March 2017

Genealogy Gems:

News from the Fort Wayne Library No. 157, March 31, 2017

In this issue:

Context is King!

Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution

International Tracing Service Records Online

Technology Tip of the Month--Scanning Continued: Resolution--Why 300dpi/ppi and When to Use More

Quick-Tip of the Month for Preservation--

PERSI Gems

History Tidbits: The Parlor Games

Save Time for Preservation Week!

In the Good Old Summertime!

Keep Up with Upcoming Events

Staying Informed about Genealogy Center Programming

Area Calendar of Events

Driving Directions to the Library

Parking at the Library

Genealogy Center Queries

Publishing Note

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Context is King! by Curt B. Witcher

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Some likely have heard the expression, “Content is King!” The more databases we have to search and the more records that are in those databases, the better we believe our research will be and the more successful we will be identifying and documenting ancestors. While content is absolutely critical in doing family history research, I would like to offer that CONTEXT is actually king! Being able to place our ancestors and potential ancestors in the most robust contexts possible is really most important. Not only does it provide us with the fullest and most accurate stories of our ancestors’ lives, it actually drives us to content. Three different resources for creating context are described in the following. First, a new publication, “Connecticut in the American Revolution: A Source Guide for Genealogists and Historians,” recently came across my desk. This is the eighth in a series of extraordinary guides published by the DAR. This volume has more than seven hundred pages, including an extremely robust table of contents and a detailed index. Eric Grundset and his DAR Library team of assistants continue to do a top-shelf job with these compilations. The number of sources listed and annotated is beyond impressive. I often muse about how undervalued annotated bibliographies tend to be. Too frequently we hear an exclamation akin to "Where are the searchable lists of names?" or "This won’t really help me find my ancestor, will it?!" In making this Connecticut volume and others in the series available as a PDF as well as in print, the DAR has wisely increased user accessibility through enhanced search and discovery options. And yes, this excellent volume may just give you the context to help you find your Connecticut ancestor, I appreciate that this may come as a terrible shock to some, but not everything is on the Internet, and our children's children won't live long enough to see that happen. Yes, the use of digitized resources available on the Internet is extremely important, even vital and necessary, to advance one's research. Using those online resources in consort with good print sources is the real key to success. Knowledge of resources often best obtained in print materials can lead and enlighten online searches. Knowing what one is looking for typically enhances one's ability to find said objects of research interest. A second resource for determining context is an old favorite of mine mentioned numerous times in previous editions of this ezine, the “Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups.” I believe I forever will be amazed at the level of detail provided about every ethnic group that “touched a toe” in the United States. From the largest ethnic groups to those of rather modest size, each has a detailed history that includes reasons for and ports of emigration, ports of immigration, and locations of settlement, economic life and social organizations, religion, and culture. Use of this resource can provide one with a roadmap to discovering the largest number of relevant resources for one’s ancestors. Finally, it is nearly impossible not to be appreciate the tremendous research impact of Ancestry’s recently announced Genetic Communities(TM). From the Ancestry webpage and media announcements: Genetic Communities are groups of AncestryDNA members who are connected through DNA most likely because they descend from a population of common ancestors, even if they no longer live in the area where those ancestors once lived. DNA lets Ancestry identify the connections that link AncestryDNA members into Genetic Communities. Continuing from Ancestry literature: DNA alone doesn’t tell the story of why those connections came about or what their historical significance might be. For that Ancestry relies on ethnicity estimates and historical information from family trees linked to AncestryDNA tests. Since Genetic Communities reflect fairly recent common ancestry, Ancestry looks for patterns in ethnicity and tree data to help identify times, locations, or groups members of Genetic Communities might have in common in their past. In a very real way, this is perhaps one of the earlier, forward-facing applications of “big data” in the genealogy space. I believe we can look for more big data applications as dramatically increasing numbers of materials are digitized and made available online. Think of the power of a program that could look at a highlighted portion of your online tree, and then execute a search across all resources on the Internet (e.g. FamilySearch, Internet Archive, HathiTrust, USGenWeb, Library of Congress, national archives from around the world, personal family web pages, etc., etc., etc.) for a particular family group living in a specific region at a particular time period. One would be able to create massive silos of extremely relevant data to complement the data that builds genetic communities. Place your research and your potential ancestors in the most robust contexts possible. It will advance your research in amazingly meaningful ways.

