California Genealogical Society
and Library eNews
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Please note that the library will be CLOSED July 4 and July 5 for the Independence Day weekend.
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| A Day of Irish Information with Nora Keohane Hickey |
Wednesday, July 9, 2008, 9:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Berkeley Yacht Club, 1 Seawall Drive, Berkeley, California
 This is your LAST CHANCE to register. Please send your registration form today!
A Day of Irish Information
with internationally known author and speaker,
Nora Keohane Hickey, at the Berkeley Yacht Club.
Ms. Hickey, a native of Cork, Ireland, is the founder and director of the Irish Genealogical Project. She visits the U.S.
several times each year to lecture. She has prepared four talks to help beginners and experts alike with their Irish research.
Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. Lectures start promptly at 10:00 a.m.
The program:
10:00 Debunking some myths of Irish genealogy
11:15 Extracting all the important information you can from Griffith's Valuation
12:15 Break for lunch and book sales
1:15 Little-known and under-used Irish genealogical sources
2:15 Common problems in Irish genealogy
Nora will also provide Personal Consultations on Thursday, July 10, 2008, at the CGS Library. The fee is $15.00 for fifteen minutes.
Registrants
can opt to bring their own lunch or pre-pay for a boxed lunch which includes a sandwich, salad, drink and cookie for $10. For
further information about the event and to schedule a Personal
Consultation with Nora Hickey, download the event flier and reservation form.
Please note: if you have not yet registered, please e-mail Jane Lindsey to let her know that you are sending a registration form since the library will be closed for the Independence Day weekend.
Nora M. Hickey
was educated at Loreto College, Manchester,
England. After returning to Ireland in 1974, she studied history and
philosophy at St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, a constituent college of
the National University of Ireland. Her B.A. thesis was genealogical: a
study of the Norman family, the de Berminghams of Leinster. As a
founder member of the Federation of Local History Societies, she was
Honorary Editor of Local History Review for many years. An early member of the Irish Family History Society, Nora also acted for some years as the Honorary Editor of Irish Family History.
Her publications include: Going to Ireland: A Genealogical Researcher's Guide; Kinsale Historical Journals; Kinsale: Glimpses of a Town through the Years and The Battle of Kinsale. She has also writen many articles, historical and genealogical,
published in many journals in two continents. |
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July Membership Meeting: Breaking Down Brick Walls
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Saturday, July 12, 2008, 1:30 p.m.
CGS Library, 2201 Broadway, Suite LL2, Oakland, California
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 Breaking Down Brick Walls
A Panel Discussion with Jane Hufft, Nancy Peterson and Lavinia Schwarz
Three CGS members will present their tools for breaking down brick walls at the July membership meeting. Using real-life examples, our panel will offer their tried-and-true methods for solving your research challenges. There will be handouts for the audience and time for questions and answers.
Nancy Peterson is the CGS Research Director and author of Raking the Ashes, Genealogical Strategies for pre-1906 San Francisco Research. Nancy is a Stanford graduate and certified genealogist.
Lavinia Schwarz's unique journey into the archives of New Orleans in search of her great-great grandmother, a free woman of color, yielded many important strategies for breaking down not only brick walls, but the invisible walls that so often block our reasoning. Lavinia graduated from Cal with an English major and holds a master's in education.
Jane Hufft, editor of the CGS Newsletter, has had several articles appear in genealogical publications and has been at work on her own research for many years, developing strategies that go from the paper card catalog days of the Salt Lake City Family Library to the Internet. A Cal graduate in sociology and former school administrator, Jane has a master's in education.
Join us for this informative and lively panel discussion designed to help you solve those puzzles that are hindering your research.
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In Memory
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Elwood Burton Gerrits (1923-2008)
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 Elwood Burton "Burt" Gerrits, a native of South Dakota, died at his home in Oakland on June 8, 2008, after a fall. A Navy veteran of World War II, Gerrits was a Piedmont High School history teacher for thirty-three years. He was a long-time docent for the Mountain View Cemetery and a member of the California Genealogical Society. Full obituaries appeared in the Madison Daily Leader on June 24, 2008 and in The Bay Area Reporter on June 26, 2008.
