Madison County Genealogical Society

Minutes of the Meeting – March 12, 2020

The March 2020 meeting of the Madison County Genealogical Society was held at the Edwardsville Public Library on Thursday, March 20, at 7:00 pm.

President, Robert Ridenour, called the meeting to order.

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 $300.00

Contact our Secretary, Petie Hunter, at [email protected], about a gift membership.

March Meeting

 

On March 12, 2020, Mary Westerhold presented a program titled Searching the Sacramental Records of the Springfield, Illinois, Catholic Diocese.

 

The Sacramental Records of the Springfield, Illinois, Catholic Diocese were recently added to Ancestry. Since many of these records are in Latin, some of the searches can be a challenge. Mary presented some tips and tricks to find your ancestors. Her presentation follows:

 

Counties included in the Roman Catholic Springfield, Illinois, Diocese:

Adams, Bond, Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Christian, Clark, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Douglas, Edgar, Effingham, Fayette, Greene, Jasper, Jersey, Macon, Macoupin, Madison, Menard, Montgomery, Morgan, Moultrie, Pike, Sangamon, Scott, Shelby

 

Brief description:

·      Range of records 1853 - 1975

·      Sacramental records

·      Baptisms, marriages, confirmations, and burials are indexed

·      Published on Ancestry October 2019

 

How to Access the records on Ancestry.com:

·      Should be included in search results

·      Can go directly to the collection to search the records or browse the records of individual churches

o   Go to the card catalog

§  Click on search on the home page and select card catalog from the available options

§  Enter “Springfield Illinois” (without the quotes) in the “Title” search box

§  Click on search

§  Select “Illinois, Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield Sacramental Records, 1853-1975” from the results

 

A few things to remember:

·      Many records are in Latin and given names (first names) may be “Latinized.” Search for both versions of the name

o   A few examples: Henry - Henricus; Joseph - Josephus; Alphonse - Alphonsus; Anthony - Antonius; Edmund - Edmundus; Peter - Petrus; Margaret - Margarita; Mary - Maria; Gertrude - Gertrudis; Prudence - Prudentia; Marian - Marianna; Lucy - Lucia; Jacqueline - Jacoba

·      If a search returns results that look like duplicates, look at both records

o   Some early records were transcribed at a later date and may not include all of the information from the early records.

·      Watch for additional information on a second page

o   These records are usually from a ledger and often the record continues across 2 pages.

·      Use Google translate or another translation program

o   Online translation programs are very helpful, but make sure the results make sense! Watch for abbreviations and misspellings

·      Don't Give Up!

 

Latin Help

 

Helpful Websites:

 

Latin Genealogical Word List

https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Latin_Genealogical Word_List

To access from the familysearch.org home page:

·      At the home page for familysearch.org, click on Search

·      Click on Research Wiki.

·      Under “Search by place or topic”, type “Latin” (without the quotes)

·      Select Latin Genealogical Word List from the popup list

 

Latin in Parish Records by Alison U. Ring, Ladysmith, B.C., Canada,

https://www. genuki.org.uk /big/LatinNotes

 

Deciphering Latin Words and Phrases

https://ancestrysolutions.com/referencecentre/dictionnaires/Defslatin2.html

 

German Church Record Basics - Part 2 - Latin Records

http://matthewkmiller.blogspot.com/2014/01/german-church-record-basics-part-2.html

 

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A FEW Words and Phrases That I Found Helpful

 

Ego infra scriptus - “I have written below” - Often starts a record, especially baptism and marriage records

sepulti - buried

aetas, aetatis - age - found frequently in burial records stating the age at death

nata - born; used in baptism records for the child and also to list the maiden name of a married female, especially in baptism and death records

 

 

 

This presentation was very well received and provoked many questions and comments.

 

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