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Webmaster: 
Robert Ridenour
Last Update:
14 Mar 2019

Dues Are Now Overdue

At the August 2016 MCGS Board meeting, it was noted that the current dues structure was failing to keep pace with the expenses. It was then decided to increase the annual dues.

Individual/Family/Institutional dues will henceforth be $25 per year, Patron dues will be $35 per year, and The Life Member dues will be $300.

The last dues increase occurred in 2002.

NEW EMAIL ADDRESS

August 8, 2019

Dr. Silas Hamilton, His Freed Slave, George Washington,

and the First Free School in Illinois

by

Beth McGlasson

Dr. Hamilton and his slave, George Washington, whom he freed, founded the Hamilton Primary School, in Ottrville, Illinois, in 1835. This school was Illinois’ first free school and the country’s first integrated school. The two men created a trust to fund a school “… that it shall be open to all classes of people and denominations of Christians.”

Beth McGlasson will tell us how this extraordinary event occurred in rural Jersey County, thirty years before the end of the Civil War and slavery and 120 years before Brown v. Board of Education, the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that ended segregation in public schools.

Beth is a local historian and Vice President of the Jersey County Historical Society. She and her husband, Dennis, have spent nearly a decade researching and documenting local cemeteries. She also co-wrote Lunch Pails & Pigtails: Jersey County’s One-room Schools and the Students Who Attended Them.

September 12, 2019

Ancient Indian Culture and Artifacts, Part 2

by

Cherie Kuhn

Cherie will be talking about the Mississippian period and the Mound Builders, plus arrowheads and tools of those periods.

Ms. Kuhn graduated in 1968 from Livingston High School.  She worked at SIUE Lovejoy Library for 28 years.  Her hobbies are horses, playing piano, travel, reading, genealogy, and hunting arrowheads. She is a member of the Silver Creek DAR Chapter, Archaeology Society of Illinois, and Cahokia Mounds Society.

No Meetings Yet Scheduled for the Following Dates in 2019

If you have something you would like to see presented or you would like to make a presentation, please contact the president, rwridenour@wildblue.net and we will try to accommodate your wishes.

MCGS Board Meetings

MCGS Board meetings are held at 2:15 pm in the small conference room on the lower level of the Edwardsville Public Library on the last Monday of January, April, July, and October. The dates for 2019 are:

MCGS Facebook Page

The Madison County Genealogical Society has a Facebook page.

The address is: Madison County Genealogical Society of Illinois

Publication Sale!!!

The cost of the 1880 Federal Census has been reduced to $35, as long as the current supply lasts.

We have a NEW Mystery Photo. Check it out.

Stalker Needs Articles

The Stalker is in dire need of articles. We need input from all members.

Send your contributions to Mary Westerhold at mtwjrw7@yahoo.com

UPCOMING EVENTS

Madison County Pioneer Certificate.

If you are a direct descendant of an early (prior to 1880) resident of Madison County and can supply documented proof, you can obtain a certificate stating that fact. You would also be eligible if your ancestor was living before 1812 in the area that became Madison County. (When Madison County was originally formed, it reached to the Canadian border).

The fee for each certificate application is $20.00. One certificate is included in the fee and will be mailed after eligibility has been determined. Application fees are not refundable.

Brothers, sisters, children, or grandchildren of the applicant who wish to apply at the same time as the original applicant also need to fill out an application. Their documentation need only show direct relationship to the original applicant. These additional applications include one designated certificate each. The fee for additional certificates is $10.00 each.

If you are interested in applying for a Madison County Pioneer Certificate, click here. for an application and instructions.

A New Cemetery Web Site

Have you heard? You can now view over 55,000 photos of tombstones from 78 cemeteries in Madison, Macoupin, Jersey, and Greene counties free online! Also included are photos of the Smallpox Island Confederate POW Memorial in West Alton, Missouri, and of cemeteries in Leelanau County, Michigan. For more information, click here.

Archaic Medical Terms

If you are having trouble determining what your relative died from, you might want to consult http://www.archaicmedicalterms.com to see if a definition of the medical terminology is given.

[From the Texas Research Rambler Genealogical Group]

Mystery Photos

We have been asked about some place to post unknown photographs where they can be viewed by others and perhaps the subject(s) can be identified. We have added a "Mystery Photographs" link to the MCGS home page. If you can identify any subject in any photograph, please send an e-mail to the address given with that photograph.

If you have any photographs you would like to have added to the "Mystery Photographs" pages, please send them to me at rwridenour@wildblue.net.

Digital Scrapbooking

On October 11, 2012, Lola DeGroff presented a program on Creating a Digital Scrapbook.

Lola had a handout that leads you through the steps of creating a scrapbook page and exporting it as a JPEG. It then leads the user through the steps of uploading the pages and having the scrapbook printed. If you would like a copy of this handout, it can be downloaded or printed here.

Troy Times-Tribune Looking for Information

On Thursday, May 31, 2012, the Troy Times-Tribune ran an article under the title of Down Memory Lane. This article included a photograph of The Blackjack Band. Only four out nine members of the band were identified. If you know anyone who ever played in The Blackjack Band, perhaps you can help identify the "unknowns." Click here to see the article.

GIFT MEMBERSHIPS AVAILABLE

Do you have a family member that is interested in (or even obsessed with) genealogy? A membership in the Madison County Genealogical Society would be a very thoughtful gift. A gift card will be sent to the recipient of any gift membership.

The following memberships are available:
Individual/Family Annual Membership $25.00
Patron Annual Membership $35.00
Life Membership $350.00

Contact our Secretary, Petie Hunter, at petie8135@att.net, about a gift membership.

Now Available and Taking Orders

The Ten Year Stalker Index, 1991-2000, is complete; and we are taking orders for either a printed copy, 330 pages, for $45 or a copy on CD for $15. The CD copy is searchable using Adobe Reader.

A new Ten Year Stalker Index, 2001-2010, is complete; and we are taking orders for either a printed copy, 304 pages, for $35 or a copy on CD for $15. The CD copy is searchable using Adobe Reader.

To place an order contact Petie Hunter, at petie8135@att.net.

Visitors are always welcome. 

Goals of the Society

To encourage and educate persons in the study of family history and research methods.
To preserve genealogical and historical record.
To inform people of the importance of collecting, preserving, and circulating genealogical literature.
To promote research, publish, and circulate genealogical records and information . 

To further these goals, the Society maintains a genealogical library room in the Edwardsville Public Library, holds workshops, invites guest speakers on topics relevant to genealogical research, and publishes genealogical records.

WE INVITE YOU TO RESEARCH YOUR ANCESTORS WITH US! 

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