What You Missed: April 2013 Membership Meeting and Volunteer Appreciation Ceremony

Members gathered on Saturday, April 13, 2013, for a special celebration of volunteerism and creativity. Volunteer Coordinator Linda Okazaki and Membership Coordinator Diana Edwards unveiled a new meeting format and started a new tradition to honor long-standing volunteers. It was a success by every measure.

Linda Okazaki and Diana Edwards added festive touches.

Most of the members in attendance arrived early at 12:00 p.m. with lunch in hand to share company and lively conversation in the Sherman Room. Beverages were provided by the board of directors.

Members shared lunch and lively conversation.

After the celebratory cake was cut and dessert finished, the festivities moved to the classroom for the program and a few words of welcome by President Jeff Vaillant. Director Tom Gesner updated members on several changes in the library, including new computers, shelving, and display racks. Tom also announced three special events planned for the fall.

Pat Bonderud accepting her "Certificate of Recognition" from President Jeff Vaillant.

Next up was the volunteer recognition part of the program. Linda Okazaki gave some statistics, "Of our more than 1000 members, 170 have contributed their time in some way to the society. Ninety-three current members are scheduled to work in 2013 and fourteen new volunteers have joined our team since January."

Honorees Marston Watson (representing his wife, Kathy), Gloria Hanson, Pat Bonderud, Barbara Hill, and Dick Rees. Honorees not in attendance: Lois Elling, Ken Haughton, Lorna Jones.

Eight individuals who have held membership for more than two decades and who continue to serve the California Genealogical Society as active volunteers were presented with certificates of recognition.

• Kathy Watson, a member for twenty years since 1993, has held a variety of roles and currently serves as chair of both the Computer and Technology Committees. Kathy was unable to attend so her husband Marston, a past board member, accepted on her behalf.
• Lois Elling, also a member for twenty years since 1993, creates every layout of the California Nugget and has designed the society's bookmarks, business cards, and branding graphics.
• Gloria Hanson, a member for twenty-one years since 1992, has held a variety of positions including Desk Duty. Gloria is well known in the society for her extensive knowledge of Norwegian genealogy. She currently volunteers in the library as a copy cataloger.
• Pat Bonderud, a member for twenty-three years since 1989, helped with the architectural design of the media room and layout of the library. Pat partners with Linda Darby as Special Projects Co-chair. The two have organized the manuscript collection and vertical files.
• Lorna Jones, a member for twenty-nine years since 1984, has worked in a variety of positions in the library. For several years she led the French-Canadian Special Interest Group.
• Barbara Hill, a member for thirty-two years since 1981, volunteers on the Library Committee and handles library acquisitions. Barbara performs monthly desk duty on Saturdays.
• Dick Rees, a member for thirty-three years since 1980, has worn many hats for the society. These days he does special project work, teaches some introductory genealogy classes, and serves on the Book Repair Committee. 
• Kenneth Haughton, a member for thirty-five years since 1978, is our member of longest standing who continues to actively serve the society. Ken served on the board of directors and was CFO for many years. He is currently an advisor to the Investment Committee.

Diana Edwards introduced the last part of the program: Preserving Your Genealogical Work Through Publishing. Displayed around the room were charts, books, articles, and other materials created by members – wonderful family treasures that will be cherished by family members for years to come.

Tim Cox served as master of ceremonies and guide as he went around the room and introduced each item on display. Tim introduced the authors/creators and described their work.

After the program members were able to browse and examine the displayed items more closely. Past-president Steve Harris gave tours of his city directory library.

Linda Okazaki proclaimed the day "a smashing success."


Photographs courtesy of Ron Madson. More of Ron's photos from the day are posted at Wordless Wednesday.

Copyright © 2013 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library.

What You Missed: 2013 Annual Meeting

The Annual Business Meeting of the California Genealogical Society was held on Saturday, January 12, 2013. A total of fifty-three members attended the festivities starting at 12:00 p.m. with a social hour in the Education Room organized by Diana Edwards and Linda Okazaki.

Several members responded to the call for "appetizers to share" so everyone enjoyed good food and a chance to meet members and renew acquaintances with old friends.

One nice feature was the wall banner that stretched across the room listing the names of all 1050 of our current members and the year they joined.

President Jeffrey Vaillant welcomed members and gaveled the business meeting to order at 1:00 p.m. Minutes of the 2012 meeting, the 2013 calendar year budget, and committee reports were distributed to all. Secretary Lisa Gorrell presented the minutes from last year's meeting which were approved.

