Wordless Wednesday

Tech Saturday: A Panel Discussion

with Cathy Paris, Kathy Watson and Judy Bodycote

January 16, 2010

 

 

 

Photographs courtesy of Tim Cox, Oakland, California.

Will WDYTYA Impact Genealogy in the U.S.?

When the BBC television series Who Do You Think You Are? made its debut in the United Kingdom in 2004, queues of family researchers formed at archives and libraries all over England and the show became a huge hit. Now that NBC has scheduled the long-anticipated U.S. version to air on March 5, 2010, the questions is: will the show have the same impact on American audiences? Meet the seven celebrities who will trace their ancestry this season.



2/2/10 Update: Received notice from Ancestry.com that they are a partner with NBC on the new show. A Who Do You Think You Are website has been launched with "bios of the celebrities featured in the show, photos, and several video clips as well as articles on how to get started in family history."

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

Wordless Wednesday

Annual Business Meeting

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Jane Knowles Lindsey, Kathy Beals and Jeanie Low

 

Photographs courtesy of Tim Cox, Oakland, California.

State Genealogical Alliance Meeting at CGS

All CGS members and members of other local societies are welcome to attend an open meeting of the California State Genealogical Alliance (CSGA) at the California Genealogical Society Library, 2201 Broadway, Suite LL2, Oakland, on Saturday, February 27, 2010.

The gathering is an opportunity for Bay Area genealogists to meet CSGA President Susan M. Roe, attend an Alliance meeting, have a tour of the CGS Library and hear a presentation by CSGA Past-president Lisa B. Lee.

Schedule:

09:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.  Open meeting
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.  Tour of CGS library and presentation about the unique holdings
12:00 p.m. –  1:00 p.m.  Break for lunch*
  1:00 p.m. –  2:00 p.m.  When Oral Histories are Just Plain Wrong by Lisa B. Lee
  2:00 p.m. –  4:00 p.m. Research time

*Participants are encouraged to bring a lunch or visit a nearby restaurant.

PLEASE NOTE:

• Space is limited to 40 attendees. 
• Pre-registration is required.
  
• Please RSVP by email to Events@CaliforniaAncestors.org or download and return the registration flier.

Lisa Lee is a past president of CSGA, a past CGS board member, lecturer and hosts Got Genealogy?

Founded in October 1982, the Alliance serves as a statewide association of independent genealogical societies, individuals and non-profit organizations which acts to further genealogical endeavors throughout the state of California.

YouTube Video of San Francisco Pre-1906 Earthquake

Member John Bedecarre sent the link to this amazing historical film recorded just days before the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. The footage was shot from a cable car running down Market Street towards the Ferry Building seen in the distance. John informs us that while electric street cars crossed Market, the transit system at the time had only cable cars on Market. He also notes that there were no traffic rules, no paved roads, no traffic lights or pedestrian crosswalks and that the people were pretty adept at dodging autos. Thanks, John, for sharing!

Source: Flixxy's San Francisco in 1906

Report #6 and a Recap: 2010 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy

Here's Jeffrey Vaillant's last SLIG installment. Great reporting, Jeffrey!

Friday, 15 January 2010
Salt Lake City, Utah

The morning class began with a three-person panel discussing the Uniqueness of International AG Examinations. The panelists were Heidi Sugden, John Kitzmiller and Larry Jensen all of whom are deeply involved in the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICAPGen) organization and all have positions at the Family History Library. They spoke to the application process for accreditation in a foreign subject, the language needs for the German and French areas and how to prepare. The "how to prepare for the exam" was study, study and study the sources available for the country AND be fluent in the language.

Karen Clifford followed with her presentation on Evaluating and Solving Research Problems and somewhat modified the syllabus by drilling down in some detail on report writing while doing research.

Next was Elaine Helgeson Hasleton (another three named female!) who spoke about The Oral Review: Purposes, Rubrics and Results. For the AG designation the candidate will answer questions about the four-generation report, discuss the latest genealogy project, discuss the written exam and respond to questions from the exam where the answer needs amplification. To demonstrate what might happen in the oral exam a role playing exercise was conducted.

Confession time again: I cut the last session on the AG Renewal Process (which like the CG is every five years). The Library was waiting with its books and microfilms for my attendance. I got some good electronic images on my flash drive of land records in Pottawattamie County, Iowa – aren’t you excited?

The institute ends with a banquet in the hotel and a program of recognitions by both the SLIG organization and the Utah Genealogical Association. The guest speakers - yes, two people - were a husband and wife who gave a great presentation on their 35 years experience doing research in Spain and France. They lead students from BYU on research trips overseas.

In spite of my cutting class I managed to get a completion certificate. What do I think about the week?

The Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy is a solid program allowing the student to concentrate on a given subject for five days with guest lecturers throughout the course. I heard rave reviews for the classes Dr. Jones and Dr. Colletta taught. The meeting rooms and hotel (Radisson) were good including a 20% discount on all meals in the hotel Copper Canyon restaurant. I would recommend this Institute for a week partly because it is virtually next door to the Family History Library. I am staying an extra day to take advantage of the FHL.

What did I think about the AG/CG class? There were thirty people who signed up for the class of which eleven are from Utah and the rest of us from coast to coast. Class participation was good and there was the opportunity to ask questions and get answers. The difference between the AG and CG designation was clarified which was one of the reasons I took the course. Personally speaking, I will pursue the CG designation due to its research report writing emphasis over taking a written and oral exam.

Now it is off to Alabama in June for another solid week of learning at the Samford Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR). Registration opens Tuesday morning at 7 a.m. PST January 19, 2010.

Thank you for reading my reports.

- Jeffrey Vaillant

Read the entire series:
Report #1: 2010 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy
Report #2: 2010 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy
Report #3: 2010 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy
Report #4: 2010 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy
Report #5: 2010 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy

Volunteerism: One Day in the Life

When the topic for the 88th Carnival of Genealogy was announced I faced a bit of a dilemma. At first I was pleased because volunteerism is a subject I could easily write about on a society blog - and that isn't always the case. But then it dawned on me that every article published here is at its essence about volunteerism. The California Genealogical Society is 100% a volunteer organization. We have no paid employees so everything we do is by definition an act of volunteerism. What new insights did I really have to offer on a subject I've been writing about for over two years? I decided to forgo this edition of the COG.

Obviously something happened to change my mind (literally at the eleventh hour). Photographs have become an integral part of the story I tell for the society so I tend to keep my camera in my bag and I always take a few shots on every visit to the CGS Library. Tonight as I was uploading I noticed that I had a few photographs taken on Tuesday, January 5, 2010 and I remembered how crowded it was that day in the library.

 Pub/Mark Committee Meeting

The Publications and Marketing Committee meets on the first Tuesday of every month and there are usually six or seven of us who attend. The number varies depending on what else is going on in our lives. This month our chair, Cathy Paris, was there, along with Jane Hufft, Nancy Peterson, Marianne Frey, Arlene Miles and a new comer to our group - Henry Snyder. Unfortunately, Marilyn Willats had to leave before Jane Lindsey took this photograph. I remember thinking at the time how wonderful it was that Marilyn had been able to come in for the meeting. Marilyn cares for her grandchildren on Tuesdays so she can rarely make it anymore but on that day she didn't have her family responsibility. On her one free Tuesday she came to the library for a committee meeting.

Judge Project Meeting

Meeting in the next room were the members of the Research and Lookups Committee. These days they are consumed with the Judge Project. Laura Spurrier, Lavinia Schwarz, Pat Smith, Judy Bodycote, Lorna Wallace and Nancy Peterson were discussing formatting and footnotes and all manner of other things for the book they are researching and writing. I really need to write a blog article about the hundreds of hours they are logging and the amazing story they will tell but I dare not bother them for details with deadlines looming.

Others were there who were not photographed. Verne Deubler was at his computer processing emails and working on his newest indexing project. Dick Rees was handling the mail. Sandy Fryer and Paul Mayer were meeting which means that QuickBooks was open and they were probably closing the books on 2009 and readying things for the upcoming Annual Business Meeting.

Gaye Lenahan, Lorna Jones and Steve Harris were working in the library that Tuesday as well, bringing the total number of volunteers in the library to 21. Twenty-one members showed up on the first Tuesday of the year when the library was still technically closed for the holidays.

There was no speaker to hear, no personal research being done. Twenty-one members were there and the place was buzzing with activity and every moment was a selfless act of volunteerism to benefit a non-profit genealogical society. Now that was something to write about.

Written for the 88th Carnival of Genealogy - Volunteerism. The COG poster provided courtesy of the footnoteMaven.

Photographs by Kathryn M. Doyle, Oakland, California, January 5, 2010.

Report #5: 2010 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy

Jeffrey Vaillant writes that he is pacing himself and the proof is another report, written after a full day of classes and research, at the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy.

Thursday, 14 January 2010
Salt Lake City, Utah

Thursday and Friday are devoted to presentations by the folks from the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICAPGen) about their accreditation process. This morning began with Kory Meyerink talking about Research Focus and Analysis of Documents. As a minor reminder, the ICAPGen is interested in seeing people qualify based on a geographic specialty via written and oral exams. Kory explained abstracting versus extracting documents and handed out a document for all the students to prepare giving us five short minutes to do so. Nothing like a little early morning pressure. We were looking at a colonial last will and testament. Then he followed with a Document Recognition Exercise where he flashed documents on a screen allowing us 30 seconds to identify the type of record, title/kind/name of record and author/creator/publisher of the image. I got 7 of the 15 shown – ugh.

