BIGWILL Meetings (Maps & Schedule)
British Interest Group of Wisconsin and Illinois
Where and when we meet:
BIGWILL’s meetings are held at:
The Community Church
5714 Broadway St.
(two blocks west of U.S. Route 12)
Richmond, Illinois
10am until noon on the third Saturday of the months of
January, March, May, July, September and November.
Visitors as well as members are always welcome. Refreshments are available for a donation at each meeting.
Getting to the Church On Time (village map)
“A” on the map above marks the location of the Community Church
Marching toward Richmond (area map)
Upcoming meeting dates and topics:
16 September 2017: “Mapping the Past: Navigating Your Family History with Maps” will be presented by Daniel Hubbard.
Dan looks at different types of maps and how to use them to understand your ancestors’ towns and migrations, changing borders and extracting data and even names from maps.
18 November 2017: The speaker will be Maureen Brady; topic TBA
20 January 2018: A recorded webinar on colonial immigration is planned
17 March 2018: “Irish Resources” will be presented by well-known regional speaker Maureen Brady, a professional genealogist, owner of Bare Roots Genealogical Services, and the president of BIGWILL.
For those whose family origins are in Ireland, family history research has “taken off” during the last several years, with many records and indices now available on the Internet. This presentation will review many of the websites and the resources which are now available to assist you in your Irish family history research.
19 May 2018: A two-session live webinar by Thomas MacEntee is planned
21 July 2018: A program by Daniel Hubbard is planned
15 September 2018: A program on “UK/Irish Roots Online” is planned
17 November 2018: A program on medical genealogy is planned
Handouts from some earlier BIGWILL meetings:
Photo Retouching in Genealogical Research, by Larry L. Pepper (17 March 2012). Handout (4 pages)
Quaker Family History Research, by Maureen Brady (18 May 2013). Handout (4 pages)
The First Frontiersmen: The Scots-Irish, by Maureen Brady (18 May 2013). Handout (4 pages)
Using National Archives Administrative Records For Genealogy, by Joan Kitchen Murray (16 November 2013). Handout (2 pages)
Being Legal: Citing Sources and Following Copyright Laws, by Ann Wells (15 November 2014). Bibliography (1 page)
Skeletons in our Closets: Researching a Family Scandal / Some Sources for Online Historical Newspapers, by Robin B. Seidenberg (16 July 2016). Bibliography (2 pages)
Preserving Family Heirlooms, by Tina Beaird (17 September 2016). Photo Preservation booklet (7 pages); Preserving Family Heirlooms (14 PowerPoint “slides”); Preserving Family Heirlooms booklet (5 pages)
Scotland’s Resources: There’s More to Scottish Research than Scotland’s People, by Tina Beaird (20 May 2017). Scotland’s Resources / Searching Beyond Scotland’s People (25 pages, 25 MB!); Scottish Genealogy Bibliography (1 page)
Scottish Chain Migration to Illinois: Three Case Studies, by Tina Beaird (20 May 2017). Scottish Chain Migration to Illinois (5 pages)
Mapping the Past: Navigating Your Family History with Maps, by Daniel Hubbard (16 September 2017). Mapping the Past (2 pages)
What would you like to hear about? What would you like to talk about?
BIGWILL is always on the lookout for program ideas, and
Roger Higgs
is our chief scout. Have you taken a trip to England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man? If so, consider giving a presentation to BIGWILL about what you saw and did. Have you heard a good talk at some other society’s meeting which was related to British Isles research? Or do you just know a topic you’d like to learn more about, even if you don’t know who could give a presentation on the topic? If your answer is “Yes” to any of these questions, help put Roger hot on the trail of another BIGWILL meeting topic. You can contact him by
e-mail or in person at almost any BIGWILL meeting.
You can make a difference!
Want to be reminded of what programs BIGWILL has had in the past?
Click here to view a listing of all programs from its very beginning through mid-2012.
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This site is maintained by Rollie Littlewood
This page was last modified on 20 September 2017