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Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution by Cynthia Theusch

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As researchers, we often look for ancestors who were patriots in the American Revolution. However, some have ancestors who remained loyal to their British homeland. One of the most important resources for finding loyalist ancestors is “Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution,” by Gregory Palmer (GC 973.34 Aa1paL). This work represents a new edition of Lorenzo Sabine’s previous edition from 1847 titled, “American Loyalists, or Biographical Sketches of Adherents to the British Crown in The War of the Revolution” (GC 929.11 Sa1a), and a second edition titled, “Biographical sketches of loyalists of the American Revolution,” published in 1864 (GC 929.11 Sa1ab). The British Parliament established a Loyalist Claims Commission in July 1783. The documents from the commission are stored at the Public Record Office in London, along with microfilms of the complete records. Palmer gives the following statistics in the Introduction of his book: Number of claims submitted: 5,072 Claims withdrawn or not pursued: 954 Claimants’ estimate of their losses: £8,026,045 sterling Sum allowed by the Commission: £3,292,455 sterling Some examples of the type of information found in these claimant records can be seen in the following: Solomon Bunhill (or Bunnel) joined General Burgoyne as a volunteer in June 1777, and on August 16, 1777 was taken prisoner at the Battle of Bennington. He was held in irons for some time and indicted for high treason. Bunhill broke jail on December 22, 1780, and in January 1781 reached the British lines at New York. He estimated his loss at £660, but his claim was disallowed for being presented after the statutory limitation had expired. Hannah Ogilvie of Charleston, South Carolina. Ogilvie’s husband was a seaman employed by Colonel Stuart in the Indian Department. She went to Pensacola in 1779 with the intention of settling on the Mississippi River; later, she kept a lodging house at New Orleans, where she was imprisoned for twenty-four days by the Governor General of Louisiana, de Galvez. Mrs. Ogilvie was then taken aboard a ship of the Royal Navy to Pensacola but, being unable to purchase a house, she travelled on to Jamaica, where she learned of her husband’s death. She left for Dundee, Scotland, after the Peace. Sabine’s 1864 edition of “Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution” can be found online at FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org) by searching the online book catalog. However, you must be located in a member library in order to view it. A majority of the loyalists settled in New Brunswick. For example, Abraham Sloat went to New Brunswick in 1783, according to the records. He died in that province in 1852, leaving a widow, seventeen children, one hundred and seven grandchildren and twenty-seven great grandchildren. The Loyalist Claims Commission records contain a rich amount of genealogical and biographical information about those Canadian settlers who submitted claims. If you think you had an ancestor who supported the crown in the Revolution or who left the United States for Canada immediately after the Revolution, these records are worth consulting.

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International Tracing Service Records Online by Allison DePrey Singleton