Treasurer Laura Lee Karp gave reports on the reading of the society’s books and on the financial health of the society before presenting the 2013 budget, which was approved. President Vaillant stressed the point that income from membership dues doesn't cover "opening the doors of the library" in terms of rent. Income from research, publications sales, events, classes, tours and other fundraisers still leaves a shortfall which is filled by member donations and income from the society's endowment.

Nominating Committee Chair Karen Lemelin introduced the nominees for seats on the board of directors. Diana Edwards and Shannon Reese were elected by acclamation.

Committee reports were delivered by Diana Wild and Henry Snyder (Library), Sandy Fryer (Membership), Chris Pattillo (Investment), Shannon Reese (Publications/Marketing), Kim Cotton (Research), Jim Sorenson (Technology), Ellen Fernandez-Sacco (Strategic Planning) and Jane Lindsey (Events).

Just before the meeting ended, new board member, Diana Edwards, brought the centerpieces from the reception to present to two lucky members. Kyrha Dahan and June Lindquist each took phalaenopsis orchids home for being our "newest" and "longest" members. Kyrha joined the society in 2012. June has been a member for thirty-eight years – since 1974! Congratulations, ladies!

The business meeting adjourned at 2:15 p.m. The board of directors met briefly to elect officers for 2013:

President – Jeffrey Vaillant 

Vice-president – Ellen Fernandez-Sacco

Treasurer – Laura Lee Karp 

Recording secretary – Lisa Gorrell 

Corresponding secretary – Karen Tracy Lemelin

Before closing, I want to acknowledge Patricia Smith, our second Saturday Desk volunteer. She does yeoman's work during all of our membership meetings. Thank you, Pat!


Photographs courtesy of Kathryn Doyle, Jane Lindsey, Arlene Miles, and Linda Okazaki.

Copyright © 2013 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library.

What You Missed: Ancestry Day - San Francisco

By any measure, Ancestry Day – San Francisco was a huge success! More than 900 family historians attended the full-day conference at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco on Saturday, November 5, 2011. The event, co-sponsored by the California Genealogical Society and Ancestry.com, featured four tracks of four classes each, consultations, an Ancestry.com computer area with experts to answer questions, and California Genealogical Society tables with books and membership displays.

The sixteen classes were presented by fifteen speakers, half of whom were CGS members. A special “thank you” to: 

• Ron Arons 
• Susan Goss Johnston 
• Melinda Kashuba, Ph.D
• Lisa B. Lee, PLCGS
• Craig Manson
• Lavinia Schwarz 
• Janice Sellers
• Cath Madden Trindle, CG 

Ancestry.com set up video cameras and "live-streamed" four of their lectures. Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings reported on the Videos from Ancestry Day at San Francisco 2011 which were also posted by Nick Cifuentes on the Ancestry.com Blog in Ancestry Day in San Francisco 2011.

Here are the links to the four talks now available on YouTube:

Five Quick Tips for Digging UP Answers at Ancestry.com with Jeanie Croasmun

How to Find Civil War Roots on Ancestry.com with Anne Mitchell “Ancestry Anne”

Emigration & Immigration Records Online with Crista Cowan “Barefoot Genealogist”

Find them Fast: Secrets to Searching Your Family History on Ancestry.com with Laura Dansbury


Raking the Ashes author Nancy Peterson was on hand to sign and sell books. We sold out of sixty copies in just two hours! Ancestry Day was also the launch of the society's newest publication – Insider's Guide to California Genealogy.

First sale of our new Insider's Guide to California Genealogy.

More than 300 attendees signed up for 15-minute consultations. Linda Okazaki did an outstanding job of matching questions to member volunteers with the right expertise. She and her staff kept things running smoothly and efficiently.

Thirty-eight genealogists provided more than 300 consultations.

CGS member and blogger, Jennifer Regan of the Rainy Day Genealogy Readings blog, spent the entire day providing consultations. She reflects on the experience in Defining Research, Part Two: The Internet vs. Research Skill.

Several members of the African-American Genealogical Society of Northern California who are also CGS members served as volunteer consultants. Nicka Smith reported on both Black Family History Day and Ancestry Day and included some great photos in her article, AAGSNC Teams Up With Local Societies for Fall Genealogy Events. 

One of our member speakers, Janice M. Sellers, blogs at Ancestral Discoveries. She wore several hats at Ancestry Day San Francisco.


