Saddleback Valley Trails

SOCCGS EVENTS

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, CA, 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.

20 March 1999 Toni Perrone will speak on General German Research. Toni has over twenty years experience in German Research. During the question and answer portion, Toni will address anyone's "Brick Wall" that they have encountered during their German research.

17 April 1999, SOCCGS member Kathie Mauzey will speak on the resources available at the Laguna Niguel National Archives. Kathie has over ten years experience researching at the National Archives and has been a volunteer there for the past eight years.

15 May, 1999 Janet Franks, past SOCCGS President, will speak on Heritage societies. Janet is well qualified; she is a member of Colonial Dames, DAR, Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America, and New England Women. She has held state and national positions, and is currently a National Vice Chairman of the DAR.

20 March 1999 Toni Perrone will speak on General German Research. Toni has over twenty years of experience in German Research. During the question and answer portion, Toni will address anyone's "Brick Wall" that they have encountered during their German research.

17 April 1999 SOCCGS member Kathie Mauzey will speak on the resources available at the Laguna Niguel National Archives. Kathie has over ten years experience researching at the National Archives and has been a volunteer there for the past eight years.

15 May 1999 Janet Franks, past SOCCGS President, will speak on Heritage Societies. Janet is well qualified; she is a member of the Colonial Dames, DAR, Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America, and New England Women. She has held state and national positions and is currently a National Vice Chairman of the DAR.

19 June 1999 Several SOCCGS members will give short 5 to 15 minute discussions on their particular area of expertise.

17 July 1999 "The 5 W's for Citing Sources: Who, What, When, Where and Why" will be the title of Barbara Renick's talk at this meeting. Barbara will also address the issue of primary, secondary and tertiary evidence in research.

25 September 1999 Our second SOCCGS all-day seminar, "Your Family in History" will feature guest speakers, classes, prizes and fun, to be held at the Mission Viejo City Library.

6 March 1999 Huntingon Beach Library will be the site of the OCCGS Book Fair beginning at 9:00 a.m. To be held in Rooms C and D.

20 March 1999 Orange County Pioneer Days will be held at the George Key Ranch. For further information, call (714)528-4260

21 March 1999 Regular meeting of Questing Heirs will feature Nancy Carlberg whose topic of discussion will be "Becoming a Perfect Genealogist" This speaker is a professional genealogist and a staff regular at the Family History Center in Santa Monica. Meeting to be held at the Church of Religious Science Bldg, 3650 Long Beach Blvd in Long Beach

12-13 June 1999 The Southern California Genealogical Society will hold their annual Jamboree at the Pasadena Convention Center on these dates.Further info can be obtained from Raylene Junkins, 520-445-6505 or Sue Kissel, 520-445-8996

23-24 October 1999 The Orange County History Conference is scheduled for this date, to be held at California State at Fullerton. This year this conference will be adding genealogy as part of their workshop program. Further information to follow.

Chairperson Iris Graham wishes to remind all who have not paid their dues that she is dropping them from the mailing list this month if dues are not paid. She also requests that when you send in your dues, please fill out the membership form that you will find at the end of this newsletter. It saves Ruby a lot of time if dues are accompanied with this form.

The Society is happy to furnish a yearly membership card to any member wishing to have proof of membership. This may be vital to your entry into another library if you go traveling and wish to do some research. Iris Graham will gladly provide one for you if you contact her and make such a request. You can pick the card up at our next meeting or if you wish to receive it in the mail, please provide her with a SASE.

Also, the new roster of active members will be available in March, which Iris will also provide if you request one. Cost of reproducing this roster is 50¢, payable to Iris.

The first time I looked at an old German church record, I saw only gibberish. Not only was the language unfamiliar, but the old script was undeciperable and most was in Latin - Church Latin, which can be a bit different from the formal Latin learned in school.

Since then I've been taking German lessons, purchased German-English and Latin-English dictionaries and bought a book on how to decipher old German script. While I still scratch my head over these documents, I have gotten better at transcribing them - at least enough to determine whether they are baptismal, marriage or death records. And, at the very least, I recognize my ancestor's names!

Perhaps the most difficult part of a genealogist's research is transcribing old documents. Fortunately there are a number of resources available on the Internet. Here are some resources I've found to help me with German and Latin:

There are links to German and a few dozen other languages (except Latin) :
learning resources at http:///call.gov/resource/language/language.htm

Thirty Lessons in Reading German, free self-help lessons online, also a discussion group in both German and English
http://www.disknet.com/indiana_biolab/gab.htm

Reading Latin Documents: this web page belonging to Family History Professor Raymond S Wright III of Brigham Young U. contains a wonderful explanation on how to read Latin:
http://www.italgen.com/toolbox/latin.htm

Tim's Guide to Parish Register Latin contains a list of Latin words found in church documents:
http://freespace.virgin.net/owston.tj/latin.htm

Latin Terms and Phrases:
http://bigjohn.bmi.net/jjaso/Latin_Ter,s_and_Phrases.html

(Printed with permission to reprin from the author, first appeared on IIGS Newsletter Online)
(Editor's note: The original article contains 8 links to language sites, but only 5 could be contacted.)

