Announcing the Second Printing of San Francisco, California, I.O.O.F. Crematory Records

The California Genealogical Society proudly announces the second printing of San Francisco, California I.O.O.F. Crematory Records by Barbara Ross Close. 

First printed in 2001, San Francisco, California I.O.O.F. Crematory Records is an index of eight registers (volumes A–H) for the now defunct Independent Order of Odd Fellows Crematory of San Francisco. Approximately 10,000 cremation records are indexed, dating primarily from 1895 to 1911. Some cremations were of disinterred remains from prior burials; the earliest date for a disinterment seems to be 1857.

Nancy Simons Peterson gave a short history of the crematory in Raking the Ashes: Genealogical Strategies for Pre-1906 San Francisco Research (2011):

A crematory was once located on the grounds of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) Cemetery. Originally exempt from the ordinance that disallowed burials within the San Francisco city boundary, it was demolished following the passage in 1910 of a similar ordinance applying also to crematories.

Abstracts include the deceased's name, birthplace, sex, date of death and age, place and cause of death, and whether an obituary is available in the original record. San Francisco, California I.O.O.F. Crematory Records is now available for purchase at our Lulu bookstore.

Volunteer Anna Junglas took on the project as part of a push by the Publications and Marketing Committee to re-issue our older books using print-on-demand by Lulu.com. With the re-printing, the committee decided a cover redesign was needed and turned to volunteer Cathy Paris who designed the covers of the Deaths and Probate series. She photographed one of the original I.O.O.F. register books which are in the care of the society, and integrated it into the new cover design.

San Francisco, California, I.O.O.F. Crematory Records is one of a set of California Genealogical Society publications related to the Odd Fellows facility in San Francisco. As part of the re-printing process the publications team made an effort to correlate the content with the original books located in our manuscript vault. This revealed some inconsistent terminology within the original manuscripts. The terms "register" and "ledger" caused confusion about how many sets of originals existed so for the re-print we settled on the term "register" because it was most commonly used in the original manuscripts and because it is a general term that was most applicable.

The California Genealogical Society acknowledges the many volunteers who were part of Barbara Closes' team and who contributed to this publication when it was first published in 2001. They include Jane Cassedy, Julie Collins, Vernon Deubler, Lew Ellingham, Cynthia Elliot, Wil Frye, Gloria Hanson, Marilyn Jaeger, Paul Jones, Melissa Kelley, Esther Mott, Harry Neumann, Lee Penland, Anne Robinson, Marilyn Rowan, Christine Scott, Laura Spurrier, James Thansute, Bill West, and Marjorie Wyatt.

Anna Junglas noted, "It was a pleasure to work with the publications team on the re-printing of San Francisco, California, I.O.O.F. Crematory Records. The collaboration, support, and conscientious feedback from everyone on the team made this project very enjoyable."

Congratulations, volunteers, on another job well done!

San Francisco, California, I.O.O.F. Crematory Records

First Edition, Second Printing

411 Pages

Softbound, 8 1/2 x 11" format 

ISBN 978-0-9672409-2-3 

Published by the California Genealogical Society

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

April Membership Meeting: Preserving Your Genealogical Work Through Publishing

Saturday, April 13, 2013
12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

California Genealogical Society Library

2201 Broadway, Suite LL2

Oakland, CA 94612

April is Volunteer Appreciation Month so please join us for a celebration of volunteerism at next month's membership meeting.

Volunteer Coordinator Linda Okazaki and Membership Coordinator Diana Edwards are launching a new membership meeting format that starts with lunch and a social hour. Members are invited to bring a bag lunch to the Sherman Room at noon for a chance to catch up with friends and get to know new members. Beverages and desserts will be provided. Come and celebrate the spirit of volunteerism within our society.

The business meeting will begin promptly at 1:00 p.m. with a brief ceremony to honor our longest serving volunteers. This will be followed by this month's focus: Preserving Your Genealogical Work Through Publishing. Members who have published genealogical books, articles, and other materials are invited to bring them to the meeting. You will not be required to give a presentation. Come and get inspired to publish your research by browsing through the examples created by our members. Please email Diana Edwards if you have a work to share.

We look forward to a vibrant and fun event!