Denise Richmond and Sandra Gardner Benward are CGS members and officers at the Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society where they are both contributors to their blog. Sandi wrote Ancestry Day Comes to San Francisco.

Ruth Hinman of Genealogy is Ruthless without Me blog wrote three reports!

San Francisco Ancestry Day November 5, 2011

Ancestry Day in San Francisco Blog 2 Gordon Atkinson

Another Reason to Attend Genealogy Conferences and Seminars...SWAG and Prizes

Thank you to Karen Ober and the Ancestry.com staff – it was a pleasure co-sponsoring the event with you.

The Ancestry Day planning committee (Jane Lindsey, Tim Cox, Linda Okazaki and Kathryn Doyle) thanks all the volunteers who made our event a huge success. The professionalism of our speakers, consultants, and hard-working staff volunteers was truly appreciated. 


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

What You Missed: Summer Thursday Night Discussions

Did you make it into the library this summer for our extended Thursday hours? Tim Cox and Jane Lindsey cooked up the idea last year and it has proved to be wildly successful. We've gotten lots of positive feedback from members who enjoyed coming to do research on a day they didn''t have to pack up and leave at 4:00 p.m. Some even came in at 9:00 a.m. and stayed until 8:30 p.m. closing!

Kim Cotton led "Social Networking: Facebook, RSS, Twitter and Blogs" on 6/16.

Jane and Tim also scheduled specific discussions for 6:30 p.m. – 8:15 p.m. every Thursday in June, July and August. Topics included everything from ethnic research to software and subscription databases.

Cathy Paris led "Creative Ways to Share and Write Your Family History Research" on 7/28.

A special "thank-you" to all of our member facilitators who led Thursday night discussions this summer: Judy Bodycote, Kim Cotton, Tim Cox, Gloria Hanson, Steve Harris, Sally Houston, Douglas Joe, Lorna Jones, Jane Lindsey, John Moore, Cathy Paris and Lavinia Schwarz.

Tim tells me we had a grand total of 147 attendees at the thirteen discussions – many attended more than one session. Thanks to you all for making our summer program a success!


Photographs courtesy of Jane Lindsey (6/16/11) and Jeremy Frankel (7/28/2011), Oakland, California.

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

What You Missed: German Research Workshop with Shirley Riemer

Things have been busy this year at the library. Tim Cox and his crew have been cooking up classes and filling the society calendar with offerings to help genealogists with almost every aspect of their research. Workshops that focus on a particular ethnic group have been especially popular so it was no surprise that Getting Started in German Genealogy on January 29, 2011, was a sell-out.

Instructor Shirley Riemer received rave reviews from attendees.

Shirley Riemer

Mrs. Riemer's sense of humor and style of presentation are entertaining, as well as being very instructive. She covered a great deal of material while making it easily accessible, and provided very helpful printed material. –Anonymous

Great presentation! Not only informative but enjoyable! Great sense of humor! –Erin Flory

The presenter was funny and informative, she covered a lot in the time that was allowed. –Patti Melvin

Shirley had a great sense of humor, which is always a plus. She is an excellent presenter. I've been telling anyone who will listen about the talk. –Chris Pattillo

She covered a lot of areas of great frustration in researching German ancestors. I was really impressed with her knowledge. –Carl Mueller

By the numbers:

• Total registered: 40
• Cancellations: 6
• Waiting List: 1
• No Show: 2
• Non-members registered: 7 (Fees collected: $140)
• Total in attendance: 43 (including three longtime members not registered)
• Total evaluations returned: 21

Tim received several requests to have Shirley back again. He's already negotiating for her return later this year.

The workshop was the first in the new space adjoining the library. Most people enjoyed the room and commented about it in the evaluations. But while our speaker and her talk got only accolades, feedback from the evaluations told us that some things need improvement.

There were some issues voiced about the lack of air conditioning, no microphone (it seems to be broken), noise from the fans, and chairs being too close together. All of these issues have been reported and are being addressed.


Photographs courtesy of Ellen Fernandez-Sacco, 1/29/2011, Oakland, California.


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

Anatomy of the Sanborn Maps Workshop with Melinda Kashuba

One of the things the California Genealogical Society does really well is events. Our classes, workshops and seminars are usually well-attended and more-than-meet expectations. Melinda Kashuba‘s Sanborn Maps workshop last December was a home run.

