This blog is for and about the California Genealogical Society. We hope you will join us on our genealogy journey!
Recent Posts
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| UC Bancroft Library, with the Campanile in background |
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| Upper level and entrance to the Heller Reading Room |
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| Organizer Lorna Wallace (at right, in pink top) and other CGS members enjoyed our personal tour! |
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| Lorna Wallace at the 2019 Annual meeting. Photo by Ron Madson |
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| Lorna, second from left, organized our tour of the Bancroft Library on the Berkeley campus last year |
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| CGS Members at the UC Bancroft Library on July 11, 2018 |
Two archivists hosted a group of about 25 CGS members. They
displayed historical materials for us to explore in two separate rooms. They
gave our group a good introduction and history of the Bancroft collection and
explained the process of finding and gaining access to research material.
Visitors also enjoyed browsing some of the
Bancroft’s permanent exhibits, including taking selfies with the life-size cutouts
of women who played a significant role in California’s history. If you live near
Berkeley, take advantage of this world-class archive. If you’re farther afield,
the Bancroft is well worth planning a trip.
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| The Gale sisters ca. 1900 (l. to r.): Clino Eleanor (1882-1938), Helen Louise (ca. 1878-1919), and Marion Georgia (1880-1974). The fourth woman seated above and behind the sisters is likely their first cousin, Mary Gale. |
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| California State Library |
Sue Kaufman, Chair of the Federation of Genealogical Societies Awards Committee, informed me that the California Genealogical Society research team has been honored with a Certificate of Appreciation Award for their work on the Judge Project.
The award acknowledges the volunteer team that researched, wrote and published The Ancestry of Theodore Timothy Judge and Ellen Sheehy Judge: Including the Families of Boland, Roussel, Harman, McMurphy, Kelley, Bohane, Chapin, Freiermuth, Taylor, Moore and Farneman.
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| Awards Committee Chair Sue Kaufman, Tim Cox and Patricia Oxley, FGS President |
The Judge Project was an excellent example of teamwork, of people doing what they do best. At first, some team members thought they couldn't pull this off, or did not personally have the requisite skills. Some were daunted by the magnitude of the task. But the product is a wonderful demonstration of the level of research accuracy and completeness that we try to inculcate in all our members. Congratulations and thanks to all.
September Membership Meeting
Saturday, September 12, 2009
1:00 p.m.
CGS Library
2201 Broadway, Suite LL2, Oakland, California
It's story time at the California Genealogical Society Library but these won't be the bedtime variety. Four active CGS members have interesting tales to tell and each is a lesson of discovery that helped them loosen some of those proverbial bricks.
Lorna Wallace will present Buckingham's Letter – how a twenty year search ended because of what someone said in the CGS Library. She'll tell what happened that day and how it changed her research.
Tom Gesner will offer Name That Man: Who Was Mr. Ross? – how a fiftieth wedding anniversary announcement from 1912 led to an action plan guaranteed to find a missing identity. He'll explain what happened and why he did a lot of unnecessary work.
Mary Beth Frederick will share the search for a surname for her great -great-grandmother – The Long and Winding Road to Anne E. She'll tell the story of what she found in a cemetery that made her more determined than ever.
Steve Harris will relate brief vignettes with brick wall solutions using familiar sources in unfamiliar ways. He’ll share his own personal tips and tricks on researching and what can be done when we think we may have come upon a brick wall.
Please note that the short membership meeting starts promptly at 1:00 p.m. The presentations follow at 1:30 p.m. There will time for questions and answers. 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 of CGS!)
In fulfillment of the California Genealogical Society Bylaws, Article VII, Section 1, President Jane Knowles Lindsey has appointed the 2009 Nominating Committee. General members are Dick Rees and Lorna Wallace; director Chris Pattillo will act as the committee chair.
The committee is seeking nominees for two openings on the board of directors. They welcome suggestions of candidates or volunteers to serve. Nominees must be members of the California Genealogical Society. Please e-mail Chris with your suggestions.
The full requirements as stated in the society bylaws, page 3, are as follows:
ARTICLE VII: NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS
Section 1. The Nominating Committee shall consist of at least three (3) members to be named not less that ninety (90) days prior to the Annual Business Meeting. The President shall appoint the Nominating Committee. The chairperson of the committee shall be from the Board of Directors and additional committee members from the general membership.
Section 2. The Nominating Committee shall submit its report to the Board of Directors and the Board shall give timely notice of nominations to the general membership prior to the Annual Business Meeting.
Section 3. Following the Nominating Committee’s report to the membership at the Annual Business Meeting, the floor shall be open to additional nominations, provided nominees have given consent to serve if elected.
Section 4. Nominees shall be members in good standing in the Society.
Section 5. Members in good standing who are present at the Annual Business Meeting shall elect the Directors. A plurality vote shall elect.
Section 6. If there is only one candidate for an opening, the ballot may be dispensed with by general consent and the election held by voice vote.
