Privileges
- Newsletter: NCGS members will receive a quarterly newsletter.
This 20-page newsletter contains genealogical material
and records relating to Niagara County as well as Society
news. Members may also post free queries in the newsletters.
Newsletters are available through your choice of e-mail
or postal mail.
- Look-Up Program: NCGS has a Look-Up service available
to members only. Each membership in the Society entitles
you to one FREE 30-minute Look-Up in the Library's holdings
OR one Obit Look-Up in the Niagara Falls or Lockport Public
Library. After the free Look-Up, additional Look-Ups are
available for a nominal fee. Look-ups for the membership
year need to be into our library by December 14th.
- Society Meetings: Meetings are open to all and are
generally held at 7pm on the last Wednesday of each month
except January and February are held on a Saturday afternoon
(no meetings in July, August, November & December)
at the Niagara County Historical Museum meeting room.
Meeting topics are listed in the quarterly newsletter
and here on the web site. Topics have covered areas such
as computers & genealogy, ethnic groups, local families,
travel and research hints. Our local members, who have
e-mail, will receive a notice of meetings approximately
one week before the meeting.
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Membership Dues
Membership Dues are good for a single calendar year (January
- December). Membership is open to all!
- U.S. Residents: $15.00/yr
- Canadian Residents: $20.00/yr if paid for on
line/$25 if paid for by check or money order.
- International Residents: (non U.S. or Canada) $27.00/yr
All prices are in U.S. Dollars. All checks must be in
U.S. funds, payable to Niagara County Genealogical Society.
Or click here to renew
on-line.
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Apply for Membership
Download
a membership application.
Complete and return it to:
The Niagara County Genealogical Society
215 Niagara Street
Lockport, NY 14094
Or click here to apply
on-line.
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About the Look-Up Program
What does the Program Offer?
The NCGS Look-Up program is a service and benefit of membership.
All people using this service must be members. Each annual
membership entitles you to one free 30- minute look-up in
the holdings of the NCGS Library OR an Obit Look-up at the
Niagara Falls or Lockport Public Library. After the free
annual Look-Up, additional Look-Ups are available for $10
each and Obits for $6 each.
How Can Existing Members Use This Service?
Existing members must fill out the Look-Up form for either
the 30-minute Look-Up OR the Obit. A link to the form can
be found on the bottom of this page.
I Want A Look-Up But I am Not A Member.
Anyone desiring Look-up services and is not a member, must
first fill out the membership application form and include
the appropriate dues fee (they are located on the membership
application) along with the attached Look-Up form in order
to receive these services. You will then get either ONE
30-minute Look-Up or an Obit search for the cost of the
membership and, each year upon renewal you will be entitled
to the same.
What Resources Can I Access For the 30-Minute Look-Up?
Only those that are in residence at the NCGS Library. Because
this is a volunteer-staffed facility, we felt we needed
to put some limits on what we can reasonably search. For
now just the major references like census data, cemetery
records, city and county directory information. However,
in order to give people wider choices we have also designed
a WILDCARD, which allows the Look-Up volunteer to select,
based on their own knowledge of the Library's holdings and
the information the member has included in their request.
This is at the risk of the member - we may not find anything!
We also have a space to choose a specific publication, if
known, such as one of those from the Manuscript list for
example.
What Happens If My Information Only Takes 15 Minutes To
Find? How Do I Maximize The 30 Minutes?
We have thought a lot about that! On the form you will see
a space for "priority" - you must fill it in with
a number. If you put One (1) after census data, we will
start our search there. After we finish #1 we will go to
what you have listed as number 2, and so on. When you receive
your Look-Up reply, you will know where we left off and
you can either send another request or stop there!
I Want To Find An Obit But All I Have Is A Month, Year and
City.
We will search a one-week time frame during any year, but
it is up to you to select that week. If you have even less
information and still want us to look, you must at least
guess at the city, month, year and week. Please understand
- we may not come up with anything.
How Much Information Will Be Sent Back To Me?
Fees for the Look-Up service were established based on the
member receiving one (1) business size envelope using first
class postage. We can fit up to four (4) sheets of paper
in that envelope. If we have additional information for
you we will indicate that when your information is returned
and ask that you send a SASE if you want the remaining information.
What Happens If I Don't Use My Free Look-Up Before The Year
Ends?
We ask that each member use their free look-up during the
year that their membership is paid for. If a member renews
their membership for the following year, they will be entitled
to another free look-up for that year, but if a member has
not used the free look-up for the previous year, it is no
longer available. Look-ups need to be in to our library
by December 14th.
Download a printable copy of the NCGS Look-Up form.
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