Events Coordinator Tim Cox and his team do a fantastic job at handling every aspect from scheduling, through execution. Online registration tools are now an integral part of the operation and make the collection of statistics a snap.

Tim sent these numbers:

• Total registered: 29
• Cancellations: 2
• No show: 1 (non-member)
• Non-members registered: 2 (1 was a no-show and the other one joined)
• Total in attendance: 26
• Total evaluations returned: 15

Tim also uses online tools to send an evaluation form to participants. It makes it easy for them to send feedback. The results:

• Length of workshop (2 hours) was appropriate.
• Number of attendees (24) was a nice size for most. Two responded that it was too crowded to get to the maps for the hands-on experience.
• The workshop met everyone's expectation! "There was enough information to demonstrate the maps' uses and advantages, but not so much that one is overwhelmed."
• It was unanimous that we should invite Melinda back for a repeat workshop or have her teach on another topic.
  

Thing that could be improved: moving the maps to the hallway for the interactive exercises for easier access.

Here's a sampling of some of the comments:

It was great to be able to examine the large Sanborn firemaps she'd posted on the wall in detail. I have a much better understanding on where to look for such maps, as well. – Dan Ford.

She had a nice mixture of listening to lecture and actively using our knowledge that required some physical movement. She was able to tie it altogether to make a very understandable and usable lecture. – Cheryl Schmidt.

The informal atmosphere made it easy to ask questions of the instructor. The presenter was well informed and the hand-outs were helpful for reference. – Ed Souza.

The topic was interesting and the speaker enthusiastic. I particularly enjoyed the exercise of looking at the maps. Learned lots. – Chris Pattillo.

Melinda is very knowledgeable and well organized. I thought she did a great job of presenting the information. – Marcia Holstrom.

Thanks, Tim, for the report and photographs of another well-run event.


Update 10/25/2011 – Craig Siulinski posted a summary of Melinda's workshop on his Genealogy Jamming blog: The Value of Insurance Maps. Check it out! —kmd.


Photographs courtesy of Tim Cox, Oakland, California, 12/11/2010.

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

What you Missed: Annual Meeting 2011

Things were hopping at the library on Saturday, January 8, 2011, as approximately fifty members gathered for the annual business meeting, a used book sale and a reception to honor our volunteers.

Arlene Miles and Henry Snyder organized the book sale which was staffed by members of the library committee. The sale netted more than $700 for the library.

President Stephen Harris called his first annual meeting to order at 1:00 p.m. He welcomed the members and noted that the society has much to celebrate as we start another year. The minutes of the 2010 Annual Meeting were approved.

Nominating Commitee Chair Jane Lindsey presented the slate for the board of directors for 2011. Laura Lee Karp, Pat Magnuson and Jim Sorenson were nominated as new board members. Sandy Fryer, who was appointed to fill a vacated position in 2010, was nominated for her first term. All nominees for directorships were elected. Continuing on the board are Kathryn Doyle, Nancy Fike, Tom Gesner, Stephen Harris, Craig Manson, Christine Pattillo, Nancy Peterson, Lavinia Schwarz, Jeff Vaillant and Diana Wild. Jane Lindsey serves as Past-president.

 

Treasurer Sandy Fryer presented the 2011 budget which was approved by the membership. Laura Lee Karp, who is a Certified Public Accountant, will assume the duties of Treasurer. 

Activities of the various committees were reported by chairs Tim Cox, Kathryn Doyle, Sandy Fryer, Bill O’Neil, Chris Pattillo, Nancy Peterson, Lavinia Schwarz, Laura Spurrier and Lorna Wallace.

Of particular interest were statistics reported by Tim and Sandy. As Events Chair, Tim noted that the society held fifty-one events in 2010 with a total attendance of 746. Implementation of the online registration system has streamlined the process, saving time and greatly reducing the number of telephone calls coming into the front desk. Upcoming events scheduled for 2011 include sixteen confirmed lectures and workshops in addition to the bimonthly membership meeting programs.

Sandy Fryer shared statistics from the Membership Committee. This year the society added over 200 new members totaling a record number of 1,039. The overwhelming majority – 735 members – live in the Bay Area, 181 are from the rest of California and 127 live out of state. We have four international members.

Director Jeffrey Vaillant announced the acquisition of an additional 650 sq. ft. of space for the library. The new room will be used for media productions, seminars, webinars and membership meetings.

