OZARKS GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY will be having several programs during 2019 featuring the History of OGS. 1969 - 2019

Continue to check the website for updates and details on these various events

DNA and Adoption - HHeather Dodd is the founder of the Missouri Adoptee Rights Movement, the Missouri representative for G’s Adoption Registry, and the owner of Genected (a genetic genealogy service that helps people find family connections through DNA). She is the daughter of Jennifer Holt, an adoptee who was separated from her siblings by adoption at the age of 6.  In 1994, they began their 13-year search for Jennifer’s long lost family.  The successful search led Heather to volunteer as a search angel and as a result, Heather became instrumental in working with the Missouri legislature seeing the passage of the Missouri Adoptee Rights Act. This historical bill became law in 2016 allowing Missouri-born adoptees to apply for their original birth certificates for the first time in 75 years!

OGS announces our "Good 'ole Summertime BBQ Picnic" to be held Saturday, August 17 at the Rib Crib Restaurant, 1720 S Campbell, beginning at 11:00 am.  Come join us as we gather for good food and fellowship.  We will feast on a buffet of all types of BBQ and sides.  Sign-up starting June 1, limited to the first 60 who register.

Don't miss this opportunity!!! Sign up at OGS meetings, at the OGS Library, or online by clicking here. 

 

First:  Yes, the wool is hot and scratchy...

 

Learn more about portraying a Civil War soldier in Missouri with this entertaining presentation, which includes many historical nuances about the war itself, as well as details specific to the state.  Unique and often humorous tales and insights from re-enactments, including Tim's participation in the 150th Anniversary reenactment at Gettysburg, PA, are among the highlights of this presentation that explores the war's echoes which linger to this day.

We are proud to announce that plans are coming together for our Annual Conference, this year to be held at Asbury United Methodist Church on Friday & Saturday, September 6 & 7, 2019.  Our theme this year will center around the Civil War and our speakers will present programs on Fold3, soldiers' records, demonstrations, uniforms plus much more.  Our Exhibitors will include Wilson's Creek Battlefield Bookstore, Midwest Genealogical Library (Independence), plus area Lineage Societies and Historical/Genealogical Societies from around Springfield.  

 

Further information and registration available soon.

OGS Obituary Committee Chair Connie Daughtrey will review the arduous progression of this project from its inception in the early 1980s.  Now OGS has joined in a collaborative effort with the Greene County Library System to make those 100,000 obituaries available online.  We will have a live demonstration of that new database on the overhead screen and we will search for specific obituaries.  Bring the names/dates of those 1985-current obits you've been searching for in the surrounding counties and we will "test the system".

Cemetery Walk through Maple Park Cemetery – Konrad Stump, local History Associate will serve as tour guide.  Those planning to attend should meet at the OGS Library so we can limit the number of cars.  Afterwards, refreshments will be available at OGS Library.

Join us as Anne Baker, Head of Special Collections and Archives at MSU, talks about the earliest years of Missouri State University.  Known as Missouri State Normal School, Fourth District, when it was founded in 1905, the Normal's primary purpose was to educate future teachers.  Ms. Baker will explore the beginnings of the school, the curriculum, and of course, student life.  Read the rules for the first women's dormitory, regulating everything from riding in cars with young men (never allowed after dark!) to study habits.  See a collection of snapshots taking us back to student entertainments around 1912.  Check out the curriculum in 1906.  These items and other treasures from the University Archives will help tell the story.

Most of us are familiar with a basic Google search for a person, place or thing.  OGS member John Carter will delve a little deeper into those search functions, plus some ideas for searching images, maps and the like.  We will also look at Google's other applications for documents, web browsing, and organizing photos.  Join us and see how helpful Google can be for genealogists!

The Springfield-Greene County Library will sponsor a Fall Genealogy Symposium 

OGS members and cousins Barbara Brauch and Nora Lee Faulkner come together to rescue the burial place of their great-great-great grandparents, Samuel and Catherine (McNabb) Phariss, from a farm field.  Find out how this lost piece of history was found again, and the many people who helped the process along through the years.  Then, members Fran Black and Rose Jones will walk us through the process of "Tombstone Maintenance and Restoration" featuring the historic Squibb Cemetery in Greene County.

We invite you to our Annual Memorial Service to honor OGS members and their families who have died during the past 12 months plus a special Honor Roll service for the 35 Charter Members who joined the Society from September 1969 to September 1970.  

Museum Curator, Joan Hampton-Porter will discuss how the History Museum on the Square is bringing local history into the technological age and enriching the historical knowledge of the community.  Join us as we find out more about this amazing regional history museum and expanded educational destination for Springfield and its visitors located on Route 66 on the historic Park Central Square.

Join Author and Storyteller Tim Ritter for an entertaining trip down memory lane to the ice storm that hit Springfield on Christmas Day in 1987.  Yes, there are relatives involved .....

Then you are invited to enjoy warm conversation and Christmas cookies as we close out our 50th Anniversary year of celebration.  To quote Gail Mitchell in "The History of OGS" -- with such a Proud Past, how can OGS have anything but a Promising Future?.