Heritage Seekers

Genealogy for Genealogists: "A Refresher Course”
2022-04-25 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Chicago) | Zoom Virtual Meeting
Beginning Genealogy for Genealogists: “A Refresher Course”
by Russell Baker of Heritage Seekers
Today we literally live in a new world. What old skills do we need to refresh and what new ones do we need to learn, as we decide what new information to believe and what to be skeptical of?
RUSSELL P. BAKER, archivist, lecturer, historian, teacher, and author, is a native of Arkansas. He attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where he became a member of Phi Beta Kappa and received a B. A. in History in 1967. In 1985 he earned a M. A. degree in Public History by the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. In 2009, he retired after nearly 40 years with the Arkansas State Archives in Little Rock, where he was that institution’s Archival Manager. When he retired, he was Arkansas’s senior archivist. It’s not uncommon to have a “Russell sighting” at the archives. Over the years, he has taught history and archival courses at several local colleges and universities, including UALR and Pulaski County Technical College.
Mr. Baker the author of several award winning historical and genealogical publications. His Historical Directory of Arkansas Post Offices 1832 – 1971 and Arkansas Township Atlas are modern classics. During his professional career, he has contributed articles on genealogy, southern history, and religion to local, regional, and national publications. He is also the author of a number of articles for the online Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Over the years, he has been a frequent lecturer on modern family history research theory at regional and national genealogical conferences. He is a life member of the Arkansas Genealogical Society and has served on its board of directors for five decades. He is a past president of that organization and he has been editor of the society’s quarterly publication, the Arkansas Family Historian since 2013.
He is a member of the Vimy Ridge Missionary Baptist Church in Alexander, Arkansas, where he has served as a Sunday school teacher and church organist for over thirty years. Currently, he is that congregation’s church clerk. Russell is also a long-standing friend of Heritage Seekers and a favorite guest speaker.
April 25 chat
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Preparing to Write
2022-04-11 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
Preparing to Write
by Craig Roberts Scott
This discussion deals with the situation, the environment, the psychology and setting the mood in order to write. There is no one solution that fits all, but there are questions that you can determine the answers to, that will help you figure out why sometimes you can and sometimes you just can’t. Writing is a social activity. We write for others. Usually in solitude. Isn’t that a contradiction? Sometimes we might write for us and us alone.
Craig Roberts Scott, MA, CG, FUGA is the author of seventeen books and several articles in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, the Magazine of Virginia Genealogy and other genealogical publications. He is the President and CEO of Heritage Books, Inc., a genealogical publishing firm with over 8,500 titles in print. A professional genealogical and historical researcher for more than thirty-five years, he specializes in military records, problem-solving, Quakers, and publishing. He is a member of the Company of Military Historians and on the editorial board of the National Genealogical Society Quarterly. He is a former Treasurer and Director of the Association of Professional Genealogists.
He has been a faculty member or coordinator of research tracks in the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research, the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy, and the Genealogical Institute of Pittsburgh. He became a Fellow, Utah Genealogical Association in 2014. He is currently the Coordinator of the SLIG Guided Research and Consultation Track, helping students solve their brick wall problems. SLIG also hosts Craig as the subject (willing victim) of a lively discussion called, “Stump Craig.”
April 11 Chat
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Two Topics: GEDCOM and Calendar Confusion!?
2022-03-28 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
Two Topics: GEDCOM and Calendar Confusion!?
by Scott Lee of Heritage Seekers
#1 GEDCOM – Short for GEnealogical Data COMmunication, GEDCOM is a file format used to transfer family tree data from one system to another. It was developed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons). It is the universal method of transferring a family tree database from one program to another or to and from websites. Few people realize that it is a simple text file that is human-readable. This presentation will demystify this file type and teach you how to read it and even how to make simple edits.
#2 Calendar Confusion!? – Why was Thursday, October 4, 1582, followed by Friday, October 15, 1582, but only in some countries? Pope Gregory XIII did not invent the Gregorian Calendar, who did? George Washington was born on February 11, 1731/32. So, was he born in 1731 or 1732? Why does the date of Easter shift around, sometimes before Passover, sometimes after Passover, but rarely coinciding with it? October is derived from octo, Latin for eight, so why is it the 10th month? Did the Russian “October Revolution” really occur in November? Why does the Hebrew calendar sometimes have 13 months? These questions and more will be answered.
