March 2023 Business Meeting
2023-03-15 16:30 - 18:00 (America/New_York) | Florida
The Amelia Island Genealogical Society board and officers meet monthly to handle the society business. AIGS membership is welcome to attend.

Video call link: https://meet.google.com/pfk-tyhq-zveOr dial: (US) +1 346-908-0731 PIN: 722 543 807#More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/pfk-tyhq-zvepin=6838325626893

Genealogy or History? Collaborative Research in Action
2023-03-21 19:00 - 20:30 | Fernandina Beach Library, 25 N 4th St, Fernandina Beach, FL, 32034, United States
Come join us on 21 March 2023 at 7:00pm in the Fernandina Branch Library community room. Carol Clay, Past-President of the Southern Genealogist Exchange, Inc. will present “Genealogy or History? Collaborative Research in Action” where she will discuss two Jacksonville families research while extolling the benefits of the collection at the Southern Genealogist Exchange office on Sauterne Drive in Jacksonville. She will also share the history of the 58-year-old family research nonprofit, and will talk about their more than 6,000 books, periodicals, and magazines, as well as a collection of maps, family histories, and over 100,000 obituaries from Jacksonville and the surrounding regions.

Carol Clay

Carol Clay retired from the St. Johns County School System after 19 years. In her role as a paraprofessional she held many positions in administration and student instruction. She has been a member of the Southern Genealogist’s Exchange Society since 2014. Carol has served on the Executive Board of SGES since 2015 in various positions including President.

April 2023 Business Meeting
2023-04-12 16:30 - 18:00 | Florida

How to Convert Old Photographs, Slides, & Videos into Digital Formats
2023-04-18 19:00 - 20:30 | Fernandina Beach Library, 25 N 4th St, Fernandina Beach, FL, 32034, United States
Cherished memories deserve special care and preserving them for future generations is essential. We invite you to join us on April 18th, 2023, at 7:00 PM in the Fernandina Branch Library’s community room for an informative session on converting photographs, slides, and videos into digital formats that can be treasured for a lifetime.

Whether you’re looking to undertake the conversion process yourself or seeking reputable companies for assistance, understanding the basics of format and resolution is crucial. Our discussion will cover essential equipment for do-it-yourself enthusiasts, outsourcing options, and anticipated costs.

It is widely recommended to maintain three copies of each digital file as a safeguard against unforeseen events such as fires, floods, thefts, or computer crashes. As such, we will explore the pros and cons of various storage solutions, including personal computers, USB flash drives, external backup devices, and cloud storage services.

Speaker: Jo Lichten

Dr. Jo

Jo loves life! In her professional life, Dr Jo is a PhD nutritionist and wellness expert who speaks at company meetings and national conferences, helping professionals keep their energy and productivity up through small shifts in the way they eat, sleep, move, and think. She spends her spare time traveling with her husband, practicing yoga on the beach, working on quilts, playing with her young grandkids, and preserving all those memories. She’s kept photo albums for 50 years. While originally using peel-and-stick albums, about 15 years ago she converted to stunning digital-to-print albums. When Jo’s dad passed, she and her brother-in-law worked to digitally preserve and organize the 14,000+ photos and slides he left behind – and then shared them with each of her eight siblings.

Library Committee Meeting May 2023
2023-05-01 14:00 - 16:00 | Fernandina Beach Library, 25 N 4th St, Fernandina Beach, FL, 32034, United States
Bi-monthly meeting of the library committee which has responsibility over the genealogy collection at the Fernandina Beach Branch library.

May 2023 Business Meeting
2023-05-10 16:30 - 18:00 | Florida

The Catholic Church Going West
2023-05-16 19:00 - 20:30 | Fernandina Beach Library, 25 N 4th St, Fernandina Beach, FL, 32034, United States
Bob Frey

After the Revolutionary War, farmland was becoming scarce for the large Catholic families of Southern Maryland. When they heard the stories of the richness of Kentucky, the first area west of the mountains that opened up to mass migration, many of these families decided to move there.

