Our speaker will be author Ann Durkin Keating, The World of Juliette Kinzie: Chicago Before the Fire (2019).
CGS’s August webinar will kick off the Fall program series commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire. What a better way than to learn about Chicago Before the Fire. Whether your ancestors were in Chicago before October 1871, they came during the rebuilding, or you are the first generation with interest in Chicago, learn the story of Juliette Kinzie and how the early years shaped today’s Chicago.
Ann Durkin Keating has taught history for 30 years at North Central College in Naperville. She is the co-editor of the Encyclopedia of Chicago (2004) and the author of several books including Rising Up From Indian Country: The Battle of Fort Dearborn and the Birth of Chicago (2012) and The World of Juliette Kinzie: Chicago Before the Fire (2019).
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.
Think there's no way to research Chicago before 1871? Think the Fire burned your chances for discovering what Chicago was like in its early days? All is not (and was not) lost. This presentation will introduce you to a gold mine of pre-Fire resources. Maps, diaries, church records, newspapers, and sheet music are just a few of the hot items you'll find out about. This talk is an abbreviated version of a seminar presented at the Newberry Library by Matt Rutherford and Ginger Frere.
Matt Rutherford, MLS, is Curator of Genealogy and Local History at the Newberry. Ginger Frere, MLS, is a professional researcher and lecturer.
Registration is required via the Chicago Genealogical Society website under Events. Registration will close 1 hour prior to the event. The webinar 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 tour was originally scheduled for 2020. The original registrations and waitlist members have been contacted and confirmed. Now accepting additional registrations based on spots available and then waitlisted.
The tour of the C&NWHS archives includes viewing the types of maps available for research, seeing photo files including many communities in the upper Midwest, viewing community railroad related maps, obituary filled company magazines, many different types of correspondence concerning the development of Chicago, old Chicago deeds, and a new personnel file among other things.
Our tour guide will be Craig Pfannkuche.
CGS will be given a special tour of the archives. Free for CGS members only. Group size is limited to 10 due to the small space. Note - the Archives is in a warehouse so dress based on the weather outside. Note - We ask you to follow the current Chicago Department of Public Health guidelines regarding COVID-19 if you attend this event.
Archives is located at Clarence Ave and Stanley Ave, Berwyn, IL.
Transportation options:
Car – Park on the streets around the Archives.
Train – Metra BNSF line, from Chicago Union Station to Berwyn stop arrives 8:55am. Return train inbound back to Union Station leaves Berwyn 11:14am. The Archives is on the north side of the tracks and three blocks east of Oak Park Ave. This is the current train schedule as of June 2021. Double check before the day of the tour.
Train – Metra BNSF line, from Chicago Union Station to Berwyn stop arrives 12:55pm. Return train inbound back to Union Station leaves Berwyn 3:14pm. The Archives is on the north side of the tracks and three blocks east of Oak Park Ave. This is the current train schedule as of June 2021. Double check before the day of the tour.
The Chicago Fire of October 1871 was a disaster for the City of Chicago as well as for genealogists interested in researching Chicago family history. On this 150th Anniversary of the outbreak of the Chicago Fire, it is most appropriate for our Chicago Genealogical Society to offer a genealogically related tour of the fire area. During the tour, discussions about those family history related materials which were either destroyed by or saved from the fire will take place. Additionally, the tour will allow family historians to view (and learn more about) those areas and sites in the city both ravaged by the fire and which survived the fire.
The tour will be led by Craig Pfannkuche of the Chicago Genealogical Society who specializes in Chicago family history research and whose father was a Captain on the Chicago Fire Department.
After a stop at the Chicago Firefighter’s Memorial (just west of the old Chicago Union Stock Yards entrance gate), the tour will visit sites such as DeKoven Street, the Old Federal Courthouse site, the LaSalle Street under the river tunnel, the Chicago City Cemetery, the Chicago Water Tower, Mahlon Ogden’s house site, St. Michael’s Church, as well as two family homes near Fullerton Avenue which “survived” the fire as well a wood brick paved alley from 1869 among a number of other important stops.
The tour attendees will be moved from site to site in a luxury motor coach and will include a number of very short walks as well as a lunch stop probably at Washington Square Park.
Our bus will depart promptly at 9:30am from (and return to) the northwest corner of the Ogilvie Transportation Center (where food & bathrooms are easily available, located on Madison St between Canal & Clinton Streets). We will return around 4:00pm. Off street pay parking is available in the area nearby around Clinton and Monroe Streets. Note - We ask you to follow the current Chicago Department of Public Health guidelines regarding COVID-19 if you attend this event.
