Meet the Board Nominees

by Karen Lemelin

In case you missed it, (Karen's report was just published in our California Genealogical Society's December eNews), then we wanted you to know "who's who" for board nominations, officers and existing board members for 2018. Enjoy! (Ed.) 

Nomination Committee Report 2018

Committee Chair: Karen Lemelin
Committee Members: Chris Pattillo and Nancy Cork

The Nomination Committee is proposing four new board nominees for the 2018-2020 term. The new nominees are James Russell, Chris Pattillo, Nancy Cork and Marisela Meskus.

Continuing in their first terms are Rich Kehoe and Arlene Miles.
Continuing in a second term is Kathie Jones.

Proposed nominations for their second terms are Vicky Kolakowski, Stewart Traiman and Maureen Hanlon.

Proposed nomination for a third term is Felicia Addison.

Linda Okazaki, after serving as President for three years, will assume the board position of current Past President. replacing Ellen Fernandez-Sacco. 

Karen Lemelin and Nicka Smith have termed out after serving three terms.

Todd Armstrong, Therese Hart-Pignotti and Shannon Reese have stepped down from the board in the past year.

About the new board member nominees

James Russell grew up in Connecticut and lives in Berkeley. His paternal ancestors arrived in New England in the seventeenth century and his maternal ancestors had emigrated from Bohemia to Manhattan by 1880. No direct ancestors ever lived west of the Hudson River. His personal areas of concentration are New England, New York and Central Europe. James has done extensive primary research in these places, and has attended institutes at SLIG, IGHR, Gen-Fed and GRIP. He reads Czech, German, Russian, French, Japanese and Latin. He has a BSFS (Georgetown), an MA in Slavic linguistics (Chicago), a PhD in anthropology (London - SOAS) and is very interested in DNA-related issues. James is on the CGS Finance Committee, is a representative to FGS and has participated in CGS-sponsored events for the Japanese-American community in the Bay Area.

A member of CGS since 2004, and previously on the Board, Chris Pattillo is currently the Chair of the Investment Committee. Chris completed two terms as a commissioner on the Oakland Planning Commission, retired from her landscape architecture practice and is ready to rejoin the Board. During her first term as a Board member, Chris wrote the Investment Policy and helped update all of the job descriptions. She also served as Facilities Chair. In 2015 Chris volunteered to co-chair the first Capital Campaign which will conclude in February 2018. Chris has taught classes for CGS and recently gave a talk about her 2017 Genealogy Journey. She has had articles published in The California Nugget, the CGS blog, the Watauga Genealogy Society magazine, as well as a newspaper in Albany, Texas. Chris has presented her Power Point talk, Preserving Your Family History, at local retirement facilities and plans additional presentations throughout the Bay Area to promote the California Genealogical Society.

A box of old family photographs inspired Nancy Cork to begin researching her family's history. After 23 years of gathering records, she still has questions about her family, but now at least they are different questions: not so much the who's and the when's, but the why's and the how's. Born in New York and raised in Minnesota, Nancy has been living in the Bay Area for 35 years. A student of history and a lover of books, she has been volunteering for several years in the CGS Library, where she manages the periodicals subscriptions. Nancy served on the Nominations Committee for two years and enjoys helping with the publication of The California Nugget.

Marisela "Merry" Meskus became interested in genealogy after a family trip to the Dominican Republic in 2004. Her father was born in the Dominican Republic and her mother's family originated from Mexico. She enjoys telling people that she is a first-generation American as well as a second-generation, third-generation, and fourth-generation Californian. Marisela was born in Merced and graduated from the University of California, Merced with a BA in History. She moved to the Bay Area to attend San Francisco State University and obtained an MA in Linguistics in 2015. She joined CGS in April 2017 and took advantage of all the classes and SIGs before deciding to volunteer. Planning to become a professional genealogist, she enjoys coming to the library to learn from members who are as passionate about the subject as she is.

