This blog is for and about the California Genealogical Society. We hope you will join us on our genealogy journey!
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Board directors of non-profits should be ambassadors to the community. A successful genealogical society has a board whose members connect with neighborhood groups and local organizations and articulately voice the society’s mission and programs. It's just as important for societies to reach out as it is for them to invite new members in.
So far this year, two directors have represented the California Genealogical Society in community events.
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I had a wonderful time at the Bethany Baptist Church event. Although the program started a little bit later than expected, they put on a great event. They honored heroes of their community, including a lawyer, a judge, a local parks official, an artist, and several others; the intent was to make a point that I presciently had covered in my presentation: history is made every day and not just necessarily by people who appear in the books.
The California Genealogical Society and Library is partnering with FamilySearch Indexing on its second Partner Project – the U.S., California 1852 State Census. The project is classified as “Skill level: Intermediate” and is “recommended for volunteers who are familiar with the indexing process and comfortable using various system features. The documents are old and some of the handwriting is difficult to read.”
FamilySearch is indexing the 1852 California census even though this record set is available on Ancestry.com. Once this project is complete, there are some San Francisco record sets in line to be indexed, including records of San Francisco citizens of German descent who were required to register during WWI. The San Francisco Public Library has information about the Alien enemy registration affidavits, 1918. There are several other sets to follow that will greatly assist San Francisco researchers.
Heading up the 1852 State Census project for the society is one of our new members – Maureen Stephan. Maureen joined CGS last year after she visited the library during a family vacation to San Francisco from her home in Kansas:
It was the best vacation we've ever had! We did and saw so many wonderful things. We walked up and down Lombard Street a couple of times, went on a cruise on the bay, saw the tiled steps, went on a walking tour of Chinatown and an architecture tour of downtown San Francisco, drove up to Twin Peaks and looked out over the city (we were lucky - no fog!), rode the cable cars – and ate at In-N-Out Burger for the first time (loved it!).
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| The Stephan family. |
One day I went to the CGS Library while my husband took our two daughters up to Sacramento (my oldest daughter was born at Mather AFB) where they went to Old Town and the train museum. I had a great time at the library – everyone was so helpful. I found a couple of things about some of my relatives who used to live in San Francisco.Maureen is able to coordinate the project for CGS from her home in Kansas for the same reason that our members can index from where ever they live. If you don’t yet have an indexing account with FamilySearch, find out how easy it is with the two-minute test drive. Follow the instructions to download the indexing program to your computer.
I'm honored to have been asked to coordinate the California 1852 state census project, and look forward to helping on more projects! –Maureen Stephan
I can't imagine a more satisfying feeling than holding your just-published genealogy in your hand. It's got to be so much better than the genealogy happy-dance we all do when we find a long-lost someone or we break down a brick wall. Luckily, belonging to an active genealogical society means that some well-organized members get the job done and bring their finished tomes to the library to share their success (and donate a copy). That's what happened at the March board of directors meeting when our newest board member and recording secretary, Lisa Gorrell, brought a copy of The Nilson Family: From Jönköping to America.
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| Lisa Gorrell |
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| The Nilson Family: From Jönköping to America |
There seems to be no doubt that NBC's You Do You Think You Are? is having an impact on interest in genealogy in the U.S. but we are several years behind the U.K. where the show started in 2004 and where the mother-of-all genealogical conferences just finished its fifth year. CGS member Judy Avery attended her second Who Do You Think You Are – Live! in London and sent this report.
After a wonderful visit in February 2010, here I was again, at the Who Do You Think You Are – LIVE! 2011 exposition in London! It’s billed as the “world’s largest family history event” and fills the Olympia Conference Center with sponsors such as Ancestry.co.uk, the Society of Genealogists, FamilyTree DNA, FindMyPast, FamilySearch, and many other vendors and local family history associations. A group of thirteen of us from the New England Historic Genealogical Society had a great week packed with genealogy and history.
First of all, we had an unforgettable tour of CNN London television studios, thanks to NEHGS member Jim Boulden. It was the same day events in Libya were changing by the minute and the studio was filled with eager young people rushing between offices, typing, watching four monitors at once, and editing footage. We heard the man in charge of CNN’s extensive plans for the royal wedding in April, who told us that four billion(!) people are expected to watch the ceremonies worldwide. A tidbit – the wedding of William and Kate is not a “state wedding” since it doesn’t involve the next heir to the throne. Therefore heads of state are not on the invitation list as they were for Charles and Diana’s wedding.
We were lucky to hear George Redmonds - there is no one like him for knowledge of English surnames, geography, history, folkways, and language. He is fascinated with pre-Tudor England when there wasn’t a concept of a nation and no common language, only regional dialects. Custom and living memory were relied on instead of parish registers and statutes. George said in the 13th and 14th centuries people didn’t have a single name as is popularly thought. In the records there are thousands of “by-names,” which weren’t inherited. He gave examples of by-names which were descriptive of occupation (William Whitebrow, plasterer), physical attributes (Simon Doggeschanke, Nicholas Saddebely) the morally and physically challenged (William, son of Dokefot; Thomas Neverathom).
