A Trifecta of Honors from Family Tree Magazine

For the third year in a row, the California Genealogical Society website, CaliforniaAncestors.org, has been honored by Family Tree Magazine.

"A Fine State" by Contributing Editor Rick Crume (pages 20-27) is the cover article in the December issue which lists the magazine's 2012 picks for the seventy-five best U.S. state-focused websites for genealogical research.

In selecting this year's best state websites, we looked especially for databases (at least one per state) where you can search for your ancestors' names.

We're very proud of our California Names Index, a surname-based index to more than 350,000 records in these databases:

• San Francisco voters registered 1890
• San Francisco IOOF Crematory and Cemetery records
• Biographies of individuals prominent in early 20th century California
• Records from the First and Third Congregational Churches of San Francisco
• Deaths in San Francisco 1865-1873, 1882-1889, 1894-1896, and 1901-1904
• Probate Records: Registers of Actions 1906-1942

Thank you, Family Tree Magazine, we're honored to be one of three Golden State selections!

Also chosen, for the second time, is the California Digital Newspaper Collection, founded by our director and Library Committee Chair, Dr. Henry Snyder.

This site puts more than 5 million articles in California Newspapers (1846–2011) at your fingertips.

This year the magazine added a third California website, SFgenealogy.com, founded by our members Ron and Pam Filion.

In addition to extensive resources for the Bay area, this site has statewide indexes to birth (1905–1995) and deaths (1940–1997).

Congratulations to Henry, Pam, and Ron, and a special "thank you" to Kathy Watson and Larry Youngman and the Website Committee for their continuing work for the society.

You can read the online version of the article at the magazine's website: Top 75 State Websites of 2012.

Family Tree Magazine is America's largest-circulation genealogy magazine, helping readers discover, preserve and celebrate their family history. In addition to their bimonthly print magazine, they publish how-to genealogy CDs, books, free monthly podcasts and weekly e-mail newsletters and the Genealogy Insider blog.


Copyright © 2012 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library.

Honored Twice and Doubly Well-Stated!

The December 2011 issue of Family Tree Magazine arrived and this month's cover is their now annual feature: 75 Best State Websites.

Contributing editor Rick Crume, in the article "Well Stated" (pages 20-26), lists the magazine's 2011 picks for the seventy-five best U.S. state-focused websites for genealogical research.

In selecting this year's best state websites for genealogy, we were looking for databases where you can look for a relative's name. Many of the 75 sites (at least one per state) have indexes, and in many cases, you can even view images of original records.

The Golden State has two picks and the California Genealogical Society and Library is proud to have close ties to both!

The first is our own website CaliforniaAncestors.org.

Click the Databases tab to search more than 350,000 records – including voter registers, probate records, cemetery records and more – in the California Names Index for free. If your ancestor's name appears you can order a copy of their original record for $10. Members have online access to San Francisco church records and newspapers.

The second is the California Digital Newspaper Collection, founded by our newest board member, Dr. Henry Snyder.

Access more than 5 million California newspaper articles from 1846 to 2009.

Henry is the former director of The Center for Bibliographical Studies and Research (CBSR) at the University of California, Riverside, where he led the California Newspaper Project from 1990 through 2009.

I've written before about Professor Snyder and the project which went digital in 2007. In case you missed it, Henry's article The California Newspaper: What Survives and How to Find It was published last year in the Fall 2010 issue of the Nugget. CGS is honored to have such an esteemed historian on our board and we're thrilled that Family Tree Magazine is bringing attention to his work.

This is the second year that the CGS website was chosen. We're honored to be listed among so many fantastic online state resources. Thank you, Family Tree Magazine!

Kudos to Kathy Watson and Larry Youngman and their technology team who work tirelessly for the society to keep our website up-to-date.

Copyright © 2011 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library

Honored to be Honored Again!

The July 2011 issue of Family Tree Magazine is out with its list of the 40 Best Genealogy Blogs of 2011. I'm thrilled to report that the Local and Regional Research category includes the California Genealogical Society and Library blog. Sunny Jane Morton wrote this very kind description:

In November 2007, Kathryn Doyle launched this blog after determining that her society needed to "go virtual or perish." Certainly the society is experiencing a long and healthy life, if its active blog and extensive website are its vital signs. Local events and member stories are top topics.

Sunny is quoting my very first blog post – An Experiment – from November 2007 when I was quoting David Rencher and his talk on Societies Going Virtual. I think it is fair to say that genealogy bloggers have had a lot to do with how far into the future we have come!

