Vol 10 No 3 ...Editor: Gail Gilbert ...March 2003
South Orange County California Genealogical Society
P. O. Box 4513, Mission Viejo, CA. 92690
Monthly meetings are held on the third Saturday of each month from 10:00 a.m. to Noon at the Mission Viejo Family History Center Institute Building, 27978 Marguerite Parkway, Mission Viejo, between Medical Center Drive and Hillcrest Drive. Membership is open to anyone wishing to join. Yearly membership fees are $20 per calendar year for individuals, $25 for joint membership. SOCCGS is not affiliated with the LDS Family History Center.
Final Reminder for Membership Renewal
Our membership chairman, Iris Graham, reports that most of you have been very helpful in renewing your membership promptly. For those of you who may have forgotten to send it in, you may receive a phone call from Iris, but this is the final reminder from the newsletter.
SOCCGS MEETING - March 15, 2003
The March program will be presented by Joan E. Rambo, President of the Orange County California Genealogy Society and Vice President of the Family History Alliance. Ms. Rambo is also currently doing research for companies who look for "lost heirs." Her topic, will be "Research for Southerners and Yankees Too." During this presentation Joan will give us creative ideas to help in our family research. She asks the following questions: "Many research tools and sources are basic to research all over the United States, but have you really looked at all sources?" "Why are there Confederate records in South America?" "Do you know how to locate the list of Southerners buried in South America?" "There are great tools for New England research, but have you Southerners taken advantage of a large New England index that could help you too?" "Have you New Englanders used it?" This sounds like it will be a very interesting and informative talk and we look forward to having Joan as our speaker.
FUTURE SOCCGS PROGRAMS
The following list will give you a taste of what our V.P. & Program Chairman, Mary Jo McQueen, has lined up for the meetings in 2003. We will be having some outstanding speakers with a variety of interesting topics which you won't want to miss. So, plan ahead to be there at the following meetings:
April - Nancy Carlberg: "Overcoming Dead Ends"
May - Tom Underhill: "How To Save An Hour A Day On Your Computer"
June - Doug Mason: "How I Found My Two Grandpa's"
July - Barbara Renick: "Internet Research"
August - Nancy Huebotter: "Writing Your Autobiography"
September - Andrew Pomeroy: "Mastering Search Engines, Internet Research Skills You Need"
October - Possible Seminar
LIBRARY SAFARI
The next SOCCGS Safari will be on March 26 to the Pomona Public Library. This is a leading genealogical library in Southern California with an extensive California Collection. We will leave the LDS parking lot at 9:30 a.m. It is suggested that you bring lunch, since we are not familiar with restaurants near this library. Please contact Janet Franks at 496-8428 or Mary Jo McQueen at 581-0690 for further information.
OTHER SCHEDULED EVENTS
29-30 March 2003 The New England Historical Genealogical Society Conference, hosted by the CA Gen. Soc., will be held at the Asilomar Conference Center on the Monterey Peninsula. Detailed information at http://www.asilomarcenter.com/ . This one is up the Coast a ways, but I can't think of a more beautiful place for a conference than the Asilomar Conference Center! If you haven't been there, you might want to combine this event with a weekend holiday retreat.
From 1970 to 1989 I was employed as a Speech Pathologist by the Saddleback Valley Unified School District. My assignment covered many schools, and I well remember the presence of the military at the El Toro Marine Base during these years. Their children attended our schools, and in turn, the military were present in attending school events.
It was 1974. The District had built Lomarena Elementary School, situated in the vicinity of Paseo de Valencia and Alica. To officiate this opening, the children transferring from Valencia Elementary to the new school formed a parade and marched the six blocks to the new school site, Lomarena. This parade was led by the USMC El Toro band.
It was also at Lomarena Elementary where one day we had a suspicious odor and a hint of smoke. This immediately prompted a fire alarm and evacuation of the school. It was the USMC El Toro Fire Department and police that rolled in with grand force to save us all. T'was a simple little electrical meltdown, but the marines were there, ever ready and to the rescue.
