Some Nice Press From A Surprising Source

I mentioned last month that advertising our First Saturdays Free "Intro to Genealogy" classes on internet events sites like Yelp, Yahoo Upcoming and Facebook seems to be reaching a new and younger audience. This month's April 3 class, taught by Mary Beth Frederick, included a student who found us on Yelp and who was interested in more than just learning some genealogy.

Brianna Headsten let us know in advance that she was coming and that she would be writing an article about the class for her school newspaper. A communications student at California State University East Bay, Brianna is on the staff of The Pioneer. I was thrilled to receive a copy of her article, All Branches Have Common Roots, published on April 8, 2010, and assurances that she will be back to do more research on her family history.

Thanks so much, Brianna!

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

Hard Drive Organization - Making Use of Your Computer File Folders

Saturday, May 15, 2010
11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

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

After collecting digital images from online sources and manually scanning paper documents and photos for over twenty years, Tim Cox found a management method that works for his digital files. He will demonstrate how to name files for easy identification, how to organize folders that make it easy to find them, and how to properly identify scanned photographs.


This class is a free benefit for members only. Class size is limited to twenty participants. Walk-ins will not be admitted.

Register online.

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

Wordless Wednesday

Intermediate Genealogy: Immigration

Jane Knowles Lindsey

Photograph by Kathryn M. Doyle, 2/16/2010, Oakland, California



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

May Membership Meeting (and a Bonus!) with Jo Ann Rowley-Minhoto

Saturday, May 8, 2010
California Genealogical Society Library
2201 Broadway, Suite LL2, Oakland, California

Member Jo Ann Rowley-Minhoto will present two talks on our second Saturday May Membership Meeting day. Please plan to come in the morning for her first presentation, break for a brown bag lunch (or pick something up nearby), attend a short membership meeting at 1:00 p.m., then hear Jo Ann's second talk.

Rootsweb Overview
11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

RootsWeb is one of the free and diverse collections of information that's been available for quite some time and is still valuable. Mailing lists and message boards, online education, surname connections, other data and more, on a world-wide scope. Join us to learn more.

Membership Meeting

1:00 p.m.

Social Networking: What's Available at RootsWeb
1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

After a brief overview of some "Social Networking" terms and examples, we'll focus on what's available at RootsWeb. Mailing Lists, message boards, and blogs at RootsWeb are there to help us interact with others while researching our families and interests.

After a career as system analyst of computer business applications, Jo Ann Rowley-Minhoto turned her attention to genealogy in 1996 and parlayed both into her business, Computer Ancestors. She loves giving presentations, hoping to give someone value in their research. Jo Ann completed the National Genealogical Society's (NGS) "American Genealogy: A Basic Course" in 2004, received a certificate from Dallas Genealogical Society's (DGS) Land Institute in 1999, is a member of Association of Professional Genealogists (APG), and takes clients, both for computer related assistance and assistance in researching one's family history.

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

Mapping Madness with Ron Arons - Sunday, April 18, 2010

Sunday, April 18, 2010
1:00 p.m. (Doors open at 12:30 p.m.)

Oakland Regional Family History Center
4766 Lincoln Avenue
Oakland 94602

San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society Lecture and Meeting: Mapping Madness with Ron Arons

Member and author Ron Arons will be the featured speaker at an upcoming SFBAJGS meeting. Ron will discuss numerous websites where one can find historical maps and he will review the online mapping facilities provided by the two Goliaths in the field: Microsoft and Google. He will also introduce the audience to several other online mapping facilities, including: Microsoft’s MapCruncher, IBM’s Many Eyes, and Muckety.com

Born and raised in New York, Ron Arons has traced his roots to England, Poland, Romania, the Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania. In researching his book, The Jews of Sing Sing, Ron took a genealogical approach, collecting a variety of original source documents. The book includes biographies of more than a dozen famous gangsters and lesser-known criminals and paints a broad canvas of Jewish criminality in New York City. Ron's newest book is the recently released Wanted! U.S. Criminal Records: Sources and Research Methodology.

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