Scott is a retired software engineer who has been researching his family history since 1979. He has served as an officer in several genealogical societies and lectures on genealogical topics. Currently, he is a board member of the Arkansas Genealogical Society and President of Heritage Seekers. In 1995, he helped design the GEDCOM 5.5 standard for transporting genealogical data, improving its syntax to be more easily read by software and fixing several issues in date specifications. He created the calendar conversion website rosettacalendar.com and his date manipulation library is used by many software packages including PHP which is used in more than half of all websites. Scott grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, but his work took him to Indiana, Oregon, North Carolina, and New York City. In retirement, he, and his wife, Deirdre, have returned to their families in Arkansas.
His career included the medical field, engineering computer graphics, and consulting in the process of building reliable software. In retirement, he is working in the design of deep learning neural networks and software for genealogy. In his spare time, he enjoys writing science fiction, studying ancient calendars, writing free open source software, keeping up with the latest advances in physics and astronomy, and of course, researching his family history.
2022-03-28-chat
2022-03-28-calendars
2022-03-28-gedcom
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Using Kinship Networks to Solve Genealogical Problems
2022-03-14 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
Using Kinship Networks to Solve Genealogical Problems
by Dr Bill Lindsey
Historians as diverse as Peter Laslett, Gary Mills, and Carolyn Earle Billingsley have proposed that historical researchers should breach the artificial barrier between genealogy and “real” history.
In her book Communities of Kinship, Billingsley demonstrates the significance of family history by showing how a Southern plantation family, the Keesees, and their kinship network extended the cotton frontier west, moving step by step in a planned process involving back-forth communication.
In their book Plain Folk, Planters and the Complexities of Southern Society, Ricky and Annette Pierce Sherrod confirm Billingsley’s thesis and apply it to the movement of a number of families to the Red River valley region of Louisiana in the 19th century and then into Texas.
In his talk, Dr Lindsey will show how the kinship network approach of Billingsley and the Sherrods can be used to solve genealogical problems in our ancestral research.
William D. (Bill) Lindsey is a Little Rock native who holds a B.A. in English from Loyola University, an M.A. in English from Tulane University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in theology from the University of St. Michael’s College of the Toronto School of Theology. Among other published works, he’s the author of Fiat Flux: The Writings of Wilson R. Bachelor, Nineteenth-Century Country Doctor and Philosopher, which won the Booker-Worthen prize in 2014; and (with William L. Russell and Mary Ryan) A Family Practice: The Russell Doctors and the Evolving Business of Medicine, 1799-1989.
Bill maintains a genealogical blog in which his goal is to place online his research of nearly fifty years. The blog is called Begats and Bequeathals: A Southern U.S. Family Documented and is found here: https://begatsandbequeathalsasouthernusfamilydocumented.com
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Zoom Meeting – The Role Cemeteries Play in Recording Our Community Histories
2022-02-28 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
The Role Cemeteries Play in Recording Our Community Histories
by Carla Hines-Coleman & Tamela Tenpenny Lewis
The “Dynamic Duo of Black Cemetery Preservation”
This presentation demonstrates the historical significance of documenting the important roles of the enslaved, descendants of slaves and free people of color within the communities of Hensley, Woodson, Wrightsville, and Sweet Home in Pulaski County, Arkansas. It will also encourage people to protect forgotten or abandoned African American cemeteries by connecting their communities to the past through research methods using cemetery transcriptions, slave narratives, oral history, and obituaries.
Preservation of African American Cemeteries, Inc. (PAAC) was started in January 2003 by Tamela Tenpenny-Lewis and Carla Coleman, along with six other dedicated individuals throughout the state. Tamela is the current president. The desire of PAAC at the time of inception was to be a leader in preserving undocumented African American cemeteries, to work with preservation societies, cemetery associations, cemetery caretakers, etc. This goal was quickly met within the first years of operation.
