President’s Message for May 2022

We were treated to another entertaining presentation in March by Chip Kirkpatrick as he shared his passion of metal detecting and presented examples of historical finds he has discovered in the vicinity of Nassau County. The good news for those who were unable to attend the presentation is Chip has a YouTube video of a similar presentation that you can watch at your convenience.

Speaking of video’s, May’s speaker will be presented via teleconferencing. While we had several teleconferenced meetings during the Covid shutdown, we have not had one while we were doing in-person meetings. For our membership, this is one of those meetings you really need to see. We’re bring to you Drew Smith, one of the two who make up the Genealogy Guys podcast show. Drew will show you how to use Cluster Research (aka FAN Club) to get around the brick walls in your research. FAN is an acronym for Friends, Associates, and Neighbors. Genealogists have learned that most ancestors relocated from one location to another as a group, not by themselves. I wrote about FAN research or Cluster Research in the February 2019 edition of Geneline where I also provided various tutorials you could watch. This method of research remains one of the best tools in the chest for solving brick walls. Come on out and join us at the Fernandina Branch Library on 17 May at 7pm!

AIGS Website Development

The website has made several large strides over the past month. A search has been developed which now allows you to search the entire website including most databases at once. You will find it on the home page, though I included it below for your convenience while reading this. Try it out!

The Nassau Genealogist

Jean Mann is providing digital copies of The Nassau Genealogist which are being placed online the website in an html version so that they can be searched within the larger website search. This is an ongoing project and will take time before the almost 30 years of TNG can be placed online. This feature is available only for members of Amelia Island Genealogical Society. Come join us! The Nassau County Genealogist Online Table of Contents

The first issue of the Nassau Genealogist dating back to January 1994 has been published online and it includes a history of the Pigeon Creek Baptist Church, various obituaries from the Florida Mirror, and a pedigree chart of Carlyle F. Alexander. The 1864 Census of Fernandina which was prominently featured in several of the early editions of TNG is already available on the website in database format.

A History of Nassau County, Georgia

This material was written and compiled by Workers of the Writers’ Program of the Works Projects Administration in the State of Florida, Sponsored by the Florida State Planning Board. It’s a seven-part series which provides a history of Nassau County (primarily Fernandina) from it’s discovery by Europeans up to the publication in 1940. You can read about it here: A History of Nassau County

The Families of Nassau County, Florida

I would like to introduce to the AIGS research on families of Nassau County, Florida. Because I am not related to anyone who has ever resided in Nassau County, Florida, I can pick from all of the past residents to feature. I research them, collect all the material I can find on that specific family unit, and provide their genealogical and historical information on our website. I would like to create a group of researchers, who will comprise a Research committee, to conduct the research, record it, and write about it. Members can contribute to any part of the process! If you like to do genealogy research, want to give back to the Amelia Island Genealogical Society, and/or are completed with your own genealogy research, consider joining this committee! Just contact me!

I hope to see you at our meeting on the 17th!

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