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Bucks County
Genealogical Society
November 2015 Newsletter
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PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
To all BCGS Members and Friends:
First, I'd like to extend to all of you my very sincere best wishes for the holiday season! I hope you all have the opportunity to visit with family. If you can spend time with the older generations, make sure you go prepared to ask them all the important family history questions!
At our Society's Annual Meeting held on November 7th, the members elected Mary Butash as the next President of BCGS. Mary is the current Secretary and has been on the BCGS Board since 2012. She will officially take on the President's duties beginning January 1, 2016.
And a very warm welcome to Marilyn Cook, who was elected to the Board to take Mary's place as Secretary! Marilyn is a Charter Member of BCGS and has been a dedicated volunteer in numerous areas.
Naturally, I have mixed feelings about stepping down as President. But, when I look back almost 5 years ago to the time when I was looking to get involved with my local society, I feel satisfied that I accomplished what I set out to do, and it's exactly the right time to move on. Thanks to our energetic and talented Board and many other members, Bucks County now has an active, vibrant Society offering a variety of educational programs, opportunities to volunteer, a free on-line database of more than 300,000 records, and a place to make new genea-friends!
We hope you will join us at our December meeting, when we will have the pleasure of hosting Judy Russell, The Legal Genealogist, who will speak on DNA testing. See you then!
Warm Regards,
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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5
, 2015
1
0:00 AM-12:00 PM
at the David Library of the American Revolution, 1201 River Rd., Washington Crossing, PA
(Park behind the building and use the Conference Center entrance.)
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Beyond X and Y:
The Promises and Pitfalls of Autosomal Testing
presented by Judy Russell, CG, CGL
Autosomal DNA testing is the new kid on the block. Learn more about this exciting addition to the toolkit of 21st century genealogists.
What's in it for you, and how can you make the most of this test?
About the speaker: Judy Russell is a
Certified Genealogist and Certified Genealogical Lecturer with a law degree, The Legal Genealogist Judy G. Russell is a lecturer, educator and writer who enjoys helping others understand a wide variety of genealogical issues, including the interplay between genealogy and the law.
The meeting is open to the public. Reservations are not required.
Cost for members is $5 and for non-members it is $10.
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WHO GIVES A SPIT?
by Cathy Ivins
In our July 2015 Newsletter I wrote an article entitled "Get a G.R.I.P. on
Genetic Genealogy" after attending a wonderful course in using DNA for genealogy. If you missed it, I encourage you to visit our website to view the article (click here). It has some basic information and resources on DNA which may be helpful to read, especially in preparation for Judy Russell's presentation in December!
There are just a few important updates in this ever-growing field since my article. First, the Autosomal DNA testing by 23AndMe has recently doubled in price ($199) and is unable to transfer to other databases, however, now includes medical information approved by the FDA. Second, AncestryDNA has recently expanded its tools to include a "shared ancestor" filter which lists your matches by a common ancestor. If you know how you match any of them, you would then know who else you match within the same ancestral line. They also just this week started to include the amount of shared centimorgans for each match, if you click the information circle (i) next to the confidence level.
Several BCGS members have picked my brain recently and asked my DNA preferences. Of course the best bet is to fish in all ponds depending on what you are able to spend! But the best bang for your buck right now for autosomal DNA for genealogy is AncestryDNA.
I personally used AncestryDNA for myself and family members, for several reasons. First of all we all have trees on Ancestry.com to link our results to, and Ancestry.com has so many trees available to compare your matches with. At its regular price of $99, it is quite affordable, although it does go on sale for $69, $79, and even $49. You have to keep alert for these sales! They begin and end quickly! (I do post this information on our Facebook page). After taking advantage of these sales and linking my matches on Ancestry.com, I then downloaded raw DNA and transfered it to FamilyTreeDNA's database for just $39 more, and to GedMatch.com for free. This tripled my chances of finding cousins and, as I mentioned in my July article, led to my happy dance!
Recommended links for more information:
With the holidays approaching, keep in mind what a great gift a DNA kit would make for a loved one, while also helping you with your research! Be sure to attend our December program on DNA with Judy Russell, or download her handout (free for members!). Of course I am available at any meeting or via email to discuss DNA with you:
[email protected][email protected]. Thanks to all who gave a spit!
For holiday gift ideas for genealogists, be sure to check out
50 Gifts for Genealogists by Diane Boumenot (One Rhode Island Family):
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HELP! Folks aren't signing up to bring coffee and refreshments to our monthly meetings. Can you help for the December meeting?
Bring coffee from Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts (you will be reimbursed at the meeting) or supply a snack...cookies, small muffins, donut holes, etc. (your meeting fee will be discounted).
