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The newspaper is the most important printed source for local history and especially so for genealogists.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. Henry Snyder
Bringing a dark and forgotten era into vivid life, this fascinating history explores a booming criminal enterprise that was spawned in California in the 1920s and 1930s. Exposing a spree of kidnappings referred to as the “snatch racket,” true accounts of the crimes and the unfortunate victims are revealed. Driven by greed, desperation, or sheer stupidity, this detailed discussion explains that the ransom artists preyed indiscriminately on Hollywood socialites, wealthy heiresses, and even the poor—while each new disappearance brought new headlines and sales to the newspaper companies.
Illustrating the manner in which even the simplest capers would often run tragically awry, fifteen bizarre and often ironic tales are presented, including how a modern city rose to lynch a pair of kidnappers, the college kids who chose to imitate Leopold and Loeb, and the famed evangelist who faked her own abduction to cover up an affair. Early forensic techniques are described, including the first documented call tracing using a bevy of operators in a phone chain, as well as the birth of the modern symbiotic relationship between the news media and high-profile crime, demonstrating how the sensationalism of personal tragedy became a source for increased media sales.Jim is also the author of San Francisco's Lost Landmarks, published in 2004.
This is Jeff Vaillant's final installment of his series from the Samford Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR). Thanks so much, Jeff!
Friday was the “short” day with three presentations. Those of us staying in the dorms had to be out before breakfast so the rooms could be cleaned for a new group arriving in the afternoon. Samford University hosts many activities: youth sport camps, freshman orientation, and church organizational meetings. The decibel level in the cafeteria must have been in excess of 80!– Jeffrey Vaillant
Lloyd started the day talking about Church Records. His bibliography included surveys and denominational records. He drove home the point that understanding the religion of an ancestor will help in finding records. Two tidbits offered were the 903 churches in 1750 (465 Congregational, 288 Anglican and about 250 Quaker meeting houses) and that a “graveyard” is associated with a church whereas a “cemetery” is not.
John Colletta revealed our ancestors using nineteenth-century newspapers. I heard a similar presentation from him in Santa Rosa a few years ago. If you have heard John speak, then you know he is both entertaining and informative. Again, an excellent outline and bibliography was offered. John cited St. Louis as an example of why newspapers are important in research. Of the fifteen papers in print there in 1904: six were in English with four for the white community, one for the black community and one for the Jewish community. There were five German newspapers, two Czech, one Polish and one Italian publication. The Library of Congress has a newspaper collection as well as many state archives and local archives. There are several websites with varying newspaper collections available—mostly on a fee basis.
The last session was Lloyd’s opportunity to finish his discussion of church records and other tidbits, for which there was little time earlier in the week. Yes, we all got handsome certificates of completion.
My take on IGHR is that I now understand why people keep coming to the Institute. One can spend an entire week on Virginia records or Military records or Scottish records.
The June 12-17, 2011 Course Offerings are:
I meet some splendid people while at the Institute. My next genealogical educational endeavor will be the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy in Salt Lake City, Utah in January. So, it will be from the frying pan of Birmingham to the freezer of SLC.
- Techniques and Technology (Pamela Boyer Sayre)
- Intermediate Genealogy and Historical Studies (Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck)
- Research in the South, Part 3 (Carolyn Earle Billingsley)
- Advanced Methodology and Evidence Analysis (Elizabeth Shown Mills)
- Writing and Publishing for Genealogists (Thomas W. Jones)
- Advanced Library Research: Law Libraries and Government Documents (Ann Carter Fleming and Benjamin b. Spratling)
- Virginia's Land and Military Conflicts & Their Effect on Migration (Barbara Vines Little)
- Researching African-American Ancestors: Slave & Reconstruction Era Records (Frazine Taylor)
- U.S. Military Records (Christine Rose)
- Scottish Genealogical Research (Paul Milner)
Jeffrey Vaillant continues his series from the Samford Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR).
Thursday was Bockstruck day! The definition of a walking encyclopedia is Lloyd. His first presentation was on Hereditary Societies and Their Records. His bibliography included history, directories, military, armigerous (right to use of coat of arms), occupational, ethnic, colonial, old world societies and geographical references. He illustrated many of the lineage societies with his own family.– Jeffrey Vaillant
Next he covered the topic of Migrations or Westward Expansion in two separate presentations. One interesting set of facts about immigration that he offered was the number of arrivals.
