Oakmont Genealogy Club April 2012 Newsletter Our next regular meeting will be Monday, April 23, 2012 in the West Recreation Center at 2:30 PM. Our speaker will be Steve Morse, whose website (www.stevemorse.org) is the place to go for help finding your ancestors in the 1940 census. Steve has devoted a lot of time and effort to helping us understand what we may find in the 1940 census and how to find specific individuals. This should be a very interesting session! We will be asking for a $2 voluntary donation to help defray costs. The Oakmont Computer Learning Center is offering two genealogy courses this Spring. On Saturday, May 5, there is an all day (9-5) course on “Beginning Genealogy”. This is intended for people who want to get started on family genealogy and would like a primer on where and how to begin. The other course is “Genealogy on the Internet”. This will be from 2-4 on April 24, April 26, May 1, and May 3. This is intended for those who want a deeper understanding of how to use the wide range of resources on the internet for genealogical research. As usual, I will be joined by Krystine Boehme, who will be there to help those who may need help in their computer skills as well as their genealogy research skills. Call 538-1485 to register. Our next meeting will be May 28 (Memorial Day). This will be a follow-up to the 1940 census with members discussing successes and remaining brick walls in their research. I’ve already found a “missing” great-uncle and his family, including his son-in-law (so now I know who his daughter married!). Indexing of the 1940 census is proceeding rapidly. Ancestry.com has Nevada and Delaware indexed, and familiysearch.org has 6 states over 80% indexed (but neither Ancestry.com or familysearch.org will let you search a state until it is fully indexed). There is another website myheritage.com, which also has images. It is allowing you to search anything that has been indexed, so I found a relative in Bristol County, Rhode Island by using their index. Having said that, assume it will be quite some time before the larger states are indexed. Note also the upcoming major meeting for the Sonoma County Genealogical Society on April 21 (see below). Finally, the Sutro Library is temporarily closed while it is moving to the San Francisco State University campus. It will reopen in its new location sometime in May 2012. Local Activities If you find any of these of interest, check the websites for more details. California Genealogical Society (http://www.californiaancestors.org/) April 24 will have a session “Beginning Research in Louisiana” May 22 will have a session “Beginning Research in Germany”. These are in conjunction with the Oakland Family History Center Oakland Family History Center (http://www.oaklandfhc.org) See above Sonoma County Genealogical Society (SCGS) (http://www.scgs.org/) The big annual meeting is scheduled for Saturday, April 21. To see the agenda click on: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cascgs/lenzen2.htm. If you haven’t been to one of their all day sessions, I would strongly recommend you consider attending. Marin Genealogical Society (http://www.maringensoc.org/) Their April 25 meeting is titled “Genealogical Storytelling” Internet and Website information If you are interested in Eastern European genealogy, you should keep checking FamilySearch.org to see their latest postings. There are an increasing number of databases available (often in local language…). Website: http://oakgenclub.org Email: oakmontancestry@aol.com
Oakmont Genealogy Club March 2012 Newsletter Our next regular meeting will be Monday, March 26, 2012 in the West Recreation Center at 2:30 PM. We’ve often been asked for help in creating and publishing a family genealogy. Monday’s speaker will be Doug Mudgway, an Oakmont resident who has done that. Doug will talk about gathering and organizing sources and identifying tools for research and publishing. After questions, we will have a brief discussion about the 1940 census, which will be the focus of the April 23 meeting. Our speaker at that meeting will be Steve Morse (yes, the Steve Morse who has the website devoted to immigration). Steve has devoted a lot of time and effort to helping us understand what we may find in the 1940 census and how to find specific individuals. This should be a very interesting session! We will hold a meeting on May 28 (Memorial Day). We will finish our discussion of the 1940 census with members discussing successes and remaining brick walls in their research. Also, the Sonoma County Genealogical Society is setting up a group to assist in indexing the 1940 census. If you are interesting, go to www.the1940census/society and register. Select Sonoma County Genealogical Society when you sign up. Local Activities If you find any of these of interest, check the websites for more details. California Genealogical Society (http://www.californiaancestors.org/) June 6 features a full day seminar (held in Lafayette) on photo detecting. This sounds like a very interesting activity if you are particularly interested in old family photographs. If someone decides to go, please notify Krystine or George and we’ll see if others want to organize a car pool. Oakland Family History Center (http://www.oaklandfhc.org) Their spotlight series with the California Genealogical Society focuses on Norway (March 27), Louisiana (April 24), and Germany (May 22). Sonoma County Genealogical Society (SCGS) (http://www.scgs.org/) The big annual meeting is scheduled for Saturday, April 21. To see the agenda click on: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cascgs/lenzen2.htm Marin Genealogical Society (http://www.maringensoc.org/) Their next meeting is March 28 at 7 PM titled “Solving Genealogical Problems”. Internet and Website information www.Ancestry.com/wiki is a developing site that contains lots of background information on genealogy – from location to immigration. You do not have to have a subscription to access it. There’s a great website which catalogs a lot of Illinois databases online at http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/databases/home.html There’s an interesting blog for those interested in Swedish research: http://heirsofsweden.blogspot.com FamilySearch recently did a major update to its online English Birth and Marriage records. There are lots of new records available on FamilySearch related to specific foreign countries, including many for Eastern Europe. If you haven’t looked recently, you should see what’s available. FamilySearch has a number of sites for which images are available but not indexes. Usually these are organized by date. I tried Massachusetts births. If you know the approximate date of birth and location (January 1890 in Cambridgeport) you could find the record by a short search process (page through the records). The records give maiden names of mothers and places of birth for both mother and father (city if in Massachusetts, state or country if not). There are other images similarly available for searching for a wide range of countries and cities. Website: http://oakgenclub.org Email: oakmontancestry@aol.com Oakmont Genealogy Club February 2012 Newsletter Our next regular meeting will be Monday, February 27, 2012 in the West Recreation Center at 2:30 PM. Our speaker will be Fred Polkinghorn on Dutch genealogy. Fred will take us through his experiences in developing his wife’s genealogy from the family’s immigration around 1900 back to the mid-1700s. This will be a good opportunity to see how you might approach your European genealogy research. The March 26 meeting will feature Doug Mudgway, who will be talking about his experience in publishing his family genealogy. Doug will talk about gathering and organizing sources and identifying tools for research and publishing. We will also begin a discussion about the 1940 census, which will be the focus of the April meeting Our speaker for the April 23 meeting will be Steve Morse (yes, the Steve Morse who has the website devoted to immigration). Steve has devoted a lot of time and effort to helping us understand what we may find in the 1940 census and how to find specific individuals. This should be a very interesting session! We are considering whether to hold our regular May
meeting. It turns out that May 28 is
Memorial Day. If you have any opinion on
