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!
CONGRATULATIONS to our 2021 Incoming ISGS Officers!
We will feature our 2021 Honors & Awards Winners later this week!
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