Those are big numbers that stretch the brain to comprehend the impact made. A selfish thing that I found happening while listening was noting those references and aids which will help me in my own research. Most of the materials presented related to the Colonial period.
- 1620 – 1820: 650,000 people immigrated in 200 years
- 1820 – 1880: 10,000,000 arrived over the next 60 years
- 1880 – 1920: 25,000,000 in the next 40 years
Lloyd finished the day talking about Special Collections. The points made were to survey the literature, become familiar with handbooks and guides to collections, stay current on genealogical literature, attend conferences, interact with other genealogists, and search computer data bases. Search the Family History Library catalogue, identify WPA inventories, use the NUCMC (National Union Catalog Manuscript Collection) and a touch of serendipity is useful too.
Thursday evening was the dinner banquet in the dining hall with Pamela Boyer Sayre talking about Lookin’ for Kinfolk, Dead or Alive. Hers was a light hearted presentation about field work and what might encounter.
Jeffrey Vaillant continues his series from the Samford Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR).
The morning began with an excellent presentation by Christine Rose on Correlation and Analysis of Evidence. She began the talk with a discussion of the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS). She literally wrote the book on this subject. Rose spoke about the three classes of evidence which are (1) primary and secondary information, (2) direct and indirect evidence and (3) original and derivative sources. Then she spoke to the importance of evaluating the three classes of evidence. If one becomes stuck, she suggested the following:
- List all the documents located
- Examine for any local, county, state and/or federal items not examined.
- Abstract each document into a Word document, then use the FIND function to review names and locations
- Watch for clues on religion
- Watch for clues on inherited property
As an aside, Christine Rose will be presenting a one day seminar for the Sonoma County Genealogical Society in Santa Rosa on April 16, 2011. This may have been the best lecture of the week.
Onomatology was the title of Lloyd de Witt Bockstruck’s talk. That is a big title devoted to talking about names and everything and anything that can happen with the surname we are all researching. And since word usage is big with Lloyd, on Monday I suggested “semi-posthumous child” for definition. If I understood Lloyd and wrote it down correctly, that term is used to define a child who is left material goods by a grandfather when the father is dead!
Lloyd distributed an extensive bibliography (five pages single spaced) that included general works, forenames and diminutives, name changes (by state) and language dictionaries. Another term to drop at the next genealogical society meeting is uxornecronyms—the name of the dead wife given to the child.
The afternoon was well spent with John Philip Colletta, Ph.D. who first spoke about Passenger Arrival Records from Colonial Times to Mid-twentieth Century. That is a lot of material which he supported with eight pages of outline and bibliography. I took away from this lecture his ideas on where to look if an ancestor arrives before 1820 – colonial period land patents and land grants, pre-federal naturalization, oaths of allegiance, lists of emigrants leaving, list of immigrants arriving, church records and complied histories.
Next the subject of Naturalization Records from Colonial Time to Early Twentieth Century was presented and supported by six pages of outline and bibliography. My take away was the reminder that naturalization records are kept by the regional NARA depositories not in Washington, DC and to check with a state’s archives. The other piece of information I took was the specific legislation that allowed foreign born to gain citizenship from fighting in the Civil War. That citation is to Chapter XXV, Thirty Seventh Congress, Session II, Chapter 75, 1862 which one can find by looking up the congressional records. This sent me to the Library right after class to do so! If you are not interested, skip this next section.
Act of July 17, 1862: Honorably Discharged Soldiers (Re: Naturalization):“Section 2166: Any alien, of the age of twenty-one years and upward, who has enlisted, or may enlist, in the armies of the United States, either the regular or the volunteer forces, and has been , or may be hereafter, honorably discharged, shall be admitted to become a citizen of the United States, upon his petition, without any previous declaration of his intention to become such; and he shall not be required to prove more that on year’s residence within the United States previous to his application to become such citizen; and the court admitting such alien shall, in additions to proof of residence and good character, as now provided by law, be satisfied by competent proof of such person’s having been honorably discharged from the service of the United States.”