this subject, please email georgemck@aol.com. Thanks. // THERE WILL BE A MAY 28 MEETING // Local Activities If you find any of these of interest, check the websites for more details. California Genealogical Society (http://www.californiaancestors.org/) CGS and the Oakland Family History Center is continuing its educational series devoted to “Ancestral Homelands”. These are held the 4th Tuesday of each month from 7 to 8:30 PM. February 28 will be England. March 27 will be Norway. Oakland Family History Center (http://www.oaklandfhc.org) No additional classes. Sonoma County Genealogical Society (SCGS) (http://www.scgs.org/) Their next meeting will be Saturday, February 18 (open meeting at noon, speaker at 1). The speakers will be Tony Hoskins on “Jump Starting your Stalled Research” and Virginia Hershey who will explore PERSI (the periodical index) as a source. Marin Genealogical Society (http://www.maringensoc.org/) Their February 22 meeting will feature Steve Morse (who will give the same presentation we will see in April). Internet and Website information Many of you know how important I believe Google is as a source. There are a series of 6 good videos on YouTube beginning at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUsaxTM7yrw. At the line right above the video there is a button labeled “6 Videos” which takes you to all six. When you log onto the FamilyHistory website (www.familiysearch.org) you can then click on Books and get about 40,000 digitized family genealogy books from the LDS and related websites. “Who Do You Think You Are?” is back. You can watch it every Friday night at 8 on NBC and/or just go to www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/video/ and click on each episode (Martin Sheen was 2/3/12 and Marisa Tomei was 2/10/12). Oakmont Genealogy Club January 2012 Newsletter NOTE: Joan Gunn's presentation on German Genealogy in January is available on our website at http://www.oakgenclub.org/120123_joan_gunn/index.html Our next regular meeting will be Monday, January 23, 2012 in the West Recreation Center at 2:30 PM. Our speaker will be Joan Gunn from the Sacramento German Genealogy group who will introduce us to the world of German Genealogy. Joan will cover the major areas for German research along with common problems encountered and how to work around them. She will also look at some church records and discuss how to approach these types of records. Since Joan is coming from Sacramento we will have another chance to reimburse for travel, so we will be asking for a $2 donation again. If you have friends in the Oakmont community who are German, they may find this interesting even if they are not into genealogy research. The February 27 meeting will feature Fred Polkinghorn on Dutch genealogy. Fred has done extensive work on his wife’s genealogy and will share his experiences with us. Ancestry.com Sale Ancestry.com is offering a significant discount on a six month membership. The US membership is $49 (vs. $79 regular) and the worldwide is $99 (vs. $150 regular). This only applies through JANUARY 4. 1940 Census Last month I mentioned that we will focus on the 1940 Census in our April 23 meeting. I am pleased to announce that Steve Morse (yes, the Steve Morse who has the website devoted to immigration) has agreed to be our speaker. Steve has devoted a lot of time and effort to helping us understand what we may find in the 1940 census and how to find specific individuals. More to follow. Local Activities If you find any of these of interest, check the websites for more details. California Genealogical Society (http://www.calgensoc.org/) CGS and the Oakland Family History Center have started a new educational series devoted to “Ancestral Homelands”. These will be held the 4th Tuesday of each month from 7 to 8:30 PM. January 24th will be Sweden. February 28 will be England. Oakland Family History Center (http://www.oaklandfhc.org) No additional classes. Sonoma County Genealogical Society (SCGS) (http://www.scgs.org/) Their next meeting will be Saturday, January 21 (open meeting at noon, speaker at 1). The speaker will be Tony Hoskins who will talk about how DNA testing changed his understanding of his own ancestry. Marin Genealogical Society (http://www.maringensoc.org/) No January meeting posted. Internet and Website information FamilySearch has posted significant new data on Ohio State and County birth, marriage, and death records. Website: http://oakgenclub.org Email: oakmontancestry@aol.com Oakmont Genealogy Club December 2011 Newsletter
Our next regular meeting will be Monday, January 23, 2012 in the West Recreation Center at 2:30 PM. Our speaker will be Joan Gunn from the Sacramento German Genealogy group who will introduce us to the world of German Genealogy. Put it on your calendars! Since Joan is coming from Sacramento we will have another chance to reimburse for travel, so we will be asking for a $2 donation again. If you have friends in the Oakmont community who are German, they may find this interesting even if they are not into genealogy research. The February 27 meeting will feature Fred Polkinghorn on Dutch genealogy. Fred has done extensive work on his wife’s genealogy and will share his experiences with us. 1940 Census On April 2, 2012, the 1940 census will be released. The images will be immediately released and available on the NARA (National Archives) website, along with Ancestry.com (which will make them free through 2013) and familysearch.org. Although there won’t be any index at first, there are a number of ways to get a head start to finding your family. Our April 23 meeting will be devoted to the 1940 census, but if you want to get a head start I’ll be throwing out websites of interest. Here’s the description from the NARA website: http://www.archives.gov/research/census/1940/start-research.html Local Activities If you find any of these of interest, check the websites for more details. California Genealogical Society (http://www.calgensoc.org/) Saturday, January 7, is their monthly free “Introduction to Genealogy” at 11 AM. Oakland Family History Center (http://www.oaklandfhc.org) Closed December 15-January 2 for the holidays. There are no special events in December and they have not posted their January schedule yet. Sonoma County Genealogical Society (SCGS) (http://www.scgs.org/) No December meeting. Their next meeting will be Saturday, January 21 (open meeting at noon, speaker at 1). The speaker will be Tony Hoskins who will talk about how DNA testing changed his understanding of his own ancestry. Marin Genealogical Society (http://www.maringensoc.org/) No December meeting. The January meeting topic has not been posted yet. Internet and Website information If you are interested in free books (whether or not they relate to genealogy), you should look at the website www.archive.org. This group has combined a number of resources for free books on-line to create a single catalog. Most of the items can be downloaded in any format (including Kindle format). I have found a number of relevant histories to download and data sources. MyHeritage.com has acquired WorldVitalRecords.com. This has resulted in some special pricing for WorldVitalRecords. MyHeritage has primarily been a genealogy site for those interested in social media (for example, their McKinney page posts everyone’s birthday and your supposed to send everyone in your “family” a birthday email). WorldVitalRecords was founded by some of the founders of ancestry.com and is intended to provide another broad-based source of data. If you think you might be interested, look at this review: http://genealogy-websites.no1reviews.com/worldvitalrecords.html What’s interesting is that the New England Historical and Genealogical Society (NEHGS) has a special price for a WorldVitalRecords subscription ($70 for 14 months) through December 18. A subscription to NEHGS costs $80 per year and a regular WorldVitalRecords subscription is $149. So… there’s a 2 for 1 sale going on here for the next week. The National Park System has a combined database related to Civil War Soldiers and Sailors at
There’s an interesting site which discusses the immigration of Irish the New World over our history. This is not a “database” of people – rather a discussion of what type of people came and why: http://www.libraryireland.com/IrishSettlers/Contents.php
The State of Georgia has put its online information in a more accessible database at Website: http://oakgenclub.org Email: oakmontancestry@aol.com Oakmont Genealogy Club November 2011 Newsletter
Our next regular meeting will be Monday, November 28, 2011 in the West Recreation Center at 2:30 PM. Our speaker will be Wayne Till, who has spoken here before, who will talk about his experience in North Carolina Genealogy research. Wayne is a good speaker and researcher, so this will be a good chance to understand how to do research in any of the original colonies. There is no December meeting. Our January meeting will feature Joan Gunn from the Sacramento German Genealogy group who will introduce us to the world of German Genealogy. Put it on your calendars! Since Joan is coming from Sacramento we will have another chance to reimburse for travel, so we will be asking for a $2 donation again. If you have friends in the Oakmont community who are German, they may find this interesting even if they are not into genealogy research. At our October meeting, Nancy Peterson, author of Raking the Ashes, gave us a great talk. After the meeting she sent us a detailed list of websites that she uses for California genealogy. This is now posted on OUR website (www.oakgenclub.org) in the bottom of the Navigation list on the left side. She also has sent me a one page addendum for the new edition of her book. If you ordered one or bought one at the meeting and did NOT get the addendum, please email me (georgemck@aol.com) and I will forward it to you. Ernie Rose has purchased a two volume set titled “Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe” and would be happy to do lookups. Local Activities If you find any of these of interest, check the websites for more details. California Genealogical Society (http://www.calgensoc.org/) They have reinstituted their first Saturdays are free policy, and will have an Intro to Genealogy class on December 3 (sign up in advance at the website). Oakland Family History Center (http://www.oaklandfhc.org) No major events through November. Sonoma County Genealogical Society (SCGS) (http://www.scgs.org/) Their November 19 meeting will feature a combined history and genealogy of a specific individual, Janet Downie Hardie. Marin Genealogical Society (http://www.maringensoc.org/) Their November 16 session be a round-table on Brick Walls and Success Stories. Internet and Website information There is a good summary of Pennsylvania research at http://www.genealogyandfamilyhistory.com/?p=718. Google has made an important change to its queries. They no longer use +Smith to mean the search must include Smith. Instead, they want you to use “Smith”. RAOGK (Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness) may be going out of business and the website is currently not working. Keep tuned. Tax Assessor Photographs: The New England Historical and Genealogical Society newsletter has been featuring tax assessor’s photographs. Apparently these may be available for many locations. Here are two: New York City and Chicago. “I
