The Summer Genealogy Chat is an opportunity to get together with other Pastfinders to chat about whatever becomes the topic of the day. It may be your latest discovery or your most challenging brick wall in your family research. Or it may just be cementing new friendships. Everyone joins in to answer questions, solve problems and enjoy the company.
This is an extension of the help sessions, Genealogy help will be available, but this is also a social event for members to gather during the summer and just talk genealogy and stay in touch.
Thursday, August 29
Summer Genealogy Chat (Summer Genealogy Chat)
10:00 am to 12:00 pm
Cooper Memorial Library, Genealogy Room
The Summer Genealogy Chat is an opportunity to get together with other Pastfinders to chat about whatever becomes the topic of the day. It may be your latest discovery or your most challenging brick wall in your family research. Or it may just be cementing new friendships. Everyone joins in to answer questions, solve problems and enjoy the company.
This is an extension of the help sessions, Genealogy help will be available, but this is also a social event for members to gather during the summer and just talk genealogy and stay in touch.
Tuesday, September 3
Free Assistance (Help Sessions)
9:30 am to 12:00 pm
Cooper Memorial Library Genealogy Room
Hit a brick wall in your family genealogy research? Can’t find connections from one generation to the next? Bring your questions and research to the Pastfinders Volunteers. Let them show you how to smash brick walls, open locked doors, or deal with other obstacles in your research path. We will provide you with knowledgeable suggestions and direction to successful personal genealogical discoveries.
Tuesday, September 10
Free Assistance (Help Sessions)
9:30 am to 12:00 pm
Cooper Memorial Library Genealogy Room
Hit a brick wall in your family genealogy research? Can’t find connections from one generation to the next? Bring your questions and research to the Pastfinders Volunteers. Let them show you how to smash brick walls, open locked doors, or deal with other obstacles in your research path. We will provide you with knowledgeable suggestions and direction to successful personal genealogical discoveries.
Thursday, September 12
Guest Speaker: Drew Smith (Member Meeting)
5:30 pm to 8:00 pm
Cooper Memorial Library, Room 108, 2525 Oakley Seaver Drive, Clermont, FL
Program starts at 6:00 PM
Drew Smith will be talking about a subject that all genealogist know about, but probably don't know how to search effectively:
UsingFamilySearch.orgto Find Genealogical Records
Over the past few years, FamilySearch.org has become one of the largest online repositories of genealogical records. Learn how to search and browse, how to save and share results, and how to get help with the available resources.
Drew Smith has been a librarian in the Academic Services department at the University of South Florida (USF) Tampa Library since 2007. Between 1994 and 2007, he was an instructor for the USF School of Library and Information Science (now the School of Information), where he taught undergraduate-level courses in library/Internet research skills and website design, and graduate-level courses in genealogical librarianship and indexing/abstracting. Prior to 1994, Drew worked for academic computing departments at USF and at Clemson University in South Carolina.
Tuesday, September 17
Free Assistance (Help Sessions)
9:30 am to 12:00 pm
Cooper Memorial Library Genealogy Room
Hit a brick wall in your family genealogy research? Can’t find connections from one generation to the next? Bring your questions and research to the Pastfinders Volunteers. Let them show you how to smash brick walls, open locked doors, or deal with other obstacles in your research path. We will provide you with knowledgeable suggestions and direction to successful personal genealogical discoveries.
Wednesday, September 18
Family Tree Maker Special Interest Group (Computer Users Group)
1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
Cooper Memorial Library, Room 221
Your Host, Stan Wells will be demonstrating how to use Family Tree Maker (FTM). This is a series in which we systematically peruse the Family Tree Maker Companion Guide to get the most from FTM.
This month of September we will present Chapters 1 -4:
Chapter 1 - Installing Family Tree Maker
Chapter 2 - Family Tree Maker Basics (the workspaces)
Chapter 3 - Creating a tree
Chapter 4 - Entering family information
We will continue through Family Tree Maker in October, November, and December. By the end of the year, you will all be experts.
Hit a brick wall in your family genealogy research? Can’t find connections from one generation to the next? Bring your questions and research to the Pastfinders Volunteers. Let them show you how to smash brick walls, open locked doors, or deal with other obstacles in your research path. We will provide you with knowledgeable suggestions and direction to successful personal genealogical discoveries.
