Since 1898

July 2015, Vol. 9, No. 7

Editor's Note

Happy American Independence Month!

The United States of America is 239 years old this month.

Whether your family has been on U.S soil for 4 years, 4 decades or 4 centuries - I hope you enjoy a great 4th of July this year.

Please remember the CGS library will be open later on Thursday for Summer Hours. Between June 4 - August 27 the library will be open from 10 A.M. to 8 P.M. The Library will be closed Saturday July 4th.

Stewart

Events

Annual Angel Island Family History Day

July 11th at 11:30 A.M.

Come explore the former U.S. Immigration Station, a National Historic Landmark at Angel Island State Park. Learn from descendants of immigrants about how they researched their stories and enjoy the beautiful island.

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The Northwest Genealogy Conference 2015

August 13-15, 2015, Arlington, WA

Registration is now Open

The annual Northwest Genealogy Conference is dedicated to bringing high quality, national level genealogical education to the Pacific Northwest. NwGC is also committed to supporting local experts and speakers with our incredible venue. The 2015 conference will build upon the success of 2014.

NwGC will be offering:

3 full days of classes
Options to purchase individual days
More nationally and internationally renowned speakers
An improved syllabus
More vendors
A high value for participation

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36th National Genealogy Conference of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society

October 15 - 17, 2015. Richmond, Virginia at the Richmond Marriott Hotel.

This year's theme is Virginia, Where African-American Roots Run Deep: Family History and the National Narrative.

Classes

California Genealogical Society & Library 2201 Broadway, Suite LL2, Oakland

As usual we have an outstanding line-up of classes to offer over the next two months.

Gena Philibert-Ortega will be teaching Her Name Wasn't Unknown: Researching Your Female Ancestor's Life on July 18. Follow the link to get details about Gena's noteworthy career. In short, Gena is a nationally recognized and widely published expert on the topic of researching female ancestors. Her current research interests include women's social history and researching women's lives using material artifacts.

I hope the you will not miss this special opportunity.

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Susan Goss Johnston

Also Susan Goss Johnston is back! with her excellent series Advancing Your Skills. The first of five classes starts on July 30th. Susan is a frequent speaker in the Bay Area and has been involved in teaching and researching for more than thirty years.

I personally took Susan's class last year and it expanded my world of genealogy. Susan taught me about the Genealogy Proof Standard and how to keep excellent notes for each of my searches. Adopting her methods has made me a better genealogist. I highly recommend this class.

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	Thursday, July 16	Writing Non-Fiction: An Informal Discussion Marvin Shepard, 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. FREE For more on our speaker - see the CGS Blog.
	Saturday, July 18	Her Name Wasn't Unknown: Researching Your Female Ancestor's Life Gena Philibert-Ortega, 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. For more on our speaker - see the CGS Blog.
	Thursday, July 23	Japanese American Discussion Group Linda Harms Okazaki, 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. FREE
	Saturday, July 25	Using Ancestry Family Tree Maker Genealogy Software Ron Madson, 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m
	Thursdays on, July 30 Aug 6 Aug 13 Aug 20 TBA Aug 27 TBA	Advancing Your Skills: Research Methodology & the Genealogical Proof Standard Susan Goss-Johnston, 6:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
	Saturday, Aug 1	Intro to Genealogy 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. FREE
	Saturday, Aug 8	Lives of the Dead: Mountain View Cemetery (in Oakland) Walking Tour Michael Colbruno, author and Mountain View Cemetery Docent, will lead a tour of the cemetery discussing some of his favorite topics including gypsy history, prominent women and famous headline makers. 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. FREE
	Saturday, Aug 29	Finding Your Japanese Roots in the U.S. and Japan Linda Harms Okazaki, 12:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
For additional events check out the San Francisco Bay Genealogy Calendar. Also visit our Eventbrite profile page to see the latest class additions and descriptions.

The President's Corner

by Linda Harms Okazaki

Summer is here and that means extended library hours! We will remain open until 8:00 on Thursday evenings through August. Bring your dinner, meet other genealogists, and do some research!

