California Genealogical Society blog: The California Nugget

The Fall 2013 edition of The California Nugget, edited by Jane Hufft and produced by Lois Elling, has been mailed to members. Here is Jane letter from the editor:

Dear Readers,

For most genealogists, it is all about the chase: to find the maiden name, the death date, the elusive spouse. Were there five children or six? What made them leave there to come here? It is a whole tapestry that we family historians want to weave, and it takes patience to bring all the strands together, perseverance to untangle the knots and determination to tug out the threads that don’t match. We hope that the articles in this issue will inspire you to keep on with your own researching and writing, not only to preserve your family’s story, but to share your discoveries with others.

Bill O’Neil’s World War I ancestor gave his life for his country, and the small town Richard Howard Ferrell came from will never forget his sacrifice. We are inviting more WWI ancestor stories for our next two issues, Spring and Fall 2014, to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of this calamitous upheaval that tragically altered forever the lives of so many families around the world. Bill’s article is in our “ Twenty-First Century” section to acknowledge that online resources and newspapers are major avenues for WWI research.

Henry Snyder’s ancestor, the brilliant and restless lawyer and newspaperman William Wal- lace Theobalds, traveled up and down the West Coast with his family in the nineteenth century. Were the early western states, so open and full of opportunities, a magnet for the talented and the restless? Because of the new, and magnificent, newspaper archives that are now online, the kind of detailed, careful and thorough research that Henry Snyder carried out is something more of us can aspire to. The powerful technology of OCR (optical character recognition) continues to improve, opening new avenues of information.

Georgia Lupinsky’s beautiful story of her grandfather’s life captures a bygone era and paints a portrait of a courageous, loving and kindly man. It is a perfect example of how a memoir can become part of a genealogist’s work.

Laura Lee Karp didn’t give up the search! Her story will rekindle your energy to keep on looking for that missing gravesite and lost ancestor. Although Find-a-Grave is marvelous, not all cemeteries and gravesites are yet included in its huge database, and sometimes we have to rely on tenacity and—gravestone karma.

Jane Hufft, Editor

TABLE of CONTENTS

Twenty-First Century Genealogy

Richard Howard Ferrell, World War I Soldier in France by Bill O’Neil

California Ancestors

William Wallace Theobalds: Itinerant Lawyer, Newspaper Editor, Professor by Henry Snyder
Ellis Shinkle Baker of Morning View Kentucky by Georgia Lupinsky
James M. Everett’s Gravesite: Do Our Ancestors Signal Us from the Grave? by Laura Lee Karp
1883 Pensioners: Phippen, Marg’t to Von Prieson, Victor

At the Society

Save the Date!

Member Anniversaries

For Our Readers

Send Your Stories, Sketches, and Articles to "The Nugget"

Name Index

Do You Have a WWI Ancestor?

The California Nugget, the journal of the California Genealogical Society (CGS), is published twice a year. Its purpose is to share the unique genealogical material in the CGS library, add to the body of family history information about Californians, offer guidance and timely information to family researchers, and to provide a forum for members to share their expertise and findings. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the society. The journal is distributed free to members and is available to non-members for $5.00 an issue, plus postage.