visited the website of the New York City Department of Records and Information Services
to learn about ordering New York City vital records. My attention wandered to a
subject heading toward the bottom of the left-hand navigation column: tax
photos. Wondering what a tax photo was, I clicked on the link and discovered an amazing collection. “The Cook County, Illinois,
Assessor's Office also keeps a photographic archive of all taxable county
properties for the same purpose. I've used it to very good effect during my
genealogical research and in writing genealogical articles about my family in
Chicago. Website: http://oakgenclub.org Email: oakmontancestry@aol.com Oakmont Genealogy Club October 2011 Newsletter
Our next regular meeting will be Monday, October 24, 2011 in the West Recreation Center at 2:30 PM. Our speaker will be Nancy Peterson, author of Raking the Ashes, the story of reconstructing the records of San Francisco that were destroyed in the Great 1906 Earthquake and Fire. It is important that we have a large turnout for this meeting. We’re trying to have one or two special speakers a year, and Ms. Peterson is our first! Her talk is likely to be of interest to anyone in Oakmont who is either from San Francisco or is interested in the Earthquake and Fire – her talk will go well beyond genealogy! She will, however, talk about how her techniques can be used in any situation where primary records have been lost due to fire or disaster. You are encouraged to bring other Oakmonters as guests. We are reimbursing Nancy for her costs to drive here from Portola Valley, so we will be asking for a $2 voluntary donation at the door. Our November 28 meeting will feature Wayne Till, who has spoke here before, who will talk about his experience in North Carolina Genealogy research. This is a good chance to understand how to do research in any of the original colonies. There will be no December meeting. “Free” Ancestry.com We are in the last days of “free” access to some Ancesty.com databases (ends October 15). If you haven’t looked at what they are offering, click on www.ancestry.com/anniversary. What most people don’t know is there are almost 500 databases on Ancestry.com that are free all the time! There are two ways to find these. The first is to go to the home search page of Ancestry.com and click on the right side where it says “Card Catalog”. This takes you to a page where all their databases are listed. On this page, type the word “FREE” on the left hand side where it asks for Keyword(s) and then click on Search. Right now the list includes the “special” free databases, but usually it includes several that are always of value: The 1880 US census The 1881 UK census England & Wales Birth, Marriage, and Death records 1837-1915 US Naturalization Records INDEX, 1791-1992 There’s another site that has even more information on these databases, including categorizing them by state and country. This is www.searchforancestors.com/ancestryfreebies.html. Local Activities If you find any of these of interest, check the websites for more details. California Genealogical Society (http://www.calgensoc.org/) The California Genealogical Society and Ancestry.com are hosting an all-day meeting in San Francisco on November 5 (cost $42). More information is available at http://www.ancestry.com/ancestryday-sanfrancisco. The California Genealogical Society is open for free to non-members during October. Oakland Family History Center (http://www.oaklandfhc.org) No major events through October. Sonoma County Genealogical Society (SCGS) (http://www.scgs.org/) Their October 15 meeting will feature Stephen Morse of the www.stevemorse.org fame speaking on DNA testing. Marin Genealogical Society (http://www.maringensoc.org/) Their October 26 session will also feature Stephen Morse giving what is apparently the same lecture. Internet and Website information Update next month. Website: http://oakgenclub.org Email: oakmontancestry@aol.com
Oakmont Genealogy Club September 2011 Newsletter Our next regular meeting will be Monday, September 26, 2011 in the West Recreation Center at 2:30 PM. This meeting will be a presentation titled “Marriage in America”. This presentation was prepared for the Sonoma County Genealogical Society and will also be presented at their September 17 meeting. No rite has a greater impact on genealogy than marriage. This talk will take a whirlwind tour through marriage in America historically. We’ll start with a look at marriage ceremonies in America over the centuries. We will then discuss the legal position of married women in America over time – from the Colonial years where married women’s rights were well defined and consistent with British law; to the early 1800’s where married women’s legal rights were greatly reduced; to the early 1900’s where immigration laws had a major impact on the legal rights of married women; and finally a look at the changes that occurred in the 1920’s and 30’s to reverse years of discrimination and start a hard road toward legal equity. Finally, we’ll take a look at one of the hardest topics in genealogy – how do you find the birth name for a married woman? There are five methods of search we’ll discuss: Vital records, including church and bible records Wills and other legal documents Federal records, including censuses, Social Security, and military Newspapers, including reports of vital records events and Collateral sources, including neighbors, siblings, and names October 24 Meeting - HOLD THIS DATE!! We are very pleased to announce our speaker for October 24 (2:30 at West Rec) will be Nancy Peterson, author of Raking the Ashes, the story of reconstructing the records of San Francisco that were destroyed in the Great 1906 Earthquake and Fire. Please plan to attend and mention the speaker to anyone you know who is either from San Francisco or is interested in the Earthquake and Fire – her talk will go well beyond genealogy! We are reimbursing Nancy for her costs to drive here from Portola Valley, so we will be asking for a $2 voluntary donation at the door. More to follow. Fall Class at Oakmont Computer Learning Center (OCLC) There are still 2-3 spaces available for the OCLC course titled “Genealogy on the Internet” (September 27, September 29, October 4 and October 6 from 3-5) ($20). This is open to all whether experienced in genealogy and computers or not. If you are interested in this classes send a check made out to OCLC to Justine Haugen, 8926 Acorn Lane. The one day seminar on Beginning Genealogy scheduled for September 24 is full. Local Activities If you find any of these of interest, check the websites for more details. California Genealogical Society (http://www.calgensoc.org/) The California Genealogical Society and Ancestry.com are hosting an all-day meeting in San Francisco on November 5 (cost $42). More information is available at http://www.ancestry.com/ancestryday-sanfrancisco. If there is a lot of interest we can consider carpooling. Their regular meeting on September 17 will focus on Civil War Ancestors. Oakland Family History Center (http://www.oaklandfhc.org) No major events through September. Sonoma County Genealogical Society (SCGS) (http://www.scgs.org/) Their regular meeting on September 17 will feature George McKinney (yep) speaking on “Marriage in America” – a focus on legal and immigration issues. This will be repeated for the Oakmont Genealogy Club meeting on September 26. Their October 15 meeting will feature Stephen Morse of the www.stevemorse.org fame speaking on DNA testing. Marin Genealogical Society (http://www.maringensoc.org/) Their September 28 session will have three simultaneous workshops: Beginning Genealogy; Sort Your Story (featuring Lorel Kapke); and the Benefits of Attending Genealogical Conferences. Internet and Website information Remember to check for new Internet postings on FamilySearch by signing on to https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/list and clicking on “Last Updated” to get a list of the latest updated files. FamilySearch has added quite a few files dealing with Civil War Service Records, both for Confederate and Union soldiers, structured by state. They have also updated Massachusetts Death Records to cover 1841-1915 and additional Indiana marriages and Illinois probate records. Plus a slew of records from Mexico. Also, FamilySearch Wiki has posted MUCH more information for each US County. Also be sure to check Cyndi’s List for her latest internet site postings: http://www.cyndislist.com/whatsnew/ Tufts has a substantial database on line referencing Boston city street maps and Directories at http://dca.lib.tufts.edu/features/bostonstreets/people/directories.html#browse Fold3, which is the new name for Footnote, has Pennsylvania Archives online for free (forever, not just as a special). Go to http://www.fold3.com/titleinfo.php?title=450 The following website has old county and town histories for many places in the US. These old histories often have biographies of “prominent” citizens (who paid to have their biographies placed there). http://www.learnwebskills.com/patriot/countyhistories1.htm Oakmont Genealogy Club August 2011 Newsletter Our next regular meeting will be Monday, August 22, 2011 in the
West Recreation Center at 2:30 PM.
