Welcome to the Bucks County Genealogical Society!

Beginning our Second Decade in 2023!

The BCGS is a dedicated group of genealogy enthusiasts sharing our passion for researching family history, and working together to make a difference in the genealogical community.  Our programs are of general interest to beginning and experienced family historians, and we welcome members living far beyond Bucks County, Pennsylvania.  If you are researching your family history, or would like to learn how to get started with creating your family tree, please join us!

New visitor to bucksgen?  Click here to view or download a flyer with all the details about our organization and our website!  Or click here to view a short video featuring a tour of this website.

We are truly thrilled to present a slideshow on Bucksgen's first ten years, from 2012-2022. Recapping our growth and progress while fulfilling our Mission Statement can be seen in the photos and highlights shared for each year. We thank our passionate board - past and present, committee chairs, faithful members, and a determined, insightful founder for our tremendous success. Well done, Bucksgen!!

(Click on the image to view this amazing slideshow)

What's Happening?

 November 2 Meeting: No Vitals? No Problem! Building a Family through Circumstantial Evidence: A Family for Isabella

For our November meeting, Judy Russell will present the first of a two-part series on building a family when vital records are not available.  In this session, A Family for Isabella, Judy will discuss tracing a woman married before the 1850 census.

Judy Russell is a genealogist with a law degree. She writes, teaches and lectures on a wide variety of genealogical topics, providing expert guidance through the murky territory where law and family history intersect. Judy's blog, The Legal Genealogist, is available at  (https://www.legalgenealogist.com).

 Registration for the November 2024 meeting will open on October 28.

See our Calendar of Events page for more details and registration instructions.

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 Special Interest Groups

BucksGen is now sponsoring two Special Interest Groups (SIGs), one for members researching their Irish ancestors and another for users of Family Tree Maker software.  Joann Cosgrove, our Vice-President for Projects, will be hosting the meetings of both SIGs.  Please visit our Special Interest Groups page for details.

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Beginners Page

If you are just getting started with your family research, please visit our Beginners Page, providing a video outlining the first steps to take, and a list of links to some of the most commonly used websites for genealogical information.  Click here to go to the Beginners Page.

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Database Update

The BCGS searchable database, available free to all visitors to this site, was recently updated, now containing over 414,000 Bucks County names.  The latest additions to the database are:

• Over 12,000 names from baptismal records of St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, Nockamixon, from as early as 1766 up to 1921.

  You can begin your search from here or click on the "Search the BCGS Database" link from the menu.

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 Bucksgen Forum

Our Director of Publicity, Cathy Ivins, leads a  Facebook group where BCGS members and friends can start discussions and exchange ideas.  Feel free to post your general genealogy-related questions, seek advice, or join a conversation to help others. One of the highlights of our monthly meetings is the socializing before and after our programs. Now we have a means of staying in touch between our meetings for those meaningful connections and collaboration! 

You can get to our forum at www.facebook.com/groups/bucksgen.  The only restriction is that you must have a Facebook account to post to the forum.  If you are a BCGS member who is not familiar with Facebook and not sure how to join, you can go to the Members Only section of this website and download Cathy's handout from her February presentation.

This new forum will supplement our public Facebook page at www.facebook.com/bucksgen.

Let's get some good discussions going!

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Project: Memorial Cards

Our VP of Projects and Research, Joann Cosgrove, has announced our most recent project, Memorial Cards.  We are compiling a collection of memorial or funeral cards to display on our website, along with background information on the individuals being memorialized.  If you have been saving piles of memorial cards for family members or others, we invite you to scan them, and submit the images and biographical details to our new project.  To view the cards collected so far, and for instructions on how to submit your own cards, go to our Memorial Cards page.

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 Project: Rosie the Riveter

In 2017 BCGS launched a new project to honor the ladies who served their country during World War II.   We asked our members to participate in this project by submitting the names, service description, dates if known, and a photograph of their mothers, aunts, grandmothers, and their friends and neighbors who participated in the war effort by serving in the military, working in a defense industry, or otherwise making a contribution to support the war effort.  The individuals you submit do not have to be related to you, and do not have to be from Bucks County.  The photos and other information were combined into a presentation that is now posted on this site, along with a searchable index of the submitted names. 

Click here to view the completed Rosie the Riveter video presentation, or here to go to our Rosie the Riveter page with its name index and additional background information.

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Project: World War I Wall of Honor

To mark the 100th anniversary of the entry of the United States into World War I, BCGS has constructed a Wall of Honor on our website to honor those who served.  The Wall was unveiled in April 2017, on the 100^th anniversary, and has now been updated with submissions received through September 30. 

 Any questions, please contact Connie Ace at Research@BucksGen.org.

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Searchable Newsletter Page

Our Newsletters page has a new look and lots more information.  In addition to displaying a list of all the past BCGS Newsletters every issued, it now shows you a list of articles that appeared in each issue.  You can search the newsletters to find a particular article, all articles by a specific author, or all articles containing a word or phrase that you enter.  Want to find all the articles on DNA that we've ever published?  Give it a try!  (But don't be surprised if the search also finds a mention of Aunt EDNA.)

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Privacy Policy

BCGS has now published our Privacy Policy, explaining the information we collect and how we use it.  Click here to view the details of our policy.

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Civil War Diary

The diary of a Bucks County Civil War soldier has been donated to the Bucks County Genealogical Society.  Go to the Civil War Diary page to read about this donation, and view the actual pages of the diary along with a transcription of its contents.

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Bucks County Cemetery Slideshow

Our multi-talented VP of Projects and Cemetery Lady, Joann Cosgrove, has created a beautiful slideshow of photos of Bucks County cemeteries, accompanied by music performed by the Bucks County Women's Chorus.  Click here to view the finished product!

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Cemetery Project Completed!

Congratulations to our VP-projects Joann Cosgrove and her cemetery volunteers!  They have now completed gathering and posting information on all of the known Bucks County cemeteries.  Our Cemetery page can now serve as a comprehensive resource for anyone researching their Bucks County ancestors.  Please visit our Bucks County Cemeteries page to see the outstanding results!

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 BCGS Tax-Exempt Status Approved

The Bucks County Genealogical Society has been notified by the Internal Revenue Service that our application for tax exempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code has been approved.  That means that our Society is now officially a non-profit 501(c)(3), corporation, and that donations to the Society (not including membership dues) are tax-deductible to the donor, retroactive to January 9, 2012.

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Members-Only Section

The Members-Only section of the Bucks County Genealogical Society website is open to all active members.  If you are a BCGS member, you will have been assigned a user name (normally the beginning part of your email address) and a password.  Once you log in, you will be able to access the members-only menu to:

• Renew your membership
• Download handouts from any meeting
• Register for an upcoming meeting
• Get the Zoom link for a meeting for which you have registered
• View the recording, if available, for a meeting you registered for
• View and download files and photos contributed by members, and add your own contributions
• View a list of members' favorite genealogy websites, and contribute your own favorites
• Attach comments to your ancestors' records in the BCGS database

If you have forgotten your password, go to the login page and click on the "Forgot your password?" link.

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Member Benefits

BCGS members enjoy discounts on subscriptions to GenealogyBank, Fold3, and SavingMemoriesForever, as well as access to our members-only section featuring program handouts and member forums as well as photo and file sharing.  Join us to take advantage of these and other benefits of membership.

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Stay in touch

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