Easy job instructions: Pick up three containers of coffee at Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts and bring them to the meeting by 9:30 AM. Both places supply the cups, stirrers, sugar and cream. You will reimbursed by the BCGS treasurer at the meeting. We also need one person to bring a snack. 
Also, if you are a member and bring refreshments to a meeting, the meeting fee is waived. If you are a non-member and bring refreshments,
the meeting fee is reduced from $10 to $5.
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25,000 new names added to the database from the Springtown Weekly Times and other sources!
Marriages, deaths and miscellaneous notices from the Springtown Weekly Times, 1902-1918 were added to the database on 11/12/15.
On 11/17/15, we added over 11,000 names from the burial list of Bristol Cemetery, over 1,600 baptisms, confirmations, marriages and deaths from Our Parish Record 1881-1886, and over 500 names from the East Swamp Mennonite Cemetery. The database now contains:
25,795 birth and baptism records
18,604 marriage records
101,970 death and burial records
38,130 other miscellaneous records
320,630 total searchable names
Your feedback is welcome! Please email Nancy Heath at
[email protected] with your comments.
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ELECTION RESULTS
As specified in the BCGS bylaws, election of officers and directors was held at the November meeting. Officers and directors for 2016 are:
Joann Cosgrove - Vice President of Projects & Research
Jeff Sipler
- Vice President of Programs and Education
Pat Gessner - Vice President of Membership
Marilyn Cook - Secretary
Marguerite Mogila - Treasurer
Cathy Ivins - Director - Publicity
 Nancy Heath - Director -Website
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MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE
It is a pleasure to announce that Peg Felter has volunteered to take over the BCGS membership records, which requires lots of attention to detail and includes welcoming new members, acknowledging renewals, and sending renewal reminders. The BCGS board has given Peg the title of Assistant VP - Membership, and most of the emails you receive will be from her. Peg's email address is
[email protected]
I will continue to prepare the monthly newsletters and meeting reminders. Since many of you are opening the newsletter on mobile devices, I'll will be looking for a more mobile responsive template for the 2016 newsletter. My new email address is [email protected].
Pat Gessner, VP-Membership
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Y-DNA HELP NEEDED!
Does anyone have experience interpreting Y-DNA results or have a suggestion for a website that might be helpful?
If yes, please contact Tom Cockley at
[email protected]
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BEGINNERS CORNER
Take a look at
www.youtube.com
for helpful videos. Type "genealogy for beginners" in the search box and then choose a video!
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RESEARCH TIP
Have you been stymied in locating an exact birthplace for persons born before vital records were recorded by the states? The federal census records give a state or country, but not a town or county. There were tens of thousands of men who served in the United States Army between 1798 and 1914. Their enlistment record usually includes a county or town location for the birth.
Check this link to find a birthplace for your ancestor in Family Search:
This research tip is from genealogist George Ott in the Ancestry.com November email update.
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COMPREHENSIVE EVENTS CALENDAR
Click the link for a listing of upcoming genealogy events for our organization and others in our area:
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Have you looked at our Facebook page?
Cathy Ivins, BCGS Director of Publicity, posts great genealogy information almost every day. Click here and take a look...
www.facebook.com/bucksgen
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Member Comments:
"Thank you BCGS for all your Facebook postings that keep me up to date. It is worth more than the membership fee."
- Jenkintown, PA
"Thanks for the great job you do with the organization." - Oceanside, NY
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Membership Fees for One Year Membership
Individual: $20 Dual/Household: $35
Organization: $75
Our membership fees help to pay for speakers, facility rental, website costs, insurance and more. Membership in BCGS is on a rolling basis and lasts one year from the month you join. Won't you join and help us continue to grow?
See this list of the Member Benefits - with more to come:
- Discount on Society educational programs and events.
- Members can have their surnames posted on our website with a link to the member's email address.
- Members-only section of the BCGS website. Participate in discussion forums, share files, photos, and information with other members; see members' favorite genealogical websites and contribute your own.
- Meeting handouts are available to members unable to attend the Society's regular monthly meetings.
- Free scanning of documents is available by appointment.
- GenealogyBank: 20% ($14) discount - members may subscribe for $55.95 per year.
- Fold3: 37% ($30) discount - members may subscribe for $49.95 per year.
- Saving Memories Forever: 12% discount - members may receive a one-year premium subscription for $35.00.
- FindMyPast: 50% discount on annual membership
- Dell purchase program: provides discounts on products sold through the Dell website to FGS member societies' members, their families, and their friends. BCGS is a member of FGS (Federation of Genealogical Societies) and the discounts are available to our members.
Join or renew by mail using our
membership application/renewal form
, on line on the Society's website via PayPal or by paying with cash or check at our next meeting. And, we now have the ability to accept credit card payments at our monthly meetings!
If you have questions and to get access to the above discounts,
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More information about us:
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