The Villages Genealogical Society
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Upcoming Monthly Program
 
October General Monthly Meeting
Savannah Center or Online via Zoom
Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024 / 10:00 a.m.
Featuring:   Annette Burke Lyttle
 
Annette Burke LyttleTopic:  A Deeper Dive into Family Search
FamilySearch has millions of records. Putting a name in the search form only gets you a small percentage of their indexed records. Beyond that, they have unindexed collections and other digital materials that will never show up in a general search. Learn how to dive deeply into FamilySearch's record collections and come up with amazing finds.
 
Speaker's Bio:  Annette Burke Lyttle owns Heritage Detective, LLC, providing professional genealogical services in research, education, and writing. She speaks on a variety of genealogical topics at the international, national, state, and local levels and loves helping people uncover and share their family stories.
 
For more details, and to register to attend, visit our Coming Events listing.
 
 
 
 

 
 
Admission to in-person meetings of The Villages Genealogy Society
is limited to VGS members and paid guests.
You must be a resident of The Villages, FL for membership.
 
 
 

Upcoming Events
October 15, 2024
10:00 am
Let's Talk Genealogy: Members Only Event
We are looking for all levels of VGS members. Come and share with us about your latest research successes or about a research challenge you're ...

October 17, 2024
12:00 pm to 1:30 pm
Northeastern Genealogy SIG Meeting – Special Session
  SPECIAL SESSION We will be meeting in the Genealogy Section of the Leesburg Public Library. At noon, Dusty Hill Matthews, Library Adult Services Supervisor, ...

October 18, 2024
11:00 am to 12:30 pm
Scandinavian Genealogy SIG Meeting
  Topic: TBA Coordinators:  Per Andersson & Kris Petersen-Gauthier  

October 21, 2024
1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
Best Practices SIG Meeting
  Coordinators: Annette Burke-Lyttle & Pat Adams Topic: Digitized Books & Manuscripts   The SIG accepts new members throughout the year, but those who join ...

October 22, 2024
2:00 pm to 3:50 pm
Midwest SIG Meeting
  Topic:  Immigrants in the Midwest This session will include group sharing and Co-Chair presentations. Coordinators:  Lynn Hall & Karen Pickelsimer  
Facts and Tips
Both Civil Registration and Census Returns run out when you get back to about 1840, and rarely provide information relevant before 1800. At this stage you need to turn to Parish Records: These date back to the mid 1500's. Cromwell, at the Court of Henry VIII, ordered that every wedding, baptism and burial should be recorded.
[Church Records]

Have any other records been destroyed? Yes! In 1896 fire damaged the 1890 supplemental schedules of crime, mortality and pauperism and other special classes. Any remains were later destroyed by order of The Interior Department.
[Census]

“Sometimes the buyer never returned to the courthouse to retrieve the now-recorded document. The original deed of your ancestor’s property may be in that old box marked “original deeds” or “unclaimed deeds” on the top shelf, gathering dust."
[Court Records]