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World War II wreaked havoc on families in Europe as people fled their homes, others were forced into concentration camps, and the war destroyed entire towns. To begin dealing with the vast number of displaced people, multiple organizations worked together early during the war to prepare for the work of finding missing people. As V-E Day occurred, millions of people had been displaced by the war and needed assistance. The Allied Forces and non-military organizations, such as the British Red Cross Society and the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), began initiatives to work with displaced persons. Initially, the International Tracing Service was part of the Department for International Affairs, which in turn was morphed into a Central Tracing Office. The central office of the Central Tracing Service was moved to its current home in Arolsen, Germany, the year after the war ended. By 1948, the name had changed to its current form, the International Tracing Service (ITS). ITS has had many purposes over the years, including finding displaced persons, assisting with prosecution of Nazis, assisting in gaining restitution for victims, and working to clarify the fates of people lost in the war. The ITS opened its collections to the public in 2007 and the goal of the institution has been to educate, commemorate, and research. The ITS website https://www.itsarolsen.org/en/ is a superior resource for anyone researching displaced persons, WWII, the Holocaust, and family history. Each country who was involved with ITS in 2007 received a copy of the collection. The U.S. copy is held by the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. https://www.ushmm.org/remember/theholocaust-survivors-and-victims-resource-center/international-tracing-service. There are experts on staff that will search the collection for information. Priority is given to survivors of the Holocaust and then to the families searching for answers on loved ones lost. This collection has not been digitized on their website. It is a collection to search in person or request to be searched by an expert. One thing you will find on the U.S. Holocaust Museum website is a section devoted to images of child survivors of the Holocaust through images: https://rememberme.ushmm.org/. Identifying the children remains difficult and is assisted through contributions from the public. Look to see if you can identify any of the children. Recently, ITS has been digitizing some of the records and making them available on their website: https://www.its-arolsen.org/en/archives/digital-collections-online/. There are multiple record groups that have been put online and organized into different categories. The first is Miscellaneous and it consists of two subcategories. The first subcategory contains the Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland (Reich Association of Jews in Germany) registration cards: https://digitalcollections.its-arolsen.org/01020401/name. These were the Jewish registration cards used by the Gestapo to deport Jews. The second subcategory contains Effects Preserved at the ITS and it is then further sub divided by Concentration Camp, Gestapo, and unknown: https://digitalcollections.its-arolsen.org/010209/name. Many of the items are timepieces or jewelry. The second category that has been digitized is Death Marches and it has been subdivided into two subcategories. The first subcategory is Investigations of the Routes of Death Marches and of Burials, which is a working collection to attempt to identify the Death March routes and burials: https://digitalcollections.its-arolsen.org/050302/place/map. This subcategory includes an interactive map that allows visitors to click on a tag to bring up corresponding documents. The second subcategory is Attempted Identification which contains a multitude of types of documents such as correspondence, eyewitness reports, certification of deaths, and more: https://digitalcollections.its-arolsen.org/050302/nav/index/all. The third and last category that has been digitized is the Child Search Branch, which mostly consists of correspondence about the Child Search Branch: https://digitalcollections.itsarolsen.org/060102/nav/index/all. With very few exceptions, it does not contain names or pertinent information about the children. This collection would be more helpful to those doing research on the working efforts of the Child Search Branch or of the countries involved in locating missing children rather than the research on the children themselves. Historians writing about children during and after the Holocaust would benefit the most from this category. There is a great deal to learn about the Holocaust and the aftermath. Many people may not realize that people are still searching for their loved ones more than 70 years after the end of the war. As those from the Greatest Generation continue to pass away, the history and the collective memory of what happened during the Second World War will continue to be passed down to future generations through organizations such as the International Tracing Service. Those who died during the Holocaust will remain through their history and their stories as historians continue to tell them. “Nothing is ever really lost to us as long as we remember it.” – Lucy Maud Montgomery

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Technology Tip of the Month--Scanning Continued: Resolution--Why 300dpi/ppi and When to Use More by Kay Spears

