CGS Meeting at the Chicago History Museum

Learn what genealogical resources are at the Chicago History Museum. 

The Chicago Genealogical Society will have a special away from their usual site meeting this Saturday, May 3rd, at an earlier time, noon.  Leslie Martin will speak on the “Chicago History Museum” at the Chicago History Museum, 1601 North Clark Street at North Avenue, on Saturday, May 3rd at noon.  Phone (312) 642-4600  for more information.

No admission fee to hear the lecture. After the lecture, there will be time to do your research in the Research Center (closes at 4:30 pm).

See parking info and map at: http://www.chicagohs.org/planavisit/visitorinformation/parking

Chicago Genealogical Society:
http://www.chicagogenealogy.org/calendar.html

My Ancestors on Nightline!

Dyers on Nightline-resize.bmpOn Wednesday night, my uncle called my mom to let her know that her ancestors were on ABC’s Nightline. You can imagine the surprise to find that indeed, my great-grandparents and their children were featured in a segment on the possibility that in 150,000 years flaws in the Y-chromosome will render men extinct.

The story is titled Envisioning a World Without Men: Scientist Says Female-Only Reproduction Is Only a Few Years Away and the video clip is available online. It features geneticist, Bryan Sykes, who is the author of The Seven Daughters of Eve and Saxons, Vikings, and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland.

The story is interesting in and of itself, but imagine our surprise to see our ancestors featured in it! We’re not sure how ABC got the photograph, but since it has appeared in several Ancestry publications, I’m guessing it must have made it into a media kit.

Raymond Francis DyerThe photograph is of the Dyer family and the girl in the bottom left corner is my grandmother. Behind her is the aunt who raised my mother. I like to think that Pop Dyer would be pleased that his family photograph was shown around the world. He was very photogenic and we are lucky to have quite a few photographs of him, from his early days, to his later years as he posed in his swimsuit when he was older. Here’s another photograph of Pop looking quite chic in his suit and holding his bowler hat.

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