January 2023
Happy New Year from the officers and board members of the Mississippi Genealogical Society! We are looking forward to an exciting year of research and learning, beginning with our second annual January virtual seminar. Much sought after presenter/teacher J. Mark Lowe will be our presenter again this year. Go to our Seminars page for details.
Our intent for the coming year is to continue to grow participation in the society and grow our online presence with more offerings for our members, including online databases. We are still in the process of setting up our software to allow online new membership and renewal options and hope to have that up and running soon. And we are planning to add more opportunities for virtual learning in addition to gathering together in person.
We hope that 2023 brings all the research opportunities, honing of skills, and family history treasures that you are hoping for and more. Happy researching!
Erin Feathers
June 2022
Welcome from President Ree Curtis…
It is an honor to be serving as President of the Mississippi Genealogical Society 2022-2024. Our society is successfully coming out of COVID because of the wonderful work and tech savviness of our past president, Erin Feathers. Erin and the board’s main goal was to keep the society viable and moving forward during the heart of COVID. Erin continued to have the board meetings via Zoom to keep us focused, active, motivated, and ready to go as soon as restrictions were lifted. She accomplished that and more!
Before COVID, we met regularly at the Municipal Art Gallery on State Street. Alas when restrictions were lifted and we could resume meeting, the society had to find another location. Erin found a new meeting place at the Brandon Library and the society was back to in-person meetings. It has been wonderful to be back together face to face.
Erin and the society’s next goal was how to handle the annual seminar held every January. This was the perfect time to move the annual seminar to July. So, in 2021 we launched our first post-COVID, in-person seminar with Lisa Louise Cooke, masked of course, but we were back! Reluctant to give up the January seminar, we decided to host a January 2022 Virtual Seminar with Mark Lowe. It was such a small group and Mark is so personable he was able to give each one of us personal research advice. Our most recent success was an in-person 2022 annual seminar in July with the ever-popular Judy Russell, The Legal Genealogist. This was important because before COVID our seminar attendance numbers were close to 100 attendees. With Judy, we topped 50! This means we are half way back to pre-COVID numbers. Thank you to all who attended.
Why is this recap important? Because it helps define the goals for the new biennial and pave the society’s way forward. Goals for 2022-2024 are
- Encourage interest in genealogy research along with increased membership;
- Make MGS more viable across the state (we are taking it on the road);
- Stimulate organization or reorganization of local genealogical societies, independently or in conjunction with local historical societies;
- Prepare for the 250th celebration in 2026 of the founding of the United States of America.
In 1976, hereditary and lineage organizations and societies saw a significant increase in genealogy interest and membership. We would like to experience that same excitement for the 250th birthday.
The Mississippi Genealogical Society invites you to be a part of that celebration. If you have a local society that would be interested in hosting an MGS meeting and presenting a program please contact Erin Feathers, Karen McKlemurry or me. If you are already an active member, know we appreciate your support and attendance. We are happy you are with us! Our membership fee at $10 for an individual and $15 for a couple remains one of the most affordable of any organization I know.
I look forward to serving as your president and hope you will come for the research and stay for the party.
Thank you,
Ree Curtis