Past-president Jane Lindsey announced her new role as volunteer coordinator and displayed a poster with the names of 114 active volunteers contributing to the work of the society in 2010. The meeting adjourned to a volunteer appreciation reception.

Photographs courtesy of Tim Cox, Arlene Miles and Kathryn Doyle, 1/8/2011, Oakland, California.


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

What You Missed: California's Newspapers with Dr. Henry Snyder

The newspaper is the most important printed source for local history and especially so for genealogists. 
– Dr. Henry Snyder

On Saturday, July 10, 2010, at the CGS July membership meeting, Dr. Henry Snyder presented The California Newspaper: A Genealogical Treasure, What Survives, How to Find and Use It. Henry is a member of CGS and Professor of History Emeritus at the University of California, Riverside.

Dr. Snyder described the national umbrella project, The United States Newspaper Program, managed by the Library of Congress and funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Each state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands had a program which spent twenty-five years locating, cataloging, and microfilming newspapers published in the United States from the eighteenth century to the present.

Now retired, Snyder continues to offer assistance to The Center for Bibliographical Studies and Research (CBSR) at the University of California, Riverside, where he was the director of the California Newspaper Project from 1990 through 2009. He and his team scoured the state, chasing down any clues that might lead to a stash of old papers or microfilm. According to their website, "Close to 9,000 California newspapers were inventoried in over 1,400 repositories throughout the state, 1.5 million pages of California newspapers were preserved and made available on microfilm, and 100,000 rolls of negative microfilm rolls are being processed for permanent storage at the UC Regional Library Storage Facilities."

Although the first California newspaper wasn't published until 1846, the state has the third largest number of known titles after New York and Illinois. Papers have been published in thirty-nine different languages in the state, including Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Japanese and Chinese.

The state program has evolved into the California Digital Newspaper Collection. As of today, the collection contains 44,922 issues comprising 396,287 pages and 4,907,047 articles. Approximately 200,000 of these pages can also be accessed through Chronicling America on the Library of Congress website.


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

What We Missed and How Technology Saved the Day

The California Genealogical Society presented a full-day program last Saturday, February 20, 2010, in honor of Black History Month and at the last minute the whole thing was threatened with cancellation, or at least a significant postponement. In his article CGS February Meeting a History Maker, our featured speaker, blogger and new board member, Craig Manson, explained what happened and how my two favorite geek-members, Thomas MacEntee and Kathy Watson, came to the rescue. Using WebEx and with only a couple of minor glitches, Craig was able to present his two talks from his home office in Carmichael, California with Past-President Jane Knowles Lindsey at her laptop control center at the library in Oakland.

Since I wasn't able to attend I've gathered some feedback from some of those present to give you an accurate accounting of the day.

The morning started with expertise from three long-time friends and colleagues from the African American Genealogical Society of Northern California (AAGSNC). Past-President Juliet Culliver Crutchfield, Ed.D., Electra Kimble Price and Jackie Stewart fielded questions from the audience.

Lorna Wallace reports: 

The panel of members of AAGSNC did something unexpected in that they started right out asking the audience what questions they had – there never was a "lecture" as such. That way none of the attendees were left at the end without hearing what puzzled them. The open format also allowed people in the audience, who had a lot of pertinent experience, to easily contribute their personal stories as examples.

One of our new board members, Jeffrey Vaillant, had these comments:

The use of the Webex tool was an exciting new adventure that brought the presenter's voice and on-screen power point presentation in the room for all to experience. The technology has been around for some years so its use at CGS was a potential step into the 21st century. 

The morning three person panel was terrific as each shared insights into their genealogy quest. A lesson learned was solid genealogy practices apply to any ethnic research along with an understanding of that culture.

Vernester Sheeler sent accolades:

One word Fabulous!!  The CGS’s Black History program was wonderful. There were a couple of minor technical glitches but once resolved the session was great. Craig is a gifted and engaging presenter. He shared valuable tips, and tools to broaden my research. My employer uses WebEx for most of our project meetings however this was my first time to use it for something I value and enjoy!

Panelists Juliet Crutchfield, Electra Price and Jackie Stewart

Special thanks to everyone who helped make this a successful program.

Photographs courtesy of Jane Knowles Lindsey, Nicka Smith and Vernester Sheeler.

What You Missed: Annual Business Meeting - January 9, 2010

The Annual Business Meeting of the California Genealogical Society was held on Saturday, January 9, 2010, at 1:00 p.m., at the library. President Jane Knowles Lindsey made her last "state of the society" address to members and presided over the election of new three new directors and approval of the 2010 budget. There were approximately forty-five members in attendance.