It was the custom at Gates Elementary in El Toro to hold their wondrous Halloween parades every October. The USMC El Toro band was there, and the color guard performed the judging of the winners of the home-made costumes. It was a special day for the students of the Gates Elementary School, as well as the community, who attended in good number.
The Blue Angels were stationed at El Toro. Their planes would noisily zoom overhead, but we would stop and look to the sky, and silently say "Thanks Guys!" It was a good time to be a teacher in Mission Viejo.
We would like to hear from other SOCCGS members who may have memories or stories about the history and early families of our area. If you have questions, please contact the editor or email what you have directly to her at <[email protected]>.
Genealogists use RootsWeb and the incredible power of the Internet to learn more about ancestors and to find far-flung cousins. However we are caught in an incongruous position on privacy matters.
Everyone wants their privacy respected, but are you invading that of your relatives? Technology enables us to share genealogical information easily and quickly via e-mail, mailing lists, chat rooms, bulletin boards, newsgroups, GEDCOMs, CDS and Web sites. In our eagerness to obtain and to share data we forget that our living family members have a right to privacy. We also post personal details about ourselves that we would not put on the local supermarket bulletin board.
Aunt Martha might reveal her real birth date and confess that she had a child out of wedlock when she was 19. Sweet old Uncle Jim may tell you that he has been married and divorced six times. However, you are invading their privacy if you publish this information or if you share it with others via a GEDCOM or family group sheets. Information on home pages, bulletin boards, and mailing lists in electronic publication. It is OK to collect and compile information about your living relatives, but don't share it (unless you have their permission, of course) with others --in any format via any means.
During the preparation of a talk for my local genealogical society on this subject, I searched hundreds of genealogy-related home pages. At one I found the names and details about everyone in the family, including when and where they were all born, right down to a one-month-old grandson, listing the hospital in which he was born.
One researcher reports, "In just one file that I downloaded ... I found more than 200 names of persons born within the last 70 years.
Another notes, "I was shocked and dismayed to find that someone had copied my entire GEDCOM and put it up on their Web site. While I have no objection to anyone using my dead ancestors, this person had included the living as well ..."
Now, I've heard from several genealogists who claim it does not matter what we put up on our home pages or share on the Internet since "this information is all public information, anyway." Another one argues that "unless and until they quit putting births, deaths and marriages in the newspapers the basic relationships and names are and will remain public info."
I have no quarrel about marriage and death records -- if they are reallly obtained from public sources. However, I asked several correspondents to provide me with the source of the birth information posted on their home pages, and guess what I learned" In every instance the data were either supplied by a cousin or obtained from a GEDCOM that someone had sent them. In other words, they had not found the information in a public source at all.
Take a look at the policy posted at "Don't Mess with the Living, Texas":
"It is the policy of the Texas GenWeb Project to protect the rights and privacy of our living relatives. We strongly encourage all involved to do their best not to place information on the Internet about anyone who is still living, unless you have their express permission to do so."
Among the suggestions for ways to protect living family members are:
* When requesting information (via e-mail, chat, queries, etc.) do not include personal information on living persons.
* When responding to requests for information, especially to someone you really do not know, do not provide them with personal information about living persons. They could post it on the Web or do who knows what else with it.
* Before sharing GEDCOM files with others, expunge information on all living persons. Programs such as GEDClean, GEDLving, and GEDPrivy will do this for you.
* If you have a genealogy Web site, remove information about all living persons. (Check Cyndi's Genealogy Home Page Construction Kit for tips and links to the several GEDCOM utility programs that will exclude such data.)
British genealogists are using the "GEN100" logo to signify that their Web site respects a cut-off date of 100 years, and to advise that information which is less than 100 years old will not be divulged. Many Americans use January 1920 as the cut-off point, since that is the most recent federal census available to the public.
