At the October AIGS Board Meeting (10/14/21), the budget for 2022 was reviewed and adopted by the Board. The proposed budget will be presented for approval by the AIGS membership, at the Annual Meeting on November 16, 2021, 7pm (Fernandina Beach Public Library, 25 N 4th St, Community Meeting Room).
Looking ahead to 2022, it is time to renew (or restart) your AIGS membership. New memberships are welcome!
2022 AIGS Membership Renewals Read More »
Land records are considered one of the most underused resources for amateur genealogists. September’s meeting featured AIGS own land record guru, James “Jim” Shroads. Jim made a living, late in life, by digging into these types of records for his legal practice. When you find people like Jim who are willing to share their knowledge of specific types of records, you should seek them out! Jim took what could have been a difficult subject matter and brought it down to a level that we could all understand. Well done Jim! If you missed his presentation, it was not recorded. Sorry! However, he instructs during our Beginning Genealogy Classes, and Land and Courthouse Records is one of the topics, so I expect he’ll repeat this presentation during January’s classes. Speaking of which, we are now taking reservations for our 2022 Beginning Genealogy Classes! Limited to only 24 seats, these classes fill up quickly. More details can be found here: Beginning Genealogy Course – First Session. Opportunities exist in our society for members to seek out and get assistance with their family history research. From our 1,000+ genealogy book collection at the Fernandina Beach library, our general meetings featuring specific genealogy topics, to our new Special Interest Group subjects, you can find a vast array of educational opportunities to increase your genealogy knowledge throughout the year. If ever you have a question, the library committee staffs the question and answer sessions at the library, and are more than willing to assist you
President’s Message for October 2021 Read More »
Fred. W. Hoyt, president of the Bank of Fernandina (Florida) was born in Meredith village, New Hampshire, June 3, 1856, and is a son of Charles L. and Mary M. (Watson) Hoyt. After moving to Florida, he became the editor of several newspapers and established and participated in multiple business ventures in Fernandina, Florida.
Group Leader: Dennis Partridge At some point in the process of conducting genealogical research, you should desire to save and pass down to your descendants those stories you’ve discovered about your ancestors. We’re not talking BMD facts (birth, marriage, death), but who were these people, what did they do during their life, and how did they contribute to society and the world around them? With a combination of video and working through online blog posts and writing instruction, participants in this small interest group will begin the process of putting pen to paper and writing out these stories. Times and dates to be determined by class participants. This will be a virtual SIG, which means you can participate from the comfort of your home and only need an internet connection and a method to join in. If you have a question about this group, please fill out the comments below the signup form. Otherwise, if you’re interested in joining, please fill out the form and click the button to sign up. The group leader will contact you back! This SIG is open to AIGS current members only. Membership has it’s benefits! Not a member? Come join us today!
Writing Your Ancestors Life Story – Special Interest Group Read More »
Genealogists often have overlapping interests and skillsets (or lack thereof) with other genealogists. These overlapping genealogical interests and skillsets are perfect for groups of members to create a group around. We call these Special Interest Groups, or SIGs for the abbreviated shortened version. SIGs from the board. These groups can meet virtually or in person and can be anywhere from 2-12 people (you get more than 12 and they kind of defy the definition of “small”). It’s up to each group how often to meet, and when to meet. The Amelia Island Genealogical Society will support you in your interests, setting up these groups, and getting the word out to the membership. These groups are for members only! It’s one of those benefits of membership we like to talk about on the website. Each SIG sets their own dates and time for meetings, how frequently they meet, and whether to meet in person or virtually. If you’re at all interested, please register for the group on their individual pages and the group leader will get in touch with you. Family Tree Maker – Special Interest Group FamilyTreeMaker, celebrated as a leading genealogy software among our community, serves as the focus for this Special Interest Group designed for members keen on deepening their understanding and utilization of the software to craft their own Family Trees. Recognizing the diverse needs of our users, including those with the software installed on their desktops who cannot physically transport their setups to a library meeting,
Special Interest Groups (SIG) Read More »
August General Meeting Highlights I want to personally thank Prof. Keith Ashley for an outstanding presentation about the ongoing archaeological excavations on Big Talbot Island. If you were unable to attend our first in-person meeting since Covid_19, then you also missed one of the best speakers we’ve been able to schedule! If your perception of what a Timucuan village looked like back in the 16th Century is tied to Theodore de Bry’s engraving, pictured here, then you have been deceived. The excavation is showing that the depiction is largely the fanciful artistry of de Bry, where he reused features found in other tribal villages and applied it to whatever tribe he was engraving at the time. History shows us that tribes were distinct and reliant on the resources around them. Their utensils, tools, food, and homes were all dependent on the resources available. The findings at Mocama are based on three themes described by Prof. Ashley: Hereditary Leaders Ranked Clans Social Inequality Mocama is not the only dig Prof. Ashley is leading, we hope to have him back in 2022 to discuss the findings from the other excavation! July General Meeting Highlights I missed commenting about our virtual meeting held in July as I was still working on a personal family writeup, the fruition of that presentation. As we did in June, we featured a video lecture from Prof. John Philip Colletta, part of the genealogy DVD series by The Great Courses called Discovering your roots : an introduction to
President’s Message for September 2021 Read More »
A large part of our collection of genealogy books has come from people like you donating their personal collection to be placed on the library shelves of the Fernandina Beach Library in the genealogy section. The vast majority of books present are part of our collection! This collection grows each year, and the following books have been donated so far this year.
2021 Contributions to Our Genealogical Collection Read More »
We are back! I am happy to announce that we will begin in-person general meetings starting this month with a presentation by Prof. Keith Ashley of UNF on 17 August 2021 at 7pm in the Fernandina Beach Library community room. Prof. Ashley’s presentation will update us on the dig he and his team have been conducting on Big Talbot Island. While not genealogy specific, an understanding of the historical aspects of the area your ancestors lived in is important when researching. It helps us place those family facts in an historical context. Don’t have family from Nassau County? Neither do I, but I’ll still be there, as this is sure to be an intriguing presentation! Due to the active spread of Covid in our community we strongly encourage everyone to wear a mask, as we will not be able to socially distance ourselves. I am excited that the programming committee was able to book him. Great job! Speaking of committees, we are in the process of re-activating two different committees. One of the things I noticed when redeveloping the AIGS website was that the cemetery project was incomplete. It’s actually been over a decade since any group has traipsed the cemeteries of Nassau County in order to record those interred there and make a survey of all markers, including photographs. If you like to get out and walk around cemeteries then perhaps this is a good fit for you? Please contact our Vice-President James Shroads if you’d like to help
President’s Message for August 2021 Read More »
While creating the Nassau County Florida Obituaries data set the Amelia Island Genealogical Society volunteers also extracted a list of those who attended the funeral. It was hoped that genealogists could utilize this list of people to find individuals who may have been related to the decedent.
Attendees at Nassau County Florida Funerals Read More »
