Fairfax Genealogical Society
of Fairfax County, Virginia
A Worldwide Research Group
Our 34th Year

Special Interest Group

Meetings

Lori Smith

(703) 734-9180

The Beginners’ Special Interest Group will present a repeating series of 6 classes on the basics of genealogy research.  Every effort will be made to be accessible to a total novice and yet go into enough depth to provide a solid foundation for good research practices.  Email Lori Smith for further information.  

These meetings are held 11:00AM to 12:00 noon at the McLean Family History Center in one of the classrooms.  Please see MapQuest for directions to 2034 Great Falls St., McLean VA.

Expect six weekly sessions in the Fall.  Details TBA.

The BCG SIG assists members who want to learn more about Board of Certification process and provides peer review of members' submissions for certification.  Please contact the coordinator for further information.

 The SIG is open to all FxGS members who have been certified in genealogy or are interested in the certification or renewal processes. For further information, please contact Richard Camaur.

The next meetings are: 8 March and 3 May 2008, 10:15AM at the Fairfax City Regional Library meeting room.  Please see MapQuest for directions.  

Meetings are held on Saturdays 1:30PM to 3:30PM at the Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library; 7584 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church.  Please see MapQuest for directions.

Daytime Methodology

The Methodology SIG has meeting dates at the Thomas Jefferson Library, 7415 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church.  This is Route 50 just inside the beltway.  The library is located on the right hand side of the road between the 1st and 2nd stoplights.    Please see MapQuest for directions.  They are the first Thursday of the month.  Thomas Jefferson library restricts the number of months you can book at a time. We will meet from 1-3PM.

The next meetings will be 6 March, 3 April, 1 May and 5 June 2008.

Family History Writing

All meetings are held the first Monday of every month (unless the first Monday is a holiday), except July and August, at 7:00 p.m. at Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library in the Large Meeting Room, 7584 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church.  Please see MapQuest for directions.

Perfect your family history writing skills. Bring your hard-won research out of the closet and onto the coffee table. How to write for scholarly publications, for your family and for yourself.

2008 Meetings:  3 March, 7 April, 5 May and 2 June 2008.

The Surnames Projects and Genetic Genealogy SIG meets the first Wednesday of each month at 7:00 PM at the Tysons-Pimmit Regional library.  Please see MapQuest for directions.  The purpose of this SIG is to explore how genetics and genealogy combine. Major topics of discussion are Single Surname Studies and DNA projects.

Please join us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GenGen-NV/ for further SIG details and events.

Next meetings will be on: 07 May and 04 June 2008.

All meetings are held the second Tuesday of October, November, and January-May, 7-9:00 p.m. at Carol's home 9400 Delancey Dr., Vienna.  See MapQuest for directions.

Learn how to find your German immigrant ancestor.  German SIG covers all German-speaking countries in Europe as well as areas formerly part of the 1871 German Empire now in other countries.

Dates for 2008 = May 13.

Meeting dates for 2008/9 will be: Oct 14, Nov 11, Jan 13, Feb 10, Mar 10, Apr 14, May 12.

Michael Healy

703-742-0503

The Irish SIG meetings are held on the third Monday of every month from 7:30 pm to 9 pm in Meeting Room 2 at the Reston Regional Library, 11925 Bowman Towne Dr. Reston , VA 20190-3311.  Please see MapQuest for directions.

Highlights:  Guest Speakers, Seminars, Workshops, Case Studies, Internet Resources, Tips, Techniques, and Tales!

Learn how to find your Irish ancestors, their origins, and their Irish family documents.

Next 2008 meetings:  May 19, June 16, July 21, August 18.

Midwestern

The Bishops

(703)690-6995

Next meetings 25 March, 22 April and 27 May 2008.

Linda MacLachlan

703-321-9675

The New England Study Group meetings are held the first Thursday of the month, from 7:30 pm to about 9 pm at the McLean Family History Center in one of the classrooms.  Please see MapQuest for directions to 2034 Great Falls St., McLean, VA. The FHC itself is open from 7 to 10, so SIG members can do research before or after the meetings.  The format is informal.  Anyone with an interest in any of the New England states is welcome to join us.

