Events - Ventura County Genealogical Society

Lectures – Lyn Gesch & Fritz Juengling @ on Zoom

Nov 20 @ 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Presenter: Lyn Gesch

“Researching Your Civil War Soldier”

Much has been said and written about America’s Civil War and much is to be learned from research historians have done. But how much do we know about our families’ experiences during that time? In this talk, I will focus on what we can uncover about those who served in the military – where to start our research, what records are available, and where we can find them. In addition to service records and pension files, we will explore some lesser-used materials that can be found in online and on-site repositories, including state and local archives.

Marilyn Gesch, Ph.D., is a longtime member of the Ventura County Genealogical Society. She has served on the Executive Board and has been a frequent presenter in the educational programs. Her background in sociology has led her to lean heavily on using social history in understanding family stories as well as to focus on quality research practices. Recent publications inspired by family histories looked at German immigrants in American wars and appear in the Kansas History journal (2018; WW1) and the Missouri Historical Review (2015; Civil War) She is currently working on a manuscript following her father-in-law’s WW2 experiences through his letters and scrapbooks.

Second presentation:

Presenter: Fritz Juengling

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

In this class Dr. Juegling will detail the strategies that he and his colleagues use when reading old records. With a few ‘tricks,’ a person can unlock these old records with some work and perseverance.

Doctor Juengling received his Bachelor’s degrees in German Studies and Secondary Education at Western Oregon University, his Master’s and Doctorate in Germanic Philology with minors in both English and Linguistics at the University of Minnesota. Germanic Philology is a highly specialized field of study, combining languages, linguistics, paleography and history. For his graduate degrees, Dr. Juengling was required to demonstrate competence in English, German, Medieval Latin and two other modern languages. He chose Dutch and Norwegian. He also took courses in Old, Middle, and Early Modern English, Old and Middle High German, Old Norse (Old Icelandic), Gothic, Old Frisian, Old Saxon, and Middle Dutch. He has taught German, English, Latin and Old English (Anglo-Saxon) at the high school and university levels. He is an Accredited Genealogist® for Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Sweden through the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists, and certified by the Verband deutschsprachiger Berufsgenealogen. Dr. Juengling is a German, Dutch, and Scandinavian Research Consultant at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

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, Thomas MacEntee @ 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: Thomas MacEntee

“Self-Publishing for Genealogists and Genealogy Societies”

TBA

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

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

Mar

19

Sat

Lectures – Julie Huffman @ on Zoom

Tickets

Mar 19 @ 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Presenter: Julie Huffman

“The Secret Genealogy Collection at Los Angeles Public Library”

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: DNA SIG General Meeting