|
|
 Bucks County
Genealogical Society
June 2014 Newsletter
|
|
|
|
|
2014 MEETING DATES
July- no meeting
August 2
September 6
October 4
November 1
December 6 |
|
|
|
 PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Greetings to all BCGS Members and Friends, We have several pieces of exciting news this month!
First, a year and a half since we applied, we finally received approval of our application for 501c3 status! Yes, we are now officially a tax exempt entity in the eyes of the IRS. Thanks to Dennis Gries, the Society's Director of Tax Matters, for preparing the application and seeing it through to a successful conclusion! Now what? Well, we are already benefiting from a reduced rate for our electronic newsletter, and we hope to see an increase in donations in the future, since they are now tax deductible for the donor. Please visit the "Contact Us" page on the website to make a tax deductible donation.
We are also very pleased to welcome the Bucks County Historical Society as a new institutional member. As you all know, the BCHS is the hub for genealogical resources in Bucks County, and their support of our new organization is very meaningful to us and much appreciated.
AND - our membership crested the 200 mark this month, with 217 members today, and 525 on the mailing list!
More good news is that we now have 80+ cemeteries assessed and on our website, representing about one-third of the cemeteries in Bucks County. Big thanks go to Joann Cosgrove, VP Projects, for jump-starting this project, and to Peg Felter for all the data entry. And of course, thanks to the many volunteers who have completed the Cemetery Assessment Project forms to help other researchers find their families.
There is no monthly meeting in July, so enjoy the summer, enjoy your research trips, and we'll see you on August 2nd when yours truly will be speaking on strategies for breaking down your research brick walls. Warm Regards, Christine Roberts
|
|
THERE IS NO MEETING IN JULY
OUR NEXT MEETING IS
SATURDAY, AUGUST 2, 2014
10:00 AM to 12:00 PM
at the David Library of the American Revolution
1201 River Road, Washington Crossing, PA
(Park behind the building and use the Conference Center entrance.)____________________________ HAVE YOU HIT A BRICK WALL WITH YOUR RESEARCH? Not sure what to do next? Come and hear Christine Roberts present "Cold Case: Blasting Brick Walls" for strategies to climb over, dig under, and blast right through those barriers in our research. _______ The meeting is open to the public. Cost for members is $5 and for non-members it is $10.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SAVE THE DATE
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2014
The Eighth Annual Bucks County Ancestry Fair will be held at the
Bucks County Visitor Center, 3207 Street Road, Bensalem, PA.
This year the event will be sponsored by the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania and the Bucks County Genealogical Society.
More information in future BCGS newsletters.
|
HELP WANTED!!
 Photos, we need photos, we need lots and lots of photo s! We need photos of Bucks County cemeteries to complete our Cemetery Assessment Project. Stop by our website and choose a cemetery near you and send us your photos.
Email them to me at [email protected].
Joann Cosgrove, VP - Projects
|
DATABASE NEWS!
Our BCGS searchable database continues to grow! The most recent additions include obituaries from the Quakertown Free Press (1881-1932), marriages and obituaries from the Hatboro Public Spirit (1911-1915), and obituaries from the Doylestown Democrat (1911). The next group of records to be added will be newspaper notcies from the Springtown Weekly Times (1885-1918). We will also begin to add donated cemetery transcriptions, which will be searchable from the database as well as from our cemetery pages. Searchers can now add comments to any record in the database, and anyone viewing that record will see those comments. So if you have information on an ancestor that conflicts with or expands on what the record shows, you can share that information with others searching for the same person. (Adding comments is limited to logged-in members only, for security reasons, but like the search itself, viewing the comments is available to all visitors to www.bucksgen.org.) As of June 19, 2014 the BCGS database contains: - 19,229 birth and baptism records
- 51,357 death and burial records
- 179,388 total searchable names
To begin your search, go to www.bucksgen.org and click on "Search the BCGS Database." Your feedback is welcome! Please email Nancy Heath at [email protected]g with your comments.
|
|
WE HAVE A NEW MEMBERSHIP CATEGORY!
After receiving inquiries about a business or corporate membership, BCGS has established an Organization membership category with a yearly fee of $75. The membership would be in the name of the organization or business and would allow up to ten (10) named employees to receive our emails. The named employees would also be able to attend the BCGS monthly meetings at the member rate of $5.00 per person. If your organization or business is interested in joining, please contact Pat Gessner at [email protected]
|
AARP 30% Discount for Ancestry.com
AARP members can get a 30% discount on Ancestry.com World Explorer until March 2015. The World Explorer category allows access to all U.S. and some international records on Ancestry.com. The usual rate for a six-month membership is $149; the discounted rate is $104.
If you are a member of AARP, call Ancestry.com closer to the expiration date of your Ancestry.com subscription. Ancestry.com will verify your AARP number and then give the discounted rate.
I found this discount information in a small article in the AARP magazine but couldn't find additional information on Ancestry.com or AARP.com; I called Ancestry.com (1-800-262-3787). Mary Butash, BCGS Secretary, also called and found that World Explorer does not have Eastern European records. So be sure to check that records for the country you are researching are among the records that are offered. Pat Gessner, BCGS VP-Membership
|
|
Looking for a speaker?
The Society's President, Christine Roberts, has developed a presentation called "Who Are My Peeps: Six Easy Steps to Starting Your Family History Research". The presentation is targeted toward beginners looking for guidance on how to begin their genealogy research, and includes examples from Chris' own research to make it come alive. Chris hopes to present "Who Are My Peeps?" to various organizations to forward the Society's mission of educating the public about genealogy, and to spread the word about our Society.
There is no charge for the presentation, but donations to BCGS are welcome.
If you know of an organization which might be interested in this presentation, please contact Chris at [email protected]
|
TECH TIP
Don't have a family tree template and want to put together something nice to send to a relative? If you have Microsoft Office 2013, check out the family tree templates. Excel has 4 templates; Word has 6; PowerPoint has 26! If you have older versions of Microsoft Office, do a search in Excel or Word help for family tree templates, and you will be given several choices.
|
BEGINNER TECH TIPS We want to pass along some tips for those who are beginners in genealogy research - and maybe for the rest of us too!
______________________________
Scroll down the page to find the 5 Minute Genealogy Episodes and plan to come to the Bucks County Genealogical Society's meetings for more help in your research!______________________________
|
COMPREHENSIVE EVENTS CALENDAR
 Click the link for a listing of upcoming genealogy events for our organization and others in our area:
|
|
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
|
COMMENT CORNER
"I'm so glad I found this group, and I'm having fun..."
- Yardley, PA
"I found my great-grandfather's obituary on the BCGS searchable database!" -Doylestown, PA
|
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?
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.
- 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.
- 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, please contact: [email protected]
|
|
More information about us:
|
|
|