Online genealogy, week of June 22-28

Here are some online genealogy events offered this week. Most are free. See our post “Genealogy Learning in the Time of Coronavirus,” for links to archived classes at Ancestry, FamilySearch, RootsTech, and more.

Conferences and Webinars (fee charged)

June 25-27: "Virtual Spring Research Stay-At-Home"–American Ancestors
June 27-28: “Hidden Gems at the Missouri State Archives” –St. Louis Genealogical Society

To register for a class below, please click on the name of the host organization.

The New England Historical and Genealogical Society offers this presentation:
June 24: "Rivals Unto Death: Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr" by Rick Beyer

Legacy Family Tree hosts the following free classes:

June 23: "Working with SuperSearch to find the Right Historical Record" by Daniel Horowitz 
June 24: "Utilizing the HathiTrust Digital Library" by Colleen Robledo Greene

"Free Webinar Weekends":

June 26-28: "African American Genealogy," featuring five presentations over two days. Visit the website to register and for details.

FamilySearch has free webinars every week. This week:

June 23: "¿Qué harías tu?" (in Spanish)
June 23: "Oregon Land Donation Records" by Lyn Rasmussen

Conference Keeper has a large calendar of activities (too many to list) by genealogical associations around the country. New events are often added at the last minute, so check the calendar frequently. 

Here are a few of this week's highlights:

June 22: “New Jersey Vital Records, Adoption, and Divorce” by Melissa Johnson

June 23: “Google Books: The Tool You Should Use Every Day!” by Lisa Louise Cooke

June 24: “2020 Update: Basics of Ancestry.com” with James Tanner

June 25: “The Connemaras: Despair in the Heartland” by Jane Kennedy

June 25: “Ethical Dilemmas in Genealogy” by Dr. Penny Walters

June 27: "Our Ancestors Weren't Always Honest" by Amy Crabill Lay

June 28: “Finding Jewish Records on the MyHeritage Search Engine” by Daniel Horowitz

Copyright © 2020 by California Genealogical Society

Quarantine Quests: Finding Enoch

This Quarantine Quests story is from CGS member Shirley Thomson and written by Chris Pattillo.

More than fifty years ago Shirley Thomson began her quest for the birth family of her husband, Tommy’s, earliest known ancestor, Enoch Thomson, born in 1784 in New York. Shirley started searching for Enoch’s parentage when she discovered the wealth of genealogical records in the local library where she was working in 1962. Since that time, she has persisted in her efforts to discover Enoch’s connection to one of many Thomson family trees.

Enoch Thomson (1784-1872),
farmer and part-time Baptist preacher,
 Sullivan County, Indiana

The best part of being quarantined is that “it eliminates my need to make excuses for working on my family history” says Shirley. After many years of searching and not finding the desired connection, Shirley decided to hire the CGS Research team to help with her quest. That decision was made in February of 2020, shortly before the quarantine began. Initially, hiring the research team – that includes Lavinia Schwarz and Pat Smith – increased Shirley’s workload. As the team of researchers dug in, they presented Shirley with lots of questions. Shirley was very busy answering their questions starting in February and into the early weeks of the quarantine. Since then she has taken a bit of a break from genealogy.

When asked what tips Shirley had to offer, she said “Perseverance.” That is what is needed when tackling a tough problem. After fifty-plus years of pursuit I’d say Shirley is a model of perseverance.

Shirley has been using DNA to look for Enoch’s parents since 2006. She has found several autosomal and yDNA matches – some with lines going back to the mid-1600s. Each new DNA clue confirms the same family line, but she has yet to find Enoch from any of these leads. One of her challenges is the tradition in this family to use middle or nicknames, so while she is focused on looking for Enoch it may be that he was known as “Ed” and that is why she has yet to pin this man down.

Deed to land purchased by brothers-in-law Justis Clark and Enoch Thomson
of Lysander, New York, on 30 July 1811. By 1820, both Clark and Thomson
families were resettled on farms near the Wabash River in Indiana

I asked how she managed to come up with new questions to ask after fifty years of searching – how does she formulate new questions that enable her to approach the problem from a different perspective? Her answer was prompt and emphatic: “Oh, that’s easy, because technology gives us new opportunities all the time'” When asked for an example, Shirley said she has three pages of names of other Thomson descendants who are doing research on this same family. She was able to print this out from the GEDmatch.com site. The report lists people who match Enoch’s autosomal DNA. She can refine the list and see their ancestral lines and what they are focused on. Using their GEDCOM identification number she can compare them to other matches to her husband. Studying this information continues to provide new clues.

