Earlier this year, DearMYRTLE hosted a WACKY Wednesday webinar featuring genealogy in Second Life.
Take a look as she explains how to create an avatar, log in to Second Life, and find your way to where the genealogists are!
Category: News
The SecondLife Virtual Genealogical Society is off to a great start already this year! We held our very first meeting of 2017 on January 8, the second Sunday of the month at 5:30pm – our regular meeting time. With bylaws, elected officers, and several dues-paying members, we’ve been able to join the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) already!
The SLVGS now has a Clubhouse just a bit away from the fire pit, with information cards in the bookcase. Just touch the bookcase and choose the information you’d like. Our bylaws, officers, and meeting minutes are currently available.
Our first new discussion group was formed as well. Anyone interested in learning about DNA and how to use it in genealogy research is welcome to attend our book study of “Genetic Genealogy in Practice,” by Blaine Bettinger and Debbie Parker Wayne. The plan for this group is to help extreme beginners get an understanding of DNA . For me, up til now, it pretty much has stood for “Don’t kNow Anything” 🙂 If you’ve been wanting to figure it out, but felt a bit overwhelmed, join us! The book is available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle edition, and through the National Genealogical Society’s website. The book study group will meet on the 3rd Sunday of each month, at 5:30 pm at the Family History Centre in SecondLife. The first meeting will be Sunday, February 19. Please read Chapter 1 prior to the meeting and come prepared to discuss, share, and learn together!
Coming up in January on our monthly calendar on Thursday, January 26 at 6pm at the Just Genealogy Fire pit, is the National Genealogical Society Quarterly Study Group, led by Ellington Sweeney. As always, everyone is invited to attend. This month’s discussion will be on Elizabeth Shown Mills’, “Frontier Research Strategies—Weaving a Web to Snare a Birth Family: John Watts (ca. 1749-ca.1822),” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 104 (September 2016): 165-190. Optional listening, Elizabeth Shown Mills, “Reasonably Exhaustive Research: The First Criteria of the Genealogical Proof Standard,” NGS 2016, F302, available at PlaybackNGS: http://www.playbackngs.com/2016-family-history-conference.
Our next SLVGS meeting will be Sunday, February 12 at 5:30 pm. We realize many people may be travelling or just plain exhausted after RootsTech, but do try to join us for our “RootsTech Rehash,” while it’s all still fresh in our memories. What were your favorite moments/classes/vendors? Come share your thoughts, or see what you missed.
The next evening, Monday, February 13, Clarise Beaumont is graciously hosting a Valentine’s Dance for the genealogists in SecondLife, at Just Genealogy. Our favorite DJ, Jaffee Gaffer, will be playing the music, and there will be prizes for best Valentines-themed costumes. Dances are great fun, and in SecondLife, everyone is a Fred Astaire and/or Ginger Rogers! Our social events like this are wonderful opportunities to get to know one another better, and share our research challenges and triumphs.
Hope to see you soon! Leave a message here or on the Genealogists in SecondLife Facebook page if you’d like more information, or need some SecondLife help.
We want to thank all the members who came to our SLVGS meeting on November 27. We had a great discussion and look forward to getting this group going.
Our officers for 2017 are as follows:
- President: Genie Weezles
- Vice President: Ellington Sweeney
- Treasurer: EmBeemer
- Secretary: MilesAMeyer
Our draft by-laws have been posted at the Family History Center in Adam ondi Ahman since August 28. We ask that everyone please review them and provide their comments prior to the next meeting on December 11 at 5:30 SLT.
SLVGS members selected our official logo. There were four logos submitted prior to the vote and all were posted to Facebook prior to the meeting. As you can see, the logo is very impressive. We also discussed having an official mascot, a slug in pajamas doing research.
We established a monthly meeting schedule with meetings held on the 2nd Sunday of each month at 5:30 SLT.
Membership dues were established and will be payable as Lindens (L$), the currency of Second Life. Annual dues will be L$1200 (approximately $5 at the current exchange rate). Instructions for purchasing L$ can be found at https://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Buying-and-selling-Linden-dollars/ta-p/700107.
Follow us online at https://slvirtualgenealogy.org/ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/GenealogistsInSL/.