There are five winning blogs in each of eight categories as follows*:

Everything

• Clue Wagon by Kerry Scott
• Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter by Dick Eastman
• footnoteMaven by footnoteMaven
• Olive Tree Genealogy by Lorine McGinnis Schultze
• We Tree by Amy Coffin

Cemeteries

• The Association of Graveyard Rabbits by several authors
• Digital Cemetery Walk by Gale Wall
• Escape to Silent Cities by Tami Thiele
• Granite in My Blood by Midge Frazel
• Gravestoned by Anonymous

Technology

• Ancestry Insider by Ancestry Insider
• Dienekes’ Anthropology Blog by Dienekes Pontikos
• Genealogy’s Star by James Tanner
• Moultrie Creek Gazette by Denise Barrett Olson
• Renee’s Genealogy Blog by Renee Zamora

Heritage Groups

• Acadian and French-Canadian Ancestral Home by Lucie Le Blanc Consentino
• Georgia Black Crackers by Mavis Jones
• Help! The Faerie Folk Hid My Ancestors! by Deborah Large Fox
• Luxegen by Joan Miller
• Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog bu  Schelly Talalay Dardashti

Research Advice

• The Armchair Genealogist by Lynn Palermo
• Family Curator by Denise Levenick
• Genealogy Tip of the Day by Michael John Neill
• NARAtions by National Archives
• Shades of the Departed by footnoteMaven

Local and Regional Research

• Brooklyn Historical Society Blog by the Brooklyn Historical Society
• California Genealogical Society and Library Blog by Kathryn Doyle
• Eastern Washington Genealogical Society by Miriam Robbins Midkiff
• New York History by John Warren
• Sandusky History: by the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center

New Blogs

• Climbing My Family Tree by Jennifer
• Have You Seen My Roots? by Cheryl Cayemberg
• Heritage Zen by Cynthia Shenette
• Journey to the Past by Brenda Leyndyke
• Old Stones Undeciphered by Lisa Wallen Logsdon

My Family History

• Greta’s Genealogy Blog by Greta Koehl
• Little Bytes of Life by Elizabeth O’Neal
• Mississippi Memories by Janice Tracy
• Nutfield Genealogy by Heather Rojo
• West in New England by Bill West

Many thanks to readers who voted, to the magazine staff and to the Family Tree 40 Panel who lent their expertise in formulating the blog categories and qualifications (and whose blogs were excluded from consideration).

One of the blogger panelists is "far-flung" (as he calls himself) member Thomas MacEntee, author of Destination: Austin Family and GeneaBloggers. The other Family Tree 40 panelists are Lisa Louise Cooke, DearMYRTLE and Randy Seaver.

Two other CGS members are among the Top 40 – Amy Coffin and Elizabeth O'Neal.

Congratulations to all!

*Links reprinted here with permission of Thomas MacEntee of Geneabloggers.


Copyright © 2011 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library

Honored to Be Nominated by Family Tree Magazine

The California Genealogical Society and Library blog is honored to be included in the Local/ Regional category of Family Tree Magazine's 40 Best Genealogy Blogs nominees. The magazine will name the Family Tree 40 in the July 2011 issue and they are asking for your help!

The nominated blogs are divided into eight categories:

• Everything
• Cemetery
• Technology
• Heritage
• Research Advice/ How To
• Local/ Regional
• New 
• My Family History

Voting is open until 11:59 p.m. Monday, Dec. 20, 2010. Choose five blogs in each category.


Among the nominees are several other CGS member blogs:

Elyse's Genealogy Blog by Elyse Doerflinger

Little Bytes of Life by Elizabeth O'Neal

The Educated Genealogist by Sheri Fenley

The Internet Genealogist by Leah Allen

We Tree by Amy Cofin


One of the five genealogy blogger panelists who lent their expertise in formulating the blog categories and qualifications (and whose blogs have been excluded from consideration) is "far-flung" (as he calls himself) member Thomas MacEntee, author of Destination: Austin Family and GeneaBloggers. The other Family Tree 40 panelists are Lisa Louise Cooke, DearMYRTLE and Randy Seaver.

Now, please go vote for your favorite blogs!


Copyright © 2010 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library

CGS Website Honored by Family Tree Magazine as One of the Best!

Woo hoo! Family Tree Magazine has named the California Genealogical Society website – CaliforniaAncestors.org – one of the Best State Websites for 2010.