Why do they have marriage bonds? Marriage bonds were instituted in colonial Virginia to prevent couples from being married who were not qualified to marry. A disqualification might be that one of the parties was already married, or not old enough to marry, or an indentured servant without permission of the master or persons within Levitical degrees (to close a family tie). The law providing for marriage bonds was passed by an Act of the VA Assembly in 1666.(Bluegrass Roots via CGSA Nwsltr Feb 99)

God bless the Irish, who don't know what they stand for, but are willing to fight for it anyway.

God bless the Scottish, who don't know what they like, but are willing to drink to it anyway.

God bless the Welch, who pray on their knees on the Sabbath and on their neighbors the rest of the week,

And, God bless the English, who claim to be a self-made race, thus relieving God of a terrible burden. Source unknown

1. Ray County Reflections, Vol 7 #4, 1998
2. Allen Families, Vol 1, #3 & 4 1996; Vol 2 #1 & 2, 1997
3. The New England Quarterly, Vol 71 #4, Dec 1998
4. The Searcher, Bol 34 #5 thru 9, 11 & 12, 1997; Vol 35, #2,3,4,6,12 1998
5. Orange Co NY Gen Sox Q. vol 24 #4 195; Vol 25, Index, 1995-96, Vol 26 #1 - 4 1996 plus index; Vol 27 #1-3, 1998
6. Genealogical Surname Index, 1997-1998, WAGS
7. The Archivist, GS of Bergen Co NJ Vol 25 #1-3 1998
8. Nexus, vol 15 #5, 1998
9. Indiana source Book, vols 1 through 8 plus index, ed Willard Heiss
10. The Indiana Way, A State History, by James H. Madison
11. German Research Assn. Membership Roster, Nov 1991
12. Gen. Research Directory, 1994 by Keith Johnson and Malcolm Sainty
13. The Indiana years, 1903 - 1941 by Walter B Hendrickson
14. Morgan Co IN> Scrapbook Vol 1, Morgan Co H & G Club
15. Civil War Genealogy by George k. Schweitzer
16. The Hoosier Genealogist, Vol 38 #2, 1998
17. The German Connection vol 12 #2 1988; Vol 15 # 1-4 1991
18. Chicago Genealogists, Vol 25 #3, 1998; Vol 26 #4 1994
19. Indiana Ancestors Queries, 11 and Index, by Rebecca McCay Roth
20. The Official Web Page of SHHAR, Soc of Hispanic History & Ancestral Research
21. Blackhawk Gen Soc. (IL) vol 25 #4
22. The Last of the House of Parker, by Jean Parker Kroger
23. WI State Gen Soc Vol 38 #1, 1991
24. Handy Index to the Holdings of the Gen Soc of Utah, Vol 1, Eastern States, by Mary J. Brown
25. Commemorative History of the Presbyterian Church in Westfield NJ 1728-1928 by Wm K. McKinney
26. Nexus vol 16 #1, 1999
27. The Cemetery Record Compendium, by John D and Diane Stemmons
28. The Scotch-Irish, by Bill and Mary Durning
28. A Search for Your Irish Roots
29. Tracing your Irish Ancestors, by Peggy Magee
30. The Irish in New England, NE Historical Gen Society
31. The Lives & Times of Our English Ancestors, Vol 2, by Frank Smith
32. Genealogical Research in England & Wales, Vols 1-3, by David E. Gardner & Frank Smith
33. A Gazetteer of Vermont, by John Hayward
34. A Genealogical Gazetteer of England, by Frank Smith
35. A Genealogical Atlas of England and Wales, by David E. Gardner
36. Irish Family Research Made Simple, 2^nd Ed., by E. J. Collins
37. Handy Index to Holdings of the GS of Utal, Vol 1, Eastern States, by Mary J. Brown
38. Genealogical Periodicals: A Neglected Treasure, by Laird C. Towle
39. The Sully Cowboy, by Peter Wood
40. Vaudreuil Papers by Bill Barron
41. Marriage Dispensations in the Diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas, by Bourquard
42. >From Charcoal to Banking, the I.E, Solomons of AZ by E. Ramemofsky
43. Linn Co. OR Marriages, 1850-1860 by Harley and Helen Haskin
44. Washington County OR Cemeteries by Gen Forum of Portland, OR.
45. The Genealogist's Address Book by Elizabeth Bentley
46. The Bulletin, MOHS, Vol 28 #1, 1971
47. Washington Co PA Marriages, 1780-1857
48. Marriages from Venengo co PA Sources 1795-1921 by Jan Hanson

1.Early Kaskaskia IL Newspapers by Lola Crowder

2. Abstracts of North Carolina Wills, by J Bryan Grimes

Well, she may not be royalty, but she does have some impressive relatives! The chart enclosed is that of Rich Faber's "Cricket", whose full name is Fabers' Lotek Jiminy Cricket, a grandniece of the multi winner of dog shows, Loketi Supernatural Being.

