May Program information

From Tony Young:

In May's program Rody Johnson will speak about two of his recent books: Different Battles and The Rise and Fall of Dodgertown. Different Battles is about local residents who rescued some crew from a vessel that was torpedoed by a German U-boat right off our coast! The second book tells of the fate of our baseball lore. This will be chance for folks to learn more of our wonderful and wild community. Here are the covers of the tales.

Upcoming FPAN Event Thurs. 4/22

(Click image to view it in full size)

Richard H Olney, 2000 president of IRGS, passed away April 17, 2010

Richard Henry Olney, President of the IRGS in 2000, passed away on April 17, 2010. He was 87 years old. At the request of the family, services will be at a later date. Click the title of this post to access the funeral home's web site for the most current details and to access the guest book.

Spring training

In honor of spring training and Dodgertown, the March "Society News" item on each web page at IRGS.org features the colors Dodger Blue (1E 90 FF) and Spring Green (00 FF 7F).

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NSDAR Genealogy Workshop

Date: Tue, Mar 2, 2010 at 9:57 AM
Subject: NSDAR Genealogy Workshop

This is a reminder about our Genealogy Workshop this Saturday. We need help to set up for the 10:30 meeting, so if you are able to help, please come at 9:30AM. (Bring extra pencils.)

Genealogy Workshop
Researching Your Revolutionary War Patriot Ancestor



Date: Saturday, March 6, 2010
Time: 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM
Place: Indian River County Main Library Media Room
Cost: Free
Contact: Joan Mercer 231-3854 or Mary Rogers 231-0713

Debie Duay, Ph.D. has over ten years of experience in genealogy. She is the Lineage Research Chairman for the Florida State Society DAR and the Registrar of the Lighthouse Point Chapter. Debbie has helped over 90 people join the DAR in the last 4 years.

NOTE: Not sponsored by the IRGS. This blog entry is provided as a courtesy to our members. Please check with the sponsoring organization for exact details and the most current information.

Member Share Tip - Feb 2010

Heard during the Member Share segment of the February 2010 meeting:

For someone who wants to preserve those old homemade movies or VHS tapes, you need video capture all-in-one device or a capture device, cable and software. Google: convert vhs to dvd for a variety of solutions.

Several companies package the software and cables: Magix "Rescue Your Videotapes" or Roxio "Easy VHS to DVD" [also does records]. There are also several video tutorials online. Here is one: http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Convert-Old-VHS-Tapes-to-DVD-75782271

submitted by Sandy McKenny

Member Share Tip - Jan 2010

Heard during the Member Share segment of the January 2010 meeting:

Sandy McKenny told us about a Roots Television segment from 2006, entitled "File not Found: Organizing your Computer," with Amy Johnson Crow. Click the link to play the video.

F&CHS march meeting

NOTE: Not sponsored by the IRGS. This blog entry is provided as a courtesy to our members. Please check with the sponsoring organization for exact details and the most current information.

GSSB March 10, 2010 meeting announcement

NOTE: Not sponsored by the IRGS. This blog entry is provided as a courtesy to our members. Please check with the sponsoring organization for exact details and the most current information.

Saving a Life - Your Family's Health History

From IRGS President Tom Garvey's December 2009 newsletter column:

[A] very interesting presentation was given by Donna Moughty at the Nov FSGS conference titled "Saving a Life - Your Family's Health History". If you recall, last month I talked about the emerging importance of Family Health and the natural tie-in with Family Genealogy. My message was to get your information now while older generations are still with us so we have it in the future. Donna showed us a Family Health Pedigree Chart. She pointed out that this was extremely useful in providing your family doctor with a visual snapshot of your medical background which is present in your genes. Granted, not all doctors have the background to understand or appreciate such a chart. BUT, particularly with the younger doctors, doctors with the understanding will be delighted with this information and will be better able to guide you to better health management.

Sounds interesting but how can we do it? The Department of Health and Human Services under the U.S. Surgeon General's History Initiative has a web site http://www.hhs.gov/familyhistory/ which walks you through creating your own Family Health Pedigree Chart. The information that you provide is not stored on line; it is only stored on your computer. This is a very sensitive issue with many people. You already have your genealogy pedigree chart so you have the people information. The web site has a list of 15 diseases with several sub divisions to help you put in the information. They have a different symbol for each disease which is then used to create your Family Health chart. It does take time but it seems very straight forward. Just go to the web site shown above and click on "My Family Health Portrait".

Let us know if this is of interest to you. If enough interest is shown, we will try to arrange a program with Donna Moughty. Donna is a fine lecturer and we had her last year talking about Irish Research. She has created her own family Health Pedigree Chart and has used it with her own doctor. As many of us are learning, the key to good health is finding the problem early. Many diseases follow family or regional lines.