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Before we begin with resolution, let’s talk about DPI. DPI is Dots Per Inch, which is actually a printing term. A scanned image is technically a pixelated image, but long ago the photo/scanning industry settled on DPI as the way to describe the resolution specification. Just remember that once a photograph is scanned, it becomes a digital image, and those images are Pixels, not Dots. They only become Dots when they are printed. However, I will refer to resolution as DPI. How large you make your resolution depends on what you are going to do with the image when you are finished. If all you are going to do is archive your images and maybe later make copies on a regular printer to hand out to relatives then the 300 DPI setting should be enough. Sometimes people make family histories that include images, and they might take them to someplace like Office Depot for printing. The resolution for those images would probably still be fine at 300 DPI. If you are going to use a professional printer for your family book or for your photographs, you will probably need to use a higher resolution. I would check with that printer first and ask about their requirements. If they start yammering about how they want the image in so many pixels, ask them to interpret what they just said. If you are going to spend a lot of money with a professional printer, do not be afraid to ask for specifics or explanations. A 300 DPI resolution image may not be the best quality for a professional print shop. Usually a printer at a professional print shop has a higher resolution print capacity than what may be found at Office Depot or your local library. Now for some of the trickier stuff. Let’s say you have an old 35mm photograph or an old school photograph, which is 2”x 3.5,” and you want to enlarge it. For a good quality finished product, you will need to double the resolution. There are a number of formulas used to calculate how much. Let’s pretend I want to take a photo, which is 4 x 6 and enlarge it to 8 x 10. I will take the two short side measurements and divide them (8 ÷ 4 = 2), then multiply that by the 300 DPI base number (2 x 300 = 600). So, I will set my resolution at 600. If you want to enlarge your photographs, you will need to increase your resolution. And yes, that will make a very large file. Negatives and slides. Some scanners have special attachments that allow you to scan a negative or slide. The resolution for both will be set higher than 300 DPI. Anywhere from 1200 DPI on up would probably work for either one. I would suggest you do a couple of test runs on a couple of images to see the results when scanning either negatives or slides. What about images that you want to put on a website or send in an email? Well, this time you want to go smaller. It used to be that computer and television monitors had a resolution of about 72 DPI to 90 DPI. Well, monitors have changed since the good old days of the analog, but you still want them smaller. I would suggest you not scan something you want to place online, but reduce the higher resolution image down to a JPG using a Photoshop software. Or, you can scan it at a lower DPI. The choice is up to you. You never want to post online a large TIFF; they will only slow everything down – maybe even lock up a computer or two. Remember when you scan at a higher resolution, your image files will be large, so it is advisable that you have a storage device of some kind to put them on. Leaving them on your hard drive will take up space and slow your computer down. I have a variety of devices I keep my images in – dvd, cd, external hard-drives. Next article: Scanning continued – Why we use the color setting, even for black and white photographs.

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Quick-Tip of the Month for Preservation--Salvaging Water-Damaged Family Valuables and Heirlooms

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Would you have thought that a department of Homeland Security would provide information useful to our family history endeavors? Well, FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) does. They have composed a PDF fact sheet called, “Salvaging Water-Damaged Family Valuables and Heirlooms.” While the link to this fact sheet is rather long, simply copy and paste it into your browser if it doesn’t present itself as a clickable link. https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/1490121650722- 14c891088abe31790eda2e346280eaf2/Salvaging_Family_Valuables_FIMA_Fact_Sheet_2017_508 WDU.pdf The fact sheet presents useful, actionable information with links to other resources including two videos.

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PERSI Gems by Adam Barrone and Michael Hudson