And take a look at our new Books by CGS Members board on Pinterest!



Future membership meetings for the year will be held:

• Saturday, July 13, 2013
• Saturday, October 12, 2013

Please save the dates!

Photograph courtesy of Jane Knowles Lindsey.


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

“I’m Sorry, Those Records Were Lost” California Genealogical Society Publication Gives Researchers New Hope

The California Genealogical Society (CGS) is pleased to announce publication of Raking the Ashes: Genealogical Strategies for Pre-1906 San Francisco Research, second edition, a guide to circumventing the enormous record loss in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire.

This authoritative book by Nancy Simons Peterson, Research Director at CGS, is a must have for researching San Francisco ancestors, providing invaluable guidance on which records were lost in the 1906 earthquake and fire, which records survived, and where to find them.

Peterson alerts the reader to lesser-known sources, recently published references, and newly discovered documents. Sources are clearly identified and evaluated, while graphics, statistics, and historical background enrich the text. Not limited to San Francisco, Peterson's solutions for working around lost records and her emphasis on casting a much wider net than is customary will be especially welcomed by researchers wherever natural disasters have destroyed historical documents. First published in 2006, the second edition has been substantially updated and expanded.

ISBN 978-0-9785694-5-7
Format: Perfect-bound paperback, 242 pages
Dimensions (inches) 8.5 wide × 11.0 tall
Retail Price: $25.00
Publisher: California Genealogical Society

Additional information at: http://rakingtheashes.weebly.com.

About the author:
Nancy Simons Peterson is a certified genealogist and author of numerous articles. She holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Stanford University.

About CGS:
The California Genealogical Society, founded in San Francisco in 1898, maintains a library, gathers and preserves vital records, and offers research services and online databases. CGS disseminates information through publications, meetings, seminars, workshops and its website, CaliforniaAncestors.org.

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

San Francisco Deaths 1865-1905: Abstracts from Surviving Civil Records

The California Genealogical Society is pleased to announce publication of a new four-volume set: San Francisco Deaths 1865 - 1905: Abstracts from Surviving Civil Records. Now, for the first time, an index is available to all San Francisco civil death records known to have survived the 1906 earthquake and fire. The index was compiled by a team of member volunteers lead by Barbara Close and Vernon A. Deubler.

Research Director Nancy Peterson provides some background in Raking the Ashes: Genealogical Strategies for Pre-1906 San Francisco Research (2006):

While most of the vital records that were created by the city and county of San Francisco were destroyed in the earthquake and fire of 1906, a few volumes of death records and indexes, six months of death certificates, a coroner's register and an index to a little under two years of marriage records somehow survived.

Access by the public to the original records has been restricted. Fortunately, the Genealogical Society of Utah filmed most of the records that did survive. Using their films, the California Genealogical Society (CGS) extracted enough information to build an index of these death records. CGS was able to film the several indexes that had not been previously filmed.

Most records contain a wealth of genealogical information: sex, age (often in years, months and days), occupation, place of birth (sometimes very specific information, including, for instance, county of birth in Ireland), marital condition (married, single, widow or widower), date and cause of death, residence at time of death, place of burial, physician, undertaker and additional remarks. This collection includes records for many who were not necessarily San Francisco residents, including the
following:

• those who died in San Francisco
• those who died at sea for whom San Francisco was the next port of call
• military personnel who died in the Spanish-American War and whose bodies were returned
  to the Port of San Francisco
• those who died abroad and whose bodies were returned to San Francisco 
• those whose bodies were to be re-interred
• those whose bodies were sent to San Francisco for forensic or other investigation

San Francisco Deaths 1865 - 1905: Abstracts from Surviving Civil Records is available for purchase at our Lulu bookstore.

Many members of the society contributed to this effort. Barbara Close and Vernon A. Deubler, long
time members of CGS, led the project and contributed innumerable hours working with other volunteers in doing research and in extracting and digitizing information from all the pertinent records they could find. The result is this unique and invaluable four volume set of death indexes arranged alphabetically by surname.