We should exercise good manners and respect the privacy of our families --those generous relatives who have shared information with us or who shared with a cousin of a cousin. Additionally, there is another and growing problem --identity theft. Why make it easy for cyberthieves to steal your or a loved one's identity? When you post public messages about your research, it is sufficient to say you are researching a Cynthia Jones line. You don't have (to) reveal relationship by saying she is your mother or maternal grandmother. To learn more about identity theft and other privacy issues visit:
http://www.identitytheft.org and http://www.privacyrights.org.In pursuit of our ancestors, let's not hurt ourselves or our living family members. Think before you post or share data.
Reprinted with the author's permission from RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative, RootsWeb Review, Vol. 2, No. 12, 24 March 1999.
One of my favorite Revolutionary War ancestors is Ebenezer (Eben) Peabody who was born in Boxford, Massachusetts on 7 December 1742 and died there on 25 January 1829. Most of what I have learned about my five-great grandfather has been written by others.
C. M. Endicott wrote the following in The Genealogy of the Peabody Family: "He was a lieutenant in the army of the Revolution, and a man of determined bravery; was at the battle of Bunker Hill, where he went the night before, and was one of the last to leave the field, yielding the ground inch by inch, and disdaining to turn his back upon the enemy. He was also with Col. Alden at the burning of Cherry Valley by the Indians; with Col. Brooks at the taking of Burgoyne; with Gen. Sullivan when he went through the Indian country."
He is listed in Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolution as being a Sergeant in Capt. William Pearly's Co. of Minutemen; Col. James Fry's regiment which marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775.
An excerpt from a letter written by Lieutenant Peabody is found in The History of Boxford. The letter, written December 13, 1778 from Cherry Valley, reads as follows: "I am almost naked for want of shirts, stocking, etc.....When the enemy were here they killed, scalped, and burnt thirty-two men, women, and children and carried some prisoners to Niagara; killed, of the Continentals, Col. Ichabod Alden and twelve privates, and scalped those that could not get to the fort. I was at my quarters, and tried to get to the fort, They liked to have got me, but I made my escape.....The enemy have burnt one hundred and forty-odd buildings, and mad the place desolate of inhabitants.....Do not expect to leave the place this winter; should like to; hope to get home in the spring."
I have done some research into the battle of Cherry Valley and found that it is said to be one of the most notorious events of the Revolutionary War. It took place on November 11, 1778, when a regiment of Tory rangers under Captain Walter Butler and Native forces under Mohawk chief Joseph Brant killed 47 people, including 32 noncombatants.
I hope we never forget the sacrifices of those who came before us and be grateful to those who still fight to protect our freedoms.
We would like to continue a "Featured Ancestor" column in future newsletters. Do you have an ancestor you have found particularly interesting in your researching experience? If so, please submit him/her to the editor.
LIBRARY ACQUISITIONS
Donated by SOCCGS
Pioneer Names of Pima County, Arizona 1864-1912
Microfilm: Arizona Cemetery Records, Vols. 1,2,3 mid 1800-1976
Yearbooks donated by Mary Ellen Lytle (added to our Calif. section located in the Local History Dept.)
