On the Street Where We Live: A Case Study Using the 1940 Census

Saturday, June 16, 2012
1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

California Genealogical Society Library
2201 Broadway, Suite LL2
Oakland, CA 94612

Michael Nolan, Marty Combs, and Julie Laguard are neighbors in the Bernal Heights district of San Francisco. They used recently released 1940 census data to look back in time at the street where they live. Join us for this fascinating comparison of then and now. The neighbors will present their research on the 200 Block of Elsie Street. They will compare and contrast who lived there in 1940 with data about who lives on the block today, including:

• How many people lived under one roof? 
• What were their origins? Did they migrate or immigrate from somewhere else? 
• What did they do for a living? 
• How much did they earn? What was their length of employment? 
• Vertical study of one house on the block over time 

They will discuss the role the research played in binding the block together through frequent potluck dinners, mutual support in time of need, celebration in time of joy, and a stellar annual block party.

Michael Nolan and Marty Combs will present, with research assistance from Elsie Street neighbor, Julie Lagarde.

The presentation is free and open to all. Please let us know you are coming.

Register online.

Michael Nolan was born and bred in Brooklyn, the son of an Irish Catholic father and a Polish Jewish immigrant mother. He thinks his fascination with genealogy thus began in the womb. He convenes regular family reunions for both sides of his family and maintains sites for both on Facebook and MyFamily. He recently convened a 50th anniversary reunion for his eighth grade class at PS99 in Brooklyn and used various research tools to find missing classmates. He has a long history in journalism in NYC and San Francisco as a researcher, producer and editor for CBS News, the Public Broadcast Laboratory, and the San Francisco Business Times. He currently researches and develops family trees for individual clients. More information at Give the Gift of Family History on Facebook.

Marty Combs is from northwestern North Carolina where his family has been living since the late 1790s. Having only one living grandparent who was already 82 by his birth, and parents who grew up during the Great Depression, he was exposed early to discussions of “the good ol' days” and how families and homes transition through time. He has often exchanged stories with neighbors regarding the history of his neighborhood and home. Marty's day job is a unix system administrator. In his spare time, he cares for a nearby community garden, does woodworking, metalworking and relaxes on his front stoop socializing with neighbors.

Julie Lagarde is a social historian, policy analyst and advocate. A native of France, she obtained a Masters degree in Public Policy at the Institut d'Etudes politiques de Bordeaux. Growing restless with unemployment, she decided to apply her thirst for research to her home. Michael and Marty will present her “vertical study” on who has lived in her house over the past century, since it was built.


Copyright © 2012 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library

Writing Your Family History: Start Now!

The California Genealogical Society is offering an intense writing course to help you begin writing your family history. By the end of the course, you will be ready to start writing, or will be already writing, a family history with confidence and style!

Who Should Take this Course?
This course is for genealogists and family historians who are ready to transform their research into a quality family history.

Course Details
This course will meet for a five-hour session one Saturday a month at the library in the Learning Center. Class size is limited to fifteen participants. All sessions are on Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. with one hour break for lunch.

The course will provide participants with all the information and assistance needed to get started on writing a family history. The course includes

• a copy of the class text Producing a Quality Family History
• helpful course materials organized in a binder
• step-by-step instruction in organizing and writing your history
• a variety of lecturers on topics to expand on reading assignments
• experienced instructors
• editing and writing help

Session dates:

• July 7, 2012
• August 25, 2012
• September 15, 2012
• October 13, 2012

The course has been created by a team of dedicated volunteers – Tim Cox, Lisa Gorrell and Jane Hufft – who have different and complementary skills. Events Chair Tim Cox is the organizer and leader. He also  a vast store of feedback data collected after every class at the library. Tim knows what members want! Board Recording Secretary Lisa Gorrell has taught several course and has curriculum experience. California Nugget Editor Jane Hufft brings her experience as an educator, writer, and editor.

NOTE: This course will NOT focus on research techniques or evidence procedures.

Course Fee*
CGS Members: $50
Non-CGS Members: $75

Register online.


Registration Requirements
Attendance is required at all four sessions.
There is no registration for individual sessions.
Participants must be willing to commit a reasonable amount of time to the homework assignments, which consist of reading assigned chapters in the provided text and working on individual writing projects.

This course is expected to fill very quickly, so register now!

*All course fees are non-refundable.

Copyright © 2012 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library

Private Tour of Mountain View Cemetery Sunday, June 3, 2012

Sunday, June 3, 2012
1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Mountain View Cemetery

5000 Piedmont Avenue
Oakland, CA 94611

Member Gaye Lenehan will lead a special Sunday tour of an Oakland gem. Docent-led walking tours of Mountain View Cemetery are normally held on Saturday mornings so this is a great opportunity for those who have had a conflict with the usual schedule. The tour will start promptly at 1:00 p.m. and everyone should gather in front of the main office.

Gaye Lenahan leading a tour in 2010.

