School Girl Murder: The thrills of volunteering for CGS

This blog post tells the story of a San Francisco artist and murderer

By Chris Pattillo

CGS member Jean Alderson has been one of our most faithful and diligent volunteers for the Website Content Committee. She helped with indexing some of the pedigree charts and is now actively working on indexing names for the California Surname Index Phase 2 project. Currently, Jean is working on volume one of Artists in California 1786-1940.

Today she sent me a link to an article about one of the artists, Aleck Goldenson, whom she learned about while working on our project. He ended up convicted of murder and hanged for his crime. This appeared on the blog Murder By Gaslight on July 4, 2020. Who knew volunteering for CGS could be so thrilling? 

So far, our volunteers have added over 12,000 entries to the surname index.

Copyright © 2021 by California Genealogical Society

Hale Collection Now Available on Our Website

John Ellis Hale, ca. 1927

 

Super scanner Stewart Traiman has completed digitizing the documents contained in the John Ellis Hale files from our Manuscripts Collection. John E. Hale served as CGS President from 1979 to 1982. He was a dedicated family historian/researcher who spent forty years collecting, documenting and writing about his family and ancestors.

John was the son of Peter Morrell Hale and Katherine McRae. He married Ethel McRae Bemis. The collection includes these surnames along with thirty-nine additional surnames. The collection was donated to CGS in 2012 and was first indexed by Georgia Lupinsky. Georgia created a finding aid to the materials included in the ten archival boxes. Stewart has scanned the collection and expanded the index, which can be accessed from our website. To see the digitized images, click on the hyperlink found in the online finding aid.

John's wife Ethel Bemis

Until now the only way that researchers could view these records was by visiting the library. Now, the digitized documents are accessible to all members on our website. Note: The collection includes additional material for persons still living that may only be viewed in person at the library. There is a total of 741 items in this collection, of which 432 can be viewed online. Many items are multi-page so there is a total of 1,973 viewable images.

The collection is organized by surname and includes family trees, fan charts, pedigree charts, biographies, newspaper articles, DAR documents, diplomas, certificates, and lots of photographs of individuals and of family homes. There is a 20-page personal account of the 1906 Earthquake and Fire San Francisco written by Marion Baldwin Hale in 1975. The collection includes a few personal letters and documents for Thomas McRae, who served as Governor of Arkansas in the 1920s.

Images in the collection are well labeled

This project is one of several efforts undertaken by the CGS Website Content Committee in an effort to expand the society’s offerings of unique resources as a benefit to our members. 

 

 

Copyright © 2020 by California Genealogical Society

Profiles of the Signers of the 1849 California Constitution

Chris Pattillo writes: 

Cover design: Lois Elling

We are excited to announce the publication of a new resource for California history research: Profiles of the Signers of the 1849 California Constitution. This new work, available on our website, includes biographical sketches of the forty-eight men who signed the California Constitution, plus five other convention participants. While we know that some of the information contained in the 500-page document is outdated, we also know that these profiles include much useful information never before published. Each profile includes a family history, a photograph of the individual, and in most cases his signature. 

The newly completed book is based on research done by George R. Dorman (1901-1983), who was a member of CGS for 47 years. Sometime probably in the late 1990s, CGS member Wayne Shepard used Dorman’s research to compile and edit the book, which includes a 16-page bibliography and a 63-page index. CGS originally had planned to publish the book in hard copy for sale but for various reasons the project was abandoned in 2002. The individual profiles were originally published in our newsletter and later in The California Nugget.
 

Henry Halleck, delegate from the Monterey District

This spring, the manuscript was revived by the Website Content Committee. After some consideration, the Publication Committee decided to move forward with the project. CGS Member Barbara Kridl, who has a professional background in publishing, took the lead and has done an outstanding job of preparing the book for publication on our website. Barbara cleaned up the formatting of the entire book and reworked the format of the bibliography.  She added a preface that explains the origins of the project and worked with member Evan R. Wilson to write a history of the 1849 California Constitution Convention. Other Publication Committee members who assisted with the review and editing are Lois Elling, Stacy Hoover Haines, Arlene Miles, Chris Pattillo, Marie Treleaven and Jennifer Dix. Lois Elling also designed the book cover.

This is a wonderful resource that we are excited to make available to researchers. Over the years CGS members have undertaken several monumental projects – the Judge and Sherman books come to mind. This is the first time I have been personally involved with an effort of this type. It was a wonder and pleasure to see everyone offer to take on pieces of the project and complete them at a high standard. Our members are superheroes and a pleasure to work with. Please say thanks next time you see one of them in a Zoom meeting, and enjoy the book! 

