Edmond Genealogical Society (EGS)

08/04/2026

Edmond Genealogical Society’s August 17, 2026 meeting, presented by Dr. Richard Barnard, discusses the book “Heirlooms”. This book uses treasures from an old family chest to tell the forgotten stories of eight generations of American frontier women from Colonial Jamestown, Virginia to the Oklahoma Dust Bowl of the 1930s. The chapters put aside the stereotypes of Farmer’s Wives and Dance Hall Girls to weave an intergenerational tapestry of domestic life, strife, and hope in this new country.



Heirlooms is the third novel by Dr. Pamela Manners, a retired Professor of Psychology at Troy University (Alabama). Her earlier works are Emmy’s Time (2015) and Five Roads: A Novel (2021). She lives in Alabama with her husband David Smart.



Pam’s childhood friend, Dr. Richard Bernard, is coauthor. The women of Heirlooms are loosely based on Dr. Bernard’s ancestors. Professor of History and Graduate Dean Emeritus at the University of Central Oklahoma, Dr. Bernard has held several administrative posts, including president at Eastern Oklahoma State College. His previous works, all non-fiction books on U.S. history, include, The Melting Pot and the Altar: Marital Assimilation in Early Twentieth-Century Wisconsin; Sunbelt Cities: Politics and Growth Since World War II (co-editor and contributor); and Snowbelt Cities: Metropolitan Politics in the Northeast and Midwest since World War II (editor and contributor). He and his wife Terry live in Richard and Pam’s hometown of Edmond, Oklahoma. The book will be available for sale.



Edmond Genealogical Society meetings are free and open to the public. Programs start at 2:00 p.m. Meetings are held the third Monday of the month at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints located at 15700 N. Penn, Edmond. Enter through the doors on the south side of the building. The church offers plenty of parking and is fully handicap accessible. For more information on EGS, send an email to [email protected], or visit us on Facebook at Edmond Genealogical Society. If any changes are made to this event, we will post the information on our page.

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07/08/2026

On Monday, July 20, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. Edmond Genealogical Society’s video program will be “DNA Misconceptions” by Kelli Bergheimer. In addition to various misconceptions people have about DNA, she’ll also discuss The Shared cM Project and DNA Painter and how they can help with your genealogy research. A handout will be sent out to all members or is available upon request.



Edmond Genealogical Society meetings are free and open to the public. Programs start at 2:00 p.m. Meetings are held the third Monday of the month at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints located at 15700 N. Penn, Oklahoma City. Enter through the doors on the south side of the building. The church offers plenty of parking and is fully handicap accessible. For more information on EGS, go to our website edmondgensoc.org, send an email to [email protected], or visit us on Facebook at Edmond Genealogical Society. If any changes are made to this event, we will post the information on our page and website

On Monday, July 20, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. Edmond Genealogical Society’s video program will be “DNA Misconceptions” by Kelli Bergheimer. In addition to various misconceptions people have about DNA, she’ll also discuss The Shared cM Project and DNA Painter and how they can help with your genealogy research. Attached with this email is a synopsis of her talk along with various websites one can visit for more information.



Edmond Genealogical Society meetings are free and open to the public. Programs start at 2:00 p.m. Meetings are held the third Monday of the month at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints located at 15700 N. Penn, Edmond. Enter through the doors on the south side of the building. The church offers plenty of parking and is fully handicap accessible. For more information on EGS, go to our website edmondgensoc.org, send an email to [email protected], or visit us on Facebook at Edmond Genealogical Society. If any changes are made to this event, we will post the information on our page and website

07/03/2026

Interested in starting your genealogy journey ..... but don't know how or where to start? Edmond Genealogical Society and OHCE Genealogy Group President, Jan Beattie, will be presenting a beginning genealogy program "Getting Started in Genealogy" at the Del City Community Center on July 9th from 2:30-3:30 p.m. She will offer tips and tools on how to get started researching your family tree and connecting to your ancestors. The program is free to attend and handouts will be provided. Even if you've been researching for awhile, there is still much you can learn from this program. The center is located at 4505 SE 15th St, Del City, OK 73115. Call the Community Center at 405-671-2868 or 405-677-5741 ext. 5010, or email [email protected] to register.

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06/10/2026

Want to visit a few museums in Oklahoma, but don’t have the time? The Edmond Genealogical Society has just the solution. Join us on Monday, June 15, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. to hear Jonathan Elmore, the Okie Museum Crawler, talk about the process of how he came to start the Okie Museum Crawler, and what’s he achieved so far. He’ll touch on how his museum visits interconnect us very similarly to a family tree, a kind of Okie Family Tree.