Tuesday, October 1
Free Assistance (Help Sessions)
9:30 am to 12:00 pm
Cooper Memorial Library Genealogy Room
Hit a brick wall in your family genealogy research? Can’t find connections from one generation to the next? Bring your questions and research to the Pastfinders Volunteers. Let them show you how to smash brick walls, open locked doors, or deal with other obstacles in your research path. We will provide you with knowledgeable suggestions and direction to successful personal genealogical discoveries.
Tuesday, October 8
Free Assistance (Help Sessions)
9:30 am to 12:00 pm
Cooper Memorial Library Genealogy Room
Hit a brick wall in your family genealogy research? Can’t find connections from one generation to the next? Bring your questions and research to the Pastfinders Volunteers. Let them show you how to smash brick walls, open locked doors, or deal with other obstacles in your research path. We will provide you with knowledgeable suggestions and direction to successful personal genealogical discoveries.
Cooper Memorial Library, Room 108, 2525 Oakley Seaver Drive, Clermont, FL
Doors open at 4:30
Presentation from 5:00 to 6:00 PM
Clermont Mayor Ash special presentation
Our subject this month is: Quakers, Slavery, and the Underground Railroad
Quakers’ relationship with slavery evolved. Early Quakers kept slaves, but later Quakers felt slavery was incompatible with their beliefs, actively working to overthrow slavery. Learn about this fascinating chapter in our ancestors’ lives.
Annette Burke Lyttle has been a full-time genealogist and family historian since 2012. She has spoken on a variety of genealogical topics at the national, state, and local level. She has a master’s degree in English from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Northern Illinois University. She has taught research, analysis, and writing to college students at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point; Schiller International University in Heidelberg, Germany; the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and Pikes Peak Community College in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Tuesday, October 15
Free Assistance (Help Sessions)
9:30 am to 12:00 pm
Cooper Memorial Library Genealogy Room
Hit a brick wall in your family genealogy research? Can’t find connections from one generation to the next? Bring your questions and research to the Pastfinders Volunteers. Let them show you how to smash brick walls, open locked doors, or deal with other obstacles in your research path. We will provide you with knowledgeable suggestions and direction to successful personal genealogical discoveries.
Wednesday, October 16
Family Tree Maker Special Interest Group (Computer Users Group)
1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
Cooper Memorial Library, Room 221
Your Host, Stan Wells will be demonstrating how to use Family Tree Maker (FTM). This is a series in which we systematically peruse the Family Tree Maker Companion Guide to get the most from FTM.
This month of October we will present Chapters 5 - 7:
Chapter 5 - Documenting your research
Chapter 6 - Including media (photos and documents)
Hit a brick wall in your family genealogy research? Can’t find connections from one generation to the next? Bring your questions and research to the Pastfinders Volunteers. Let them show you how to smash brick walls, open locked doors, or deal with other obstacles in your research path. We will provide you with knowledgeable suggestions and direction to successful personal genealogical discoveries.
Wednesday, October 23
National Archives hosts a virtual Genealogy Fair (Special Events)
9:00 am to 4:00 pm
You will view YouTube videos in the comfort of your home
Every year, the National Archives hosts a virtual Genealogy Fair via live webcast on YouTube. The sessions offer family history research tools on Federal records for all skill levels. Thousands of family historians participate in the live event.
For more information, here is the link to the National Archives site:
For the One-on-One help sessions, Pastfinders will provide an experienced genealogist for a 1 hour session to help you get started if you are new or help you solve a road block years in the making.
For the scanning sessions, Pastfinders will provide scanning and computer equipment and an experienced operator for a 1 hour session to scan some of your precious photos and/or documents.
Reservations will be required and they will be made available online at our website starting in September.
Tuesday, October 29
Free Assistance (Help Sessions)
9:30 am to 12:00 pm
Cooper Memorial Library Genealogy Room
Up against a brick wall? Can’t find that missing Great Great Grandmother or unable to prove that Uncle Ben was your Great Grandfather's brother? Come bring your research. Pastfinders Volunteers have a few tricks up their sleeves, using our research sledge hammers. We will help you chip away at those brick walls.
Tuesday, November 5
Free Assistance (Help Sessions)
9:30 am to 12:00 pm
Cooper Memorial Library Genealogy Room
Up against a brick wall? Can’t find that missing Great Great Grandmother or unable to prove that Uncle Ben was your Great Grandfather's brother? Come bring your research. Pastfinders Volunteers have a few tricks up their sleeves, using our research sledge hammers. We will help you chip away at those brick walls.