Register and pay online at www.chicagogenealogy.org under Events by selecting tour cost & lunch choice(s).
Tour cost: $45 members and $55 non-member, additional fee $15 if you order lunch. You are also welcome to bring your lunch.
Panera Box Lunch Choices are:
o Bacon Turkey Bravo Sandwich: Smoked turkey breast, smoked bacon, smoked gouda, lettuce, tomatoes & Panera’s signature dressing, on tomato basil bread. Includes sandwich, chips, pickle, and cookie.
o BBQ Chicken Sandwich: Smoked chicken, BBQ sauce, red onions, white cheddar & frizzled onions on classic white bread. Includes sandwich, chips, pickle, and cookie.
o Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich: Zesty sweet Peppadew™ piquant peppers, feta cheese, cucumbers, hummus, lettuce & red onions on tomato basil bread. Includes sandwich, chips, pickle, and cookie.
o Tuna Salad Sandwich: Tuna with leaf lettuce, tomatoes and red onions on black pepper focaccia. Includes sandwich, chips, pickle, and cookie.
o Caesar Salad with Chicken: Chicken, romaine, parmesan, & black pepper focaccia croutons tossed with Caesar dressing. Includes salad, French baguette & cookie.
Bottled water and soda will be provided for all participants for lunch.
Space is limited - first come, first reserved. A waitlist option will be available. Registration will close September 25, 2021. No refunds after September 25, 2021. The online payment service fee will be deducted from refunds.
Our speaker will be Karen Stanbary, CG.
Meet Ada and Minna---Chicago's most famous sisters who operated the ultra-luxurious bordello known as the Everleigh Club from 1900 until it was closed by mayoral order in 1911. Learn to sort fact from fiction as we study their fabricated lives from birth to death.
Karen Stanbary, MA, LCSW, CG®, BCG Trustee, is an author and national lecturer focusing on topics related to using genetic evidence correlated with documentary evidence to solve genealogical brick walls. A Chicago local, she holds a Master’s Degree in Clinical Social Work from the University of Chicago and has completed advanced graduate study in Social Anthropology at the Colegio de Michoacán, Mexico. Her genealogical practice specializes in Midwestern U.S., Chicago, and Mexican research as well as complex problem-solving, unknown parentage, and DNA analysis. She is a coordinator and faculty member at IGHR, and SLIG. She is a faculty member at GRIP. She received the NGSQ Award for Excellence for her complex evidence case study incorporating traditional documentary research and autosomal DNA analysis in the June 2016 issue of the National Genealogical Society Quarterly. Most recently, she published “Drowning in DNA? The Genealogical Proof Standard Tosses a Lifeline” in Debbie Parker Wayne’s book Advanced Genetic Genealogy: Techniques and Case Studies. She holds the credential Certified Genealogist from the Board for Certification of Genealogists where she serves as a Trustee and is chair of the standing DNA Committee.
Note – This presentation will not be recorded. The handout will be posted in the members only section of the CGS website for 60 days after the event.
Announcing a Special Military Afternoon with 2 Webinars!
More details coming soon.
Learn what books or types of books and resources you should include in building your personal genealogical reference library. A special emphasis will be given to new resources on the market. Suggestions will be made on how to get the most out of your library and use it for your own continuing education.
Our speaker, Paul Milner, a native of northern England, is a professional genealogist and internationally known lecturer with 30 years’ experience, specializing in British Isles research.
Paul was raised on the West Coast of northern England. A mining engineer with a degree from the Cambourne School of Mines in Cornwall, England, he came to the U.S. in 1975 to get his graduate degree at the University of Wisconsin. He has been in the U.S. ever since, and in 2008 he became a dual citizen of both countries. In the intervening years, Paul received two graduate degrees and traveled widely throughout the world.
Paul has been designing genealogy workshops, writing books, and lecturing for over 35 years. He holds an advanced degree in Theology and is particularly knowledgeable about the church and its role in record keeping. As a genealogist he speaks on a variety of topics relating to research in the British Isles, migration to North America and research methodology.
He is the 2018 recipient of the Utah Genealogical Society Fellow Award.
He is currently the book review editor of the British Interest Group of Wisconsin and Illinois Newsletter (BIGWILL) and is the former book review editor of the FGS FORUM.
Paul is a past board member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, the Federation of Genealogical Societies, the Genealogical Speakers Guild, and the British Interest Group of Wisconsin and Illinois.
Chicago Genealogical Society is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Address: PO Box 1160, Chicago, IL 60690-1160