In the article Heads of State in the December 2010 issue of Family Tree Magazine (pages 20-27), author David A. Fryxell lists their 2010 picks for the 75 best U.S. state-focused websites for genealogical research.

To help you find these outstanding state sites – and to salute their efforts at making genealogical and historical information available online – we've compiled this state-centric Best Websites list.

California has two sites listed:

Online Archive of California <www.oac.cdlib.org>
Recently redesigned to take advantage of new technologies, the OAC opens the golden gate to more than 170,000 digital images and documents and nearly 20,000 collection guides.

California Genealogical Society and Library <californiaancestors.org>
You can search the library catalog and find answers in Research FAQs, or search the 350,000 names in the California Names Index. Get a hit? Just $10 will buy a lookup in the original source.

We're honored to be chosen and to be listed among so many fantastic online state resources. Thank you, Family Tree Magazine!

Congratulations to the Kathy Watson, Larry Youngman and the other members of the Website Committee and to all the volunteer members who have contributed to the California Genealogical Society website.

Kudos also to our volunteer librarians - past and present - whose hard work culminated in our online catalog and to the many members who have contributed to the California Names Index. We have the best volunteers in the world!



Copyright © 2010 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library

Honored by Family Tree Magazine!

Diane Haddad, Managing Editor of Family Tree Magazine informed me that the California Genealogical Society and Library blog was named to the "Family Tree 40" after being voted one of the Family Tree Magazine 40 Best Genealogy blogs!

The awards were given in several categories, as follows*:

All-Around

• Creative Gene by Jasia Smasha
• footnoteMaven by footnoteMaven
• GeneaBloggers by Thomas MacEntee
• Genea-Musings by Randy Seaver

Cemetery

• The Association of Graveyard Rabbits by several authors
• Granite in My Blood by Midge Frazel

Corporate

• Ancestry.com Blog by various authors

Genetic Genealogy

• The Genetic Genealogist by Blaine Bettinger

Heritage

• George Geder by George Geder
• Scottish Genealogy News and Events by Chris Paton
• Small Leaved Shamrock by Lisa
• Steve’s Genealogy Blog by Stephen Danko
• Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog by Schelly Talalay Dardashti

How-To

• Family Matters by Denise Barrett Olson
• Genealogy Guys by George G. Morgan and Drew Smith
• Genealogy Tip of the Day by Michael John Neill
• The ProGenealogists Blog by various authors

Local & Regional

• California Genealogical Society and Library Blog by Kathryn Doyle
• Sandusky History by the staff of the Sandusky (Ohio) Library Archives Research Center
• Midwestern Microhistory by Harold Henderson

News & Resources

• The Ancestry Insider by theAncestry Insider
• DearMyrtle by Pat Richley-Erickson
• Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter by Dick Eastman
• GenealogyBlog by Leland Meitzler

Photos & Heirlooms

• The Family Curator by Denise Levenick
• Shades of the Departed by footnoteMaven

Personal & Family

• Ancestories: The Stories of My Ancestors by Miriam Midkiff
• Apple’s Tree by anonymous
• BeNotForgot by Vickie Everhart
• Educated Genealogist by Sheri Fenley
• Greta’s Genealogy Blog by Greta Koehl
• Heritage Happens by Cheryl Fleming Palmer
• Herstoryan by Herstoryan
• Janet the Researcher by Janet Iles
• Kinexxions by Becky Wiseman
• Little Bytes of Life by Elizabeth
• Our Georgia Roots by Luckie Daniels
• WeTree by Amy Coffin
• West in New England by Bill West
• What’s Past is Prologue by Donna Pointkouski

In the online version of the magazine article, which appears in the May 2010 issue, Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective, had this to say about the CGSL blog:

Even though I don’t have California roots, this is one of my personal favorites—you get a feel for this community that hangs together to solve genealogical problems. Society member Kathryn Doyle delivers news about the group, as well as local genealogy events and resources. On Wordless Wednesday, you get a peek behind the scenes of the organization.

Thank you, Maureen; thank you Family Tree Magazine and thank you to everyone who voted! I'm honored to be listed with such august company!

*Links reprinted here with permission of Diane Haddad, Managing Editor, Family Tree Magazine.

Honored To Be Nominated!

The California Genealogical Society and Library blog is honored to be included in the Local/ Regional category of Family Tree Magazine's 40 Best Genealogy Blogs nominees.