Join us to listen to this month’s speaker, Bob Frey, who will tell us how he traced his ancestry back to the Catholics who established colonial Maryland, then later migrated to Kentucky and beyond. His ancestors settled the historic, western Kentucky Catholic settlement of Fancy Farm and helped build the St Jerome Church. Frey will discuss his ancestors’ arrival in Maryland from England in the 17th century and subsequent migration to Kentucky in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

June 2023 Business Meeting
2023-06-14 16:30 - 18:00 | Florida

Researching Your Family Tree? The Library Can Help!
2023-06-22 18:30 - 19:30 | Fernandina Beach Library, 25 N 4th St, Fernandina Beach, FL, 32034, United States
This month’s program, facilitated by the AIGS Library Committee, will showcase the Genealogy Room of the Fernandina Beach Branch of the Nassau County Public Library, which has an extensive collection of books of interest to family history researchers. The AIGS library contains over one thousand volumes, including genealogy magazines. The main focus is on local history, colonial history and ‘how-to’ books about genealogy, but it also has a large collection of military books, as well as books covering research in many states and countries.

Join us and learn about the actual collection and how to locate materials in it.

Please note the different day of the week and starting time!

Library Committee Meeting Jul 2023
2023-07-10 14:00 - 16:00 | Fernandina Beach Library, 25 N 4th St, Fernandina Beach, FL, 32034, United States

July 2023 Business Meeting
2023-07-12 16:30 - 18:00 | Florida

Looking for Your Ancestors? Try the Free Ancestry Library Edition
2023-07-22 10:30 | Florida
This month’s program will be a unique opportunity to learn about the use of the online subscription to the Ancestry Library Edition (ALE). Participants will be given the opportunity to use this free resource during an online workshop in the Library’s Computer Lab. If you bring your own device, you may use the library’s free Wi-Fi to access ALE. ALE contains resources like censuses, vital records, family histories, military records, court and legal documents, immigration records, directories, photos, maps and more.

This is the second program in a series to showcase the resources of the AIGS and the Nassau County Public Library System. The AIGS provides partial funding for the subscription to ALE.

Attendance is free and open to the public.

August 2023 Business Meeting
2023-08-09 16:30 - 18:00 | Florida

The "Rosin" Fall of Turpentine in Nassau County
2023-08-15 19:00 - 20:30 | Florida
Turpentine was a ubiquitous ingredient in American household products including paints, medicines, soaps, lamp oil, ink, lubricants, hair spray, and cosmetics, just to name a few. Pine trees would be tapped for sap and resin which was used in the production of making turpentine.

Join us to listen to John Hendricks, Director of the West Nassau Historical Society, who will explore the economic and social impact the turpentine industry had on the development of Nassau County. He will take you on a remarkable hundred-year-long journey from the first turpentine still founded in the late 1850s through its heyday at the turn of the 19th century to its waning years in the 1940s and 1950s.

Library Committee Meeting - Sep 2023
2023-09-11 14:00 - 16:00 | Fernandina Beach Library, 25 N 4th St, Fernandina Beach, FL, 32034, United States

September 2023 Business Meeting
2023-09-13 16:30 - 18:00 | Florida

Florida Pioneers, Settlers and Builders
2023-09-19 19:00 - 20:30 | Fernandina Beach Library, 25 N 4th St, Fernandina Beach, FL, 32034, United States
The Florida State Genealogical Society’s Florida Pioneer Descendant Certification Program honors descendants of Florida pioneers who settled in Florida prior to statehood on 3 March 1845, and settlers & builders of Florida who settled in Florida between 3 March 1845 and 31 Dec 1900.

Speaker Judy Frey will be discussing the different types of certificates available through this program and will provide instructions to guide descendants through the steps to prepare their application and the related documents. She will also highlight the various resources of records available on Florida counties.

Judy Frey

Judy Whitter Frey is retired from the State of Florida, Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services and broke ground as the first civilian woman selected as a Special Agent for the Naval Investigative Service. She earned a B. A. in History from Jacksonville University and an M. B. A. in JU’s First Executive Master of Business Administration class.

Judy currently serves as Vice-President of the Amelia Island Genealogical Society. She started researching her family ancestry in the 1970’s. On 31 January 2016 she received Florida Pioneer Descendant Certificates from the Florida Genealogical Society.

Download a PDF of Judy’s Presentation

October 2023 Business Meeting
2023-10-11 16:30 - 18:00 | Florida

Graveyard Chronicles: Stories of Life, Love, and Legacy
2023-10-14 09:00 - 17:00 | Bosque Bello Cemetery, 1321 N. 14th St., Fernandina Beach, Florida, 32034, United States
Have you always wanted to know who resides at Bosque Bello Cemetery?