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Pets, livestock, and wildlife interact with humans to make history every day. That history might not make the school textbooks, but then again, the kids might enjoy a tale of a horn-honking opossum or a yodeling mule before heading off to spring break. This month, as always, we bring you a selection of articles cited in the Periodical Source Index (PERSI). Try a search here: http://search.findmypast.com/search/periodical-source-index A few animal accounts for April: J. C. Miller and others see a buzzard wearing a large bell, 1903 Through the Years (Rockwood Hist. & Gen. Soc., PA), v.16n.3, Sum. 2010 Kailey Dwire describes her lost hamster Buttercup being found in a shop vac, 2011, Ellenboro, WV Golden Seal (WV), v.38n.1, Spr. 2012 Live beetle with jewels glued to it worn on woman's sweater confiscated by Border Patrol, 2010 Platte Valley Kin Seekers (NE), v.30n.2, Sum. 2010 Patsy Wickham cow’s hairball family heirloom note, 2011, MO Miller Valley Hist. Soc. Newsletter (MO), v.3.n.3, Sep. 2011 Possum trapped in Albert Purdom's car honks horn to escape, 1956, Brantley Co., GA Armadillo Tracks (Brantley Co. Hist. & Preservation Soc., GA), n.1, Jan. 2011 Sallie Blake made red flannel coats for turkeys she accidentally plucked, 1903, IN, MD Letters from Linden (Calvert Co. Hist. Soc., MD), Aug. 2011 W. S. Anderson discovers turtle with Perry Grady's initials and date 1878 carved in shell, 1926 Montour Co. (PA) Gen. Soc., Jun. 2010 Walter Coop scares Nygaard's horse to death with Buick touring car, news note, 1908 Barnes County (ND) Quarterly, v. 15n.3, Sum. 2011 Woodchuck named after outlaw Rube Burrows captured by Conductor Callahan, does tricks, 1888 Links to Lamar County (AL), v.17n.4, Oct 2010 Yodeling mule terrorizes folk, brays like a donkey crossed with a panther, leaves huge tracks, n.d. Wyoming Co. (WV) Gen. Soc. Newsletter, v.17n.3, Jan. 2010

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History Tidbits: The Parlor Games by Allison DePrey Singleton

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What in the world did people do before radio, television, computers, smart phones, and so on? These types of questions may have been posed by each generation since the 1920s. One popular pastime before the technological advances of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries was parlor gaming. Perhaps your ancestors or even you have played a few of these games. Parlor games were played indoors and usually in the parlor, hence the name parlor games. Sometimes the games would be for children, some were for young adults, and some were for all ages. Fascinatingly, many of the games we would consider too dangerous today were intended for children! A favorite game of the Victorian era was Snap-Dragon. In this game, a shallow bowl of brandy would be set in the middle of a table and lit on fire. Raisins would then be dropped in the bowl. The goal was to snatch the raisins out of the burning brandy without burning yourself too badly. Sometimes a rhyme was said while the game was played. An interesting depiction of the game was shown in Season 12, Episode 2 of Agatha Christie’s Poirot. Charades has its roots in word play and puns. Initially they were riddles that would describe a word to be guessed. The game evolved into playacting the word or phrase for the audience to guess the correct answer. Even today, many popularly-sold games have their basis in word charades like Taboo or acting charades like Guesstures. Another variation on this would be Tableaux, where a scene from a popular book or story would be set and the audience has to guess which one. A favorite of children throughout the nineteenth and into the twentieth century was Blind Man’s Buff or Bluff. It is a game similar to Tag, but the child who is It is blindfolded. The goal is for the blindfolded child to tag the next person to be It. It must be played in an open space so the child who is blindfolded will not come to injury. Another version is Dead Man where the child just had their eyes closed instead of being blindfolded. Marco Polo is also very similar but is usually played in the pool. This game can be traced back to a version played in ancient Greece called Copper Mosquito. Drop the Handkerchief is a game similar to Duck, Duck, Goose. Players stand in a circle, staring at the middle of the circle. The person who is It goes around the circle and drops a handkerchief behind someone, usually of the opposite sex. The goal of the person who is It is to make it back to the spot where they dropped the handkerchief without being caught by the person who had the handkerchief dropped behind them. The goal of the person behind whom the handkerchief was dropped is to catch the person who was It before reaching their spot in the circle. The catching can be done by a kiss, which turns this game into a courting game for young adults. Next time you research your family tree and note a child or young adult, ask yourself what kind of games he or she played. That knowledge makes your research richer when you look beyond the dates and the names, and it makes the young people more relatable. Sources and Further Reading: Beaver, Patrick. Victorian Parlor Games. Wigston, Leicester: Magna Books, 1995. Blain, Mary E. Games for All Occasions. New York: Barse & Hopkins, 1909. Brandreth, Gyles Daubeney. The World's Best Indoor Games. New York: Pantheon, 1981. Brian, Burns. The Encyclopedia of Games. Leicester: Silverdale Books, 2005. Cassell's Book of In-door Amusements, Card Games, and Fireside Fun. 4th ed. London: Cassell & Company, 1882. Cassell's Complete Book of Sports and Pastimes: Being a Compendium of Out-door and In-door Amusements. New and rev. ed. London: Cassell, 1896. Dalton, Henry. Evening Amusements and Book of Drawing-room Plays: A Comprehensive Manual of In-door Recreation, Including All Kinds of Acting Charades, Proverbs, Burlesques, and Extravaganzas... New York: Cassell, 1883. Finamore, Roy. Parlor Games: Amusements and Entertainments for Everyone, Containing Explanations of the Most Excellent Games Suited to the Family Circle, Such as- Pantomimes, Games with Pen and Pencil, Games of Thought and Memory, Riddles and Conundrums and Enigmas (with Solutions), Games of Action, Ruses and Catch Games, Forfeits, and the Little Fortune-Teller. New York: Clarkson Potter, 2002. Gallagher, Nora. Parlor games. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1979. Sandys, William. Christmastide, Its History, Festivities, and Carols. Nabu Press, 2010. Sernaqué, Vivienne. Classic Children's Games: Ages 2 to 10. New York, NY: Dell Pub., 1988.

