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ISGS 2021 Annual Meeting- CONGRATS to our New Officers!




The ISGS 2021 Annual Membership Meeting was held on Sunday October 17th. At the meeting, we confirmed the votes for the 2021 Officer Nominees- a total of 121 votes were validated, and all nominees were elected! Members- the 2021 Annual Report and a recording of yesterday's Annual Meeting are available for you on the ISGS Members Only homepage.

Here are bios for our incoming officers!

ISGS PRESIDENT 
Vicki Dixon Mattson, Waukegan, IL 
Vicki is retired from the school transportation industry after forty-five years as a driver, manager and instructor. She is an active member of ISGS, her local genealogy society (as committee member, Board member, President, and FGS delegate), as well as the Little Fort DAR Chapter. Vicki serves on the board of the Waukegan Historical Society and volunteers as a docent for the annual Oakwood Cemetery Walk and Tour of Homes. She belongs to many genealogical and family societies both locally and in southern states. Vicki has been researching her family history for twenty years, mostly in the southern states but also Gallatin and White Counties in Illinois. Some of her best memories involve annual research trips with three Aunts. 
 ISGS 1st VICE - PRESIDENT 
Tina Beaird, Oswego, IL 
Tina is the owner of Tamarack Genealogy and is the Genealogy/ Local History Librarian at the Plainfield Public Library. She lectures nationally on military research, genealogical methodology, Scottish records, and archival preservation. She is a governing board director of the Illinois State Genealogical Society, the Northern Illinois Historical League and the Illinois State Historical Records Advisory Board. Tina volunteers her time with several local historical and genealogical societies scanning and indexing historic records. Occasionally, Tina finds time to research her own family tree, which she has been pursuing for over 25 years. Tina’s Illinois research is focused on Chicago as well as Cook, Kane, Kendall, Will, Perry and Randolph counties. 

 ISGS 2nd VICE - PRESIDENT 
Candace Marx, Aurora, IL 
Candace earned a Certificate in Genealogical Research from Boston University and is also an alumni of the ProGen Study Program. She is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists - Chicago Area Chapter, the Kane County Genealogical Society, and the Fox Valley Genealogical Society. Candace has ancestors from England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, and Luxembourg, and is currently researching in Kane, Cook, and Kendall counties.

ISGS RECORDING SECRETARY 
Suzanne Hoffman, Chicago, IL 
Suzanne has been researching families for more than 25 years. Although she finds her Illinois-born husband's pioneer line a great deal easier to pursue, she still loves her mainly Lithuanian and Russian conquest of missing and unreadable documents. She's a graduate of the University of Chicago - Executive Management Program and Smith College, with a Certificate in Genealogical Research from Boston University. She has also completed ProGen, GenProof, Gen-Fed, and is working on her portfolio for certification. She volunteers at the Wilmette Family History Center and is the current secretary of the APG Forensic SIG. She is primarily a Forensic Genealogist working with probate attorneys finding missing heirs but also has a specialization in Eastern Europe, Immigration, and Naturalization.

 ISGS TREASURER 
Margaret Truax, Aurora, IL
 Margaret has pursued genealogy for many years and has completed Boston University's certificate program in genealogical research. Her ancestors were immigrants to Chicago from Scotland, England, Ireland, Germany, Bohemia, and Luxembourg; Margaret has had her own consulting business, Truax Associates, since 1994, working with businesses and notfor-profit organizations on human resource and management issues, including grant writing. She continues to work on a few client projects, although she tries to reserve plenty of time for genealogy. 

 ISGS 2024 DIRECTORS
 
Tara Hinkley, Algonquin, IL
 Tara has accepted an archivist position at the Barack Obama Presidential Library. She was a founder of the NextGen Genealogy Network and has consulted with numerous historical societies and museums. She holds a Master’s degree in Public History from Loyola University and a Master’s in Library and Information Science from Dominican with a certificate in Archival Management. Tara was an ISGS Honors & Rewards recipient in 2020!

Byron D. Holdiman, Quincy, IL 
Byron is a librarian at Quincy University and teaches U.S. Research courses for BYU-Idaho's Family History/Genealogy online program. For 13 years, he worked on a grant project teaching educators about using the historical sources on the Library of Congress's website with their students. He has taught genealogy sessions for local public libraries and genealogical societies as well as at the national genealogy conference RootsTech.

Mary Westerhold, Edwardsville, IL
 Mary has been researching her family history for over 40 years. Her interest in genealogy was sparked by the discovery of a church history book while helping her mom with spring cleaning. The book included several of her ancestors and that began a journey that continues to this day. Her personal research has been focused on Effingham County, Illinois, where many of her German immigrant ancestors first settled. In addition, she has helped others research their families in Madison County, Illinois, as the Research Manager at the Madison County Archival Library for over 19 years. Genealogy has also led her to develop a passion for telling the stories of the “residents” of local cemeteries. She continues to research cemeteries, especially the small forgotten ones at risk of being lost.

CONGRATULATIONS to our 2021 Incoming ISGS Officers!

We will feature our 2021 Honors & Awards Winners later this week!


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