The guided tour at Bosque Bello Cemetery, presented by the Amelia Island Genealogical Society and the Amelia Island Museum of History, offers a unique chance to learn about the lives and stories of notable past residents of Fernandina.

You will be escorted to 8 different gravesites where Costumed Interpreters will share the tales of these individuals (including one or two who are actual relatives).

Here are some key details about the event:

● The tour is on Saturday, October 14, 2023, from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.● Tickets are $25 per person● The tour is expected to take approximately 1 ½ hours.● Please be aware that due to the terrain at Bosque Bello, the tour might not be wheelchair accessible or suitable for those using walkers.

Tours presented in partnership with the Amelia Island Museum of History.

Purchase Tickets

Deeds: An Insider's View
2023-10-17 19:00 - 20:30 | Fernandina Beach Library, 25 N 4th St, Fernandina Beach, FL, 32034, United States
Join us on October 17 at 7pm in the Community Room at the downtown Fernandina Beach branch library for a virtual presentation by Susan Well from the Genealogical Society of Sarasota. She will reveal what information to expect from a deed, how to extract the relevant facts from the mostly unfamiliar wording and how to interpret the land description. Susan Well has twenty-five years’ experience in real estate sales and appraisal and will share how you can use the nature of the land records’ office to your advantage when approaching the personnel who work there, either in-person or online.

Public welcome!

Library Committee Meeting - Nov 2023
2023-11-06 14:00 - 16:00 | Fernandina Beach Library, 25 N 4th St, Fernandina Beach, FL, 32034, United States

November 2023 Business Meeting
2023-11-08 16:30 - 18:00 | Florida

Ancestors Road Show and 2023 Annual Meeting
2023-11-21 19:00 - 20:00 | Fernandina Beach Library, 25 N 4th St, Fernandina Beach, FL, 32034, United States
The Amelia Island Genealogical Society will hold its annual meeting at 7:00 PM on Tuesday, November 21, 2023 at the Community Room of the Fernandina Beach Public Library, 25 N 4th St.

Following the election of officers and approval of the budget for the next year there will be time for our popular show-and-tell, a.k.a. the “Ancestor Road Show”. Members are invited to bring heirlooms, photographs, scrapbooks or other items for general display, and give a short (3 minutes) verbal presentation on these items.

If you wish to share a story with us, though, please let us know well in advance by writing to programs@aigensoc.org

Public welcome.

Annual Meeting Information:

2023 Bylaws Proposal

2024 Proxy Form (Please vote by proxy for the 2024 slate of candidates and 2024 budget if you cannot be present at the meeting. There is a quorum we must meet.)

2024 slate of candidates

AIGS budget for 2024

December 2023 Business Meeting
2023-12-11 16:30 - 18:00 | Florida

2024 Beginning Genealogy Classes
2024-01-06 09:30 - 12:30 | Fernandina Beach Library, 25 N 4th St, Fernandina Beach, FL, 32034, United States
Amelia Island Genealogical Society (AIGS) will conduct its annual Beginning Genealogy Course on six consecutive Saturdays, beginning 6 January 2024. All classes are held at 9:30am and end before 12:30pm in the Community Room at the Fernandina Beach Branch Library. The cost of $50 for 1 person or $85 per couple which includes a one-year Annual membership to the society and a manual. The cost to existing members is $25. Class size is limited, so please register early. To register, contact Patti Millage at 503-819-4561 or membership@aigensoc.org.

History of Agriculture in Nassau County
2024-01-16 19:00 - 20:30 | Fernandina Beach Library, 25 N 4th St, Fernandina Beach, FL, 32034, United States
Join us for a fascinating presentation on how the region’s agricultural sector persisted, despite serious challenges, and continued to contribute significantly to the county’s economy by the late 20th century.

Commercial agriculture in Nassau County dates back to the 18th century when a highway was constructed from the northern colonies to St. Augustine, leading to the establishment of plantation systems. After the Revolutionary War, Nassau County was transferred back to the Spanish, who re-established plantations, initiating the first land boom. In the 19th century, the area saw battles between Americans and Seminoles, leading to the relocation of the Town Seat of Government from Fernandina to Sand Hill. The 20th century witnessed the boom of the timber and Long Leaf Pine industry, with significant developments in agriculture, marked by the introduction of County Agricultural Agents in 1915 and the growth of the truck farming industry in South Florida in the 1920s. The Great Depression and subsequent decades brought challenges, but the region’s agriculture persisted, contributing significantly to the county’s economy by the late 20th century.