This Loteki Supernatural Being was born 31 December 1990 and here is his track record to date:

1. "Best of show" in June 1998 in Helsinki Finland, in the World Dog Show, winning out of 15,000 contestants,. He was the first Papillon to win a "Best of Show"
2. "Best of Show" om February 1999 in New York City, Westminster Dog Show, winning out of 2,500 contenstants, and the first Papillon to win Best of Show in that event.

Many of us saw this little dog on TV last week and were enchanted with his attitude.

Runs in the family for Cricket Faber has the same savoir-vivre and savoir faire

Which brings this editor to another thought,
It is always fun to find some connection, even if remote, to a famous person. My husband can boast Daniel Boone and Clark Gable. I can add Francoise Missouri, the Missouri Indian Princess of legend. Recently I discovered a possible connection of Mary Pickford to the Hennessy line I am currently researching., I know Betty McKenzie toiled for years with a distant Matheny relative who was President Lincoln's best man at his wedding. How about sharing with the other members on some of your near connections to the rich and famous. Let this editor know and we'll see if we can start a gossip column

Beware if you think you've found a possible ancestor in the extreme southwest corner of Minnesota in its 1857 territorial census, according to William Dollarhide, a speaker at a recent SGS seminar. The census in that area is fake. That Minnesota was made a state in 1858 - statehood requires a certain population - just might have had something to do with it.)
Seven unoccupied counties - Cottonwood, Jackson, Martin, Murray, Nobles, Pipestone and Rock - were created in 1857 and fraudulently peopled with 4,000 individuals who didn't exist and never had. The "take-care" warning also covers the 1850 and 1860 federal censuses taken there. The seven "counties" were cut from what was originally Brown Co., established in 1855, an unorganized territory. Only one of the seven today has extant records back to 1868 and the rest have none earlier than the early 1870s.According to Dollarhide, the tip-off to the deception is that all the 4,000 "enumeration's" were done by the same person (the handwriting on the census records is the same, too) in less than a week - quite a feat for mostly wilderness area of some 2,000 square miles. And even more interesting, each 1857 "family" listing conveniently ends at the last line of a census page, truly a marvelous happenstance. (Seattle Gen society, Autumn 1998 via La Crosse Area Gen Society, Jan 1999)

During and in the years after the American Revolution the fledgling United States lacked a national currency and this situation was to cause serious economic problems. As a solution to this crisis, the Federal Government adopted the so-called Spanish Milled Dollars as legal tender until the United States could produce it's own money. These "dollars" were actually Spanish 8 reale silver coins minted in Mexico City for use throughout the Spanish Empire and were the international currency of the day. These coins were in common circulation in the United States well into the 19^th Century. If the popular story of George Washington throwing a silver dollar across the Potomac River is true, it would have been a Spanish 8 reale coin that was tossed into legend. (Huellas del Pasado, Vol 6 #1)

>p> Jim Carlton from the Wall Street Journal related this actual story, that Compaq is considering changing the command "Press Any Key" to "Press Return Key" because of the flood of calls asking where to find the "Any" key.

The search started out innocently enough; my older brother John had worked with mother on documenting the Boicourt pedigree. I did not ask for the job, it just seemed it was something that came with my mother's estate, a loose end, "Great-Great-Grandfather Boicourt where were you in the 1700's?"

Of course mother knew all about her relatives, who married whom, and the when and where of all of the family. When it came to my father's side there was a block wall, a little bit of a middle and something of an end, but where and when was the beginning?

Daddy's maternal grandmother was Julia Ann Boicourt, of the Missouri Boicourt's you know. Well, maybe you never heard of them. No problem because as it turns out, not too many have any recollections of them either.

But I stray from the story. Julia Ann's daddy was James Boicourt. He had worked on the Mississippi River, according to brother John, as a river boat captain around 1812. However, historical resources in New Orleans challenged the idea of his being a riverboat captain since the stern-wheelers were not on the river until the mid-1800's and he was doing his thing in the early 1800's.

Grasping an opportunity to expand a college reunion in Lafayette, Louisiana I included research time about grandpa Boicourt in near-by New Orleans.