The California Genealogical Society acknowledges with gratitude the many people who contributed to this publication. They include Kay Arnold, Bob Bly, John Callan, Barbara Close, Verne Deubler, Joyce Dye, George Field, Wil Frye, Tom Gesner, Marjorie Kelt, Judy Kettwig, Bette Kot, Lynne Fisher, Lisa Lee, Esther Mott, Mark Pierce, Michelle Reeder, Bev Schroder, Phil Seelinger, Nancy Servin, Rick Sherman, Marilyn Tanner, Shirley Thomson, Terry Toomey, Judy Velardi, Lorna Wallace, Marjorie Wyatt, Sharon Yost, and Judy Zelver. Special thanks goes to Cathy Paris who designed the covers and shepherded the digitization project from start to finish.

San Francisco Deaths 1865 - 1905: Abstracts from Surviving Civil Records
Softbound, 8 1/2 x 11" format
481 pp., vol. I, A-D
475 pp., vol. II, E-K
477 pp., vol. III, L-P
481 pp., vol. IV, Q-Z
Library of Congress Control Number 2009940489
ISBN (4-vol. set) 978-0-9785694-1-9
Published by the California Genealogical Society


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

Announcing: San Francisco Probate 1906-1942 Register of Actions

In the early 1980s, the Superior Court in San Francisco completed the filming of the Registers of Action for probate cases dating from the 1906 Earthquake and Fire through early 1942. After learning that the intent was to destroy the original oversize volumes, the California Genealogical Society obtained the originals. These priceless volumes became a fixture on our shelves and were indexed by a team of our member volunteers lead by Vernon A. Deubler.
 
As explained by Research Director Nancy Peterson in Raking the Ashes: Genealogical Strategies for Pre-1906 San Francisco Research (2006):

Register of Actions ledgers reference all papers that will be found in a probate file. Arrangement of entries in them is chronological according to initial filing date, or the date of reopening of pre-earthquake proceedings... (R)eferences to pre-earthquake proceedings have been found in ledgers as late as 1925.

The 1906 calamity destroyed all San Francisco probate files including wills, guardianships and administrations. With the exception of one lost register (volume 11) covering the two-month period, January 9 to March 17, 1908, the registers include the period from April 12, 1906 to March 27, 1942. Some of the cases were not finalized until the mid 1980s.

For the first time in print, San Francisco Probate 1906-1942 Register of Actions, provides an index to the 108,898 names in the registers of probate action of the city and county of San Francisco.

Each Register of Actions captures in abbreviated fashion every transaction required to process the probate. Many of the transactions are routine administrative actions, such as the recording of an affidavit, public notification of time and place of future actions or hearings, voucher files, etc. Some probate proceedings required years to complete. Entries for wills, mailings to heirs, final settlements and distributions of assets may lead to useful genealogical information. Rarely are original wills retained in the files that are indexed, but register entries usually point to locations where these documents have been transcribed or summarized.

The index is presented in two volumes, the first covering surnames beginning with A-K, and the second L-Z. Information was extracted from 179 volumes, each containing 500 pages. Included are 108,998 names, aliases and minor’s names representing over 85,500 probates and guardianship proceedings.

Many of the probates from 1906 were ongoing proceedings from before the fire and represent reopened and reconstructed files. A date of “1906” may, therefore, be misleading and refer to earlier probate proceedings no long in existence. Other probates from before 1906 may have been re-opened when additional assets were uncovered. Those will bear the date of re-opening and not the date of the original filing.

San Francisco Probate 1906-1942 Register of Actions is available for purchase at our Lulu bookstore.

Verne Deubler and the California Genealogical Society acknowledge with gratitude the many people who contributed to compiling the index, including Carol Backhus, Dorothy Fowler, Gloria Hanson, Patti Melvin, Nancy Servin and in particular, the most diligent proofreader, Anita Dean, who single handedly reviewed more than two-thirds of the index.

In addition, we extend our thanks to Barbara Close and Cathy Paris for transforming and publishing the index as reference books

Vernon A. Deubler is a past president and long-time board member of the California Genealogical Society. He compiled the book, San Francisco, California: Columbarium Records 1847-1980, published by the society in 2003. With Barbara Close, he compiled the four volumes set of books, San Francisco Deaths 1865-1904: Abstracts from Surviving Civil Records, also scheduled for publication in 2010.

