**Note - last day to register August 11, 2022, 5:00pm CST**
Do you have an ancestor that spent time at the Old Joliet Prison? There is plenty of Chicago history in the prison where many Chicago criminals were sent. This 90-minute walking tour of the Old Joliet Prison will be lead by a docent from the Joliet Area Historical Museum. The tour will include the history of the site from when it was first opened in 1858 till its closure in 2002. We will visit the East and West Cell Houses, North Segregation Building, Cafeteria, Chapel and the Honor Dorm. Keep in mind this tour is mostly an outside, approximate 1 mile walking tour.
Old Joliet Prison address: 1125 Collins Street, Joliet, IL. We will meet at 10:50am at the Gift Shop Building in the main parking lot off of Collins Street in front of the prison (plenty of parking). All participants will be required to sign a digital waiver of liability/hold harmless agreement before entering. Closed toe shoes should be worn and dress for the weather (rain or shine). We will be going in and out of the buildings. The tour is not currently ADA approved. Approximately 70% of the tour is accessible for all visitors.
Registration is required via the Chicago Genealogical Society website under Events. Our group rate is $26 per attendee. No refunds after August 6, 2022. The online payment service fee of $1.00 will be deducted from refunds. We will offer a waitlist option. If we have enough people on the waitlist, we will be able to schedule an additional tour group for the same day and time.
Picture courtesy of the Joliet Area Historical Museum
Immigration Ports of Entry with speaker Christine Johns Cohen
About 47 million people immigrated to the US between 1607 and 1990 and about 70% entered through the Port of New York. However, you need to consider a broader search in all ports, such as Boston, New Orleans, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Providence. Also, an entry through Canada and Mexico, should be researched. We will review the websites and resources to locate clues to these entry ports such as State Censuses, Voter Registrations, WWI Draft registrations, and Passport Applications
Christine Johns Cohen Bio – I am a long time member of the Whittier Area Genealogical Society (WAGS), and have served in many capacities, including President. In addition to WAGS, I’m also a member of the El Redondo Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Society of Daughters of Holland Dames and the Association of Professional Genealogists. My interest in genealogy began in 1977 with the airing of the TV mini-series “Roots” and was piqued when I found a typed pedigree chart of my Dutch heritage from the New Netherlands in the 1660’s. I am a native Californian, a graduate of UCLA in Political Science and have worked for Vitol Aviation Company since 1993.
Registration is required via the Chicago Genealogical Society website under Events. Registration will close 1 hour prior to the event. The meet-up will take place virtually via ZOOM. All people registered will receive an email the morning of the event with log-in instructions and a link. This information is not to be shared.
Note: This webinar is FREE for CGS members. Non-Members can register for the event for $10. No refunds.
A Visit to Pullman, Illinois: Pullman Museum and CGS Walking Tour
Founded as a self-contained city by George Pullman where he hoped to house a stable well controlled working society to manufacture his family Pullman Sleeping Cars for the railroads. Between 1880 and 1885, he built his city on a vast area of land just to the north of Lake Calumet with the centerpiece of the community being the Florence Hotel located at 111th and Cottage Grove.
A visit to this historically important national site will begin with a visit to the National Park Service welcome center and museum. This relatively new museum is located in a rebuilt Pullman Company headquarters building. A ranger will give us a tour of the museum.
After the museum tour, CGS’ Craig Pfannkuche, will lead a walking tour through the residential district. A variety of stories will be told about life in Pullman and the demise of Pullman’s dream by the guide.
Registered attendees will meet at the National Park Service Pullman Visitor Center in the Administration-Clock Tower Building, 11011 S Cottage Grove Ave, Chicago, at 10:00am. Free parking is available in the building parking lot. Enter off the north side of 111th street east of Cottage Grove just past the old Pullman employee gate. Public restrooms are available in the welcome center.
This is a CGS member event with limited guest spots.
Photo from the Library of Congress - Pullman Residence 1890-1901
Registration is required via the Chicago Genealogical Society website under Events. Registration will close 1 day prior to the event.
