The Best (Genealogy) Things in Life Are Free!

CGS member Kay Speaks sent word from the Livermore-Amador Genealogical Society (L-AGS) about a last-minute change for their Thanksgiving weekend seminar. Their Ancestry.com speaker had to cancel and will be rescheduled for next year.

Susan Goss Johnston will present The Best Things Are Free: Using Free On-line Genealogy Resources For Your Family Research on Saturday, November 28, 2009, from 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. The morning seminar and afternoon workshop are free and open to the public.

There is an amazing amount of material available on-line from resources that don't charge a fee to access their information. Some of this data is identical to that found on popular fee- based subscription web sites!

There will be a lunch break from 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Attendees are invited to bring a bag lunch and attend two short presentations by Kay Speaks on Google Search Tips and Basic Techniques for Saving On-line Research Results.

Susan Goss Johnston graduated from Yale University with a degree in physics. While raising her family she discovered a passion for genealogy. For the next thirty years she would be a genealogist, teacher, and lecturer. Johnston is a graduate of the National Institute on Genealogical Research, the Advanced Methodology and Evidence Analysis course at the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research, and the National Archives' course, Going to the Source. She has traveled throughout the states giving a variety of genealogical lectures and has taught numerous classes and courses about genealogy research on both the east and west coasts. Johnston currently teaches genealogical research procedures and techniques for both the beginning and advanced student at Las Positas College. She is a popular Bay Area lecturer. 

Saturday, November 28, 2009
LDS Church, 950 Mocho Street, Livermore
8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
The Best Things Are Free: Using Free On-line Genealogy Resources For Your Family Research
Sponsored by the Livermore-Amador Genealogical Society and the Livermore Family History Center.

Download the registration flier.

This and That: Bits of News and Information

If you were thinking about attending the workshop this weekend but hadn't made a reservation yet, don't bother calling. The Hints on Publishing Your Family History workshop is sold out. Maybe we can convince Shirley, Matt and Jane to do a repeat performance next year. Or better yet, is there someone out there who could help the society get set up to do podcasts?

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Speaking of podcasts, Susan Goss Johnston, one of the speakers at the upcoming L-AGS American Military Research Seminar was a guest on Dear Myrtle's Family History Hour August 5, 2008 podcast. Ol' Myrt wanted the interview when she learned that Susan will be discussing known surviving military record groups -- what is online and what is not. DearMyrtle's detailed show notes includes links to the sites discussed and this:

Susan has advised students to print out and bring with them, An Overview of Records at the National Archives Relating to Military Service by Trevor K. Plante (Prologue Fall 20002, Vol. 34, No. 3). Susan feels this article is an excellent starting point for researchers.

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As predicted by Rose Pierson of FamilySearch Indexing, the first portion of the San Francisco Mortuary Records project is complete. Rose reports that they are working hard to get the second set of images from twenty-nine rolls of microfilmed registers ready to be indexed. These are a bit more complicated to set up but they include the eagerly anticipated early ledgers from the 1860s.

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The San Luis Obispo Tribune ran an article last Saturday about Camp Roberts, named for San Francisco native and Medal of Honor winner, Corporal Harold Roberts. The California Genealogical Society and Library got a mention in the paper's August 2, 2008 article, Camp Roberts Mystery: Who's the Man Behind Post's Name?

American Military Research Seminar - August 9, 2008

The Livermore-Amador Genealogical Society, in association with the Livermore Family History Center, is hosting Help! My great-great-great grandfather is missing! - a free American Military Research Seminar and Workshop, Saturday, August 9, 2008, 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., 950 Mocho Street, Livermore, California.

The schedule for the day includes three presentations during the morning session, a noon break for lunch and Genealogy Jeopardy and an afternoon workshop of online interactive case studies.

L-AGS member and genealogy instructor, Susan Goss Johnston, will present a two-part lecture entitled "American Military Research Online: What’s There and What’s Not!" Johnston will create a timeline of American military history and show all the record types that were created. She will cover what is available online and what isn’t, using both non-subscription and subscription sites.



Trevor Hammond, Marketing Manager at Footnote.com will conclude the morning session with "An Introduction to Footnote.com"


To reinforce the information learned in the morning lectures, the afternoon session will be an interactive workshop " Going Beyond the Obvious: Problem-solving with Online Military Records."



