New Online Resources: 100-year Old Pedigree Charts

Pedigree Charts Volunteer Team:
John Ralls, Ron Madson, Theresa Murphy, Stewart Traiman, Linda Edwards, Jean Alderson, and Kathleen Beitiks

 The Website Update Committee is very pleased to announce that the CGS Pedigree Charts created by CGS members more than one hundred years ago are now available on our website. This is the second major project that has been added to our website this year. 

 

This has been a multi-phase team effort. Some time ago (we are not sure when) CGS volunteers looked through every chart and typed each name that appeared onto a 3x5 card, along with the name of the chart and the page it appears on. Next, Stewart Traiman scanned these 8,622 cards and grouped them into 46 batches. Volunteer Coordinator Kathleen Beitiks distributed the batches of cards to eleven volunteers who entered the data into spreadsheets. Top indexers were Linda Edwards, Jean Alderson, Theresa Murphy and Kristi Wessenberg. Together these four dynamos processed thirty-four of the forty-six sets of cards. Other Pedigree Chart volunteers were Nancy Cork, Caron Whitacre, Misti Layne, Justine Wong, Liz Summerhayes, Cindy Thomson, and Mary Thomas. 

 

The data from 8,622 index cards were entered into spreadsheets

Next, Theresa Murphy patiently reviewed each spreadsheet checking for and correcting data entry errors.

 

Ron Madson photographed each of the 135 family trees, which required 180 images to capture everything contained on those charts. Finally, tech wizard John Ralls combined all the names into one spreadsheet, and added links to Ron’s photographs. Now our members can, with a few clicks, view these beautiful trees and all the data they contain. 

Ron Madson scanned 135 family trees to create digital images

 

To view these family trees, go to our website and log in as a member. Scroll down to the box labeled “Online Resources,” click the gold SEARCH button, and look for New Online Resources/Pedigree Charts. Whether you find a familiar family name or not, you will probably enjoy seeing the beautiful handwritten (in ink) charts. In addition to names, birth, marriage and death dates and places, a few charts include photographs, obituaries and hand-written notes.

A big THANK YOU to everyone who worked on this valuable project and made it happen.

 

Copyright © 2020 by California Genealogical Society

New Resources On The CGS Website

Chris Pattillo is a CGS Board member and oversaw the development of the CGS Strategic Plan.

New resources have been added to the CGS website! During the interviews for the CGS Strategic Plan one oft-made suggestion was the need to add more resources to the website. Well, we heard you and are happy to announce that Part One has been accomplished and is ready for you to explore.

The Website Content Committee started by identifying resources held in our library that will be of interest to our members. We then ranked those suggestions and dove in. Committee member Stewart Traiman scanned two volumes of lineage charts that were created by CGS members between 1955 and 1957. Then our volunteer coordinator, Kathleen Beitiks, mobilized a team of volunteers to index the names that appear on those charts.

The team has finished indexing all of the 65 charts in volume 3.1.

These two volumes of lineage charts were
created between 1955-1957

All 135 lineage charts have been scanned and 
over half have been indexed so far.

Committee member Theresa Murphy checked each chart for completeness and accuracy, and committee member John Ralls added links to each tree and has put the material on our website. You will find a link to these new records on the home page. You need to first Log-In as a member. The SEARCH button will take you to our Databases page where you should select the link labeled "Lineage Chart Images".

We invite members to use this new database and welcome feedback. You can use the SUGGESTIONS tab on the bottom left side of the website to submit comments or suggestions.

Much More To Come

Volunteers are working on indexing 70 additional lineage charts in Volume 3.2. As soon as that work is complete, we will add it to our website. We have also made excellent progress on two volumes of Pedigree Charts that were created in the early 1900s, which Ron Madson is photographing. We are looking into adding the Ahnentafel Charts that were done by CGS members in 1921 and 1944.

Other projects that are being considered include:

·       A set of birth records from the San Francisco Archdiocese that was compiled by CGS member Anne Robinson

·       Thirty biographies of signers of the original California Constitution that were researched and written by CGS member Wayne Sheppard

·       Records from our manuscripts collection

We are also looking to add more culturally diverse records to our collection.

If you would like to get involved with any of these projects please contact me at cpattillo@californiaancestors.org or Kathleen Beitiks at kbeitiks@californiaancestors.org

Copyright © 2020 by California Genealogical Society

Quarantine Quests: The joy of indexing!

Two volumes of pedigree charts
created in the 1890s

This Quarantine Quests story is from Jean Alderson and the other CGS volunteers who are indexing four volumes of Pedigree and Lineage charts for our website.

CGS has a fabulous team of volunteers who have responded to an invitation to help index the names of individuals listed in four volumes of Pedigree and Lineage Charts. The Lineage Charts were prepared in the 1950s and the Pedigree Charts are much older, having been done shortly after the society was founded in 1896. So far, eight CGS members have indexed all the lineage charts in volume 3.1. They, plus seven additional volunteers, have also gotten involved indexing the pedigree charts.

Jean Alderson was the first to volunteer and she is our star indexer. Of the 63 lineage charts, Jean has indexed 37–more than half the total. Now Jean has taken on the pedigree charts and has already completed six of the 35 sets of cards that have been assigned.

Before the quarantine began Jean had been training to become a Desk Volunteer. Now that our library is closed she eagerly agreed to try on the indexing work. Jean taught computer applications during her teaching career so she has the right skill set for the task. She also likes the flexibility of being able to work on the project whenever it suits her and not having to commit to being in the library on a particular day and time.

One of the lineage charts
made by CGS members in the 1950s

Typically, Jean works on her charts after a morning cup of coffee. She leaves her computer open to these files and goes back to it throughout her day working 20-30 minutes at a time. She thinks it is a perfect project to cure boredom and sometimes a good alternative to watching the nightly news.

Of the two projects, Jean much prefers working on the lineage charts which involve extracting names directly from family trees. She enjoys seeing an entire family and learning a little about their lives from the biographical information that is included. Work on the pedigree charts involves typing names and dates from sets of 3x5 cards, which offers its own intrigue. For example, as names are repeated on multiple trees Jean has deduced multiple marriages for individuals. She has been loosely tracking naming traditions finding many Abigails and Hannahs but no Lindas, Karens or Sharons. For males, Ezekial, Ignatious and Zephemiah were popular when the pedigree charts were created. And, then there are oddball names like Deliverance and Experience.

When I asked if she would recommend these projects to others she said yes and noted that she has benefited from similar work that others have done. Now Jean is giving back and hopes that her efforts will help others.

Names from these old index cards will be
transcribed and added to our website.

One of our other volunteers, Barbara Valdriz, has indexed five lineage charts. Barbara enjoys the work and says, “I found myself being drawn in and a bit distracted by wanting to learn more about these families.” Kathleen Beitiks, our Volunteer Coordinator, was thrilled when we started this project because many CGS volunteers want to work from home and this is proving to be the perfect project–particularly now, during the pandemic.

CGS volunteer Ron Madson has been photographing the pedigree charts,
some of which include photos, news clips and other memorabilia.

If you are interested in joining the team to work on these or other remote projects, please contact kbeitiks@californiaancestors.org or 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