Tuesday, November 12
Free Assistance (Help Sessions)
9:30 am to 12:00 pm
Cooper Memorial Library Genealogy Room
Up against a brick wall? Can’t find that missing Great Great Grandmother or unable to prove that Uncle Ben was your Great Grandfather's brother? Come bring your research. Pastfinders Volunteers have a few tricks up their sleeves, using our research sledge hammers. We will help you chip away at those brick walls.
Thursday, November 14
Guest Speaker: Allan Lane (Member Meeting)
5:30 pm to 8:00 pm
Cooper Memorial Library, Room 108, 2525 Oakley Seaver Drive, Clermont, FL
Program starts at 6:00 PM
Our subject this month is: The War of the Regulation
The War of the Regulation was an uprising in the British North America's Carolina colonies, lasting from about 1765 to 1771, in which citizens took up arms against colonial officials, who they viewed as corrupt.
Allan Lane of Winter Garden, FL where he resides with his wife of 47 years, near their two sons and three grandchildren. Allan was born and raised in North Carolina, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of North Carolina in 1969. He received an MA from Central Michigan University in 1972. After service as a commissioned officer in the USAF, he entered on duty as a Special Agent with the FBI, retiring from that career in 2000. He is now (mostly) retired. His Current hobbies are history, genealogy, hunting, and collecting historical firearms. Allan and his wife travel as much as possible. One of their sons is a Lieutenant with an area Police Department, and represents the fourth consecutive generation of law enforcement officers in his family. Their other son is an IT specialist with a local children's hospital. Allan's wife was a career teacher and administrator and is currently active with the DAR. Allan is also a member of Pastfinders.
Tuesday, November 19
Free Assistance (Help Sessions)
9:30 am to 12:00 pm
Cooper Memorial Library Genealogy Room
Up against a brick wall? Can’t find that missing Great Great Grandmother or unable to prove that Uncle Ben was your Great Grandfather's brother? Come bring your research. Pastfinders Volunteers have a few tricks up their sleeves, using our research sledge hammers. We will help you chip away at those brick walls.
Wednesday, November 20
Family Tree Maker Special Interest Group (Computer Users Group)
1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
Cooper Memorial Library, Room 221
Your Host, Stan Wells will be demonstrating how to use Family Tree Maker (FTM). This is a series in which we systematically peruse the Family Tree Maker Companion Guide to get the most from FTM.
This month of November we will present Chapters 8 - 10:
Up against a brick wall? Can’t find that missing Great Great Grandmother or unable to prove that Uncle Ben was your Great Grandfather's brother? Come bring your research. Pastfinders Volunteers have a few tricks up their sleeves, using our research sledge hammers. We will help you chip away at those brick walls.
Tuesday, December 3
Free Assistance (Help Sessions)
9:30 am to 12:00 pm
Cooper Memorial Library Genealogy Room
Up against a brick wall? Can’t find that missing Great Great Grandmother or unable to prove that Uncle Ben was your Great Grandfather's brother? Come bring your research. Pastfinders Volunteers have a few tricks up their sleeves, using our research sledge hammers. We will help you chip away at those brick walls.
Tuesday, December 10
Free Assistance (Help Sessions)
9:30 am to 12:00 pm
Cooper Memorial Library Genealogy Room
Up against a brick wall? Can’t find that missing Great Great Grandmother or unable to prove that Uncle Ben was your Great Grandfather's brother? Come bring your research. Pastfinders Volunteers have a few tricks up their sleeves, using our research sledge hammers. We will help you chip away at those brick walls.
Thursday, December 12
2019 Christmas Get-together (Member Meeting)
5:30 pm to 7:30 pm
The Pastfinders Holiday Dinner Party is tradionally held on our member meeting night (second Thursday). Highlights normally include a dinner menu selection, musical entertainment, and an optional gift exchange. The location, menu, and cost are still TBD.
Saturday, December 14
Family Tree Maker Special Interest Group (Computer Users Group)
10:00 pm to 12:00 pm
Cooper Memorial Library, Room 221
Your Host, Stan Wells will be demonstrating how to use Family Tree Maker (FTM). This is a series in which we systematically peruse the Family Tree Maker Companion Guide to get the most from FTM.
This month of December we will present Chapters 11 - 14:
.jpg)