So far neither Shirley nor the research team have found the link they are seeking, but all are persevering.

Enoch's son Reuben Thomson (1827-1907) with his wife Margaret McKinney
 and nine grown children, mid-1800s

If you have a Quarantine Quests story to share, please contact Chris at cpattillo@californiaancestors.org.

Copyright © 2020 by California Genealogical Society

Website Content Committee: Pedigree Charts Project

Chris Pattillo writes:
If you have not already seen the video about our Pedigree Charts project made by Ron Madson, you can see it by clicking on the link. Ron is one of a number of CGS volunteers who are working with the Website Content Committee to put more source material on our website. The idea to do this is one of the many good suggestions that were put forth by our members during the Strategic Planning process.  

Ron Madson in his studio with the equipment he is using to
photograph two volumes of pedigree charts

This project began over one hundred years when some of the founding members created pedigree charts and had them bound into books. We have two volumes of CGS Pedigree Charts on the back wall where the oversized books are shelved. These books are beautifully done. They are eight-generation charts written in ink. In addition to birth, death and marriage dates and places, some charts include photographs, obituaries and newspaper clippings.

These books were made ca. 1920

The Pierson Worrall Banning Chart was completed on
September 13, 1916

Years later other volunteers indexed the names from these books. They extracted the data and typed it onto 3x5 cards. Each card provides the individual’s name, the name of the chart it appears on, and what volume and page that chart appears on.

Other volunteers typed the data from the charts onto 3x5 cards

We are now converting the data on the 3x5 cards into a searchable database so that members can easily search for an ancestor online. Once the project is complete our members in other states and countries will be able to easily access this wealth of records without having to come into the library.

Our current team includes Stewart Traiman, who scanned about 8000 index cards, and Theresa Murphy, who created a data entry spreadsheet, a completed sample and instructions for how to index the data. Kathleen Beitiks is identifying and coordinating a team of volunteers who have agreed to do the indexing, and as the data comes in John Ralls will be putting it up on the website. I have had the pleasure of leading this team effort and keeping us all focused on the end goal.

One of about 200 8-generation pedigree charts that Ron is
photographing. Note: this is my iPhone snapshot. Ron's
photos will be much better.

Ron Madson agreed to take high-quality photographs of each tree – about 200 of them. He has an impressive set of equipment and is using Adobe Lightroom to organize and edit the photos.

Many of the charts have photos attached

The Banning chart includes this obituary

If you are interested and have time to help with the indexing please contact me at cpattillo@californiaancestors.org or Kathleen Beitiks at kbeitiks@californiaancestors.org. The Website Content Committee is working on several other projects. I’ll share more about those as we make progress.

This box of 3x5 cards was scanned for the internet

Copyright © 2020 by California Genealogical Society

Online genealogy, week of June 15-21

Here are some online genealogy events offered this week. Most are free. See our post “Genealogy Learning in the Time of Coronavirus,” for links to archived classes at Ancestry, FamilySearch, RootsTech, and more.

Don't miss CGS's offering: "Excel for Genealogists," a very popular two-part class led by Stewart Blandon, on June 16 & 17.

To register for a class below, please click on the name of the host organization.

Association of Professional Genealogists hosts a free webinar:

June 15: "Risky Business: Limiting Liability in a Litigious World" by Judy G. Russell

The Southern California Genealogical Association hosts a free webinar:

June 17: "The Other Census: U.S. State Censuses" by Thomas MacEntee

The New England Historical and Genealogical Society offers these free online classes:

June 16: "From Teeming Zion's Fertile Womb": The Curious Career of Judah Monis by Michael Hoberman

June 18: "Getting Started in Portuguese Genealogy" by Rhonda R. McClure

Legacy Family Tree hosts the following free classes:

June 16 & 17: "Genealogical Treasures in Irish Archives" by David Ouimette

June 17: "Bridging the Gap: Finding Ancestors in the United States Between 1780 and 1840" by D. Joshua Taylor

LFT also offers "Free Webinar Weekends" in June, with a variety of speakers.

June 19-21, Great Britain, 6 classes

June 26-28, African American Genealogy, 5 classes

Visit the website for details.

FamilySearch has free webinars every week. This week:

June 15: Best Practices on Family Tree for Nordic Ancestors

Conference Keeper has a large calendar of activities (too many to list) by genealogical associations around the country. New events are often added at the last minute, so check the calendar frequently.

