DALLAS GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY

MacGen Reunion Group
2018-04-14 13:00 - 15:00 (America/Chicago) | 8th Floor – McDermott Room, J. Erik Jonnson Central Library, 1515 Young Street, Dallas, TX, 75201, United States
See the MacGen Reunion Group SIG page for more information.

General Meeting
2018-04-14 10:30 - 12:00 | 1st Floor – Auditorium, J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, 1515 Young Street, Dallas, TX, 75201, United States
Please note: We’re meeting the second Saturday in April. Join us starting at 10:30 for hospitality and mingling. The business meeting starts at 11:00, followed by our featured speaker around 11:30. Our speaker will be Lynell Moss speaking on FamilySearch Family Tree: Your Tree, My Tree, OUR Tree.

Technology Special Interest Group
2018-04-05 18:00 - 20:00 | 8th Floor – McDermott Room, J. Erik Jonnson Central Library, 1515 Young Street, Dallas, TX, 75201, United States
Please note the change of venue. We’ll be meeting on the 8th floor. Tonight’s Topic: LibraryThing.com – a cloud based cataloging and social networking site for your book and audio/video media library. See the Technology SIG page for more information.

2018 Spring Seminar: Michael L. Strauss
2018-03-31 10:00 - 16:30 | 1st Floor – Community Showcase Room, J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, 1515 Young Street, Dallas, TX, 75201, United States
We are pleased to have Michael L. Strauss as our Spring 2018 Seminar Lecturer.
Michael L. Strauss, AG, is a professional Accredited Genealogist and a nationally recognized genealogical speaker. A native of Pennsylvania and a resident of Utah, he has been employed as a Forensic Genealogist for 25 years.
The topics for this seminar are Revolutionary War Genealogical Research; Researching Your Mexican War Ancestors; Researching Your Ancestors during the Reconstruction Era, and Genealogical Research in Washington, DC.
Details and sign-up »

Brown Bag Special Interest Group
2018-03-24 10:30 - 13:00, 2018-01-27 10:30 - 13:30 | 8th Floor – McDermott Room, J. Erik Jonnson Central Library, 1515 Young Street, Dallas, TX, 75201, United States
The Brown Bag SIG is for genealogists who want to learn advanced methodology skills and techniques. See the Brown Bag SIG page for more information.

Jewish Special Interest Group
2018-03-21 10:00 - 13:00 | 8th Floor – McDermott Room, J. Erik Jonnson Central Library, 1515 Young Street, Dallas, TX, 75201, United States
For anyone with actual (or suspected) Jewish ancestral lines. For more information, see the Jewish SIG page.

African American Genealogical Interest Group
2018-03-17 14:00 - 16:45, 2018-02-17 14:00 - 16:45, 2018-01-20 14:00 - 16:45 | 1st Floor – West Room, J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, 1515 Young Street, Dallas, TX, 75201, United States
Discusses and explores areas of research unique to the African American community. See the African American GIG page for more information.

DNA Special Interest Group
2018-03-15 18:00 - 20:00 | 7th Floor – Stone Room, J. Erik Jonnson Central Library, 1515 Young Street, Dallas, TX, 75202, United States
The purpose of the DNA Interest Group is to explore the use of DNA as a genealogical tool. See the DNA Interest Group page for more information.

Roots Magic Special Interest Group
2018-03-11 13:30 - 14:30, 2017-12-10 13:30 - 14:30 | 5th Floor – Hamon Room, J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, 1515 Young, Dallas, TX-Texas, 75201, United States
See the Roots Magic page for more information…

General Meeting
2018-03-03 10:30 - 12:30 | 1st Floor – Auditorium, J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, 1515 Young Street, Dallas, TX, 75201, United States
Join us starting at 10:30 for hospitality and mingling. The business meeting starts at 11:00, followed by our featured speaker around 11:30.

Migration through the South
Our own Jim Thornhill will look at what motivated our ancestors to come to America, how travel developed in the United States, focusing on the south, and how we can use that information to identify the means our ancestors might have used to get to where we live today.
Jim Thornhill
Jim Thornhill has been researching his family’s history for 15 years, three of those as a professional genealogist. Jim is chief researcher for Heroes of the Past, a company that seeks to delight clients, provide context in our ancestor’s lives, and show how we all have Heroes in our Pasts.
Jim is a graduate of the ProGen professional genealogy course, the Genealogy Proof course, and has been awarded the Birdie Monk Holsclaw Scholarship to IGHR in Athens, Georgia. Jim is an active member in the Association for Professional Genealogists, the Texas State Genealogical Society, the Dallas Genealogical Society, where he serves as IT Administrator, and the Rockwall County Genealogical Society, where he serves a Vice President in Charge of Programming.
Jim is a native Texan who has been living in the Dallas area his entire life, and has roots in pre-Civil War Texas. Both his and his wife’s family came to Texas in the same ways he will discuss in his presentation.