Mr. Elmore is a self-described ambassador of Oklahoma. He loves living here and wants visitors to find all the great museums, historical sites, and interesting oddities that Oklahoma has to offer. As he travels to the more than 450 museums in Oklahoma, he writes short articles and shares photos on his website, so everyone can see what’s out there to explore in our great state.

Edmond Genealogical Society meetings are free and open to the public. Programs start at 2:00 p.m. Meetings are held the third Monday of the month at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints located at 15700 N. Penn, Oklahoma City. Enter through the doors on the south side of the building. The church offers plenty of parking and is fully handicap accessible. For more information on EGS, go to our website edmondgensoc.org, send an email to [email protected], or visit us on Facebook at Edmond Genealogical Society. If any changes are made to this event, we will post the information on our page and website.

04/29/2026

Join us for a great program at our May 18th meeting.
Route 66 – The First 100 Years

The Edmond Genealogical Society’s May 18 program will be presented by Jim Ross and Shellee Graham as they get on board the time machine and help us experience the building of the Route 66 legend through its birth, life, demise, renaissance, and beyond in this captivating exploration of its first century.

Route 66 historian Jim Ross has spent 35 years researching, photographing and writing about the Mother Road. He has authored multiple books, including Route 66 Crossings and Route 66 Sightings, and is coauthor (with wife Shellee Graham) of Route 66: The First 100 Years. He serves regularly as a consultant, and his efforts as a preservationist have earned him multiple awards.
Photographer, artist, and Route 66 ambassador Shellee Graham discovered the route in 1990 while living in St. Louis. Since then, she has authored or coauthored 5 books, including Tales from the Coral Court and Secret Route 66. Her photographs of the Mother Road have appeared in national and international shows, and she is the recipient of multiple awards for her photography and he work to preserve the route.

Jim and Shellee’s new book, Route 66—The First 100 Years, released in May 2025, was named to the National Trust’s “Summer Reading List” and later listed as one of the year’s 10 best travel books by Smithsonian magazine. Jim and Shellee live on the route in Arcadia, Oklahoma, with their dog, Scout. Their book will be available for sale at the meeting.

Edmond Genealogical Society meetings are free and open to the public. Programs start at 2:00 p.m. Meetings are held the third Monday of the month at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints located at 15700 N. Penn, Oklahoma City. Enter through the doors on the south side of the building. The church offers plenty of parking and is fully handicap accessible. For more information on EGS, go to our website edmondgensoc.org, send an email to [email protected], or visit us on Facebook at Edmond Genealogical Society. If any changes are made to this event, we will post the information on our page and website.

04/14/2026

Please join us for our April 20th EGS meeting where we will hear "Pirates, Oh My!". We will meet at 2 p,m, at the LDS Church, 15700 N. Penn in far NW Edmond.

The April 20, 2026 program will be presented by Marion Baumgarten via Zoom. She lives near Chicago, is a member of DAR, and a cousin to our own Karen Blagg (EGS Treasurer). Marion is a descendant of a Mr. Thomas Owsley, who at one time was a pirate prisoner. With this knowledge of his background with European pirates in the 1670s, she decided to research more about these pirates, their history, and how fighting them caused a young United States to do some important and historic things for protection from pirates in the early 1800s. Her program goes
through this history and will provide many little-know facts that may help other researchers understand parts of their own family histories over time.

Note:
We will be meeting in a larger room with a big screen monitor, making it easier for all of us to view genealogy video presentations. It is directly across the hall from our current room or just go to our previous meeting room and EGS Board Members will direct you
to the new meeting location.

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03/12/2026

Please join us at our March meeting on Monday, March 16th at 2:00 p.m. We meet at the LDS Church. 15700 N. Pennsylvania in Edmond. We will be meeting in the room across from our usual room this time.

For the EGS March 16 meeting we will have two videos to explore. The first is” Good Genealogists Don’t Guess: How to Evaluate a Record in 3 Simple Steps.” presented by Kathryn Moore. Have you ever found a record that seems to match your ancestor but something feels off? Or, maybe you’ve added a source only to later realize it doesn’t belong at all? This class offers practical tools you can use immediately to avoid common mistakes and strengthen your research. You’ll learn 3 simple questions to confidently evaluate any record before adding it to your family tree. We’ll walk through real examples, resolve concerns, and show you how to easily include record evaluation into your research process. If you’re ready to stop second-guessing your work and start researching with more clarity and confidence, this session is for you.

The second video is presented by Cathy Wallace entitled “Gravestone Symbols from A to Z.” Gravestone Symbols from A to Z will help you learn to “read” a cemetery so you can discover your ancestors’ interests, religions, club memberships, values and more. Enjoy gravestone photos from around the world, hear fun stories, learn to use GPS technology to digitize gravestone records, and get cemetery-based research tips to grow your family tree.

Edmond Genealogical Society meetings are free and open to the public. Programs start at 2:00 p.m. Meetings are held the third Monday of the month at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints located at 15700 N. Penn, Oklahoma City. Enter through the doors on the south side of the building. The church offers plenty of parking and is fully handicap accessible. For more information on EGS, go to our website edmondgensoc.org, send an email to [email protected], or visit us on Facebook at Edmond Genealogical Society. If any changes are made to this event, we will post the information on our page and website.

A is for anchor; B is for book; C is for Celtic Cross "Gravestone Symbols from A to Z" will help you learn to "read" a cemetery so you can discover your ancestors' interests, religion, club memberships, values, and more. Enjoy gravestone photos from around the world, hear fun stories, learn to use G...

02/11/2026

Come join us for our 16 Feb. monthly meeting. Remember the new time is now 2:00 p.m.! Same location. We hope to see you there!

February 16, 2026 EGS’s speaker, La Nell Shores, will make a presentation on First Families of the Twin Territories and The Settlers and Builders of Oklahoma. First Families was founded to recognize, honor and perpetuate the memory of early pioneer and Indian families who were residents of Oklahoma or Indian Territory on or before the date of statehood. Settlers and Builders was founded to recognize, honor and perpetuate the memory of the residents that helped build the new state of Oklahoma from statehood.

Mrs. Shores has had a keen interest in genealogy for many years. She is a member of many genealogical societies, including Oklahoma Genealogical Society where she presents programs on a variety of topics especially those related to OGS’ Computer Special Interest Group.

Edmond Genealogical Society meetings are free and open to the public. Programs start at 2:00 p.m. Meetings are held the third Monday of the month at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints located at 15700 N. Penn, Oklahoma City. Enter through the doors on the south side of the building. The church offers plenty of parking and is fully handicap accessible. For more information on EGS, go to our website edmondgensoc.org, send an email to [email protected], or visit us on Facebook at Edmond Genealogical Society. If any changes are made to this event, we will post the information on our page and website.

01/07/2026

Please note that effective with our 19 January meeting, our meeting time has changed to 2:00 p.m. We will no longer meet at 6:30 p.m. Our location remains the same. See you there!

11/10/2025

Come join us for our November EGS meeting on Nov. 17th. We'll hear a fun program presented by our President, Jan Beattie, that is sure to get us in the holiday spirit! Come find out where some of your family traditions may have originated!

We have many tried-and-true Christmas traditions in the United States: decorating your Christmas tree, baking holiday cookies, and keeping up with the Elf on the Shelf. However, have you ever wondered about how our ancestors might have celebrated Christmas? The November 17, 2025 Edmond Genealogical Society’s program entitled Christmas Traditions of Our Ancestors, will be presented by our EGS president, Jan Beattie. Come find out if your family celebrates any of the old traditions.

Jan Beattie is a native of California, but came to Oklahoma more than 45 years ago to attend college and never left. Now she is married with two children and two granddaughters and retired from the medical field. She now has time for her genealogy hobby.

She is involved in several genealogy and lineage-based societies and loves to share her knowledge with others. She is President of the OHCE (Oklahoma Home and Community Education) Genealogy Group in Oklahoma City and President of the Edmond Genealogical Society. She is Registrar for Cordelia Steen DAR Chapter in Edmond and a member of OK DAR State Speakers Staff and OSDAR State Application Team (SAT). She is State/Department Registrar for DUV (Daughters of Union Veterans) and State/Division Chaplain for UDC (United Daughters of the Confederacy). She holds memberships in Oklahoma Genealogical Society, First Families of the Twin Territories, Colonial Dames 17th Century and several other genealogical organizations and lineage societies and holds chapter and state offices in most of them. She is also involved in "Cemetery Hopping" to help others locate the final resting places of their Oklahoma ancestors. She has been researching her family for almost fifty years and is passionate about genealogy.

Edmond Genealogical Society meetings are free and open to the public. Programs start at 6:30 p.m. Meetings are held the third Monday of the month at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints located at 15700 N. Penn, Oklahoma City. Enter through the doors on the south side of the building. The church offers plenty of parking and is fully handicap accessible. For more information on EGS, go to our website edmondgensoc.org, send an email to [email protected], or visit us on Facebook at Edmond Genealogical Society. If any changes are made to this event, we will post the information on our page and website.