Here are a few of this week's highlights:

June 16: "Smarter Search Strategies for Genealogy" (Wisconsin State Genealogical Society) by Thomas MacEntee

June 16: "Naturalization Records" (Pinellas Genealogy Society) by Peter Summers

June 16:  "Finding Family: Finding Your Female Ancestors on Naturalization Records" (National Archives) by Zack Wilske

June 17: "Locating Records in Archives From Your Couch" (BYU Family History Library) by Sara Cochran

June 17: "Research Methods and Sources and Citations" (MyHeritage) with Dick Eastman

June 18: "Seven Proven Strategies for Identifying Slave Ownership and Reconstructing Families: New Paths and Trails" (Florida State Genealogical Society) with Janis Minor Forté

June 18: "The Musical 'Chicago' and All That Genealogical Jazz" by Mike Karsen

June 20: "Japanese Family Names and Crests (Kamon)" with Chester Hashizume

Copyright © 2020 by California Genealogical Society

In Memoriam: Laura Spurrier, 1941-2020

Laura Spurrier (second from left) in 2016, with CGS team
members Jim Robinson, Gloria Hanson, and Chris Pattillo

Our CGS family of volunteers and members were saddened to hear of the passing of Laura Spurrier this past Tuesday morning (June 9). She had been a CGS member since 1996.

She served on our Board of Directors and the library committee and was our librarian for many years. Among her specific services to CGS were:

• Organizing and coordinating the movement of our books to our current library location from our old location at 1601 Telegraph in 2007.

• Securing the funding for, and overseeing the transition of, our library card catalog to digital and making it available on our website.

• Co-leading one of our first research trips to the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana and providing consultations before and after that trip.

• Serving as an editor for the CGS book on the Judge family.

Laura had a masters degree in history from the University of Wisconsin and a master of library science degree from UC Berkeley. She worked as a technical information specialist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory until her retirement. She was able to put her education and experience to good use at CGS and we appreciate, and have benefited from, her involvement. She was always willing to help others with their genealogy questions, especially if they were related to Scandinavian or Quaker issues.

Our thoughts and condolences go to her family. A memorial will be held in Berkeley, once it is safer to do so.

James Sorenson, President

Copyright © 2020 by California Genealogical Society

Family History with Young Kids… While Sheltering In Place

This blog post was contributed by Marisa Louie Lee.

I was making some exciting strides in my genealogy research this year until mid-March, when my daughter’s preschool closed and landed her at home with her younger sister and me. We’ve since filled our days with class Zoom meetings, sidewalk chalk, watching lettuce grow in the backyard, crafting with toilet paper tubes, and lots of yoga on YouTube… and lately, a few family history projects. While visiting research rooms or meeting up with other researchers is in the distant future, I can still work on something just as important as piecing together the past: fostering a love for family history and their cultural heritage in my kids.

For children, especially those under the age of 5, identity is tied to family. Understanding family traditions and being able to share family narratives strengthens one’s pride in family, building confidence and self-esteem. With this foundation, children can better understand differences among their peers and build relationships with others. Here are some ways you can introduce family history to young children while sheltering in place.

Making Chinese turnip cake at home

Cooking Family Recipes: The food of Shelter in Place is definitely comfort food – and what’s more comforting than what your family has made for generations? Share the stories that go along with the recipes. Was there a special plate that your grandmother used to serve the cake? Was this casserole a special food for holidays or birthdays? If you don’t have a family recipe for something you enjoyed as a child, find one online and refine it until it feels and tastes right. We made my mother-in-law’s favorite Chinese turnip cake (lo bak go) for the first time last month. An aunt has also been perfecting her Hong Kong-style egg custard tart (daan tat) recipe, and our kids have happily eaten all of the trial tarts left on our doorstep.

Thumbs up for homemade custard tarts!

Family Photo Sharing on Zoom: On Mother’s Day, our extended family gathered on Zoom. We devoted part of our meeting to sharing and talking about family pictures. My daughter loves seeing photos of adults as children, so she was enthralled by a photo from her great-great-grandmother’s birthday party in the 1960s. Best of all, the Zoom meeting was recorded so we are able to go back and listen to everyone’s reminiscences. This would be an excellent activity for a family member who’d like to offer some virtual babysitting to busy parents.  

Cemetery Visits: Instead of taking a walk at a local park, why not visit a local cemetery? This would have to be carefully planned and obviously may not be appropriate for every child. Our children are very comfortable at cemeteries because we visit twice yearly for Chinese grave cleaning days in the spring and fall. Visit the grave of an ancestor and share a story, or find a grave and discover ways to find out more about that individual and the time period in which they lived. My daughter talks about time and history comparatively to people and things she is familiar with: was this person alive when her parents or grandparents were born? Which famous Disney movies – like Snow White (1937) or Cinderella (1950) – were around then? Were there cars or did people ride horses?

