Saddleback Valley Trails

South Orange County California Genealogical Society

Vol. 19 No. 9

P.O. Box 4513, Mission Viejo, CA. 92690

September 2012

Editor: Gary Schwarz

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.

What have you missed by not using online queries in your genealogy research? Have you missed the distant relative who has old family photos or the handed down family Bible? How about the person who knows the counties for the states which are challenging you? Find out about little tricks for your queries to get the most out of them. Formatted correctly they can be a gold mine.

About the Speaker: Joan Rambo is past president of OCCGS, a member of SCAPG and an assistant for the OCCGS package trips to Salt Lake City each spring. Joan teaches, speaks to groups, including philanthropic ones, and staffs the Huntington Beach Library with volunteers to help library patrons with their genealogy. Currently she is included in a group working on the next OCCGS project – The BASH – to be held next March.

Safari News

Come join us on September 26th and take part in our safari. We will be traveling the Los Angeles Family History Center on Santa Monica Blvd. in West L.A. Go to www.larfhc.org, where you can search for books, film and fiche available at this destination. This will enable you to better plan your day. The car(s) will leave the LDS parking lot at 9 a.m. Bring a brown-bag lunch, $$ for your driver, and then enjoy dinner on the way home.

Ralphs Community Contribution Program

~Jim Thordahl – Ways & Means Chairman

Have you made any New Year resolutions yet? What’s that you say? I’m a little early; January is almost four months away. Well, I’m referring to Ralphs Community Contribution Program’s “New Year” which is September 1st. That means we must re-enroll to participate in this generous program. By now you know the drill, and wasn’t that an easy “New Year’s” resolution to keep. Thanks again for your participation. If you have a question call or email: [email protected]; ph: (949) 492-5334.

I want my children to have all the things I couldn't afford. Then I want to move in with them.
~Phyllis Ada Driver (Phyllis Diller - 1917-2012)

~Many widows/widowers moved in with their children.

President's Message

~Bill Bluett

My interest in genealogy didn’t suddenly pop up overnight. I have my mother to thank for the passion it created in me over the last 13 years. Mom started her venture close to 40 years ago. She worked for Sears as a manager in the candy/popcorn department. After being transferred to the store in the Laguna Hills Mall about 1973, she found an interest in the local historical society in El Toro. Some of the folks she met encouraged her to consider genealogy research. Mom became acquainted with Judy Deeter and Janet Franks. Now, there are a couple of good women to mentor you into genealogy! Judy is one of our past society presidents (now living in Ohio) and Janet (now living in Arizona) was our genealogy librarian when the Mission Viejo Library first opened its doors. Mom pursued her research on her mother’s line (Paddocks and Stowells) and eventually found a Revolutionary War ancestor – Samuel Stowell. With the help of Judy and Janet, she became a member of the local DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) Chapter. Mom was always a very patriotic person. She loved to celebrate the 4th of July wearing her red, white and blue. Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day were also special to her.

Mom passed away on July 21st. A week after she was laid to rest, my sister (Joanie) and I traveled back to Rose Hills Cemetery a second time to visit our mother’s grave and visit the graves of other family members. We have grandparents, a great grandmother, and a great aunt and uncle buried there as well as my mother’s cousin, Richard Paddock, who died on Iwo Jima in February of 1945. It could be part of the grieving process for my sister, but, prior to mom’s death, she did not want to have anything to do with cemeteries. Now, she wanted to visit all the graves and put flowers on them. I am pleased that Joanie wants to visit those sites and talk more and reminisce about what we can remember about each one of our past family members.

Now, let’s get back to my passion for genealogy. My retirement was planned for 2001. About 1999, I began to wonder what I might do to occupy my time in retirement. I didn’t particularly have any passionate hobbies at that time.. I guess the “light bulb” finally went on in my head as retirement approached. I now began to think about how much fun it would be to do research. It’s like being a detective. The computer age was in full swing and tracking down resources was now a considerably shortened timeframe. Mom had been doing her research the “old fashioned way” and sometimes would have to wait weeks (if not months) for responses to arrive. So, I decided that I would “pick-up” where she left off. I usually would make copies for mom when I uncovered new information about our family. Some of her past memories would give me clues that would help me with the research process – especially memories from her childhood. I was able to substantiate many of her stories with some sort of documentation. How cool is that?

