Lake County (IL) Genealogical Society

LCIGS Monthly Meetings

Come Visit us!
Evening meetings are held on the second Tuesday of the following months at 7:00 p.m.:
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September and October
at Fremont Township Public Library in Mundelein, IL.  The annual conference is held in November at another location.

Fremont Library is located at 1170 Midlothian Road (1/2 mi. north of IL Rte 176) in Mundelein.
The LCIGS telephone number is (847) 918-3208. There is voice mail if no volunteer is on duty.

Everyone is welcome!

Jan 13, 2009:  Lake Forest Day - 100 Years of Celebration - Laurietta Parsh
Laurietta's will bring back fond memories to many young and old alike as she discusses the 100 years of history of Lake Forest Day.

Laurietta Parsh taught in the Lake Forest Elementary District for 35 years.  During that time, she developed an interest in the history of Lake Forest.  She has been a volunteer at the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Historical society where she created data bases that are currently in daily use.  She also volunteers at the Lake County Genealogical Society where she helps researchers and serves as secretary for the group.

Feb 10, 2009:  How My Family Saved Abraham Lincoln's Life - Dr. Thomas F. Willer.
In 1858, Stephen Douglas, "The Little Giant" and Abe Lincoln traipsed across Illinois in a series of debates between these two Republican candidates for the Senate.  During the extended debate period, Abe left Kewanee in Henry county to speak with business leaders in a nearby town.  It was on his return trip that Abraham Lincoln came into contact with Tom's relative and a history-making, possibly life-saving encounter.

Dr. Thomas F. Willer is a long-time Illinois resident  and avid genealogist.  Getting the genealogy bug a little late, he started interviewing a few elderly relatives in the nick of time.  This remembrance-collecting proved immensely helpful in fleshing out the stories of generations of his genealogical family.  For him, the family stories helped bring genealogy alive!  He has written a couple of family history articles focusing on his father's experiences in India during World War II.  Tom recently retired from Hospira, a local pharmaceutical company in Lake Forest, Illinois.

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Mar 10, 2009: All Social Security Death Indexes Are Not Created Equal - Larry Olson.
Several websites are available for conducting Social Security Death Index (SSDI) searches, but they do not all provide the same data.  Larry has been tracking these sites for several years.  His presentation will offer a detailed comparison of the various websites, including an SSDI first posted on the GenealogyBank website in 2008.  This new index claims to be "the most comprehensive index online," and offers several special features.

Larry is a Minnesota native who moved with his family to the Chicago suburbs 20+ years ago.  He is a past president and officer of CAGG-NI (the Computer Assisted Genealogy Group of Northern Illinois).  He started researching his genealogy in 1973, after he first heard a family legend that composer and band leader John Philip Sousa was a cousin of his German great-grandmother (a story he has not yet been able to substantiate).  He still enjoys indulging in this hobby and he hopes someday someone in his immediate family will appreciate all the work that he has done.

Apr 14, 2009:  What's New in 2009. - Ed Rosenthal
Ed Rosenthal, CAGG-NI's "Tech Guru," will present his very popular annual survey of emerging technologies.  Ed will share insights he gains from keeping tabs on new developments in the computing and digital imaging scenes.  He will provide a glimpse of what new tools will soon be available to leverage in our favorite obsession - genealogy!  Learn what makes the difference between good, better and best.  Find out who offers the lowest price along with top notch service.

Ed Rosenthal has served three terms as the president of CAGG-NI and has been doing family research for over 20 years.  He has been a user of Family Tree MakerŪ software for over 10 years.  Ed is employed by PepsiCo International in Chicago as the manager of the integrated Center of Excellence SAP plan in several foreign regions.  He is a certified project management professional with a masters degree in project management from Keller.

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May 12, 2009:  Knocking Down Brick Walls, Including Women - Nancy Salmela
Research blindness can prevent us from recognizing helpful information about our families, especially those hard to find women who were shadowed by husbands, fathers and other males. This program will open your eyes to new or possible forgotten research techniques and help you to knock down brick walls.  

Nancy Salmela began her genealogy quest in1982. She is a member of numerous genealogical societies including Lake County Genealogical Society.  She is president of the Zion Genealogical Society and was editor of their quarterly for eight years.  Nancy is employed as a legal assistant in a Waukegan law firm.

Jun 9, 2009:  Gmail and Google Reader for the Genealogist - Beverly Smallwood
In addition to Google's well-known search engine, Google offers many other free products of use to the genealogist.  Gmail is Google's free webmail service with built-in Google search technology.  With a little tweeking, it can manage even the busiest email list, highlighting messages that should be looked at first.  Google Reader tool manages RSS feeds of all types - including podcasts.  you can subscribe to any of the many genealogy bloggers to keep current with news, sources and techniques.  The Google Reader will help you search for a particular article or just show you what's new.

Beverly Smallwood has been researching her family history since 1990.  She has previously presented at LCIGS on the topics of Swedish research and 21st century census search tools, and at LCIGS conferences on Bygone's note taking software and Organization.  Ms. Smallwood has served as president, treasurer, and, most recently, webmaster for CAAGG-NI

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Jul 14, 2009:  Finding Online Newspapers - Sarah A. V. Kirby
In the last 5 years, the number of newspaper archives available online has mushroomed from a few dozen major papers to many thousands of local and international papers.  While focusing on American newspapers, this talk will review some of the major databases where newspapers may be found, some individual titles, and the web and print resources that can help you locate the paper you are interested in searching.  Most of this information will be applicable to non-American papers as well.

Sarah has been researching her family since 1994 and has had a surname website since1997.  After obtaining her MLIS (Masters in Library and Information Science) in 2003, she began moving towards professional genealogy.  She is currently a member of APG, NGS, the Genealogical Speakers Guild, and several other local and regional societies.  Miss Kirby has been on the APG's Publications Advisory Committee since early 2007.  Her first career was as a NASA rocket scientist.  Her BS is in Aerospace Engineering.

Aug 11, 2009: Space-Time for Family Historians: Time warps and curved space aren't just for physicists - Daniel Hubbard, Ph.D.
Calendars, errors, oddities and trivia can lead you astray, and dates may not mean what you or the extractor determine.  The clock time in that old newspaper article or diary isn't the same as our time.  Finally, places, odd definitions and anachronistic boundaries can mislead the unwary.  Learn how to decipher the time, date and boundaries in genealogical records.

Dan has been doing genealogical research since he was about eleven years old.  He earned a Ph.D. in particle physics while doing research at CERN, the European particle physics laboratory outside Geneva, Switzerland. He lived just over the border in France for eight years until he and his wife left physics and moved to Sweden where he worked in telecommunications R&D for eleven years.  Recently they moved to Libertyville, Dan's home town, and he is presently working on a history of North America as experienced by his ancestors.  He also works as a professional genealogist.

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