San Francisco Probate 1906-1942 Registers of Action
Softbound, 8 1/2 x 11" format
498 pp. (vol. I)
490 pp. (vol.II)
ISBN 978-0-9785694-7-1
LOC 2010926283
Published by the California Genealogical Society


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

Announcing: The Ancestry of Theodore Timothy Judge and Ellen Sheehy Judge

The California Genealogical Society is pleased to announce publication of The Ancestry of Theodore Timothy Judge and Ellen Sheehy Judge: Including the Families of Boland, Roussel, Harman, McMurphy, Kelley, Bohane, Chapin, Freiermuth, Taylor, Moore and Farneman.

Theodore Timothy “Ted” Judge died in Cupertino, California, June 11, 2008. Although neither he nor his late wife Ellen Sheehy Judge left descendants, they shared a mutual interest in family history that they enthusiastically pursued over the years. In his will Ted left legacies to numerous charities and
institutions, including the Bancroft Library at the University of California at Berkeley, where he had spent many hours as a student. His bequest required that the administrators of the Judge estate, in conjunction with the Bancroft, arrange for the publication of a Judge and Sheehy genealogy to be distributed to Ted and Ellen’s cousins. CGS contracted to fulfill Ted's request and this book is the result.

The project consumed the society's Research and Look-ups committee for months. Judy Bodycote chaired the committee while Jane Lindsey negotiated the agreement and shepherded the project through to completion. The Research team of Judy Bodycote, Lavinia Schwarz and Pat Smith started work in 2009 with the assistance of Dick Rees and Laura Spurrier. Later Judy Zelver, Lorna Wallace and Barbara Dyer joined the research team. Nancy Peterson assumed the final writing responsibilities and Matt Berry took on the Herculean task of formatting (and re-formatting) the book.

The list of major contributors:

• Matthew B. Berry - layout, proofing and indexing
• Judy Bodycote-Thomas - research, charts and photo editing
• Verne Deubler - proofing
  
• Barbara Dyer - research, indexing
• Jane Hufft - editing, standardization, meetings
• Jane Lindsey - coordinator
  
• Bill O'Neal - maps
• Nancy Peterson - writing, proofing
• Richard Rees - research
  
• Lavinia Grace Schwarz  - research
• Pat Smith - research
• Laura Spurrier - editing, proofing
• Shirley Thomson - proofing
• Lorna Wallace - research
  
• Judy Zelver - research

Acknowledgment must also be made to those who stepped up to maintain the research and look-ups services ordinarily done by the committee. Verne Deubler took over much of the weekly look-ups work load and Dick Rees, Pam Miller and others helped with research projects.

Copies may be purchased from Lulu.com.

Additional information on many families mentioned in this book has been archived at the California Genealogical Society, 2201 Broadway, Suite LL2, Oakland, California, 94612-3031.

The Ancestry of Theodore Timothy Judge and Ellen Sheehy Judge: Including the Families of Boland, Roussel, Harman, McMurphy, Kelley, Bohane, Chapin, Freiermuth, Taylor, Moore and Farneman. 
Pub. 2010 by California Genealogical Society
Softbound, 8 1/2 x 11" format, 224 pp. ISBN 978-0-9785694-9-5; LOC 2010929198
Price: $25.00.

 

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

Book Launch: Come Celebrate Our New Books!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Coffee and cider 10:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Program 11:00 a.m.
Refreshments and book browsing 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

California Genealogical Society and Library
2201 Broadway, Suite LL2
Oakland, California 94612

Fall Book Party! You Are Invited! Come Leaf Through the New Publications!

Join us at the society for “An Autumn Celebration of Books” as we launch three significant new titles and celebrate the resurrection of our journal, The California Nugget.

Mighty oaks from little acorns grow and the sturdiest family trees are rooted in sound research. Our publications will help you find your way through the forest! We are very excited about presenting these new “leaves," and we're proud of these meticulously researched publications that will contribute valuable information and new resources to the genealogical community.

