Yelp: Genealogy!

I've experimented with a variety of online calendars and social media sites to promote California Genealogical Society events with varying success. The newest trend in social networking is "checking in" with GPS-enabled smart phones and applications such as Foursquare, Yelp, and Facebook Places. So, yes, I've created CGSL pages on all of the above – just in case.

One benefit – besides the free publicity – is the periodic emailed statistics report on the activity on the sites. Imagine my surprise when I got this month's breakdown of the page views on Yelp:

The bar graph shows 767 page views in October! The CGSL business page on Yelp was viewed an average of 25 times a day during Family History Month. I really can't explain the numbers except that we did do a lot of promoting of our classes and workshops.

Our First Free Saturday Intro to Genealogy class has been a fixture on Yelp since July 2007 and it does seem to be translating to increased attendance at the classes, especially among younger genealogists. It's not just beginners either. We're noticing experienced researchers who are taking advantage of the free day and are coming in to check us out. I'm proud to report that our volunteer teachers are great at making everyone feel welcome. They are taking the time to learn the experience level of their students so they can tailor the material and make sure everyone learns something.

Yelp.com markets itself "Real people, real reviews." It's primarily a place for ordinary people to write about their experiences at restaurants and the businesses they frequent. So far we only have two reviews but they're both 5 stars and one reviewer has since become an active member.

Mary Beth Frederick taught the first Saturday in October class and she sent this feedback from one of her Yelping students:

You mentioned that I might be a bit advanced for the class, but I wanted to assure you that it was one of the best things that I have done. Not only did I learn some interesting information, but I made use of the links provided by you in the workshop. After posting pictures on deadfred.com I was contacted within 72 hours by a distant cousin!

I know that I could have found the links another way, but I might not have used them because I wouldn't have trusted them. But I felt that the ones that were provided had most likely been tested and I would have a better chance of not going to a bogus website.

After several conversations with my cousin, I have been able to get the names on pictures that my grandfather left me and start making more connections. Thanks again!

So if you haven't checked it out yet, take a look at Yelp.com and see what "genealogy" venues and reviews have been posted in your neighborhood.



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

eNews November 2010, volume 4, number 11

The November 2010 issue of the eNews, volume 4, number 11,  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's photograph was submitted by Ron Davis of his homesteading ancestors –  the family of Martin Enos DAVIS, of Amidon, North Dakota. 

Past issues of the eNews are available at the eNewsARCHIVE.

The December 2010 issue will be emailed on November 30, 2010. To receive a copy, please join our mailing list.


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

Workshop: Heating Up Your Research with Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps

Saturday, December 11, 2010
1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

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

Join Dr. Melinda Kashuba for this informative workshop and learn how to use Sanborn fire insurance maps in your family history research.

Tracing urban ancestors can be challenging because of the mobility of city residents and the ever-changing nature of cities. Maps assist genealogists in not only locating physical addresses but also providing context for the lives of their family. Maps can provide details about the places where an ancestor lived, worked, worshiped, attended school, shopped, and recreated.

There are a number of map resources available to the researcher to help flesh out an urban ancestor’s life. The lecture portion of the workshop is designed to introduce you to fire insurance maps and what they can tell us about individual properties, neighborhoods as well as the development of cities during the 19th and 20th centuries in the United States and Canada. The workshop includes a participatory component where you will become familiar with the symbols used on fire insurance maps and have an opportunity to study examples of this phenomenal information source.

The workshop is FREE for CGS members but is limited to twenty people. Non-members fee is $20.00 (non-refundable) and can be applied towards membership on the day of the workshop. Preregistration is required. Walk-ins will not be admitted.

Register online.

Melinda Kashuba holds a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of California, Los Angeles. She is a popular lecturer and author of Walking with Your Ancestors: a Genealogist’s Guide to Using Maps and Geography (Family Tree Books, 2005) plus numerous articles in genealogical magazines and other publications. Her specialties include nineteenth and twentieth century American records and maps. She performs genealogical research for clients and can be reached at TKashuba@aol.com.


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

On The Road to San Joaquin County

Thursday, November 18, 2010
1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Cesar Chavez Central Library
605 North El Dorado Street
Stockton, CA 95202


REI

Stone Creek Shopping Center
5757 Pacific Avenue (cross street is Robinhood Drive)
Stockton, CA 95207

It's time for another roadshow!

