The McDonough County History and Families Book have arrived. They may be picked up on Tuesday from 1:00pm – 3:30 pm and on Fridays and Saturdays from 10:00 am – 3:30 pm at the Genealogical Center, 201 S. Lafayette St., Macomb, IL. For those that have elected they be mailed, they will ship directly from the publisher on the 18th and will take approximately 7-10 by USPS.

The book is available for sale at $69.95 (cash or check). However limited copies are available. Stop by the Genealogy Center (inside the Western Illinois Museum) during regular Center hours to purchase.

We are thrilled with this new book and anxious for you to get them. Thank you for your support.

From our August General Meeting Topic:

TRANSCRIBING HISTORY

by Julie Terstriep

(Terstriep@yahoo.com)

Would you like to volunteer to transcribe old documents?  Here are a few places looking for your expertise.

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum – ChroniclingIllinois.org

Smithsonian Institute    https://transcription.si.edu/

The National Archives  https://www.archives.gov/citizen-archivist/registerandgetstarted

University of Minnesota – Civil War documents https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/zooniverse/decoding-the-civil-war    (Phase 2 to begin soon)

University of Iowa http://diyhistory.lib.uiowa.edu/index.php  (Over 87,000 pages transcribed!)

Learning to read the handwriting:

Reading German Suetterlin handwriting – http://www.suetterlinschrift.de/Englisch/Sutterlin.htm

How to read Palmer Method Spencerian Script – free book on National Archives site: https://archive.org/details/cu31924029485467

Help with abbreviations: http://amberskyline.com/treasuremaps/oldhand.html

Facebook groups :

Deciphering Genealogy Script

Genealogy Translations  – Group who will translate documents from one language to another.

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TRANSCRIBING GUIDE

From Find My Past blog (https://blog.findmypast.com/tips-for-2063791571.html

1. Analyze the record before you begin reading the handwriting
2. Move slowly, very slowly
3. Read for content first
4. Conduct a letter by letter read and create a “key”
5. Conduct a word by word read
6. Read aloud
7. Trace the handwriting
8. Cross your t’s and dot your I’s
9. The letter “s”
10. “Th” and “y” and “y” and “t”

One common abbreviation in the past was to abbreviate “th” with a character that closely resembles the letter “y.” So, if you encounter a document that looks like “ye” that could mean “the.” You might also see the “e” written as a superscript because it wasn’t uncommon for the abbreviations to be written as the main letter with the rest superscripted with or without a line underneath.

You may also see “yt,” which is an abbreviation for that. “Y” is the abbreviation for “th” followed by a “t” would be “tht” or “that.”

11. Take a rest.

Monday, August  20, 2018

The August General Meeting of the McDonough County Genealogical Society was brought to order at 7 pm at the Western Illinois Museum.

The speaker for the evening was Julie Terstriep, who spoke about “Transcribing History” and shared how she transcribes old documents for the National Archives, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, University of Minnesota and University of Iowa.  She shared some interesting stories she discovered while transcribing including finding her 7 times great uncle’s Revolutionary War Pension records.  She  shared how others can also transcribe these documents.

The general meeting was called to order.

There was no Secretary’s report from the previous general meeting as he held an ice cream social rather than a meeting.

Marla gave the financial report.   We have $6463.84 in our checking account; $69,914.02 in total assets. A lockable cabinet was purchased during the month.  It holds old reports, original documents and extra copies of valuable books. New windows, previously paid for from Pella, have been installed in the Library.  Patrons commented on how much more quiet the library was.

Roger Frowein, Vice President, said he is looking for more topics for upcoming meetings.

Lin Stults reported we have 224 members, 27 of whom have not renewed.  Last notice renewal emails went out within the past two weeks.

Sat, Sept. 8 was set as a volunteer training date for those who are willing to help hand out the History Books.  (Allen reports these will be delivered, Tuesday, Sept. 11 @ 4:00 p.m.)

Julie shared information regarding scanning and reprinting of the 1992 History Book and the Church book authored by the MCGS.

Meeting adjourned.

Our Genealogy Center will be closed Sep 1 2018 for the Labor Day Weekend.

We would like to announce that we are now a Family Search Affiliate Library.  Recently the main Family Search library in Salt Lake City discontinued its practice of sending out microfilm to focus on digitizing their entire collection.  However, due to copyright constraints, they are not allowed to make every document available online.  As an Affiliate Library you may now access these restricted resources at our center through our computers.  You may also access them on your own device while using our wi-fi connection.

The Western Illinois Museum is undergoing remodeling which is including new, energy efficient windows.  We are trying to remain open during the construction but some hours may be limited due to work in the area.

We are excited to get the new Pella windows.  Those of you who have done winter research with us will certainly not miss the cold drafts when working at our computers.

We are giving away a copy of Family Tree Maker!

Family Tree Maker is one of the premier software packages for your genealogy research.  See more information at Family Tree Maker

Register to win by stopping by our center during regular hours and fill out an entry blank.  We will be drawing the winner at our Ice Cream Social on July 16.

Good Luck!

GeneaQuest 2018

Family History Fanatics Summer E-Conference

A Summer of DNA eConference

August 4, 2018

https://www.familyhistoryfanatics.com/summerdna

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St Louis Genealogical Society

Summer 2018 Speaker Series

Making Sense of DNA

Saturday, 28 July 2018

Orlando Gardens, 2050 Dorsett Road, Maryland Heights, MO 63043

8:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m.

Featured Speaker — Diahan Southard

https://stlgs.org/events/speaker-series

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Missouri State Genealogical Association

2018 Conference, Columbia Missouri

Aug 10 – 11 2018

Featured Speaker:

Amy Johnson Crow, CG

https://mosga.org/cpage.php?pt=30

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The Genealogy Society of Southern Illinois and John A. Logan College

 Saturday, August 11, 2018
8:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M.

Ray Hancock Conference Center
John A. Logan College
Route 13 & Greenbriar Road, Carterville, IL

Feature Speaker:

The Legal Genealogist
Judy G. Russell

http://ilgssi.org/conference/

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FGS 2018 National Conference

FGS returns to the Hoosier State in 2018 providing attendees convenient access to Allen County Public Library which houses one of the largest genealogical research collections available with records from around the world.

August 22-25, Fort Wayne IN

https://www.fgsconference.org/fgs2018/

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Illinois State Genealogical Society

Celebrating Our Ancestors

2018 Fall Conference | October 26 & 27, 2018

President Abraham Lincoln Springfield – a Doubletree Hotel by Hilton

https://ilgensoc.org/cpage.php?pt=546

Acclaim Press Publishing has just informed the Society that the History Book is now targeted for the end of August. Postcards will be mailed to everyone that purchased a book, giving everyone one last chance to order an additional copy at the pre-sale price of $59.95 and letting them know that early September  is the new target date.

The Family History section will be shipped to the Society this week for final proofing. With indexes, custom embossing of books and the history section is in layout now along with the Clubs, Organizations, Churches and Business section. It has been a long process but the proofs are looking fantastic! While we were hoping for a finished product at the end of this month, the reality is really the end of August, beginning of September.