CGS News - The Last Issue!

The January 2009 issue of the CGS News, Volume XL, No. 1, was mailed to members last week. It's eight pages are packed with important information:

• Annual Membership Meeting Announcement- page 1
• Allen County Public Library Trip Registration- page 2
• Salt Lake City research Trip Registration Form- page 3
• Notes from the President- page 4
• CGS 2009 Calendar of Events- page 5-6
• Genealogy: Intermediate Series Classes- page 7

The most significant news in the page one article by Editor Jane Hufft announcing that this is the last newsletter:

This issue is the last official issue of the CGS Newsletter which has been sent to CGS members for many years. New ways of keeping in touch are in the works, and we want to hear from you as we make this historic transition. My editorial duties will be transferred to the launch of the former “Nugget,” which begins its new life as The California Nugget, to be published twice a year beginning with the spring 2009 issue. Lois Elling, who has been my newsletter partner for the four years that I have been editor, will now take her design and layout talents to the new California Nugget.

I'll have more to say about this new society publication in some upcoming posts.

CGS Mailing Committee

Six times a year a small committee at CGS meets to put the finishing touches on the CGS Newsletter and to insure its delivery to the mailboxes of almost 1000 members and libraries around the world. The Mailing Committee, chaired by Nancy Hart Servin, is a group of nimble-fingered volunteers who attach the mailing labels to the newsletters (which come folded from the printer) and add seals to keep them closed. Oh, and they are FAST! The committee meets at 9:30 a.m. and gets started with their work at 10:00 a.m. I almost missed getting these photos because I didn't show up until noon.

The proverb states "Many hands make light work" – in this case there are a dozen hands belonging to Mary Beth Frederick, Pat Gallagher, Mary Limosner, Nancy Servin and Bob Sweeney. Anne Cyr prints the mailing labels but does not attend the mailing session. Nancy cautioned me that the work of the committee is not a slap-dash process and that there is more to the process than one might think. "It's not the sexiest job at the library but it is an essential one, requiring speedy but accurate hands. The post office is very specific about bulk mail and requires that the newsletters are kept in order by zip code."

Bob Sweeney and Mary Limosner

All the members agree that the best part of belonging to the Mailing Committee is the camaraderie that has developed among them. Pat Gallagher offered this: "As we fold, peel and stick we fall into conversation about our own work and discoveries, ask questions, offer recommendations, tell stories – a little like the quilting circles of yore. We've been helped along by Nancy's provision of coffee and Bakesale Betty's fabulous scones."

Each of the members expressed appreciation of Nancy's contributions to the committee. Mary Beth Frederick noted "Nancy's the one who does the real work, keeping us on track and making sure that we don't scramble the zip codes."

Pat Gallagher and Nancy Hart Servin

Most of the members of the Mailing Committee have other jobs that they do for the society. Mary Limosner is part of the Desk Duty team and does some shelf reading. Mary Beth Frederick is part of the French-Canadian group and she recently taught one of the First Free Saturday beginning genealogy classes. It's not part of the usual service, but she's continued "tutoring" two of the attendees since the class. Nancy Servin serves on the Membership Committee – sending out renewal forms and emails and tracking membership records.

Bob Sweeney likes the fact that the committee's work keeps him coming to the library on a regular basis. A member of CGS since 1980, Sweeney was very involved with producing the two-day CGS family history fairs that were held annually for about fifteen years. Besides creating signs, setting up, tearing down and doing other logistical work for the two-day events, Bob would telephone literally every member of the society to enlist the army of volunteers needed.

Bob Sweeney, Mary Limosner, Mary Beth Frederick and Pat Gallagher.

When the committee finishes the labeling and sorting process, CGS Newletter Editor Jane Hufft picks up the loaded trays and she and Nancy transport them to the post office.

Jane sent this description: "It takes two of us to get the mail to the post office, because together we can remember the route. Nancy is a good story teller, and she sometimes has me listening so intently I run red lights, but so far the newsletters have arrived at the post office intact. Nancy has incredible patience for the bureacracy at the post office – all I have to do is sign my name once, hang on to my car keys, and drive, and I don't always do that very well. And Bob Sweeney always helps us load my car."

