FGS February Meeting - February 4, 2012
The Myths of Migration: Concentric Circles in Census Records
Speaker: Ann Mohr Osisek
A native of West Virginia, Ann has been a Central Florida resident for the past thirty-six years and taught genealogy classes for the Orange County, FL Adult Education Program for nineteen years. She has been a computer lab genealogy instructor at the Seminole State College and a genealogical instructor in the Elderhostel Program in central Florida. Ann teaches an annual week-long genealogy class at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC. She is a Past President of the Florida State Genealogical Society and the Central Florida Genealogical Society. Ann has completed courses at Samford University’s Institute of Genealogy & Historical Research in Birmingham, AL and was a 1997 recipient of The FSGS Outstanding Achievement Award in recognition of her contributions to the field of genealogical education. She has been published in the FGS Forum, the APG Quarterly and numerous genealogical and historical society journals.
New Educational Opportunities!
The Florida Genealogical Society (Tampa) is very pleased to announce two new
educational opportunities for our members. Beginning on January 7, 2012, we'll be offering two optional activities before our regular business meeting and program.
From 10:15 to 11:00 AM, when our regular meeting begins, you also can attend one of two discussion groups. Both are casual discussions.
BEGINNING GENEALOGY & BREAKING DOWN BRICK WALLS
If you are a beginner or want to share information with new researchers, a group will meet to discuss "how-to" ideas, document types, and research techniques to help get you started on the right path. If you've encountered a brick wall in your research, discuss it with others and brainstorm how to get past it.
COMPUTER INTEREST GROUP
February 4: Please join Cathy Vance as she presents Unlocking the Mystery. This presentation covers how a computer works, hardward vs. software, and file folders, files, and using the tree structure to crete and organize files. Cathy will be using PowerPoint to present and she will be providing an eight-page handout.
We think you'll really enjoy these new groups. They'll allow you to get to know other people better and have a an even better time at our meetings!
Irish Research Trip
Irish genealogical research specialist Donna Moughty has advised us that she will be leading an Irish research trip to Dublin, Ireland, on October 7-12, 2012. A PDF is available in the
Public Downloads area of our website that describes the trip and provides details about pricing, hotel, and research venues. Click on
Research Opportunities to access the file.
Please note that FGS-Tampa neither endorses nor recommends this trip. The PDF file is being posted at the request of Ms. Moughty.
Preserve Your Digital Materials
What Do You Know about TRAILS?
The Tampa-Hillsborough Public Library provides access to a great local resource for genealogists at its website at http://www.thplc.org. It's called TRAILS and it provides access to indexed newspaper and magazine articles relating to the history of the Tampa Bay area and the state of Florida from selected local publications.
TRAILS is an acronym for Tampa History Research Automated Index to Library Services. TRAILS is a project that was done by Norma and Arthur Schmidt of Riverview, Florida. The data in Trails includes obituary information from 1855 through 1983. (The data from 1855 through 1894 was researched by Julius Gordon.) Death notices, obituaries, and funeral notices from the Tampa Tribune and its predecessor newspapers in Tampa were indexed and entered into TRAILS. An index listing typically includes the name of the person and a reference to the year, month, and day on which one of these death-related notices appear in the Tampa Tribune. Using this information, you can use the microfilm of the newspapers (available at the main John F. Germany Library or at the University of South Florida Library) to locate the obituary. You can print the obituary or save the image to a flash drive.
The library has acquired microfilm within the last year or so of old issues of La Gaceta, the nation's only tri-lingual newspaper and one of the oldest minority-owned and targeted newspapers in America, and of historical African-American newspapers. All of were published in Tampa. There have been discussions concerning the addition to TRAILS of the obituary index listings for these publications.
You can access TRAILS at the library's website at http://www.thplc.org. When you get to this website, click on the link labeled Learning & Research at the top of the page. On the next page, click on the link labeled Genealogy & History in the left-hand column. On the next screen, scroll down to TRAILS and click that link. You'll them be able to enter a name in the Quick Search box. You can also enter a year to narrow the search. For example, if you enter Milton 1940, you'll be presented with a list of results. In this case, click on Milton, Gennie; 1940. You'll be presented with another page that provides more information about the Tampa Tribune listing, including the Section and page. In this case, there is something in the paper under F.N. (Funeral Notices) on page 2.
TRAILS is easy to use and can provide great information in the way of death notices, obituaries, and funeral notices.
Need something from our old website?