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Save Time for Preservation Week!

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Family history is all about preservation: preservation of documents, keepsakes and facts. Join us to celebrate Preservation Week, and learn various ways to protect our stories and our history. Sunday, April 23, 2017, 1:00PM, Discovery Center Exciting Ways to Share Your Genealogy – Tina Lyons Ready to get your family excited about family history? Guest speaker, Tina Lyons, will share several interesting ways to use photo books, videos, photo sharing sites, blogs, storybooks and social media to make family history fun and engaging. Monday, April 24, 2017, 6:30PM, Discovery Center Using Vintage Postcards in Genealogy Research - Randy Harter Use of postcards is just one way to preserve family and community history. Learn the history and types of postcards in America, how to establish publication date and past postcard manufacturers in the area, then join in a discussion of Real Photo postcards. Tuesday, April 25, 2017. 6:30PM, Discovery Center Preserving our Communities: Historic Designation Basics - Jill McDevitt, ARCH, Inc. This class is an overview of the three types of historic designations that are used to honor and protect historic resources, including their requirements and benefits. Examples of Fort Wayne's historic properties will be used to illustrate each type of designation. Wednesday, April 26, 2017, 6:30PM, Discovery Center Preserving Your Digital Life - A Webinar with Krista White & Isaiah Beard Our stories as individuals and as members of a community are preserved in each of our homes, in our family histories, and in life stories. We record and keep these stories in digital formats, often on our smartphones. What steps can we take now to ensure these important files are available to future generations? This webinar is made available by the American Library Association, and will be followed by a question and answer period with Genealogy Center staff. Thursday, April 27, 2017, 9:00AM – Noon, Discovery Center and The Genealogy Center Family History Morning for Homeschoolers – Allison DePrey Singleton Many parents want their children to be interested in their families’ histories but fostering that interest may be a challenge. The Genealogy Center can engage parents and children alike with a “Family History Morning.” Enjoy a morning of exciting ideas, guided research, and time to explore the collection. Each child will receive a worksheet to complete that is tailored to his or her age, experience, and grade level. 9:00AM – 9:10AM, Arrival, Getting to the Discovery Center 9:10AM – 10:30AM, Beginning Genealogy Program: Online and Printed Sources 10:30AM – 10:40AM, Break 10:40AM – 11:50AM, Research on own with assistance from librarians when needed. 11:50AM – 12:00PM, Coolest Discoveries—Sharing and Prizes Friday, April 28, 2017, 2:30PM, Discovery Center Keeping Your Family History Safe - Danielle Creech & Tim Malott Representatives from the HF Group, specialists in book binding and preservation, will share how to make your own family history book as well as other methods available for preserving your family history. Saturday, April 29, 2017, 2:30PM, Discovery Center How Do I Do That? Preservation Panel Discussion - Panelists include: Melissa Tennant, Kay Spears and Kay Gregg Do you have a box of stuff? Do you have photographs, letters, diaries and you don’t know what to do with them? How does one preserve a photograph, a journal, a diary, etc.? How does one go about scanning? What are the recommended ways of preserving family memories? What tools are available on Apple or Windows computers which may be used for preserving family images, etc.? How do you label photos, letters and journals? How do you organize, number, label and store items? This is the time to ask your questions! Our panelists will be ready to answer these questions and more! To register for any of these free events, call 260-421-1225 or email Genealogy@ACPL.Info. Part of Preservation Week 2017 http://genealogycenter.org/docs/PreservationWeek2017

