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About the speaker: Barbara Coakley’s passion for family history began more than thirty years ago when she received an envelope of family papers. Her journey to uncover the stories of her ancestors has taken her to ancestral homelands across the United States and Europe.
Barbara serves as president of Genealogy Friends of Plano Libraries and volunteers with both the Texas State Genealogical Society and the Dallas Genealogical Society. She is an alumna of ProGen, IGHR, TIGR, GRIP, SLIG, and Gen-Fed. Barbara taught genealogy continuing education classes at Collin College from 2008 to 2021 and regularly presents for libraries and genealogical societies across the United States and the United Kingdom.

Hart Island - Purchased by New York City in 1868, the 101-to-120-acre island in the Long Island Sound has functioned as a Civil War training ground and prisoner-of-war camp, a psychiatric hospital, tuberculosis wards, a workhouse, and a Cold War Nike missile base. For over a century, burials were conducted using inmate labor from Rikers Island under the strict control of the Department of Correction, and public or family access was heavily restricted. The island received widespread modern attention during historical crises, including serving as a major burial site during the peak of the 1980s AIDS epidemic and as a temporary mass burial site during the early 2020 COVID-19 pandemic surge.

About Joyce Reid:  Joyce Keefer Reid was born in Fort Worth and raised in Burleson, Laredo, and Cleburne. Her family consists of 9 children - 3 step children, 2 biological children and 4 adopted children. She jokes that you need a spreadsheet to figure her family out. A genealogist since her preteens, she is currently president of the Hill County Genealogical Society and the Johnson County Genealogical Society. Joyce is a member and former chair of the Hill County Historical Commission. As a Genealogist she says she has never met a cemetery that she didn't like.
 

Topic Description: We are lucky to have the Internet at our disposal. But let’s use it fully by looking at 20 websites that will help you break down your brick walls. We are all familiar with Ancestry and FamilySearch, and how to research using Google. But there are other websites focused on specific resources and locations that can help you discover documents and additional links to answer your ancestral questions. This will be a fast introduction to the websites so be prepared to listen and learn. And spend time at home afterwards finding new information about your ancestors. Even if you’ve heard similar presentations, this is bound to provide you some new sites that will aid in you ancestor discovery.

About the Speaker: Emily Coffman Richardson is a professional genealogist and lecturer living in Denton, Texas. She began her genealogy research working with her mother in courthouses and cemeteries finding records for her ancestors in Ohio and Pennsylvania. In 2019, she retired from higher education as a faculty member and administrator, moved to Texas and opened up Kinsearchers, the original name of her mother’s business as a genealogist. For her clients she often works on lineage applications, for multiple societies, as well as brick walls including research for name conflicts within family trees.Emily has received the Martha Washington Award from the SAR for researching multiple lineages for prospective members of the SAR. She has helped numerous clients join the SAR, DAR, 1812, Sons of the Republic of Texas, Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Colonial Dames, First Family Applications for multiple states and Colonial Clergy. She is the president of the Texas State Genealogical Society (TxSGS) for a two year term that began on January 1, 2025. She previously served as secretary for four years and as the Director-at-Large for the executive committee for TxSGS. She oversees the production of the new TxSGS Podcast, Lone Star Family Trails..

Join us for Mid-Cities Genealogical Society Christmas Luncheon.