In Arkansas, Tamela and Carla are passionate about endangered African American cemeteries. They have worked tirelessly over the years spreading the word about African American cemeteries and their need for preservation. The pair were featured in a documentary entitled, Silent Storytellers, featured on AETN. The Documentary explores the history, culture and importance of preserving Arkansas’s cemeteries. The documentary also demonstrates Tamela and Carla’s vast knowledge about historical preservation and the importance of documenting history. With a membership base that spans Arkansas and across the US, one would have to speak with each organization affiliated with PAAC to get a full understanding on how the efforts of these two women has changed the culture of cemetery preservation and created a renewed awareness about African American heritage in Arkansas.
Tamela Tenpenny-Lewis is co-founder and president of Preservation of African American Cemeteries, Inc. (PAAC). She has served as the national president of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society and was also a charter member and first chapter president of the Arkansas Chapter. The recipient of the AAHGS James Dent Walker Honorary Lifetime Membership Award, Tamela is also the recipient of the (AGS) Association for Gravestone Studies; Oakley Certificate of Merit and an Outstanding Achievement in Preservation Advocacy Award presented by the Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas.
Currently, she serves on the boards of the Arkansas Humanities Council and Friends of the Arkansas State Archives. She serves as the Scholarship Chair for the ASU- Strong Turner Alumni Association. Tamela is a 41-year member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. She resides in Little Rock, AR, is the daughter of Samuel & Evelyn Tenpenny, wife of Judious Lewis, and proud parent of Student Doctor, Taylor Lewis.
Carla is a retired production associate from Avaya Inc. She is a (private) genealogical and historical research consultant. Carla also serves on the boards of Oakland & Fraternal Cemeteries, the Arkansas Genealogical Society and Arkansas’ Black History commission. She is also affiliated with the Afro-American Historical & Genealogical Society, Union Cemetery Project, PAAC. Black Cemeteries Uncovered, PAAC, Compiler, African American Funeral Homes + more.
PAAC also (pre-Covid) took regular road trips to Civil Rights historic sites, etc. Both are members of Heritage Seekers.
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Brick Wall Challenge PART TWO! Stump Craig!
2022-02-07 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
Brick Wall Challenge PART TWO! Stump Craig!
by Craig Roberts Scott
“Stump Craig” is an opportunity to interact with a bonafide know-it-all, genealogically speaking. He is willing to help solve any genealogical problem. He won’t find your great-grandfather, but he can help YOU find him!
Get busy NOW & dig out your toughest, wildest, craziest, confusing, most dysfunctional, oldest, newest, dead-end, forgotten family secrets, genealogical challenges! Especially military questions! (Any war or National Archives questions)
You will be able to speak with Craig and show him your problem.
INSTRUCTIONS!
Remember time will be limited…. so make your time count! Be organized.
Feel free to share a screen with a Power Point or simply ask a question.
You do not have to sign up ahead of time and there is no deadline to sign up.
>>> People are already reserving a spot. <<<
If you know you have a brick wall to present- please sign up now (Mary’s email below) Something of a head count would be nice.
If you require coaching on Zooming, etc- contact Mary (email below)
Listen to other challenges – they will all be of interest.
Be considerate of time so others can ask questions.
This is going to be fun! Bring on your toughest questions as it is impossible to “Stump Craig!”
Any questions? Mary argardengoddess@att.net
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Find-A-Grave: How does all that information get in there?
2022-01-24 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
Find-A-Grave: How does all that information get in there?
by Richard Theilig
While we can’t possibly go over all of the ways you might use this free online resource, we can hopefully cover at least the ways you can help yourself and fellow researchers, the next time you are at a cemetery, to locate the final resting place of their ancestors and loved ones. We will try to cover how you can search, add and update grave records and photos to the database to make it easier for everyone to find a grave.
Richard has been doing genealogy for his family for the better part of the last 35 years. Much of his family tree was passed down to him from grandparents on both sides of his family. All of his extended family knows that if they have births, deaths, family documents, photos, etc… that they want preserved, they make sure it finds its way to Richard. He digitizes it and make it all available to everyone via Ancestry on a shareable online space.
Richard does a lot of volunteer work in cemeteries. He finds them to be peaceful, reflective places full of history and memories. His family has often gone on vacations specifically to visit cemeteries, whether they contain relatives known to them or not. In fact, he has been known to stop at a seemingly abandoned cemeteries along some lonely county roads just to make sure the cemetery has been recorded in the Find-A-Grave database. Most often, at least some of the markers are recorded, sometimes with photos, sometimes not. He makes it his mission to make sure these “lost” souls are recorded with the hope that their families can now find them.
