Years ago, one of my faithful genealogical correspondents was Maine Supreme Court Justice David A. Nichols of Lincolnville.

Justice Nichols, who is no longer with us, gave a talk on resources in northern New England 20 years ago for the Essex Society of Genealogists. (Essex County in Massachusetts includes communities such as Gloucester, Newburyport, Haverhill, Ipswich, Salem and several others.)

Nichols’ talk was reprinted in the May 1986 issue of The Essex Genealogist, and it’s interesting that the first resource he mentioned was one of my absolute favorites, Noyes-Libby-Davis’ “Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire.”

He also recommended John Frost’s “Maine Genealogy: A Bibliographical Guide,” Marcia Wiswall Lindberg’s “Genealogical Handbook for New England Research” and Danny D. Smith’s “Walter Goodwin Davis: A Scholar’s Contribution to New England Genealogy.”

The latter book is important because Walter Goodwin Davis is well-known for having written a book on each one of his 16 great-great-grandparents.

“Was your ancestor mentioned in ‘The Diary of Samuel Sewall, 1674-1729?’ It was there that I found the text on which was preached the funeral sermon for one of my Newbury ancestors,” Nichols wrote. “Have you checked the indices in the six-volume ‘Maine Province and Court Records?’ Have you looked for them in Charles E. Clark’s ‘The Eastern Frontier?’ And in Fairburn’s four-volume ‘Merchant Sail?’

You can keep up with activities of the Essex Society of Genealogists on its Web site at www.esog.org. The group will meet at noon Saturday, May 20, at Centre Congregational Church, Summer and Main Street, next to the Lynnfield Public Library in Lynnfield, Mass. The topic will be “Minutemen to Yankee Soldier (1775-1865): Researching Massachusetts Veterans,” with David Lambert, online genealogist for New England Historic Genealogical Society.

Membership is $22 a year, $30.50 if you wish the TEG quarterly mailed first class, and $30.50 in U.S. currency from Canada, sent to ESOG, P.O. Box 313, Lynnfield, MA 01940-0313.

The fifth annual Genealogy Conference sponsored by Silence Howard Hayden Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, will be held Saturday, May 20, at Williams Elementary School in Oakland.

Registration begins at 8 a.m. The conference includes luncheon, book vendors, crafters, door prizes and more.

Workshop choices are:

. 9 a.m. Computer Genealogy with Michael Dennis, Acadian Research with Brenda Jepson or Native American Roots in Northern New England with Nancy Lecompte.

. 10:45 a.m. Research in Bangor and at the University of Maine with Roxanne Moore Saucier, Lineage Organizations with Ann Thomas or LDS Research with Sandra Taylor.

. 1 p.m. French-Canadian Research with Robert Chenard, Civil War Research with Eric Boothroyd or Family Tree Maker with Debbie Morehouse.

The price for the day is $15 at the door, or $12 with pre-registration. DAR members may attend for $10 pre-registration. Lunch is $6. For more information call 465-2278, e-mail: shhdar@verizon.net. Send registration to Silence Howard Hayden Chapter, c/o Beverly Kelley, 91 Tukey Road, Oakland, ME 04963. If you pre-register, please note which workshops you plan to attend.

Proceeds will benefit veterans at Togus and also will help purchase books for fourth-graders in area schools. (If you use Ancestry.com at Oakland Public Library you may thank Silence Howard Hayden Chapter for providing that subscription.)

Directions to the conference from Bangor: Traveling south on I-95, take the Oakland exit and turn right. Go 1.7 miles to the light, continue straight to Williams Elementary School, located on your right after the railroad tracks.

Roger D’Errico will give a program on “Civil War Life” at the meeting of the Penobscot County Genealogical Society at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 17, in the Lecture Hall on the third floor of the Bangor Public Library, 145 Harlow St.

The society now has computer mouse pads with its logo for sale, rectangular or circular. The price is $6 for members, $7 for nonmembers. If you’d like one mailed, add $2 for shipping and send to PCGS in care of the library.

I’ll be speaking on “Let’s Figure Out Those Cousins” at the meeting of the Taconnett Falls Genealogical Society at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 21, at the Taconnett Library, 10 Lithgow St., Winslow. The library will open at 1 p.m. for research, and is well worth a visit. The group plans a genealogy fair on June 17, so stay tuned for information.

Send genealogy queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402; or send e-mail, familyti@bangordailynews.net.