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In the Good Old Summertime!

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Sign-up for Genealogy Summer Camp at The Genealogy Center. There will be no mosquitoes, bad food or wood burning crafts--just expert counselors sharing ideas for family history exploration. The first activity will be on Saturday, May 20, 2017, at 10:00AM in Discovery Center when Melissa Tennant presents “Her and Me: Finding the Women of My Past.” Understanding the laws and situations that affected women helps us locate uncover our female ancestors who are hidden within records. Join Melissa Tennant and discover how to search records and locate your female ancestors. Other dates are: Saturday, June 24, 2017,10:00AM, Discovery Center Introduction to Historic Textile Preservation - Karen DePauw Saturday, July 29, 2017, 10:00 AM, Discovery Center Pity the Poor Orphan: Children’s Homes in America - Delia Cothrun Bourne Saturday, August 26, 2017, 10:00AM, Discovery Center A Grave Matter in Indiana - Jeannie Regan-Dinius Saturday, September 30, 2017, 10:00AM, Discovery Center What I Learned at the 2017 FGS Conference - Allison DePrey Singleton To register for any of these free events, call 260-421-1225 or email Genealogy@ACPL.Info. Part of Genealogy Summer Camp 2017. http://genealogycenter.org/docs/GenealogySummerCamp2017

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DNA and Genealogy Interest Group

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Have you done a DNA test for genealogical purposes? Do you completely understand the results you received? Do you need advice in interpreting your results? Are you interested and wonder what the best test is for you? Come to the DNA & Genealogy Interest Group Meeting on the 1st Thursday of the month from 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. to share and learn from each other! The next meeting is Thursday, April 6, 2017! Come in and share!

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Staying Informed about Genealogy Center Programming

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Do you want to know what we’ve got planned? Are you interested in one of our events, but forget? We are now offering email updates for The Genealogy Center’s programming schedule. Don’t miss out! Sign up at http://goo.gl/forms/THcV0wAabB.

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Area Calendar of Events

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Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana, Inc. (ACGSI) Monthly Program April 12, 2017 - Allen County Public Library, 900 Library Plaza, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Refreshments at 6:30 p.m., program at 7 p.m. Melissa Tennant will present “Naturalization Records of Our Ancestors.” ACGSI Genealogy Technology Group April 19, 2017 – Allen County Public Library, 900 Library Plaza, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 7 p.m. Mary Penrose Wayne DAR Chapter Library Help Day for Prospective Members April 5, 2017 - Allen County Public Library, The Genealogy Center, 900 Library Plaza, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 10 - 4 p.m. The George R. Mather Lecture Series April 2, 2017 – The History Center, 302 East Berry Street, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 2 p.m. Diane Groenert will present, “Birthing a Book; From Sketching to Self-Publishing.” Book signing after presentation.