Richard is a member of Heritage Seekers and associate director at Laman Library in North Little Rock.
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Zoom Meeting - Black and White and Read Online: Using Newspapers for Genealogical Research
2022-01-10 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
Black and White and Read Online: Using Newspapers for Genealogical Research
by Diana Crisman Smith
Have you enhanced your research by using newspapers? Have you found those “lost facts or people” in newspapers? Our ancestors used them extensively to keep everyone up on the latest information – births, deaths, arrests, marriages, and many other items. This presentation will discuss where to find newspapers online, with a few tricks for maximizing your time and efforts.”
Diana Crisman Smith currently lives in Cape Coral, Florida and has been researching since childhood and has served as a lay librarian at her local Family History Center for more than 20 years. She has been active as a researcher, speaker, writer and teacher since the 1980s.
Since 2010 she has written online courses on a variety of topics including: Land Records, Civil War Pension Records, Military Records, Death Records, RootsMagic, Danish Research Basics and Scandinavian Research. She currently has two courses at Lisa Alzo’s ResearchWriteConnect Academy; Using City Directories and Vital Events 101, with more to come. She has also done crash courses on her favorite Midwestern states.
She has written for numerous genealogical publications, including regular columns in the National Genealogical Society News Magazine and the Association of Professional Genealogists’ APG Quarterly and contributions to a wide range of local and national periodicals). Diana penned a genealogy column that ran for two years in the 27 editions of the Cleveland (Ohio) Sun Newspapers and is the author of Finding Your Danish Ancestors: A Primer for Research & History from Heritage Productions, Toronto, Canada.
Diana and her late husband enjoyed speaking at conferences around the country (and at sea) for the past 30+ years and she is now expanding her genealogical endeavors—speaking, writing, teaching and researching—after concluding a career in software consulting. She hopes to get back to sea for another genealogy cruise one of these days.
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Arkansas State Insane Asylum and Cemetery
2021-12-13 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
Arkansas State Insane Asylum and Cemetery
by Mike Hood
Michael Hood, Civil Engineering Manager for the City of Little Rock, will present a program December 15th for the Heritage Seekers Club virtual lecture series on the history of the State Hospital and a real-life Halloween ghost story of the fate of the old State Hospital Cemetery.
The state insane asylum was first known as the Arkansas Lunatic Asylum in 1873. The asylum treated individuals suffering from mental illness, epilepsy, birth defects, learning disabilities, and the effects of old age. Many had committed criminal offenses. All were there through a judge’s order. In those days, the treatment of the mentally ill and handicapped persons was crude by modern standards. In most cases, sedation or electric shock therapy was the only medical treatment available. Most patients remained there for the rest of their lives and many were buried on state property.
Michael Hood has been a regular program participant for the Pulaski County Historical Society since 2010. Past presentations include In Search of the Little Rock Maumelle and Western Railroad; Westward from Little Rock, Early Roads and Places; Tour of Western Pulaski County, Halstead, Pleasant Grove and Walnut Grove; Historical Firsts for the Town of Little Rock; and a Tour of the Oakland and Fraternal Cemetery. (Stay tuned for an event with Mike at Oakland in the spring)
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Zoom Meeting – Show 'n Tell
2021-12-06 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
Show ‘n Tell
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Sandwiching in History Tour: Gibb-Altheimer House (Second Gibb House) Arch Street, Little Rock
2021-12-03 12:00 - 13:00 | Facebook Live, AR, United States
Sandwiching in History Tour: Gibb-Altheimer House (Second Gibb House) Arch Street, Little Rock
December 3 – Virtual Tour – Premiere on Facebook the first Friday of each month at noon and are archived on AHPP YouTube Channel.
This house, with an impressive front porch designed as an elaborate portico topped by a triangular pediment, was designed by local architect Frank W. Gibb to serve as his own home. Completed in 1906, the house’s design was similar to the Arkansas Building, also designed by Gibb, for the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. Gibb and his wife, Mary Newton Gibb, a prominent local suffragette, would live in the home until 1911, when the home was sold to Maurice Altheimer, a prominent local financier, merchant, planter, and member of the influential Altheimer family of Jefferson County, Arkansas. Today, the house continues to be a private, single-family home.