Visiting Hoy Sun Cemetery in Colma

Honoring family on Memorial Day

COVID-19 Time Capsule: Document the history happening now. What is it like sheltering in place with your family? How are you celebrating holidays and special occasions? What are your favorite books, movies, and pastimes right now? This COVID-19 time capsule by LONG Creations is designed for young children to complete and color with some adult assistance.

 

Some books from our family library

Picture Books on Family History: Read books on family history, particularly any that relate to your child’s culture and ancestors. My daughter will eventually learn more fully about the Chinese Exclusion Act and Chinese communities in the Sacramento Delta, but for now we can talk about immigrant journeys and the meanings of our names. Some recent fantastic picture books with a thread about family history and heritage include Islandborn by Junot Díaz and Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal. You can also find books specifically about family trees and genealogical research, such as My Family Tree and Me by Dušan Petričić. If you don’t mind using a tablet or electronic device to read with your child, these may be available as e-books from your local public library. I’ve developed a reading list in my San Francisco Public Library account with these and other titles.

Many thanks to friends and colleagues in genealogy and parenthood Linda Harms Okazaki, Asia Yee Mountz, and Petra Fraties for their input and contributions to this blog post. This article published on the Your DNA Guide blog further discusses family narratives and building resilience in children.

Copyright © 2020 by California Genealogical Society

Online genealogy, week of June 8-15

 

Here are some online genealogy events offered this week. Most are free. See our post “Genealogy Learning in the Time of Coronavirus,” for links to archived classes at Ancestry, FamilySearch, RootsTech, and more.

To register for a class below, please click on the name of the organization.

Association of Professional Genealogists hosts a free webinar: June 15: Risky Business: Limiting Liability in a Litigious World by Judy G. Russell

The New England Historical and Genealogical Society offers these free online classes:

June 8: Honor Moore with Our Revolution: A Mother and Daughter at Mid-Century (New England Historical Genealogical Society)

June 10: Researching English Eastern Canada

June 10: First Steps in Family History 

Legacy Family Tree and MyHeritage host "Free Weekend Webinars" in June. They feature a variety of speakers on 3 different tracks:

Technology, June 12-14, 6 classes

Great Britain, June 19-21, 6 classes

African American, June 26-28, 5 classes
Visit the website for details.

FamilySearch has free webinars every week. This week:

June 9: Online Resources for Reading Dutch Documents

June 9: ¿Qué dice? Como leer la escritura antigua (in Spanish)

June 10: England Records Beyond the Grave

June 15: Best Practices on Family Tree for Nordic Ancestors 

The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society hosts two free webinars:

June 8: The New York Gateway: Immigration, Emigration and Migration by Jane E. Wilcox June 9: 2020 New York State Family History Conference--What's On the Program? Susan R. Miller and D. Joshua Taylor Conference Keeper has a large calendar listing activities by genealogical associations around the country. Here are a few notable events: June 9: Finding What You Need and Using What You Find (Virtual Genealogical Association) by Pam Vestal June 9: Pity the Poor Orphan: Children’s Homes in America (Allen County Public Library) June 9: Genealogische Karten online selbst erstellen mit StepMap (in German) June 10:  Duplicates in Family Tree, Part 1: Why They’re There and How to Find Them (BYU Family History Library) with Kathryn Grant  June 11: The Fisherman Who Wanted to Marry the Executioner’s Daughter: Stories You Missed from German Marriage Sources (Germanic Genealogy Societ) by Warren Bittner June 11: Adventures with Adobe Photoshop Elements: Enhancement, Contrast, and Brightness Correction (Allen County Public Library) June 14: U.K. Parish Registers (Virtual Genealogy Association) by Robert Parker Stay safe, be well, and happy learning!

Copyright © 2020 by California Genealogical Society

Quarantine Quests: A Treasure Trove of Stories

Chris Pattillo is collecting "Quarantine Quests," stories of genealogical projects and discoveries made by our members while sheltering at home due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. This Quarantine Quests story is from CGS member Jan Rubin.

CGS member Jan Rubin with her paternal
grandfather, Roy Baxter, 1953

Being quarantined at home has given Jan Rubin the time to reflect on her family’s history and to think about why she is so committed to continuing to research and weave together the many pieces of her family’s story. It has enhanced her sense of who she is and how her ancestors have shaped her. When the quarantine began Jan decided to focus on her paternal grandfather, Roy Raymond Baxter.

