Vol 9 No 4 ...Editor: Gail Gilbert ...April 2002
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.
PRESIDENT'S COLUMN
Hello Everyone,
By the time you read this newsletter the new addition to the library should be open! The new 'unofficial' date is April 1. This has certainly been an adventure! There is still no date on the availability of the computers, however it shouldn't be long. I know we are all anxiously awaiting internet access in our genealogy section. Please visit the new area and tell us what you think! We hope it will be a pleasant place to research.
Several members, with the guidance of Librarian Janet Franks, are working on a project for easier access to our genealogical information. Come see what we are working on. Herb Abrams has put a revised book list on our web site, both alphabetical and by subject. Check it out! (Address is on the back of the newsletter.)
Another project is the moving of our California books across the room to the history section. Judy Deeter will be instrumental in the development of our "California Collection." We are grateful to have this additional space. If not for this, our shelves would be too full for new additions.
There were sixty-one attendees at our March meeting. It is great to see so many interested genealogists! Toni Perrone's German program was very well received. Thanks to Hall Simon for the second installment of "Old Toys."
We are looking for e-mail addresses for our members. It would be good to have a listing so that information can be sent out without going through Rootsweb. We will continue to ask for the addresses at general meetings, but in the meantime you can e-mail Herb, if you wish to be included in the "information pipeline." His address is on the back of the newsletter.
Do you have suggestions for books and/or cds for our library? It will help greatly if we know your interests. Please contact me or leave the information at the docent desk.
Yours In Genealogy,
Mary Jo McQueen
SOCCGS APRIL MEETING
20 April 2000 Our speaker for this meeting will be Nancy Huebotter whose topic will be "Developing a Timeline. . .and Why."
The purpose for developing a timeline for an individual family member and/or a family in its entirety, is to place them in history, track their movements, and to look at various historical events that may have had impact on their situation. timelines are particularly useful when setting a person or a family in history. By graphically laying out an individual's life, it is easy to see the "holes" in ones research, and point out where additional research focus should be concentrated.
This is a "hands-on lecture/workshop," so bring a pencil, family group sheets (at least a small selection of a contiguous family) and your thinking cap. For the purpose of this exercise, you may want to pick an individual who was born in the 1800s. You will be given other supplies and information to assist you in developing a timeline example.
This should be a fun and informative meeting. We look forward to Nancy's presentation.
OTHER CA EVENTS
13-14 April 2002 The Southern California Genealogical Society (SCGS) will hold its Annual Genealogical Jamboree at the Pasadena Convention Center. Info is available from Chris Hubbard (818) 843-7247 or [email protected] or http://www.scgsgenealogy.com.
23 April 2002 There will be a "duplicate genealogy book sale" at the Library Conference Room of the Cole Library in Carlsbad from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
28 April 2002 The Pommern Special Interest Group (PSIG) will hold a meeting at the IGS Library, 1310 Magnolia, Burbank, CA with Barbara Renick speaking on "From Pomerania to Poland" and "Publishing and Preserving Your Genealogy."
19 May 2002 The French Canadian Heritage Society of CA will hold their next meeting on Sunday from 10 -4 at the Library of the SCGS at 417 Irving Drive, Burbank, CA. Call (818) 843-7247 for directions.
7-10 August 2002 The 2002 Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference will be hosted next summer by the CA State Genealogical Alliance at the Ontario Convention Center. Details will be posted on the FGS Website at http://www.fgs.org. You can also write FGS, PO Box 200940, Austin, TX 78720-0940.
WAYS & MEANS
Our chairman of Ways & Means, Leon Smith, reports that there are several moneymaking activities coming up later this year. In September there will be another garage sale. So start putting those items aside that you no longer need and are willing to donate for the sale. For the Christmas season, Leon and Bunny Smith will be making a See's candy run for everyone. You'll save money and time from standing in long lines at the See's candy store. In Sept/Oct we'll start getting everyone geared up for their orders. Mary Jo has graciously offered to donate an item from her knitting skills for a raffle. More information on this to follow in a future newsletter.