Technology Special Interest Group
2018-03-01 18:00 - 20:00 | 7th Floor – Stone Room, J. Erik Jonnson Central Library, 1515 Young Street, Dallas, TX, 75202, United States
Please plan to attend the Dallas Genealogical Society’s Technology SIG meeting. Bruce Moore will present a demonstration and discussion on Evidentia. Evidentia is a stand-alone software application which makes it easy to collect information, analyze evidence, highlight missed connections, cite your sources and feel confident with your conclusions. Evidentia does not replace your current genealogy software, but instead is meant to supplement and complement your research.
With Evidentia you can attach each claim to as many people and events as needed, classify your sources and information, easily extract multiple claims from one source, copy similar sources for fast entry, analyze evidence based on reliability in relation to other evidence, resolve conflicts and even reveal possible new directions for your research, easily generate coherent proof reports to show how you reached your conclusion. It has over 150 built-in citation templates based on Evidence Explained and you can create additional custom citation templates for quick entry

RootsTech
2018-02-28 - 2018-03-03 | TX

Jewish Special Interest Group
2018-02-21 10:00 - 13:00 | Tycher Library, Jewish Community Center, 7900 Northaven Road, Dallas, TX, 75230, United States
The Jewish SIG Group will meet February 21, 2018 at 10:30 am at the Tycher Library at the Jewish Community Center on Northaven Road.

DNA Special Interest Group
2018-02-15 18:00 - 20:00 | 7th Floor – Stone Room, J. Erik Jonnson Central Library, 1515 Young Street, Dallas, TX, 75202, United States
February’s Topic: “Incorporating DNA Evident in a Written Conclusion.” Chapter 8, Genetic Genealogy in Practice by Debbie Parker Wayne and Blaine Bettinger. – Barbara Ware

MacGen Reunion Group
2018-02-10 13:00 - 15:00 | 3rd Floor – Studio Room, J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, 1515 Young Street, Dallas, TX, 75202, United States
The MacGen Reunion Group covers genealogy from a Mac-centric view, with an emphasis on Reunion genealogy software.
See the MacGen Reunion Group SIG page for a description of this group.

General Meeting
2018-02-03 10:30 - 12:30 | 1st Floor – Auditorium, J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, 1515 Young Street, Dallas, TX, 75201, United States
Join us starting at 10:30 for hospitality and mingling. The business meeting starts at 11:00, followed by our featured speaker around 11:30.
Our educational presentation, Black Courage, will be made by Bill Covington.
African-Americans served as soldiers and in other capacities during the course of the American Revolution. Their contributions were vital to the winning of the war for the patriot forces. But, an equal number of them served in the British forces and fought hard in their service. Both sides had various reasons for recruiting African-American troops and individuals had widely differing reasons for taking up arms in the conflict.
Bill Covington
Bill Covington is a public school teacher by profession having spent 28 years in the classroom where he has taught Social Studies and English as a Second Language (ESL). He has taught in Dallas ISD as well as Waxahachie ISD. Currently, he is an instructor of Dual Credit US History, World History and Government/Economics at Waxahachie Global High School in Waxahachie, Texas. He is also an adjunct instructor of Western Civilization, US History, Texas History and World History at Navarro College, also located in Waxahachie, Texas. He is married to June Renee Jacobsen Covington and they both reside in Cedar Hill, Texas. They have three grown children and two grandchildren.
Bill was the TXDAR State Winner of the 2017 Outstanding Teacher of US History Award.
Uniformed as a Continental soldier of the Congressional cause of the late war period, Bill will display, explain and demonstrate the clothing, weapons and accoutrements with which the common soldier fought against the troops of the British Empire. Through his presentations to groups all across Texas and outside the state, Bill hopes to bring honor to the memories of the men, women, and children who stood, endured and suffered through the dark days that preceded the birth of our great nation.

January Meeting Minutes

Technology Special Interest Group
2018-02-01 18:00 - 20:00 | 7th Floor – Stone Room, J. Erik Jonnson Central Library, 1515 Young Street, Dallas, TX, 75202, United States
This month’s Tech SIG is a live demonstration of HistoryGeo.com, a subscription website offered by Greg and Vickie Boyd, Arphax Publishing Company. You may recognize the Boyds as the publishers of the Family Maps series – books by counties in public land states which provide information on first land owners, homestead information, roads, waterways, towns, cemeteries, roadways, and more. HistoryGeo.com is a single, interactive map containing over 12.3 million landowners among 30 states (all 29 of the public land states in the Continental U.S., plus Texas) and it contains all of the information in the published books and more. A subscription to this site allows you to organize your persons of interest, add relevant information to the saved people and much more. Join us this Thursday to see a demonstration of this important resource in doing the land research for your families in public land states.
See the Technology SIG page for more information.

DNA Special Interest Group
2018-01-18 18:00 - 20:00 | 5th Floor – Hamon Room, J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, 1515 Young, Dallas, TX-Texas, 75201, United States
January’s topic: A look at Swedish records. How I solved a problem proving an ancestor with DNA. – Jean Larson.