Jan inherited her family’s records – a treasure trove of photos, postcards, letters and research done by other family members. These documents and memorabilia came to her from her father, who had saved them from his father. Roy Baxter was a native of Nova Scotia who had studied to become a farmer, as his father and grandfather had been. But after a series of setbacks beginning around 1920 – his farm burning down, the Spanish flu pandemic, and a brief economic depression that followed World War I – Roy and his wife left Nova Scotia and traveled across Canada, with Jan’s father being born in 1921 in Edmonton, Alberta. After a final visit back to Nova Scotia, the Baxter family, including Roy’s brother, emigrated to Washington State in 1927. They heard from a friend from their hometown that there were jobs at a plywood factory in the Grays Harbor area of Washington and Roy and his brother went to work there.

Jan is grateful to relatives and ancestors who for generations saved the pieces of their lives and handed them down to her. When she made research trips to Nova Scotia these same relations shared their stories and guided Jan to the places where her ancestors lived and worked. Now she is focused on stitching it all together, like making a family quilt, so that she in turn will continue the tradition and share the story with future generations.

Roy age 16, Amherst, Nova Scotia

Jan joined CGS in 2017. Like so many new to our society her first encounter was with Jane Lindsey, who immediately jumped in with gusto to guide Jan in her endeavors. Throughout my interview Jan repeatedly acknowledged how generous CGS members have been in helping with her research and methodologies. She is using a timeline structure to organize her material – one of the first tips learned. She mentioned help from Pam Brett, Lisa Gorrell, Maureen Hanlon, and Sally Houston, who all have generously shared their tips for tackling a somewhat daunting undertaking. Jan regularly attends the CGS monthly FTM group where she enjoys a sense of camaraderie fostered by facilitators Ron Madson and Karen Halfon as facilitators.

Roy with son Gerald Baxter (Jan's father) Edmonton, Alberta
Canada 1922

Telling her grandfather’s story has been intuitive and revealing at the same time. Jan has personal recollections of spending time with her grandfather when she was a young child. She knew him as a quiet man who was soft spoken – never a braggart. She has a strong sense of this man and acknowledges how he has shaped her life. The revelations have come through her research. In wanting to add context to her grandfather’s story Jan has visited the places he lived and worked. She has seen the boots and lunchboxes that men wore and used while working in the plywood factory where he worked for many years. She has stood in the places where he fought during World War I. These experiences, images, recollections provide the context that explains her grandfather’s life and who he was.

Roy during WWI, 1916

While quarantined, Jan has fallen into a rhythm of how she spends her days. After breakfast and the daily news, she typically devotes a couple hours of her morning to work on her family history, a break and then her afternoon is divided between another major project and taking time to connect with other people. The balance has worked well. Most days she focuses on a particular task she wants to accomplish but on other days she is able to let that go and allows herself more flexibility.

Right now, her goal is to “get to the bottom of the box,” so to speak – to make sure she has reviewed and processed every item she inherited and to put it into order. What’s next? A book, a blog, a Nugget article or researching her mother’s side of the family? The quarantine has given Jan time to reflect, to go back in time because she knows it is important to honor her ancestors, to record their struggles and quiet achievements.

Copyright © 2020 by California Genealogical Society

Online genealogy, week of June 1-7

 

Here are some online genealogy events offered this week. Most are free. See our post “Genealogy Learning in the Time of Coronavirus,” for links to archived classes at Ancestry, FamilySearch, RootsTech, and more.

Online Conferences:
June 5-7: The Ontario Genealogical Society hosts a virtual conference. There are online events every day this week leading up to the conference. See website for details.
June 6: America: Our Records and Our History (Pima County Genealogical Society)
June 6: Genealogical Society of New Jersey virtual conference

To register for a class below, please click on the link of the organization.

Legacy Family Tree and MyHeritage offer these webinars:

June 2 & 3: Sources for Landed and Titled People by Paul Milner
June 3: "What are the Odds?" An online tool that can help solve DNA puzzles by Jonny Perl

FamilySearch has free webinars every week. This week:

June 2: The Research Process, Research Help, and Searching Records

Conference Keeper lists many of the above, as well as the following:

June 2: Return to the Catskills (Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center Event) by Phil Brown

June 2: "How do you do that? Practical Suggestions for People Who Want to do Genealogical Lecturing" (Utah Genealogical Association) by Jean Wilcox Hibben

June 2: Understanding Graveyard Symbols (Allen County Genealogy Center) by Cathy Wallace 

 

