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| Photo credit: Erik Jacobs Photography |
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.
I was gobsmacked to learn that Randy Seaver included the CGSL blog in his Genea-Musings: My Puckerbrush Blog Awards of Excellence and bestowed The Janice Brown Puckerbrush Blog Award for Excellence. Randy writes Genea-Musings and is the most prolific genealogy blogger, just ask anyone. He's been tremendously kind and supportive and his Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe was a model when I got started in the society blogging business. Thank you, Randy, for the honor.
The award was created in honor of genealogy blogger Janice Brown by Terry Thornton, author of Hill Country of Monroe County, Mississippi, who explained that "Janice told us all about the word 'puckerbrush' in an article she posted August 27, 2007, at Cow Hampshire. Terry elaborated a bit further in a comment:
On any land allowed to go fallow and left untended, a wild assortment of wild plants grow – in some areas, this wild growth results in such a thicket of plants that it is almost impossible to push your way through the growth.Terry issued this challenge:
So it is with the growth of blogs --- so many that it is impossible to read them all. But in the puckerbrush eventually a few plants/trees become dominant and influence all who view them through the thick surrounding puckerbrush.
And it is those outstanding blogs whose influence spreads beyond just the surrounding rabble of puckerbrush that I'm honoring.
Henceforth these awards will be called the Janice Brown Puckerbrush Blog Award for Excellence. All blog authors are hereby challenged to name the ten blogs which have influenced their writing the most and list them as a tribute to Janice --- the Janice Brown Puckerbrush Blog Awards for Excellence.I see this award as a way to acknowledge the blog authors who paved the way and inspired us to take our own blogging baby steps and to those who continue to influence our work. Here are my ten recipients for the Puckerbrush Blog Award for Excellence:
You may have noticed the "Find us on Facebook" badge on the right side bar of the blog. It's been there for the past couple of months since I created a special CGS Facebook page for the California Genealogical Society and Library. Unlike individual profiles or groups on FB, you don't have to be a member of Facebook to view the CGS Page. What you'll find there is a nicely organized presentation of everything CGS - links to our Web site, blog posts, photo albums and the opportunity to become a "fan." Facebook is not just for kids anymore. It is one of many social networking services that I've been experimenting with as a place to promote the society and post our events.
Photo Detective Maureen Taylor nudged me into joining Facebook back in June and I've been watching in wonder at the number of genealogists who have embraced this new way to share information and make friends. Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak started the genea-stampede to Facebook with Unclaimed Persons – a self-described "group of volunteer genealogists who donate their time and research skills to assist medical examiners, coroners and investigators to locate the next of kin of deceased individuals." Smolenyak states she had "no idea about all these unclaimed people who are usually cremated and buried in unmarked graves, and that’s often after several months on a shelf in a morgue. We hear about abandoned pets, but you never hear about these abandoned bodies." You can view a video on RootsTelevision showing how Megan got her start working with coroners' offices.
By July 2008, hoards of genealogy bloggers had invaded Facebook and Thomas MacEntee of the Destination: Austin Family blog created a "Genea-Bloggers Group" on Facebook. The FB learning curve can be a little steep so Thomas also started the Facebook Bootcamp for Genea-Bloggers and more blog to assist members "in becoming more familiar with Facebook functions." The blog has evolved into a "how-to" manual for blogging in general.
Thomas posts a weekly Facebook update about the Genea-Bloggers Group. There are now 230 members, the vast majority of whom are genealogist bloggers who are writing about every aspect of family history.
Just in the last couple of weeks I've re-connected with several Internet acquaintances I'd met in years past through Rootsweb mail lists. Now that we are "Facebook friends" I've been able to put a face with the name and learn more about them and their other interests. I haven't found any cousins yet but I know it's only a matter of time.
Please take a look at the California Genealogical Society and Library page on Facebook. If you decide to join the fun, be sure to "friend" me.
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!
The 110th Anniversary Celebration on Saturday was a resounding success. Steve Danko has posted a detailed report on the day at his blog: Maureen Taylor, Photo Detective. I was struck by Maureen's incredible talent and passion for her subject, which we learned is a fusion of her expertise in history, photography and genealogy. I came away with a new appreciation for the value of photographs -- not just as a supplement to our family history but also as a research tool. We all have to become "photo detectives" to make sure we have gleaned all of the clues lying in wait in our own family photographs.
All 140 attendees went home with a special souvenir of the day. CGS President, Jane Lindsey, planned early on to create a bookmark to commemorate the anniversary but it was CGS News Production Editor, Lois Elling, who thought to merge the idea with the theme. She combined her design skills and love of ancestral photographs to create a keepsake that perfectly complemented Maureen's presentations.