Founded in 1863, Mountain View was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, renowned landscape architect of New York City's Central Park. The historic, not-for-profit cemetery is nestled in the foothills of Oakland and Piedmont. Gaye will tell a bit of history of the cemetery and lead the group past the final resting places of some interesting people. She's including a climb up the hill to Millionaires' Row.

Please note: Walking shoes are recommended; the tour covers almost two miles on hilly terrain. It is not suitable for those with walkers, canes or the need to sit down frequently. There is plenty of parking along the roads in the cemetery.

Photograph courtesy of Jane Knowles Lindsey, 3/24/2010, Oakland, California.


Copyright © 2012 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library

Wordless Wednesday

Aging and Disability Technology Summit

San Francisco City Hall

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Photographs by Kathryn Doyle and Shannon Reese, San Francisco, 5/15/2012.


Copyright © 2012 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library

Day Four: NGS 2012 Family History Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio

President Jeff sent his last conference report. Thanks so much!

National Genealogical Society Annual Conference Day Four
12 May 2012 Cincinnati, OH

A Saturday which means a change in the shuttle service between Covington, KY and Cincinnati, OH or a minor chance to miss the first 8:00 a.m. class! Yep! It means the opportunity to walk from Kentucky to Ohio, which is what I did to catch the 9:30 a.m. class by Harold Henderson Indirect Evidence: What To Do When Perry Mason Isn’t on Your Side. Harold suggested that we might be better off using Sherlock Holmes as our model since this fictional character could take small bits of information to solve cases. 

Then from this crowded room it was on to another packed room for Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG, FUGA, FNGS presentation Information Overload? Effective Project Planning, Research, Data Management and Analysis which included links to her papers at the BCG website. Work samples posted for all to read are at: http://www.bcgcertification.org/skillbuilders/worksamples.html 

The FamilySearch luncheon proved to be the weakest of any attended. It seemed like a long commercial rather than the topic Discover Your Ohio Ancestors Online, so I got up and left about halfway through, as did some others. 

I went for a last visit to the trade show floor and will bring back some goodies for use in the CGS Library. One of the groups with a booth was the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War whose local Camp footed the bill. I observed they were busy all four days of the conference, informing attendees about the SUVCW. As the conference winds down it is possible to talk with vendors without the crowd (unless a raffle is being held!)

The afternoon session was with Thomas W. Jones, who spoke on Solutions for Missing or Scarce Records and he cited several cases which can be found at the NGS website. One must be a member of NGS to read articles published in the last 100 years.

Then it was time to hit a Cincinnati highlight called Skyline Chili which opened in 1949 by a Greek immigrant; however, it was only the Greek salad that one might find to be “Greek” as the menu has chili in a variety of forms.

It was a GOOD conference, which I recommend to those who have not attended. It is interesting that the conference in 2013 will be in Las Vegas, Nevada. A video about NGS conferences can be found at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/video_conference. 2014 will be in Richmond, Virginia (7-10 May) and 2015 in St. Charles (outside St. Louis), Missouri (13-16 May). Now it is time to write up the other two days of research done before the conference began, pack for the return trip and reengage with CGS. Thank you for reading.

—Jeffrey Vaillant

Copyright © 2012 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library

Day Three: NGS 2012 Family History Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio

Here is the next of Jeff's reports:

National Genealogical Society Annual Conference Day Three
11 May 2012 Cincinnati, OH

Day three has been an eclectic one with a variety of presentations. There are reported 2155 attendees and it shows, since Vinnie, Tim and I have seldom crossed paths. The day started with Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG presentation Okay, I ‘Got the Neighbors’: Now What Do I Do with Them? This was followed by Facial Recognition Software: Application for Genealogists? [Not yet] by Greg Kipper. Then Thomas W. Jones PhD, CG, CGL, FASG, FUGA, FNGS who talked about Documentation: The What, Why and Where.

Before lunch, I think for some readers it might be useful to define all those nominal letters, so here goes: PhD I suspect folks know. In Dr. Jone’s case it is in the field of education. CG is Certified Genealogist, CGL is Certified Genealogist Lecturer, FASG is Fellow American Society of Genealogy [this is limited to 50 members only], FUGA is Fellow Utah Genealogy Association and FNGS is Fellow National Genealogical Society.

The NGS luncheon began with about sixty of us standing due to a miscommunication of the number of attendees. The staff at the Duke Energy Center, where the conference is being held, swiftly set up chairs, tables, linens, and silver without missing a beat. The talk was From Goetta to Guacamole: The Immigrant Impact on Cincinnati.

The afternoon was the Ancestry.com staff presentation on Making the DNA Connection. I believe Ancestry purchased the Sorenson Molecular Foundation and its database along with genetree. Ancestry is moving into this related genealogy field and taking reservations for lab tests. They are so backed up in the lab that my sample from 15 Nov 2011 is “still in process.” DNA testing can be expensive and I saw a bargain $9 to be part of their beta test and swabbed the check. I have 67 markers at Family Tree DNA as well as Sorenson as well as the Genome National Geographic project. 