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Driving Directions to the Library

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Wondering how to get to the library? Our location is 900 Library Plaza, Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the block bordered on the south by Washington Boulevard, the west by Ewing Street, the north by Wayne Street, and the east by the Library Plaza, formerly Webster Street. We would enjoy having you visit the Genealogy Center. To get directions from your exact location to 900 Library Plaza, Fort Wayne, Indiana, visit this link at MapQuest: http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=address&addtohistory=&address=900%20Web ster%20St&city=Fort%20Wayne&state=IN&zipcode=46802%2d3602&country=US&geodiff=1 >From the South Exit Interstate 69 at exit 302. Drive east on Jefferson Boulevard into downtown. Turn left on Ewing Street. The Library is one block north, at Ewing Street and Washington Boulevard. Using US 27: US 27 turns into Lafayette Street. Drive north into downtown. Turn left at Washington Boulevard and go five blocks. The Library will be on the right. >From the North Exit Interstate 69 at exit 312. Drive south on Coldwater Road, which merges into Clinton Street. Continue south on Clinton to Washington Boulevard. Turn right on Washington and go three blocks. The Library will be on the right. >From the West Using US 30: Drive into town on US 30. US 30 turns into Goshen Ave. which dead-ends at West State Blvd. Make an angled left turn onto West State Blvd. Turn right on Wells Street. Go south on Wells to Wayne Street. Turn left on Wayne Street. The Library will be in the second block on the right. Using US 24: After crossing under Interstate 69, follow the same directions as from the South. >From the East Follow US 30/then 930 into and through New Haven, under an overpass into downtown Fort Wayne. You will be on Washington Blvd. when you get into downtown. Library Plaza will be on the right.

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Parking at the Library

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At the Library, underground parking can be accessed from Wayne Street. Other library parking lots are at Washington and Webster, and Wayne and Webster. Hourly parking is $1 per hour with a $7 maximum. ACPL library card holders may use their cards to validate the parking ticket at the west end of the Great Hall of the Library. Out of county residents may purchase a subscription card with proof of identification and residence. The current fee for an Individual Subscription Card is $70. Public lots are located at the corner of Ewing and Wayne Streets ($1 each for the first two half-hours, $1 per hour after, with a $4 per day maximum) and the corner of Jefferson Boulevard and Harrison Street ($3 per day). Street (metered) parking on Ewing and Wayne Streets. On the street you plug the meters 8am – 5pm, weekdays only. It is free to park on the street after 5pm and on the weekends. Visitor center/Grand Wayne Center garage at Washington and Clinton Streets. This is the Hilton Hotel parking lot that also serves as a day parking garage. For hourly parking, 7am – 11 pm, charges are .50 for the first 45 minutes, then $1.00 per hour. There is a flat $2.00 fee between 5pm and 11pm.

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Genealogy Center Queries

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The Genealogy Center hopes you find this newsletter interesting. Thank you for subscribing. We cannot, however, answer personal research emails written to the e-zine address. The department houses a Research Center that makes photocopies and conducts research for a fee. If you have a general question about our collection, or are interested in the Research Center, please telephone the library and speak to a librarian who will be glad to answer your general questions or send you a research center form. Our telephone number is 260-421-1225. If you’d like to email a general information question about the department, please email: Genealogy@ACPL.Info.

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Publishing Note

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This electronic newsletter is published by the Allen County Public Library's Genealogy Center, and is intended to enlighten readers about genealogical research methods as well as inform them about the vast resources of the Allen County Public Library. We welcome the wide distribution of this newsletter and encourage readers to forward it to their friends and societies. All precautions have been made to avoid errors. However, the publisher does not assume any liability to any party for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions, no matter the cause. To subscribe to “Genealogy Gems,” simply use your browser to go to the website: www.GenealogyCenter.org. Scroll to the bottom, click on E-zine, and fill out the form. You will be notified with a confirmation email. If you do not want to receive this e-zine, please follow the link at the very bottom of the issue of Genealogy Gems you just received or send an email to kspears@acpl.lib.in.us with "unsubscribe e-zine" in the subject line. Curt B. Witcher and John D. Beatty, CG, co-editors