Carnegie Institute of Technology; 1931, 32, 33, 34, 35 plus the School Song Book
Long Beach Junior College; 1937 and 1940
Woodrow Wilson High; 1928, 29, 35, 36, 37, 38
Queen of Angels College of Nursing; 1943
Donated by Janet Bailey from the collections of Barbara Renner & Connie Wilson
1830 Indiana Federal Census
History of Woodford County, Kentucky by W. W. Bailey
History of Los Angeles County
San Diego County Place Names
Time's World Atlas
1968 Ayer Directory of Newspapers & Periodicals
Genealogical Sources by Dorothy L. Riker
Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire
The Capitol at Richmond, Virginia by Dodson
History of Shelby County, Indiana 1887
Picturesque Shelbyville, Indiana
Early California Atlas
Early New York Families
Virginia Vital Records
Genealogies of Virginia Families from William & Mary College Quarterly
Irish Immigrants to North America
Irish to America, 1846-1865; Passenger & Immigration Lists
Irish to America Passenger & Immigration Lists, Vol. 2, 1846-1886
Lewis's Gazetteers of England, Ireland and Scotland
Immigrants to Pennsylvania
Roll of Honor, Civil War Union Soldiers
New England Historical & Genealogical Society Registers, Vol. 1-148
Compendium of American Genealogy
Encyclopedia of Quaker Genealogy
Early South Carolina Settlers
Watertown, Massachusetts Records
"Southern Lingo"
Bless Your Heart! Someone once noted that a Southerner can get away with the most awful kind of insult just as long as it's prefaced with the words, "Bless her heart" or "Bless his heart." As in, "Bless his heart, if they put his brain on the head of a pin, it'd roll around like a BB on a six lane highway." Or, "Bless her heart, she's so bucktoothed, she could eat an apple through a picket fence." There are also the sneakier ones: "You know, it's amazing that even though she had that baby 7 months after they were married, bless her heart, it weighed 10 pounds." As long as the heart is sufficiently blessed, the insult can't be all that bad.
I was thinking about this the other day when a friend was telling about her new Northern friend who was upset because her toddler is just beginning to talk and he has a Southern accent. My friend, who is very kind and, bless her heart, cannot do a thing about those thighs of hers, was justifiably miffed about this. After all, this woman had CHOSEN to move to the South a couple of years ago. "Can you believe it?" said her friend. "A child of mine is going to be taaaallllkkin liiiike thiiiiiisss." Now, don't get me wrong. Some of my dearest friends are from the North, bless their hearts. I welcome their perspective, their friendships and their recipes for authentic Northern Italian food. I've even gotten past their endless complaints that you can't find good bread down here. And the heathens, bless their hearts, don't like cornbread!
The ones that really gore my ox are the native Southerners who have begun to act almost embarrassed about their speech. We've already lost too much. I was raised to swanee, not swear, but you hardly ever hear anyone say that anymore, I swanee you don't. And I've caught myself thinking twice before saying something is "right much," "right close" or "right good" because non-natives think this is right funny indeed. Bless their hearts!
I have a friend from Bawston who thinks it's hilarious when I say I've got to "carry" my daughter to the doctor or "cut off" the light. She also gets a giggle every time I am "fixing" to do something. And, bless their hearts, they don't know where "over yonder" is, or what "I reckon" means. My personal favorite was my aunt saying, "Bless her heart, she can't help being ugly, but she could've stayed home."
To those of you who're still a little embarrassed by your Southerness: Take two tent revivals and a dose of sausage gravy and call me in the morning. Bless your heart! And to those of you who are still having a hard time understanding all this Suthen stuff, bless your hearts, I hear they are fixin to have classes on Suthenese as a second language! Bye Ya'll.
