Family photos are from
MGS Member Pages.
Click on a photo to see its
Page.
 Darien, CT |
Saturday, February 1, 2025, 1:00 pm. Pre-meeting Social. Come early and socialize in the Darien Library Community Room.
 Toni McKeen |
For decades, Hart Island has been a well kept secret with restricted access. Over one million bodies are buried on Hart Island. It is the largest public cemetery in the country, and has served New York City since 1869. The island has had many uses since the 19th century. Toni McKeen will shed some light on this potter's field, give a timeline of its history, and explain why it is of interest to genealogists.
Toni has been doing genealogy research on her own extensive Italian family, her husband’s Irish family and son in law’s German family for the last 30+ years. She has over 20 years of experience in teaching and over 30 years as a researcher. She is highly motivated and energetic with extensive teaching skills with well-organized lesson plans. She is a member of several genealogical organizations and is Chairman of the Newtown Genealogy Club, Newtown, 2013-2015, 2020 - present. Toni has traveled to Italy multiple times to research her ancestry and obtain documents in Amalfi, Sicily, and Calabria. She is a popular lecturer in the New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Connecticut areas. and at various genealogy organizations. Her training from her research background while earning her degrees in biology helped her to establish organized systems and charts for recording family information for herself and her students, often a problem for most researchers. Toni is on a mission to expose as many people as possible to the fun, excitement, and importance of tracing their own genealogy. She believes documenting your family history is important for yourself and for future generations, even if they are not interested or have the time now.
Middlesex Genealogical Society
The Middlesex Genealogical Society is located in the town of Darien, which is in Fairfield County, Connecticut, not far from New York City. Membership is open to all interested in family research, regardless of where they live. MGS draws members from various towns in Fairfield County, Connecticut, including Darien, New Canaan, Stamford, Greenwich, Norwalk, Wilton, Ridgefield, Westport, Weston, Redding, Fairfield.
The Middlesex Genealogical Society was established in 1982 for the purpose of encouraging those interested in researching their family history and to provide guidance to that end. The Society does not limit its focus to Darien or Fairfield County. It provides assistance for all researchers, wherever their ancestry leads.
A Newsletter is published quarterly.
MGS holds program Presentation Meetings on five Saturdays during the year, presenting speakers on various topics of interest to all genealogists. These presentations are sponsored jointly by the Middlesex Genealogical Society and the Darien Library. These presentations are normally made at meetings in the Community Room of the Darien Library, but are temporarily being done by Zoom through the Library.
If you are new to genealogy, see our Getting Started page.
Volunteers are available at the Darien Library to help you with research problems, or just to get you started.
Member Pages display the genealogical interests of members and help them connect with distant relatives.
The MGS project at Family Tree DNA helps you understand your Y-DNA results and what to do next.
MGS is registered with the State of Connecticut, thereby giving members access to vital records at town and city record offices in Connecticut.
About Our Name
The MGS name is derived from Middlesex Parish, the original name by which Darien, Connecticut, was known before becoming incorporated in 1820. The MGS founders were from Darien and chose "Middlesex" to honor the town. The name "Middlesex" is shown below on part of a 1789 map of Darien by Christopher Colles.
 |
The main road is part of the 1,300-mile road from Boston to Charleston, South Carolina, ordered by King Charles II (now Old Kings Highway North) N in the upper left corner is north + is the 1744 Darien Congregational Church Z is Brookside Road 47 is miles from Federal Hall Scofield is the 1736 Bates-Scofield house (now the Museum of Darien) The squiggly arrow is the Goodwives River Y to Oxridge is Sedgwick Avenue |