The day ended with the NGS Quarterly 100th Anniversary Reception. I took a hand full of the sample brochure to bring back to the library. An element that is important in these meetings is the contacts made with others and the stories exchanged about the field of genealogy. Besides class there are opportunities to learn from the other attendees.—Jeffrey Vaillant

Copyright © 2012 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library

Day Two: NGS 2012 Family History Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio

CGS President Jeffrey Vaillant sent another conference report:

National Genealogical Society Annual Conference Day Two
Cincinnati, OH 10 May 2012

I have Pierson, Render, Leathers and Tanner lines that landed in Kenton, Campbell and Boone counties in Kentucky in the early 1800’s and left for Indiana by 1840. So today I immersed myself in the “Research in Kentucky” track for four presentations:

• Researching Kentucky Records by Don Rightmyer from the Kentucky Historical Society (located in Frankfort, KY)
• They Paid Their Taxes: Using Kentucky Tax Lists for pre-1850’s Research by Gail Jackson Miller, CG
• Researching the Southern Side of Cincinnati: Northern Kentucky Genealogy and Local History Resources by Elaine Kahn, MLS
• Collections of the Kentucky Historical Society by Louise Jones, MLS

These were all excellent presentations with Kentucky Tax Lists leading the parade. Tax lists in Kentucky start before 1800 and were well documented and recorded – probably better than any census. The taxes were collected by local people who knew local people so it was not easy to duck the tax collector (sound familiar?) The tax records are a wealth of information since one did not have to own land to be taxed. Even an old horse worth $10 got taxed!!

The Board for Certification of Genealogist luncheon had good food and a solid presentation. Elizabeth Kelley Kerstens, CG, CGL wore a period mourning outfit and read from the diary of a Mrs. Davis, Civil War widow.

In the afternoon, after sitting next to the retired History and Genealogy Librarian from Kenton County Public Library, I made a dash to the library between class and the Evening at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. The library (located in Covington) has vertical family files with some information on the Tanner and Leather lines which I mined. AND since it is something one has to do, I walked from Kentucky to Ohio….across a bridge across the Ohio River.

The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is everything one would expect from an excellent museum. Two floors of exhibits clearly bringing into focus the role of slavery in the United States through the Civil War and the Underground Railroad. It is a dramatic exhibit and a dramatic building. More can be learned at their website: http://freedomcenter.org/.

—Jeffrey Vaillant

Photograph courtesy of Jeff Vaillant, 5/10/2012

Copyright © 2012 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library.

Day One: NGS 2012 Family History Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio

CGS President Jeffrey Vaillant generously makes time to write and send reports from conferences. This year he is attending the NGS 2012 Family History Conference in Cincinnati. Thanks, Jeffrey!

National Genealogical Conference-Day One
Cincinnati, OH 9 May 2012 

Great first day! It started with a presentation by Patricia Mosley Van Skaik on the Genealogy Buried in a Photograph: Amazing Discoveries in the Cincinnati Panorama of 1848. Rather than words, go here to see it for yourself: Cincinnati Panorama of 1848.

On the way to the opening of the trade show, Vinnie Schwarz, Tim Cox, and I stopped to have our picture taken by another attendee on his handy iPad. Hopefully he has sent it for posting. The exhibit hall has more room than I recall in the past, allowing the 2000+ attendees ease in getting around. All the usual suspects were displaying their wares and FamilySearch and Ancestry were the space hogs! The 1940 U.S. Census Project was on the floor so I was able to walk away with a tee shirt after indexing two more batches. Stopped to say hello to the Photo Detective, Maureen Taylor, and told her we were looking forward to seeing her in early June for the CGS Day with the Photo Detective. She told me all her consultation times have been taken so I asked her to consider coming a day earlier for more. 

Then it was off to Strategies for Finding "Unfindable" Ancestors with Dr. Thomas Jones. It was a great class in methodology and research. 

I attended the Association of Professional Genealogists luncheon. (Vinnie and Tim went out to the local chili feed.) Curt B. Witcher spoke on the Expectations of 21st Century Genealogists and was entertaining as well as insightful. While he was focused on the individual genealogist, I think some of his ideas can apply to a genealogy society as well. 

Since I came early to do some of my own research, the afternoon lecture Moving Out: Migration Patterns into the Midwest by Carol Elise Smith AG, was spot-on for my thinking process. We all need to shed our modern-day view and consider how people moved about in the late 1700s and early 1800s. As Carol put it, "they did not have stuff to move!" and the routes taken were formed by geography. It was a solid presentation. 

The day was topped off by a trip to the Cincinnati History Museum which is located in a renovated Union Station at the west end of the city. Great renovation with art deco motif. They started construction in August 1929 and completed the original structure in March 1933 at a cost of $41M. The History Museum has a working model of Cincinnati in 1940 with trolleys and trains running. It is a HUGH exhibit reminding me of the one in Chicago at the Museum of Science and Industry. 

The evening included dinner and was attended by 230+ people. People are another important part of this conference as we exchange genealogy and learn from each other.

Copyright © 2012 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library