Spessart Roots - Saturday, April 22nd, 1:00 PM, Main Library

Submitted by Kathy Reed

HCGS Program Director

"How Could a City Named 'Porkopolis be Anything but Funny?" by Robert J. Wimberg

This looks to be an entertaining presentation-a perfect outing for April Fool's day!

"Humor in History or How Could a City Nicknamed 'Porkopolis' be Anything but Funny" by Robert J. Wimberg

Saturday, April 1, at 11 am in the Genealogy and Local History Program Space, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County Main Library

"From its original name of Losantiville to Mrs. Trollope's Bazaar to August Herrmann's love for wursts, German fried potatoes and baseball, Cincinnati has provided the stuff to make us smile if not burst out laughing.  From a trained bear that escaped the People’s Theater in Over-the-Rhine to beer suds popping sewer lids, our town has hundreds of humorous stories that are a part of its history."

This program is sponsored by the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. 

 

April 8 Annual Seminar with Judy G. Russell is Nearly Full

Judy G. Russell, JD, CG, CGL
The Legal Genealogist

Only a few spaces remain for the Annual Seminar on Saturday, April 8 with Judy G. Russell. If you have not already registered, please check our website to ensure spaces available before sending in your registration, Annual Seminar. You can also register online: https://goo.gl/DjCqRr.

The annual seminar is held at the Mill Race Banquet Center in Winton Woods, Great Parks. Admission to the park, continental breakfast, and lunch are included with your registration.

The Legal Genealogist Judy G. Russell is a genealogist with a law degree. She writes, teaches and lectures on a wide variety of genealogical topics, ranging from using court records in family history to understanding DNA testing. Her blog – chosen as one of the American Bar Association’s top 100 in 2013, 2014 and 2015 – appears at The Legal Genealogist website, http://www.legalgenealogist.com.

Judy will be presenting four lectures:
When Worlds Collide: Resolving Conflicts in Genealogical Records
The Gentlemen Judges: Justices of the Peace
Beyond X and Y: The Promise and Pitfalls of Autosomal DNA Testing
NARA Mythbusters: Your Family is in the Archives

A Visit to the Waldschmidt House and Civil War Museum - May13th

A Visit to the Waldschmidt House and Civil War Museum

10:30 am

7567 Glendale Milford Road Camp Dennison, Ohio 45111

Waldschmidt House

If you are not an "east-sider", you may not be familiar with the post-Revolutionary War home in Camp Dennison near Milford. The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) own and are caretakers of the Christian Waldschmidt home and Civil War Museum located on the property. The home, built in 1804, included a store and a tavern. Waldschmidt helped encourage industries that would be necessary if the community was to thrive. He staffed a church and helped found a school. Ohio's first paper mill, a cooperative distillery, woolen mill, sawmill and blacksmith shop were built in the surrounding area.

The Camp Dennison Civil War Museum tells the history of Camp Dennison, a Civil War Camp and Hospital. As many as 50,000 Union soldiers were mustered in or out of service at Camp Dennison, with as many as 12,000 occupying the camp at any one time. In 1862, Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan threatened this camp with his "raiders" who attacked the railroad north of the camp.

Ohio Daughter of the American Revolution Member (DAR) Darlene West, will do a short presentation on the Christian Waldschmidt family and its impact on this early post-Revolutionary War community. Following lunch, we will tour both the homestead and the Civil War Museum located on the property. 

We will gather in the Memorial Barn behind the home which the Ohio Society DAR added in 1989 built to honor the Bicentennial of the Northwest Ordinance. It houses an extensive collection of stone-cutting and farm tools as well as a restored Conestoga wagon and a vehicle used by James Garfield.

To make a reservation and/or order a box lunch, please complete the form below and mail it to the address listed. You can also order and pay for lunch using PayPal through our website. For directions and a more detailed description of the Waldschmidt properties, click on this link.

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                                                    http://tinyurl.com/waldschmidthouse
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Adapted from the Waldschmidt Homestead website by Kathy Reed, HCGS Program Director.

Genealogy Roundtable: A New Discussion Group for Beginning-Intermediate Researchers

The Genealogy Roundtable is a new discussion group intended for beginning and intermediate genealogists. The purpose of the Roundtable is to give researchers the opportunity to get questions answered, learn, share ideas, and network.  Each Roundtable will consist of a short overview and discussion of one topic. The floor will then be opened to the attendees to discuss any genealogy topics of interest. Sessions will be held bi-monthly beginning in February 2017. In the first Roundtable we will identify future discussion topics and set the times and locations for future roundtables.

Genealogy Roundtable: Planning Session
Saturday, February 18 @ 10:30am - Blue Ash Branch Library

Genealogy Roundtable: First Discussion Topic: City Directories
Saturday April 22 @ 10:30am - Main Library Room 3A

Spessart Roots: A History of the People of a German Forest

Saturday, April 22nd, 1:00 PM 

Main Library - Third Floor Program Area

Many members of HCGS have German roots. Whether your ancestors came from northwest Germany or The Bavarian southeast, have you ever wondered how your ancestors actually lived? Fortunately, HCGS member and native Cincinnatian, Mary E. Wuest, has written an exciting book -- Spessart Roots: A History of the People of a German Forest. This non-fiction work gives a vivid account of how events and circumstances played out in one location—Spessart Forest—in northwest Bavaria. Travel the road of peasant life through the centuries: through the wars, witch persecutions, famines, and heavy governance. Learn about life as a serf from the time of earliest settlements until the time of mass emigrations; and how religion, schooling, and customs affected everyday existence. Read gripping stories of individuals, including stories of the author’s own ancestors, which bring the forest’s history to life. Finally, in the last few chapters, travel with the emigrants as they transplant their roots in new lands. And, as a bonus, in the last chapter, learn what DNA can tell us about our deep ancestry, our original roots. 