Voting is open from now until November 5, 2009. The process is one that the magazine is using to identify the "Best 40" for a future article:

The top 80 vote-getting blogs will make it through to a "final" round, and our editorial staff will select 40 blogs from that list. The Family Tree 40 will be announced in the May 2010 Family Tree Magazine and in the Genealogy Insider e-mail newsletter.

Among the nominees are several other CGS member blogs:

GeneaBlogie by Craig Manson

Heritage Happens by Cheryl Fleming Palmer

Destination: Austin Family by Thomas MacEntee

Steve's Genealogy Blog by Stephen Danko

The Educated Genealogist by Sheri Fenley

The really exciting news is that you can meet ALL of these bloggers in person this coming Saturday, October 10, 2009 at the Blog Your Genealogy workshop. If you haven't signed up yet, please email us and let us know you are coming!

And please go vote for your favorite blogs!

CGS in the News: Family Tree Magazine - July 2009 issue

The July 2009 issue of Family Tree Magazine is out and some CGS researchers are featured in "Changing Gears" an article by Maureen A. Taylor, the Photo Detective, about "reverse genealogy" – finding living relatives to further your research.

Among the five reasons to research forward in time, Maureen counts "grow your family tree" and two of her examples come from the California Genealogical Society. CGS President Jane Lindsey is sited for her use of newspaper research to sidestep San Francisco record gaps after the 1906 earthquake and fire. One of Jane's clients was able to make a Mayflower connection "through the work of researchers on three continents."

CGS example two sites the work that Lavinia Schwarz, Judy Bodycote and Richard Rees did on the Peralta Project and the database they created of some 700 descendants of Luis Maria Peralta.

It's great to see the fantastic research team at CGS acknowledged for their excellent work! Thanks, Maureen.

Digital vs. Print - Where do you stand?

Last week many genealogy blogs published the news release sent by Leland Meitzler of Everton Publishers announcing the new Online Edition of Everton’s Genealogical Helper. The electronic publication, which debuts on July 1, 2008 with the July/August issue, will be identical to the paper edition but with added hyperlinks to the Web site addresses published within its pages.

Diane Haddad, managing editor of Family Tree Magazine and its primary blogger at Genealogy Insider, went a step further and asked Would You Read an Online Magazine? referencing Dick Eastman's recent post Printed Newsletters and Magazines are Disappearing. Diane summed up the debate in one sentence:

The entire publishing industry is caught up in the "digital vs. print" discussion, with some swearing it's just a matter of time before all print publications go away, and others insisting people always will want to curl up with a paper magazine or book.

Genealogical societies are also grappling with the new paradigm. The News & Notes, the Southern California Genealogical Society quarterly, announced that the May/June/July issue will be the final print version delivered to members' mailboxes. Editor Alice Fairhurst noted that it is "transitioning to virtual... due to the rising cost of postage, and the fact that most people have internet access.

The California Genealogical Society and Library publishes news and information in three formats: a print newsletter (the CGS News), an electronic newsletter (the CGS e-News) and this blog. In response to the suggestion that this might be information overkill, CGS News Editor and former school administrator, Jane Hufft, quotes the old rule in teaching - "eight repetitions for the average learner."

Each of the society's periodicals have unique attributes that are not duplicated in the other two.

The CGS News, a benefit of membership published bimonthly and mailed to members' homes, features lists of the society's newest members and their research surnames and places; lists of new books and media in the library and original content, such as Nancy Peterson's two-part report "Post-1906 Immigration and Naturalization Records."

The CGS e-News, started last year by President Jane Lindsey with the technical assistance of Kathy Watson, is a monthly electronic newsletter that is e-mailed to all society members who have e-mail addresses (currently 93% of members) and to non-member subscribers. The e-News publishes CGS Ancestors, a place where members can submit interesting old family photographs with a bit of history; Suggested Links from the Blogsphere and Did You Miss These Posts from the CGS Blog?

The California Genealogical Society and Library Blog recently celebrated its six-month "blogiversary" and continues to experiment with new ways to promote society events and feature the work of its volunteers.

There is one significant difference between the CGS print periodical and the electronic ones - the way that readership is measured. Traditional media report the number of subscribers or the number of issues printed. We know how many copies of the CGS News are printed and mailed out to members and subscribing societies but we don't really know how many of these issues are actually read.

With electronic media we have a few more tools in the toolbox. Constant Contact, the e-mail, marketing and survey software used to produce the CGS e-News, provides a report to users that tells how many of the e-mails are actually opened. The results, although high by industry standards, are disappointing: only about 53% of members actually open their CGS e-News.

