The German Interest Group of the Eastside Genealogical Society

When: Friday, December 1, 2023 from 12:30 to 2:30 pm PT

Zoom Registration required:  https://tinyurl.com/ktbcsaww          

Topic: “German Advent, Christmas and New Year’s Traditions and Superstitions”

The speaker will share stories about German Advent, Christmas and New Year’s traditions for the period from December 1^st to Epiphany, with superstitions thrown in.

Presenter:  Ingeborg Carpenter

Ingeborg was born in Frankfurt, Germany, raised in Westphalia, and immigrated to America in 1972.  She is very active in genealogy and is currently the President of the Sacramento German Genealogy Society and of the International German Genealogy Partnership. 

More information: Visitors are always welcome. Our website is https://egsgermangroup.wordpress.com/    

We do tend to head straight to the “big” libraries in the big cities and so easily overlook what the smaller town libraries might have for us. Case in point, the Appleton, Wisconsin, Public Library in Appleton, Wisconsin, located northeast of Madison, the state capitol. 

This town of about 75,000 citizens, has just opened a brand new library…. doesn’t it look both grand and enticing????

Why should you care about the Appleton Wisconsin Public Library? Because they offer free genealogy resource/research monthly programs via ZOOM, that’s why. 

Their program quickly upcoming on Saturday, November 18, 2023, at 2:00 Central Time is titled “Researching German Ancestry”. Link to register is: https://bit.ly/3Xx1XHK (or likely from their website….. if you don’t register, you won’t get the ZOOM link). 

The Saturday, December 9th program is titled “Making Sense of All the Research You’ve Done.” The link to register is: https://bit.ly/3x1gtKm. Again, do register to get the ZOOM link. 

The library hasn’t posted any information about their 2024 programs but I imagine that these offerings will continue. 

The contest element of the Pioneer Pursuit program closed at midnight on 31 Oct 2023. But that doesn’t mean the program is over. The review committee is still checking each of the submissions to ensure the pioneer was in Washington Territory on or before Nov. 11, 1889. To date, we have more than 3,500 names in the index.

The announcement of the top individuals and top local societies submitting genealogies will be made after the review committee gets through the submissions arriving (or postmarked) before the October 31 deadline. (Hint: what amazing participation we had!!!)

Don’t let the conclusion of the contest stop you from submitting names and documentation of pioneers. It is estimated that nearly 350,000 people lived here in 1889. We welcome more submissions. Visit the Pioneer Pursuit page for more information.

When: Friday, November 3, 2023 from 12:30 to 2:30 pm PT

Zoom Registration required: https://tinyurl.com/2kzh8yd2   

Topic: German Guilds and their Records: A possibility for filling gaps when church records are missing

In this lecture, we learn about the history, structure, and purpose of guilds.  Then, we look at some of the many record types that guilds created and how they can be of use to the researcher, especially when church records are missing and how these records can fill those gaps. Some discussion of occupations will also be given.

Presenter:  Fritz Juengling, Ph.D., AG^®

Doctor Juengling received his Master’s and Doctorate in Germanic Philology with minors in both English and Linguistics from the University of Minnesota. He is an Accredited Genealogist® for Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden through ICAPGen, and certified by the Verband deutschsprachiger Berufsgenealogen. He is a German, Dutch, and Scandinavian Research Consultant at the FamilySearch Library.

More information: Visitors are always welcome.

Our website is https://egsgermangroup.wordpress.com/    

Interesting, yes, but the big news in this FamilySearch blog post is not in the headline. Sub-head:

Backing Up Your Old Messages

When FamilySearch Chat fully replaces the old messaging system, messages from years prior to 2022 will not transfer to the new system. However, users will be able to access and backup older messages they wish to keep. Here is how that process will work…

In short:

Anything older than 2022 will be available at FamilySearch.org/messages until 31 December 2023. 

To save and backup your older messages, we recommend using one of these methods:

• Go to FamilySearch.org/messages/download to download a complete .docx or .zip file of all your old messages to your personal device.
• You can also look through your messages manually at FamilySearch.org/messages and copy and paste the ones you would like to keep. Once you have the messages in a document on your device, you can save the document in your personal files.

 The rest of the post is worth reading as well! https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/new-familysearch-chat?icid=fsm-fs-chat_cta

All the best, 

Valorie

PS: feel free to pass this news along either by forwarding this email, or in your own post. I’ve not seen this news elsewhere. I just downloaded all my old messages with no issues.