Saddleback Valley Trails
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 interested in genealogy. Individual membership fees are $20 per calendar year; $25 for joint membership. SOCCGS is not affiliated with the LDS Family History Center.

GENERAL MEETING, 20 May 2006
William Beigel
“World War II & Korean War Research”

Since nearly everyone has a relative who served in the military during World War II or Korean War, William Beigel has been invited to give his presentation regarding military records at the May meeting. Mr. Beigel will discuss his techniques for researching military and casualty records, their genealogical implications, and the fascinating level of detailed information available. He will explain how these records can best be interpreted, and share some of his “case studies.”
Mr. Beigel speaks to many historical and genealogical groups, as well as local libraries and schools. He has also been featured in several periodicals. He appeared as a guest panelist on a TV special commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the D-Day landings. For more information, go to: www.ww2research.com.

May 20 is Armed Forces Day!

2006 CALENDAR
June 17 - Caroline Rober, “U. S. Midwest Research”
July 15th - Penny Feike, "Using Court Records in Genealogical Research"

September 16th - Nancy Huebotter, "Writing and Producing a Family History"

October 21 - Seminar, Dr. George Schweitzer
November 18 - Member-Participation Program. Details to be announced at a later date.

December 16 - Annual Holiday Luncheon

SCHWEITZER SEMINAR: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21

Be sure this event is on your calendar. Topics Dr. George Schweitzer will present are: Scots-Irish Genealogical Research, Virginia Genealogical Research and Finding Your Ancestors’ Parents. (At the suggestion of Dr. Schweitzer, the Virginia topic is replacing Boone Sources.) Complete seminar information and registration form will be available at the May meeting and in the June newsletter.

GENEALOGY SAFARI

On Wednesday, May 24, we will visit the Southern California Genealogical Society Research Library in Burbank. This is a premier research facility and one of our favorite safari destinations. Complete information and library catalog can be found at: http://www.scgsgenealogy.com/index.htm. A short visit to the Glendale Sons of the Revolution Library is scheduled for later in the afternoon. (http://www.srcalifornia.com/library.htm) Please be prepared to leave the LDS parking lot promptly at 9 a.m. Bring a lunch, $$ to pay your driver and for dinner on the way home. Bill Bluett will take your reservation before, or at the May 20 meeting.

FREE GENEALOGY CLASSES & RESEARCH ASSISTANCE
Saturday, May 27 - 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Genealogy Department, Mission Viejo Library
All levels of genealogy research will be covered.
Beginners are especially welcome!
No reservations necessary.
Heritage Scrapbooking sessions are being offered, as well.

INTERNET SITES FOR GENEALOGY RESEARCHERS

Other sites worth visiting:
Debunking the Poor Man’s Copyright Myth in the U. S.: http://registermycopyright.com/poor.htm

Missouri Death Certificates: The Missouri State Archives now offers the Missouri Death Certificate Database. It's a new online index and images. Currently the index covers from 1910 to 1955 and the images date from 1910 to 1920. It is at: http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/deathcertificates/

The Stephen P. Morse site at http://stevemorse.org/ now has cross-links between the two indexes for New York City located at the Italian Genealogy Group site at: http://www.italiangen.org/

Geographic Names of Canada: Try: Query by Name. http://geonames.nrcan.gc.ca/index_e.php

Massachusetts Archives Collection Database (1629-1799): This database serves as a searchable, descriptive index and catalog for documents of 18 volumes of the Massachusetts Archives Collection.
http://www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arcsrch/RevolutionarySearchContects.html

Missouri State Archives: The New Death Certificate Index is up! Right now only 1910-1920 images are on-line, but the 1910-1955 Index is complete! This is a new database available at
http://archivemaps.com/mapco/index.htm

Cemetery Photos: https://sites.rootsweb.com/~cemphoto/Cemetery_Photos.html

We all grow up with the weight of history on us.  Our ancestors dwell in the attics of our brains as they do in the spiraling chains of knowledge hidden in every cell of our bodies. 
~Shirley Abbott

JEWISH GENEALOGY

SOCCGS has purchased Avotaynu Back Issues on CD-ROM. This includes the first twenty-one volumes (1985-2005) of the Jewish genealogy publication.
During the past 18 years, AVOTAYNU has developed a reputation for being a must-read publication for persons doing Jewish genealogical research and has even been extolled by the general genealogical community for its articles of interest to anyone, Jewish and non-Jewish, with Central or Eastern European ancestry.
Using a searching tool, which includes full-word indexing, every word of every back issue of AVOTAYNU is accessible. If in all the articles there is only one mention of a town or a surname, the search engine will find it. By specifying key words or combinations of key words, the CD-ROM version will locate any article that includes all the words. See the Index to the First 21 volumes at: http://www.avotaynu.com/indexsum.htm