Blog statistics, such as the number of visits to a blog, or the number of page views, are readily available from sites like Sitemeter or ClustrMaps.

At least for the now, CGS members have three unique periodicals they can read to obtain society news. Which do you prefer?

Chronicling Events in a Horseless Carriage

One of the photographs from the CGS 110th anniversary bookmark, was this one taken on the wedding day of Clare and Alta McAllister THOMSON, parents of Thomas Thomson, who is the husband of Shirley Pugh Thomson, CGS board member and recording secretary.


The young bride and groom (she only 18, he age 19) were photographed 4 June 1916, in Sullivan County, Indiana. In the back seat are their best friends and witnesses, Paul and Lena Sharpe. The Buick was owned by the groom’s father, as was the camera, and it was dad who took the picture.

The blog description prompted this response from CGS News Editor, Jane Hufft: "The copy you have with the photographs is so informative and interesting. The picture sparked a connection for me: I have a photo of my grandparents c. 1916 that could be a twin to Shirley's; everyone is dressed up, looking out of an open car, event unknown, and it NEVER occurred to me that it possibly is a wedding photo -- and we don't have any others for them. Perhaps that was a photographic style then. Thank you so much for the clue."

I checked with Maureen A. Taylor, the Photo Detective, who has written about old automotive photographs, most recently in an article entitled "Motor Trends" in the July 2007 issue of Family Tree Magazine.

She agrees that there may be other photographs that appear at first glance to be just folks in old cars, but which in fact are chronicling weddings or other significant events.

Maureen notes: "You see a lot more people in front of cars once they are more enclosed. Men drove, women generally didn't. How interesting that the woman is behind the wheel!"

The cover of Katherine Scott Sturdevant's book, Bringing Your Family History to Life Through Social History, depicts a family dressed in their Sunday best in a circa 1910 automobile.

The photograph, identified as "William H. McKernan, Brooklyn" was supplied to the publisher as a research experiment. Ms. Sturdevant analyzes the photograph on page 89 and presents a case study which includes dating the vehicle and city directory and census research on the family. She makes a strong case that it is the family of William H. McKiernan and notes that the children in the photograph match the "genders and ages of the census children... if the oldest child, Mary, was elsewhere when the photograph was taken. She would have been about twenty."

Knowing what we know now from Shirley's and Jane's photographs, I wonder if the family was off to attend Mary's wedding?

Written for the 45th Carnival of Genealogy, Cars as stars!

CGS - Always a Happening Place

I've been distracted by a couple of CGS projects that came my way and were too important to ignore. The first was this month's issue of the CGS e-News - the January 2008 email newsletter - which went out this past weekend to [drumroll, please!] 924 members. CGS e-News was started last year by Jane Lindsey with the technical assistance of Kathy Watson who set us up with Constant Contact, the email, marketing and survey tool also used by NEHGS for their e-News. Our goal is to send the electronic news every month as a supplement to the CGS News, edited by Jane Hufft and produced by Lois Elling, which is published bimonthly in January, March, May, July, September and November.

The second project is a Family Tree Magazine survey for libraries with genealogical collections. FTM is planning a feature article "that will honor libraries with outstanding genealogical collections across the United States." Anyone who has been to the California Genealogical Society library knows that it fits the definition so the article would be a great way to shine some light on our hidden jewel.

Unfortunately, the FTM questionnaire is extremely detailed, requires quantitative answers and came at the worst time, just before the holidays. CGS librarian, Laura Spurrier and research director, Nancy Peterson stepped up to the challenge and the emails have been flying back and forth in an effort to meet the January 14 deadline. As Nancy noted, "No single one of us appreciates all facets of our holdings" so the challenge is to gather input from several more member volunteers in the next few days.

An Experiment

I often find myself looking back and retracing my steps to remember exactly how I got to where I am. It's something I do when researching my family genealogy and what I am doing now as I write this first blog entry. For me, the journey into the blogosphere started with a special report in the July 2007 Family Tree Magazine about shrinking membership in genealogical societies by Diane Haddad. Diane quoted Jasia, a "marketing expert who blogged at CreativeGene about societies after hers shrunk by half in three years." Off I went to learn from the master and to read her series of 17 posts: "Declining Membership in Genealogical Societies." Then I attended the 2007 FGS Annual Conference Meeting at the Crossroads of America in Fort Wayne, Indiana with a group from CGS. The keynote address was Societies Going Virtual by David E. Rencher and his conclusion was "Go Virtual or Perish!" I figured it was time to give this a try.