The Augusta Genealogical Society will host a virtual symposium later this month featuring two nationally known speakers.
The event is scheduled for August 27, from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m., via Zoom. Lisa Louise Cooke, an author who produces the popular Genealogy Gems podcast, will be speaking on the 1950 U.S. census. Her talk will help folks better understand the status of the census indexing and how to find their people therein. Check out Cooke’s website at Lisalouisecooke.com. The second speaker is Diahan Southard, a DNA expert who lectures all over the nation and has published “Your DNA Guide — the Book.” She will be giving three lectures: “DNA Questions Answered,” “Using Y-DNA and mtDNA in Your Family History” and “Connecting DNA Matches.” I have heard her many times at national conferences. She is a very down to earth lecturer and easy to understand.
The registration fee is $35 for Augusta Genealogical Society members and $45 for nonmembers, payable at augustagensociety.org by August 26. If you want to watch at the AGS’s Adamson Library, in Augusta, you may reserve a seat at 706-722-4073. This symposium is a great chance to hear some important lecturers. So, if you can, take advantage of it.
Cemetery research
In researching cemetery data, don’t just rely on Find a Grave, Billion Graves, or similar sites. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, check for a published cemetery book on that city and county, a county history, or unpublished transcriptions at a local historical society, college archives or state archives. Many earlier researchers recorded tombstones that now may be lost or covered up. Check the USGENWEB sites to see what is there. Don’t forget about Franklin Garrett’s Necrology for metro Atlanta.
Free genealogy information
If you want to get free genealogy tips — on new websites, new publications, or other items —sign up (for free) to Eastman’s Online newsletter (eogn.com), the Genealogical Publishing Company’s email with essays on books and research (genealogical.com), and Lisa Louise Cooke’s site, above, as all are very informative.
Contact Kenneth H. Thomas Jr., P. O. Box 901, Decatur, Ga. 30031, or kenthomasongenealogy.com.
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