Several CGS members submitted photographs for the bookmark. I promised that I would include a personal "thank you" to each and give a bit of background and biographical information about the CGS ancestors featured. I'll start with the two photos that I submitted.
The first is a photograph of my uncle and mother taken in 1938 in Sendai, Japan. My uncle, Iwao OKAMOTO, was graduating from high school and had been instructed by his mother to stop by the local studio to sit for a graduation photograph. He took along one of his younger sisters, Miyako, age 8. My grandmother was surprised to find that all of his portraits included his sibling! Iwao was unconcerned. He told his mother that if she didn't want to include his little sister she could be cut off. I'm so grateful that she wasn't.
The second is from my husband's extended NICKLES family. It is of two siblings, Pauline and George Nikolaides, taken about 1928 in the village of Tsintzina, near Sparta, Greece. The brother and sister spent their childhood years in two villages - summers spent in the mountains in Tsintzina, where it is cooler, and the winters in Zoupena; migrating back and forth, up and down the mountain each spring and fall, as has been the custom for hundreds of years. They came to the U.S. with their father and siblings in 1937; their mother remained in Greece throughout her life. Pauline Nickles Poulos died in 1986. George P. Nickles died November 22, 2007. May their memories be eternal.
This is one of only three photographs 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 car was the groom’s father’s Buick.
Two photographs were contributed by CGS member Lisa B. Lee. David Moses LEE was born in 1847 in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, the son of William Barnard Lee and Eleanor Jane Smith, and descendant of William Lee, a black Loyalist who fought in the Revolutionary War on behalf of the British Crown. In his early 20s, he moved to Buffalo, New York with his mother and worked first as a blacksmith and then as a male nurse, a position he held for over 50 years. For much of his adult life, he worked in Dr. Pierce's Hospital, an institution on Buffalo's Main Street. Lee died in 1936 in Buffalo at the age of 89.
Lisa's second contribution was the photograph of the MILLER Family. William Miller was born in Pennsylvania about 1811 and escaped slavery to Ontario and settled in the Wellington County area around 1835. He and his wife, Mary Ann Clement (a Canadian native) had at least 11 children. Those pictured in the photo are William Miller's grandson John Sylvester Miller, John's wife, Amanda Cromwell (whose grandfather was a black Loyalist in Nova Scotia) and their children, Joseph, Jane, William and Cecil.
I have a few more details to gather for the remaining photographs so stay tuned.
Today is the last day to reserve your place at the 110th Anniversary Celebration, this Saturday, February 9, 2008, at the Concord Hilton. You won't want to miss this special day-long program with Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective, who will present four seminars:
Tales from The Photo Detective
Identifying and Dating Family Photos
Preserving Family Photographs
Reading Immigrant Clues in Photos
$45.00 includes all seminars and lunch.
CGS News Editor, Jane Hufft, has organized a special silent auction as part of the festivities. Donated items include a set of champagne glasses in a carrying case, a basket of Irish coffee glasses and accoutrements, two sets of framed botanical prints, Fleetwood Mac wines, a handmade baby blanket, a set of two Malaysian baskets and much, much more.
The society is also honored to announce that our event is the book launch of Maureen Taylor's newest title, Capturing Memories (Your Family Story in Photographs). All of Maureen's books will be available for sale at the event.
President Jane Lindsey has been planning a couple more surprises for the day, including a special commemorative souvenir designed by the CGS News production editor, Lois Elling.
Back in December, George Morgan and Drew Smith, The Genealogy Guys, read the press release of our event on their podcast. George gave Maureen this glowing recommendation:
"If you've never heard Maureen speak about preservation of photographs, identifying photographs, identifying time frames... you're going to find this a tremendous, tremendous session."
Photographs of Maureen Taylor courtesy of Erik Jacobs Photography.
I'm just back from a holiday vacation and while catching up with the various genealogy blogs, I found some great advice in a recent post to 24-7 Family History Circle. Maureen A. Taylor, the Photo Detective, wrote Saving Your Family Treasures: Four Destructive Habits.
Maureen, who will be our special guest lecturer at the California Genealogical Society and Library 110th Celebration, on February 9, 2008, tells how mishandling, poor storage, laminating and mislabeling practices can harm our family photographs.
Maureen has also submitted a sneak preview of her detective skills to Roots Television. In her 4 1/2 minute slide show Solved by the Photo Detective!, Taylor guides us through three examples as she describes in her own voice the clues she used to analyze photos of a building facade, an immigrant woman and her own grandmother.
The California Genealogical Society and Library will celebrate 110 years of helping people find their roots at a day-long program with Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective at the Concord Hilton on Saturday, February 9, 2008, from 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Tales from The Photo Detective