This meeting will focus on what’s new on the Internet.
We’ll start by looking at two new websites that let you create your family
tree on-line. This is an interesting
option for new genealogists who don’t have a computer program to manage their
genealogy. We’ll then focus on how to
find free genealogy information on specific American counties and cities. This is a major emerging opportunity with
libraries, historical societies, and on-line websites adding quite a lot to the
mix. Fall Classes at Oakmont Computer Learning Center (OCLC) The OCLC will be offering two classes this Fall on Genealogy. The first will be an all-day seminar on a Saturday (September 24 – 9-4) for “Beginning Genealogy” ($10). This has been specifically structured for people who want to start working on genealogy - it’s on a Saturday in case you work or might have difficulty attending the regular class. Those attending should have solid computer skills. The second will be the normal 4-course “Genealogy on the Internet” (September 27, September 29, October 4 and October 6 from 3-5) ($20). This is open to all whether experienced in genealogy and computers or not. If you are interested in either of these classes send a check made out to OCLC to Justine Haugen, 8926 Acorn Lane. Local Activities If you find any of these of interest, check the websites for more details. California Genealogical Society (http://www.calgensoc.org/) The California Genealogical Society and Ancestry.com are hosting an all-day meeting in San Francisco on November 6 (cost $42). More information is available at http://www.ancestry.com/ancestryday-sanfrancisco. If there is a lot of interest we can consider carpooling. Their regular meeting on September 17 will focus on Civil War Ancestors. Oakland Family History Center (http://www.oaklandfhc.org) No major events through September. Sonoma County Genealogical Society (SCGS) (http://www.scgs.org/) Their regular meeting on September 17 will feature George McKinney (yep) speaking on “Marriage in America” – a focus on legal and immigration issues. Their October 15 meeting will feature Stephen Morse of the www.stevemorse.org fame speaking on DNA testing. Marin Genealogical Society (http://www.maringensoc.org/) Their August 24 session will focus on what’s happening to familyhistory.org. We just had a great session on this in June, but if you missed it you might consider attending the Marin session. Internet and Website information FamilySearch has just posted Indiana Marriage record transcripts for 1811-1959. You should continue to check FamilySearch on a regular basis as they expect to post a lot of additional records over the next few months. At our session on August 22, I’ll show how to check the latest updates to FamilySearch for ones that are of interest. FamilySearch also has a special site focused on the Civil War. https://www.familysearch.org/civil-war The pay website: obitsarchive.com is getting a lot of discussion because they have significantly increased their online information. Searching is free, but it costs $2.95 to recover an obituary. Still heavily focused on modern obituaries. Having said that, you can use it to search for an obituary (for example, I found my Aunt Lela Meador using their free search in the Redding CA paper on July 1 2010) and then Google for the obituary itself. Using that method I was able to get confirmation of the exact death date. Website: http://oakgenclub.org Email: oakmontancestry@aol.com June 2011 Newsletter Our next regular meeting will be Monday, June 27, 2011 in the West Recreation Center at 2:30 PM. At the June 27th meeting Virginia Hershey, president of the Sonoma County Genealogy Society and certified genealogist (C.G.), will speak about “Adjusting to the New Version of FamilySearch.org”, discussing the revised LDS website. There will NOT be a meeting in July. Our next meeting will be August 22 at 2:30 in the West Recreation Center. Fall Classes The Oakmont Computer Learning Center will be offering two classes this Fall on Genealogy. The first will be an all-day seminar on a Saturday (probably September 24) for “Beginning Genealogy”. This has been specifically structured for people who work or otherwise might have difficulty attending the regular class. The second will be the normal 4-course “Genealogy on the Internet” (dates to be determined). If you are interested in either of these classes please email me now (georgemck@aol.com) so I can be sure you are on the advance notification list! Local Activities If you find any of these of interest, check the websites for more details. California Genealogical Society (http://www.calgensoc.org/) Upcoming workshops are on Digital Photography (June 18) and Civil War Research (June 25) In July there are sessions on Hispanic Research (July 23) and Chinese Research (July 30) Oakland Family History Center (http://www.oaklandfhc.org) There are no special programs listed for June or July. Sonoma County Genealogical Society (SCGS) (http://www.scgs.org/) The June 18 meeting will be their annual luncheon. The speaker will discuss “How do I Pull Information Together and How do I Present It?” There are no meetings in July or August. Marin Genealogical Society (http://www.maringensoc.org/) The June 22 meeting will be a review of what is kept in the Marin County Genealogical Society library, which is housed in the Marin Family History Center in San Rafael. Internet and Website information For those of you who feel “technology challenged”, you might look at the new website created by Family Search titled “Tech Tips”. It’s designed to make it easier for you to understand all of these technology issues we face regularly. You can get there by clicking directly on: https://www.familysearch.org/techtips/ or by going to www.familysearch.org, clicking on Learn, and going to the bottom of the page to click on TechTips. The web site for Cyndi’s List has been substantially revised. It might be worth a revisit if you’ve not checked it in a while. www.cyndislist.com. Click Categories to see the traditional listing. The new format includes a “what’s new” capability so you can limit your search to links that are new since the last time you accessed Cyndi’s List. Chronicling America, the Library of Congress program to put newspapers online from 1860-1922 has substantially expanded the number of papers available. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ Website: http://oakgenclub.org Email: oakmontancestry@aol.com May 2011 Newsletter
Our next regular meeting will be Monday, May 23, 2011 in the West Recreation Center at 2:30 PM. The subject will be Personal Experiences with European Research Four of our members will discuss their experience with European research. Jean Duffy will discuss Scotland Anita King will discuss England Lois Nimmo will discuss Germany and Helen Young
will discuss Ireland In addition, there will be a brief presentation on Accessing Castle Garden Passenger Lists. The Castle Garden information covers the
period 1830-1892, prior to the founding of Ellis Island as our primary entry
point for immigrants. We will compare
the Castle Garden website, the National Archives passenger lists, and
Ancestry.com to see how a search works with each and what information is
provided. The June 27 meeting will focus on the new databases being
created in FamilySearch. There will not
be a July meeting. Local Activities If you find any of these of
interest, check the websites for more details. Lorel Kapke, who has spoken to our group and attended several meetings, is beginning what she expects to be a series of workshops on Genealogy. The first session will be Saturday, May 28 at 10 AM at the Petaluma Estates Clubhouse, 901 N. McDowell Street. The topic is “Get Started, Get Organized, and Discover Your Family”. For more information contact Lorel at Lorel@sortyourstory.com
California Genealogical Society (http://www.calgensoc.org/) The May 14 program is titled “Using
Postcards in Your Genealogy Research.” Oakland Family History Center (http://www.oaklandfhc.org) No major program in May. Sonoma County Genealogical Society (SCGS) (http://www.scgs.org/) The next meeting will be May 21 and
will focus on “Chasing a Civil War Ancestor”. Marin Genealogical Society (http://www.maringensoc.org/) May’s meeting is a picnic. Internet and Website information If you’ve got family involved in the Civil War, you might want to check out this website: http://civilwarroster.com/ It has links to rosters and information on most Union and Confederate units. Rosters can be quite valuable since most units were raised from the same geographic area and members of the same unit were likely to be neighbors and/or relatives. I periodically use a website for free books related to the southern colonies. It is a commercial website but it has a section devoted to free books. These are old books most of which are transcriptions. Most are NOT indexed. You may also have to download the book to read it. Having been forewarned, if you find something here it is often a new source for 17th and 18th century Americana. Go to:www.dmkheritage.com Scroll down. In the middle of the page, about halfway down, you will find FREE SMALL BOOKS highlighted in red. Click on that and you’re there. The following website: http://www.bloodandfrogs.com/2011/04/finding-us-naturalization-records.html has instructions on how to find naturalization records for your ancestors.
