Tuesday, October 30, 2018

November Joint Meeting of CCGS and Falmouth GS to Feature Two Presentations by Judy G. Russell, JD, CG, CGL

Mark your calendar to join us for the annual joint meeting of the Cape Cod Genealogical Society (CCGS) and the Falmouth Genealogical Society (FGS) on Saturday, November 10, 2018, at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, 421 Wianno Ave in Osterville. The featured speaker at this year's meeting will be The Legal Genealogist Judy G. Russell, JD, CG, CGL.

Ms. Russell will be giving two presentations; the first is entitled "Finding the Law". Genealogists need to look at the law at the time and in the place where a record was created. Misunderstanding the legal context may make us miss records critical to our research or miss clues hidden in the records. But with 50 states and the federal government all passing laws, finding the law is easier said than done! The tips presented in this lecture will help us understand the legal system and then find the right law for the record we're working with. The second lecture is entitled "Facts, Photos, and Fair Use: Copyright Law for Genealogists". Materials and records created by others are the bread-and-butter of genealogy. But whether copyright law allows use of old photographs, reports and articles can be murky at best. Staying out of trouble requires understanding what's copyrighted and what isn't, when and how copyrighted materials can be used, and how to handle issues that arise.

Judy G. Russell
Judy Russell is a noted genealogist with a law degree and her objective as The Legal Genealogist is, in part, to help folks understand the often arcane and even impenetrable legal concepts and terminology that are so very important to those of us studying family history. Ms. Russell holds credentials as a Certified Genealogist and Certified Genealogical Lecturer from the Board of Certification of Genealogists where she currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees. She is a member of the National Genealogical Society, the Association of Professional Genealogists, and several state genealogical societies.

Optional Lunch: Lobster roll lunch with chips, brownie and beverage - $15, or chicken salad roll with chips, brownie and beverage - $9. Please make lunch reservations absolutely no later than Nov 3 by contacting Judy Fenner at bfennerpgm@comcast.net or at 508-776-9401 (leave message if no answer), and please specify lunch choice.

Monday, October 1, 2018

Digitization of Cape Cod Newspapers Subject of October Meeting

Researching Newspapers: Cape Cod and Beyond


Electronic Access to Historic Cape Cod Daily Newspapers 


Newspapers of the past can be highly useful to genealogical researchers, and many are already indexed or are now in the process of being digitized. Births, marriages, deaths, as well as baptisms, funerals, and social events can sometimes be discovered. 
On Cape Cod, historic editions of  The Barnstable Patriot have been digitized for the years, 1830 -1930, and have been available through the Sturgis Library website  In 2017, a digitization project began to digitize another, equally important, newspaper, The Register, which started publication in 1836. The current project, funded by a Community Preservation Grant is scheduled to be completed in early 2019.
On Tuesday, October 16, at our monthly CCGS meeting, Lucy Loomis, director of Sturgis Library, Barnstable, Thersa Carter, an independent researcher and writer, and the project coordinator, Dave Martin of CCGS, will present a special preview of the project underway. During their presentation, they will demonstrate how to conduct a search for genealogical information, which will include sample questions from the audience. Please bring examples of an ancestor or event that you would like this team to search. 
The combination of the Patriot and the Register will be a powerful source for all who are doing research on Cape Cod ancestors, from the early 19th century forward.

Please join us
                                               Tuesday, October 16, 2018, at 10 AM
                                                         Brewster Ladies Library
                                                         Rte 6A, Brewster, MA. 

Socializing and refreshments will be available at 9:30 AM. 
Due to Fire Department room occupancy regulations, only the first 100 people to join us will be admitted to this event. 

Due to limited parking spaces behind the Library, and out of respect to their regular patrons, we request that attendees of our meetings, please park in the parking lot extension behind the Baptist Church.

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