Since beginning my genealogy journey, I have had the opportunity to visit many locations in the Western United States where my ancestors settled before they moved on to California. There are many more locations that I have not yet visited in the eastern part of the country. The Paddocks and Stowells arrived in the New England area around 1630. That is a trip I need to take during a “fall season”. The Bluett family originally settled in Eastern Pennsylvania after arriving from Cornwall, England. That is another trip to plan. So, I still have my work (and travel) cut out for me. I guess I need to start making plans!

Our newsletter editor would be happy to print any stories that one of you may have regarding a person that was influential to you in beginning your genealogy research. Or, you may have traveled to a location where one of your ancestors resided at one time. I’m sure many of you have interesting stories and experiences that we would love to have you share with us. Please consider one (or more, if you wish) for our newsletter. It would be much appreciated.

August Meeting

Francie Kennedy gave us a wonderful presentation on the topic of Online Books for Genealogy. It is amazing how many books are being added to the Internet on a daily basis! Francie gave us a shopping list of “where to look” websites that were indicated on the program handout. Her primary focus gave examples and illustrations that focused on locating books at the GOOGLE, FAMILY SEARCH, and INTERNET ARCHIVE websites. Thank you, Francie, for presenting this great topic. One guest was introduced at the meeting: Susan Lirette. Members who provided refreshments were: Sharon Jackson, Virginia Jenkins, Kathy Mauzey, and JoAnn Nothhelfer.

Research is creating new knowledge.
~Neil Armstrong (1930-2012)

~Researching our families gives us new knowledge about ourselves.

Membership

Please note there are two corrections to the August newsletter. Gil Gillis' email address should have read [email protected]. Donna Skelly's email address was inadvertently left out, and is [email protected].

Brick Walls & Genealogy Research Suggestions

Joyce Van Schaak reminded our group that August 19th would be the Grand Re-Opening of the Laguna Niguel Library.

Donna Hobbs gave David Flint a “thank you” for the LEGACY class he organized in July.

Noel Jensen asked how to specifically research France on ANCESTRY.COM.

Myrna McGuigan pointed out that there is a drop down menu in the lower right hand corner of the “home page” for other countries.

Karyn Schumaker has 3 cousins (2 adopted) that have recently discovered that the father of the one cousin and the real father of the adopted cousins share the same grandparents. Have any of you ever found a connection like this before?

Jo Taylor has had problems with Family Tree Maker 12 duplicating files multiple times.

Annabelle Farago suggested asking one of the knowledgeable docents at the Orange Family History Center for help with the FTM 12 problem.

Donna Skelly has found many obituaries of her ancestors on GENEALOGYBANK.COM. Our society now has this website on our computers at the Mission Viejo Library.

Linda Rogers found an interesting suicide obituary on GENEALOGY.COM.

Verl Nash closed out our “brick walls” with another one of his interesting stories. The one about the woman who had been married four times: to a banker, a circus performer, a preacher, and a mortician. And, she described her four marriages as: one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, and four to go! We’ll see what Verl comes up with next month.

A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.
~David Brinkley

~Genealogists must lay a firm source foundation to break down brick walls.

Legacy User’s Group Starting

~David Flint

In July, I presented a two-session beginner’s class on how to use the Legacy Family Tree genealogy program. When the class ended, several of the people in the class wanted to have an opportunity to continue sharing ideas and information on how to learn more about Legacy; therefore, I will be starting a Legacy User’s Group which will meet at the Mission Viejo Library from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month.

This monthly meeting will provide a forum for anyone interested in learning about the Legacy Family Tree program -- whether you are a beginner or you are already using Legacy. This will be an informal meeting where you can get your questions answered and share ideas with other people who use Legacy. I will lead the group and provide demonstrations on how to perform various functions with the Legacy program, as well as address specific questions or problems from those attending the meeting. You are free to drop in and out of the group as you like. The first meeting is at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, September 20 at the Mission Viejo Library. I look forward to seeing you there.

Southern California Genealogical Society - 2012 Webinar Series

September Webinars:
Wednesday, 19 Sep 2012, 6pm Pacific: Janet Hovorka – “Playground Rules for Genealogy on the Internet.”
Saturday, 6 Oct 2012, 10am Pacific: Linda Woodward Geiger, CG, CGL – “Hark! That Tombstone is Talking to Me!”

The live broadcast of each session is open to the public and FREE to all (space is limited to 1000 attendees). Webinars are recorded, archived, and available for the next twelve months day or night to SCGS members, in the members-only section of the SCGS website.