Scanned original Bible records, on file at the Library of Virginia, are available on-line, indexed by surname, at: http://eagle.vsla.edu/bible/
Abbreviations - L. A. Recorders Office Handout
Abandonment ABD
Abstract ABST
Account ACCT
Acknowledgment ACKNWLDGMT
Administration ADMN
Affidavit AFF
Annexation ANNEX
Annulment ANNULMT
Application APPL
Assessment ASSMT
Assignment ASGT
Attachment ATTACH
Attorney ATTY
Authorization AUTH
Bankrupt BKPT
Boundary BNDRY
Building Contract B C
Cancellation CNC
Cemetery CEM
Certificate CTF
Cessation CESS
Chattel Mortgage C M
Conditional Sales C S
Conservator(ship) CONSER
Contract CONTR
Conveyance CONVEY
Covenant COVEN
Death DTH
Declaration DECLN
Decree DEC
Default DELT
Discharge DISCHG
Dismissal DSMSL
Dissolution DSLN
Distribution DISTR
Divorce DIV
Easement EASMT
Estate EST
Exchange EXCH
Exclusion EXCLN
Executor EXTR
Extension EXTN
Foreclosure FCLSR
Guaranty(ee) GUAR
Guardianship GDNSHP
Highway HGWY
Homestead HMSTD
Identity IDENT
Inclusion INCLN
Indemnity INDEM
Indenture INDT
Interlocutory INTLOC
Joint JT
Judgment JDGT
Lease LSE
Letters LTRS
Liability LIAB
Life LF
Loan LN
Location LOCATN
Marriage MARR
Mechanic Lien M L
Modification MOD
Mortgage MTG
Notice NT
Option OPT
Order ORD
Ordinance ORDN
Partition PARTN
Partnership PTP
Performance PERF
Power PWR
Property PROP
Purchase PURCH
Quit Title Q T
Ratification RATIF
Receipt RECPT
Receiver RECVT
Reconveyance RECON\
Record REC
Redevelopment REDEV
Release REL
Renewal RENL
Report REP
Request REQ
Re-recordation RERECOR
Rescission RESCSN
Resolution RES
Restriction RESTR
Revising REVIS
Revocation REVOC
Separation SEPN
Service SERV
Settlement SETLMT
Statement STMT
Stipulation STIP
Sublease LSE
Supplemental SUP
Suspension SUSPN
Tenancy TEN
Termination TERM
Testamentary TEST
Transfer TRAN
Trust/Trustee TR
Trust Deed T D
Vacation VACAT
Violation VIOLATN
Withdrawal WITHDRL
1. Continuous classes are offered at the Mission Viejo Family History Center at 27976 Marguerite Parkway. For a current schedule or to register call (949) 364-2742.
2. For information on classes held at the Orange FHC, 674 S. Yorba St., Orange, call Beth McCarty at (714) 998-3408.
3. Classes for beginners and intermediates in Computer-assisted Genealogy are offered each month by the Orange County CA Genealogy Society in the General Meeting Room of the Huntington Beach Central Library, 7111 Talbert Ave., Huntington Beach, CA for a fee of $4 for non-members, payable at the door. See http://occgs.com for schedule.
4. The schedule for NARA workshops is available by calling (949) 360-2641.
5. The British Isles Family History Society (BIFHS) holds classes monthly at the LA FHC of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 10741 Santa Monica Blvd., W. LA. Classes and parking are free. For information contact Dorothy Losee at (310) 838-6085, [email protected].
6. Classes are offered monthly by the LA Family History Center, 10741 Santa Monica Blvd. Los Angeles which offer a wide variety of topics. To see the schedule for the current month, go to their website at http://www.lafhc.org or call (310) 474-9990.
7. Brigham Young University's Department of Independent Studies offers two free online genealogy courses, Finding Your Ancestors and Providing Temple Ordinances for Your Ancestors. See http://ce.byu.edu/is/dept/famhist.htm for details.
8. Community College genealogy courses can be found listed at the website: http://www.ed2go.com/colleges.html. Many of these are also free online.
South Orange County California Genealogical Society
Membership/Renewal Application
( ) New ( ) Renewal ( ) Individual, $20/yr ( ) Jt. Members, same address $25/yr
Renewal Membership Number(s) _________________________ ________________________
Name(s) ________________________________________________________________________
Address _________________________________________________________________________
City ____________________________ State_____Zip__________Phone ___________________
Email address:________________________________________________
Make check payable to: SOCCGS (South Orange County CA Genealogical Society) Check No. __________________
Mail with application to: SOCCGS, P.O. Box 4513, Mission Viejo, CA 92690-4513 Date Rec'd__________________
NOTE: When renewing your membership, please include your email address, if you have one, so we may include you in a membership email directory.