Saddleback Valley Trails

Vol 4 No 4 Editor: Pat Weeks April 1997

South Orange County California Genealogical Society

P.O.Box 4513, Mission Viejo CA 92690

SOCCGS Events

Monthly meetings are scheduled for the third Saturday of each month and are held from 10:00 AM to Noon at 27978 Marguerite Parkway (situated between Medical Center Drive and Hillcrest Drive).

19 April 1997 SOCCGS member Kathie Mauzey will speak to the group on "Getting Started in English Research". Kathie is a well versed family genealogist and also a professional researcher.

17 May 1997 The speaker this month is Beth McCarty, the Director of the Orange Family History Center, who presents an "Effective Use of the Family History Center".

21 June 1997 Program to be announced.

Other Local Events

9 April 1997 opens the next series of ten week genealogy classes given by the Mission Viejo Family History Center at 27976 Marguerite Parkway. Classes offered are in writing personal and family histories, instructed by Lani Moore; beginning genealogy, instructed by Bob Moore; and computers in genealogy, with John Smith teaching the Wednesday evening class and Michel Jeunehomme teaching the Thursday class. Call 364-2742 to enroll or for further information.

12 April 1997 Meeting of the Genealogical Society of Hispanic America- So CA meeting. 9:45 a.m. Santa Fe Springs. Photo Display, Colorado Research interest group, and Reunion Planning. Call (818)917-2406 for more information.

19 April 1997 The Southern California Genealogical Society holds its' 28th annual Genealogical Jamboree at the Pasadena Center, at 300 East Green Street, Pasadena, CA., Saturday 8:30a.m. to 6:00p.m. Sunday 8:30a.m. to 3:00p.m. They claim to be the largest annual genealogical event west of the Mississippi River. There will be exhibits of genealogical, historical and hereditary societies, family associations, vendors, items available to purchase, etc.Speakers include John Lillie, Fran Carter, Jim Derheim, Ted Gostin, Leland Meitzler, Bill Dollarhide, George Ott, Alice Schiessmohl, Wade Hone, and Holly Hansen. Donation of $10 for one day, #15 for two days. For further information contact (818)THE-SCGS.

31 May 1997 North San Diego CA Gen Society Seminar "Doing Genealogy on the Internet" with speakers Barbara Renick and Richard Wilson

"Most family trees have at least one crop failure". Author unknown

MEMBERSHIP

We welcome the following new members:

Rhoda M. Lehman
Eugene & Marlene Cramer
Pamela Hauser
David & Sara Woods
Foster & Margaret Sampson
Richard McArthy
Magdalene M. Perrou

Our guests this past meeting included Jack and Arlene Davis, Connie Smith, Marie Mendicino, Pat McDuffee and Barbara Edmonde.

DONATIONS

We wish to thank the Southern California Divison of the National Society of the Magna Charta Dames for their generous contribution to our library fund for the purpose of purchasing books that will aid in Magna Charta research.

We also wish to thank Judy Deeter for presenting the library with a copy of her booklet Veterans Who Applied for Land in Southern California, 1851-1911.

SAFARI PLANS

Plans for the April 23rd safari are to go to the National Archives at Laguna Hills. Instead of meeting in the parking lot, we will all meet there at the Archives. If anyone needs a ride to the Archives, call Shirley Fraser or Pat Weeks, and we will see what we can arrange.

For May 28th the plans are to visit the Huntington Beach Library.We will meet at the parking lot, 9:30 sharp. Don't forget to bring your lunch.

"SOURCES JUST SLOW ME DOWN"

The people are what it's all about so I don't worry about sources. If I find an ancestorwith the last name of Smith, I just go ahead and link them to Captain JohnSmith and his wife Pocahontas. Last name of Carson? I have them descend from Kit Carson, the famous pioneer. If their last name is King, I figure I can go ahead and show descent from King Richard the Lionhearted because he was a king that I like.

After you do it for awhile, it gets easier and easier to link your family to really interesting people. Sure, you have to be a little more creative than those fuddy-duddy, goody-goody source-quoting weirdos. Sometimes I have to invent individuals to connect thing up right, but I figure they "could" have existed, right? And this way my genealogy is really interesting, my family loves it, and it saves me time! My motto: what the heck, who's going to check? (Found on news:soc.genealogy.computing. Printed with the permission of the author, Randy Black)

THE AHNENTAFEL CHART

This month's pedigree chart uses the Ahnentafel system. The first person on the chart is the editor's g-g-grandmother, who, by the way, smoked a pipe and spoke only French although her family had lived in the Missouri region for at least four generations. With the ahnentafel system, the men are given even numbers and the wives are given the odd numbers, one number greater than their husband. So to know who the father was, you must double that number. Add one to that number and you have the mother. For instance, Louis Trudeau, #12 - double his number and you have his father, #24. The mother then is #25.

It is just another way of showing lineage.

CONFEDERATE PENSIONS

Bill Doty, who spoke to the group at our March meeting has asked that I enclose his apology for omitting information on how to access confederate pension files.

These were paid by the state that the pensioner served in, and not all states reimbursed their veterans. You must contact the state for such information.

SPELLING

Until the mid-eighteenth century, how a word was spelled was not considered important. Surnames in manuscripts were often spelled in different ways, even in the same document. With the publication of dictionaries, Nathan Bailey's in 1730 and Samuel Johnson's in 1755, things began to change. Account was then taken of the word's origin, formation and meaning, which eventually led to a standardization of both spelling and pronunciation. As most records containing a surname were written by a clerk rather than the surname owner, the clerk only having the sound of the name to guide him, it could be said that most of us use a name that is derived from the sound rather than the spelling. (Family Tree, Odom Library GA via Whittier Area GS Feb 1997)

PEDIGREE CHARTS

I need your pedigree charts and short articles for future newsletters. We have so enjoyed the previous articles by members, so please share your experiences and research.

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