We will not only meet on the 1st Thursday of the month at the McLean FHC; by popular demand from Mount Vernon GS members, we will ALSO meet on the 2nd Tuesday of the month at 1 pm in the Mount Vernon Genealogical Society Library at Hollin Hall Senior Center, off Fort Hunt Road at 1500 Shenandoah in Alexandria. The daytime group will cover the same information as the evening group. FxGS members who prefer a daytime meeting or just plain missed the meeting they usually go to, are welcome. 

Meetings for the first half of 2008 will be:  Mar 6 and 11, Apr 3 and 8, May 8 and 13, Jun 5 and 10.

Meetings are held from 1-3pm on the third Wednesday of the month at the new Fairfax City Regional Library  in the small conference room on the second floor.  Please see MapQuest for directions.  We do not meet in July, August, November or December.  Our focus is New Jersey and Delaware families and extended family ties in parts of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York.

All meetings on Mondays at 7:30 P.M. at Tysons-Pimmit Branch Library, 7584 Leesburg Pike.  Please see MapQuest for directions.  Next meeting will be on 12 May 2008.

The National Genealogical Society offers four study courses.  Three are short online courses: "Intro to Genealogy"; "Federal Census"; and "Special Census." <http://ngsgenealogy.org/Courses/Course.cfm>
The fourth is their well-known NGS "American Genealogy: A Home Study Course."  <http://ngsgenealogy.org/eduhsc.cfm> 

The course is newly revised and is now available as a set of CDs. It is intended for the intermediate to advanced genealogist.  SIG participants work on the lessons and on general research methods.

People who are considering any of the courses, and those who have begun them, are welcome to attend the SIG meetings. Meetings are held on the third Tuesday of the month: for 2008: 18 Mar, 15 Apr, 20 May and 17 Jun at 7:00 p.m. at St. Paul 's Lutheran Church, 7426 Idylwood Rd, Falls Church. Please see MapQuest for directions. Use the parking lot behind the church and come to the office in the square-shaped education building next to the A-frame church.

Please contact the coordinator for further information.

Pat Townsend

703-960-1997

 The Virginia SIG has been renamed to include Virginia, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Tennessee.  

Meetings will be at 7:30PM at the Virginia Room of the new Fairfax Regional Library.  Please see MapQuest for directions.

At Pat Townsend's request Linda MacLachlan has established a Yahoo mail list to provide an independent address book for the Old Dominion SIG.  This arrangement brings with it the facility for a meeting calendar, generating timely meeting reminders that are always accurate, 

Next SIG meetings will be 20 May , 17 June and 15 July 2008.

Janice A. Reilly

(703) 960-4249

Pennsylvania SIG meetings will be held at the Franconia Government Center.  Meeting time is 7:30PM.  The Government Center is located at 6121 Franconia Road, Alexandria, VA 22310.  Please see MapQuest for directions.

The PA SIG is planning a trip to the PA State Archives in Harrisburg on Thursday, October 9th.  For further information and to sign up contact Janice Reilly, 703-960-4249  or j.a.reilly@cox.net.

Would like to find out if there is anyone interested in a trip to the Carnegie Library, Pittsburgh. Their genealogy library covers the Western third of PA. Again, if you are interested in any of these trips, contact me by phone or email.

Also, this summer I am planning an overnight research trip to the Blair County Genealogical Society library in Hollidaysburg, PA. This is a beautiful genealogical library covering Blair and surrounding PA counties. Their members extract and publish records of all kinds-- over 143 BCGS publications so far--which you can review on their website at www.rootsweb.com/~pabcgs/   Our societies have exchanged newsletter for many years. Recent issues can be found in our Browse Box; back issues are given to the VA Room for reference. If you are interested, please contact me. Dates will be arranged at our convenience.

Next meeting in 2008 is TBA.

Chuck Mason
(703) 569-3469

We will talk about what goes into putting together a presentation.  This will include the topic selection, the research needed, and how to actually put it together once the preparation is done.

Jane Pearson

Jennifer Dondero

Meetings are held at the Kilmer Middle School Library on the 2^nd Thursday of the month (except December) beginning at 7:30.  Please note the TechSIG is now meeting in June!   Next meeting is 8 May 2008.  

May 8 Topic-“Communicate with Community: Mailing Lists and Messages Boards”  

June 12 Topic-"Using the Steve Morse One-Step Search Forms"

July 10 Topic-“Basic HTML for Genealogists”

Aug 14 Topic-“Comparison of Genealogy Software Programs”

                      -e-mail Jane or Jennifer 

        with what you like about your program and why you would recommend it.