Four online military research case studies will be presented. Attendees with wireless laptops will be able to follow along using the Internet. Footnote.com has given us access for all researchers who bring their laptops. The session will be displayed for those without laptops. The Livermore Family History Center, working through Salt Lake, is making wireless internet available for attendees.
Susan Goss Johnston is a graduate of Yale University with a degree in physics. She began working in medical research while studying voice at the Peabody Conservatory, then became interested in genealogy research. Johnston is also a graduate of the National Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research course, “Advanced Methodology and Evidence Analysis,” and the National Archives’ course, “Going to the Source.” She developed a workshop on source citations for her own advanced genealogy course while in Baltimore, a workshop subsequently presented to several Maryland genealogy societies. She teaches beginning through advanced genealogy classes at Las Positas College in Livermore, and is a co-teacher of the Tri-Valley TMG Users Group.

Trevor Hammond has been a marketing manager for Footnote.com for two years. Prior to joining Footnote.com, he worked four years for Ancestry.com in customer intelligence and customer support. A native of Utah, he has a B.A. from Utah Valley University in Business.

Attendees will be eligible for a $10.00 discount from the Footnote.com membership for first time subscribers. Although the seminar is free, everyone is encouraged to pre-register.Please register early, space is limited. (Registration at the door will be accepted on a space available basis starting at 8:30 a.m.)
The registration deadline is August 7, 2008. Download the seminar flier or go to the Livermore-Amador Genealogical Society Web site for further information and for online registration.

Lorna's Report From the Alameda County Fair

CGS member Lorna Wallace helped staff the Alameda County Fair Genealogy Booth again this year and sent this report:

The Livermore-Amador Valley Genealogical Society (L-AGS) has sponsored a genealogy booth at the Alameda County Fair for the last few years. It is located in the large, air-conditioned (very important on hot summer days) “Technology Building”, where other computer-related attractions are going on. The booth features three computer stations with connections to several subscription databases (Ancestry, VitalRecords-CA and Footnote) for demonstrating the powerful search products that are now available. There is also a helpful handout listing many of the big, free sites, like Cyndislist.

There are two types of volunteers staffing the booth: “greeters” encourage visitors to mark their places of birth on large mounted maps of the U.S. and the world, and to fill out pedigree charts. “Researchers” then try to find an ancestors using the computer resources. Some visitors sit down at the computer and think their family history is just sitting in there, waiting to pop up on the screen. Some have been trying to use the Internet, but have not discovered basic sites such as Rootsweb or FamilySearch. Then there were those who actually brought notes so they could use their time well. Several used their cell phones to call relatives, right on the spot, to get a piece of missing information.

I think the biggest challenge for us, the volunteers, is the fact that we are presented with a whole segment of our community that are not well represented in the usual population of genealogical society membership. We come face-to-face with people from all over the world, especially Latin America and Asia, who want to know how to research their ancestry in their home county. The L-AGS is doing a good job of trying to find and provide resources.

Genealogists have so much to share. I encourage all of the members of the California Genealogical Society to volunteer next year when the Fair returns in late June of 2009.

Lorna Wallace is an active volunteer on the CGS Book Repair and Desk Duty Committees. She also handles book mailings for the society. Thanks for the report, Lorna, and for representing the society so well.

Photographs courtesy of Duncan Tanner.

Alameda County Fair Genealogy Booth

Volunteers Needed!
June 20 – July 6, 2008
The Livermore-Amador Genealogical Society (L-AGS) is gearing up for the annual Genealogy Booth at the 2008 Alameda County Fair. This is the ninth year that the society has organized and staffed the popular station in the fair's Technology Adventures Building at the Alameda County Fairgrounds, located at Valley Avenue and Bernal Avenue in Pleasanton, California.

CGS member and L-AGS Fair Booth Coordinator, Kay Speaks, sent the following:
"We are inviting other genealogy societies, DAR Chapters, FHC docents, historical societies and library genealogy docents to join us in this fun and very rewarding endeavor. Want to reserve an entire day for your organization? Please contact the fair booth coordinator to reserve a convenient date."

The genealogy booth is one of the most popular attractions at the seventeen-day fair, where hundreds of people get their first exposure to the genealogy bug. The booths are equipped with computers, laser printers and Internet access. Each session has three research docents and two greeters scheduled. Many volunteers, like CGS member Lorna Wallace, have wonderful stories to share from past years so organizers are promoting the event as "An Experience You Will Want to Repeat Year After Year."

The Livermore-Amador Genealogical Society serves the cities of Livermore, Pleasanton and Dublin and surrounding areas in the Livermore and Amador Valleys of southeastern Alameda County, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The society was formed in June 1977 by student participants of a Livermore Adult Education Class. General meetings are held at 7:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month at Congregation Beth Emek, 3400 Nevada Court, Pleasanton. The Society, in cooperation with the City of Pleasanton Library, maintains the largest collection of genealogical materials in the Valley, numbering over 1000 books.

For additional information about volunteering, e-mail Kay Speaks.