San Francisco Bay Area Genealogy Calendar: March 2012 Published

March 2012 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.

The March calendar lists fifty classes and events at various venues around the Bay Area, sponsored by twenty different societies and genealogy libraries.

The California Genealogical Society will be exhibiting at the San Francisco History Expo at the Old Mint on Saturday and Sunday, March 3-4, 2012, with SFgenealogy.com and the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society.

There are two events of note in Sacramento this month. The 7th Annual Family History African American Seminar Unlocking Our Family Treasures will be held on Saturday, March 10, 2012 and the Annual Spring Seminar with George G. Morgan will be on Saturday, March 31, 2012, sponsored by Root Cellar, the Sacramento Genealogical Society.

If you would like to add your group's events to the calendar, please email the information by the 15th of each month for publication on or before the 25th. (Please put "SFBA Calendar" in the subject line.)


Copyright © 2012 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library.

Have You Purchased Raking the Ashes? Updates Available!

Almost as soon as a research guide is published, there is a need to update. New material becomes available online; files are transferred from one location to another; and new ways of looking at old material surface. Such has been the case with the second edition of Raking the Ashes: Genealogical Strategies for Pre-1906 San Francisco Research.

Author Nancy Peterson has created a list of supplemental changes and additions and it is now available on the Updates page at the book site: RakingtheAshes.com. Most of the updates are new digitizations of relevant records which have come online since the book was published last year.

The categories of changes include vital records, newspapers, land and property, court and voter records, and a few miscellaneous items.

Raking the Ashes is available for purchase in the CGS Library and at the California Genealogical Society Store at Lulu.com.

Copyright © 2012 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library

Black History Month: Honoring Genealogist Electra Kimble Price

It isn't often that a large city newspaper devotes half a page to an article on genealogy, so kudos to the San Francisco Chronicle and columnist Brenda Payton for yesterday's feature about Electra Kimble Price.

Electra Kimble Price (right) at the CGS Black Family History program in February 2010.

In case you missed it, the opinion piece on African American Genealogy "Digging Deep to Uncover Roots" is a detailed look at Electra's life and work. The online version bears a slightly different title but Genealogist Digs Deep to Uncover Blacks' Roots includes every word of Brenda Payton's glowing profile and several more photographs of Price.

Electra has been a member of the California Genealogical Society since 1994. She is an Oakland native and a local legend among Bay Area genealogists. I had the pleasure of meeting her at her home a few years ago when she donated books to the CGS library.

Price was one of the founding members of the African American Genealogical Society of Northern California (AAGSNC). She received the Distinguished Service Award of the Genealogical Society of Utah in 2000 in recognition of the countless hours she has devoted to helping family historians.

Many years ago Electra started an African-American genealogy research class (now taught by Judith Collins) at the Oakland California Family History Center. Price orchestrated a Black History Month event there this past Sunday where she was feted with another award and cake. Nicka Smith's report (and gorgeous photos) can be found on the AAGSNC blog Black Family History Day was a Success!

Congratulations Electra!


Photograph courtesy of Nicka Smith, 2/20/2010, Oakland, California.

Copyright © 2012 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library

RootCellar 21st Annual Spring Genealogy Seminar March 31, 2012

CGS member Denise Richmond of the Sacramento Genealogical Society sent this notice of their upcoming Spring Seminar:

Saturday, March 31, 2012
9:00 a.m. – 3:45 p.m. (Doors open 8:30 a.m.)

Fair Oaks Presbyterian Church
11427 Fair Oaks Blvd.
Fair Oaks, California

RootCellar, the Sacramento Genealogical Society, announces their 21st annual spring seminar with George G. Morgan, author of How To Do Everything: Genealogy. The full-day event includes an optional lunch, gift basket raffle, and book-signing.

Topics include:

• The Genealogist as CSI
• Push and Pull: Reasons for Migration 
• Sidestep Genealogy 
• Bring ‘Em Back to Life: Developing an Ancestor Profile

Download the registration flier.

George G. Morgan is president of Aha! Seminars, Inc., a training company for libraries and genealogical societies since 1996. He is the author of numerous books and articles, co-host with Drew Smith of The Genealogy Guys Podcast and he has held many positions in state and and national genealogical societies.


Copyright © 2012 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library

Getting Ready for the 1940 Census with Steve Morse

Saturday, March 24, 2012
1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

California Genealogical Society Library
2201 Broadway, Suite LL2
Oakland, CA 94612

CGS is pleased to be welcoming back Steve Morse who will be helping us get ready for the soon-to-be-released 1940 census. When it is released in April, the 1940 will not have a name index and it is estimated it will take up to six months for a name index to be available. Finding people in the census will involve searching by location using Enumeration Districts (EDs).

Morse's One-Step website contains numerous tools for obtaining EDs. His talk will present the various tools and show circumstances in which each can be used. Steve will also demonstrate a tutorial quiz for determining the best tool to use in each specific situation.

Immediately following Morse's presentation, past-president Steve Harris will facilitate an open forum on using U.S. Census Records.

Register online.

The class is limited to thirty participants and is a free benefit of membership. Non-members fee is $20.00 (non-refundable) and can be applied towards membership on the day of the class.

Preregistration is required. Walk-ins will not be admitted. Registration confirmations will be sent to the first thirty registrants. Additional names will be collected and placed on a waiting list in case of cancellations.

Stephen Morse is the creator of the One-Step Website for which he has received both the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Outstanding Contribution Award from the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies, Award of Merit from the National Genealogical Society, first-ever Excellence Award from the Association of Professional Genealogists, and two awards that he cannot pronounce from Polish genealogical societies.

In his other life Morse is a computer professional with a doctorate degree in electrical engineering. He has held various research, development, and teaching positions, authored numerous technical papers, written four textbooks, and holds four patents. He is best known as the architect of the Intel 8086 (the granddaddy of today's Pentium processor), which sparked the PC revolution thirty years ago.


Copyright © 2012 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library