George and Ann-Marie Redmonds
Author Roger Thompson entertained the NEHGS group with stories of researching for his many books on colonial New England. He has a history of 17th century Charlestown, Massachusetts coming out soon. Nick Bunker, a former reporter for the Financial Times, recently published “Making Haste from Babylon: The Mayflower Pilgrims and their World.” He told us about the importance of the beaver fur trade to the early colonists and the extensive inland trading routes used by native tribes to bring furs to the coastal settlements.
Parish Church of St. Andrew Undershaft with "The Gherkin" in background.
In a break from the drizzle, we had a rare sunny day for a walking tour of parish churches within the compact City of London, led by John Titford. They are sandwiched between old or modern office buildings and most are small and serene inside. Favorites were the Temple Church, setting for “The Da Vinci Code,” and St. Bride’s Church, whose spire is the inspiration for tiered wedding cakes.
St. Stephen Walbrook, built by Wren.
In the evening we had a tour of the College of Arms where we were welcomed by Thomas Woodcock, Garter King of Arms. What a privilege to be allowed into the inner sanctum, lined with ancient books illustrating coats of arms through the centuries. These are not digitized or copied in any form – the original hand-painted books.
College of Arms
Now on to an exhausting and fascinating two days at the fifth annual WDYTYA – LIVE! exposition! Fortunately we had “jump passes” on opening day which let us go right in. Everyone there was so friendly, eager to hear questions and offer suggestions. People lined up for a popular section called “Ask an Expert” where you could have fifteen minutes to discuss your questions with a genealogist. I got some helpful advice on looking for records of a British soldier in the 1800s. From another booth I bought a paperback Your Ancestor’s Life in Textiles to give insight into life working in the cotton mills of Lancashire. Brenton Simons and Gary Boyd Roberts were having a great time checking out several booksellers’ stalls to make additions to the NEHGS library.
NEHGS Booth with Josh Taylor, Meriwether Schmid, Gary Boyd Roberts
A visit to the Huguenot Society of London booth was a highlight for me, where I asked about a 17th century ancestor in London. They immediately did a search on their laptop and found several references to him. Later in California, I got an email saying there was even more in the files and offering to send me copies. Needless to say, I thought a membership was well worth it.
Family Tree DNA was a big presence and featured talks every hour in their area on this evolving field. A lot of it is still over my head, but I keep thinking if I listen to enough lectures, I’ll finally get it! Their Family Finder test is used to predict if two people have a common ancestor within 3 or 4 generations. It’s the test for finding half-siblings or for adoptees and goes across M-F lines. Another talk was about the National Genographic Project, started in 2003 by the National Geographic Society, and Family Tree does the testing for it. It’s useful for anthropological studies, migration patterns and deep ancestral background. An important point – National Genographic keeps its samples for five years but Family Tree DNA preserves your sample for 25 years. You can transfer your results easily from National Genographic to Family Tree – so I’m going to do that soon. Family Tree is going to start offering upgrades to test for 111 markers.
Maureen Taylor was identifying pictures in the photo booth and reported business was booming. I wish I could have gotten around to all the booths for local history societies or vendors of maps and charts. What a treat the week was for travelers and genealogists!
– Judy Avery
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| Shirley Riemer |
By the numbers:
Mrs. Riemer's sense of humor and style of presentation are entertaining, as well as being very instructive. She covered a great deal of material while making it easily accessible, and provided very helpful printed material. –Anonymous
Great presentation! Not only informative but enjoyable! Great sense of humor! –Erin Flory
The presenter was funny and informative, she covered a lot in the time that was allowed. –Patti Melvin
Shirley had a great sense of humor, which is always a plus. She is an excellent presenter. I've been telling anyone who will listen about the talk. –Chris Pattillo
She covered a lot of areas of great frustration in researching German ancestors. I was really impressed with her knowledge. –Carl Mueller
In November 2007, Kathryn Doyle launched this blog after determining that her society needed to "go virtual or perish." Certainly the society is experiencing a long and healthy life, if its active blog and extensive website are its vital signs. Local events and member stories are top topics.Sunny is quoting my very first blog post – An Experiment – from November 2007 when I was quoting David Rencher and his talk on Societies Going Virtual. I think it is fair to say that genealogy bloggers have had a lot to do with how far into the future we have come!
The March 2011 issue of the eNews, volume 5, number 3, has been published and emailed to members and friends. As always, the eNews features timely information about the California Genealogical Society and our upcoming events. Each edition also includes Suggested Links From the Blogosphere and a photo feature: California Ancestors.
This month, in honor of St. Patrick's Day, we pay tribute to Mary "Mollie" Donlon Flynn, Irish grandmother of our member Mary Caroline Chunn.
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| Mollie Donlon Flynn (1899-1989) |
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