To start exploring, click HERE.

 

Copyright © 2020 by California Genealogical Society

New Online Resources: 100-year Old Pedigree Charts

Pedigree Charts Volunteer Team:
John Ralls, Ron Madson, Theresa Murphy, Stewart Traiman, Linda Edwards, Jean Alderson, and Kathleen Beitiks

 The Website Update Committee is very pleased to announce that the CGS Pedigree Charts created by CGS members more than one hundred years ago are now available on our website. This is the second major project that has been added to our website this year. 

 

This has been a multi-phase team effort. Some time ago (we are not sure when) CGS volunteers looked through every chart and typed each name that appeared onto a 3x5 card, along with the name of the chart and the page it appears on. Next, Stewart Traiman scanned these 8,622 cards and grouped them into 46 batches. Volunteer Coordinator Kathleen Beitiks distributed the batches of cards to eleven volunteers who entered the data into spreadsheets. Top indexers were Linda Edwards, Jean Alderson, Theresa Murphy and Kristi Wessenberg. Together these four dynamos processed thirty-four of the forty-six sets of cards. Other Pedigree Chart volunteers were Nancy Cork, Caron Whitacre, Misti Layne, Justine Wong, Liz Summerhayes, Cindy Thomson, and Mary Thomas. 

 

The data from 8,622 index cards were entered into spreadsheets

Next, Theresa Murphy patiently reviewed each spreadsheet checking for and correcting data entry errors.

 

Ron Madson photographed each of the 135 family trees, which required 180 images to capture everything contained on those charts. Finally, tech wizard John Ralls combined all the names into one spreadsheet, and added links to Ron’s photographs. Now our members can, with a few clicks, view these beautiful trees and all the data they contain. 

Ron Madson scanned 135 family trees to create digital images

 

To view these family trees, go to our website and log in as a member. Scroll down to the box labeled “Online Resources,” click the gold SEARCH button, and look for New Online Resources/Pedigree Charts. Whether you find a familiar family name or not, you will probably enjoy seeing the beautiful handwritten (in ink) charts. In addition to names, birth, marriage and death dates and places, a few charts include photographs, obituaries and hand-written notes.

A big THANK YOU to everyone who worked on this valuable project and made it happen.

 

Copyright © 2020 by California Genealogical Society

New Website Launched

The CGS Website Development Team has launched the new CGS website, with a new look and several new user-friendly features. Here is what you will see the next time you visit the site.

The menu bar across the top should be familiar. You can use the pull-down menus to access the content you are used to finding on our website. The SEARCH box at the top right has been improved to search our entire site–much more than it used to. Members can also LOGIN from the top menu bar.

We are pleased to  prominently feature several ancestor photos on the new website home page. To see more ancestor photos, just click on any of these images; that will take you to the Members’ Ancestors photos page, where you can hover over an image to see the name of the person and/or who submitted it.

To the right of the three Ancestor Photos you will see a list of upcoming events. These will be updated regularly. You can scroll through the list and click on an image to go to the Eventbrite listing where you can register for an upcoming event.

Just below the photos you will see three large boxes: CLASSES & EVENTS, VISIT OUR LIBRARY, and SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS, each with a short description and links to the pages where you can read more details. Below that are three more large boxes.

From here you can view photos of CGS PAST EVENTS, go directly to the BLOG, or DISCOVER what’s new in downtown Oakland near our library, including a list of places to eat within one block.

Beneath that are three small GOLD boxes that link to CGS videos, let you sign up for our free E-news, or hire a researcher.

There is lots more, including some new features at the bottom of the home page. The SHOP page has been expanded to include the swag items that are for sale at the library. SUPPORT CGS/DONATE is new and explains different the ways you can help our society thrive. LEAVE US A SUGGESTION is also new. Feel free to make comments about the new website or any other topic. Your suggestions will go directly to the website team and be addressed. You will also find a link to our entire CALENDAR at the lower left. 

You should find that the new site works much better than the old site did on phones. To report technical problems with the website look for the message at the very bottom and click on the link to the Webmaster. Also, note that in the lower right corner there is a link to our Sitemap. Clicking on this link will show you an outline of everything that is on the site.

The website team has worked very hard to complete this update. We thank everyone who has reviewed our content and offered suggestions and ideas for improvement. We hope you find what you are looking for easily and like the new look. 

Copyright © 2020 by California Genealogical Society

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

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday
Website Committee Meeting
Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Photographs courtesy of Kathryn M. Doyle, Oakland, California.