Using Military and Pension Records to Research your Civil War-Era Ancestor.  This one-hour illustrated lecture will describe how to find and use compiled military service records and pension records for your family history research.

Using Homestead Records and Other Public Land Records for Family Research.  Free land for qualifying Homesteaders transformed the Upper Midwest in the 1860s and 1870s. Learn how to find your family in federal land records.

This 2-class program, beginning at 10:00 a.m. is $28 for MGS and MHS members and $32 for non-members. Register online on the Events page of the MHS website: http://events.mnhs.org/calendar/Results.cfm?EventID=5165&CFID=17052671&CFTOKEN=41546575.

The instructor for these classes in J. H. “Jay” Fonkert, CG, a nationally recognized genealogical writer and educator and former president of MGS.

The first lecture gives you a tour of the federal census from 1790 to 1930, tells you where to find copies, and shows you how to get the most out of the population schedules. It also gives you a taste of less well-known census resources, including the U.S. agricultural, manufacturing, and other non-population schedules, Indian censuses, special censuses, and state censuses.

The second lecture familiarizes you with the newly released, unindexed 1940 census. Learn what’s in it and how to locate your ancestors using enumeration district maps and descriptions, and One-Step Tools from Stephen Morse.  You’ll even get a taste of indexing!

Cost: $28 for MGS/MHS members/$32 for non-members.
Register at www.mnhs.org. Go to Calendar and click the class date.

Instructor Bergetta F. Monroe says, “You’ve spent years gathering facts and stories about your ancestors. One way to share it all with your extended family is to publish an attractive and readable family history book.” In these classes, you’ll get tips about how to organize the stories of multiple branches of your family, how to insert photos, and how to choose between publishing options: hard copy, e-book, print-on-demand, or all of the above. You’ll also learn about indexes, tables of contents, chapters, page numbering, ISBN and Library of Congress numbers, and much more.

Cost: $50 for MGS members/$75 for non-members.
Click here to register.

The conference, co-sponsored by MGS, the Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International, the Germanic Genealogy Society, the Polish Genealogical Society of Minnesota, the Pommern Regional Group of Minnesota, and The Romanian Genealogy Society, takes place April 27 and 28 at Inver Hills Community College in Inver Grove Heights. The featured speaker is John Philip Colletta, Ph.D., author of They Came in Ships.

The conference starts at 6 p.m. Friday with a dessert social, followed by a lecture by John Philip Colletta “Discovering the Real Stories of Your Immigrant Ancestors.” This lecture features case studies on German, French-German, and Irish immigrants.

Saturday, the conference continues all day, with two more lectures from John Colletta–”U.S. Passenger Arrival Records, 1820-1930s: Sources and Strategies for Challenging Cases” and “The County Courthouse: Your ‘Trunk in the Attic.’” Three rounds of breakout sessions in five tracks, fifteen sessions in all, feature German/Pommern, Czech/Slovak, Polish, Romanian, and general interest topics, including two sessions on DNA and one on maps and gazetteers. There will be door prizes, a silent auction, and lots of exhibit tables.

Cost for the Friday dessert social and lecture is $20.
Cost for the Saturday conference only is $50 through April 14.
Cost for Friday AND Saturday, combined, is $60 through April 14.
Don’t wait any longer, click here to register now before prices go up!

In this five-session course (March 17, 24, 31, and April 14 and 21) you will learn five steps for beginning (and continuing) your family history research. You can take course sessions individually or all together. If you take all five sessions, you can complete a research project with the guidance of the instructors during the Easter break.
 Christine Rose’s Complete Idiot’s Guide to Genealogy (second edition) is the textbook for the course. You can purchase a copy for $12.89 when you register for classes.

Saturday’s session focuses on step 1 of the five steps: “Write Down and Organize What You Know” In this class you can learn to recognize and gather information from personal knowledge, family members, and genealogical sources you find at home. You will also learn how to organize information about families in family group sheets and pedigree charts, and review effective ways to organize paper and electronic files.

Cost: $12 per session for MGS members and non-members, $70 for the course.
 Click here to register.

Instructor Jay Fonkert will demonstrate how to search for your ancestors in online newspaper indexes and illustrate the kinds of stories you can find. “Beyond Obituaries: Finding Family History in Newspapers” will meet at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, March 17 at the MGS Library and Research Center. Register at www.mngs.org.

The Beginning Genealogy discussion group and the MGS Writing Group will meet at 6:30, followed by the Research Study Group at 7:45. Beginning Genealogy is an open discussion topic. The RSG will discuss ways of breaking down troublesome brick walls. This is a great chance to learn from your fellow genealogy enthusiasts.

Photo courtesy of Bob Bina, Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International

The Central and Eastern European Genealogy Conference, scheduled for April 27 and 28, will take place on the beautiful, easy-to-reach-campus of Inver Hills Community College, in the Fine Arts Building. 

IHCC Fine Arts Building. Photo courtesy of Bob Bina, Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International

The conference planners have reserved the 300-seat theater for plenary sessions, the foyer for vendors and exhibitors, and five classrooms for breakout sessions. Free access to wireless Internet is available throughout the campus, and the organizers have tested the seats for comfort.

Parking is ample, free, and right outside the door of the Fine Arts building. Speaking of access, the IHCC campus is easy to find from Highway 52. Driving distances: 20 minutes from St. Paul, 30-35 minutes from Minneapolis, Eden Prairie, or White Bear Lake; 40 minutes from Plymouth and Brooklyn Park; 1 hour 15 minutes from Rochester; 1 hour 40 minutes from St. Cloud. If you’re coming from farther away, the conference organizers have compiled a list of hotels close to campus, available at www.mngs.org.

Friday evening’s dessert social and lecture features non-alcoholic beverages and treats and Saturday’s conference will provide lunch and snacks. All food and beverages are included in the conference admission price. If you’re still hungry, the Fine Arts building has plenty of vending machines.

The conference is co-sponsored by the Minnesota Genealogical Society, the Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International, the Germanic Genealogy Society, the Polish Genealogical Society of Minnesota, the Pommern Regional Group of Minnesota, and the Romanian Genealogy Society.

Registration is open now–click here to register.

Then you need to come to Tom Rice’s March 3 class on  Zotero! You can add Zotero to your portfolio of genealogy tools either as a free-Firefox add-on or as a free standalone program. Zotero allows you to highlight or annotate portions of text you capture from web pages, and also to capture and manage the source citatons for those pages. Tom will show you how to use Zotero to make your genealogy research more efficient on the Internet.

You may want to download and install a free copy of Zotero before the class from http://www.zotero.org so you can follow along during class.

Cost: $25 for MGS members/$30 for non-members
Click here to register.