NEHGS Roadshow in Oakland September 21-22: Auction items needed, sign up for seminar and consultations!

By now you have probably heard a lot about the New England Historic and Genealogical Society's "Roadshow," coming Saturday, September 22 to the Oakland Hilton. The gala event features NEHGS experts Robert Charles Anderson and Christopher Child. They will discuss the genealogical and ideological connections among the Puritans who settled New England, the settlement and migrations within early New England, offer valuable research strategies for breaking down genealogical brick walls, and talk about ongoing scholarly contributions to the field of study.

The daylong event includes lunch, door prizes, and a silent auction. Our auction items include: a beautiful handmade quilt, a guided tour of genealogical hot spots in Seattle, research hours by our research team, fun gift baskets, and more. We can still use a few one-of-a-kind auction items, so if you have products or services you'd like to donate, please email Jane Lindsey with your suggestions as soon as possible.

On Friday, September 21, CGS offers one-on-one genealogy consultations at the Library. We still have a few spots available, so sign up soon!

Click here to register for the Roadshow 

Click here to register for genealogy consultations

To offer items for the silent auction, email Jane Lindsey

We hope to see lots of our members at the event!

Copyright © 2018 by California Genealogical Society

CGS Library Collections: Arkansas

One in a series by CGS member Chris Pattillo, highlighting some of our holdings at the Library in Oakland. For a fuller listing of our books, journals, and more, consult the CGS Library catalog. Our catalog is also listed in WorldCat.

One of my photos from my drive along the Natchez Trace
 in 2017

CGS has a modest collection pertaining to Arkansas. It includes just five books and one entire shelf of the Arkansas Family Historian journal spanning the period 1962 to the Spring edition of 2018. Our collection includes their current journals.

The Outlaw Years

The first book that caught my eye was The Outlaw Years by Robert M. Coates, published in 1930. Its subtitle is The History of the Land Pirates of the Natchez Trace. (While on my 2017 Genealogy Journey I found myself in that vicinity, so I made a small adjustment in my route and drove north on a short segment of the famous road to Nashville, Tennessee.) The first chapter is about Daniel Boone and how he was the first to forge a trail from the Great Smoky Mountains. It refers to the Watauga and Cumberland Gap – places where my ancestors lived or where I visited while on my trip, so of course this book appealed to me. But I wondered: why was it shelved with Arkansas? The Natchez Trace starts in Mississippi in the south, crosses through a small portion of Alabama and ends in Tennessee. It turns out the Library of Congress catalog system, which our library uses, groups together states of the “Old Southwest,” the southwestern frontier territories of the United States from the Revolutionary War era through the early 19th century. The territory of the Old Southwest eventually formed the states of Missouri, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, and parts of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Florida panhandle.

CGS has a large collection of
Arkansas genealogy journals

The CGS collection includes two volumes of Publications of the Arkansas Historical Association, dated 1906 and 1911. Volume One is divided into two books. Part I covers topics such as "An Account of Books, Manuscripts, Papers and Documents About Arkansas in Public Repositories" covering foreign offices, federal offices and libraries and societies. Part II includes state offices, county offices, municipal offices, educational institutions, returned Confederate flags, and an Industrial History of Arkansas, and much more.

Fold-out map showing Native American lands in Arkansas

Volume Two devotes an entire chapter to the "Pronunciation of the Name 'Arkansas.'" It also has a chapter by Myra McAlmont Vaughn on "Habitat of the Quapaw Indians" that includes a map that folds out to about 15” x 20” showing “Indian Cessions, Grants to Indians and Changes in Western Boundaries of Arkansas.” It notes the dates of each transaction and shows rivers traversing the state.

The final book for Arkansas is From Memdag to Norsk: A Historical Directory of Arkansas Post Offices 1832-1971 by Russell Pierce Baker. The cover features a wonderful photo of Mr. and Mrs. George Zinn standing in front of the Avilla Post Office in Saline County. While this source is unlikely to appeal to a broad audience, to the right person it would prove a great find.

The Zinn family outside the Avilla Post Office in Saline
County, Arkansas, 1900

Coincidentally, the most recent edition of the the quarterly Arkansas Family Historian includes at least two articles about Saline County: an article about “Rock Creek’s Old Ebenezer Cemetery,” and “Abstracts from the minutes of the Columbia Colored Baptist Association, 1880.”

You might be surprised by what you can find on our library shelves.

Copyright © 2018 by California Genealogical Society

Thomas MacEntee featured at Fall Seminar, October 6, 2018

Thomas MacEntee is the speaker at the CCCGS Fall Seminar

Nationally known genealogist Thomas MacEntee, the creator of High Definition Genealogy and the online community GeneaBloggers, will be featured at the Contra Costa County Genealogical Society's Fall Seminar 2018, held October 6 at the Pleasant Hill Senior Center. The day consists of four sessions, each sure to appeal to genealogists both new and experienced:

1. Genealogy Do-Over™: A Year of Learning From Mistakes

Thomas provides sound research practices as well as tips, tools and the latest technology to create a better body of family history research

2. How Do I Know What I Don’t Know? Fast-track Your Genealogy Education

Discover the tricks that only experts know and fast-track your knowledge on a new resource or record set.

3. Successful Collateral and Cluster Searching

Find out why researching in-laws, “shirt-tail cousins” and neighbors can help break through those frustrating genealogical brick walls.

4. They’re Alive: Searching for Living Persons

See why it is important to locate living relatives and how to find them using Internet search engines and resources.

