Angel Island Family History Day: Tour the Ellis Island of the West

Saturday, October 5, 2013
11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Angel Island Immigration Station
Angel Island State Park
San Francisco Bay

The California Genealogical Society is partnering with the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation and the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society to present Angel Island Family History Day on Saturday, October 5, 2013, at the restored Immigration Station at Angel Island State Park. The event will feature lectures, genealogy resource tables, and free viewing of the Immigration Barracks.

“Angel Island played a crucial role in the family histories of many Bay Area residents,” says Grant Din, Director of Special Projects at the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation. “Close to one million immigrants were processed at Angel Island between 1910 and 1940, and hundreds of thousands were held at the Angel Island detention center for days, weeks, or months. The Immigration Station is best known for the Chinese poems that were carved in the barracks walls. It housed people from over 80 countries as they sought new lives in the United States."

The open house at the Immigration Barracks will give visitors a glimpse into the daily life of newcomers from Japan, Korea, Russia, India, Mexico, the Philippines, and Jewish refugees escaping the Holocaust.

Angel Island is located in San Francisco Bay, east of the Golden Gate Bridge, and is accessible by ferry from Oakland, Alameda, Vallejo, Tiburon and San Francisco. The state park entry fee is included in the ferry ticket rate. Please make your own transportation arrangements by purchasing tickets online. Be sure to verify departure points and weekend ferry schedules. Take the first ferries in order to get the most out of your day on the island and to arrive in time for the programs.

Angel Island Immigration Station

The U.S. Immigration Station is a pleasant one-mile walk from the ferry dock at Ayala Cove that starts with a climb of about 140 steps to the main road. For those who do not wish to walk, Angel Island Company provides shuttle service from Ayala Cove to Immigration Station. Tickets are $5 and may be purchased online in advance. The shuttle service departs from the from the The Angel Island Café at 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Shuttle tickets include return service to Ayala Cove. For more information on shuttle service, please contact the Angel Island Café at (415) 435-3392.

Participants are encouraged to bring a picnic lunch to the Island. Picnic tables are located near the Immigration Station. Alternatively, boxed lunches are available for advanced purchase online. Pick up will be located at the Angel Island Cafe in Ayala Cove. You must bring a printed copy of your confirmation email in order to receive your lunch.

To avoid lines, please purchase shuttle tickets and lunches in advance using the online services of the Angel Island Company.

There is no advanced registration or fee for this event. Island admission is included in the ferry ticket price. Participants are responsible for arranging ferry transportation. Advanced purchase of optional lunch or shuttle service is strongly recommended to avoid long lines. There is no food service available at the Immigration Station. 

For photos, maps, and more information about the island, be sure to visit the Island Insights: The Angel Island Blog.

The Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF) is the nonprofit partner of California State Parks and the National Park Service in the effort to preserve, restore and interpret the historic immigration station located in the middle of San Francisco Bay.

The California Genealogical Society (CGS) founded in San Francisco in 1898, maintains a library, gathers and preserves vital records, and offers research services and online databases. CGS disseminates information through publications, meetings, seminars, workshops and its website, CaliforniaAncestors.org.

The San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society (SFBAJGS) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the development, preservation and distribution of Jewish genealogical knowledge and material, and the sharing of techniques and tools with others who may be researching their Jewish roots.

Copyright © 2013 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library.

Wordless Wednesday

You have to love a bathroom with a #genealogy bulletin board. @CAancestors pic.twitter.com/X9rTp0FAxc
— Gena PhilibertOrtega (@genaortega) July 23, 2013

Tweet by Gena Philibert Ortega @genaortega July 23, 2013

Copyright © 2013 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library.

Finding Your Japanese Roots in the U.S. and in the Land of the Rising Sun

The Moshida Family: Identification tags were used to aid in keeping a family unit intact during all phases of evacuation. Executive Order 9066 ordered the removal of 110,000 civilians of Japanese descent, including 71,000 American citizens, from the western United States in 1942. They were placed in ten internment camps.

Saturday, September 28, 2013
1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

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

The California Genealogical Society proudly announces the next class in our ongoing ethnic family history series: researching Japanese ancestry with Linda Harms Okazaki.

Part I of the half-day seminar will be a brief overview of Japanese culture, history and language as it pertains to genealogy, immigration and passenger records. Records available through the National Archives, USCIS, Ancestry.com, Family Search, and Japanese American National Museum will be covered. 