This event heralds the publication of three new titles:

• San Francisco Probate 1906 - 1942: Register of Actions
• San Francisco Deaths 1865-1904: Abstracts from Surviving Civil Records
• The Ancestry of Theodore Timothy Judge and Ellen Sheehy Judge: Including the Families of Boland, Roussel, Harman, McMurphy, Kelley, Bohane, Chapin, Freiermuth, Taylor, Moore and Farneman

We're also asking our member authors with new titles to join the celebration and to be available for questions and books signings. Please email me if you can join the fun!

Update (8/9/2010): Three member authors will be celebrating their books with us.

• Linda Foster Arden - Letters From the Storm: The Intimate Civil War Letters of Lt. J. A. H. Foster    
• Ron Arons - WANTED! U.S. Criminal Records 
• James Smith - The California Snatch Racket: Kidnappings During the Prohibition and Depression Eras

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

Feedback From "Hints on Publishing Your Family History"

Altogether, twenty-one potential authors attended last Saturday's "Hints on Publishing Your Family History" workshop presented by Shirley Pugh Thomson and Matthew Berry. Past-president, Rick Sherman, shared these comments, "I thought the publishing workshop was outstanding. I bought myself a Chicago Manual of Style that very afternoon! I was especially impressed by the good "cast chemistry" among the speakers, and by the good behavior of the audience. There were lots of valuable contributions from the audience, but no one tried to take over the session."

Shirley sent this: ""For my part, Saturday was quite a surprising day. First, I found it very hard to believe that such a large number of interested people wanted to come out for our workshop on a fine weekend day. Then, there was the high level of interest! Those writers and researchers were interested in all aspects of the process to convert good research and writing to printed and bound pages of a book. The participants, it seems, were all historians and genealogists determined to see their research, their families’ histories, their loved ones’ memoirs and papers or other writings preserved in publications to be made available to a wider family circle or to the public. The many wide-ranging questions indicated serious plans were already being considered."

Matt said "For me, Saturday’s event was my first time participating in a CGS event and I had a wonderful time meeting and talking to people. I was happy to see so many people attending and asking great questions. I am now looking forward to participating in other CGS events."

Wordless Wednesday

Workshop: Hints on Publishing Your Family History
California Genealogical Society Library

Saturday, August 9, 2008
Shirley Pugh Thomson and Matthew B. Berry








Photographs courtesy of Jane Knowles Lindsey.

The CGS News - July 2008

The July 2008 issue of the CGS News, Volume XXXIX, No. 4, will be mailed out to members this week and its twelve pages are full of news and information:

• Guidelines for Publishing Web Pages on the Internet - page 2
• Registration Flier for Nora Keohane Hickey - page 3
• Diversity in American Last Names - page 4
• Registration Flier for NEHGS Library Trip - page 5
• Book Review - Royal Families: Samuel Appleton - page 6
• Nancy Peterson's "Major Northeastern Holdings" - pages 7 and 8
• New Books in the Library - pages 6 and 9
• New Members List - pages 9 and 10

The CGS News, edited by Jane Hufft and produced by Lois Elling, is published six times a year by the California Genealogical Society. An annual subscription to the bimonthly newsletter is included in a society membership ($35 per year). For membership information, visit the CGS Web site.

The newsletter keeps members up-to-date regarding speakers, trips, and other events of interest to family history researchers. Articles on relevant aspects of California history and ongoing publication of vital records are some of the regular topics. Back issues of the CGS News are available at the Web site in the "Members Only" section.

A Most Dreadful Earthquake

One hundred two years ago today, at 5:12 a.m., the earth shook in San Francisco and Sarah E. Phillips was "awaked by a most dreadful earthquake.” Thus began a series of letters Sarah wrote to her fiancé in Schenectady, New York, chronicling the days and weeks of the aftermath.

Almost one hundred years later, a ribbon-bound packet of forty faded letters, still in their original envelopes, was found in a misplaced box at the California Genealogical Society, with little to identify the writers or explain how the letters came there.

Author Dorothy Fowler, a researcher and long-time volunteer at the society, happened to be on hand when the letters turned up. She took on the challenge of researching and editing the letters and was the sole author of a book published by the society to coincide with the earthquake centennial. The vast number of hours required in researching and writing the book were contributed by her to the society.

Dorothy is a gifted writer with long experience in various publications. Much of her work life was spent in research, writing and administrative jobs, mainly for the state of California. She is now retired and lives in San Francisco.

