Wordless Wednesday

Beginning Genealogy Series

Field Trip and Library Tour

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Photographs courtesy of Tim Cox, Oakland, California.

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

San Francisco Bay Area Genealogy Calendar: December 2010 Published

December 2010 events have been published on the San Francisco Bay Area Genealogy Calendar – a collection of local genealogical society classes, workshops and meetings within a 75 mile radius of San Francisco.

Some societies have limited hours and are taking a break from their regular meetings because of the upcoming holidays. The Decmeber calendar lists thirty-four offerings, including several Christmas lunches and other holiday themed events.


If you would like to add your group's events to the calendar, please email the information by the 20th of each month for publication on the 25th. (Please put "SFBA Calendar" in the subject line.)


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

Update From the RootsMagic SIG

The best-attended Thursday evening discussion of the summer “extended hours” program was the August 26, 2010 session on Using RootsMagic 4 led by Tim Cox. It was so successful that the group decided to meet on an on-going basis. The new RootsMagic Special Interest Group started meeting in October on the third Tuesday of the month.

Tim reports that the group is growing in size – twelve attended the November 16, 2010 session, including one new member who drove from Novato. The discussion this month was about entering sources properly, creating roles and working with charts.

The next SIG meeting will be held one week early – on  Tuesday, December 14, 2010, at 6:30 p.m., because of the busy holiday week. In January 2011, the schedule will return to the third Tuesday format.
Meeting dates in the first quarter of the new year will be:

• January 18, 2011
• February 15, 2011
• March 15, 2011

All meetings are from 6:30 p.m. - 8:15 p.m. in the CGS Library, 2201 Broadway, Suite LL2, Oakland.

SIG members are encouraged to bring their laptops or their RootsMagic databases on a flash drive.  During meetings, the group projects a copy of a live data base on a screen for easy viewing.

Please email Tim Cox with questions about the RootsMagic SIG meetings.


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

Just Ask Thomas: Genealogical Societies Do Your Genealogy Good

I'm a bit behind with my blog reading so I just came upon the excellent article by Thomas MacEntee – Genealogical Societies: They Do Your Genealogy Good published at Archives.com on November 4, 2010.

Thomas covers gen society membership from every angle with pointers under these headings:

• Do Your Research
• Take a Genealogical Society Test Drive
• Beware the "Would You Like To Volunteer" Checkbox!
• Access Online Research Databases
• Take Advantage of Educational Programs
• Discounts and Freebies Abound
• Don't Forget Far-Flung Societies
• Join to Give Back and Show Support

Thomas gives CGS a shout-out for our educational programs:

The California Genealogical Society and Library (CGSL) has a wide array of educational opportunities available for its members. These include research trips to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah as well as the Allen County Public Library in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. And the in-house workshops and classes are exceptional. (Disclosure: I am a bit biased since as a far-flung member, I've actually led several classes including one on how to locate living relatives.)

Archives.com features a guest expert every two weeks. The Expert Author series offers "tips and lessons on topics that help you learn how to trace your family history." I count two other CGS members among the experts. Articles have also been written by Amy Coffin and Lisa Lee.

Thomas is the creator of GeneaBloggers.com – a community of over 900 bloggers who document their own journeys in the search for ancestors. Thomas MacEntee writes and lectures on the many ways in which blogs, Facebook and Twitter can be leveraged to add new dimensions to the genealogy experience.

Thanks, Thomas! 


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

Wordless Wednesday

Autumn Celebration of Books
Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Photographs courtesy of Jane Knowles Lindsey and Arlene Miles, Oakland, California.


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