There is a new pay website for Irish Pension Records, which provide an alternative to the missing census records. If you are interested, go to http://www.ireland-genealogy.com/ New Members In our most recent update to the newsletter and mailing list we discovered a lot of Oakmonters who are new to our club (yes, I know a few of you have come to previous meetings – but now we’ve got you on the mailing list!). Welcome to: Katy
Carrel, Kathy D’Agosta, John and Joan Hodge, David Hurst, Julie Jones, Patricia
King, David Lopez, Penny MacKenzie, Bob McMann, Barbara Newton, Gerhard
Rossbach, and Helen Strickley
Oakmont Genealogy ClubApril 2011 NewsletterOur next regular meeting will be Monday, April 25, 2011 in the West Recreation Center at 2:30 PM. The subject will be Tracing One Individual’s Facts This session will take one person and demonstrate how the
major life facts for that person can be developed using online resources. This will be of particular value to members
who are relatively new at genealogy research or new to researching on the
internet. After the single
demonstration, there will be time to research two or three other people. If you are interested in having one of your ancestors traced
at this session, please email George McKinney at georgemck@aol.com and he will get in touch
with you. The May 23 meeting will focus on European research. We will have a panel of members who will
discuss their experience in researching various countries in Europe. Local Activities If you find any of these of
interest, check the websites for more details. California Genealogical Society (http://www.calgensoc.org/) First Saturday’s are free. This means May 7 would be a free day. There will be a lecture that day on an Introduction to Genealogy. Oakland Family History Center (http://www.oaklandfhc.org) No special meetings scheduled. Sonoma County Genealogical Society (SCGS) (http://www.scgs.org/) ** April 16 will be the Annual all-day conference at the Wells Fargo Center.** Marin Genealogical Society (http://www.maringensoc.org/) The next meeting is April 27 at 7 PM on “Uncluttering your mind”. Internet and Website information One of the themes for this Spring’s Advanced Genealogy course at the OCLC is Telling the Story of your Immigrant. There are two websites you might want to visit that give information on the reasons immigrants came to this country. The Library of Congress has a website devoted to educating students on immigration: www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/ When you get to the website, there are photos on the left that represent various nationalities. If you click on one of interest, the story of immigration to the US from that country will appear. The other site is on the FamilySearch Wiki: https://familysearch.org/learn Just type in the words Immigration and the country of origin (for example, Ireland) Website: http://oakgenclub.org Email: oakmontancestry@aol.com Oakmont Genealogy ClubMarch 2011 NewsletterOur next regular meeting will be Monday, March 28, 2011 in the West Recreation Center at 2:30 PM. The title will be Maps – US, Europe – Rural, Cities Maps can be one of the most interesting areas for genealogists. There are three topics we will cover: How do you find information giving the exact location where your ancestor lived? How do you find this location on a modern map? How do you find old maps that show the same area? The answers are somewhat different if you are talking a rural area or a city. In addition to the US, we’ll look at how you can do the same thing for some locations in Europe. Your job is to send us the names of locations – perhaps one that has baffled you in the past or just a place you’d think would be interesting to explore. Just send as much information as possible to oakmontancestry@aol.com before the meeting. Special Notes: The Oakmont Computer Learning Center will be offering a course on Advanced Genealogy on the Internet for experienced individuals. Subtitled “Love, Life, Land, and Migration”, we’ll take each topic in turn and discuss how to deal with difficult research problems. There will be substantial time for personal research with subscription websites available. Classes will be 1:30-3:30 on April 12-14-19-21. If you’re interested, watch for the notice in the March 15 issue of the Oakmont News. We’re planning a trip to the California Genealogical Society in Oakland on Friday, April 15. We’d leave about 8:30 AM and return by about 5:00 PM. If you’re not a member, there is a $5 library fee. If you’re interested, please email us at oakmontancestry@aol.com. The date is chosen to give us access to the City Directory collection. The California Genealogical Society shares space with Stephen Harris, who has a collection of 6,000 City Directories. This collection is open the second Saturday and third Friday of each month. This collection is national in scope with a large number of directories from 1880-1920. For example, it contains 61 annual Providence, RI city directories from the years 1856-1945. To find whether it contains directories of interest, go to this website and click on the link at the bottom “Click here” to get a pdf listing of directories available. Local Activities If you find any of these of interest, check the websites for more details. California Genealogical Society (http://www.calgensoc.org/) March 19, 12-4, will feature a special session on Celtic Roots: Scotland & Ireland Research Oakland Family History Center (http://www.oaklandfhc.org) April 10, 12:30-4:00 will feature a talk on cadastral maps (these are land plat maps from Europe, many from Eastern Europe) Sonoma County Genealogical Society (SCGS) (http://www.scgs.org/) Saturday, March 19 (Finley Community Center) – The Melitta Station //Melitta Station is now a B&B near the intersection of Montgomery Drive and Melitta Road// Meeting starts at 12:30, talk at 1:00 ** April 16 will be the Annual all-day conference at the Wells Fargo Center. Everyone should consider attending. ** Marin Genealogical Society (http://www.maringensoc.org/) Their next meeting will be March 23 from 7:00-10:00 PM. The topic is The Remembrance Album of Harriet Pruden. * For those who didn’t notice, we had two visitors from the Marin Genealogical Society at our last meeting!!* Internet and Website information If you’ve got the frustrating job of finding Irish ancestors in the mother country, try http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/index.html, a new website designed to make it easier. Another website of possible interest to Irish and British genealogists is www.origins.net. This is a subscription site, but has a lot of records that are not available elsewhere. They recently added indexes to the probate records for many British counties. Website: http://oakgenclub.org Email: oakmontancestry@aol.com
Oakmont Genealogy ClubFebruary 2011 NewsletterOur next regular meeting will be Monday, February 28, 2011 in the West Recreation Center at 2:30 PM. This will feature a presentation on photography led by Dutch Lichliter, Gary Pickering, and George McKinney.
Click on this link to get today’s featured photo! For a story that goes with it, go to the bottom of this newsletter.
Samuel Paris and Elizabeth Dillon McKinney circa 1865
If you’d like to be able to do this type of on-line linkage with your most important family photos, come to the meeting on the 28th. The first part of the meeting will be about how to deal with old photographs. This will include how to scan them into a computer, simple corrections and improvements, and how to upload them into your genealogy program and/or the internet.