Donated by Beverly Long
Lyon County, Kentucky World War II Veterans
Purchased by SOCCGS
Omitted Chapters from Hotten's, Edited by James C. Brandow
Prairie Pioneers of Illinois, Vol, I & II, Illinois State Genealogical Society
From the Friends of Library Book Store
The Ancient Parish Registers of England & Wales
Ancestral Roots of Sixty Colonists, Sixth Edition
Genealogical Arlas of Scotland, Gardner, Harland & Smith
The Lives and Times of Our English Ancestors
SOCCGS 50/50 Program
History of North Hampton, Vol I & II, Trumbell
NEW MEMBERS & GUESTS IN MARCH
Guests:
Larry Curtis (DRABOLD/Trahold, Baden, Germay; CURTIS, NJ; NICOLOSI & AIELLO, Italy, Sicily; BARRASS, England; CHRISTIANSEN, England)
Ray Kunkle (KUNKLE, PA, OH, Germay)
Elizabeth (Betty) Martin (SCHMERDA, Hungary; HAMANN, Austria; HEISLER, Wisconsin; STOFFEL, Wisconsin/Owendorff, Prussia Germany)
Larry Miller
Verl D. Nash (NASH, TOWSLEY, BRUCE)
Donna Rountree (URQUHART, Scotland; AVERY; ROUNTREE; GREEN)
Kent Wiese (WIESE, Nebraska/Germany; SMITH, Nebraska/New England; HUBBARD; LIPPI, Germany)
New Members:
Rhoda Lehman, Marilyn Morgan and Judith Ryu
NEXT SAFARI
Our next Safari will be on April 24 to the Carlsbad Library. For those of you who may be new to the area, the Cole Genealogical Library in Carlsbad has an outstanding collection for genealogical researchers. It includes the census rolls from 1790-1870, the 1880 Census on CD, a collection of census index books, genealogical periodicals (500 titles), indexes to vital records, cemetery records, probate records, military pension applications, and immigration records, as well as thousands of books including local and family histories. We are extremely lucky to be so close to such a choice genealogical resource. Their Library Catalog may be viewed at their website at: http://web2.ci.carlsbad.ca.us/
Many students ask what to do when they come to the proverbial "brick wall." My answer is to start over! I know that sounds redundant and like a lot of work, but when you realize that as you work in genealogy you continue to grow and learn new methods of research and new sources to turn to, and when you "begin anew" you often see things more clearly in the records, notes, papers, etc. that you have put aside.
I suggest that you make a new family group sheet, carefully going over everything you have accumulated on the person(s) that you are having difficulty with. Look each piece of information over very carefully and I feel absolutely certain you will find at least one thing about that person or family that you have overlooked. Many times rereading an obituary, marriage application, newspaper article, letter, diary, etc. again, especially after a long period of time, you will find information that you didn't catch earlier. After rebuilding the new family group sheet, compare it to the previous one you had made up and again, I feel certain at least one item will stand out to you that you had not seen before. Perhaps you began the research on this person several years ago, before the Internet, and with the aid of the Internet are able to see a record that you might not have thought of at the earlier time. You may need to send for a record that didn't seem as important when you first began your research and hadn't thought of in all this time. Many of these records are now available online, too. Perhaps you need to write a letter to a relative listed in the obituary, or who was the witness to the marriage, or the christening, etc. You may have done that some time age, and after receiving no information, gave up on that source. So try it again! If the relative has since passed away, write to a known cousin or other relative, to see if they have knowledge of someone with information on the person you are researching. Perhaps you need to write another letter to the library or genealogical society in the area for the person you are researching. New information comes into these resources all the time.
I recall working on a line that I couldn't understand why I couldn't get a death certificate on the person. I began my research with vague information that this person was my great great grandfather. Only recently, while researching another member of that family, and printing out the time line for the relative, did I realize that all these years I was working on the wrong person as the father of the line and when carefully putting down the birth date of the children, did I realize that he couldn't possibly be the father, but the father had to be one of the siblings.
From the new family group sheet, work up a new timeline, which will also point out the newly found observation.
If you have kept a research log over the period of time of researching this person, recheck it to see what your previous contacts were and if they were successful, or should you be writing them again. Perhaps you sent for a death certificate and received a negative reply, but have since learned that the county you thought the person died in was not in existence at the time, and you now know the correct name of the county at the time. Have you checked with the county for a death certificate? Time nor space do not permit me to make other examples, but you get the idea.
Don't get me wrong -- I still have a few "brick walls" of my own, most genealogists do, but don't look at them as something you can't overcome. Look at them as that continuing challenge!
(Nancy Giles is the teacher for the WAGS Beginning Genealogy course. This article appeared in the November 2000 issue of the WAGS newsletter, Vol. 20, No. 6. We reprint it here with her permission.)
BOARD MEMBER BIOGRAPHIES
Joseph Patrick Barney, our recording secretary was born and reared in Connecticut. His parents were Joseph Edwin and Genevieve Stanford Barney. Joe graduated from Hamden High School. He received a BA in history at the University of
Maryland and a BS in political science/sociology from Regents College, Massachusetts. His MA in management/administration came from Central Michigan. Joe spent 29 years in the US Air Force, retiring in 1979. During this time he was stationed in Japan, Korea, Italy, Vietnam, Thailand and Bolivia. He married Cynthia Foley of White Plains, New York. Joe has a son in Missouri and a son and daughter in California. Also, three grandchildren, triplets!
Joe has been teaching with the University of Phoenix since 1983. He teaches management, English, global economy and sociology. He has traveled extensively in Europe, South America and Asia.