Tim Trainor, Writer and Editor, provided an excellent review of this book on Amazon.

More than a million Germans immigrated to the United States from the mid-1840s through the following decade, fleeing repression, political turmoil and bleak futures. Andreas Wust and his future wife Maria Magdalena Gessner were among this diaspora, joining fellow countrymen in 1848 in a noisome Cincinnati enclave called Over-the-Rhine, where German language and customs prevailed through the twentieth century. Former U. S. Navy Commander Mary E. Wuest, great-granddaughter of this Bavarian couple, tells their story through the broad sweep of German history, focusing on the Spessart Forest, a forbidding and magical realm where wild animals, poachers, rogues and robber knights roamed the dense woods and feudal nobility ruled a network of farms and villages.

A model of meticulous research and crisp, clear writing, Spessart Roots traces forest inhabitants to the twelfth-century settlements of the Kahlgrund Valley, a mining and glassmaking region known for crystal clear "talking" mirrors immortalized in Snow White, the Grimm Brothers fairy tale. The book chronicles eras of famine, epidemics, invasions and pillaging punctuated by times of quiet prosperity. The stream of events flows through the centuries-long reign of the Holy Roman Empire, the Thirty Years War, Napoleonic conquests and other epochs that uprooted and shaped German society and culture.

Spessart Roots also is the story of America revealed through the microcosm of poor immigrants seeking freedom and opportunities denied them in their homelands. After settling in Cincinnati, Andreas Wust (Americanized to Andrew Wuest) started a mattress-making business that grew and prospered, staying in the family until its sale to Serta International in 1999 -- the American Dream fulfilled.

We hope to see you there.

Submitted by Kathy Reed
Program Director

Two-Day Irish Genealogy Workshop and Streaming Webinar - Main Library - March 15th and 16th

We are excited to announce our participation in a two-day webinar presented by The Fountaindale District and the Plainfield Public Library District. The webinar will feature speakers from the Ulster Historical Foundation on Wednesday,March 15 and Thursday, March 16, 2017. We have reserved the Huenefeld Tower Room at the Main Library as well as one of the adjoining meeting rooms and kitchen so that participants will be able to spend the day in a relaxing atmosphere. Because we use Eastern Standard Time and the library hosting the webinars is in the Central Time Zone, sessions will be scheduled from 10:30 AM to 5:30 PM each day. Participants should feel free to come and go as desired as well as watch the webinars from home. Here is the schedule. (Note: All times have been converted to EST from the original website posting).

Irish Genealogy – Resources for Success! Public Library (Wednesday, March 15 10:30 am to 6 p.m.)

Morning Session
010:30 a.m.  Introduction to Irish and Scots-Irish Family History Research
(1 hr)
11:30 a.m.   Irish Education and School Records (30 mins)
12 p.m.  BREAK (30 mins)
12:30 p.m.   Introduction to archives in Ireland (45 mins)

Afternoon
1:00 p.m.  LUNCH
2:30 p.m. Sources available for Irish research by county (1 hr)
3:30 p.m. Gravestone inscriptions and newspapers as sources for Irish research (45 mins)
4:15 p.m. BREAK
4:30 p.m. Using the Registry of Deeds, with a short introduction to Irish wills (55 mins)
5:30 p.m. Q&A and solving brick walls

Famine Era Records and Emigration (Thursday, March 16 10:30 am to 5:30 p.m.)

Morning Session
10:30 a.m.  The Great Famine in Ireland, 1845–51: A brief historical overview (1 hr)
11:30 a.m.   BREAK
11:50 a.m.   Emigration from Ireland to North America: An Overview (1 hr)
12:50 p.m.   The Great Famine in Ireland: Sources for Research Part 1 (45 mins)

Afternoon Session
1:45 p.m.   LUNCH
3:00 p.m.   The Great Famine in Ireland: Sources for Research Part 2 (45 mins)
3:45 p.m.   Emigration from Ireland to North America: Strategies for Researching Emigrant Ancestors (1 hr)
4:45 p.m.   BREAK
5:00 p.m.  Q&A and Solving Brick Walls

Online Webinar Available!

Can’t attend the presentation in person? No problem! Both programs will be available for free as a streaming webinar on YouTube!  Free reminder event and registration for the webinar is available on our site.

Register for Irish Genealogy: Resources for Success online webinar reminder
Register for Famine Era Records and Emmigration online webinar reminder

Streaming participants, please make a donation to the Ulster Historical Foundation to support their genealogical projects and programming.  The donation site is powered by PayPal, and you have the ability to donate without creating an account by checking out as a ‘guest’. If you are a member of HCGS, a donation from the society will be made in lieu of individual donations.

Credit: Fountaindale Library and Genealogy Website

Submitted by Kathy Reed
Program Director