The second part of the meeting will be SHOW AND TELL. We’re going to have a slide show of what our members think are the most interesting old family photographs. Here’s how to participate: 1) If you’ve got two or three great photos, and they’ve already been scanned into the computer, just email them to us at oakmontancestry@aol.com. It would be helpful if you included one or two sentences about each photo. 2) If you’ve got two or three great photos that need to be scanned into computer form, we can scan them for you. - Call George at 538-7264 or email us at oakmontancestry@aol.com and we’ll arrange to pick them up, scan them, and return them at the meeting. OR - Put them in an envelope with your name on it and leave it in our folder at the OVA office. We’ll pick these up periodically, scan them, and return them to you at the meeting.
Special Notes:
Club members are cordially invited to attend a lecture I’ll be giving on Monday, February 21, at 2 PM in the West Recreation Center on Successful Internet Search Techniques to the Oakmont PC User’s Group. I’ll be focusing on Google again, and there’s a lot that’s new since my last lecture in 2009!
Dr. Stephen P. Morse (known in the Genealogy community as the creator of www.stevemorse.org) will be presenting a lecture at the Marin Genealogical Society on February 23 from 7-10 PM titled “One-Step Webpages: Lesser Known Gems”. See their website for more details.
The Oakmont Computer Learning Center will be offering a course on Advanced Genealogy on the Internet for experienced individuals. Subtitled “Love, Life, Land, and Migration”, we’ll take each topic in turn and discuss how to deal with difficult research problems. Classes will be 1:30-3:30 on April 12-14-19-21. If you’re interested, watch for the notice in the March 1 issue of the Oakmont News.
Local Activities If you find any of these of interest, check the websites for more details.
California Genealogical Society (http://www.calgensoc.org/)
On March 12 at noon they will have a meeting on “Raking the Ashes: Genealogical Strategies for Pre-1906 San Francisco Research”.
On March 19 from 12-4 there will be a seminar on Scottish, Irish, and Welsh research on-line.
Oakland Family History Center (http://www.oaklandfhc.org)
Wednesday, March 10, they will have a presentation on “Black Sheep in Your Family” at 10 AM.
Sonoma County Genealogical Society (SCGS) (http://www.scgs.org/)
Next meeting is February 19. The topic will be “Finding Your Pot of Gold – A New Look at FamilySearch.org”. Meetings are in the Finley Community Center with a general meeting at 12:30 and the presentation at 1:00.
Marin Genealogical Society (http://www.maringensoc.org/)
Dr. Stephen P. Morse (known in the Genealogy community as the creator of www.stevemorse.org) will be presenting a lecture at the Marin Genealogical Society on February 23 from 7-10 PM titled “One-Step Webpages: Lesser Known Gems”. See their website for more details.
Internet and Website information
If you’re interested in the history of your ancestor’s community, try this website: http://www.learnwebskills.com/patriot/countyhistories1.htm which offers access to free books-on-line for locations in the US.
http://www.genealogyandfamilyhistory.com/?p=528 lists five interesting websites that you might want to peruse.
Judy Watten invites those interested to look at an interesting article comparing the 1911 and 2011 British census methods at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12324970.
Website: http://oakgenclub.org Email: oakmontancestry@aol.com
Sam Paris McKinney was an interesting character. He was my great-grandfather, born in 1822 -- one hundred years before I was born.
As a young man he lived in and around Bee Tree Creek, on the fringe of Wyoming and Raleigh counties. Not much civilization around there then. He hunted, trapped, farmed. When he hunted, he carried a mountain rifle and a tomahawk. Good hunting dogs were essential in his pioneering activities. You just can't hunt without a good dog.
One day his dog took out after a bear. Caught up with him. But the dog got penned up in a corner between two cliffs on Bee Tree Creek. By the time Sam Paris caught up with the dog and the bear, the bear was moving in on the trapped dog. Can't let that happen. Can't shoot, might hit the dog. So Sam Paris ran up to the bear, caught him by the hair on his back, pulled his tomahawk from his belt, swung once, and split open the bear's skull. End of bear, end of story. But Sam Paris saved his hunting dog.
//Story told by George McKinney, Jr. to George McKinney, III// December NewsletterThere will NOT be a Genealogy Club meeting in December.
Happy Holidays to all. We’re not having a meeting in December, but plan on coming in January – it’s a topic we all would do well to understand.
Our next regular meeting will be Monday, January 24, 2011 in the West Recreation Center at 2:30 PM. This will feature a presentation on DNA, including A short course on DNA Understanding why DNA is useful in Genealogical Research. A review of DNA Projects related to Genealogy How to participate, and what results to expect After a brief break, we’ll have an opportunity to share photographs and other materials members have related to their genealogy. Please bring something to share with other members.
If you find any of these of interest, check the websites for more details.
California Genealogical Society (http://www.calgensoc.org/) The annual course offered by the California Genealogical Society and the Oakland Family History Center for Intermediate Genealogy will begin January 18, 2011. If you are interested, you’ll need to sign up soon as spaces go rapidly.
The California Genealogical Society is having a workshop on January 29 from 1-3 on Getting Started in German Genealogy.
Oakland Family History Center (http://www.oaklandfhc.org) No major events other than the Intermediate Genealogy course mentioned above.
Sonoma County Genealogical Society (SCGS) (http://www.scgs.org/) There is no December meeting.
Marin Genealogical Society (http://www.maringensoc.org/) There is no December meeting.
Internet and Website information
If you have Montana ancestors, you might want to look at the Lewis and Clark County website which has quite a lot of information. (www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mtlcgs/index.htm)
The following website seems to have a lot of useful information on on-line newspapers by state. I have found several that I did not know about. www.neh.gov/projects/usnp.html
Website: http://oakgenclub.org Email: oakmontancestry@aol.com
Our next regular meeting will be Monday, November 22, 2010. Our
speaker will be Kathy Payne from the Santa Rosa Family History Center.
Kathy will talk about the new internet activities of the national Family
History Center, including their exciting program to bring ALL 2,500,000
microfilms online within 5 years and how YOU can help by becoming an indexer
/See the internet section below/. She will also update us on the
facilities here in Santa Rosa and their on-line capabilities. The December 27 meeting will be a Xmas party! Members will be encouraged to bring family materials – pictures, memorabilia – to share. More to follow.
If you find any of these of interest, check the websites for more details.
California Genealogical Society (http://www.calgensoc.org/) November 20 will feature a workshop: Guidelines for Writing Your Family History. December 4 is their “first Saturday free” workshop: Who Do You Think You Are? Intro to Genealogy.
Oakland Family History Center (http://www.oaklandfhc.org) If you’re into Swedish genealogy, they have a special session November 11 from 1-3.
Sonoma County Genealogical Society (SCGS) (http://www.scgs.org/) Next meeting is at the Finley Community Center on Sat, November 20, meeting at 12:30, program at 1:00. The program will be a presentation titled: The Remembrance Album of Harriet Pruden.
Marin Genealogical Society (http://www.maringensoc.org/) Next meeting is November 17 at 7:00 at the Marin Family History Center. The session will be a roundtable on Brick Walls and Success Stories.
Internet and Website information
If you have Nevada ancestors, you might find this website of interest: www.delamare.unr.edu/maps/digitalcollections/nvmaps/ It has a great collection of maps.
There are several websites emerging with information on Ohio counties. I found this one of particular value for Gallia County, which is at the junction of Ohio/Kentucky/WV.
Website: http://oakgenclub.org Email: oakmontancestry@aol.com ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ August Newsletter: NOTE: If you haven’t changed your bookmark for our website, note that our new website address is: http://oakgenclub.org
Our next regular meeting will be Monday, August
23, 2010, at 2:30 in the West Recreation
Center. Our speakers will be Krystine Boehme and George McKinney.
