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Bucks County
Genealogical Society
April 2015 Newsletter
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PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Greetings to all BCGS Members and Friends,
Spring is finally here in Bucks County, and our members are busy planning their summer research trips. Remember, if you haven't physically visited and researched in the places where your ancestors lived, your research isn't complete! Many important records are not online, and can only be found in local repositories. And, the first thing we should do when we find an ancestor in a new location, before visiting in person, is to find out all we can about that place: its history, its records, and its geography.
So the speaker's topic for our May meeting is perfect timing: "Researching Your Ancestor's Locality", presented by professional genealogist Michelle Tucker Chubenko. Come and learn before you go!
Our April meeting at the Council Rock High School library was a terrific success, for those who were able to find us! The school happened to be holding its own event at the same time, which presented challenges. The workshop format allowed attendees to do their own research, while being coached by more experienced researchers. Many new discoveries were made, which was extremely satisfying for all!
Please hold the date: the Ninth Annual Bucks County Ancestry Fair will be held on Saturday, 19 September 2015, at Bucks County Community College. A very special "Main Event" is being planned for that day - more details to come!
I'd also like to take this opportunity to tell you how truly fortunate I feel to have you all in my life, especially during this very difficult winter for me personally. I wish you the very best in your researching!
Warm Regards,
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10:00 AM-12:30 PM
at the David Library of the American Revolution
1201 River Road, Washington Crossing, PA
(Park behind the building and use the Conference Center entrance)
Researching Your Ancestor's Locality
presented by
Michelle Tucker Chubenko
Design your own research guide using local histories, maps, gazetteers and other local resources to discover the social history of your family.
About the speaker: 
Michelle Chubenko is a professional genealogist who researches families in the Mid-Atlantic states, Oklahoma/Indian Territory and those with Ukrainian ancestry in Poland. Her blog, JerseyRootsGenealogy, focuses on research in the Garden State from colonial settlement to current day. As coordinator of Nashi Predky (Our Ancestors) on Facebook and Google+, Michelle has created the first interactive virtual communities for researchers with Ukrainian ancestry. She has attended GRIP, IGHR, and SLIG and is a ProGen17 graduate.
The meeting is open to the public. Cost for members is $5 and for non-members it is $10.
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REFRESHMENTS ARE NEEDED FOR THE MAY 2ND MEETING
Can you help for this meeting or a future meeting?
 If you are a member and bring refreshments to a meeting, the meeting fee is waived. If you are a non-member and bring refreshments, the meeting fee is reduced from $10 to $5.
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GenGophers.com is a new website that went online March 3, 2015. If you are looking for a genealogy book, there are more than 40,000 fully searchable and downloadable available on this site
for free!
The new GenGophers website searches only genealogy books. The site makes its money by showing ads and surveys but it is worth the slight annoyance of the ads and surveys to search the site.
The books are out-of-copyright works that have been digitized by Family Search and most were published before 1923. For the best way to search, look at the site's FAQ section.
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9th Annual Bucks County Ancestry Fair
September 19, 2015
The Ancestry Fair will be held
at Bucks County Community College in Newtown. A kick-off meeting was held on Saturday, January 31st, and several sub-committees and chair persons were established. The committee met in February, met again on April 18th and plans are developing for a terrific event!
The sub-committees are:
Sub-Committee Chair Email
We need your help to make this a successful event. If you can help, please contact the sub-committee chairperson by email or speak to her/him at the next BCGS meeting.
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4,765 MORE RECORDS HAVE BEEN ADDED TO OUR SEARCHABLE DATABASE
The latest additions to the database as of 4/20/15: Baptisms, marriages, burials and church memberships from the Salem Reformed (UCC) Church of Doylestown, 1861 - 1952.
The database now contains:
23,511 birth and baptism records
16,910 marriage records
83,492 death and burial records
20,647 other miscellaneous records
263,744 total searchable names
Your feedback is welcome! Please email Nancy Heath at
[email protected] with your comments.
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The Cemetery Assessment Project (CAP) is almost finished.
There are only 54 cemeteries for which CAP forms are still needed;
and with your help, we'll finish this project by April 30th!
You don't need to go to the cemetery...just check this
cemetery list, pick a cemetery in your neighborhood, and complete the CAP.
Most of the information can be found on the Internet or by calling the cemetery management company or nearby church.
Complete as much as you can - don't worry about trying to fill in everything on the
CAP form
- and return it to Joann Cosgrove at
[email protected]
We appreciate your help! Thank you.
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BCGS BOOKS & RECORDS
Lots of books and records have been donated to BCGS and our volunteer, Roxan Schneider, brings them to many of our regular meetings at the David Library so that you may browse through them
It is great to add things to our collection
, and it may be possible to put some of the information on our database. This 1914 directory was
donated to BCGS on April 11, 2015 by Carol McGowan. The photo on the front of the directory is the 1914 Bucks County Court House in Doylestown.