On Tuesday the question was: What President lost his citizenship and did not regain it? The answer is: John Tyler – who was a strong states rights person and who lived in Virginia at the time of secession. As a person living in Virginia he lost his citizenship AND he died before the end of the Civil War.
Wednesday evening Patricia Walls Stamm presented The Timeline: Linking Historical Events to Our Family History. She urged the use of a person’s life events with readily available timelines. Some genealogy software has this capacity. I know I have found timelines to be a big help in identifying where to look for more information about an ancestor.
Jeffrey Vaillant continues his series from the Samford Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR).
Tuesday morning was filled with Court Records presented by Christine Rose, CG, CGL, FASG – one of our many local (San Jose) gems. Part I of the presentation was The System and Its Records; Part II was on Estates. Like Lloyd and Claire, Christine prepared in advance very complete documentations supporting the presentation. What I gather is clues for my research. For example, we mainly think about court records being at the local level; however, I learned that is not the case for North Carolina. Those records are in the state archives. (Yes, after each class I have been visiting the library to do research on the items learned.) And courts issue licenses for ordinaries. An ordinary is what we might call a public inn. So did my ggg grandfather Charles Fuller get a license from the court before opening his inn in Jeffersonville, Indiana in the early 1820s? I do not know and will find out if there is a record to be found.– Jeffrey Vaillant
The afternoon was devoted to Military and Pension Records from the Revolutionary War through World War II. A big time span and with the prepared materials we are left with much research to do. I picked up several ideas about looking for NARA records for the War of 1812 which is one of my interests and research challenges. Lloyd knows his records and we sit spellbound as he relates to us his knowledge. A tidbit is what U. S. President lost his citizenship? Answer later in the week.
The Tuesday evening session was Certification: Procedures, Questions and Answers presented by Elissa Powell and Thomas Jones. For me this was one of those recharge the batteries as I continue to have a goal of certification.
Other stuff: The weather continues to be about 100°F with humidity of 90% each day. It rained briefly Monday and today which temporarily reduced the humidity for about 60 minutes.
The University Center Cafeteria does an excellent job feeding what must be 1500 people per meal. Yes, the lines are long and one does learn short cuts.
Samford University has about 2700 undergraduates and about the same number of graduate students. It is an all brick campus set on gentle hills.
Jeffrey Vaillant continues his series from the Samford Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR).
Lloyd de Witt Bockstruck began the morning by stating the “simple” Four Steps of Genealogical Research:– Jeffrey Vaillant
This four step process strikes me as a good guideline for the week. The first presentation was on Tax Records. Lloyd provided a bibliography of tax record sources that have been complied for many (but not all) states. He addressed remembering to know what the law required for taxing. And in the colonial period there were rent rolls rather than tax rolls in places like Virginia (paid to Lord Fairfax), Maryland (paid to Lord Baltimore), Pennsylvania (paid to William Penn) and North Carolina (paid to Lord Granville).
- What do you want to find or to prove?
- What kind of record would contain that information?
- Where does that record exist?
- How do I gain access to it?
Next Lloyd discussed the Pitfalls of Genealogy with a list of some twenty-eight examples! Some we all know about: surnames and forenames, Sr. versus Jr., as well as abbreviations and titles. Some people get tripped up on the sanctity of the printed word or the failure to become acquainted with local history. Ever hear the term “semi-posthumous child”? I certainly had not. Want to guess what it means? I will answer in a couple of days.
Claire Bettag, CG, CGL, presented the afternoon lecture on Federal Land Records at the National Archives. If you have heard Claire, then you will know it is impossible to nap after lunch when she is presenting. She ripped through her ten pages of prepared materials leaving behind many items for follow up. Upon my return I'll be visiting NARA in San Bruno to follow up on several sources she cited.
Lloyd finished the afternoon with A Genealogical Bibliography divided into subjects of Atlases/Gazetteers, Bibliographies, Biography, Dictionaries, Handbooks, Indexes, Law, Paleography, Passenger Lists, Periodicals, Manuscripts, and Ethnic Guides.
There are optional evening presentations offered. Monday night was excellent. Ruth Ann (Abels) Hager spoke on History through Genealogy—the Best of Both Worlds. She presented what would be called a case study on Dred and Harriet Scott: Their Family History. Yes, this is the Dred Scott of the U.S. Supreme Court decision. One might think that about all has been written and discovered about the family. Well, one would be wrong. Ruth has uncovered new materials and explained how using genealogical methodology led to the discoveries and their information. Her book was published this year and is now in my collection.
