PCGC visits the Mesa Arizona FamilySearch Center
Vicky Ferraresi
The PebbleCreek Genealogy Club (PCGC) next meets on Monday, April 14 from 9 a.m. to noon. Denise Beeson will present “Genealogy Research Using Cemetery Records.” Ms. Beeson has been learning and teaching about genealogy for over 20 years. She developed and is the Instructor for the Genealogy Program at Santa Rosa Jr. College in Santa Rosa, Calif. She is a frequent guest speaker on various genealogy topics at local libraries and in the PebbleCreek LifeLong Learning program. The “Tips and Tricks” presentation will be “Using Interment.net to Search Cemetery Records” by Vicky Ferraresi.
PCGC meets the second Monday of each month in the Palm Room in the Eagle’s Nest Clubhouse. Meetings start at 9 a.m. with a short business meeting, followed by an invited speaker with the remaining time devoted to “Tips and Tricks” from members, networking, and sharing of research. Guests are always welcome!
On April 10 PCGC will visit the Irish Cultural Center and McLelland Library in Phoenix. The center provides resources and assistance with Irish genealogy research. They hold workshops, classes, and seminars to assist with tracing Irish ancestry. As described on their website, the library is “dedicated to the legacy of Irish authors, history, literature, and research of a Celtic nature.”
To learn more about the library, see azirish.org/research/mcclelland-library-search.
The May 12 program will feature Goodyear Librarian Robert Wilson on “Genealogy Resources at the Goodyear Library.”
The speaker on March 10 was Vicki Reisenfeld, Immediate Past-President of the Trilogy Genealogy Club on “Exploring the Past with ChatGPT: a Guide to AI-Enhanced Genealogical Research.” She introduced using AI for genealogy research with amazing examples of what it can do. Members were very excited about learning about this powerful tool in their research, especially how it can translate documents and extract pertinent information from them.
In February PCGC took a field trip to the Mesa Arizona FamilySearch Center. For new visitors, the day started with a tour of the facility. The afternoon was spent using center resources for individual research and members commented it was time well spent, uncovering new information on their families.
They were also impressed with the availability of equipment to digitize records—photographs, negatives, slides, books, documents, VCR tapes, 8mm/Super 8 film, CDs, DVDs, and floppy discs(!). These are available for use at no charge. Classes are held frequently.
To learn more about the center, see mesatemple.org/family-search-library.
Members are enjoying our monthly luncheons; it’s a great opportunity to get to know one another and discuss genealogy and more. Members should keep an eye out for an email regarding dates and locations.
Visit our new website at pebblecreekgenealogy.club for more information about PCGC and our special programs such as Genealogy Detectives. General information is open to all site visitors with additional content (including Genealogy Detectives) available to members only. This is another member benefit and another great reason to join PCGC.
Hope to see you on April 14 as we learn more about discovering our families!