This time, California Genealogical Society members are invited to join with members of the San Joaquin Genealogical Society for networking and two presentations.

PROGRAM

1:00 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.   Have You Been to the California Genealogical Society Library?
Past-President Jane Lindsey will present an overview of the outstanding resources at the CGS Library and share information about upcoming events and programs.

1:45 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Break. Refreshments will be served!

2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Some Brick Walls Are of Our Own Making
Lavinia Schwarz’s spell-binding talk will help you look at your own brick walls with new openness, ideas, strategies and historical insight.

"On the Road" get-togethers are a fun way to meet members in the target locale and are designed to help link neighbors who share an interest in genealogy. The programs are open to the public. If you live in the San Joaquin County, please join us!

The society gratefully acknowledges the assistance of famous geneablogger, Sheri Fenley. True to her blog name, The Educated Genealogist, Sheri made the arrangements for the program. She is a member of both societies as well as editor of the San Joaquin Genealogical Society newsletter.

Update! The venue has changed for this event. New location:

REI Meeting Room
Stone Creek Shopping Center
5757 Pacific Avenue (cross street is Robinhood Drive)

Stockton, CA 95207

GPS Coordinates [Hey, this is REI, after all!]
38° .124' N
121° 19.023' W
WGS84

The meeting room is located in the rear of the store, upstairs.

RSVP online.


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

Tuesday Tales: Cemeteries - Sometimes Places Neither Final Nor Restful

Just in time for Halloween, Mary's back with tales from some cemeteries.

I spent a Sunday “tombstone tripping” in Rhode Island, and the experience made me think of some of the things that can happen to ancestors’ remains after burial in cemeteries. In 2008, I went to the Old Cemetery in Suffield, Connecticut to find a number of tombstones. Unfortunately, the church had expanded right over the early Kent graves!  They were now buried under the church, and the tombstones were gone. I guess their early 1700s bones were dust by the time of the construction, but the situation was unsettling.

On this Sunday in Bristol, Rhode Island, I went to Juniper Hill Cemetery, one of the most beautiful cemeteries I have ever seen. It was located, as the name implied, on a gentle hill in a wood of juniper trees. You walk along and a cleared area of tombstones, usually all of one family, would appear. Two of my ancestral families were early settlers in Bristol and were founders of St. Michael’s Church and were buried there. The stones from St. Michael’s cemetery were moved to Juniper Hill, and some were moved back to St. Michael’s later and placed near the church. Members of one family, the Pearses, were in a nice clearing in the woods; however, I was dismayed to see their stones stacked in rows with a foot or two between each stone. Obviously, only the stones were moved. Where were their remains? And what about the stones moved back to St. Michael? Shouldn’t our ancestors be left in peace?

The early members of the Monro/Munro family were also moved to Juniper Hill to join later family members. One important member was missing originally. My 4^th great grandfather, Dr. Thomas Munro, lived in Bristol but died in 1785 on a trip to visit friends at the Davis farm in Stonington, Connecticut. He was buried there; however, his granddaughter, Lydia M. Cook, had the remains brought to the family plot in 1900. The original stone was also relocated and seems prophetic. Part of the transcription reads:

O, Death, thou hast conquer’d me.
I by thy dart am slain,
But Christ hath Conquer’d thee
And I will rise again.

I feel somewhat better about this move.  He was buried alone in Connecticut, and his remains and the original stone were moved to join the other family members in a lovely cemetery.  All these examples remind us that being buried in a cemetery does not guarantee that we will be left in peace for eternity.

– Mary Mettler

Photograph by Julie Nathanson, used with permission.


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

Blood on the Ramparts

Board member Jeffrey Vaillant sent this announcement. Jeff serves as Secretary of the Friends of Civil War Alcatraz.

The 26th Annual West Coast Civil War Conference will take place November 12-14, 2010, at the San Francisco War Memorial Building located at 401 Van Ness Avenue. Nationally known speakers will address the subject of coastal defenses so the conference is called Blood on the Ramparts. The conference is co-chaired by Fred Bohmfalk who ran the last conference in Sacramento and Brad Schall who is the Commander-in-Chief of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, a 6000 member organization. Along with Fred and Brad there have been about a dozen people (Jeff included) who have been planning the event for the past eighteen months.