Nominating Committee chair Chris Pattillo presented the list of nominees for seats on the Board of Directors: Tom Gesner, Craig Manson and Jeffrey Vaillant, who were elected by acclamation.

This year, instead of committees presenting their individual reports, Jane summarized the efforts of the various work groups. She reported that the financials of the society are much improved over last year.

Kathryn Doyle made a brief presentation outlining the work of the Publications and Marketing Committee on the society "brand" and unveiled the new website masthead and URL to generous applause.

Two members spoke about their interesting genealogy projects. Kathy Beals recounted the evolution of her four "Early Families of New Hampshire" books: Unity (1997), Bradford (2004), Dalton (2006) and Bethlehem (2009). Jeanie Low gave the highlights of her work with the "Save Our National Archives" (SONA) group and the ten-year stuggle to save the Alien Files (A Files) from destruction.

Jane closed the meeting by summarizing some of the accomplishments made by the society during her six years as president:

• moving the library to the Breuner Building in March 2007
• increase in membership and attendance at the library
• organization and preservation of the manuscript collection
• replacement of ten society computers
• publication of A Most Dreadful Earthquake and Raking the Ashes
• creation of a new website
• start of the CGS eNews and blog
• reintroduction of the society periodical - The California Nugget

What You Missed: July Membership Meeting with Steve Danko

This month's second Saturday membership meeting on July 11, 2009, was a high tech show-and-tell by CGS member Steve Danko. Genealogist, blogger and specialist in Eastern European research, Steve recently earned his Professional Learning Certificate in Genealogical Studies (PLCGS) with specialties in both United States and Canadian records from the National Institute for Genealogical Studies in Toronto.




After some society business by CGS President Jane Lindsey and the unveiling of the new iceberg poster by Tim Cox, Steve presented Genealogy Gadgets and Gizmos: New Technology to Help in Your Research. He brought along lots of his favorite genealogy toys for a grown-up version of "show and tell." Tim got a shot of the collection of electronic devices that Steve brought to share.

Steve's Genealogy Gadgets and Gizmos.

Any regular reader of Steve's blog knows that he is one organized guy so it was no surprise that his presentation was well-ordered and his delivery crisp. Steve divided his gadgets into different categories of "family history" aides: gizmos for learning, for "finding your way," for recording, preserving, presenting and even "dressing for family history."

Steve and the 2GB Pulse SmartPen.

I won't go into detail about the items that Steve presented. He covered an impressive amount of technological gear and I don't even want to think about how he keeps track of all those power cords.

Steve spoke to a full house.

Needless to say, Steve's use of audio-visual aides gets an A+. (He even brought his own InFocus portable projector.) If you missed Steve you'll get another chance next year when he'll be presenting Genealogy Gadgets and Gizmos to the San Mateo County Genealogical Society on Wednesday, February 17, 2010, at 7:30 p.m.

Photographs courtesy of Tim Cox and Kathryn Doyle, 7/11/2009, Oakland, California.

What You Missed: The January Annual Business Meeting

With a nod to Miriam Robbins Midkiff and her "What You Missed" posts at the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society Blog (Miriam always says that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery), I'm reprinting the minutes of Annual Business Meeting. Very special thanks to Shirley Pugh Thomson, CGS Recording Secretary who submitted these minutes as her last act as she departs the board of directors.

The annual business meeting was called to order by President Jane Lindsey at 1:00 p.m. She distributed copies of minutes of the January 12, 2008, annual business meeting to the approximately fifty-five members attending and introduced the Board of Directors of 2008.

Vice President Verne Deubler provided copies of the proposed $118,750 budget for 2009, discussed various elements of it and pointed to the need to constrain expenses in the coming year. ACTION: Resolved, seconded, passed: That the 2009 budget is adopted as presented.

Nominating Committee chair Chris Pattillo presented the list of nominees for seats on the Board of Directors: Kathryn Doyle and Chris Pattillo, for second terms, and Stephen Harris, Cathy Paris, Carolyn Steinberg and Diana Wild for first terms. ACTION: Resolved, seconded, passed: That those people nominated for directorships are hereby elected. Directors
leaving the Board in January 2009 are Jane Hufft, Laura Spurrier and Shirley Thomson. Following the election, Jane briefly described plans being considered for revisions in directors’ areas of responsibility in 2009.