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2009 Nominating Committee
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Looking for a Few Good Volunteers
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The 2009 nominating committee, chaired by board member Chris Pattillo,
is now forming. If you are interested in being more involved with a particular
aspect of the society - computers, Web site, finance, the board, or another area - please e-mail Chris or telephone (510) 550-8855 during the
day or (510) 654-1116 in the evening and weekend.
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August Workshop: Hints on Publishing Your Family History
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Saturday, August 9, 2008, 10:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
CGS Library, 2201 Broadway, Suite LL2, Oakland, California
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Plans are underway for a special CGS workshop on publishing one's family history. If you have suggestions for content or would like to participate, please e-mail Events Coordinator, Carolyn Steinberg at CGSLevents@gmail.com.
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September Membership Meeting - Best Bet Internet Sites
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Saturday, September 13, 2008, 1:00 p.m.
CGS Library, 2201 Broadway, Suite LL2, Oakland, California
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 Ron Arons' Best Bet Web Internet Sites
for Genealogical Research
Genealogist and author Ron Arons
will explore the many "best bet" Web sites that allow researchers to
find materials online, including historical documents, newspapers and
articles, living people, maps and photos, foreign language translators
and aids and more. He will provide numerous examples of how the
Internet has worked for him.
Ron will also slip in some tales from his recently released book, The Jews of Sing Sing,
described as "the true story of Jewish gangsters and other shady
characters who served time 'up the river' and the New York Jewish
community's response." His interest in Jewish inmates started when he
discovered that his great-grandfather served four years at the famous
prison.
Ron Arons has earned degrees from Princeton University
and the University of Chicago, and is a member of both the Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society. Arons has traced his
roots to England, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania. A
recipient of the 2005 Hackman Research Residency Award, his current
research focuses on both famous and lesser-known Jewish criminals.
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New England Historic Genealogical Society Research Trip
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Boston, Massachusetts, September 21-28, 2008
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 It's time to sign up for the autumn California Genealogical Society Research Trip to the New England Historic Genealogical Society library, the week of September 21-28, 2008.CGS
President and past NEHGS Trustee, Jane Lindsey and Jerome Anderson,
long-time researcher at NEHGS will co-lead this biennial society trip to
Boston, Massachusetts.
Accommodations are at the John Hancock Hotel and Conference Center in the Copley Square area of downtown Boston, located about three blocks from NEHGS.
The
tour begins on Sunday evening with a brief orientation. Since the
NEHGS library is closed Mondays, participants will have the option
that day of visiting the Massachusettes State Archives, Suffolk or Middlesex County courthouses, or other repositories, including, the Massachusettes Historical Society or Boston Public Library.
The Tour Package includes:
* Hotel room (7 nights, double occupancy)
* Daily light continental breakfast
* Sunday evening orientation
* Free day Monday to visit your choice of several repositories
* Shuttle service to and from the airport
* Two group dinners (Monday and Saturday) at local restaurants
* Optional pre-trip consultations with Jane Lindsey
* On-site lectures - to be announced
The cost is $1075.00 (airfare not included.) A deposit of $200 is required by June 28, 2008, to hold one space. The trip registration brochure (also sent with the May CGS News) gives the full details and a description of the cancellation and refund policy.
The
first group dinner will be on Monday evening. NEHGS is open 9:00 a.m to
5:00 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and 9:00 a.m. to
9:00 p.m. on Thursday. The Boston Public Library, near the hotel, is
open until 9:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday. The BPL has an excellent
microtext department with a wonderful newspaper collection.
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San Francisco Mortuary Records Indexing
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The CGS Project to Start Next Week
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Rose Pierson of Family Search Indexing informs us that the California Genealogical Society Mortuary Records Project should be ready for volunteers next week.