Info: www.scgsgenealogy.com/JamboreeExtensionSeries2012.htm
Schedule: http://www.scgsgenealogy.com/storage/Extension/ExtensionSeriesTrifold.pdf

Newsletter Submissions

~Gary Schwarz, Editor

I wish to thank members who have submitted articles for publication in the newsletter. Please continue to submit your articles of genealogical interest. Submissions should be submitted by the Wednesday after the monthly meeting. The articles should be a text or MS Word attachment, emailed to the editor and have a Subject line: “SOCCGS Newsletter Article – article title or description”. If you have a typewriter hardcopy article, I will accept that too, but it may take a while to get it digitized to go into the newsletter.

Quote from Richard McFarlane on genealogy research discussions, “One such discussion centered on the hard stuff, dates and places, versus the soft stuff, stories about the people. I came down on the side of the hard stuff. Over the years I have come to reverse my position and now would argue strongly for the importance of the soft stuff. It’s the soft stuff, the experiences of our ancestors, their trials, successes, failures, the work they did […], that cause them to become “real” to us.”

While you’re making your ancestors real to yourself, please share with that realness with us by making it available in an article in the newsletter. Make it real, share it, present it for preservation.

Gregorian vs. Julian Calendars

~Gary Schwarz

Depending in which country your ancestor’s records were created and the day-month-year, the date for the same day for those records may differ by a few days from other records created in a different country e.g. Church records in Russia show my great grandfather being born 24 Nov 1850 but on all documents here in the United States his birthday is 06 Dec 1850. It is the same day but the date is different using different calendars. Since the earth doesn’t complete its orbit around the sun in exactly 365 days there is a fine adjustment that has to be made every so often. The older calendar (Julian) and the newer calendar (Gregorian) have fine tuned the time of orbit differently. The Gregorian calendar has been adopted as the “more’” accurate calendar and is used by most countries of the world today. There are other calendars e.g. Mayan, Hebrew, Afghan, Persian, etc.; which are unique to a few countries or cultures which may be of interest to some and may be explained in more detail at the links at the end of this article.

So, if an event in your ancestor’s life lies between 1852 and the present differs by a few days between several documents, it may be because those documents were created using different calendars. Use the table below to determine what calendar may have been in use during the creation of a particular document. Use the bottom table to find the number of days to add or subtract to see if your dates are a closer match. Add days going from Julian to Gregorian and subtract days going from Gregorian to Julian calendars.

Gregorian Calendar Adoption Years

Afghanistan
Albania
Austria (Catholic)
Belgium
China ( Officially used)
China (but unused)
Czech (Catholic)
Denmark
Ethiopia
Finland
France
Germany (Catholic)
Germany (non-Catholic)
Great Britain
Greece
Hungary
India (Civic)
Iran
Italy

N/A
1912
1585
1582
1929
1912
1585
1700/1701
N/A
1712
1582
1585
1700/1701
1752
1923
1587
1957
N/A
1582

Japan
Luxembourg
Nepal
Netherlands (non-Catholic)
Netherlands (part)
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Prussia
Russia
Saudi Arabia
Slovak (Catholic)
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland (1st part)
Switzerland (non-Catholic)
Switzerland (St Gallen Canton)
Turkey
Vatican

1873
1582
N/A
1700/1701
1582
1700/1701
1582
1582
1610
1918
N/A
1585
1582
1753
1582
1700/1701
1724
1926
1582

Gregorian range

From 15 October 1582 to 10 March 1700
From 11 March 1700 to 11 March 1800
From 12 March 1800 to 12 March 1900
From 13 March 1900 to 13 March 2100
From 14 March 2100 to 14 March 2200

Julian range

From 5 October 1582 to 28 February 1700
From 29 February 1700 to 28 February 1800
From 29 February 1800 to 28 February 1900
From 29 February 1900 to 28 February 2100
From 29 February 2100 to 28 February 2200

Difference

10 days
11 days
12 days
13 days
14 days

For a more in depth discussion of why and how the Gregorian calendar is used see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar; For a calendar converter see: www.calendarhome.com/converter/;

Ebenezer Peabody, Minuteman

~Mary Jo McQueen

A favorite Revolutionary War ancestor of mine is Ebenezer Peabody who was born in Boxford, Massachusetts on 7 December 1742 and died there on 25 January 1829. He married Elizabeth Pearl in Boxford on 9 February 1764. Others have written most of what I have learned about my fifth-great grandfather.

