14 April 2012

Society Saturday - Frederick County Genealogical Society



Today is the April meeting of the Frederick County (MD) Genealogical Society or FRECOGS as we say.  It is a small to medium group that meets on the second Saturday of the month (except July and August).

I decided to join after one meeting.  I do not have family in Maryland and I do not live in Frederick County (yet!) but I immediately felt welcomed.  I am learning more about the county and more importantly, the members.  Everyone has been so nice and they answer all questions, big and small!

So if anyone has Frederick County, Maryland family, check us out! The website is www.frecogs.com.

11 April 2012

Baltimore Fun with Thomas MacEntee

Under the category of "better late than never", I am finally getting around to writing about my last event in the whirlwind that was the month of March!! (Only to get the office "bug" and be down for Easter)

On March 30th I finally got to hear the one and only Thomas MacEntee of High-Definition Genealogy and GeneaBloggers fame in person at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Maryland.  His presentation was "New Horizons for Genealogists" including sessions on Facebook and Social Networking.  He was fanastic....of course!!   I was familiar with the topics but did learn a few tricks along the way.



I saw a few familiar faces in the crowd including a few members of the Frederick County Genealogical Society (way to go Nancy & Wanda!).  Also got to see Russ Worthington of A Worthington Weblog again (whom I met at Fairfax Fun the week before!).  And finally got to meet a Twitter buddy, Angela Raji-Walton of My Ancestor's Name and African Roots Podcast.  I believe this is the best part of attending genealogy events...meeting new people or putting a face to an online connection.

I also have to give a big shout out to Jeff Korman and staff of the Maryland Department of the Enoch Pratt Free Library for putting on the event.  It was their 10th annual Genealogy Lecture (but the first one I knew about!!) and I hope to be back next year.  They provided us with a nice notepad and pen (and cookies & drinks).   Boy there have been events that I wished had done this!!

Jeff Korman and Thomas MacEntee

Some of the highlights included lunch at G & A Restaurant.  It's a local landmark that brings back a lot of memories of a small diner and the food was excellent!!  (And lunching with librarians Jeff & Janet wasn't bad either!!) There was a drawing at the end of the presentation and guess who won something...ME!! Since I didn't win the record Mega Millions lottery the night before, I guess Thomas' Legacy Family Tree webinar "Navigating the 1940 U.S. Census" is the next best thing!!!



Oh and the branch location was the Southeast Anchor Library at the corner of ...