CGS Website Honored by Family Tree Magazine as One of the Best!

Woo hoo! Family Tree Magazine has named the California Genealogical Society website – CaliforniaAncestors.org – one of the Best State Websites for 2010.

In the article Heads of State in the December 2010 issue of Family Tree Magazine (pages 20-27), author David A. Fryxell lists their 2010 picks for the 75 best U.S. state-focused websites for genealogical research.

To help you find these outstanding state sites – and to salute their efforts at making genealogical and historical information available online – we've compiled this state-centric Best Websites list.

California has two sites listed:

Online Archive of California <www.oac.cdlib.org>
Recently redesigned to take advantage of new technologies, the OAC opens the golden gate to more than 170,000 digital images and documents and nearly 20,000 collection guides.

California Genealogical Society and Library <californiaancestors.org>
You can search the library catalog and find answers in Research FAQs, or search the 350,000 names in the California Names Index. Get a hit? Just $10 will buy a lookup in the original source.

We're honored to be chosen and to be listed among so many fantastic online state resources. Thank you, Family Tree Magazine!

Congratulations to the Kathy Watson, Larry Youngman and the other members of the Website Committee and to all the volunteer members who have contributed to the California Genealogical Society website.

Kudos also to our volunteer librarians - past and present - whose hard work culminated in our online catalog and to the many members who have contributed to the California Names Index. We have the best volunteers in the world!



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

Burbank to Oakland: South Comes North For a Visit

A special meeting occurred on Thursday, September 23, 2010, when Jay Holladay and Vieve Metcalfe of the Southern California Genealogical Society paid a visit to the CGS Library. The couple were in the Bay Area for a school reunion and decided to mix in a little gen society business. It was an opportunity to meet with their NorCal counterparts, tour our library and take a look at our operation.

While Jay met with Technology Director Kathy Watson to discuss the website and facility equipment, Vieve met with CGS Librarian Laura Spurrier. Laura provided a tour of Surpass, our catalog software which our neighbors to the south are considering to replace their Access file.

Vieve Metcalfe, Laura Spurrier, Kathy Watson and Jay Holladay

Jay and Vieve are both active members of the Southern California Genealogical Society. Jay currently leads their Information Technology Team and the RootsMagic User Group. He has been a member of the SCGS board of directors since 2008 and he also serves on the Long-Range Planning Committee. Vieve presently serves as librarian, member of the Long Range Planning and Library Operations Committees, and as cataloguer for the CD collection. In the past, she has served as the Jamboree chair.

All genealogy societies face similar challenges but collaborative sessions like this are few and far between. The visit was so successful that it is likely to be repeated again as both societies plan to continue to share their experiences. Thanks, Jay and Vieve, for stopping by!


Photograph courtesy of Kathy Watson, 9/23/2010, Oakland, California.


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

Wordless Wednesday

CGS Table in the Exhibit Hall at the California Family History Expo

October 8-9, 2010

Photographs courtesy of Tim Cox, Pleasanton, California.

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

Tuesday Tales: Visiting iBrat in Illinois

Mary's back with another edition of her Tuesday travel adventures.

Doesn’t everyone have an iBrat? Daylene Goetz, a young woman who was beginning to research the KENTs, found me in August 2009 through my Tuesday Tales in Dorset, Vermont. Since she was a beginner, I tried to send her as much as possible – the direct line from the first Kent to our mutual Kent, some tombstone pictures, some town records and a few sources. She was going to write up the entire Kent family line as a Christmas present for her mother-in-law. Needless to say, I couldn’t believe she had a chance of finishing anything worthwhile by Christmas. Oh, my goodness, was I mistaken!  She is a wizard at using the internet and incredibly well organized and disciplined. Her mother-in-law and my fifth cousin, Sherry Goetz, was overwhelmed by the extraordinary 149-page book on the Kents, which she received for Christmas. My contribution was only a tiny part of what Daylene created.

Since her work on the book, Daylene and I have continued to email and to get to know each other. She asked me if she could adopt me as her iMom (Internet Mom). I loved the idea of having an iDaughter, but she much preferred to be called iBrat. She is a very good cook and sent me three cookie cans full of homemade goodies for Christmas – pecan turtles, peanut brittle and fudge. I sent her a big box of Meyer lemons from my tree.

She has researched and found tough-to-find information for me on Cephas Kent, Sr. and his son, Cephas Kent, Jr. I am writing a chapter on each of them for a book on Revolutionary War Patriots, which will be published by  group of us next year. Her sharp eye has edited them for me before they go off to the official editor. Thus, what I thought was an act of kindness turned into a fruitful genealogy partnership!

When she found out that I was driving back east, she graciously invited me to stop in Illinois and stay with her and her family – her husband, Todd, who is my fifth cousin, once removed, and their daughter, April. I spent a weekend with them and had a wonderful time. Todd’s parents, Sherry and Steve, came for dinner and we thought of Cephas Kent (1725-1809),  a strong-willed and very religious man, who often proclaimed, “Verily, I will have it so.” We all laughed and were sure we heard his voice in approval of our gathering!

iBrat Daylene Goetz and iMom Mary Mettler

Thank you, CGS, for posting my blogs and introducing me to a very fine genealogist and an inspiring new friend!

Your Roving Reporter,
Mary Mettler

Photograph courtesy of Mary Mettler.

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

Pick Up the New CGS Bookmark at California Family History Expo!