He has focused much of his genealogy research on his father, Joseph Edwin Barney, who was born in Windsor Locks, CT to Harriet Smith of Smith/Gillette and Joseph Barney (Parrish). This Joseph Barney was born in Three Rivers, Canada of the Abenaki Tribe. There are virtually no records and the Canadian government has all but closed the door on research.
Joe has searched back to the beginning of the nineteenth century, on his mother's paternal family, to County Leitrim, Ireland. Her mother was Margaret Meagher (O'Meagher), believed to have died in New York in 1888/1899. Margaret's father was Michael Meagher, of Tipperary, Ireland. His mother was Maria McDonald, either of England or Ireland.
Joe began his genealogy research about five years ago. He believes he is related to BG Thomas Francis Meagher, Irish patriot, who led the Irish Brigade from New York during the Civil War. Meagher was Montana Territorial Governor and died mysteriously in July 1867 at Fort Benton, Montana.
Joe would like to find information on Meagher, Gillette, Parrish, Stanford and Healy.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Pat Weeks is our corresponding secretary and is a founding member of SOCCGS. She is also a volunteer at the National Archives in Laguna Niguel. Pat writes . . . . .
My introduction to genealogy began in 1970 when my husband's aunt kept wowing us with findings of the Weeks and Boones of Ky. It piqued my interest, plus I was driving her up to the Loara FHC to do research; there were no facilities here in South Orange County. In those days, there were no indexes to censuses, no motorized readers, no microfilm copiers, no IGI, and you could use a reader for 2 hours and then you had to relinquish it to the next researcher.
So, I began my own family quest and found that my richest familial line was the early French Canadians who came and settled in the middle Mississippi Valley region around 1710. They were the early fur trappers and pathfinders to the West Coast.
Because of these individuals, I owe my expertise, derived from 30 years experience, to early Quebec, the Mississippi Valley region down to New Orleans, and Missouri. The span of 1700 - 1820 in the Mississippi River region is still my primary areas of interest. I love all the old Frenchmen, and have pursued many of the characters although they are not related to my line.
Mary Jo asked for the "most fun find." Well, there was Francoise Missouri (Princess of the Missouri's, in so many of the MO History books, who went to Paris, France in 1724). But also, a very special project was when I collaborated with a distant cousin of my husband to prove they were related to Clark Gable. Family rumors were there, but it was the hunt to uncover just how the relationship was derived. The relationship was marital only, no blood lines, but how sweet to identify that the family stories were true.
As my Osage relations would say, it is the "Bon chasse"- The good hunt!
WHAT IS RAOGK?
Our member, Diane Hearne, has received wonderful information using RAOGK, otherwise known as Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness. This organization of some 4,854 volunteers can offer you assistance in a specific geographical area where you need someone to look up information. Simply go to their site at http://www.raogk.org/ and request a state where you will find a list of volunteers offering services for each county. The only request, since this site is based on "people helping people," is that you turn around and offer to help someone needing assistance in the area you live in.
NEW PBS SERIES
Anyone interested in the voyages of our ancestors from the eastern shores to the West, might enjoy the new PBS series, Frontier House, which begins broadcasting in April. The series will follow the Westward migration of three families during the era of the American Homestead Act. For more information, visit their website at:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/frontierhouse/.
FREE GENEALOGY CLASSES
The Mission Viejo Family History Center, 27976 Marguerite Parkway at Hillcrest, Mission Viejo, is offering free genealogy classes at the center.
"BEGINNING GENEALOGY," is for the beginner and advanced researcher, showing how and where to research for: vital records, military, social security death records, census, church, immigration/emigration, land records, cemeteries and more.
"COMPUTERS IN GENEALOGY," covers the various uses of computers for genealogy or family history research. This includes personal family history software, family search data bases and tools, and using the Internet and more.
Both classes will meet on Tuesdays at 7-9 p.m. for six weeks. The Spring session will run April 2 to May 7, 2002. For more information and to enroll, call (949)364-2742. Seating is limited.
What Is A Genealogist?
A full-time detective
A thorough historian
An inveterate snoop
A confirmed diplomat
A keen observer
A hardened skeptic
An apt biographer
A qualified linguist
A part-time lawyer
A studious sociologist
An accurate reporter
An hieroglyphics expert,
AND
A complete nut!
AVAILABLE CLASSES
A roster of all the current courses is maintained at our library. Be sure to check the bulletin board for details.
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, such as the one being conducted currently by our society member Doug Mason at Orange Coast College, can be found listed at the website:
http://www.ed2go.com/colleges.html. Many of these are also free online. For Doug's class, call him at (714) 432-5072, email <[email protected]>.
South Orange County California Genealogical Society
Membership/Renewal Application
( ) New 1 Year ( ) Individual, $20 ( ) Jt. Members, same address $25
( ) Renewal Membership Number(s) _______________ ___________________
Name(s) ________________________________________________________________
Address _________________________________________________________________
City ____________________________ State_____Zip__________Phone ___________________
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__________________