Complementary snacks included; box lunch available for pre-order. Early registrants (before Sept. 15) will receive a free copy of Thomas MacEntee's eBook Digitization Options for Family Photos. To register and for more details, visit the CCCGS Events page.

Copyright © 2018 by California Genealogical Society  

CGS Library Collections: Arizona

One in a series by CGS member Chris Pattillo, highlighting some of our holdings at the Library in Oakland. For a fuller listing of our books, journals, and more, consult the CGS Library catalog. Our catalog is also listed in WorldCat.

A beautiful portrait and signature from
Portrait and Biographical Record of Arizona

The CGS library has a nice collection of books about Arizona. The first to catch my eye was Portrait and Biographical Record of ARIZONA Commemorating the Achievements of Citizens who Have Contributed To the Progress of Arizona and the Development of its Resources, published by Chapman Publishing in 1901. The bookplate on our copy says that CGS purchased the book in 1957. The three-inch-thick tome with gold gilding on the page edges is very enticing. The first 900-plus pages contain biographies of prominent Arizonans, many accompanied by a high-quality photograph and signature of the featured person. Brief histories of the state and each of its counties make up the remainder of the book.

Our collection includes three volumes of Arizona Territorial Marriages, organized by county. These were published by the Arizona Genealogical Advisory Board between 1999 and 2001.

This 3-volume set is packed with facts

A small, green fabric-covered book titled The Peralta Grant intrigued me because of Oakland’s connection with Antonio Peralta – might there be a connection? No... it turns out this "Peralta Grant" was part of an attempted land grab by notorious 19th-century fraudster James Reavis. Written by Donald M. Powell in 1960, the book states in a foreword, “Nearly everyone in the Southwest has heard of the Peralta Grant and of the Baron of Arizona, James Addison Reavis, but very few have any accurate knowledge of the story…. Legends about the Peralta Grant range from the preposterous yarn that Mrs. Reavis was a slave on the John Slaughter ranch to the seemingly plausible tale that Reavis lived in Arizona in regal elegance…” This book claims to explain the truth of this tale and is embellished with several nice sketches.

Illustration from The Peralta Grant

Barbara Baldwin Salyer and Jean Powell Banowit are the authors of Arizona Genealogical and Historical Research Guide: Early Sources of Southern Arizona Including Cochise, Pima, Pinal, and Santa Cruz Counties, written by and published by the Arizona State Genealogical Society in 2006. This well-illustrated sourcebook covers background information on the state, communities, and towns. It has a long section on types of records and has information about where to find county, state and national repositories for further information.

A cemetery angel pictured in the ASGS newsletter

Our Arizona collection includes two boxes of the Arizona State Genealogical Society's newsletter Copper Filings, from 1986 to February 2008. That last edition includes "A Short Burial History" about Tucson cemeteries. It lists the types of materials used for headstones, explains abbreviations used on headstones, covers cemetery angels and has several nice black and white photos.

Copyright © 2018 by California Genealogical Society

CGS Library Collections: Alaska

Second in a series by CGS member Chris Pattillo, highlighting some of our holdings at the Library in Oakland. For a fuller listing of our books, journals, and more, consult the CGS Library catalog. Our catalog is also listed in WorldCat.

A five-volume set of Alaska Pioneer biographies

To be honest, I did not expect to find any books for the state of Alaska. Imagine my delight when I was directed to a bottom shelf in the “California Room” which used to house the Dorman Collection exclusively. There I found eleven books on Alaska – Eureka!

You may find family gold in this source at the CGS library

Our collection includes a five-book series by Ed Ferrell titled Biographies of Alaska-Yukon Pioneers 1850-1950 (published by Heritage Books in 1994-2004). The set was donated by Cathy C. Nielsen. Each book consists of a series of biographies of the men who caught gold fever.  Most run between half a page to two pages.

Continuing the gold theme, we have a paperback book Old Gold Historical Vignettes of Juneau, Alaska compiled by R.N. DeArmond in 1985. Much of this book covers background information about the town, its mining history and businesses, and old buildings. Chapter six is Historic Characters so this is where you might find some family gold.

Chapter 5 is all about Alaska businesses

Tewkesbury’s Who’s Who in Alaska and Alaska Business Index is a combination business directory and collection of personal biographies written by two Tewkesbury brothers David and William in 1947. This little orange-cover book has over 600 biographies and over 200 pages of ads, photos, drawings and information about Alaska’s businesses. On the back inside cover, there’s a warning “Driving to Alaska ….? Don’t Forget a Shovel!” It explains, “Whatever your reason for going to Alaska … your trip over the Alaska Highway will require unusual advance preparations.” My family drove to Alaska in 1964 to visit my sister at the University in Fairbanks. This was before the “highway” had been paved. Next time you see me ask me about our encounter with a mother moose and her two calves.

1947 ad for Alaska Airlines in
the Tewkesbury book

This is my dad, James E. Pattillo, with the set of
moose antlers a Denali park ranger gave him
when my family vacationed in Alaska in 1964

Our collection also includes Vital Records of Alaska & Yukon 1898-1922 (Marriage, Death, Birth, Divorce, Anniversary & Christening) from the Douglas Island Newspaper, compiled by Betty J. Miller in 1991. There is a companion book with funeral records for Juneau, Alaska.

To find out about the rest of our Alaska collection you’ll need to come into the library. 

Copyright © 2018 by California Genealogical Society