So if you have books or documents in your attic or closet and don't know what to do with them, check with Joann Cosgrove, our VP Projects & Research,
to see if it is something that we may add to our collection. Joann's email address is [email protected].
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SEVERAL QUERIES!
At the BCGS meeting on April 11th, there were a couple of queries that we couldn't answer. Maybe you can help solve these problems. Please look them over and send your suggestions/help to these folks.
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Lizz Cooper is hoping to find information about a Bethlehem PA record: 19 Nov 1868, Com vs John Flood & Daniel Breidenbach, conspiracy to defraud Anna Flood. Please contact
[email protected]
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Tom Kaechelin is looking for the parents of George W. Hubbard, born 1822 in Doylestown, died Dec 1895 in Easton PA. Please contact
[email protected]
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Debbie Mackey is looking for Northern Liberties (Philadelphia) information about a terrible rail/buggy accident for John E. Stiles, confectioner, 1820 to 17 Sep 1854. Please contact
[email protected]
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Jackie Ricotta asks if anyone has New York newspaper access (Rochester Democrat, Chronicle, Times Union) to look for information about a car accident in the late 1940's or 1950's about Sam J Ricotta, born 25 Mar 1914, Rochester, NY. Please contact
[email protected]
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A QUERY FROM THE UK
We have received the following query from a UK researcher for
Who Do You Think You Are:
I am researching the Best family. I have records of a Humphrey Best being one of the first to settle in Kentucky in 1775; his son Isaac Best then moves to Missouri and builds Best's Fort along the Missouri river in Montgomery County. I am really interested to find out more about Humphrey Best (1740-1814) and where he was before Kentucky, and who his father was in the hope to trace how the family came to America. There are a few secondary sources that say Humphrey Best was born in Pennsylvania in 1740. Some sources list a John Best as Humphrey's father while there are also records of a Humphrey Best Sr buying land in New Castle Co., Delaware in 1701. I am looking to find any records of John Best's or Humphrey Best Sr's children to see if we can work out who Humphrey Best's father was. Humphrey Best was born 1738-1740.
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BEGINNERS CORNER
Searching on FamilySearch.org sometimes gives more records than you want. Click here to get instructions to narrow your search:
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COMPREHENSIVE EVENTS CALENDAR
Click the link for a listing of upcoming genealogy events for our organization and others in our area:
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Have you looked at our Facebook page?
Cathy Ivins, BCGS Director of Publicity, posts great genealogy information almost every day. Click here and take a look...
www.facebook.com/bucksgen
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Do you have a query about a Bucks County ancestor, and don't know where to send it?
If you would like an answer from our Query Coordinator, Tom Myers, please send your query to Tom at
[email protected]
If you would like the query published in a BCGS newsletter, please send your query (or comment) to VP Membership, Pat Gessner, at
[email protected]
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Membership Fees for One Year Membership
Individual: $20 Dual/Household: $35
Organization: $75
Our membership fees help to pay for speakers, facility rental, website costs, insurance and more. Membership in BCGS is on a rolling basis and lasts one year from the month you join. Won't you join and help us continue to grow?
Member Benefits - with more to come:
- Discount on Society educational programs and events.
- Members can have their surnames posted on our website with a link to the member's email address.
- Members-only section of the BCGS website. Participate in discussion forums, share files, photos, and information with other members; see members' favorite genealogical websites and contribute your own.
- Meeting handouts are available to members unable to attend the Society's regular monthly meetings.
- Free scanning of documents is available by appointment.
- GenealogyBank: 20% ($14) discount - members may subscribe for $55.95 per year.
- Fold3: 37% ($30) discount - members may subscribe for $49.95 per year.
- Saving Memories Forever: 12% discount - members may receive a one-year premium subscription for $35.00.
- FindMyPast: 50% discount on annual membership
- Dell purchase program: provides discounts on products sold through the Dell website to FGS member societies' members, their families, and their friends. BCGS is a member of FGS (Federation of Genealogical Societies) and the discounts are available to our members.
Join or renew by mail using our
membership application/renewal form
, on line on the Society's website via PayPal or by paying with cash or check at our next meeting. And, we now have the ability to accept credit card payments at our monthly meetings!
If you have questions and to get access to the above discounts,
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More information about us:
Members only...join our Members-Only section of our website. Registration information available at: Login - Bucks County Genealogical Society
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BCGS 2015 BOARD MEMBERS
President Christine Roberts
Vice President - Membership Pat Gessner
Vice President - Programs & Education Jeff Sipler
Vice President - Projects & Research Joann Cosgrove
Secretary Mary Butash
Treasurer Marguerite Mogila
Director - Public Relations Cathy Ivins
Director - Website Nancy Heath
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