David Hebert

Speaker David Hebert is an Extension Agent I in Nassau County, FL. This presentation is based on his research of a collection of historical documents.

Culloden to the Carolinas: Scottish Immigration
2024-02-20 19:00 - 20:30 | Fernandina Beach Library, 25 N 4th St, Fernandina Beach, FL, 32034, United States
Terry Talbert

The Amelia Island Genealogical Society will hold its regular monthly meeting at 7pm on the 3rd Tuesday, 20 February 2024, in the community room at the Fernandina Branch Library. The public is invited to join us!

The brutal Battle of Culloden on April 16, 1746, was the conclusion of the Jacobite Rebellion that sought to replace George II with his Scottish (and Catholic) kin of the Stuart line. The subsequent proclamation by the Duke of Cumberland, aiming at the devastation of the Jacobites, led to a wave of exiled Highland Scots looking for a new life in the Americas, in particular in the Carolinas. This program covers the events before, during and after the battle, as well as the assimilation and migratory paths of the Scots in the United States. It will conclude with a look at their situation today, and at the prospects for Scotland’s freedom and independence from England.

Speaker: Terry Talbert

Terry Talbert holds undergraduate degrees in Architecture, French and English with a Masters in English and a MBA. She is currently tracing her Scottish and French ancestors. As a novice genealogist, she is learning with every discovery.

FamilyTreeMaker - Special Interest Group
2024-02-24 13:00 - 15:00 | Florida
We will hold the first meeting of the FamilyTreeMaker special interest group on Saturday, February 24, 2024. This meeting is a virtual meeting, and the information to log in can be found below. I do ask that you register for the group at the following web page if you haven’t already.

Register Here

This initial meeting will provide a great opportunity for you to get a better look at the software if you haven’t already purchased it. We will also discuss the new 2024 version of the software to be released soon. Additional checklist items will be future meeting frequency, dates, and times.

Handout with discount link

Google Meet joining info:

Video call link: https://meet.google.com/fxy-zoxq-hza

Or dial: ‪(US) +1 475-441-4687‬ PIN: ‪203 451 978‬#More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/fxy-zoxq-hza?pin=9781738250016

Writing Your Ancestors Life Story - Special Interest Group
2024-02-25 19:00 - 21:00 | Florida
We will hold the first meeting of the Writing Your Ancestors Life Story special interest group on Sunday, February 25, 2024, from 7pm-9pm. This meeting is a virtual meeting, and the information to log in can be found below. I do ask that you register for the group at the following web page if you haven’t already.

Register Here!

Google Meet joining info

Video call link: https://meet.google.com/sgm-weum-fgb

Or dial: ‪(US) +1 502-482-5847‬ PIN: ‪860 342 572‬#More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/sgm-weum-fgb?pin=9892049417407

FamilyTreeMaker - Special Interest Group
2024-03-16 14:00 - 15:00 | Florida
We will hold the next meeting of the FamilyTreeMaker special interest group on Saturday, March 16, 2024. This meeting is a virtual meeting, and the information to log in can be found below. I do ask that you register for the group at the following web page if you haven’t already.

Register Here

All participants have some basic tasks that should be completed before this meeting.

Purchase FamilyTreeMaker 2019 if you haven’t already. Anyone who is newly purchased should receive an opportunity for a free 2024 upgrade when it debuts later this year. For a discount on your purchase, please use read the following: Handout with discount link.

Once you have purchased your copy of FTM 2019, please install it on the computer of your choice.

Video List to watch:

Getting Started with FamilyTreeMaker

Customizing Family Tree Maker? Having it your way!

If you are updating from a previous version: FTM2019 Before Installation. Always remember to BACKUP your tree first in your old version of FTM !!!

Google Meet joining info:

Video call link: https://meet.google.com/fxy-zoxq-hza

Or dial: ‪(US) +1 475-441-4687‬ PIN: ‪203 451 978‬#More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/fxy-zoxq-hza?pin=9781738250016