Next Karen Clifford’s (only two names!) topic was Report Writing Under Pressure; however, technical difficulties with the computer delayed her start. It was the first such case this week. ICAPGen has three reports they expect their candidates to complete. First is a four generation report that covers a family within one geographic region. The second is part of the exam process where students are sent to the Family History Library with a research problem to solve in three hours with a written report and third is the final written report is for supplemental work. There was a great deal of emphasis on telling the client what was done and how it was done.

Karen followed herself with another presentation on Research Planning and how it counts in the accreditation process. She spent time on how to do a plan rather than how the plan fits into the process. She got into detail on the plan.

The afternoon session was by Anne Roach on Digital Resources for Credentialing Researchers which she posted at the Family Search Research Wiki. Well, that sure gave me an excuse to cut class (confession time?) and go to the Family History Library to spend six hours viewing microfilm. My research goal is to find the earliest Pierson line to get to Iowa so I spent time looking at more land plat records for Des Moines, BLM plat maps for Township 77N and 23W as well as the 1846 Iowa census.

The evening was topped off with another Thomas W. Jones lecture on Organizing Evidence to Overcome Record Shortages. He used an Irish family example that resulted in three trips to Ireland for his client to conduct an exhaustive search for records when there are no censuses, deed, probate or vital documents available. The time period of his study was the 1700’s. Then he correlated the findings, established identities from the records available, grouped the identities into generations and proposed relationships using the genealogical proof standard to justify the conclusions. Another spell binding presentation.

Wikipedia Lesson: “Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials or post-nominal titles, are letters placed after the name of a person to indicate that the individual holds a position, educational degree, accreditation, office, or honour. An individual may use several different sets of post-nominal letters.” The designation AG can be used when one becomes "accredited" or CG when one is "credentialed." A few individuals carry both designations. The longest string belongs to Thomas W. Jones, Ph.D., CG, CGL, FASG, FUGA, FNGS!! He shows in his presentations that he has earned each designation. I am betting that he will pass his renewal for the CG designation!

- Jeffrey Vaillant

Read the entire series:
Report #1: 2010 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy
Report #2: 2010 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy
Report #3: 2010 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy
Report #4: 2010 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy
Report #5: 2010 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy
Report #6 and A Recap: 2010 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy

Report #4: 2010 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy

Jeffrey Vaillant continues with his series from the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy:

Wednesday, 13 January 2010
Salt Lake City

Today was a full day with lectures during the daylight hours, research at the FHL and two more lectures at night. The morning started with two excellent presentations by Thomas W. Jones on Constructing Case Studies of Complex or Contradictory Evidence and Conventional Formats and BCG Standards for Kinship-Determination Projects – big subjects packed with information. It is almost impossible to summarize a Jones presentation but I will try. Constructing Case Studies literally talked about a study having a beginning, middle and end. The beginning sets up the research subject, the middle proof summary discusses the evidence bearing on the conclusion of the research question and the end is short and to the point summarizing how the evidence supported the finding. The Kinship-Determination Project was about the types of format one can use – genealogy, lineage, pedigree or case study – and the method to achieve the format chosen. In both lectures he amply supports the methodology with examples from his research.

The next presentation was by Jeanne Larzalere Bloom. (I am thinking that three names must be a requirement for women – Elissa Scalise Powell, Elizabeth Shown Mills, etc.) Jeanne spoke on The Family Tapestry: Integrating Proof Arguments Into the Genealogical Narrative. To obtain certification one must show at least two parent-child relationships in different generations. She went into some detail on proof arguments and how to use them effectively.

Elissa Scalise Powell completed the day’s presentations by discussing Selecting Projects for New and Renewal Portfolios. She presented general principles like: do follow the instructions but don’t over think them. She talked about the applicant-supplied documents, the research report, the case study and the kinship determination project for new applications. The information was clear and concise and generated considerable discussion for there are many of us interested in certification.

Then it was off to the Family History Library to look at microfilm of 1846 city plat maps for Des Moines, Polk, Iowa and the ultimate in eye strain. I did find my ggg-grandfather Mitchell Atkinson with property which may explain how his daughter Mary was there to meet her future husband, Galloway Mackintosh, who arrived from Scotland in 1850. Perhaps her father, a blacksmith, and Galloway, a stone mason, brought the trades people together?

 Polk County Plat Book Vol. A 1846 Atkinson

Back to the hotel for two more lectures tonight. Thomas W. Jones's presentation on Kinship Determination was amply supported by research examples as he held all in attendance spellbound. Elissa followed with Rubik’s Cube Genealogy: A New Twist on Your Old Data emphasizing organizing data differently giving many examples and good ideas to apply.

- Jeffrey Vaillant

Read the entire series:
Report #1: 2010 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy
Report #2: 2010 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy
Report #3: 2010 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy
Report #4: 2010 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy
Report #5: 2010 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy
Report #6 and A Recap: 2010 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy