Madison
County Genealogical Society
Minutes of the Meeting – March 12, 2020
The March 2020 meeting of the Madison County
Genealogical Society was held at the Edwardsville Public Library on Thursday,
March 20, at 7:00 pm.
President, Robert Ridenour, called the
meeting to order.
GIFT
MEMBERSHIPS AVAILABLE
Do you have a family member that is
interested in (or even obsessed with) genealogy? A membership in the Madison
County Genealogical Society would be a very thoughtful gift. A gift card will
be sent to the recipient of any gift membership.
The following memberships are available:
Individual/Family Annual Membership $25.00
Patron Annual Membership $35.00
Life Membership $300.00
Contact our Secretary, Petie Hunter, at petie8135@att.net,
about a gift membership.
March
Meeting
On March 12, 2020, Mary Westerhold presented a program
titled Searching the
Sacramental Records of the Springfield, Illinois, Catholic Diocese.
The Sacramental Records of the
Springfield, Illinois, Catholic Diocese were recently added to Ancestry. Since
many of these records are in Latin, some of the searches can be a challenge.
Mary presented some tips and tricks to find your ancestors. Her presentation
follows:
Counties included in the Roman Catholic
Springfield, Illinois, Diocese:
Adams, Bond, Brown, Calhoun,
Cass, Christian, Clark, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Douglas, Edgar, Effingham,
Fayette, Greene, Jasper, Jersey, Macon, Macoupin, Madison, Menard, Montgomery,
Morgan, Moultrie, Pike, Sangamon, Scott, Shelby
Brief description:
· Range of records 1853 - 1975
· Sacramental
records
· Baptisms,
marriages, confirmations, and burials are indexed
· Published on
Ancestry October 2019
How to Access the records on
Ancestry.com:
· Should be included in search results
· Can go directly
to the collection to search the records or browse the records of individual
churches
o Go to the card catalog
§ Click on search on the home page and select card catalog
from the available options
§ Enter “Springfield Illinois” (without the quotes) in
the “Title” search box
§ Click on search
§ Select “Illinois, Roman Catholic Diocese of
Springfield Sacramental Records, 1853-1975” from the results
A few things to remember:
· Many records are in Latin and given
names (first names) may be “Latinized.” Search for both versions of the name
o A few examples:
Henry - Henricus; Joseph - Josephus; Alphonse - Alphonsus; Anthony - Antonius;
Edmund - Edmundus; Peter - Petrus; Margaret - Margarita; Mary - Maria; Gertrude
- Gertrudis; Prudence - Prudentia; Marian - Marianna; Lucy - Lucia; Jacqueline
- Jacoba
· If a search
returns results that look like duplicates, look at both records
o Some early records were transcribed at a later date
and may not include all of the information from the early records.
· Watch for
additional information on a second page
o These records are usually from a ledger and often the
record continues across 2 pages.
· Use Google
translate or another translation program
o Online translation programs are very helpful, but make
sure the results make sense! Watch for abbreviations and misspellings
· Don't Give Up!
Latin Help
Helpful Websites:
Latin Genealogical Word List
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Latin_Genealogical
Word_List
To access from the
familysearch.org home page:
· At the home page for
familysearch.org, click on Search
· Click on
Research Wiki.
· Under “Search
by place or topic”, type “Latin” (without the quotes)
· Select Latin
Genealogical Word List from the popup list
Latin in Parish Records by Alison U.
Ring, Ladysmith, B.C., Canada,
https://www.
genuki.org.uk /big/LatinNotes
Deciphering Latin Words and Phrases
https://ancestrysolutions.com/referencecentre/dictionnaires/Defslatin2.html
German Church Record Basics - Part 2 -
Latin Records
http://matthewkmiller.blogspot.com/2014/01/german-church-record-basics-part-2.html
******************************************************
A FEW Words
and Phrases That I Found Helpful
Ego infra scriptus - “I have written below” - Often starts a record,
especially baptism and marriage records
sepulti - buried
aetas, aetatis - age - found frequently in burial records stating
the age at death
nata - born; used in baptism records for the child and also to list the
maiden name of a married female, especially in baptism and death records
|
MONTHS |
|
|
English |
Latin |
|
January |
Januarius |
|
February |
Februarius |
|
March |
Martius |
|
April |
Aprilis |
|
May |
Maius |
|
June |
Junius |
|
July |
Julius |
|
August |
Augustus |
|
September |
September, 7ber, VIIber, 7bri,
VIIbri |
|
October |
October, 8ber, VIIIber, 8bri,
VIIIbri |
|
November |
November, 9ber IXber, 9bri, IXbri |
|
December |
December, 10ber, Xber. 10bri,
Xbri |
This presentation was very well received and
provoked many questions and comments.