Our next newsletter will be issued in early October and our newsletter editor says, "This is the best issue yet."  I can't wait to see it myself, but I'm astounded at the number of members who have not read the newsletter -- about 17 percent of our members have never logged on to the Members Only section of our website, which they need to do to open each issue if they have a digital subscription. 

 

In case you are in need of some instructions on how to find the newsletter, here they are:

 

           Enter https://pgcgs.org into your Internet browser window.  From the menu on the left, click on Members Only.  Enter your user name and then your password.  If you don't know your user name, send an email to our membership chair at membership@pgcgs.org and ask Karen to send you your user name.  If you don't know your password, click on the question mark near the password box.  You will receive instructions on how to change your password.  Select a password with no capital letters (these are frequently entered incorrectly -- that Shift key is a tricky guy!) and no special characters -- use letters and numbers only.  Make sure you have a safe place to record your password to refer to later.

 

           Once your password is changed, log on to the website and then select from the menu under Members Only, Newsletters.  On the screen that comes up then, the most recent newsletter should be on the top left of the list.  Click on that green box -- for the next newsletter in October, click on Volume 55, then select Issue #2.  The newsletter will open in a new window where you may read it, print it, or save it by printing to PDF and saving it in a file on your computer.

 

The Bulletin is chocked full of articles on records in Prince George's County.  Don't forget, there is also a Name Index for each volume and a Subject Index for the first 53 volumes.  The Subject Index for Volume 54 is under the tab marked Volume 54, along with all four issues of that volume.  A volunteer is currently working hard on indexing both names and subjects for Volume 55, and it will be posted online when it is complete.

 

If you have suggestions for future articles, please email them to communication@pgcgs.org.  If you would be interested and willing to write an article for submission, please also email us about that.

 

Happy reading!

Our website is a year old now!  That time has flown, but it's been good to be able to add new material and make changes without having to explain what is needed to someone who is tech savvy but may not be genealogy-oriented.  It's nice to be able to make the changes and improvements on our own and we are happy with how our new website is functioning.  Could there be improvements?  You bet.  If you have suggestions for changes or new material, please send them in an email to either president@pgcgs.org or webmaster@pgcgs.org.  These two positions are currently filled by the same person, so you may use either one.

Speaking of which, if you have some computer experience or are not afraid to learn new things, perhaps you would be willing to fill the shoes of webmaster.  There are training videos available that you may watch at your own speed and the provider, EasyNetSites, was created with the idea of keeping things simple and easy for us non-techies to understand.  It's actually a fun job -- I'm not dying to give it up, but then I'm also president and currently functioning as publicity chair -- so I have plenty to do for this society.  If you are interested in helping spread the word about our society, its meetings and its library, feel free to join me on the Publicity Committee -- that would make two of us!

Does it sound like we need help?  We sure do!  In addition to the above, we also need someone who would be willing to conduct the annual audit our books.  Ideally this would be a local person, so we would not have to mail the paperwork that needs checking.  Please contact the same emails as mentioned above.

One more thing -- our Membership Chair, Karen Riekert, who is also our Secretary and main Librarian, would be happy to train someone to take over the Membership files so she can focus more on her other two society jobs.  The membership rolls are computer-based, so some comfort in computer use is a prerequisite for the job.  Attention to detail helps, along with a willingness to listen to/watch a few hours' worth of training videos on how to use our online system.  But it's not a difficult job and does not take long to do; the heaviest concentration of time is in summer, since our membership year ends June 30 and many people are renewing around that time.  Please think it over and let us know by emailing president@pgcgs.org.

Thanks for your attention!  Have a nice summer vacation.

A new site has been entered on our Links page that will take you to WikiTree, a free site for entering and building your family tree.  WikiTree is a collaborative platform for genealogy research, where users can create and edit profiles, connect with other researchers, and grow their family trees. The site is designed to be accessible to all levels of genealogists, from beginners to experts.  For those who can't or choose not to download genealogy software, this is another choice for a place to keep your records.

 

Scroll down the home page to find links to instructions on use, such as:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqUlQ0dxsgk or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76UUx8QAESc&list=PLEqK4ICkQWXSKJksGv3vx_XQjAHZzU2Qn&index=2

Clicking on either of these links will open a new window in your browser.  When you close it, you will be back at our website.  If you have logged in, don't forget to log out.  And thanks for reading this!

 

Check it out soon!

The bulk emails sent announcing our last meeting seem to have been successfully delivered!  Your webmaster complained to Yahoo about receiving the email after the date of its announced event, and to her great surprise, Yahoo tech support seems to have been accurate in reporting the "issue resolved."  It's so good to know there is someone actually listening out there in the Internet ether.  If you did NOT receive an announcement of our March meeting in a timely way, please email president@pgcgs.org describing when you did receive it, or when you found it in your spam folder.  It may help if YOU complain to your email provider, but it is my understanding that email services provided by aol, verizon, yahoo, and frontier are all handled by the same administrating company.  Hopefully, complaining to yahoo got the attention of that company and issues were resolved for all their email users.
 