As is usual in these searches, I learned about stuff that had no bearing on Gramps. How can you ignore the hand written entries by the W.P.A. workers in the 1930's on three by five inch cards of all the New Orleans tombstone inscriptions. The bottom line was, wherever he lived, he did not die in "The Big Easy," New Orleans.

At the outset I asked brother John if he had been to the LDS Family History Center in Salt Lake City. He reminded me of his four day visit there several years ago searching for our family names and his wife's family. He found no Boicourt. There the trail turned cold.

It had been established that Great-Great-Grandfather Samuel deBoicourt was born in France in the 1700's, a French Protestant Huguenot. The Huguenots were made up of Protestant nobles and merchants. The King, a Catholic, was convinced that anyone who was not Catholic had no reason to live. History tells that more than 600,000 Huguenots were massacred. To live you had choices: become Catholic, die or flee the country. Grandpa fled.

A genealogy friend extolled the virtues of the National Archives, Washington, DC. Here I am in Southern California and the place to be where "everything" historical, I was told, was in the nation's capital.

Knowing that the Marines fly to various parts of the world and with the El Toro Marine base in my back yard, and since I retired from the Navy which gives me the opportunity for a free ride to where ever the plane goes, if space is available. I gave them a call to see if they had any flights to the east coast soon. They told me of a round trip flight from El Toro Marine Air Base to Andrews Air Force base in Maryland. And yes I could go, however there were conditions. There would be no food or drink service. Just bring my own. The cabin will not heated so wear sweaters and a coat. Big deal. It was a C-120, one of those big cargo planes able to fly with a truck or tanks in the hold. It was taking a group of Marines to compete in the annual 20k run in Washington, DC. The price being right I went.

What did I have to show for the trip about Grandpa? Nothing. The message in Washington was to check the Regional National Archives in Fort Worth, Texas. Rather than burdening you with my tale of nothing's let's move on.

Some well meaning person suggested the genealogy department at University of Southern Louisiana or the holdings in the libraries in Baton Rouge, just a bayou or two away. During the early 1800's The Big Easy was possibly better known as the big swamp. The river commerce and the connection with the ocean trade centered on what would become the state capital, Baton Rouge. The early church and document records I was seeking could well be in Baton Rouge.

Another trip to the land of magnolias and hospitable Cajuns. This time my efforts would concentrate on Baton Rouge.

Concentrate I did with new results? Not to be for me. Just before it was time to fly back home, friends asked if I had been to the LDS Family History Center in nearby Lafayette. Well, my brother John told me he had checked already and found nothing. Who am I to challenge my brother? Since my friends spoke highly of the LDS resources I decided to see what they had. The Family History Center was not open on my first visit. The next day I did get to the center, but just an hour before closing.

It was pay-off time. With only a few minutes to go before they closed I found some Boicourts family. There were several listings of other Boicourts with their birth, marriage and death records.

The next plateau of searching is confirming data already on hand. Details like was Julia's father's name James or Samuel. Was he here in time to have been George Washington's doctor? Did he really spend a year with the Indians, and who knows what tribe, Were the deBoicourts, a branch of French royalty or were they tradesmen and in what trade? "Keeper of the backcourt," has been listed as the meaning of the French name, deBoicourt but what does it really mean?
Now there are so many new trails to follow. Maybe my Uncle Sam will be taking another trip soon and I can go too to, wherever.

I want ancestors who could read and write, had their children baptized in a recognized house of worship, went to school, purchased land, left detailed wills, had their photos taken once a year, subsequently putting said pictures in elaborate isinglass frames annotated with calligraphic inscriptions, and carved valuable and informative inscriptions on their headstones.

I want relatives who managed to bury their predecessors in established still-existent (and indexed) cemeteries.

I want family members who wrote memoirs, who enlisted in the military as officers and who served in strategically important and well-documented skirmishes.

I want relatives who served as councilmen, schoolteachers, county clerks and town historians.

I want relatives who religiously wrote in the family Bible, journalizing every little event and detailing the familial relationship of every visitor.

In case of immigrant progenitors, I want them to have arrived only in those years wherein passenger lists were indexed by the National Archives, and I want them to have applied for citizenship, and to have done so only in those jurisdictions which have since established indices.

I want relatives who were patriotic and clubby, who joined every patrimonial society they could find, who listed all their addresses, had paintings made of their houses, and dated every piece of paper they touched.

I want forebears who were wealthy enough to afford, and to keep for generations, the tribal homestead, and who left all the aforementioned pictures and dairies and journals intact in the library, But most of all, I want relatives I can FIND!

Author: Barbara A. Brown as published in the Aug 1998 edition of International Internet Genealogical Society Newsletter http://www.iigs.org/newsletter/9808news/index.htm

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