Have you noticed the flurry of activity in the library recently? Be sure to come see our newly acquired collection of California directories and telephone books. There is an archival quality cradle for viewing the most fragile books in our collection. And while you are in the library, be sure to take advantage of our subscription databases where you will find Ancestry.com, Fold3 (accessible through My Heritage) and AmericanAncestors.org, and others. One of our newest subscriptions is HistoryGeo.com, "where Historical Maps and Family History Meet." This incredible subscription was donated to CGS by long-term volunteer, Sally Houston. Thank you, Sally!

CGS is resuming our ethnic classes. The seminars on Japanese research have been popular. This summer we are adding an informal discussion session, see above for details. Please contact our events coordinator if you would like to see a class on a particular ethnic group, or if you would like to teach a specific class. Our volunteers are in the process of scheduling classes the fall and next year. If you have a suggested topic or speaker, please let me know.

Smile! Did you know that CGS is participating in AmazonSmile? Register for Smile right on your Amazon account and CGS will get a small percent of the purchase. It's easy to do and a great way to help our society.

Is your society or organization looking for a place to meet? Our space is now available to groups for a small fee. A CGS member from your group must be present and there must be a genealogical component.

The library volunteers have sold numerous books on eBay which were either duplicates or readily available in digital format. If you are interested in clearing out your own collection of genealogical materials, considering donating them to CGS for our eBay sales.

Please note that the classroom has been reserved on the first Tuesday of every month. With so many volunteers working hard to keep our society running smoothly, we need to make sure there is a space to have lunch. All volunteers (current, past or potential) are welcome to bring a lunch and visit with each other. Please contact Kathleen Beitiks for details.

Happy summer. Happy researching.

Linda

Meetings and More

California Genealogical Society & Library
2201 Broadway, Suite LL2, Oakland

Saturday, July 18: CGS Board of Directors, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Board meeting are open for everyone to attend. If you'd like to add items to the Agenda please contact Linda Okazaki.

Saturday, July 18: San Francisco Special Interest Group

Sherman Room, 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

This month SF Sig will host Ron Filion and Pam Storm of the website SFgenealogy.com for a special presentation

CGS Blog

Highlights from the California Genealogical Society Blog (and Others)

The CGS blog has a temporary new editor and guest writers are encouraged to submit

material and photos to Linda Okazaki.

CGS is looking for a new Blog Editor. Intrigued? Curious? Interested? Contact Kathleen Beitiks for details.

Meet our speakers of July

Our very own Linda Okazaki appeared on the Robert Handa's Asian Pacific America segment on NBC. It is presented in 3 segments.

Getting Started with Genealogy

Part 2 and Part 3

Other Great Reads:

Photographing and Scanning Old Photos and Documents

Storing and Archiving Digital Photos

Reading hard-to-read gravestones

African American family records from era of slavery to be available free online

My Grandfather's Driver's License

New Membership Perk!

California Genealogical Society & Library

FindMyPast offers more than 1.7 billion international family history records from around the globe, including more than 1,000 exclusive collections that you won't find online anywhere else.

We are excited to announce FindMyPast is now offering a flat 50% off the annual World subscription (over $99 off) for all CGS members! You can find the code on our Welcome page once you log in as a member. Look for the blue "FindMyPast" in the middle of that page.

If you've forgotten your CGS number please contact the CGS Membership team.

Ancestor Tribute

by Jim Sorenson

In September 2012, CGS Board member Jim Sorenson, introduced us to his ancestor with this beginning:

My maternal grandfather, Earl Wright Morgan, was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, in 1879, the son of Fabius Wright Morgan (1845-1888) and Julia Lillian Sweney (1850-1915).

The tribute photo showed a young Earl Morgan and a quote from an acceptance letter to his job request at Standard Oil Co. in Richmond, CA.

This month's tribute shows Earl Wright Morgan, after working at Standard Oil for a number of years, celebrating at the company festivities in 1914 in Richmond. His handwritten caption read:" S.O. Co. boys: married against the single".

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We enjoy honoring members' ancestors. Please email a photo to Lorna Wallace, along with a short summary about why the ancestor featured is important or interesting to you. Photos should be in .jpg format with a file size over 100 kb; photos and text may be edited for space.

Connect with Us

See our Volunteer page for opportunities or contact Kathleen Beitiks for information

CGS Received the 2014 ALL STAR AWARD from Constant Contact for exemplary engagement with our readers.

Stewart Bland�n Traiman
eNews Editor email me