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 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.

IT IS TIME TO RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP!
Please find the renewal form on the last page of the newsletter.

DECEMBER 18 MEETING
10:30 a.m.

We had so much fun at our December Holiday Party last year that we are doing it again. SOCCGS will provide lunch and board members will provide the door prizes. The 2005 officers will be installed and a special Holiday Program will be presented by Judy Deeter. There will be lots of time to talk genealogy, and perhaps to meet a new cousin!

GENEALOGY SAFARI

There will be no safari in December. Tentative plans are to visit the Los Angeles Public Library in January.

SEE’S CANDY SALE!

Leon Smith, Ways and Means Chairman announces that we netted $180.67 from the candy sale. Thanks to all who participated.

SOCCGS MAILING LIST

OFFICERS FOR 2005

Introducing the newly elected officers: President, Mary Jo McQueen; Vice President, Bill Bluett, Recording Secretary, Sandy Crowley; Corresponding Secretary, Patricia Weeks and Treasurer, Mary Jo Nuttall.

"They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist...." the last words of General John Sedgwick, Union Commander, killed in battle during the US Civil War, 1864.

Do you want to learn how easy and painless it is to become a Docent? Or, do you need assistance in using the CD’s or Heritage Quest? Beginning in January you may come in to the Genealogy Department of the MVL on Saturday mornings, 10 to 1 (except for our meeting day) and “Instructor Herb Abrams” will be there to assist you. Other days and hours are being set up and will be posted on our web site, and will also appear in the January newsletter. In the meantime, if you have any questions please call, or email, Herb.

Please consider volunteering. Also, substitutes are urgently needed!

Docents are currently needed for the following hours on a weekly, bimonthly or monthly basis:
Sunday: (2nd, 3rd & 4th) 3 to 5
Monday: 12:30 to 2:30 and 7 to 8:30
Tuesday: 5:15 to 7 (2nd only) and 7 to 8:30

We have one new member this month. Gary Slade, Fullerton. Welcome, Gary! Joanne Feldman was a guest at the November meeting. We hope she will consider becoming a member.

OLD NEWSPAPERS
(Ancestry Daily News, MyFamily.com)
From the Adams Centinel (Gettysburg, Pa.), 10 November 1824, page 3:

An old Italian, on his deathbed, left little to his widow except a fine horse and a favourite cat; desiring however that the horse might be sold, and the price employed in masses for his soul. The widow sends the horse and the cat to market, with an injunction to sell the horse for a crown, but not except the purchaser also bought the cat, valued at four hundred crowns. In this way she honestly got the money for her own use.

“The Online Books Page” has e-texts about a multitude of subjects, and includes both books and periodicals. The collection includes the newest and the oldest books available, with many rare and unusual local and regional histories, memoirs, letters, and diaries that were published but are now out of print. I like to click the “New Listings” link, at the bottom of the page and scroll through the offerings – it’s like roaming an antiquarian bookstore! Some of the books are plain-vanilla “Gutenberg” Texts, which are transcriptions in typewriter-like print. Other books reside at various libraries or sites that have scanned the page images. Each “hit” will tell you in parenthesis where the book images actually reside.
The “Search” page allows one to search by author’s name or a word in the title. This works if your state or surname happens to be in a title! For example; searching for “Missouri” brings up 23 results, including everything from 1904 bulletins on the conditions of County Jails and Almshouses, to reports on Lewis & Clark and fur-trading expeditions, with later overland travel guides, and even the titles “A History of the Pioneer Families of Missouri” and “Switzler’s Illustrated History of Missouri.”
For a more comprehensive search, click on the link for “Subjects”, which are listed in Library of Congress catalog order on this site. For items of particular interest to family historians, try clicking on these:
CS: Genealogy - This section includes the full text of Val Greenwood’s “Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy” (2000) and several works on specific surnames.
CT: Biography - One potential source among others here: “The Biographical Review of Prominent Men and Women of the Day” (1888)
D: History outside the Americas - At this writing, 173 books about Great Britain & Ireland, 68 about France, 22 about Germany including Prussia, etc.
E: History - United States (General) - Here are an abundance of topics! Over 1,000 books on subjects like: Native Americans, slavery (including narratives), Founding Fathers, Revolutionary War, Civil War, shipwrecks, western exploration, and many more.
F: History - United States (Regional) - Over 1,200 books starting with “A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, Showing Three Generations of Those who Came Before May, 1692”, and the list perambulates geographically around the country (including Canada). Just a very few titles of the many intriguing ones: “Reminiscences of New York by an Octogenarian (1816 – 1860), “School History of North Carolina, from 1584 to the Present Time [1882]”, “Reminiscences of a Pioneer Missionary”, “Northern Wisconsin, a Handbook for the Homeseeker”, “Ohio State Gazetteer and Business Directory for 1860-61”, “Journal of a Trip to Michigan in 1841”, “History and Stories of Nebraska (1913)”, “Pioneer Days in Kansas”, and “Sixty Years in California, 1853 – 1913”.
G: Geography - The main Geography section contains voyages & explorations, and within this section, GT: Manners & Customs includes books on period costume, courtship, even a history of umbrellas, and GV: Recreation & Leisure covers pastimes, from canoe trips in 1897 to ballroom dancing through the ages.
In addition to the books, numerous periodicals of interest are accessible at this site. From the main page, click “Serials” to find “Harper’s Magazine” (1850-1899), “The Overland Monthly”, “Scribner’s Monthly Magazine,” “The Century Magazine,” and on-line journals like “The Early America Review.”
Spend some time exploring “The Online Books Page” – a digital library and you are bound to find some gems from days long-gone, when our ancestors were young. You will also discover books describing what life was like in the places they lived and explored.
Francie Kennedy
Member, SOCCGS

