NORTHERN ARIZONA
           GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY    
   (NAGS)

      P.O. Box 695
                 Prescott, AZ 86302       
 
Monthly Programs

Unless otherwise noted, programs are held at the LDS Church, 1001 Ruth Street, on the fourth Saturday of the month at 2 p.m.  The doors open at 1:30 p.m. for social time. Please park at the rear of the building and enter through the double doors in back.  This facility is handicap accessible. ​We will be meeting in Room 20.  The meeting is free and open to the public. 


​2018 Program Schedule 
26 May 2018 @ 2:00 p.m.- Death Certificates
Death might seem a strange place to begin an ancestor search, but the documents produced at the end of a life can offer a summary of that family member.  All true?  Only research and documentation can prove that life.  Come join Barbara Wich as she shares the process of approaching an ancestor's life from the perspective of their death.  A few research reminders will be discussed along with an extensive list of documents a person's death might create. She will emphasize death certificates and some of the hurdles in analyzing their contents.  Please bring distressing or curious death certificates for discussion with the group.
        
28 April @ 2:00 p.m. - "Mining the Census."   The United States collects a decennial (every ten years) census mandated by Article I, Section 2 of the United States Constitution, which states:  "Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States ... according to their respective Numbers ... .  The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years."  To protect respondents' privacy, decennial census records are confidential for 72 years.
The Federal Census is the bedrock of genealogical research.  From 1790 through 1940, the U. S. census is an easily accessible public record that allows one to trace people through time and space.  From 1790 until 1850, the census only named the head of household, but counted others in the household by gender and age brackets.  Since 1850, entire households are listed with answers to an astonishing array of questions regarding financial and social issues of interest to the demographers of that time.  In addition to the federal population schedules, censuses in the late 19th century also included agricultural and industrial schedules to gauge the productivity of the nation's economy.  Mortality schedules taken between 1850 and 1880 captured a snapshot of life spans and causes of death throughout the country. 
Come join Raylene Junkins Hiatt as she unwraps the magic of mining the federal census for over 150 years of unique American records.  Our census follows migration patterns, social and household changes, and the financial ups and downs of your families.  Raylene, an early member of NAGS, is an experienced genealogist with a passion for family history.
 

24 March @ 2:00 p.m. --  A Common Thread  - Textiles played an important part in the lives of American colonists.  Estate inventories indicate that bedding and bed curtains were among the most highly valued possessions, exceeded in value only by land, buildings, and, in rare instances, wrought silver."  A Common Thread reveals that we all descend from weavers.  From the Stone Age to the Middle Ages, spinning and weaving innovations took different paths across cultures and continents.  Making thread and cloth was at the core of European economies for centuries.   In Colonial American, weaving was a vital skill that required the whole household’s efforts.  Their equipment and methods are familiar to modern hand weavers.  Textiles played a central role in both the American and Industrial Revolutions and to migration patterns through the 1800s.  Three generations of one immigrant family demonstrate the path from Scottish mill mechanic to an American “family of experts in the manufacture of textile fabrics.” Although hand weaving supposedly ended with the Industrial Revolution, hand weavers today use new materials and computers in their craft.
Mary Kelly is a member of the Mountain Spinners and Weavers in Prescott and the Midcoast Weavers in Maine.  She always knew she would weave, but couldn’t explain why.  Family genealogies and D.A.R. records document two lines of her family, however, by exploring other branches of her family tree, she unraveled the thread to her “weaving gene.”               Common Thread Handout

24 February   Richard Norman will join NAGS to discuss and answer questions of how family history charts and books are handled and printed at A&E Reprographics.  Anyone considering displaying a professionally printed family tree chart or publishing a genealogy book will gain insights into the processes of commercial printing in the Quad Cities area.  Knowing what formats are necessary may save time as you organize your project.  Mr. Norman will bring examples of some printed genealogical projects.

January 27   John Thorne, a member of NAGS, will relate the exciting history of the “The Boston Tea Party and The Last Surviving Member.”  The Boston Tea Party of 16 December 1773, was a key event that lead to the American Revolutionary War.  The "last surviving member" was David Kennison who allegedly died at the age of 115 in Chicago on 24 February 1852, having married 4 wives and fathered 22 children over his long life.  After the Boston Tea Party, David participated in numerous battles during the Revolutionary War and later the War of 1812.  He was granted a government pension for his military service.  Ripley's Believe It or Not featured David Kennison in its 1976 bicentennial Book of Americana.  His life is also documented in other more authoritative (historical) publications.  David Kennison is the speaker's 4th great-grandfather, hence John Thorne is keenly interested in the Boston Tea Party and has done extensive genealogical research on this particular participant.

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23 June @ 2:00 p.m. -- ​

25 August @ 2:00 p.m. --

22 September @ 2:00 p.m. --

27 October @ 2:00 p.m.


05/28/2018