Again a reminder that the Oakmont Computer Learning Center (OCLC) will be offering the course on Internet Genealogy again in November (four sessions - November 9-11-16-18 from 1-3) and the “Hands-On” Genealogy on Friday, November 19 (two sessions, 1-3 and 3-5). If you’re interested, please call the OCLC at 538-1485.
Local Activities in August
California Genealogical Society (http://www.calgensoc.org/) On August 14, there is a session on Oral Histories. More information on these and other programs can be found on the website.
Oakland Family History Center (http://www.oaklandfhc.org) The website seems a little out of date. There is a listing for a meeting Sunday, August 15 from 12:30-4:00 covering Newspapers Online. October 17 there will be a session on Polish research.
Sonoma County Genealogical Society (SCGS) (http://www.scgs.org/) There are no meetings in July and August.
Marin Genealogical Society (http://www.maringensoc.org/) Their next meeting will be August 25, from 7:30 to 10:30. There will be a speaker who is an expert on handwriting analysis..
Internet and Website information
There’s a promising new general website which allows broad scale searches of many online databases by location or surname. It can be found at www.liveroots.com.
Another intriguing site is www.onelook.com. This is actually a dictionary site which allows you to find words in the English language that have common parts. For example, you can enter bluebird and get a definition of bluebird blue* and get all English words that begin with the letters blue *bird and get all English words that end with the letters bird Or bl????rd and get all English words that begin with bl and end with rd and have 4 letters in the middle
I’ve got some Montana genealogy work, and found the site for their historical society at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mtmsgs/
Our next regular meeting will be Monday, July 26, 2010, at 2:30 in the West Recreation Center. Our speaker will be Gary Caldwell, who will discuss how to use computer technology to work with old photographs. Gary is an Oakmont resident who regularly teaches the course offered at the Oakmont Computer Learning Center on computer programs for photography.
The August 23 meeting will feature three items: - Krystine Boehme will discuss how to use RAOGK (Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness) to help you get information on your family from other researchers around the country. Krystine serves as a RAOGK volunteer for Sonoma County. - George McKinney will discuss “sources” – how to document the sources you use to find information on your family. - They will also have an update on free websites for genealogy research. This will be an update of previous sessions. This part of the session should be of particular interest to new researchers.
You may want to look at the following future calendar items. The Oakmont Computer Learning Center will be offering the course on Internet Genealogy again in November (four sessions - November 16-18-23-25 from 1-3) and the “Hands-On” Genealogy on Friday, November 26 (two sessions, 1-3 and 3-5). If you’re interested, please sign up early when the information comes out in the Oakmont News!
Local Activities in July
California Genealogical Society (http://www.calgensoc.org/) There are a number of programs during July and August. Thursday, July 22, there is a session on French-Canadian genealogy. August 14, there is a session on Oral Histories. More information on these and other programs can be found on the website.
Oakland Family History Center (http://www.oaklandfhc.org) The website seems a little out of date. There is a listing for a meeting Sunday, August 15 from 12:30-4:00 covering Newspapers Online. October 17 there will be a session on Polish research.
Sonoma County Genealogical Society (SCGS) (http://www.scgs.org/) There are no meetings in July and August.
Marin Genealogical Society (http://www.maringensoc.org/) Their next meeting will be July 28, from 7:30 to 10:30. There is no announced speaker or agenda.
Internet and Website information
As a retired statistician (among other things), I was fascinated by the website http://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/CT1970p2-13.pdf This has a summary of the information from the various census records of the US (such as average age, etc.). It also has a set of data compiled by expert researchers on statistics for the Colonial period. For example, it states that in 1630 there were approximately 4,646 white persons and 60 black persons residing in the original colonies and gives a breakout by state!
For those of you with London based ancestors, there’s a fascinating new website which follows the poor folk who lived in London during the period from 1650-1850.
If you have ancestors who fought (or might have fought) in the Revolutionary War, you might want to look at http://southerncampaign.org/
which has an incomplete, but surprisingly large, set of transcripts of pension records for many veterans.
Krystine Boehme found an interesting web reference at http://www.milaminvirginia.com/glossary.html which gives definitions for terms that were once common, but we no longer use, such as Hogshead, Dower, and Noncupative.
Judy Watten points out that many of us have critical information on our families on the computer and/or on computer media. I’m old enough to know how quickly media changes (does anyone still have an 8” floppy diskette?). There are several ways to improve the quality of your storage. One is to purchase media (like CDs) that is designed for archival purposes – SanDisk has one that is designed to last 100 years! Another is to store a copy of your information on-line (I use MozyHome for mine). In any case, you need to be alert to media changes and get your information into the latest media whenever there’s a major change. Oakmont Genealogy ClubMay 2010 NewsletterThis month I'm taking a slightly different approach with our newsletter. Before outlining our coming meetings, I'd like to ask for help. Since the Oakmont Genealogy Club was formed, a small group has provided most of the work of the club - myself, Anita King, Krystine Boehme, Gary Pickering, Melinda Price, Dutch Lichliter, and Carolyn Mack. We need to find three or four other members who can help in the organization now. Our major need is for people who would be willing to serve on a speaker's committee. Anita is serving as a kind of "resource person" for the club, and has found three speakers so far, including Bob Stinson, who will speak at our May meeting. I'm handling the June meeting and Krystine and I plan to double-team the August meeting. But we're still open for July and then beginning in September we need to have a new start at topics and speakers that would be of interest. The original group is still willing to be involved, but WE NEED HELP! So, if you're willing to consider helping with topics for meetings and speakers, please respond to oakmontancestry@aol.com or georgemck@aol.com. Thanks. Now, for our meetings. On May 24 at 2:30 in the West Rec Center, we're have Bob Stinson, who will discuss how to find LIVING people. This is an important topic. A few years ago I tried to trace the last living member of my great-grandmother's generation but failed - I knew she was in Texas, but didn't find out where until her death notice appeared in the Social Security Death Index. If you have specific people you'd like Bob to research, send us a note and we'll forward it to him ahead of the meeting. If there's time left at the meeting, we'll throw it open to discussions of active research. On June 28 at 2:30 the meeting will focus on GETTING STARTED IN GENEALOGY - USING PAPER! I plan to discuss the process someone who is new to genealogy research (or experienced) might use to put their facts on paper in a concise manner. If we have time, we'll break into smaller working groups and the more experienced members of the club can give the newer researchers a hand in getting started. I'd like to encourage those who are just starting - or considering starting - to try and make this meeting. ..................... NAPA If you have Napa County ancestry, the Napa County Recorder has new indexes for marriage records in the county which are available on computers at the Recorder Division at the Courthouse. George McKinney April 2010 Newsletter There is no regularly scheduled
April meeting, but there are a lot of activities going on.
Our next regular meeting will be
Monday, May 24, 2010, at 2:30 in the West
Recreation Center. Our speaker will be Bob Stinson, who will speak on “Ways
to Find Your Living Relatives Online”.
This is an important topic, as we often find ourselves trying to track
down someone in the family who may have important genealogical information but we’ve
lost track of them.
After a break we’ll have a working
session to share information.
ACTIVITIES IN APRIL:
Sunday Symposium – April 18 –
Genealogy, Stories of our Lives – 10:30 – 12:00
The Oakmont Sunday Symposium on
April 18 will feature George McKinney discussing Genealogy from the viewpoint
of the stories it tells about history, particularly American history. The
session begins at 10:30 in the East Recreation Center. I’ll be including some examples from members
of the Genealogy Club in the presentation! Hope you can be there, it's a great chance to get some new club members.