Eben, as his peers called him, served in the Continental Army as a sergeant and then as a Lieutenant. He took the Oath of Allegiance at Valley Forge in 1778. He was one of the soldiers encamped at Valley Forge during the ever memorable winter of 1777-78. (Picture soldiers in the snow with their feet wrapped in rags.)

He was a Sergeant in Captain William Pearly’s Company of Minutemen in Col. James Frye’s regiment, which marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775.

Endicott wrote in 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 (June 17, 1775), 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 Colonel Alden at the burning of Cherry Valley by the Indians; with Colonel Brooks at the taking of Burgoyne; with General Sullivan when he went through the Indian country.”

An excerpt from a letter written by Lieutenant Peabody on December 13, 1778 from Cherry Valley: “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, Colonel 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 made the place desolate of inhabitants. [A scene in the movie “The Patriot” comes to my mind.] Do not expect to leave the place this winter; should like to; hope to get home in the spring.”

I have done some research on the battle of Cherry Valley and found it 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 the Mohawk chief Joseph Brant killed 15 Continental soldiers and 32 civilians, including women and children.

Also, at the Lexington-Concord Bridge on April 19, 1775 was another of my fifth-great grandfathers, George Lewis. It seems probable that George and Ebenezer were acquainted. George’s daughter, Sally Lewis, married Ebenezer Peabody, Jr. in 1792.

"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." ~George Washington

Genealogy Research Center – Mission Viejo Library

Thanks to all the docents and subs who serve so diligently arriving on time and allowing others to use the computers and books at the library, fostering a genealogical awareness.

Right now the Mission Viejo Library Genealogical Research Center needs one more person for a Monday night shift from 5:30 to 8:00 pm. We still need lots of substitutes. One of our Sunday afternoon docents will be on vacation for three months. What better way to spend a quiet Sunday afternoon than in the Library working on your family history. We are ready to sign you up. You need to make the first move. Contact Bunny at (949) 472-8046 or [email protected] and she will arrange your training.

Free Classes at Yorba Family History Center
674 S Yorba St Orange, CA 92869-5042

Day

Wednesday
Thursday
Saturday
Sunday

Wednesday
Friday
Thursday
Friday

Saturday
Wednesday
Saturday

Date

September 5
September 6
September 8
September 9

September 12
September 14
September 20
September 21

September 22
September 26
September 29

Time

6:00p - 7:00p
12:00p - 1:00p
9:00a - Noon
7:00p

7:00p - 8:00p
3:00p - 4:00p
Noon - 2:00p
1:00p - 3:00p

2:00p - 4:00p
1:00p - 3:00p
1:00p - 5:00p

Topic

Beg. to Interm. Italian Genealogy
Beginning German Genealogy
SHHAR Hispanic Group
Family History Consultant Training
"An Overview of Family Tree"
Beginning Genealogy
Legacy User’s Group
Family Search Indexing
Writing your personal history (Classes
given quarterly)
RootsMagic User Group
Family Searching using DNA
Genealogy Society of Hispanic America

Instructor

Paul D’Allura
Doug Ayer

Jim Keffer

Elna Katterman
Joe Leavitt
Barbara Renick
Dawn & Morrie Thurston

Jim Keffer
Richard McFarlane

"Always be nice to your children because they are the ones who will choose your rest home."
~Phyllis Diller

~You may have to ask the children how to find your relative.

"A bachelor is a guy that never made the same mistake once." ~Phyllis Diller

South Orange County California Genealogical Society Membership/Renewal Application

 ( ) New   ( ) Renewal      ( ) Individual, $20/yr.      ( ) Joint Members, same address, $25/yr.
 
 Name(s)_________________________________________________________________________________________
 
 Address_________________________________________________________________________________________
 
 City_____________________________________ State_______ Zip _____________ Phone__________________
 
 Email address:__________________________________________________________________________________
 
 Make check payable to: SOCCGS
 Mail with application to: SOCCGS, P.O. Box 4513, Mission Viejo, CA 92690

SOCCGS ‘2012’ Seminar Registration

 Name(s) ___________________________________________________________ Registration: ______ @$20.00
 
 ___________________________________________________________________ Box Lunch:    ______ @ $9.00
 
 Address: __________________________________________________________ Total:   $__________
 
 City & Zip: _______________________________________________________
 
 Telephone: _________________________ E-mail:____________________________________________________
 
 Mail to: SOCCGS, P.O. Box 4513                               Information: (949) 492-9408 or
          Mission Viejo, CA 92690-4513                https://sites.rootsweb.com/~casoccgs/