Jewish Special Interest Group
2018-01-17 10:00 - 13:00 | 8th Floor – McDermott Room, J. Erik Jonnson Central Library, 1515 Young Street, Dallas, TX, 75201, United States
Join us for a discussion of Jewish Surname books.

General Meeting
2018-01-06 10:30 - 12:30 | 1st Floor – Auditorium, J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, 1515 Young Street, Dallas, TX, 75201, United States
Join us starting at 10:30 for hospitality and mingling. The business meeting starts at 11:00, followed by our featured speaker around 11:30.
Our educational presentation, 1890 Census Substitutes: Bridging the Gap, will be made by Bill Buckner from the Waco-McLennan County Library.
The story behind the 1890 Census starts out like so many of those burned courthouse tales of gloom and doom. Yes, there was a fire and yes it is true that the 1890 Census was destroyed. Its destruction left a 20-year gap in the decennial chain of census records for researchers. How are we to cross this abyss back through time from 1900 to 1880 and connect to our ancestors with any degree of certainty? One strategy is to look for census substitutes or alternative sources. Remember the goal should be to identify an ancestor in a geographic place and time and define family relationships. A variety of substitutes from reconstructed 1890 Census to other types of enumerations will be presented. Additionally, clues that can be found in a score of familiar records that can help researchers gain knowledge about their ancestors and bridge the gap will be highlighted.
William D. “Bill” Buckner
Bill Buckner is the Genealogy Supervisor of the Genealogy Center of the Waco-McLennan County Library for the past nineteen years. In addition to teaching a quarterly Genealogy Beginners Class, Bill has had numerous speaking engagements with various organizations. Some of his recent presentations include: Retro Genealogy Resources Still Viable in Today’s Online World; The Digital Public Library of America: Another Tool for Family Historians; and Extra! Extra! Extra! From the Headlines to the Classifieds, Newspapers Deliver Genealogical Gems.
Bill heads up the McLennan County Cemetery Interest Group (MCCIG). Formed in 2002, this volunteer organization of the Center seeks to identify and inventory McLennan County cemeteries. In 2012, the results of 35 cemetery inventories were published by the Central Texas Genealogical Society (CTGS) as McLennan County, Texas Cemetery Records, v. 9.
Bill initiated and co-hosts with the Central Texas Genealogical Society the very popular annual Genealogy Lock-in. This event has helped bring together the organizations and individuals that use, support, and have an interest in the Genealogy Center collection. In 2011, Bill started a movement to connect libraries that had similar events through the use of technology to share programming and resources. Twenty-eight Texas libraries participated in the 17th annual Lock-in October 2017.
Bill is District 12 Representative for the Texas State Genealogical Society (TxSGS), and serves as the TxSGS Chair of the Book Awards and serves as the overall TxSGS Awards Chair. In 2011, Bill received the President’s Award from TSGS for his contributions. He also has served on various genealogy/history committees with the Texas Library Association and American Library Association.
Bill received his BS from Southwestern University, and his MS in Library Science from UNT. Bill is a fourth-generation Texan and lives in Temple, Texas with his family.
Prior Meeting Minutes

Technology Special Interest Group
2018-01-04 18:00 - 19:30 | 7th Floor – O’Hara Hall – J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, 1515 Young Street, Dallas, TX, 75201, United States
Topic: Using Adobe Spark to Create Videos and Share Your Genealogy
Please plan to attend the Dallas Genealogical Society’s Technology SIG meeting. Kathleen Murray will present and demonstrate Adobe Spark. Spark, by Adobe, is an application used to create short video films from either a video file or photographs. This is a great way to share family events and your family genealogy with family members who don’t have that genealogy bug.

Brown Bag Special Interest Group
2017-12-23 10:30 - 13:00 | 8th Floor – McDermott Room, J. Erik Jonnson Central Library, 1515 Young Street, Dallas, TX, 75201, United States
See the Brown Bag Special Interest Group page for more information…

DNA Special Interest Group
2017-12-21 18:00 - 20:00 | 5th Floor – Hamon Room, J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, 1515 Young, Dallas, TX-Texas, 75201, United States
December’s Topic: Using GedMatch, a review and a look at the new tools. – Mic Barnette

Jewish Special Interest Group
2017-12-20 10:00 - 13:00 | 8th Floor – McDermott Room, J. Erik Jonnson Central Library, 1515 Young Street, Dallas, TX, 75201, United States
See the Jewish Special Interest Group web page for more information….

African American Genealogical Interest Group
2017-12-16 14:00 - 16:45 | 1st Floor – West Room, J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, 1515 Young Street, Dallas, TX, 75201, United States
See the African American Genealogical Interest Group page for more information…

Annual Awards Luncheon
2017-12-09 11:30 - 14:00 | 7th Floor – O’Hara Hall – J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, 1515 Young Street, Dallas, TX, 75201, United States
Read about past award recipients and nominate somebody you think is deserving on our Awards page.
Registration for this event is required.
