BU Group Meetings for January - April 2019

The Godfrey Library hosts an open meeting for those who have earned a Certificate in Genealogical Research from Boston University.  Meetings are typically held at the library on the third Wednesday of the month at 6:00 - 7:30 pm.  Come for a lively discussion on various topics of genealogical interest.  Free.

Upcoming meetings will be held on the following dates:

January 15
February 12
March 18
April 15

Genealogy Club - January 4, 2020

New Year's Resolution - Get Organized!

Saturday, January 4, 2020
9:30 - 11:00 am

Resolve to start 2020 off right by getting your genealogy in order. This is a Work & Share session. If you have a great system for organizing your paper or digital files, share it with the rest of us! After the group discussion, you can spend time actually organizing your stuff. Bring that pile of disorganized papers, folders, and binders, and get to work clearing the clutter. Bring your laptop loaded with a genealogy software program, and start using it to full advantage to organize your digital files.

Free to Godfrey Premium members. $10 per session for all others. Open to the general public. Attendees will have time after the meeting to do research at the library.

CORRECTION - 2019 Holiday Schedule

 

CORRECTION - Here is our updated schedule for the 2019 holiday season. Please note that the library will be closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during the next two weeks. We will be closing early on Friday, December 20. THE LIBRARY WILL BE CLOSED, SATURDAY DECEMBER 21.

 Happy Holidays!  Happy New Year!

Genealogy Club - December 7, 2019

Genealogy Club

Saturday, December 7, 2019

9:30 - 11:00 am

 “Hidden Discoveries about Your Civil War Kin” with Clay Feeter, of Find Your Civil War Ancestor

 "Your Civil War ancestors' stories are always much deeper than the few lines about them that you might—or might not!—find in your family genealogy book," says researcher Clay Feeter, who will give an informative talk and visual presentation on the subject.

Even if all your genealogy book says is "Killed in the War of the Rebellion," you will learn how to use those sometimes dry and hard-to-understand facts to bring your soldier-ancestor’s story to life.

Learn about the challenges and hardships of the Civil War.  Not only did our Civil War soldier-ancestors suffer during that great conflict, but their families at home had it just as hard … running the farm and taking care of the kids, canning food or making socks to send to the boys on the front line.

Before attending the talk, you will want to research your family history.  Most Civil War-age men were born between1815-1847. Try to find out where they fought, marched, were wounded, captured, and even where they died.  Many of our kin may have fought at the same famous battles, or maybe even side by side in the same regiment! This is all valuable information to pass on to the next generations, so bring a pen and notepad.

Open Thanksgiving Week 2019

Genealogy Club - November 2, 2019

Genealogy Club 

Date: Saturday, November 02, 2019
Time: 9:30 - 11:00 am
Where: Godfrey Memorial Library, 134 Newfield Street
Topic: “Doing Genealogy Research at the Mystic Seaport Museum”
Speaker: Paul O’Pecko, V.P. of Research Collections & Library Dir., Mystic Seaport Museum

Paul O’Pecko will be joining us to talk to us about the museum’s resources of interest to genealogists and family historians, and how and when to access them. The museum’s Collections Research Center (CRC) is the nation’s leading maritime research facility. Located across the street from Mystic Seaport, the former J. Rossie Velvet Company houses the museum’s collections and offers safe and easy access to maritime researchers and scholars.

Artifacts at the CRC include more than two million examples of maritime art, tools, buildings, imprints and other documents, photographs, ship registers (1,000), audiotaped oral history interviews (600), videotaped interviews (200), and historic and contemporary maritime-related video footage (1.5 million feet). Don’t miss this great opportunity to learn more about one of Connecticut’s premier research facilities and how it can help genealogists and family historians.

 Open to the public. Free to Godfrey Premium Members. $10 per session for all others. Attendees will have time after the presentation to do research at the library.

For more information, call (860) 346-4375

GML Genealogy Club - Saturday, October 5, 2019

GENEALOGY CLUB

October 05, Sat               9:30 - 11:00 am

“Using the Connecticut State Library’s Website for Genealogy”

with Bryna O’Sullivan

Sponsored by Wadsworth Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution

The Connecticut State Library (231 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, CT) has an extensive online collection of materials useful to genealogists and family historians.  Bryna O’Sullivan will discuss how to navigate the website and search its digital resources, including newspapers, genealogy indexes (e.g., probate records), vital records indexes (e.g., marriages, deaths), databases (e.g., Fold3), aerial photos, court records, legislative histories, portraits, and so much more.                                                                                         

Free to Godfrey Premium members.  $10 per session for all others.  Open to the general public.  Attendees will have time after the presentation to do research at the library.