June 3: From a Box in the Closet to a Treasured Family Heirloom: Organizing and Digitizing your Family Photos by Sara Cochran

June 3: Exploring the Rhineland-Palatinate by Claire Gebben

June 3: How to Use the FamilySearch Wiki and Catalog with Amber Oldenburg

 

June 4: Researching Indigenous Ancestors in Northern Ontario by Jenna Lemay

June 4: Brickwall Busting Strategies: Hammering at the Wall by Mid-Cities (Texas) Genealogical Society
June 4: Village Family Books [Ortssippenbücher] (Germanic Genealogy Society) by Warren Bittner
Jun 4: Y-DNA Basics with Q&A on any DNA topic (Allen County Genealogy Center) by Sara Allen

June 5: The English Garden: Perfection on Earth (New England Historical and Genealogical Society) by Curt DiCamilo

June 6: Beginning Italian Genealogy Research (Virtual Genealogy Association) by Mary Hojnacki
June 6: Using Military Records for African American Research Workshop (Afro-American Historical & Genealogical Society of Nashville) with Tina Cahalan Jones

Stay safe, be well, and happy learning!

Copyright © 2020 by California Genealogical Society

Immigrant Sugar Plantation Workers in Hawaii: A History

As we observe Asian Pacific American Heritage month, we are pleased to share this post by CGS volunteer Cindy Thomson.

The first sugar plantation workers in Hawaii were Native Hawaiians.  Given their aversion to the regimented, arduous labor required in the cane fields and the widespread view (at least at that time) that disease was driving the Hawaiians to extinction, the sugar planters, mostly American businessmen, began looking elsewhere for labor.  Between 1852 and 1946, over 375,000 workers were recruited from around the world.  Immigrants who began arriving before 1900 included the Chinese, Portuguese, Germans, Norwegians, Galicians, and mainland (naichi) Japanese. Those who began arriving in 1900 or later included Okinawans, Puerto Ricans, Koreans, Filipinos, African Americans from the U.S. South, Spaniards, and Russians from Manchuria. The multi-ethnic nature of the workforce reflected early efforts to offset the numerous Chinese with Portuguese and other Europeans, and later efforts to offset the increasingly militant Japanese with recruits from elsewhere in the world. Europeans often brought their families, while most other groups consisted largely of males who arrived alone.

Contract between Japanese worker and McBryde Sugar Company, Kauai.
(Source: Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Plantation Archives,
Hamilton Library, University of Hawaii at Manoa)

The duration of labor contracts was five years for the Chinese, later shortened to three years. A contract typically required a work commitment of six days per week, ten hours per day in exchange for housing, food, water, firewood and medical care. Some of the Europeans were also offered homestead land. The ethnic hierarchy on the plantations dictated both living conditions and employment opportunities. Caucasians (other than Portuguese) were at the top of the hierarchy, then the Portuguese, followed by East Asians, with Filipinos (who were the last non-Europeans to arrive) at the bottom.

Low pay kept field and mill workers at the poverty level, and housing, sanitation and medical care were often substandard. On some plantations, grueling work conditions and sometimes harsh treatment by field overseers (“lunas”) led to resistance by the workers. This included work slowdowns, strikes, desertions, feigned illness to avoid work, violence against lunas, and property destruction – including arson in the cane fields and sugar mills.  The plantation workforce was up to 70 percent Japanese in the early 1900s and about 70 percent Filipino by the 1930s. Japanese and Filipino strikes were the most disruptive – typically lasting for months and involving large numbers of workers on multiple plantations. Strikers were evicted from plantation housing and other ethnic groups were brought in as strikebreakers. The Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association (HSPA) often made wage or other concessions months after a strike ended, so as to not associate the concessions with the strike.

A record card for Filipino Esteban Fernandez indicates he was fired
by the Oahu Sugar Company after taking part in a strike in April 1924.
(Source: Filipino Laborers Collection, Joseph F. Smith Library, BYU-Hawaii)

Most workers left the plantations as soon as their contracts expired and found work elsewhere in Hawaii or on the U.S. mainland.  Some Asians returned home, due to the proximity of their homelands to Hawaii.  The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, which took effect in Hawaii when it became a U.S. Territory in 1900, terminated Chinese immigration to the islands.  When Korea became a Japanese protectorate in 1905, Japan stopped Korean immigration to reduce competition for their own workers in Hawaii. Under the 1907 “Gentlemen’s Agreement” between the U.S. and Japan, Japanese immigration was also restricted. Even after these dates, however, some Asians already in Hawaii were allowed to bring family members, including “picture brides,” to Hawaii.