Copyright © 2017 by California Genealogical Society

SF History Days: History Comes Alive

What do you get when you combine period costumes, an historic building and enthusiastic organizations devoted to history?  Fun with a purpose!

What is SF History Days?  

From the SF History Days website, "...Join dozens of organizations celebrating and telling the stories of the City's unique past. Community historians, archivists, genealogists, archaeologists, researchers, educators, re-enactors and other history enthusiasts will enjoy a Free Community Open House on Saturday (March 4th) and Sunday (March 5th) at the historic site."

By the time I arrived, around noon on Saturday, the place was humming with people and excitement.  As you'll see from the photos, there were a cast of characters who love re-enacting the past and sharing their knowledge of the past.

Emperor Norton lives again!

How were we involved?

We had quite a few members who came to either speak or support the event on Saturday. Linda Okazaki, our President, Janice Sellers, Editor of The California Nugget, and Ron Filion of SFgenealogy presented "There is No History without Family History" to a large and engaged crowd.  Many questions were asked by the audience and quite a few stuck around at the end to get more detailed responses from Linda, Janice and Ron.  Rich Kehoe was also on-hand to enjoy the discussion. 

Janice Sellers

Linda Okazaki

A big thanks goes to Sandra Britt-Huber.  Sandra led our booth effort and was instrumental in getting us space for this year's event. She and her volunteers came up with creative ways to display all of our interesting historical artifacts.

What else was happening? 

A little gambling

Amazing gold ore stamping mill in the lower level.
Once used to stamp U.S. coins.

Shannon Reese hanging out with Adolph Sutro.
Thank you Sutro Library.

Thank you to all of our volunteers and supporters that attended the event.

Copyright © 2017 by California Genealogical Society

Journey back to understand the Japanese experience

On Saturday, 2016 Saturday, October 1, 2016 from 11am to 3pm is the 3^rd annual Nikkei Angel Island Pilgrimage presented by the Nichi Bei Foundation.  Just be sure to catch the 9:45am San Francisco ferry or the 10 am ferry from Tiburon to make the opening ceremony.

This year’s theme is "Family Reunion" and will focus on honoring the immigrant ancestors and rediscovering the history of the Japanese and Japanese American legacy at Angel Island. From 1910 to 1940, a total of  85,000 people of Japanese descent passed through here before being allowed to set foot in the U.S.

CGS Volunteers from the 2015 Pilgrimage

A group of volunteers from the California Genealogical Society (CGS), led by President Linda Okazaki, will be there to help people begin tracing their family history.

“Most people are curious about their family history. They want to know how to unveil the mystery of the past and understand the lives of their ancestors,” says Linda.

Linda has researched her husband’s Japanese ancestry and this journey has led her to discover everything from Immigration Records to Evacuee Case Files to DNA --- with many more intriguing bits in between.

Who’s involved with this effort?

The Nichi Bei Foundation also partnered with the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation & National Japanese American Historical Society along with support from the California State Parks, California Genealogical Society, San Francisco State University Asian American Studies, San Francisco chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League, and J-Sei.

What will be on display?

Historical exhibits specific to the Japanese and Japanese American experience on Angel Island, including those sent there from Hawai‘i during World War II

Who will be recognized?

• Professor Charles Egan, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, San Francisco State University who translated poems published in the Nichi Bei Shimbun written by Issei between 1910 and 1924.
• The Hokoda family, whose descendants wrote the oldest known writing found in the Immigration Station barracks, who are from Hiroshima Prefecture. They were discovered by Professor Egan and visited the Immigration Station for the first time last year.

What else is happening?

• Talk on "Nikkei at Angel Island" by San Francisco State University Asian American Studies Professor Christen Sasaki, Ph.D.
• Musical performances by Berkeley Genyukai and Friends, along with Cal Raijin Taiko of UC Berkeley
• Storytelling vignettes
• Children’s activities

With so much to see and do, this a wonderful way to relive the Japanese immigrant experience to America.  It’s also just a wonderful way to spend some time on San Francisco Bay enjoying your family and friends.

