilWarRecords.com. A direct descendant of six Civil War soldiers, Brian specializes in research and record retrieval for Civil War and War of 1812 soldiers at the National Archives in Washington DC and has retrieved military files for hundreds of clients there.

All our monthly lectures and workshops are free to our members and the public. Non-members should request a Zoom invitation here.

There is no DNA Special Interest Group meeting this month. Our members are encouraged to attend Conejo Valley Genealogical Society’s DNA SIG this month. Contact webmaster@venturacogensoc.org for more information.

Categories: General Meeting

Nov

20

Sat

Lectures – Lyn Gesch @ on Zoom

Tickets

Nov 20 @ 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Presenter: Lyn Gesch

“Civil War”

TBA

Second presentation:

Presenter: Fritz Juengling

“Extracting Information from German Church and Civil Records, German Handwriting” (German SIG)

TBA

All our monthly lectures and workshops are free to our members and the public. Non-members should request a Zoom invitation here.

There is no DNA Special Interest Group meeting this month. Our members are encouraged to attend Conejo Valley Genealogical Society’s DNA SIG this month. Contact webmaster@venturacogensoc.org for more information.

Categories: General Meeting

Dec

18

Sat

Lectures – Jean Wilcox Hibben @ on Zoom

Tickets

Dec 18 @ 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Presenter: Jean Wilcox Hibben

““Ghosts of Christmas Past: Traditions of our Ancestors””

TBA

Second presentation:

Presenter: TBA

“TBA”

TBA

All our monthly lectures and workshops are free to our members and the public. Non-members should request a Zoom invitation here.

There is no DNA Special Interest Group meeting this month. Our members are encouraged to attend Conejo Valley Genealogical Society’s DNA SIG this month. Contact webmaster@venturacogensoc.org for more information.

Categories: General Meeting

Jan

15

Sat

Lectures – Steve Morse @ on Zoom

Tickets

Jan 15 @ 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Presenter: Steve Morse

“Getting Ready for the 1950 Census”

TBA

Second presentation:

Presenter: TBA

“TBA”

TBA

All our monthly lectures and workshops are free to our members and the public. Non-members should request a Zoom invitation here.

There is no DNA Special Interest Group meeting this month. Our members are encouraged to attend Conejo Valley Genealogical Society’s DNA SIG this month. Contact webmaster@venturacogensoc.org for more information.

Categories: General Meeting

Feb

19

Sat

Lectures – Drew Smith @ on Zoom

Tickets

Feb 19 @ 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Presenter: Drew Smith

“AncestryDNA Today”

VCGS General Meeting Lecture sponsored by the DNA SIG

AncestryDNA continues to add new tools to help with matching other testers, categorizing the matches into groups, and discovering the right relationships. This presentation focuses on how to use the latest AncestryDNA tools (ThruLines, groups, etc.) to identify relatives near and distant.

Drew Smith has been a librarian in the Academic Services department at the University of South Florida (USF) Tampa Library since 2007. Between 1994 and 2007, he was an instructor for the USF School of Library and Information Science (now the School of Information), where he taught undergraduate-level courses in library/Internet research skills and website design, and graduate-level courses in genealogical librarianship and indexing/abstracting. Prior to 1994, Drew worked for academic computing departments at USF and at Clemson University in South Carolina. Drew regularly speaks at conferences and meetings of national, state, and local genealogy societies, especially on topics linking genealogy and technology. Together with George G. Morgan, Drew has been the co-host of The Genealogy Guys Podcast since September 2005. Beginning in 2016, he hosts the Genealogy Connections Podcast, which alternates weeks with The Genealogy Guys Podcast.

Second presentation:

Presenter: TBA

“TBA”

TBA

All our monthly lectures and workshops are free to our members and the public. Non-members should request a Zoom invitation here.

Please note that the VCGS DNA Special Interest Group is sponsoring Drew Smith’s first talk today. There will be no DNA SIG meeting at 10:30 AM.

Categories: DNA SIG General Meeting