Next General Meeting: By Bruce Preston I'm at a point in life where perhaps the most important daily question is: "What's for dinner?" Once we get beyond that, things get a little more complicated, but still interesting. "Who am I?" As it happens, both my wife and my sister have delved into genealogy, with interesting discoveries. My paternal grandfather was born in Lithuania and entered the U.S. via Canada around the turn of the century, altering the family name in the process as well as changing from Adam Joseph to Joseph Adam. My mother's maternal grandmother's father was a policeman in Detroit and made the newspapers by catching a pick-pocket who had hopped on a trolley to attempt his escape. Great grandfather was on the department's track team, and took a short cut route and caught the guy. Wendy's ancestors entered the U.S. from Germany via Charleston and eventually moved to Philadelphia, founding a wall paper business. Steamship records show many trans-Atlantic crossings for business purposes. One's motivation for getting into genealogy may vary. It could be to discover your family's place in the larger historical picture, a sense of responsibility to preserve the past for future generations, or the satisfaction in accurate story telling. Genealogists use historical records, oral traditions, even genetic analysis to trace family trees. You probably saw the item in the news about the confirmation that they had found Richard III's grave via DNA comparison with a 16th generation descendant. One of my earliest friends made as a result of DACS membership was tracing his family tree, this back in the early dial-up days of the internet. He discovered one branch that was summarily pruned in the early 1700's: the person was hanged from the yardarm for being a pirate! Who knows what you may find if you look. Our speaker for March is Toni McKeen, who has been doing genealogy research on her own extensive Italian and her husband's Irish family for over 27 years. She now has more than 8,600 of her closest family members entered in her Family Tree Maker program. Toni has located relatives on extended branches who married into the family including those from various immigrant ethnic groups as well as others who have been here long enough to practically have greeted George Washington when he arrived. She is a member of several genealogical organizations. For the last 10 years, while not doing continuing research on her own family, Toni has been teaching several levels of genealogy at Founders Hall, in Ridgefield, CT, her home town for the last 27 years. Toni is on a mission to introduce as many people as possible to the fun, excitement, and importance of tracing their own genealogy. She believes documenting your family history is important for yourself and for future generations, even if they are not interested or don't have the time now. Toni has been a popular lecturer at various genealogy societies in the New York, Connecticut, Boston, New Jersey, and Long Island areas. While she won't have nearly enough time to get into details on how to do genealogy research and recording, I'm sure that her presentation will at least demonstrate what an interesting hobby it could be.
--- DACS meetings are usually held at the Danbury Hospital auditorium. (Click here for directions and parking information.) Activities begin at 6:30 p.m. with registration and casual networking. The meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. with a question and answer period (Ask DACS), followed by announcements and a short break. The featured evening presentation begins at 8:00. The meeting is scheduled to adjourn at 9:30 p.m. DACS General Meetings are free and open to the public. Members and prior attendees are encouraged to extend invitations to anyone interested in this topic. Danbury Area Computer Society (DACS) is a registered nonprofit and has been serving the region since 1990.
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