HOME FOUND FOR PHOTO ALBUM
by Herb Abrams

This is the story of a very old photo album that was brought to the November meeting:

A neighbor of Ruth Sheean’s was about to throw out an old photo album she had picked up at a garage sale about 30 years ago. Ruth thought she might be able to find the owner so she brought it to the SOCCGS genealogy library. Shirley Fraser suggested to her that “maybe Herb Abrams could find a home for it, since he was a pretty good genealogy detective” - so that is how I got involved.
It is a beautifully bound album with an ornate cover and hinged metal fasteners. Inside were photographs, some of which were labeled with names, mostly of a Bell family. On the inside of the front and back covers were obituaries of family members.
One of them read: "Died, at Big Pine, Inyo County, Cal., June 7, 1879, Thomas E. Bell, aged 57 years. The circumstances of Mr. Bell's death were peculiarly sad. That morning he had gone to his work plowing among his vines and trees, apparently in his usual health. About 9 o'clock he came to the house for some purpose, and in his talk with his wife and children, seemed unusually bouyant and happy. Less than an hour after he had returned to the plow, his young son saw that the team was standing still in the field and wonderingly went to see what was the cause; the child found his father lying motionless on the ground near the plow. Running to the house, some three hundred yards distant, with the dreadful news. Mrs. Bell called some Indians at work in the garden "to come!" and ran to where her husband was lying. With the help of the Indians and the children she carried him to the shade of a tree close at hand, and did everything in her power to bring him back to life, but all in vain. No doubt is entertained but something like heart disease was the cause of death.
“The deceased was a native of the state of North Carolina but has passed the greater part of his life in this State, landing in San Francisco in June 1850, just twenty-nine years prior to the day of his death. For thirteen years he has been a resident of this valley. Besides a wife and 5 small children, for whom he lived to love and cherish in unbounded affection, deceased leaves two brothers, of which he was the youngest, to mourn his loss. These brothers, James and Andrew N. Bell, are prominent and much respected citizens of Tuolomne and Inyo counties respectively.
“Thomas E. Bell, the deceased, though by nature perfectly unobtrusive upon public attention, was widely known; and by all acknowledged to be a man absolutely above reproach. No man has ever questioned his perfect integrity in his dealings between man and man. His highly moral and temperate habits and domestic taste, won for him the respect of all who knew him. He was industrious and enterprising almost to a fault.
“So passes away the loved and loving husband, father, brother, friend; another of California's Argonauts; another of that brave band of Owens Valley pioneers; another from among our noblest men! So closes the earthly labor of a man whose strong heart never tired in doing the work of a good man. "While yet in love with life, and rapture with the world, he passed to silence and pathetic dust." He had reached the stone in life's highway which marks the highest point, when his name is read from the Grand Roll, and he is called to lay his burden down. Though the night of death crept upon him without scarce a moment's warning, we can but believe so good a man met it without dread of its darkness, or a pang of regret, save for the sorrows of the loved ones left behind."
This nice obituary provided a lot of information. I was able to find the Thomas E. Bell family in the 1870 census of Bishop Creek, Inyo Co., California. It listed his wife Sarah and children Andrew J. age 2 years, and 2 month old Henry. In the 1910 census of Bishop Township, Inyo Co., California, I found Henry J. Bell, age 39 with wife Henrietta, age 35 and children Rollin O., age 14; Marvin A., age 4 and Henry R., 11 months old. In the 1930 census of Burlingame, San Mateo, California, I found Rollin Bell, age 34 with wife Gwendolyn, age 28 and child Bruce, age 3 years 11 months.
Now, I thought, maybe Bruce was still alive - so I checked the phone listings at http://people.yahoo.com for a Bruce Bell in California. I found 23 of them and one of them lived in Bishop, Inyo Co., California. I called him and he told me that his father was Rollin Bell, his grandfather was Henry Bell and his great grandfather was Thomas E. Bell. Bingo! He assured me that he would love to have the photo album and I promised to send it to him. The album has found its way home! Case closed - a fun search and a happy ending.