We recently experienced extreme problems with delivery of our blast emails (to all members) for users of aol/verizon/yahoo/frontier email provider.  We have learned that these emails are now all controlled by the same entity, which delayed or prevented delivery of recent emails informing members about our upcoming meeting on February 2.  Our website provider (and email provider for @pgcgs.org) has been in touch with the controller of these email delivery entities and has been assured they are resolving the problem.  Our website provider has also taken what steps it can to alleviate the problem on its end, but some doubt remains whether these changes will actually help.  Your webmaster, with a personal Yahoo account, has reached out to Yahoo and filed a complaint about the delay of the messages from president@pgcgs.org to that email service and their response was that the issue has been resolved.  Since their Help desk is geared towards a selection from problems defined by them, there is again some doubt that resolution has indeed been achieved, though every effort was made to clearly define the problem.  The proof will be in the prompt delivery of our next blast email.

 

If you use aol/verizon/yahoo/frontier, you may want to set up an alternate email account with another provider and enter it on the Contact page of your Profile at https://pgcgs.org.  Otherwise, you may not receive important notices from us.  And we have apparently done all we can to change this already.
 

Our next newsletter is in the final stages of production and should be available in early January.  If you are among those members who have never logged on to our website, you are missing an important benefit of your membership.  Our Bulletin editor, John White, works hard to provide articles pertinent to researching in Prince George's County, Maryland.  He often gives detailed instructions on how to navigate through certain sites to find those nuggest of information we all seek.  Our newsletter indices are also on our website in the Members Only section; all issues are indexed through Volume 53, No. 4.  We have a volunteer currently working on the index of Volume 54. 

 

If you don't remember your password, click on the ? next to the password entry box to create a new one.  Capital letters are not necessary and special characters are not allowed -- use only letters and numbers.  And write it down somewhere safe so you can look it up if necessary.  I use poetry for my passwords -- Mary had a little lamb -- that becomes the password Mhall, the first letters of each word.  My clue that I write down is Mary1, meaning the first line of Mary Had a Little Lamb.  Pick any poem you like and do the same. 

 

Start off the New Year by catching up on your reading -- of our very impressive newsletter, The Bulletin.  And have a wonderful holiday season from all of us here at PGCGS.
 

Are you at a loss what to get that hard-to-buy-for young person you know?  Teens can be difficult to buy for -- they have distinct tastes, they don't always say what they want, and their choices can be expensive.  Have you tried to interest them in their family history?  Why not take advantage of our Student Membership -- only $10 a year and they get all the benefits of a regular membership, except they may not hold office or serve on committees.  Students at the junior high, senior high, and college levels are eligible.  This is a great way to foster an interest in this fascinating hobby among the younger generation.  Their youthful spirit at our meetings would no doubt inspire us all.  Memberships will automatically expire on June 30, 2023, but $10 for six months' exposure to the world of genealogy is still a bargain -- less than $2/month.  And you can give another gift of membership in June -- perhaps for graduation.  And, you would be fostering someone to continue your research when you no longer can.  See the Online Join tab in the left column of our web pages.

 

Of course, even if you don't have a youth in mind, your year-end donation to either our Library or our General Fund would be much appreciated. Indicate your choice in the Donor Comments box.  See Donate on the left column of our web pages. 

 

If you'd like to volunteer your time, that would be great too.  We are an all-volunteer society.  Without the participation of our members, we cannot exist.  Consider running for a two-year term as an officer in June -- we need candidates for Vice President and President.  We are happy to announce that our library volunteer, Darrell Brown, has agreed to be nominated for Treasurer.  If there is someone out there interested or willing to become our Membership Chair, that would free up the current chair, who has been wearing three hats for several years and could use a break.  Think it over.  We all need to do our part.  Training for any office will be provided.

There have been several new additions to our Links page, where we share the URLs for free websites that hold valuable information for the genealogical researcher. 

Recently added is a link to O Say Can You See, a site that explores the legal aspects and history of American slavery, with information and searchable databases of names of enslaved people who sued for their freedom along with their attorneys and the attorneys of their enslavers.  The information was retrieved from court records of Washington, D.C. and Maryland as well as the U.S. Supreme Court.  It contains some early history of Washington, D.C. along with detailed, interactive maps showing a number of aspects of city life in the early 1800s. A must-visit site for African American research.

Also new is a link to the Association of Oldest Inhabitants of D.C., a group formed in 1865 for residents of Washington, D.C. to gather and foster pride in their city.  If your ancestors lived in D.C., they may have been members.  Check this site to discover this.  The organization holds monthly luncheon meetings with programs of interest to those living, visiting, or interested in Our Nation's Capital.

And be sure to check out the link to a USGENWEB site listing Landowners of Prince George's County when it was formed from Calvert and Charles Counties in 1696.  You might call it the Oldest Inhabitants of Prince George's County.

The latest edition of our newsletter is now available for members to download from the Members Only page.  In this issue learn about researching the county's Colonial Anglican Church records, using the website Digital Maryland (see also our Links page), new library acquisitions, and hints on using new marriage records on Maryland State Archives.  And more.  Read about volunteers who were recently awarded for their dedication and service to our society -- you could become one of them!  There are also excepts from early 20th century county voting registers; your ancestor could be on this list.

Catch up on local genealogical happenings -- and don't forget to see our Events page for information about our meeting coming up on Wednesday, October 5.

If you did not find a notification email from us about the newsletter or the monthly meeting, please check your spam folder -- emails with a large number of recipients are sometimes assumed by your email provider to be spam.  The only thing we have in common with Spam is:  "Sizzle and Mmmm"!  :)