Open Mic Meet-Up
Join us to share your discovery or watch and listen to others share their successes. You have a research problem? Come and ask the group. Maybe someone will have a suggestion to further your research. A great opportunity to learn!
This meet-up will have a host to run the Zoom and to give the opportunity for everyone to share as time permits. If you plan to share a discovery or problem, please keep it to 5 minutes or less to allows others to also share.
Picture from Library of Congress
Special Tech Tuesday Webinar
Instagram is a visual social media tool that allows users to share photos, videos, gifs, inspirational quotes, and more. Instagram is also a favorite platform among the younger generation, making it a vital tool for genealogists of all ages to learn and embrace. As you get ‘grammin’ with Instagram, you will quickly see the benefits of sharing your family photos, your genealogy research, and your passion for family history with others. Learn how to get up and running with Instagram, and “Insta” your family history.
Elizabeth Swanay O’Neal is a professional genealogist, writer, educator, and national genealogical speaker. Her specialties include methodology, technology, and online research resources.
Elizabeth has studied at the National Institute for Genealogical Research (NIGR) in Washington, DC; the Forensic Genealogy Institute (FGI) in Dallas, Texas; and the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) in Salt Lake City, Utah. She is the Education & Programs Director for the Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society; Director of the NGSQ Study Groups program, and a Genealogy Consultant for the Daughters of the American Revolution.
As a family history lecturer, Elizabeth has given presentations for Legacy Family Tree Webinars, RootsTech, the Federation of Genealogical Societies, the Utah Genealogical Association, and many others. Her professional memberships include the Association of Professional Genealogists, where she serves as president of the Southern California Chapter, the Genealogical Speakers Guild, and she is an active member of the public speaking club Toastmasters International.
For 35 years, Elizabeth has made it her goal to research, preserve, and share her family stories. She is the author of the family history lifestyle website, Heart of the Family™ (https://www.thefamilyheart.com) where her mission is to help others “make the past part of their present.”I
How to Maximize Your Search Using Fold3
With a collection of over 500 million indexed and digitized records, Fold3 is one of the go-to resources for any family historian researching their military ancestors. Join us as we welcome Allen County Public Library senior librarian Elizabeth Hodges for an introduction to Fold3 and some tips and tricks to optimize your search results.
Elizabeth Hodges, a Louisiana native, is a historian, educator, and genealogist. She received her Bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. While pursuing her Master’s in Irish and Irish American Studies at the New York University, she became an educator at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum in New York City. Elizabeth’s love and fascination with genealogy and family history grew exponentially through sharing the stories of immigrants, migrants, and refugees who once resided in a historic tenement in lower Manhattan with visitors. Upon graduating from New York University, she began working for the New York Public Library in the Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division as a page while pursuing her Master of Science in Library and Information Science from St. John’s University in New York.
Elizabeth first began researching her own genealogy at the age of eighteen, and since then she has focused on tracing her ancestors’ journeys within southwest Louisiana, New York, Ireland, England, and beyond. While her specialties and interests lie in Irish migration/immigration, New York genealogy, the experiences of immigrant women, archival management, and Louisiana genealogy and local history, she is always eager to learn and explore other aspects of genealogy research.
Special Tech Tuesday Webinar - Digital Organization for Your Family History
**Note this will be a two-hour session**
This class will help you bring order to your family history media, documents, photos, and research records. Learn this simple and effective 3-step technique to organize and link your digital files, so you can spend more time on research.
Our speaker, Ron Madson, has taught genealogy for 10 years. He is on the Board of Directors of California Genealogical Society, chairs the Digital Archive Committee, and runs the Family Tree Maker Special interest group, (FTM-SIG). With a BS and MS in Math, he served 7 years as the educational coordinator for the largest international IBM computer users group and 10 years as technical education coordinator for Paul Revere Life Insurance Co.
A photographer for over 20 years, with 45 years of IT and image processing experience he has developed a unique method for image editing, labeling, and digital organization to greatly assist family history work. He will be teaching this method in this class.
Save the Date!
DNA Doubleheader - Two Webinars
Information coming soon
Chicago Genealogical Society is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Address: PO Box 1160, Chicago, IL 60690-1160