The HSPA gradually mechanized operations in the fields and mills – providing their workforce with more skilled, blue-collar jobs and some advancement for those who were at the bottom of the plantation hierarchy.  Improved living and working conditions motivated multiple generations of the same family to stay on the plantations.  These laborers lived, worked and recreated together, enjoyed each others’ foods, intermarried, and sent their children to the same schools.  Plantation acres in cultivation began to decline noticeably in the 1970s and the last plantation closed in 2016.  Some families still have reunions to “talk story” about the tight-knit communities where they once lived and perhaps recall the ancestors who came to Hawaii so long ago.

Cindy Thomson’s interest in genealogy began with family stories about her immigrant ancestors in Hawaii and evolved into an obsession over the past 15 years. She is a CGS member and teaches a class on “Immigrant Sugar Plantation Workers in Hawaii: A Multi-ethnic Approach to Genealogy.” For more information, contact her at cthomson@californiaancestors.org

Copyright © 2020 by California Genealogical Society

Chinese Exclusion Act files in Seattle: a treasure trove of information

We continue our observance of Asian Pacific Heritage Month with this blog post about the Chinese Exclusion Files found at the National Archives in Seattle. Trish Hackett Nicola leads a free webinar on the collection on May 28.

Trish Hackett Nicola never expected to find herself specializing in records related to the Chinese Exclusion Act. Her own ancestry is German and Irish. But when the Seattle-based genealogist met Loretta Chin about eighteen years ago, she was introduced to the Chinese Exclusion Act files held at the National Archives at Seattle. Chin “told me about how wonderful these files were, and she became my mentor,” says Nicola. Today Nicola works with a small team of volunteers who have devoted themselves to preserving and indexing the more than 50,000 government files collected on Chinese immigrants between 1882 and 1943. The files represent those who arrived at the ports of Seattle, Sumas, and Port Angeles in Washington; Portland, Oregon; and Vancouver, B.C.

Since May 2015, Nicola also has published an ongoing blog, ChineseExclusionFiles.com, in which she features particularly interesting finds from the records. “I started the blog to highlight the personal stories that are found in the Chinese Exclusion Act case files,” she says. “I wanted more people to know what valuable family and social history is found in these files." 

Lee Gok Suey, father of San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee

There’s the case file for Lee Gok Suey, for example, born in China although both his father and grandfather were American citizens. His father, grandfather, and other relatives had to undergo detailed and repeated interrogations before Lee was finally granted admission to the U.S. in 1937, at the age of 17. Lee grew up, served in the Korean War, married, and fathered five children—one of whom, Edwin, would become San Francisco’s first Asian-American mayor in 2011. This file contains more than 50 pages of detailed information about Ed Lee’s ancestors and relatives, including specifics of the village in China where the family came from.

12-year-old Ora Chang in 1910

In sharp contrast is the slim file that contains an application by Charlotte Chang seeking to take her young son and daughter with her on a trip to visit relatives in China in 1910. The file contains names and addresses of many family members but little more. It does, however, include a charming photo of twelve-year-old Ora Ivy Chang, dressed all in white, with enormous satin bows in her hair.

The files vary widely in content; each is unique, providing a glimpse into the lives of immigrants from all parts of China. They usually contain “incredible” photos, Nicola says, and intimate details of the subject’s life. “The file might describe the person’s village and neighbors, or tell if they owned a rice cooker, or the number of windows in their house.” Of crucial importance to genealogists is that the files usually contain the subject’s original name written in Chinese characters, enabling researchers to trace their Chinese family back hundreds of years. “We now have two volunteers who speak and read Chinese and we are including the name of the subject of the file in Chinese characters on the blog,” says Nicola.

The Seattle files are indexed by file name and number. Nicola and fellow volunteers are now meticulously adding important metadata to each file—names, keywords, cross-references to relatives' files, notes on photos, maps, or other items of interest, and much more. Trish Hackett Nicola gives an overview of the Seattle Chinese Exclusion Act Files on Thursday, May 28. This is a free webinar hosted by CGS; register at the link at EventBrite.


Trish Hackett Nicola is a certified genealogist with more than 30 years of experience. She has volunteered at the National Archives in Seattle since 2001.
 

Copyright © 2020 by California Genealogical Society

Family Tree Maker SIG Goes Virtual

The Family Tree Maker Special Interest Group, co-facilitated by Ron Madson and Karen Halfon, became our first CGS Special Interest Group (SIG) to take its meetings to the Internet.  The regular meeting of the group was held online on Zoom on May 16, 2020 at 1:00 pm.  The official meeting was ushered in by a “social hour” beginning at 12:30. Attendees were free to chat with each other or ask questions before the meeting started.