Zoom Meeting - "Unexpected Treasure:" Using Church & Religious Records in American Genealogical Research
2021-11-22 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
“Unexpected Treasure:” Using Church & Religious Records in American Genealogical Research
by Russell Baker
Church records can sometimes be overlooked (like “where” are they?) in genealogy. Sometimes they may be the only records of birth, marriage, deaths or more for our families. Even in burned counties, church records can survive. Not to mention lost censuses or other such catastrophies. Russell Baker is an expert in exactly that (among numerous other things) Glad to have Russell back!
RUSSELL P. BAKER, archivist, lecturer, historian, teacher, and author, is a native of Arkansas. He attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where he became a member of Phi Beta Kappa and received a B. A. in History in 1967. In 1985 he earned a M. A. degree in Public History by the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. In 2009, he retired after nearly 40 years with the Arkansas State Archives in Little Rock, where he was that institution’s Archival Manager. When he retired, he was Arkansas’s senior archivist. Over the years, he has taught history and archival courses at several local colleges and universities, including UALR and Pulaski County Technical College.
Mr. Baker the author of several award winning historical and genealogical publications. His Historical Directory of Arkansas Post Offices 1832 – 1971 and Arkansas Township Atlas are modern classics. During his professional career, he has contributed articles on genealogy, southern history, and religion to local, regional, and national publications. He is also the author of a number of articles for the online Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Over the years, he has been a frequent lecturer on modern family history research theory at regional and national genealogical conferences. He is a life member of the Arkansas Genealogical Society and has served on its board of directors for five decades. He is a past president of that organization and he has been editor of the society’s quarterly publication, the Arkansas Family Historian since 2013.
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Mountain View Bluegrass Festival
2021-11-11 08:00 - 2021-11-13 17:00 | Mountian View, AR, Mountain View, AR, 72560, United States
Mountain View Bluegrass Festival – Nov 11 -13, 2021
Featuring: The King James Boys, Ralph Stanley II, Dave Adkins, Russell Moore and IIIrd Tyme Out, Kody Norris Show, SideLine, Shannon Slaughter, Gravel Yard Bluegrass Band, The Ellis Family, Spillwater Drive and more!

Zoom Meeting – Family Tree Maker: Discussion with the Pros
2021-11-08 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
Family Tree Maker: Discussion with the Pros
by Mark Olsen, Family Tree Maker Ambassador
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Sandwiching in History Tour: Historic Argenta, North Little Rock
2021-11-05 12:00 - 13:00 | Facebook Live, AR, United States
Sandwiching in History Tour: Historic Argenta, North Little Rock
November 5 – Virtual Tour – Premiere on Facebook the first Friday of each month at noon and are archived on AHPP YouTube Channel.
The Argenta Historic District in downtown North Little Rock, Arkansas, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. It is a commercial and residential area that represents the history of the growth of North Little Rock, known at one point as Argenta after local silver deposits, during the early 20th century. After a period of decline in the 1960s and 1970s, a push for historic preservation and economic development in the 1990s helped to revitalize this historic neighborhood. Join us as we explore the historic commercial core of downtown North Little Rock in cooperation with Argenta Downtown Council.

Zoom Meeting – What Cha' Waiting For? I'm Waiting For The 1950 U. S. Census To Drop In April!
2021-10-25 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
What Cha’ Waiting For? I’m Waiting For The 1950 U. S. Census To Drop In April!
by Rhonda Stewart
“The 1950 U. S. Census asked forty-two questions about the population of America and twenty-six questions concerning housing of Americans. Imagine the details you can uncover about your relatives!”
A native of the “South End” neighborhood of Little Rock, Arkansas, Rhonda C. Stewart graduated from Parkview Senior High. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Journalism with a Public Relations emphasis at Arkansas State University, Jonesboro. She has a Master’s in Public History from UALR. She is the genealogy and local history specialist with the Central Arkansas Library System’s Butler Center for Arkansas Studies for the past sixteen years. She is the daughter of Edward & Louise Stewart Shields and Louis Villery of Lake Charles, Louisiana, the granddaughter of Willie and Lillie Toombs. Her family roots date to 1895 in the city of Little Rock and 1825 in the state of Arkansas. She is a sixth generation female born to Arkansas soil.