Topics will include: 

• the early political climate in the US and laws of the time, 
• internment camps, 
• post WWII experiences, repatriation and redress

The second half of the seminar will focus on documenting your ancestors in Japan, from using the information in the American records to finding your koseki, understanding ohaka and kakocho, plus visiting relatives, cemeteries and temples.

This seminar is suitable for all levels of research experience.

Register online.

Download the information flier.

This 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.

Participants are invited to come early and meet each others who share an interest in Japanese research. Please bring a bagged lunch and meet at noon in the Sherman room at the library.

Linda Harms Okazaki is a fourth-generation San Franciscan whose interest in genealogy began as a hobby in 1998. For the past two years she been researching her husband’s Japanese ancestry and has become passionate about documenting and sharing the stories of Japanese-Americans before, during, and after World War II. Linda has taken two research trips to Japan and has toured some of the assembly centers and camps that held members of the Okazaki family. This summer she completed the National Institute on Genealogical Research (NIGR) program at the National Archives in Washington D.C. and College Park, Maryland. Linda serves as Volunteer Coordinator for the California Genealogical Society and Library.

Photo credit: No. 210-GC-153, “Members of the Mochida family awaiting evacuation bus. Mochida operated a nursery and five greenhouses on a two-acre site in Eden Township." Dorothea Lange, Hayward, California, May 8, 1942; National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the War Relocation Authority.

Copyright © 2013 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library.

Field Trip to the Oakland FamilySearch Library - Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

10:30 a.m. - 12:00 noon

Oakland FamilySearch Library
(formerly Oakland Regional Family History Center)
4766 Lincoln Avenue

Oakland, California 94602

For members only!

Join Jane Lindsey for an in-depth view of the Oakland FamilySearch Library and learn about the hidden resources often overlooked even by frequent visitors to the center. Our tour guide will be the center's director, Ralph Severson. Bring your lunch and enjoy the breathtaking views from this Oakland landmark, followed by an afternoon of research on your own.

The tour will include an introduction to the following resources:

• card index of 35,000 Alameda County obituaries
• online subscriptions, including genealogybank.com and newspapers.com
• map case
• periodical reading room 
• expert consultations, including database management
• future changes at FamilySearch Family Tree and the Research Wiki
• special days for African-American, Azorian, Jewish, and Swedish research

Register online.

This field trip is organized for members of the California Genealogical Society. Non-members interested in participating are encouraged to become members prior to August 31, 2013. The maximum group size is thirty members.

There is no fee for the field trip but preregistration is required. 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.

The Oakland FamilySearch Library is one of the largest and most accessible centers for genealogical research in California, with more than 9,000 volumes of books, periodicals, family histories, city and county histories, city directories, plus over 37,000 reels of microfilm and 9,000 microfiche containing millions of local vital records and historical census data from all over the world.

The library is open:

• Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday - 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
• Friday, Saturday - 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
• Closed on Sunday and Monday

Their online catalog includes the holdings of all fifteen Bay Area centers. When you find a resource of interest, be sure to click on the "Show Copies"  tab to see which location has the book, film. microfiche or CD you are interested in.

Copyright © 2013 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library.

Book Repair Workshop: Build a Book and Learn Book Repair Techniques

Saturday, September 21, 2013

9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

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

The California Genealogical Society is taking reservations for the popular Book Repair Workshop, taught by Book Repair Committee Chairman Bill O'Neil.

Workshop participants learn book repair techniques by creating a book for themselves. Pages are provided and the pupils create the binding. The finished product will be a copy of a "how to" pamphlet written by the late Dick Thrift, founder of the CGS Book Repair Committee. Everyone goes home with a self-made instruction book and souvenir of the day.

The workshop is limited to eight participants. The fee is $25 for members and $45 for non-members. ($20 of the non-members fee may be applied towards society membership on the day of the workshop.) Fee includes all materials and supplies.

Register online.

Pre-registration is required. Registration confirmations will be sent to the first eight who register. Additional names will be collected and placed on a waiting list in case of cancellations.

PLEASE NOTE:

• Walk-ins will not be admitted.
• Fee for materials must be pre-paid.

Photograph by Kathryn Doyle, 10/23/2008, Oakland, California.

Copyright © 2013 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library.