Hands-On Genealogy Research at the
Oakmont Computer Learning Center – April 23
There are still a few spaces open
for the hands-on genealogy research session at the Oakmont Computer Laboratory
Center (OCLC) on April 23. We’ll have
some terminals on Ancestry.com, and at least one terminal on each of
Footnote.com, newspaperarchive.com, and the NEHGS (New England Historical and
Genealogical Society) websites. There will be two sessions, one from 1-3
and the other from 3-5. Pre-registration with
the OCLC is required, and there is a facility charge of $6 for each
session. Those interested need to sign up Friday April 16 with the OCLC
by calling 538-1485. If you miss this
date and still want to sign up, please call George McKinney at 538-7264.
Spring Session of the Sonoma County
Genealogical Society. – April 24: 9-4
Everyone should consider attending
the April 24 meeting of the SCGS. This is their annual all-day event
(9-4) which features major speakers. It’s held at the Wells Fargo Center
(in the back auditorium). This year the
topics will be
When Sources are Wrong
Family Tradition: Separating Fact from Fiction
Not Enough Proof? Maybe you already have enough!
Hurdling backcountry Brick Walls – out of the Woods and across the Atlantic
Cost is $20 for SCGS members and $25
for non-members. Bring a lunch.
Car pooling
Krystine has separately sent out an
email to coordinate interest in carpooling.
Please contact her directly if you wish to carpool.
Other Upcoming meetings
and classes
California Genealogical Society (http://www.calgensoc.org/)
There is a special program scheduled
for May 5 from 1-3 on Swedish genealogy.
Oakland Family History Center (http://www.oaklandfhc.org)
No special programs in May.
Sonoma County Genealogical Society
(SCGS) (http://www.scgs.org/)
See above comments on the April 24
special meeting.
Marin Genealogical Society (http://www.maringensoc.org/)
The March meeting of the Marin
Society will be Wednesday, April 28 7:30 and will discuss Newspaper Research.
Internet and Website information
Ancestry.com has begun allowing much
wider use of wildcards. You can put
wildcards at the beginning of words, in the middle, or at the end, as long as
you have at least three letters in total and at least the first or last letter
is present. So, you can now search for
the first name Carl or Karl by entering *arl (note, you will also get Earl!).
See the end of this posting for more complete information.
There’s a new website that should be
of interest to those with Pennsylvania Genealogy titled Ancestor Tracks. http://ancestortracks.com The first part of the website includes
material that’s for sale, but if you scroll to the bottom they have a long list
of free information on-line.
The Library of Virginia has a number of counties where they have
posted Chancery Court records. They can
be found at www.virginiamemory.com/collections/chancery
.
…………………………………..
And a reminder that the two recent
TV specials can be found on-line if you missed them:
NBC’s special - Who do You Think You
Are? Is at
www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/video
through September 18.
And the PBS Special “Faces of
America” can be found online at WGBH:
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Website: www.oakmontgenealogy.org
Email: oakmontancestry@aol.com
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Ancestry.com
wildcard searching:
Ancestry
offers wildcard searching capability as well when searching any of our online
databases. Wildcards are special symbols that are used in searching to
represent some number of unknown letters in a word. Ancestry uses both the
asterisk (*) and the question mark (?).
Wildcards
can be effective query tools if you are searching for words or names with
alternate spellings, but don't wish to view all the extra hits that other
methods (such as Soundex)
searching can create. You can also use wildcards to view all words that begin
with the same stem. For example, a search for fran* will return hits on
words like Fran, Franny, Frank, Frannie, or Frankie.
Additional
wildcard searching examples could include:
Wildcards
work with both Simple & Advanced search, and both Old & New search.
They also work with exact matches, and they will give you a lot more
flexibility in how you retrieve records.
Note:
Wildcards do not work with Soundex matches, only exact or ranked.March 2010 Newsletter
Our next meeting will be Monday, March 22, 2010, at 2:30 in the West Recreation Center. This meeting will feature 3 examples of “breakthroughs”, two using the internet, and one using good, old-fashioned genealogy techniques. After a break we’ll continue with stories from those attending on their own ancestors. WE’RE PLANNING A RAFFLE to raise pin money for the club. Tickets will be $1 each. Bring a few dollars for a good cause! There are 3 prizes: - a 1950s gazetteer that contains a lot of place names that we tend to need - 4 books from the California Historical Society that were issued during their sesquicentennial in 2000 summarizing the early history of California - A CD series (for PC) from Ancestry.com THERE WILL NOT BE AN APRIL MEETING. Instead, on the afternoon of Friday, April 23, the Oakmont Computer Laboratory Center (OCLC) will be opened for hands-on genealogy research with several members available to help. We’ll have some terminals on Ancestry.com, and at least one terminal on each of Footnote.com, newspaperarchive.com, and the NEHGS (New England Historical and Genealogical Society) websites. There will be two sessions, one from 1-3 and the other from 3-5. Pre-registration with the OCLC is required, and there is a facility charge of $6 for each session. Those interested need to sign up with the OCLC by calling 538-1485. There WILL be a regularly scheduled May meeting on May 24 at 2:30 in the West Recreation Center. Trips to regional libraries Krystine Boehme has graciously offered to coordinate trips to regional libraries. Some of these may be in conjunction with trips by the Sonoma County Genealogical Society. Contact Krystine directly at krystine_at_oakmont@yahoo.com or 539-1162. OCLC Course – Genealogy on the Internet The Oakmont Computer Learning Center will also hold a course titled “Genealogy on the Internet” taught by George McKinney. This will meet from 3-5 PM on March 30, April 1, April 6, and April 8 in the OCLC. The cost is $20. Again, contact 538-1485 if you are interested. This course will be appropriate both for those just learning genealogy research and those who are more experienced. If you took the course in 2008, it will follow approximately the same outline. Sunday Symposium – April 18 – Genealogy, Stories of our Lives The Oakmont Sunday Symposium on April 18 will feature George McKinney discussing Genealogy from the viewpoint of the stories it tells about history, particularly American history. The session begins at 10:30 in the East Recreation Center. Genealogy on TV NBC’s special - Who do You Think You Are? continues on Fridays from 8-9. If you missed early sessions, they can be found online at www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/video through September 18. And the PBS Special “Faces of America” can be found online at WGBH: http://www.wgbh.org/programs/programDetail.cfm?programid=889 Upcoming meetings and classes California Genealogical Society (http://www.calgensoc.org/) Their March program focuses on how to make the most of a trip to do on-site genealogy research. Oakmont Genealogy Club members should note that there is a free class offered at the CGS on “beginning genealogy” the first Saturday of each month at 11 AM. Also, there is a large library of city directories (4,000 of them) which is not actually part of the CGS library but is open two days a month. See the website for more information. Oakland Family History Center (http://www.oaklandfhc.org) No special programs in March. Sonoma County Genealogical Society (SCGS) (http://www.scgs.org/) The February meeting of the SCGS will be on March 27 in the Finley Community Center. The topic will be Research on the 6th Most Common Name in the US (Miller). The speaker will begin at 1 – there is a general meeting before at 12:30. M Everyone should consider attending the April 24 meeting of the SCGS. This is their annual all-day event (9-4) which features major speakers. This year the topics will be When Sources are Wrong Family Tradition: Separating Fact from Fiction Not Enough Proof? Maybe you already have enough! Hurdling backcountry Brick Walls – out of the Woods and across the Atlantic Cost is $20 for SCGS members and $25 for non-members. Bring a lunch. Marin Genealogical Society (http://www.maringensoc.org/) The March meeting of the Marin Society will be Wednesday, March 24 7:30 and will discuss what it was like on a sailing vessel in the 17th century. Internet and Website information Carolyn Mack notes that Footnote.com is having a special sale at $4.95/month if you are interested in subscribing. …………………….. Website: www.oakmontgenealogy.org Email: oakmontancestry@aol.com |