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AGS Fall Workshop
2021-10-23
AGS Fall Workshop with Blaine Bettinger. More details to come.

Zoom Meeting – Tracking Ancestors Along the Great Wagon Road
2021-10-11 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
Tracking Ancestors Along the Great Wagon Road
by Dr. Bill Lindsy
The primary focus of this presentation will be to provide clues for those whose ancestral research is “stuck” in some region west of Pennsylvania or Virginia, but who have strong reason to believe that their ancestors came from one of those states, with roots reaching back to the colonial period. The presentation will focus in particular on families that made the trek down the Great Wagon Road from Pennsylvania to Virginia and the Carolinas, and then migrated west.
The lecture will suggest a number of approaches to bridge the gap between the period/area in which you are stuck, and colonial Pennsylvania/Virginia. The point of the presentation will not be to provide an exhaustive overview of genealogical research in Pennsylvania and Virginia, but to assist researchers who are beyond the beginning stage, as they try to push backwards to Virginia and Pennsylvania.
William D. (Bill Lindsey is a Little Rock native who holds a B.A. in English from Loyola University, an M.A. in English from Tulane University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in theology from the University of St. Michael’s College of the Toronto School of Theology. Among other published works, he’s the author of Fiat Flux: The Writings of Wilson R. Bachelor, Nineteenth-Century Country Doctor and Philosopher, which won the Booker-Worthen prize in 2014; and (with William L. Russell and Mary Ryan) A Family Practice: The Russell Doctors and the Evolving Business of Medicine, 1799-1989.
Bill maintains a genealogical blog in which his goal is to place online his research of nearly fifty years. The blog is called Begats and Bequeathals: A Southern U.S. Family Documented and is found here: https://begatsandbequeathalsasouthernusfamilydocumented.com
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Zoom Meeting – Mapping Your Ancestors’ Land in Arkansas
2021-10-11 08:00 - 17:00
Mapping Your Ancestors’ Land in Arkansas
by Caroline Shults

This is a Zoom virtual meeting. To get a link to attend, you must:
– be a paid member, or
– subscribe to our email list at https://heritageseekersar.com/subscribe/ or
– follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/heritageseekersar.club

Sandwiching in History Tour: Mount Holly Cemetery
2021-10-01 12:00 - 13:00 | Facebook Live, AR, United States
Sandwiching in History Tour: Mount Holly Cemetery
October 1 – Virtual Tour – Premiere on Facebook the first Friday of each month at noon and are archived on AHPP YouTube Channel.
Often referred to as the Westminster Abbey of Arkansas, Mount Holly Cemetery is the final resting place of many well-known Arkansans. This includes eleven Arkansas governors, thirteen state Supreme Court Justices, four US Senators, and twenty-one Little Rock Mayors. The cemetery was created in 1843, on land covering four square blocks in downtown Little Rock and includes some earlier grave markers that were moved to the site from older area cemeteries. This historic cemetery includes excellent examples of a wide variety of funerary art and iconography and is a peaceful oasis in the center of the busy city.

Zoom Meeting - Flora, Fauna and Faces: Reading Cemetery Symbolism
2021-09-27 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
Zoom Meeting – Flora, Fauna and Faces: Reading Cemetery Symbolism
by Holly Hope
Special projects chairman, Arkansas Dept of Parks, Heritage & Tourism.
A favorite speaker, Holly returns to Heritage Seekers to discuss the history of symbolism on gravestones and its evolution to the forms we see today. She will touch on the most popular forms and the meanings they convey.
Holly has worked at AHPP for 26 years. She writes articles, National and Arkansas Register nominations, assists constituents with questions about preserving cemeteries and documents historic properties around the state. She facilitates and organizes workshops in barn preservation and cemetery preservation.
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Sandwiching in History Tour: Historic Downtown Searcy
2021-09-03 12:00 - 13:00 | Facebook Live, AR, United States
Sandwiching in History Tour: Historic Downtown Searcy
September 3 – Virtual Tour – Premiere on Facebook the first Friday of each month at noon and are archived on AHPP YouTube Channel.