A notable guest to this virtual event was Russ Worthington (“Cousin Russ”), who authors the blog “Collecting Cousins.” He contributed updates and insights on the progress, status, and functioning of the new FTM release.  We may be seeing him in upcoming virtual meetings.

The Family Tree Maker Special Interest Group met online this month

The topic for this meeting was a discussion of the newest release of the FTM software, FTM2019.  The agenda included new features of the software program including a function called “TreeVault” which allows users to upload a tree to the vendor’s (Software MacKiev) cloud storage. The Vault-saved tree is updated in real time with every update or change made to the FTM tree and can be restored to the user’s computer when and if necessary.  

A video recording of the meeting is posted on YouTube: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCsv3SAykTI

The FTM-SIG plans to continue the monthly Zoom meetings during these shelter-in-place times, at the usual time on the third Saturday of the month. The June 20th meeting program will focus on "Family History Fact and Event Management Tools." For more information, contact:
Ron Madson (rmadson@californiaancestors.org)
or Karen Halfon (khalfon@californiaancestors.org).

Copyright © 2020 by California Genealogical Society

Online Genealogy, Week of May 25-31

Here are some online genealogy events offered this week. Most are free. See our post “Genealogy Learning in the Time of Coronavirus,” for links to archived classes at Ancestry, FamilySearch, RootsTech, and more. The National Genealogical Society also offers some free resources online.

Don't miss the two CGS online classes offered this week!
May 28: The Chinese Exclusion Files: A Treasure Trove of Original Documents by Trish Hackett Nicola
May 30: 20th-Century Immigration and Naturalization Records by Marisa Louie Lee

The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society continues its series of free webinars. May 28: The New York State Family History Conference: What's on the Program?

Legacy Family Tree and MyHeritage offer these webinars:

May 26: Enlightened Design with the MyHeritage Chart Creation Tool by Janet Hovorka

May 27: Mistrust Transcriptions: And Here's Why by Dr. Bruce Durie 

May 29: Fridays in May: Your Questions Answered LIVE—More Tech with Thomas by Thomas MacEntee 

Also, Legacy Family Tree continues to unlock one archived webinar per day through the month of May. The classes follow a 7-day rotating theme:

Sundays - Methodology

Mondays - DNA

Tuesdays - Ethnic Genealogy

Wednesdays - TechZone

Thursdays - Around the Globe

Fridays - Beginners

Saturdays - Technology

This week's unlocked webinars:

May 25: Which Spot Does X Mark, Anyway? X-DNA Testing in Action by Debra Renard
May 26: Jewish Genealogy for the Non-Jew: History, Migration, DNA by Schelly Talalay Dardashti
May 27: Need a Fillable Form? Word Has Your Back! by Amie Bowser Tennant
May 28: Effective Use of GENUKI: England’s Largest Free Genealogy website by Paul Milner
May 29: 1910-1940 Federal Censuses & State Censuses to Fill in the Gaps by Amie Bowser Tennant
May 30: Microsoft Word Series: Getting Started with Microsoft Word by Thomas MacEntee
May 31: Ten Tools for Genealogical Writing by Harold Henderson

Conference Keeper lists many of the above, as well as the following:

May 25: FamilySearch.org Scavenger Hunt Online Class with Tamara Hallo

May 26:  United States Vital Records Overview (FamilySearch)

May 26: Strategies to Analyze Endogamous DNA by Alec Ferretti (Virtual Genealogical Association)
May 26: Documenting An Ancestor, Seema Kenney (Thomas Crane Public Library)

May 27: "Homestead Act" by Peter Summers (Pinellas Genealogy Society)

May 27: The War of 1812: Researching Your Second Revolution Ancestors, with Debra Dudek

May 28: “The Pursuit of Happiness and the Migration Experience: Faith, Land and Hope" by Wolfgang Grams (Germanic Genealogy Society)

May 28: Using Non-Population Schedules for Context and Evidence with Jill Morelli (Florida State Genealogical Society)

May 31: “Finding B. Berman: A Case Study in Getting Past a Genealogical Brick Wall” by Martin Fischer (Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois)

May 31: Scottish Genealogy Workshop by Paul Milner (Heinz History Center)
May 31: Food: A Window on Jewish Life, Culture, and Genealogy, by Joan Nathan (Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston)

Stay safe, be well, and happy learning!

Copyright © 2020 by California Genealogical Society