Two years ago when promoting the book, Dorothy was a guest of radio personality John Rothmann on his KGO Radio 810 AM talk show. Dorothy did several readings from A Most Dreadful Earthquake: A First-Hand Account of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire before Rothmann closed with these remarks:

"I'm going to tell you that every April 18th, for as long as I live, I'm going to pick up your book, and I'm going to re-read it. And the reason I'm going to re-read it is because of the vivid, powerful expressions. You've given us a great gift... and you've preserved history. And for that we are all very grateful, Dorothy."

We are indeed. Mr. Rothmann, have you done your reading this year?

Great Registers of Voters - SF 1890

Several genealogy blogs have commented on the recent release of a new database on ancestry.com - California Voter Registrations, 1900-1968. This collection is a portion of what is more commonly known as the "Great Registers of Voters" which date back to 1866. Legislation was enacted that year to combat voter fraud and bring order after the massive population influx that came with the Gold Rush. The registers are compiled lists of voter names and addresses arranged by district. Additional information was collected which varies by year.

CGS Research Director Nancy Peterson, who devotes a chapter to "Voting Records" in her book Raking the Ashes: Genealogical Strategies for Pre-1906 San Francisco Research, notes that "the Great Registers before the years that Ancestry digitized contained naturalization information." The 1866 legislation required voters to provide the country where they were born and "if a naturalized foreigner, when, where, and by what Court he was admitted to become a citizen of the United States." By 1900, when the United States began collecting specific naturalization information from individuals during the decennial census, the voters of California were no longer required to supply it.

CGS member, Jim W. Faulkinbury, gives the complete background of the Great Registers and has an online database index of Foreign-Born Voters of 1872.

The California Genealogical Society participated in the statewide indexing of the 1890 Great Register of Voters, chosen to provide a partial substitute for the lost United States census of that year. The massive project, which took eleven years to complete, was organized by the California State Genealogical Alliance, a consortium of independent genealogical societies throughout California, chaired by Janice G. Cloud of Santa Barbara. The California 1890 Great Register of Voters, a three volume set, indexes 311,028 men living in California in 1890 and includes significant personal information but not the naturalization data.

The California Genealogical Society separately indexed and published in 2002 a one-volume San Francisco, California: 1890 Great Register of Voters, edited by Jane Billings Steiner. It contains the names of 59,712 men living in the many precincts of the city and county of San Francisco in 1890, as well as their age, place of birth, occupation, home address and all naturalization details as found in the official record. CGS has a names search at our Web site which includes this records set, as well as many more. Results that include the code "FRAN" come from this database and can be purchased.

Research director, Nancy S. Peterson, CG

Members of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) have been debating the definition of "genealogist" this month on their mail list and Randy Seaver of the Genea-Musings Blog weighed in with "Why does it matter? The fact is that those in the profession of genealogy research need to act like and be treated like professionals in other disciplines - they need to be educated, be unbiased, be thorough, be honest and truthful, and be respected." Randy didn't know it but he was describing CGS Research Director, Nancy Simons Peterson.

Nancy was a researcher long before she became a genealogist. After earning her baccalaureate and master's degrees in physiology at Stanford University, she was employed as a research physiologist at the university medical school for many years. Peterson later obtained a second master's in teaching before her interest turned to family history. While living in Washington state, Nancy taught beginning and intermediate genealogy classes. For six years she was the editor of the Tacoma-Pierce County Genealogical Society quarterly publication, The Researcher.

A fifth generation Californian, Nancy is a relative newcomer to CGS. She joined the society in 2004 when she moved back to the Bay Area and has been an active member ever since. Nancy's search for her maternal San Francisco ancestors led ultimately to the publication of Raking the Ashes: Genealogical Strategies for Pre-1906 San Francisco Research, published by CGS in 2006 to coincide with the centennial of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire. Nancy explains: "I personally looked at and then included all useful FHL film numbers and tried to nail down exactly the years and record types of the surviving early SF church records. Since all records archived outside the city survived, I went quite deeply into military records -- doesn't matter that they aren't SF records, for they hold information on SF residents. I also went into a great deal of detail on exactly which land records survived and which did not. All of part 3 is devoted to what strategies work best and what pitfalls to avoid. "