We hope to see everyone at the next meeting on December 11.
Once again, our friends Dee Dee and Sherlock Aedipo will host the annual Halloween dance!
WHEN: Tuesday, October 25, 2015
TIME: 5:30 p.m. SLT (same as Pacific)
WHERE: Sherlockville – Fircairnlow
Dee & Sherlock have enjoyed creating a seasonal-themed world on their combined land at “Dee’s Retreat” and “Sherlockville – Fircairnlow,” with approx. 7,000 m2 to play on.
Upon your arrival, set your windlight to midnight to enjoy the full effect of their haunting world. Feel free to invite a guest!
You won’t want to miss the place of horrors they have created for your enjoyment:
- Visit the haunted woods!
- See the witches house!
- Shop in the Bloody Shops of Horrors!
- Relax in the gazebo!
- Visit the waterfall!
- Bob for apples!
- Tour the ghostly graveyard!
Most of all, have some fun dancing on the dance floor with dance balls provided for your entertainment! (Be sure to enable your media player.)
BONUS: There will be a Halloween Hunt on the day of the dance starting after 2:00 a.m. SLT and ending after the dance. Look for the color changing pumpkins to claim your gift inside!
In addition to the color changing pumpkins for the Halloween Hunt, there are a number of other objects around this scary world that have free gifts for the taking.
And don’t forget to check out the shops!
Dee and Sherlock have really worked hard on this, so if you enjoyed their fantastic creation, PLEASE consider dropping a donation at one of the donation boxes to help them to continue to bring you a world of fun throughout the year.
Costumes are encouraged – see you there! 🙂
With genetic genealogy becoming an essential part of the genealogist’s toolkit, the Second Life genealogists group is pleased to announce the formation of a DNA Study Group.
Beginning February 21, 2016, the DNA Study Group will meet monthly on the 3rd Sunday, at 6:00 p.m., at the Family History Centre in the Second Life virtual world. Topics will range from beginning to advanced, based on the needs of group members. All interested genealogists are welcome.
For information about this group, please contact Ellington Sweeney at sweeney.ellington@gmail.com, see the Genealogists in SecondLife Facebook page, or visit the Second Life Genealogy Group website at https://slgenealogygroup.com. Click on the “Tutorials” link for help getting started with Second Life.
October SecondLife Genealogy Newsletter
OCTOBER 2015
Greetings, Second Life genealogists and family history enthusiasts! Please enjoy this Hispanic Heritage month newsletter highlighting some useful research sites, and this month’s calendar of scheduled activities and genealogy events in Second Life. Please contact Genie Weezles either inworld, or at relativelycurious@gmail.com.
OCTOBER’S INSPIRATION:
Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classesour ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking around. ~ Gilbert Keith Chesterton
OCTOBER’S GENEALOGY RESEARCH & INFO RECOMMENDATIONS:
WEBSITE OF THE MONTH:
RootsPoint.com – a new website for genealogy information and collections. It is fee-based for the most part as far as I can see, but I think they have some free databases as well. Still, a good idea to see what the new genealogy companies are coming up with.
BLOG RECOMMENDATION:
RootsPoint – http://blog.rootspoint.com/
Check out the Fondo Colonia Collection Archival Records 1611-1821, containing the civil colonial records of the Province of Nuega Viscaya which “today consists of the states of Chihuahua, Durango, Sonora, Sinaloa and part of Coahuila”, touted to be one of the most important archival collections in North America… but you can read all this yourself, here: http://www.rootspoint.com/fondo-colonial/
TWITTER FOLLOW:
@rootspoint – I happen to know for a fact that currently the person handling their social media is a very well-respected genealogist (that rules me out J)
For more information about Genealogy events in Second Life, please feel free to contact:
(in-world): Genie Weezles, Clarise Beaumont, Ellington Sweeney.
See the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/GenealogistsInSL/
Follow us on Twitter: @SLGenealogy
And our blog: http://slgenealogygroup.com/
See the listings on the GeneaWebinars calendar: http://blog.geneawebinars.com/p/calendar.html
Or stop by Just Genealogy in SecondLife!