Activities of the various committees were reported by chairs Bill O’Neil, Lorna Wallace, Carolyn Steinberg, Chris Pattillo, Laura Spurrier, Sandy Fryer, Linda Darby, Kathryn Doyle, Nancy Peterson, Marianne Frey, Nancy Servin and Jane Lindsey.

Jane described a wide variety of events and activities being planned for the coming year and urged that members keep up to date on such matters by frequent visits to the CGS Web site and the CGS blogspot.

The meeting adjourned at 2:30 p.m.
Shirley Pugh Thomson, Recording Secretary

Questions? Leave a comment and I'll be glad to elaborate on any aspect of the annual meeting.

In Case You Missed "A Day of Irish Information"

The Berkeley Yacht Club was the perfect setting for "A Day of Irish Information" on Wednesday, July 9, 2008. The waterfront location served up cool breezes on a hot East Bay day. And what better place to discuss the Emerald Isle then at the water's edge?

President Jane Lindsey started things off with a few society announcements, including an overview of upcoming speakers and workshops. Many of the 116 in attendance were not members of the California Genealogical Society but by day's end eight attendees took advantage of a $5 discount offered by Jane, and joined CGS.

Nora Keohane Hickey presented four entertaining lectures on several aspects of Irish genealogical research in her lilting Irish accent. A natural storyteller, Nora often included colorful anecdotes which added interest and humor to a subject which can be dry and overwhelming. Ms. Hickey talks fast so the full day of information was a bit challenging for some of the beginners in the audience.

Nora's first talk was "Debunking Some of the Myths of Irish Genealogy" - a humorous and informative list of common fallacies including "All the records were burnt" and "I found the location on a Surname Map." Using her own KEOHANE as an example, Ms. Hickey explored the "Of course I know how to spell my surname!" myth with some surprising variants, including COHAN and COHEN. (The famous "Yankee Doodle Dandy" George M. COHAN is a cousin.) Nora told of once reading a ship passenger record that listed eight COHENs – one came from Germany but the other seven were from Ireland. She summarized this first part of the day in two words: "Question EVERYTHING!"

One interesting inside story from Nora concerned the loss of the 19th century Irish census records (some surviving snippets are available on microfilm at the Family History Library.) The 1821, 1831, 1841 and 1851 records were destroyed in the Dublin Four Courts Fire of 1922 and the 1861 - 1891 records were pulped (recycled to make paper) during WWI. Nora explained that the order to pulp was meant only for the second, duplicate sets that existed for the countries of Great Britain, preserving the original records. Unfortunately, the fact that Ireland had only one set somehow escaped notice (!) and the sole source was lost for 1861, 1871, 1881 and 1891.

Nora got right into fundamentals with her second session, "Extracting All the Important Information from Griffith's Valuation." This was a thorough discussion of the 1848-1864 tax valuation records whose significance to Irish researchers is elevated due to the loss of nineteenth century census records. Griffith's lists every house and land holding in every townland and includes the names of landowners and tenants alike. Nora explained the meaning behind the map reference numbers in the first column of the property listings and stressed that the real value of Griffiths is that it serves as a guidepost to further avenues of research. Nora presented a case study demonstrating how knowing the surnames of a couple can often help to narrow the search for a parish of origin using the surname distribution data from the valuations. She ended the morning session by providing information about the Valuation Maps, the House, Field and Tenure Books and the Valuation Cancellation Books.

After the lunch break (the box lunches got great reviews!), Nora launched into "Little-known and Under-used Irish Genealogical Sources" which she prefaced by noting that she defines a genealogical source as "any document containing a name and a date." Her handout contained scores of publications, arranged by century, that focused primarily on her own family counties of Kildare and Cork. The general message of this talk was that you never know where you will find valuable information, especially since many records were removed from Ireland, taken to England and may be available in Irish, British and American repositories.

The final session of the day, entitled "A Discussion About Common Problems in Irish Genealogy," asked two key questions: 1.) "Are you looking for the correct surname?" and 2.) "Are you looking in the right location?" Due to time constrains, Nora referred the audience to three pages of her handout which summarizes the development and evolution of Irish surnames and gives clues to help the researcher find possible variations. She spent considerable time defining the administrative divisions of Ireland which are complicated because of the way they overlap. Nora explained how the various ecclesiastical and civil divisions developed and why it is imperative to know the divisional category that describes each record type.