About a year ago, Nancy inherited the CGS research position from past-president, Rick Sherman, who acted as primary researcher for many years and who continues to serve a couple of long-standing clients. Tuesday (when the library is closed) is Peterson's regular day at the CGS Library. But her day usually starts in San Francisco, where she travels to one of the following records repositories: Department of Health (for birth and death certificates), Hall of Records in City Hall (for marriage records and land indexes), Public Main Library (obituaries) or Superior Court (probate). Of course, she also spends time in the East Bay at the Oakland Public Library or at the nearby Recorder's Office and Courthouse. I'm exhausted just listing them all.

Nancy is a certified genealogist and author of numerous articles. She won the Society of Genealogists Scholar Award in 2003. Her narrative genealogy Guarded Pasts: The Lives and Offspring of Colonel George and Clara (Baldwin) Bomford was the winning entry in the 1998 National Genealogical Society Family History Writing Contest and is used as an example of quality work in the NGS Quarterly style on the Board for Certification of Genealogists Web site.

As Research Director, Nancy provides expert assistance for members and non-members alike. The charge is $20 per hour ($15 for members) which covers research time, analysis, documentation and a report. Rarely can one obtain the services of a certified genealogist at such bargain prices, and, as with the proceeds from her book, all monies collected benefit the society. No matter how you define it, CGS is fortunate to have such a talented and generous genealogist.

My Goal for 2008

Traditionally, January 1st is a day for New Year's Resolutions but many years ago I began instead to create a yearly set of Goals. Perhaps this is just semantics but while I am good at deciding or resolving to do something, it's usually the execution that is the problem. This "goal setting" exercise has evolved into a set of lists that I create for the various parts of my life. I've learned to set fewer goals but to include specific "actions" - a technique learned from David Allen's Getting Things Done, The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. The "next action" is one of the hallmarks of Allen's GTD philosophy, and he defines it as: "the next physical, visible activity that needs to be engaged in, in order to move the current reality toward completion."

I've been trying (unsuccessfully) to get one of the local media outlets to do a piece on the California Genealogical Society and Library and so I am hereby making this my 2008 CGS goal. And in keeping with the GTD action step requirement, I've created a "Top Ten" pitch list to email to Bay Area newspapers and magazines. I will be modifying it to send to some of the local television and radio talk shows, as well. I'll keep you posted as I come up with new strategies for reaching my goal and I welcome any suggestions you may have (or the phone number of your brother-in-law who works for KTVU).

Top 10 Reasons to Feature the California Genealogical Society and Library in 2008:

1. The California Genealogical Society (CGS) was the first genealogy society in the state, founded February 12, 1898, in San Francisco. CGS has been located in Oakland since 1998.

2. The California Genealogical Society and Library blog debuted November 25, 2007.

3. A full 73 percent of Americans are are intrigued by their family roots according to a 2005 poll by Market Strategies, Inc. (MSI).

4. A Cal State Fullerton study showed that interest in genealogy spans a wide range of ages with the strongest interest being in middle age, most starting "at an average age of 40."

5. California Genealogical Society Research Director, Nancy Peterson, literally wrote the book on San Francisco research. Raking the Ashes: Genealogical Strategies for Pre-1906 San Francisco Research was published by CGS in June 2006.

6. In March 2007, CGS moved to its newest location in the historic Breuner Building in Oakland's Uptown District.

7. The California Genealogical Society maintains a library of over 30,000 genealogy reference materials and has released a beta version of its online catalog.

8. Long-time CGS volunteer Dorothy Fowler penned A Most Dreadful Earthquake, A First-Hand Account of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, with Glimpses into the Lives of the Phillips-Jones Letter Writers. The book was published in April 2006 by CGS to coincide with the centennial of the 1906 Earthquake and Fire.

9. The California Genealogical Society and Library (now 900 members strong) hosts monthly membership meetings and has a First Saturday Free policy of allowing non-members free access on the first Saturday of every month.

10. The Oakland Convention & Visitors Bureau list of 100 Things to Do includes tip #80: "Trace your family history at the California Genealogical Society."