Ever since we unveiled our new look in February, members of the society have been working hard to incorporate the new "brand" into our various web homes, publications and other written matter.

The wonderfully talented Lois Elling has created a new bookmark for the society and we are giving them away today and tomorrow at the California Family History Expo.

Next week I'll be sure to blog the stories of the faces on the family tree.


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

Amazing 1906 Footage: San Francisco After the Quake and Fire

Thanks to Tim Cox for sending the link to this spellbinding video of San Francisco just after the Great 1906 Earthquake and Fire from Red Channels. It is a documentary compilation of actual footage from various parts of the city showing people getting on with their lives amidst the devastation. Especially interesting are the sections showing demolition of the burnt-out buildings and the temporary housing set up in tents.

San Francisco Earthquake and Fire from Red Channels on Vimeo.

1906/2009. 17 minutes. Film/Video. Silent.
Edited by Dan Meyerson and Matt Peterson.


Update: In case you missed it, on October 16, 2010, Morley Safer of 60 Minutes, the CBS News show, aired a full investigative report about the origin of the film.

The 60 Minutes site features lots of extras. Fascinating stuff!

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

Wordless Wednesday

Workshop: How to Conduct Oral Histories with Nancy Thompson
Saturday, August 14, 2010

Photographs courtesy of Jane Knowles Lindsey, Oakland, California.

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

Tuesday Tales: Salt Lake City Two Years Later

Mary Mettler returns! It's been two years since Mary shared her genealogy road trip across the country in the ten-part Tuesday Tales series. Now Mary is traveling again and is back with some new blog adventures. Thanks so much, Mary!

I’m on the road again for several family weddings and gatherings – mixed in, of course, with some genealogy! As always, my first stop was in Salt Lake City. The LDS Family History Library has added some additional scanners for microfilm. Two years ago, I signed up for my half-hour slot and was bumped off promptly. This year I was able to scan to my heart’s content. As to be expected when one doesn’t use equipment for awhile, I needed some technology assistance. My techie was a bit unusual! Pearl is ninety-five years old, yes, 95, and an absolute wizard on the scanner/computer/software! She showed me some shortcuts and tricks and had me well-trained in record time. Although she stood up with me for forty-five minutes, she did admit that she might use her walker a bit by the afternoon! She works three eight-hour days a week and feels it is very important to keep up on technology. I’d say she is doing a terrific job of keeping up!

Every time I come to the library, I look at the wall on the first floor where the library posts a large family tree for a line from which some of the Mormon founders or leaders descend. Each time I have been disappointed that none of my lines were shown. I almost didn’t look this time! There was one of my lines! My 11^th great-grandparents, Robert White (1558-1617) and his wife, Bridget Allgar (1562-after 1623), were the progenitors of eleven lines shown on the chart. Each line ended with a well-known person. The eleven famous descendants are Hiram Ulysses Grant, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Shirley Temple Black, William Williams, Emily Dickinson, Steve Young, Donnie Osmond, Joseph Smith, Gordon Hinckley, Lucille Ball and Philo Taylor Farnsworth, my second cousin twice-removed. I quickly figured out that Steve Young was my 12^th cousin twice removed. Hmmm…guess I won’t call him for dinner after all! 

My grandnephew, Andrew Mettler, is finishing up jet pilot training with the Marines. He was very excited to learn about the Wright brothers and exclaimed, “The genes must run deep!” The survival of a flight gene through all of those generations would be highly unlikely. But…our cousin flew planes right after World War I; my brother was a career Air Force pilot; my niece has a pilot’s license...

Your Roving Reporter,
Mary Mettler

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

November Membership Meeting - Soldiers and Statesmen: The History of the de Büren Family

Saturday, November 13, 2010
1:00 p.m.
California Genealogical Society Library
2201 Broadway, Suite LL2
Oakland, California

Covering over 800 years of family history in the United States, Switzerland and Argentina, the de Büren story encompasses passionate tales of suitors, soldiers, statesmen and saints. CGS member Jean-François de Büren will share tales of historical intrigue and the compelling family drama of his family's journey from Swiss nobility to the California Central Valley.

The short membership meeting starts promptly at 1:00 p.m. Mr. de Büren's presentation follows immediately after. Seating is limited so please arrive early. Meetings are open to everyone but non-members pay a $5.00 users fee to enter the library. (Or come and become a member!)

Graphic designer, writer, historian and genealogist, Jean-François de Büren has been passionate about his family history for as long as he can remember. For the past ten years Jean-François has actively worked on the story of his roots and is acknowledged as the family historian. He is the author of three blogs: The De Buren Family, The Grand Tour and The French of San Francisco. A dual Swiss and American citizen, he also writes about Swiss emigration to California and aims to retrace the journey of his great-great-grandfather through the Americas of the 1850s for a documentary film.


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

eNews October 2010, volume 4, number 10

The October 2010 issue of the eNews, volume 4, number 10,  has been published and emailed to members and friends. As always, the eNews features timely information about the California Genealogical Society and our upcoming events. Each edition also includes Suggested Links From the Blogosphere and a photo feature: California Ancestors.

This month we pay tribute to Florence Randolph Jackson Lee, grandmother of Lisa B. Lee of GotGenealogy.com.

Florence Randolph Jackson Lee

Past issues of the eNews are available at the eNewsARCHIVE.

The November 2010 issue will be emailed on October 31, 2010. To receive a copy, please join our mailing list.



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