Central New York Genealogical Society

The Technology Interest Group of the Central New York Genealogical Society will meet at the Salina Library 100 Belmont St. Mattydale, NY 13211.

We will meet the 4th Monday of each month, except December.

A friend was using rootsweb at the library and found some family photographs she wanted to enlarge.  When she clicked on the photo’s, she was taken to the ancestry sign up screen.  She was at a library that subscribes to Ancestry so she tried to find the same photographs on Ancestry, but couldn’t.  Has anyone been able to go directly from a  rootsweb search to Ancestry at the library?

The CNYGS Technology Planning Committee met on January 23rd to discuss programs for the year.   Below are the topics.  We need someone to lead the discussion or present on these topics.  Please comment if you are able to help. 

Time: 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM the 4th Saturday of each month.

1. Using website “Fultonhistory.com”
2. Backup Systems
3. How to research different cultures – naming conventions
4. Writing a Family History

We met today at the DeWitt Community Library.  Nancy showed the group how she organized her family in individual three ring binders including pictures, notes, newspaper clippings, music including a CD and small memento in archival sleeves.  Carol and Linda also showed their family group in three ring binders.  We discussed different methods for organizing using software.

The DeWitt Library has one project which was in use today.  I’ll call to reserve the projector for the next two meetings if it is available.  This will usually be a problem if we don’t have some type of projector.  We discussed meeting at different libraries each month.  I thought that would be too confusing so we compromised and will meet at the DeWitt, Cicero and Baldwinsville Libraris for three meetings a year.  This is tentativet, we haven’t scheduled the rooms yet.

At the end of the meeting we discussed how to find female ancestors when the mainden name isn’t known. 

I asked if anyone knew how to remove old photographs from the sticky photo albums from the 70s.  Glen suggested using dental floss.  I tried it when I got home and it worked for many of the photographs. 

I would like to thank everyone for  their thoughtful discussions and suggestions.

Suggested topics for the upcoming meetings are anti-virus software, backup solutions, anti-spam or spyware, NY state library, world vital records, publishing and archiving genealogy, preserving records, maps and the census.      

What do you think about a  group discussion of favorite websites used for vital records research?

Some members would like part of our regular meeting to include discussions about issues/problems with specific genealogy research.

What other topics would be interesting?

There have been many discussions within the technology group about comprehensive and easy to use genealogy software.  Some people mentioned Family Tree Maker, PAF, and Ultimate Family Tree. Most weren’t completely happy with their choices.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a specific software program that is easy to use and has enough detail for their family tree? 

Please use the Comment Link below to leave a comment.

At our first meeting there was a lot of discussion about helping beginning genealogists. Our next meeting’s topic is using Google in genealogy research.

I found this introductory video about using Google. Just click the button in the center to view.