Stop by and say hello to Linda and the volunteers if you attend.

Domo Arrigato!

Photos courtesy of Linda Okazaki

Copyright © 2016 by California Genealogical Society

Wordless Wednesday: PICA (Pacific Islander Cultural Association)'s Aloha Festival!

We joined in the festivities after an invitation from Shirley Avila (pictured below).  

Shirley's on the executive board of PICA and is the newest member of The California Genealogical Society---welcome aboard!

Want to know more about PICA?  Here's the link.

Linda Okazaki and Shirley Avila

Ted Okazaki & Todd Armstrong

Copyright © 2016 by California Genealogical Society

Wordless Wednesday: #EastBayGives' genealogy supporters

We've got #EastBayGives supporters everywhere!  Even Judy G. Russell, The Legal Genealogist, pitched in to help.  Check out who else is a supporter below.  We'd love to have you become one too.

Our goal from East Bay Gives is to raise $10,000 for a new microfilm/microfiche reader for the library. It should make genealogy research faster and easier for all of us.

What's East Bay Gives anyway?  It's a community-wide, one-day online giving event.  It's specifically designed to help local non-profits both raise contributions and increase their visibility through the combined marketing efforts of over 500 organizations.

Please give on May 3rd and help us reach our goal.  

Judy G. Russell

Kathryn Doyle

Katie Welka

Laura Manion

Lisa Gorrell

Adrienne Tomkins 

Jane Ordway Carman

Kim Cotton

Mary Mettler

Todd Armstrong

Copyright © 2016 by California Genealogical Society

Wordless Wednesday

Annual Appeal Party
Photo by Lorna Wallace

Copyright © 2015 by California Genealogical Society

Nikkei Pilgrimage to Angel Island

It was a beautiful day for a pilgrimage. 

Angel Island Immigration Station 

On 3 October 2015, the Nichi Bei Foundation hosted the second annual Nikkei Pilgrimage to Angel Island, in honor of the Japanese immigrants who arrived there between 1910 and 1940. An emphasis was placed on the women who immigrated, specifically the picture brides. There were over 300 attendees who journeyed by ferry to enjoy the music, dramatic presentation, speeches, bento lunches, and family history stations.

Kenji Taguma, Nichi Bei Foundation

Picture Bride, Produced by Judy Hamaguchi, SF JACL

Linda Harms Okazaki and Karen Korematsu

Learning about Picture Brides inside the Immigration Station 

There were honored guests and special speakers, including Karen Korematsu, who is perhaps best known as the daughter of civil rights activist, Fred Korematsu. On this day, however, she spoke about her grandmother, Kotsui Aoki, who arrived on Angel Island on January 12, 1914 as a picture bride. Karen addressed the importance a discovering family roots and understanding the experiences of our immigrant ancestors.

Following the formal program, volunteers from the California Genealogical Society provided research consultations, including Todd Armstrong, Grant Din (also of the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation), Linda Okazaki, Jim Russell, and Adelle Treakle. By far the most frequent question among the consults was "Did my ancestor come through Angel Island?"

Though most of the participants were of Japanese ancestry, there was a definite mix of ethnic groups represented. Guests had ancestors from Korea, China, Latin America, Canada and Europe. The genealogists were rewarded every time someone "found" an ancestor on an immigration record or census document. Those asking questions ranged in age, as well. One woman was 97 and had been incarcerated in an internment camp. Another young man was eight years old and very interested in family history. His parents listened intently as he asked questions about his great grandmother, who was born in Mexico and was currently living in California. It was a teachable moment when he discovered the importance of interviewing the eldest living relatives. He is most definitely the "NextGen" in genealogy.

 

Copyright © 2015 by California Genealogical Society