After two days of presentations, Sunday, November 14, will be tour day of Fort Alcatraz, Fort Mason, Fort Point and the Presidio. The event is co-hosted by the Friends of Civil War Alcatraz and with the San Francisco Civil War Round Table. The key note speaker will be the renowned Civil War author and speaker James McPherson. His book Battle Cry of Freedom has sold six hundred thousand copies.


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

San Francisco Bay Area Genealogy Calendar: November 2010 Published

November 2010 events have been published on the San Francisco Bay Area Genealogy Calendar – a collection of local genealogical society classes, workshops and meetings within a 75 mile radius of San Francisco.

The November calendar includes thirty-eight offerings from twenty-three listed Bay Area genealogical societies. Two seminars are planned for Saturday, November 6, 2010:

Family History Keepsakes sponsored by Sacramento Regional Family History Center

Using and Interpreting Records with Michael John Neil sponsored by the San Mateo County Genealogical Society.

If you would like to add your group's events to the calendar, please email the information by the 20th of each month for publication on the 25th. (Please put "SFBA Calendar" in the subject line.)


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

Wordless Wednesday

California Genealogical Society

Board of Directors Meeting

Photograph by Kathryn M. Doyle, Oakland, California, 7/21/2010.


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

Tuesday Tales: Mary's Uncooperative Ancestor

Mary Mettler sent one more installment of her adventures on the road. Anyone out there have some clues about Oren PARKER?

Some ancestors just don’t want to be researched, and they let you know it! In 2008, I drove out to Westford, Vermont, which is in the middle of nowhere. My second great grandmother, Sylvia Parker, was born there, the daughter of Oren/Orin/Orrin and Lavina (Farnsworth) Parker. The Farnsworths have rarely been a problem, as they reported births, marriages and deaths to the various towns in which they lived in New England. Oren, however, left few “footprints.” I dug into the dusty town records and found very little. From other sources, I found that he and extended family moved to what was then Antioch Township, now Lake Villa, Lake County, Illinois in the late 1830s.

Over the next year, my cousin Aimee Miller and I did more digging. In the Westford census, Oren lived next door to an Aaron Parker, who was the same age as he was. Perhaps he was a cousin? Later censuses all reported that Oren had been born in Massachusetts. We searched and searched and came up with nothing! Other researchers provided possible fathers; however, land, probate and family records disproved them all. In Antioch records, we discovered that Oren was buried in Angola Cemetery, which was on his original land. Of course, he had no tombstone; however, the sextant reported the place of his burial. I was in Indiana on my way home, so, I decided to go to Antioch to dig some more there.

I waited until after rush hour to take on the formidable Dan Ryan freeway in Chicago. That’s when Oren started giving me fits! I struggled through bumper-to-bumper traffic, major construction, and closed freeway exits. When I finally reached the cemetery, I gathered up all of my camera gear for the various Parker and Farnsworth tombstones and, of course, the empty spot which was Oren’s burial plot. As I stepped out of the car, a huge rainstorm began! Okay, I just hopped in my car to go to the Lake Villa library. Halfway there, the rain stopped. Ha, I’ll fool Oren and sneak back to the cemetery. As soon as I stepped out of the car, the rain began again in earnest! So, back and forth I went until I just gave up and took pictures in the rain.

Later at the library, I discovered that Oren and his two brothers, Abel and John, were some of the founders of Antioch. But, to this day, Aimee and I have been unable to find Oren’s birthplace and his parents. We will continue to search and look forward to whatever tricks Oren might have to block our research!

– Mary Mettler 

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

Workshop: Guidelines for Writing Your Family History 11/20

Saturday, November 20, 2010
10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

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


Join Don Edwards for this informal interactive workshop to help you write creative family stories, professional reports and clear articles. Bring your current genealogical writing projects to discuss.

Schedule
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Interactive lecture.
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.  Break for lunch. Bring a brown bag or purchase at a local restaurant.
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.    Writing activities.

The workshop is FREE for CGS members but is limited to ten people. Non-members fee is $20.00 (non-refundable) and can be applied towards membership on the day of the workshop.

Preregistration is required. Walk-ins will not be admitted.

Register online.


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