The community of Searcy, along the Little Red River, was selected as the original county seat of White County in 1835. Initially developed by Israel Merrick Moore, the town was incorporated in 1851. Today, the historic core is dominated by the White County Courthouse, which was completed in 1871, and includes north and south wings added in 1912. Join us as we explore the historic commercial core of downtown Searcy in cooperation with Main Street Searcy.

Zoom Meeting - Brick Wall Challenge
2021-08-23 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
Zoom Meeting – Brick Wall Challenge
The Brick Wall Challenge bloomed out of the Research Days at the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies. The Research Days are about helping people with their own research at the Butler Center. Brick Wall Challenge is about “brick walls.” We all have them. Present your brick wall for consideration and “challenge” the entire group for suggestions for what to do next, leads to new ideas, records you never thought of, regional contributions, or who knows? Hopefully, what you learn can lead to some solutions & you might even find a cousin in the process. Start preparing to present your brick wall challenge now!
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Zoom Meeting - Two topics: Google My Maps AND Pre 1850 Census Records
2021-08-09 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
Google My Maps: Visualizing Your Ancestors’ Lives
AND
Pre 1850 Census Records: Turning Tick Marks Into People
by Linda Debe, The Sleepless Genealogist
Linda Debe is full of genealogical tips, tricks & shortcuts. She will demonstrate TWO of her favorites. We are lucky to get her! A double-header! Part of the Google app package, Google My Maps gives us a way to visualize our ancestors’ lives; from migration patterns, cemetery locations, trip planning, to help decide if documents and facts are really plausible for an ancestor. Learn the basic features of Google My Maps and start visualizing your ancestors. Ever get tired of those pesky tick marks on the pre-1850 census records? Or just have no clue what to do with them? Learn how to identify the tick marks and give them names using the excel workbook Linda created.
Linda Debe lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, and has 35 years of research experience. She is a member of several genealogy societies and has attended both conferences and week-long institutes. She is currently enrolled with the National Institute for Genealogical Studies. She is the creator of the free genealogy calendar on Google (geniebugs). She has many genealogy passions, but has a love for maps and land records, after taking a few maps courses and attending the free maps webinars offered. The organization of the records she finds runs a close second. She has spoken to numerous genealogy audiences and has a Youtube channel where she creates short how-to videos.
Check out Linda’s extensive national FREE genealogy google calendar for free webinars and conferences relating to genealogy
The Sleepless Genealogist
thesleeplessgenealogist.com
Meeting Files:
Zoom meeting chat text
Handouts:
Linda Debe -Google My Maps Syllabus 30 min.pdf
MASTER Pre 1850 Census ID tick marks.xlsx
Turning Census Tick Marks into People syllabus final.pdf
Members, please login to see the video:Zoom meeting video:
0:09:30 Meeting Starts
0:12:36 Presentation
1:21:00 Questions and Answers
2:14:33 End

Sandwiching in History Tour: Reed’s Bridge Battlefield Heritage Park
2021-08-06 12:00 - 13:00 | Facebook Live, AR, United States
Sandwiching in History Tour: Reed’s Bridge Battlefield Heritage Park
August 6 – Virtual Tour – Premiere on Facebook the first Friday of each month at noon and are archived on AHPP YouTube Channel.
The Action at Reed’s Bridge, also known as the Action at Bayou Meto, was a Civil War battle fought in the fall of 1863 that resulted in slowing the advance of Union troops toward
the city of Little Rock. After the Reed’s Bridge was burned by retreating Confederate forces, Union and Confederate forces fought across the banks of Bayou Meto, a slow-moving stream in Pulaski County. The Confederate forces were able to hold back the Union southern advance for a short time; however, Union forces eventually captured Little Rock in September of 1863. Today, the Reed’s Bridge Battlefield Heritage Park is run by the city of Jacksonville with help from the Jacksonville Military Museum.