WISCONSIN DEATH RECORDS

Last month the Wisconsin Historical Society introduced our new Pre-1907 Wisconsin Vital Records Index, which can be found at www.wisconsinhistory.org/vitalrecords. We began the index with nearly 1 million birth records and are excited to announce the addition of nearly 400,000 Wisconsin death records.
The new death index, like its companion, began as a 1970s microfiche publication. The Schoenleber Foundation of Milwaukee generously provided funds to convert them to electronic form, so now genealogists have free public access to a comprehensive pre-1907 index to Wisconsin births and deaths. Marriages, for all Wisconsin counties, are up next.
You can discover ancestors by individual name, by browsing by county and year, or by exact date. Births and deaths can both be searched at the same time and then viewed separately, if desired. State law prohibits publication on the Web of original birth or death certificates, so when you discover someone about whom you want more details, you can order a paper copy of the complete certificate from the Society online. Most are delivered within two weeks, and Society members receive a 10-percent discount on each order. Or, you can use the index as a research tool that points you to the birth and death records that you need.
Vital records are not the only genealogical source available on the Society Web site. To learn more about what we have online check out our genealogy page at www.wisconsinhistory.org/genealogy.
Hope you enjoy the new additions, Melissa McLimans, WHS

MEMBERSHIP

Alice Glasser, [email protected] [CRAIG, BUTTERFIELD, SIBLEY, HOLDEN]
Anne Adams, [email protected] [STUART, GREGORY, BURCH, KELLY]
Shirley Good, [email protected] [EDWARDS, BLYTHE, MAC DANIEL, LEUZINGER]

Guests we hope to see again:
Shirley Calton, Jackie Johnson, Elizabeth Wallner, Dianne Sanborn.

LIBRARY VOLUNTEERS
Docents are needed for regular hours.

Please think about donating two or three hours a month. Or, join the substitute list. Call Bunny Smith, 949-472-8046, if you can help.
Training classes for prospective docents are held on Wednesdays (10-1, except 4th), Thursdays (12-3) and Saturdays (10 to 1, except 3rd). These classes are also open to current docents and members wanting help in using the resources available at the library. If this is not convenient, please call Bunny to reserve a more convenient time.

Attention Docents: The Mission Viejo Library is hosting the Annual Volunteer Luncheon on Friday, May 19, 11:30 am. to 1:00 p.m. in the MVL Community Room. Your invitation, with RSVP info, is at the Docent Desk.

The one who leaves gentle footprints on our hearts
has left a story worth telling.
~Author Unknown
COPYING OLD PHOTOGRAPHS
[Editor’s Desk, Rootsweb Review]

My local copying store will not make reproductions of my old family photographs. What can I do?
According to the U.S. copyright office, "photocopying shops, photography stores and other photo-developing stores are often reluctant to make reproductions of old photographs for fear of violating the copyright law and being sued.
"Copy shops have been sued for reproducing copyrighted works and have been required to pay substantial damages for infringing copyrighted works. The policy established by a shop is a business decision and risk assessment that the business is entitled to make, because the business may face liability if it reproduces a work even if it did not know the work was copyrighted."
In the case of photographs, it is sometimes difficult to determine who owns the copyright and there may be little or no information about the owner on individual copies. Ownership of a "copy" of a photograph is distinct from the "work" itself -- the intangible intellectual property. The owner of the "work" is generally the photographer or, in certain situations, the employer of the photographer. The subject of the photograph generally has nothing to do with the ownership of the copyright in the photograph. If the photographer is no longer living, the rights in the photograph are determined by the photographer's will or passed as personal property by the applicable laws of intestate succession.
However, in the U.S. virtually all photographs published before January 1923 are now in the public domain. http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm
There also may be situations in which the reproduction of a photograph may be a "fair use" under the U.S. copyright law. http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-fairuse.html
http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html
But, "Access and use of unpublished materials or those created after January 1923 can be much more complex, since each of the four rights of the copyright holder can be controlled separately . . . it is possible
to acquire a physical print of an image through purchase or gift, without obtaining any other rights to the image. The copyright holder may retain any or all of the four supplemental rights associated with subsequent use of the work." http://www.vintagephoto.com/reference/copyrightarticle1.htm
[Previously published in RootsWeb Review, 5 April  2006, Vol. 9,  No. 14.]

Kentuckiana Digital Library

Parliamentarian, Donna Hobbs, is heading a new SOCCGS project which will enable members and others to contact persons with expertise in their area of genealogy interest. Thirty seven have agreed so far to be listed.
Please contact Donna at [email protected] if you would like to be included. She will pass the list once more at the May meeting. More details will be given at that time.

