Ohio Genealogical Society Heads to Columbus for 2011 Conference

The 2011 Annual Conference of the Ohio Genealogical Society will be held March 31 to April 2, 2011, at The Hyatt on Capitol Square, in Columbus under the theme “Genealogy through the Centuries.”

OGS President Sunda Anderson Peters predicts that “This year’s conference should be of high interest to our membership. Our inaugural class into the society’s new lineage society, Century Families of Ohio, will be inducted at the Thursday night banquet and we welcome David E. Rencher from FamilySearch as our keynote speaker on Friday morning.

“The conference committee has worked diligently to ensure that this year’s conference meets the educational needs of genealogists in Ohio and beyond through sessions that will offer innovative ideas and strategic techniques presented by speakers who are knowledgeable, experienced, and well regarded in the genealogical world. I invite each and every one of you to come to the Hyatt on Capitol Square in Columbus to see for yourself how OGS is committed to providing learning opportunities to its members and the genealogical community at-large.”

The conference program offers a keynote address, 58 lectures, and eight workshops. The program will be presented by thirty-six genealogical experts, including such nationally recognized speakers as J. Mark Lowe, Craig Scott, Paula Stuart Warren, Drew Smith, Lisa Cooke, Tim Pinnick, Michael Leclerc, Cecile Jensen, Richard Daugherty, John Humphrey, and Jana Sloan Broglin.

The program also includes four awards luncheons and dinners for the following OGS lineage societies: Century Families of Ohio (honoring the inaugural class), the Settlers and Builders of Ohio, the Society of Civil War Families of Ohio, and the First Families of Ohio. Another featured event is the OGS Annual Luncheon.

Some fifty exhibitors are expected to offer products and services of interest to genealogists and family historians at the conference in the Vendor Hall. Admission is free to the Vendor Hall. Hours are: Thursday 2 pm to 8 pm, Friday 8 am to 5 pm, and Saturday 8 am to 4 pm.

The complete conference program and registration form is downloadable from the OGS website at www.ogs.org. 

Ohio Genealogical Society Dedicates New Samuel D. Isaly Library

The Ohio Genealogical Society dedicated its new 19,000-square-foot family history research library in Bellville, Ohio with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday, July 23rd.

About 120 family historians from around Ohio came to Bellville for the dedication.

A highlight was the cutting of the ribbon by Samuel D. Isaly of Mansfield’s Isaly Dairy family. The new library bears his name.

Founded in 1959 in Mansfield by a group of physicians and others interested in family history, OGS has been at five previous locations, the last on South Main Street. The newly constructed building at 611 State Route 97 West in Bellville, just east of the I-71/SR-97 interchange, is the Society’s first facility wholly designed for a library and manuscript archives. James and Marjorie Gorman donated the seven-acre site.

Tours of the facility were conducted by guides able to explain the particular features of each room. 

Funded partially through an Ohio Cultural Facilities Commission grant, a Richland Foundation matching gift, and a Rural Development loan from the United States Department of Agriculture, the vast majority of funding for the 2.5 million dollar project came from hundreds of individual donors over several years. Officials are quick to invite additional contributions to OGS, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, for its endowment.

Newly-elected OGS President, Sunda Anderson Peters, of Mansfield led the dedication ceremony. 

OGS may be reached at a new phone number, 419-886-1903. A full schedule and construction photographs may be found on the group’s web site – www.ogs.org

Well, I did download the mobile app for CCPL yesterday. I have tried it out checking the status of two holds I have on books I want to read. Pretty cool! Now I am anxious to get to a library branch to try it for checking out books.


Here are the instructions that CCPL mailed out to subscribers this morning:


Cuyahoga County Public Library is taking convenient borrowing to a whole new level with CCPL Mobile, our new mobile app!
To download CCPL Mobile free from your app store, scan the QR Code below or visit http://ccpl.boopsie.com on your smart phone. With CCPL Mobile you can:

• Check out books, DVDs, CDs, audiobooks and other library materials.   
• Search for items in our catalog quickly and with minimal keystrokes. 
• Read item reviews and summaries.
• Access your cardholder account to renew and reserve items.
• Use the GPS-aware locator to find Library branches and hours of operation. 
• Text questions to KnowItNow 24x7.    
• Connect with Cuyahoga County Public Library on Facebook and Twitter. 
• And more...

CCPL Mobile is available free from the app stores of all smart phone and tablet platforms, including Android, BlackBerry, J2ME, Palm OS, Symbian S60, Windows Mobile, iPhone and iPad.