Zoom Meeting - How and Why You Should Write Your Own Story
2021-07-26 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
How and Why You Should Write Your Own Story
Presented by Deb Moore, Central Arkansas Library System
Meeting Files:
Zoom meeting chat text
Memoir-Topics.pdf (handout)
Members, please login to see the video:Zoom meeting video:
0:12:50 Meeting Starts
0:15:25 Presentation
1:03:40 Questions and Answers
1:23:00 Post-Meeting
1:41:51 End

Institute of Genealogical & Historical Research (IGHR)
2021-07-25 08:00 - 2021-07-29 17:00 | Online, United States
July 26 -30, 2021
The Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR) is an annual week-long educational institute for genealogists. It differs from a genealogy conference in that attendees register for one course for the entire week, thus allowing them to delve into a specific topic or methodology more deeply than what a typical conference might allow.
Important Dates
Saturday, 24 July – FREE FamilySearch Family History and Genealogy Virtual Expo
Sunday, 25 July at 7:00 p.m. ET – Orientation
Monday, 26 July to Friday, 30 July 2021 – IGHR classes start Monday at 10:30 a.m. and end Friday at 2:30 p.m. ET
Registration
Course registration opens Saturday, 6 March 2021 on a rolling schedule and ends for all courses at 11:55 p.m. ET (Eastern Time) on Saturday, 3 July 2021. Registration buttons are only visible when registration is open.

Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP)
2021-07-11 08:00 - 2021-07-16 17:00 | Online, United States
Genealogists of all levels will find our week-long courses of interest whether novice, intermediate, advanced, or professional. You have all been watching the news – the Covid-19 vaccine is coming! However, even though we know how you value the GRIP in-person experience, we look forward to serving your 2021 educational needs via Zoom in June and July. The 8 courses in June and 7 courses in July give you lots of subjects to choose from! The ability to take a course from anywhere you can get internet service is a boon to those at a distance or who cannot travel at this time. We will be social distancing at home while enjoying expert instruction and the camaraderie of a classroom experience.

Sandwiching in History Tour: Green Book Sites of Hot Springs
2021-07-09 12:00 - 13:00 | Facebook Live, AR, United States
Sandwiching in History Tour: Green Book Sites of Hot Springs
July 9 – Virtual Tour – Premiere on Facebook the first Friday of each month at noon and are archived on AHPP YouTube Channel.
The Green Book was first published in 1936, by Hugo Victor Green of New York City. It became an influential annual publication that helped traveling African Americans by providing information on businesses that were safe to patronize during the long period of racial segregation and discrimination across the United States in the 20th century. Join us as we explore sites associated with the Green Book in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Zoom Meeting - "Fertile Valleys and Mountain Views": The Butterfield Overland Mail Route in Northwest Arkansas.
2021-06-28 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
“Fertile Valleys and Mountain Views”: The Butterfield Overland Mail Route in Northwest Arkansas.
Presented by Susan Young, Outreach Coordinator Shiloh Museum of Ozark History
From 1858 to 1861, John Butterfield’s Overland Mail Company carried the first successful overland transcontinental mail by stagecoach through Arkansas as it went from the Mississippi River to California. Though only running from 1858 through part of 1861, it was the longest stagecoach line in world history at approximately 2,812 miles and was a major factor in the
settlement and development of Arkansas and the American West before the Civil War. Its two main routes ran through Arkansas, westward from Memphis and south from Missouri, connecting in Fort Smith.
My talk will focus on the route as it passed through Northwest Arkansas, where much of it followed the Telegraph Road, built in 1828. I’ll also touch briefly on other history that took place on Telegraph Road in Northwest Arkansas: the forced removal of Cherokees on the Trail of Tears and Civil War activities of soldiers and civilians.
Susan Young is the outreach coordinator at the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History in Springdale, a position she has held since 1994. Susan is a lifelong resident of Fayetteville and a fifth-generation Ozarker. Her Ozark history interests include traditional folkways, religion, and cemeteries. Susan serves on the boards of Historic Cane Hill, Heritage Trail Partners and the Arkansas Chapter Trail of Tears Association. In her spare time, Susan enjoys reading, traveling, gardening, genealogy, and birdwatching. Susan has presented for Heritage Seekers previously. Her presentation on “Chicken Bristle Mountain” is an old favorite.
Meeting Files:
Zoom meeting chat text
Members, please login to see the video:Zoom meeting video:
0:12:50 Meeting Starts
0:15:25 Presentation
1:03:40 Questions and Answers
1:23:00 Post-Meeting
1:41:51 End
