San Francisco Halsted Mortuary Records Database and Index Now Online

CGS members and sfgenealogy.com founders, Ron Filion and Pamela Storm sent this press release:

San Francisco, CA - January 7, 2009 - SFgenealogy.com has completed the first phase of indexing the Halsted Mortuary Records database. The indexing was performed by over sixty volunteers during the past year.

The database includes digitized images of over 45,000 mortuary records, along with a searchable index, for the years 1923 to 1960. The index has advanced surname search options such as Soundex and Metaphone, and wildcard searching.

The database may be searched and accessed for free at:
<http://www.sfgenealogy.net/php/halstedsearch/halstedindex.php>

The Halsted Mortuary merged with Halsted N. Gray - Carew & English, Inc. around 1974. It was one of the oldest and largest mortuaries in San Francisco. Some of the records include reinterments and military burials. Years prior to 1923 are being processed by the California Genealogical Society, and the years 1961 to 1974 are still to be indexed.

Contact:
Ron Filion or Pamela Storm
http://www.sfgenealogy.com/admin/contact.htm

Ron and Pam have been supportive members of the society with links to the CGS website and blog on their site. They're also among the many CGS members who have become Facebook friends. Be sure to join their sfgenealogy.com group on Facebook.

CGSL Blog Resolutions?

As much as I had to admit it, the time is past due to report on how I did with my goal for 2008 and to do some planning for the new year. It is difficult to face my total and complete failure to achieve my one objective for the year – to get one of the local media outlets to publish an article on CGS. I did get a "Nice pitch" e-mail from Judith Gallman, editor of Oakland Magazine but nothing came of it. Colleen Huntley thought she had a commitment from Bob MacKenzie of KTVU to do a piece on the society - we even had a date for him to visit the library. That fell through. Oh well... I'm trying to keep a positive outlook.

There is solace in the knowledge that after one year the blog has garnered some recognition in the genealogy blogosphere. Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings has bestowed his "Best of the Genea-Blogs" honor on the CGSL blog several times and recently Miriam Robbins Midkiff of the Eastern Washingon Genealogical Society Blog lauded CGS and the blog in her post One Society Bites the Dust; Another One Celebrates a Milepost. Both of them are stars in the genea-blogging world and stalwart leaders in their respective societies. Their support means so much.

I've mentioned before the balancing act I perform – using my voice to create a blog that is more than just society announcements and keeping the rest of me out of it. I think I have hit on a pretty good compromise. I've also settled on a fairly doable schedule – blogging three times a week, relying heavily on word-free posts on Wednesdays. (Thanks to Jane, Arlene and many other members who contribute Wordless Wednesday photographs.)

In the coming year I will be reporting on some of the genealogical activities of our more distant members. I'm constantly amazed at the variety of ways they contribute to the genealogy world.

I also plan to share more information from committee reports and board meetings – nuts and bolts kinds of things about the society and how it is run. Transparency is a word that seems to be cropping up a lot lately and members will be proud to learn about how well the society is being managed.

I will continue to share members' contributions – reports from national and local meetings, great genealogical finds, personal accomplishments, involvement in family history projects – keep the accounts coming!

CGSL Blog 2008 in Review

There's a new meme going around that was started by John Newmark of TransylvanianDutch. It's called the "Blog Year in Review in Twelve Sentences." You are supposed to post the first sentence of the first blog of each month in 2008. I've also included a link to each article. Here is the CGSL blog of 2008 in twelve sentences:

1. "Traditionally, January 1st is a day for New Year's Resolutions but many years ago I began instead to create a yearly set of Goals." – My Goal for 2008

2. "Today is the last day to reserve your place at the 110th Anniversary Celebration, this Saturday, February 9, 2008, at the Concord Hilton." – Countdown to the 110th

3. "Mark Tucker of the ThinkGenealogy blog, has developed an interesting Genealogy Research Map, a downloadable visual synopsis of the "concepts found in The Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS) from the Board for Certification of Genealogists and the many works of Elizabeth Shown Mills." – Mark Tucker's Genealogy Research Map

4. "One of the photographs from the CGS 110th anniversary bookmark, was this one taken on the wedding day of Clare and Alta McAllister THOMSON, parents of Thomas Thomson, who is the husband of Shirley Pugh Thomson, CGS board member and recording secretary." – Chronicling Events in a Horseless Carriage

5. "One of the items that Gary McMaster most wanted was a photograph of Corporal Harold Roberts." – A Face for Corporal Roberts

6. "One of the most important works to come through the CGS Publications Committee will never be assigned an ISBN (International Standard Book Number) or be found on the shelves of a library." – The CGS Style Sheet


7. "Yesterday the Footnote Maven introduced Wordle, described as 'a toy for generating word clouds from text that you provide.'" – Distracted by Wordle

8. "If you are interested in participating in the San Francisco Mortuary Records Indexing Project and you haven't signed up yet, you better get started because things are moving faster than anyone anticipated!" – Update on San Francisco Mortuary Records Indexing

9. "In celebration of October as Family History Month, the California Genealogical Society and the Oakland Regional Family History Center are combining resources and expertise to offer a four session Beginning Genealogy Course." – A Joint Venture for Family History Month

10. "CGS Desk Duty Committee Computer Inservice by Kathy Watson." – Wordless Wednesday

11. "The best thing about the recent Information Swap Meet for the tenants of 2201 Broadway was meeting so many nice people who work 'upstairs' in the Breuner Building." – The Great Wall of Oakland

12. "CGS member and Desk Duty volunteer Gaye Lenahan was the lucky winner of a full-tuition scholarship to the Got Genealogy Academy held November 14 - 15, 2008. – Gaye Lenahan's Report on the Got-Genealogy Academy

Wordless Wednesday

Dave Salazar, Breuner Building
2201 Broadway, Oakland, California

Photograph by Kathryn Doyle, 11/8/2008, Oakland, California.

The Proximidade Award

I'm behind because of the holidays so I haven't acknowledged the Proximidade Award given to the CGSL blog by Miriam Robbins Midkiff of AnceStories: The Stories of My Ancestors blog. Thanks so much, Miriam!

These blogs invest and believe in PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers, who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

Like Becky, I'm not terribly sure of what that means exactly but it's always great to be acknowledged! The downside of these memes and awards is trying to find blogs who haven't already received the award. Here are eight blogs I've begun following recently:

97 Things To Do Before I Turn 97

Anglo-Celtic Connections

Anna-Karin's Genealogical Blog

Conversation with Ancestors Past

Genealogy Musings

Genealogy Traces

Kathy's Genealogy Blog

The Genealogy Genie

Please stop by and take a look at the winners. I'll be visiting their blogs to leave a message in the comments section of their most recent posts to let them know that they are recipients.