2009 Fall Workshop Sign-up and Brochure

Information for the GOGS annual Fall Workshop is available for download. See the blue download box at the bottom of the side bar on this page. For our fall workshops, instead of a nationally known genealogy speaker, we tap expert local talent. The brochure will tell you who they are. Download the flyer, peruse the information, then fill out the form and mail it in if you are interested in attending.

Westward Into Nebraska Expands Reading Pleasure

Our newsletter, Westward Into Nebraska, recently expanded from it’s original 8 pages in length to 10 pages. The additional pages were added so that we could include extractions from our newest web site, Omaha Births, and yet still have the usual amout of space left in the newsletter for other articles and items of interest to society members and readers in general.

“Omaha Births” Website Premieres

First, there was Omaha Obits. Then came Omaha Marriages. Now, comes Omaha Births, featuring births from Douglas County, NE, records and old Omaha newspapers. The birth information is pulled from newspapers as we extract obits for our OmahaObits web site.  In many instances, there is no indication what the person’s name was going to be, but it is one way of locating the possibility of a child that may have been born and died between census records.  In some instances, the names are taken from early Omaha birth certificates collected prior to 1910 when it became state mandated to collect such information.  Registration of births in that time period was not mandatory.

The new site was activated on Sunday, March 22, 2009, which means that it currently sports the smallest number of listings–just over 1,300–of the three sites. As the number of listings grows, however, we expect the site to become as popular as the first two.

New Feature: “Coming Up…”

No, the new feature is not “coming up” (as in, look for it to appear soon). The new feature is titled “Coming Up…” and is here now (see the clickable tabs at the top of this page). “Coming Up…” will give news of up-coming meeting topics and speakers, and will be posted on this site as soon as we receive the information. No more waiting for the newsletter to find out.

Also posted will be other up-coming events deemed of interest to GOGS members. The Genealogy & Land Records Symposium to be held in Lincoln, NE, is an example of the kind of events we will be informing members of. If anyone knows of an event they think would be of interest to society members, please post your information in the comments section at the bottom of this page. After your information has been approved, it should appear on the page within a few days. Naturally, once an event has occured, information for that event will be removed from this site.

2009 Spring Workshop Coming!

When: April 25, 2009
Place: Nebraska Methodist College, 720 N 87th St, Omaha, Nebraska
Time: Doors will open at 8:15am. Worshop begins at 9:00am and runs until 4:15pm
(For complete information and to register for the workshop, download the “Workshop Brochure Spring 2009″ by clicking in the blue download box at the bottom of the sidebar.)

This year’s annual Spring Workshop features Roger P. Minert, professor at Brigham Young University in Utah. Roger will be discussing the following topics:

Civil Records in Germany
This presentation is an introduction to the identification and location of civil (vital records) for towns and cities in Germany (with borders as of 1871). The emphasis is on the types of records available in specific provinces during specific periods of time. The discussion features major historical events and developments associated with the civil registry system in Germany from the beginnings to the present. Handouts include bibliographical data on civil record inventories available in the LDS Family History Library.

Communicating with Agencies and Individuals in Europe
Because not all vital records are available on microfilm in North America, many researchers find it necessary to communicate with churches, civil registrars, and private individuals in Europe. There are many challenges to such communication, and this presentation will guide novices and experts alike in overcoming such problems. Emphasis is placed on the locating of names and addresses, language considerations, payment of fees, etc. Attention is also given to telephone and telefax communications–an increasingly efficient way to obtain assistance in Europe.

Church Records in Germany
This presentation is an introduction to the identification and location of church (vital records) for towns and cities in Germany (with borders as of 1871). The emphasis is on the types of records available in specific provinces during specific periods of time. The discussion features major historical events and developments associated with the keeping of vital records in Germany. Handouts include bibliographical data on church record inventories available in the LDS Family History Library.

Avoiding “Self-Defeating Behaviors” in German Family History
Novices as well as experienced family history researchers tend to commit pattern errors (“self-defeating behaviors”) and thus hinder or stymie their own progress. Such errors include over-estimating ones capabilities, relying without question on research done by others, fear of or over-reliance on computer technology, and believing family legends that may well be inaccurate. This presentation features examples for each of the “self-defeating behaviors” in an attempt to assist the audience in recognizing and overcoming these problems. This presentation also lends itself well as a banquet or luncheon speech.

Roger was born in Nebraska, but has also lived in Utah, California, and Ohio. He has spent three years in Germany and one year in Austria. He earned a B.A. in German at BYU, a M.A. in German literature, and a Ph.D. in German language history and second language acquisition at Ohio State University. He is the author of more than seventy books and articles on German family history research and German pedagogy. He was also a private contractor in family history for twelve years.

NARA “Request Pertaining to Military Records” form

NARA standard form 180, “Request Pertaining to Military Records”, is available for downloading on this site. Go to the blue download box in the right-hand side bar.

Omaha Marriages now online

Click [here] to visit our new site, Omaha Marriages and Anniversaries. This will probably be a slow work-in-progress, as we will be giving priority to our Omaha Obits site. However, there are currently over 11,000 listings on the site. The number of newlyweds is about half that, however, because each couple is listed twice. Example: John Doe married Jane Smith. You would find the couple under “D” and under “S”. Helpful if you only know the last name of one of them. 

Colorful “Omaha Newspapers” Chart

Now Available for Download

Society member Karen Tippets, whose microfilm extraction work is responsible for most of the almost 120,000 listings that appear on the Omaha Obits  web site, has put together and made available for download, a colorful ”Omaha Newspapers” chart. This horizontal bar chart is in PDF format, and lists all 48 newspapers that have been published in Omaha since 1852 to the present. The chart also shows the years that each of the 48 papers were in publication. (Trivia: Omaha’s first newspaper, the “Western Bugle”, was in business from 1852 to 1853.)

To download this chart, go to the blue download box at the bottom of the sidebar on this page.

New Addition to Omaha Obits site

Thanks to society member Mike Warne, the Omaha Obits site has a new feature: Omaha Funeral Homes. This listing covers every funeral home in Omaha from 1866 to the present. This list shows Firm Name, Address, From-To (years of business), and Former Firm Name (if any).  Omaha was officially incorporated by the state legislature on February 2, 1857, and the first funeral home made its appearance 9 years after that.