Meeting Schedule

Morris Area Genealogy Society meetings are held the first Tuesday of the month, from September through May, at the Morris County Library, 30 East Hanover Ave., Whippany, NJ. Refreshments are served at 6:30; the program begins at 7:00. (Directions to the Library)
A list of our past monthly programs, since the startup of MAGS in 1988 through 2013, can be found here.
In addition to its regular meetings, MAGS also sponsors Special Interest Groups.

2018 - 2019 MEETING SCHEDULE

4 Sept 2018

Writing Family Histories People will Want to Read: Helen-Chantal Pike
Helen-Chantal Pike will be leading a WORKSHOP on writing family histories.

Helen-Chantal Pike lives on the hyphen between her father's Yankee culture and that of her Parisian-born mother. A career journalist and photographer, Helen is the author of 10 books of history, including the award-winning "Asbury Park's Glory Days: The Story of an American Resort" for Rutgers University Press. Within those pages readers can find 60 mini-memoirs of individuals Helen coached into telling their unique stories of living, working, and playing in one of New Jersey's more fabled seaside destinations. In 2011 she helped musicians write their recollections for a companion anthology to the Smithsonian Institution's traveling exhibit "New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music" when it opened in Asbury Park. She currently lives on the northern Connecticut River between Vermont and New Hampshire.

2 Oct 2018

DNA Testing -- What Is It? Is It Worth Doing? What Could It Do
For Me?: Dave Marr
The author has tested his DNA, and his wife's, and many cousins and has learned a number of lessons. Join David Marr as he describes the various kinds of DNA testing, what each is good for, why choose one over another, and the kinds of research questions that you can tackle with DNA. This introductory talk includes actual genetic genealogy findings, and points out a few common pitfalls. The presentation will cover the topic fairly broadly, and introduce the audience to the burgeoning field of genetic genealogy.

Dave retired from Bell Labs in 2002, and has been busy on genealogy projects since 2006. He has done much research on a large German immigrant family that arrived in the New York metro area in the 1850s, on a large Scots-Irish family in southwestern PA (that stretches back to before the Revolution). and a German family that
arrived in Minnesota in the 1870s. DNA testing has confirmed much of this work, and he has given a number of talks and seminars on his investigations. Dave is a member of several genealogy societies in the locales that he is researching, and he has at times regularly attended meetings of two local NJ organizations, the Family History Interest Group (FHIG) and Morris Area Genealogy Society (MAGS).

6 Nov 2018

Genealogy Resources at the Newark Public Library: Tom Ankner
The Newark Public Library (NPL) is one of the premier research institutions in New Jersey. The Library's collection of materials related to New Jersey history and genealogy is unmatched.
Tom Ankner of NPL's Charles F. Cummings New Jersey Information Center will introduce you to the Center's holdings that are most relevant to genealogy research. Included will be information about newspapers, city directories, photos, maps, clippings files, and other useful resources. Tom will also talk about the Library's new and growing digital archive, available at digital.npl.org.

Tom Ankner has been a librarian for 25 years, working in both public and corporate settings. His time spent as a researcher at ABC News and USA TODAY imbued him with a thrill for the hunt, searching for that elusive nugget of information that must be found quickly.
Since 2010, Tom has been a librarian and archivist at The Newark Public Library, working with patrons doing research on genealogy and New Jersey history. He is currently president of the History & Preservation section of the New Jersey Library Association, and secretary of the Newark Preservation and Landmarks Committee.
Tom is also a professional genealogist, assisting clients with research into their New Jersey ancestors. He has experience using the resources of the State Archives, State Library, Rutgers' Special Collections, and numerous other repositories around the state. He was a trustee of the Genealogical Society of New Jersey from 2014 to 2015.

4 Dec 2018

Annual Holiday Party. Members Only
Come share in the fun! We’ll hear stories from members and draw for turns at the gift exchange table. If you can, please bring a treat to eat/share and an item to give away at the “gift exchange.” Such items may be items potentially of interest to a genealogist— books that you’re finished with, genealogical periodicals, reference CDs, etc.

1 Jan 2019

The library is closed on New Years Day, which is when our regularly scheduled
monthly meeting would have occurred. No meeting today.

5 Feb 2019

FamilySearch Forum: Linda Mathew and Susan Kehr
Two experienced genealogists will show how to get better results from your research on the popular (and free) website FamilySearch.org.

- Linda Mathew will show best ways to use the Catalog and how to “browse” wills and land records to find what you are searching for.

- Susan Kehr will explain the best search practices and tricks and introduce the many helps on FamilySearch in the Research Wiki and in the Learning Center.

5 Mar 2019

Solving Difficult Cases: Tony Lauriano
Most of us will eventually encounter a “brick wall” or two in our family history research. Popular instructor Tony Lauriano will demonstrate the thought process and research skills necessary to tackle difficult problems.

Esteemed genealogist Tony Lauriano has been teaching and lecturing on family history topics since 2007 all over the tri-state area, in his “second life” after retirement.

2 Apr 2019

Perfect Together: Facebook & Genealogy: Michelle Chubenko
Over the decades genealogists have communicated with fellow researchers using whatever tools were available, from newsletter queries to online message boards. Enter the 21st century and 'social media'! Learn tips and techniques to use the newest genealogical tool -- Facebook -- from document translations to research questions to connecting with family. Michelle will show you how to effectively use Facebook for your genealogical research without getting lost in your newsfeed or overrun by notifications. You will learn about joining Groups and following Pages for your areas of interest, whether it's a specific ethnicity or a geographic area, and learn tips for managing your level of interaction.

Professional genealogist Michelle Chubenko has over 27 years’ experience in researching families in New Jersey, Maryland, SW Virginia, and Oklahoma/Indian Territories, plus European countries such as Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Poland, Austria, and Germany. Ms. Chubenko is the founder and lead researcher of JerseyRoots Genealogy and blogs at https://jerseyrootsgenealogy.wordpress.com.

7 May 2019

Finding Family in Online Newspapers, One Character at a Time: Janeen Bjork
This presentation is for Genealogists of all levels. It will include a brief lesson on OCR (optical character recognition, the technology that allows newspapers to be indexed and searched online), an overview of some of Janeen's favorite newspaper websites, and examples of stories that took extra effort to uncover. Participants will learn the tips and techniques that others have used to break through brick walls and to get better-acquainted with their ancestors.

Janeen Bjork has combined her 30 years of experience as a television researcher and presenter with her love of family history. Her methodology for locating hard-to-find newspaper items was developed as she uncovered 130 widely-varying accounts of the 1894 murder-suicide that left one of her great-great-grandfathers dead in Syracuse, New York. Her popular "Newspapers for Genealogy" classes, workshops and presentations in CT, NY and MA, have helped others research their families.

There are generally no meetings in June, July and August.