The CGS project is now listed on the Upcoming Projects page (scroll down to the bottom and look for CGS logo.) When the project is ready for indexing, it will be listed on the "Current Projects" page.
This project is a collection of digital images of the records
of fourteen San Francisco mortuaries dating to the mid-1850s, many of
which miraculously survived the 1906 earthquake and fire. They are from the original books of the N. Gray Undertaking Firm and ledgers of a number of other mortuary firms that merged with Gray over the years.
Online instructions are available at www.familysearchindexing.org and include the following: - Training tutorials. These will help you understand how to use FamilySearch Indexing.
- Specific instructions for each project.
On this page, you can read about current projects.
Specific projects can be selected from the list by clicking the underlined text.
- Publications. These are easy-to-print basic indexing references that can be used when working offline.
- FAQs. These are answers to frequently asked indexing questions.
Check the CGS blog for further information and an announcement of the go-live date.
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Suggested Links from the Blogosphere
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Dead and Gone - What Was Yellow Fever?
What's Past is Prologue - Philadelphia Marriage Indexes Online
Unclutterer - Family heirlooms: Give them away at milestone celebrations
[be sure to read the comments for more great suggestions]
Arlene H. Eakle's Genealogy Blog - How Cemetery Records and Inscriptions Expand Your Genealogy
The Genealogue
Christopher Dunham is a prolific blogger. He is best known for The Genealogue, a self-described "irreverent guide to the lighter side of genealogy." Some of my favorite posts are: Top Ten Signs Your Genealogical Society is in Trouble, How to Invent a Relative and "Geneology" and Other Crimes Against Genealogy. Chris also maintains The Genealogy Blog Finder
- an index of genealogically themed blogs catagorized by type that is
fully searchable and up-to-date! If you have Maine ancestors, be sure
to check out his Maine Genealogy Archives, Oxford County Genealogy Notebook and All Things Maine.
Family Matters: Tech Support for the Family Historian
Denise Olson is the "go-to" person for anything technical. Her blog Family Matters
is where technology and genealogy intersect but in clear and
easy-to-understand language. Denise is always
looking for new ways to help the genealogist into the digital age. This
week she added a new section - Guides
- which includes her Researcher's Digital Toolbox - a list of "basic tools every researcher needs." Start working smarter by visiting Denise's blog today.
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CGS Ancestors
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Photo Tributes to the CGS Family
This month's CGS Ancestor Photo was submitted by Anne Martinelli Cyr:
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"What I
love about this photograph is the local history and mystery of it.
The woman
on the right is my great-grandmother, Ida (Galli) Martinelli, immigrant from
Italy, and resident of San Francisco.
The 'history' to me is the back of the card,
never postmarked, identifying the man in the center of the photo, and
explaining (in Italian) how to get from the ferry to his home in
Richmond via the Key Route. The "mystery" is the woman on the left,
unidentified. Pompilio's wife? sister? girlfriend?"
Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, provided some clues for Anne:
"The design of the stamp box with the triangles in the corners and the
way the card is set up with no divided back and the words
'correspondence' and 'address' are from the AZO company. This card was
first introduced circa October 1917. Their dresses seem to agree with
that time frame - broad collars, wide waistband and blousy bodice."
If you would like to see your CGS Ancestor featured in a future edition of the CGS e-News, please email your image to CGSpublicity@gmail.com and include a brief description.
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Did you miss these posts in the CGS blog?
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California Genealogical Society and Library
A Northern California Genealogy Resource
Oakland, CA 94612-3031
Founded
February 12, 1898 in San Francisco, CGS, a non-profit, all-volunteer
organization that seeks to aid, educate and encourage research in
family history, is presently located in Oakland, California. The
society maintains a library, gathers and preserves vital records and
disseminates information through publications, meetings, seminars,
workshops, its Web site, blog and online catalog. |
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