IGHR is the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research held annually at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. There are ten courses offered this year and I selected Intermediate Genealogy and Historical Studies whose course coordinator is Lloyd de Witt Bockstruck.– Jeffrey Vaillant
My trip to “genealogy camp” (as some call it) began innocently enough with a United Airlines flight from the San Francisco Bay Area to Birmingham with a stopover in Chicago – all on the Saturday before the institute to allow me to arrive a bit early. The travel time would allow me to read Virginia Winters’ book Murderous Roots (2009) which I highly recommend for mystery readers with a strong genealogical bent.
Landing at O’Hare International Airport brought the sudden news that my connecting flight to Birmingham had been cancelled. The agent at the gate informed me that the chances of getting out of Chicago were slim and to proceed to the customer service desk which he warned me would have a long line. How right he was. After waiting 2.5 hours in line I finally got to talk with a service person. No flights on any airline out of O’Hare Saturday night. What were my options? ALL the flights on Sunday were booked! To his credit the service person put me on a standby list for the 7 a.m. flight and if that did not work out he ticketed me from Chicago to Charleston, SC, to Charlotte, NC and then to Birmingham. Since the flight cancellation was weather related I got a discounted rate at the Doubletree in Rosemont and was assured that my luggage would be on the first flight out the next morning (which was my standby flight).
Up early Sunday morning, shuttle to the airport and Starbucks was my start of the the day. I found that watching the wonderfully informative screens at the gate kept me informed about the flight, including the standby list. I was number eleven and there were ten seats left. “Standbys” were encouraged to stay until the gate closed. I had an alternative so I waited it out. Four seats left and I am number seven on the list. WHAT?? My name was called and I was on the plane.
It was a short flight to Birmingham – one hour, forty five minutes – arriving before 9:00 a.m. Off to retrieve the luggage. The routing is well known. We all stand around staring at the conveyor belt which finally starts. Nope, the luggage did not arrive! Where is the luggage agent? The luggage office was closed so it was off to see a ticket agent. The luggage tag and the computer system worked well: the luggage was still in Chicago! The United Airlines Delayed Baggage Report was filled out and submitted. The assurance was I would hear within 24 hours. Well, that was not going to work since I was staying in the dorms and the luggage contained bedding materials and the like.
Since orientation was in the afternoon and it was hot in Birmingham (99°F.) I elected to stay in the airport and read Labor Day by Joyce Maynard on my Kindle. Afternoon arrived so it was time to taxi from the airport to Samford University ($45). It was amazing to see others standing around in the heat and humidity waiting to register – and the line got quite long before the doors opened. Registration was a snap due to the IGHR staff. I got my dorm room. Bare bones accommodations and the price is right.
Dinner was in the Cafeteria with more than the 300 attending IGHR. The campus is alive with various activities from summer youth sports camps to freshman orientation. The cafeteria staff must have feed 1500 people. The IGHR orientation followed. The orientation was complete and informative. I called United Airlines to find out the status on my luggage. Their call center could not find anyone at the Birmingham Airport---not surprise it being Sunday.
One advantage about conferences and institutes is the people who attend. I was able to hitch a ride to Kmart to get clean clothes and some bathing items as well as rent a room at the nearby Marriott for the night. At 11:30 p.m. my luggage arrived so Monday I could get settled into the dorm.
Ah, what an adventure. I knew I should have flown Southwest Airlines.
Welcome to the Third Edition of the Carnival of Genealogical Societies.
First, kudos to the footnoteMaven for creating the carnival badge and description:
The key to all good genealogical research starts with the society of other genealogists and in turn genealogy societies.Next, I must apologize for my tardiness and the lack of time and attention I have given to the GenSo Carnival. I promise to do a better job of promoting the carnival and gathering submissions starting with the next edition.
How is your society unique?
Tell us about something one-of-a-kind. Is it a program, project, or publication? A record set or archival holding? A certain procedure or way you handle meetings? This is your opportunity to tell why and how your society is special!
Does your society have a Facebook Page? What are the benefits? Are you an administrator or a regular contributor? Does it help your members or attract new visitors and members?
