Follow Friday: SHGS

My mother helped start, served as President, and organized the first reunion of the Spencer Historical and Genealogical Society. For years she and I edited the journal, LeDespencer. Today for Follow Friday, I’d like to point you to their site: http://www.spencersociety.org/The Spencer Historical and Genealogical Society, Inc. (SHGS) was originally founded in 1978 as the Spencer Family Association with a nucleus of 38 Charter Members. The Association was renamed in 1990. Current SHGS members descend from many different Spencer lines and reside in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, England, Denmark, New Zealand, Australia, and the West Indies.

The objective of the Society is to encourage research and permanent recording of Spencer family history and that of collateral family lines. To meet this objective, the SHGS maintains a Library of books and papers with over 200 titles relating to various Spencer families. These books are available to members for loan and, in some cases, for purchase. Several SHGS members have authored manuscripts and books about Spencer families, and these are in our Library and in the Library of Congress.

The Society also maintains a computerized database, currently containing over 165,000 individuals and 61,000 families of Spencer descendants which were submitted by members and from other sources. It is continuously increasing, and members may request information on their lineage from the database.

The SHGS holds a Reunion every two years in a different part of the country offering members an opportunity to visit places of genealogical interest and to hear speakers on subjects of interest to members. Reunions have been held in Spencer IN, Ft. Wayne IN, Albany NY, Haddam/East Haddam CT, Lexington KY, Salt Lake City UT, Williamsburg VA, Charlotte NC, Geneva OH, Grapevine TX, St. Louis MO, Franklin TN, and Valley Forge PA.

Membership includes online access to le Despencer, the SHGS quarterly journal, which contains Spencer genealogical articles, editorial comments, announcements, and a “Query” setion. Members may submit queries without charge.

Society business is conducted by an elected Board of Directors and a dedicated volunteer staff. The officers and staff do not do research for members, but some information and informal assistance can often be provided on request. Correspondence to an officer or staff member requiring a reply must include a business-size SASE. Members are encouraged to exchange information with other members, and submit articles for publication in le Despencer.

The SPENCER DNA Project was begun in 2001, and has proven to be a valuable tool to researchers attempting to prove their Spencer lineage. This project is coordinated by the SHGS Data Manager but is not financially sponsored by SHGS.

We invite any Spencer descendant, or anyone researching the Spencer surname (including variant spellings), to join SHGS. For further questions, feel free to contact any SHGS Officer as listed on this website.

This entry was posted on 18 December 2009 at 15:47 and is filed under DNA, Genealogy Sites, Genealogy, Genealogy Online. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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