The National Genealogical Society’s annual Family History Conference drew 2,200 attendees last month in St. Charles, Missouri, just outside St. Louis.
NGS presented awards to the Genealogical Research Institute of Virginia newsletter (grivagenealogy.wordpress.com) and to the Irish Family History Forum, based in Plainview, N.Y., for its newsletter (www.ifhf.org).
The society announced a new email newsletter for members, NGS Monthly, which is full of news and updates. The National Intelligencer, 1800-1850, published in Washington, also is available online for members, along with back issues of the quarterly and other sources.
They also have four new state research booklets covering California, Missouri (updated), Nebraska and Oklahoma.
The 2016 meeting will be held May 4-7 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and the 2017 conference will be May 10-13 in Raleigh, N.C.
Check ngsgenealogy.org for information on the society's offerings.
Recordings of the 140 conference lectures can be purchased at jamb-inc.com, for $12 per session. The NGS book collection was transferred to the St. Louis County Public Library and is available on interlibrary loan at slcl.org.
Missouri research
Missouri Digital Heritage is where Missouri books and records are being digitized and placed online, similar to the Georgia Archives’ Virtual Vault.
Included are 115 county histories published before 1923, at least one for every county; newspapers; and materials from their state archives databases, including death certificates from 1910 to 1964. Check missouridigitalheritage.com.
The Missouri State Archives is located in Jefferson City, the state capital, and is online at sos.mo.gov/archives.
The best source for Missouri newspapers is the State Historical Society of Missouri in Columbia at shs.umsystem.edu/index.shtml, not to be confused with the Missouri Historical Society in St. Louis, which runs the Missouri Museum of History and a research center and library at a separate location (check mohistory.org and then look under "research").
Immigration research tips
In searching an immigrant’s name, note that you can run into: Italians using a woman’s maiden name; Germans using a farm name; surnames with a patronymic ending; the reversal of first and last names due to confusion; and names, both first and last, that might have been Anglicized at the port of entry.