OCTOBER’S SCHEDULE OF GENEALOGY EVENTS IN SECOND LIFE:
Sunday, October 4
6:00pm – Family History Chat in Second Life. Join other family historians and genealogists of all skill levels for a casual discussion on the front porch of the Family History Centre in Adam ondi Ahman. Host varies, style is both Q&A and presentation. http://bit.ly/SLFamilyHistoryCentre
Monday, October 5
6:00pm – Meet & Greet in Second Life (for newbies). Meet at the Firepit at Just Genealogy for very informal meeting focusing on how to navigate and enjoy Second Life. http://bit.ly/SL_JGfirepit
Tuesday, October 6
6:00pm – Tech Tuesday will be back next month! Genie will be checking out the fall colors at a few cemeteries in New England this week.
Thursday, October 8
5:30pm – APG Second Life Chapter Meeting
The award-winning Second Life Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists Second Life Chapter welcomes all to this monthly meeting, recognizing that only members may vote. Formal presentation topics will vary. Contact in-world Gtownma Deed, Chapter President or Ellington Sweeney, Vice President. At the Just Genealogy Firepit http://bit.ly/SL_JGfirepit
Sunday, October 11
6:00pm – Family History Chat in Second Life. Join other family historians and genealogists of all skill levels for a casual discussion on the front porch of the Family History Centre in Adam ondi Ahman. Host varies, style is both Q&A and presentation. http://bit.ly/SLFamilyHistoryCentre
Sunday, October 18
6:00pm – Family History Chat in Second Life. Join other family historians and genealogists of all skill levels for a casual discussion on the front porch of the Family History Centre in Adam ondi Ahman. Host varies, style is both Q&A and presentation. http://bit.ly/SLFamilyHistoryCentre
Tuesday, October 20
6:00pm – Methodology Tuesday in Second Life. Exploring old and new research methodologies with your fellow genealogists gathering around the fire pit in Just Genealogy. Click here for information about this month’s reading.
Sunday, October 26
6:00pm – Family History Chat in Second Life. Join other family historians and genealogists of all skill levels for a casual discussion on the front porch of the Family History Centre in Adam ondi Ahman. Host varies, style is both Q&A and presentation. http://bit.ly/SLFamilyHistoryCentre
Thursday, October 22
9:00pm – NGSQ Study Group in Second Life. The Second Life NGSQ Study Group focuses on a specific article from the National Genealogical Society Quarterly monthly. Please feel free to attend even if you are a prospective NGSQ member. Co-hosted by Ironhide781 and Ellington Sweeney. October’s discussion: John Philip Colletta, “Tracking a Loner on the Move: J.W. Parberry Exposed by the Genealogical Proof Standard,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 93 (June 2005): 94-109.
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TO HAVE YOUR GENEALOGY EVENT IN SECOND LIFE INCLUDED IN THE NEWSLETTER, PLEASE EMAIL GENIE WEEZLES, AT RELATIVELYCURIOUS@GMAIL.COM
Everyone is invited to attend our next SL-APG Chapter meeting tomorrow – Thursday, September 10, 6:00 pm Pacific/SL time (8 Central, 9 Eastern).
W
e are thrilled to have Craig R. Scott, CG, speak to us on a topic he is VERY familiar with – BOOKS… He will share some of the books that he feels will help us in our research, and about the upcoming Heritage Books Cruise.
Check his website out, it is full of great books & resources.
Drop by Just Genealogy tonight for the NGSQ Study Group. What is this group, you ask? Well, it is a group of genealogists who study scholarly articles from the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, and meet monthly to discuss the evidence and methodology used in the case study. The Second Life group meets on the 4th Thursday of the month at 6:00 p.m. SLT. Tonight, in other words.
This month’s reading is: Shirley Langdon Wilcox’s “Finding a Father for Isaac Young, A Virginia Native in California,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 102 (September 2014): 177-188.
For more information, feel free to contact me in-world. I’ll be happy to send you the reading list and help you get started.
Welcome to the SecondLife Genealogists Group. We are genealogists of all levels of experience, from absolute beginners, to accredited, seasoned professionals, sharing research ideas, helpful instruction, and those ‘Aha!’ moments.
Details of scheduled events may also be found on the GeneaWebinars calendar.
Everyone is welcome to attend any of our meetings, presentations, chats or events, so please join us!