Pappy's Gal

Suzy Lee fell in love. She planned to marry Joe.
She was so happy bout it all, she told her pappy so.
Pappy told her,"Suzie Gal" you'll have to find another.
I'd just as soon yo maw don't know, but Joe is yo half-brother.
So Suzie forgot about her Joe and planned to marry Will.
But, after telling pappy this he said "There's trouble still"
You can't marry Will, my gal, and please don't tell yo mother,
Cause Will and Joe and several mo I know is yo half-brother"
But Mama knew and said "Honey chile, do what makes yo happy.
Marry Will or marry Joe, You ain't no kin to pappy!"
[Legacy News - http://www.legacynews.com/]

ORANGE COUNTY FAIR GENEALOGY BOOTH

Help spread the word about how much fun family history can be!
Sign-up sheets will be available at your society meetings beginning in April 2006.
Questions? Or to volunteer now, please contact Norma Keating:
[email protected] or 714-319-5994

DONATION TO MISSISSIPPI HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Here is the reply to our most recent donation: In terms of our rebuilding the Society Building, things are moving quite slowly, but the board has recently meet and made the basic decision to rebuild more or less a replica of the earlier building on its original site, and we have been working out the funding. Our expectation is that within 12 to 18 months construction will begin.
The generosity of your society has been overwhelming, and we will be adding your society’s name to a plaque honoring our “life members” and other major donors once the building reopens. In the meantime our many thanks.
Bruce Stinson, Acting Treasurer

A grandmother was telling her little granddaughter what her own childhood was like. "We used to skate outside on a pond. I had a swing made from a tire; it hung from a tree in our front yard. We rode our pony. We picked wild raspberries in the woods."

The little girl was wide-eyed, taking this in. At last she said, "I sure wish I'd gotten to know you sooner!"

USING ROOTSWEB: De-mystifying WorldConnect User Codes

ANDERSONVILLE CIVIL WAR PRISON
http://www.angelfire.com/ga2/Andersonvilleprison/

The following message, plus information about Andersonville can be found at the website. “Hi Researchers. My name is Kevin Frye and I live in Butler, Georgia, a small town 40 miles from the infamous Andersonville Civil War Prison Camp . I do volunteer lookups at no charge as well as take pictures (for a very modest fee) for fellow researchers who want photos of their ancestor's grave.( See Sample photo`s in " OTHER SERVICES I PROVIDE". )You can contact me and request any information I might be able to help with. You can do a name search by going to my name lookup link at the bottom of this page or send me a request and I'll do the search. I also have a CD with the roster of 33,000 names by alphabet which helps me find names by alternative spellings.”

CLUES IN U.S. CENSUS RECORDS, 1850-1930.
http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/census/1850-1930.html

Humor/Humour: Too Late, Fellows
[Thanks to Karen Sanders: RootsWeb Review, 29 March  2006, Vol. 9,  No. 13]

The one who leaves happy memories dancing in our thoughts has
given the gift of timeless moments worth holding in our hearts forever.
Author: unknown

GENEALOGICAL EVENT CALENDAR

The Questing Heirs Genealogical Society proudly presents Henry Z Jones, Jr., FASG as a speaker on Sunday, May 21, 2006 from 1:15 - 4 PM at Resurrection Lutheran Church, 1900 E Carson Street, Long Beach, CA.
First Presentation is: TRACING THE ORIGINS OF 18TH CENTURY GERMAN, AND OTHER EMIGRANTS. A lively discussion emphasizing the how-to's of pinpointing and fully tracing the European roots of our ancestors. A step-by-step plan of attack, showing how "They Came Together, They Stayed Together!"
2nd talk: GENEALOGY IN THE NEW MILLENIUM, An insightful talk about what's ahead in this amazing world of new genealogical technology, emphasizing how are new tools should never be allowed to divert us from celebrating the humanity of our ancestors.
This event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served and donations are accepted. To reserve program notes, please contact Chuck Mitchell, at 572/961-8895 or at [email protected].

Memorial Day Observance - El Toro Memorial Park
25752 Trabuco Rorad, Lake Forest
Monday, May 29 - 11:00 am
Music - Patriotism - Pageantry
Information: (949) 951-9102

The British Isles FHS-USA will present John M. Kitzmiller II as the featured speaker at its 18th annual Seminar on Saturday, July 15, 2006 at the Veterans Memorial Complex in Culver City, CA. Mr. Kitzmiller will be speaking on English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh research as well as a lecture entitled
"What's new in British and Irish Research."

Orange County California Genealogical Society - Special Interest Group

The OCCGS New England SIG group meets on the first Saturday of each month, after the general meeting and lecture. The meeting place is in Room D at the Huntington Beach Library. For further information contact Marcia Huntley Maloney, [email protected] or Bob [email protected].

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
~Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929-68

know an

Please notify the membership chairman if you have a change of address.
Newsletters are not forwarded, the cost is 70 cents for each one returned.
Membership: Verl Nash, (949) 859-1419, [email protected]

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