Captain Marston Watson leads the trusty volunteers who staff the library desk on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays when the library is open (9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays; 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. on Saturdays.) Officially and as a group, they are the "Desk Duty Committee" but individually they are the special volunteers who first greet our patrons and are the caretakers of the society's first impression. As you see, smiles come with the job.
CGS member Lorna Wallace helped staff the Alameda County Fair Genealogy Booth again this year and sent this report:
The Livermore-Amador Valley Genealogical Society (L-AGS) has sponsored a genealogy booth at the Alameda County Fair for the last few years. It is located in the large, air-conditioned (very important on hot summer days) “Technology Building”, where other computer-related attractions are going on. The booth features three computer stations with connections to several subscription databases (Ancestry, VitalRecords-CA and Footnote) for demonstrating the powerful search products that are now available. There is also a helpful handout listing many of the big, free sites, like Cyndislist.
There are two types of volunteers staffing the booth: “greeters” encourage visitors to mark their places of birth on large mounted maps of the U.S. and the world, and to fill out pedigree charts. “Researchers” then try to find an ancestors using the computer resources. Some visitors sit down at the computer and think their family history is just sitting in there, waiting to pop up on the screen. Some have been trying to use the Internet, but have not discovered basic sites such as Rootsweb or FamilySearch. Then there were those who actually brought notes so they could use their time well. Several used their cell phones to call relatives, right on the spot, to get a piece of missing information.
I think the biggest challenge for us, the volunteers, is the fact that we are presented with a whole segment of our community that are not well represented in the usual population of genealogical society membership. We come face-to-face with people from all over the world, especially Latin America and Asia, who want to know how to research their ancestry in their home county. The L-AGS is doing a good job of trying to find and provide resources.
Genealogists have so much to share. I encourage all of the members of the California Genealogical Society to volunteer next year when the Fair returns in late June of 2009.
Lorna Wallace is an active volunteer on the CGS Book Repair and Desk Duty Committees. She also handles book mailings for the society. Thanks for the report, Lorna, and for representing the society so well.
Photographs courtesy of Duncan Tanner.
Volunteers Needed!
June 20 – July 6, 2008
The Livermore-Amador Genealogical Society (L-AGS) is gearing up for the annual Genealogy Booth at the 2008 Alameda County Fair. This is the ninth year that the society has organized and staffed the popular station in the fair's Technology Adventures Building at the Alameda County Fairgrounds, located at Valley Avenue and Bernal Avenue in Pleasanton, California.
CGS member and L-AGS Fair Booth Coordinator, Kay Speaks, sent the following:
"We are inviting other genealogy societies, DAR Chapters, FHC docents, historical societies and library genealogy docents to join us in this fun and very rewarding endeavor. Want to reserve an entire day for your organization? Please contact the fair booth coordinator to reserve a convenient date."
The genealogy booth is one of the most popular attractions at the seventeen-day fair, where hundreds of people get their first exposure to the genealogy bug. The booths are equipped with computers, laser printers and Internet access. Each session has three research docents and two greeters scheduled. Many volunteers, like CGS member Lorna Wallace, have wonderful stories to share from past years so organizers are promoting the event as "An Experience You Will Want to Repeat Year After Year."
The Livermore-Amador Genealogical Society serves the cities of Livermore, Pleasanton and Dublin and surrounding areas in the Livermore and Amador Valleys of southeastern Alameda County, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The society was formed in June 1977 by student participants of a Livermore Adult Education Class. General meetings are held at 7:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month at Congregation Beth Emek, 3400 Nevada Court, Pleasanton. The Society, in cooperation with the City of Pleasanton Library, maintains the largest collection of genealogical materials in the Valley, numbering over 1000 books.
For additional information about volunteering, e-mail Kay Speaks.
The sound of laughter coming from the upstairs annex at the old library in the Latham Building was a sure sign that it was the second Tuesday of the month and the book repairers had their backs to the wall as they toiled in tight quarters. Since the move to the Breuner Building last year, the restoration work continues in more spacious quarters and the mirth now emanates from the back room of the new library. You can't help but get the feeling that these five loyal volunteers really love what they are doing.
The CGS Book Repair Committee, headed by Bill O'Neil, has been meeting like clockwork on the second Tuesday of every month, since the group formed in 1987 under the tutelage of the late Dick Thrift. Because the repair process can require several steps and the committee meets only once per month, it can take several months for the repair business to be completed. During that time, the books are out of circulation.
The committee allows the California Genealogical Society to maintain open stacks. Books in need of care are marked by a blue ribbon and stay on the shelves to allow patron use until the menders can get to them. The most common repairs are for torn spines and loose pages, but the committee has seen it all. Bill explained that their goal when repairing books is to strike a balance between "keeping them in one piece and doing no harm."
Each member "adopts" a book and works on it one day a month until it is ready to be placed back on the shelf. The average book takes three months to complete. The committee repairs an average of 100 books per year.
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| Tools of the trade. |
Lorna Wallace puts the finishing touches on a newly repaired book
Book repair group: (standing) Lorna Wallace, Marianne Frey, Bill O'Neil;