Photographs by Kathryn Doyle, 12/15/2008.

Wordless Wednesday

Desk Duty Committee Meetings
Thursday, December 11, 2008 and
Saturday, December 13, 2008

Photographs courtesy of Jane Knowles Lindsey.

Annual Membership Meeting - Jan. 10, 2009

The Annual Membership Meeting of the California Genealogical Society will be held on Saturday, January 10, 2009, at 1:00 p.m., at the CGS Library (2201 Broadway at 22nd, Suite LL2, Oakland.) Please join CGS President Jane Lindsey for a quick review of the society's accomplishments in 2008 and a look forward to what's in store for 2009.

At this important session Jane will provide information about the two upcoming research trips designed to help you make that all-important breakthrough, two impressive all-day seminars and a slate of new classes for beginning, intermediate and experienced researchers.

There will be time for questions and answers. The agenda also includes brief committee reports, approval of the society’s budget and the annual election of new board members. (Information on the proposed board members appeared in the November 2008 CGS News, which is available online at the society’s website.)

The annual meeting is always well attended so arrive early to get a front seat, see old friends and meet some new ones. Light refreshments will be available before the meeting at 12:30 p.m.

A Note From Beyond the Grave

If you are a regular reader of the CGSL blog you already know that serendipitous finds are a regular occurrence around the society library. My blog reporter self is always on the lookout for another good story so I tend to keep my antennae up when I visit CGS and my camera is always in my bag.

So last Saturday I immediately investigated when I heard one of those laughs of delight and discovery. Our newest member was crouched in the stacks with an opened book in one hand and a small slip of paper in the other. Barbara Schenck Wilcox was part of the visiting DAR group from the Berkeley Hills-Oakland Chapter. After the meeting Barbara stopped by the desk to fill out an application and join CGS and had settled in to do a bit a research in some SMITH family books. The whoop I heard was her reaction to finding this:




The note is the size of a post-it but it predates those ubiquitous stickies since its author, Anna Tangier Smith, died in 1933. Miss Smith's hand-written correction reads:

The date of the birth of Col. William Smith of St. George's Manor is incorrect. It should be 1655 instead of 1652, the date of his birth given in his own handwriting in his journal still in the possession of his descendants.
- A. Tangier Smith

The note was slipped into the Wills of the Smith Families of New York and Long Island, 1664-1794: Careful Abstracts of All the Wills of the Names of Smith recorded in New York, Jamaica, and Hempstead, Prior to 1794: with Genealogical and Historical Notes by William S. Pelletreau. New York : F.P. Harper, 1898. xiii, 151 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. How this book found its way into the CGS Library is unknown but it is possible that it was donated by the note-writer.
Anna Tangier Smith was Barbara's great-grand aunt, the sister of her great-grandmother. The note had been placed in the book more than seventy-five years ago, just waiting for another descendant of Col. William "Tangier" Smith to find it. Smith had once been mayor of Tangier, Morocco and many of his descendants carry the Tangier moniker. Because SMITH is such a common name, the family is often called "Tangier Smith" to distinguish it from the others.

Image of Anna Tangier Smith (1863-1933).

Barbara knew that her great-grandmother's sister had been a member of the California Genealogical Society and she was looking forward to spending some time at the society library. She is very familiar with the research done by Anna Tangier Smith and with her handwriting. This is a sample Barbara had from another Smith history.



Barbara was pleased at another find in the library – a copy of The Tangier Smith Family: Descendants of Colonel William Smith of the Manor of St. George, Long Island, New York by Ruth Tangier Smith and Henry Bainbridge Hoff [New York]: Order of Colonial Lords of Manors in America, 1978 vi, 102 p., [1] leaf of plates : ill. ; 24 cm.



Barbara informed me that only 300 copies of the 1978 publication had been printed and it had taken her some time to track one down for purchase. She was very surprised to find one on the CGS library shelves.

A happy Barbara Schenck Wilcox posed with the note.

So I offer up this story as another reason why you really should visit the the California Genealogical Society Library. I can't guarantee that you will find a note from your great-grand aunt, but you will find something!

Photographs by Kathryn Doyle, 12/6/2008, Oakland, California.