"Every man's life is a fairy-tale written by God's fingers."
~Hans Christian Andersen

BRING 'EM BACK TO LIFE
~George C. Morgan

When we research our ancestors, we usually get information in pieces. Seldom does a large chunk of information land in our laps. As you collect these biographical snippets, you begin to get an idea of what your ancestor's life must have been all about.
This week in "Along Those Lines ...", I want to talk about how you can employ a relatively simple methodology to your research to help you better understand your ancestor. I'm talking about building a profile of your ancestor.
Collecting, Analyzing, Organizing and Filing Data - We all have our own system for organizing information. I gather records, read them carefully, make notes, and compare them with other information and records I've collected in the past. I seek to corroborate previous information (if any) and form, verify or discredit my hypotheses. Once I'm finished with this process, I enter information into my genealogical computer database. I then file the records, notes, and other materials in binders by surname—and then alphabetically by first name and chronologically within each person. Later, when I need to compare new records with these, everything is in a logically organized sequence.
Creating a Profile - Although I organize and file materials in a binder, I never take the binder with me when I'm off to do research. There is too much risk that something may happen to my hard-won materials. That's where an ancestor profile comes in.
An ancestor profile is a chronological list of all the information you know about an ancestor. You start with his or her birth. You then prepare an outline of the person's entire life—from the parents' home, through church and school records, to marriage, through childbearing years and parenthood, careers, and land and property ownership, all the way to death, burial and probate of the will. Include research reference information. The following is an example of a portion of my great-grandmother's profile:
Lydia Lenora PATTERSON (1833 - 1914)
1833 - Born 13 November 1833 in NC.
1840 - Mecklenburg County, NC (Member of household of William PATTERSON and his wife, nee Elizabeth McCuen Caroline POTTS.) Microfilm publication M704, Roll 365, Page 319.
1850 - Mecklenburg County, NC (Member of household of William PATTERSON and wife.) Microfilm publication M432, Roll 637, Pages 33-34, Dwelling # 545, Family # 548.
1851-53 - Attended Salem Female Academy - Receipt for advance fee and for 1852-53 school year in my possession.
1856 - Married to Joseph McKnitt WILSON, 8 April 1856, Mecklenburg Co., NC. Marriage license on file at the NC State Archives.
1856 - Accompanied husband in a move to Charleston, SC, where he attended medical school.
1857 - Husband graduated from medical school in Charleston, SC. Returned to Mecklenburg County, NC.; 1857 - Ida Elizabeth WILSON born on 4 March 1857.
1859 - Isaac Lawrence WILSON born on 8 December 1859.
1859 - Ida Elizabeth WILSON died on 12 January 1859.
1860 - Mecklenburg County, NC (Member of household of Joseph McKnitt WILSON.) Microfilm publication M653, Roll 906, Page 152, Dwelling # 531, Family # 580. Record shows age as 26.
1861 - Mary Martha (Mamie) WILSON born on 12 December 1861.
1864 - William Elmore WILSON born 27 April 1864.
1865 - Emory Lee WILSON born on 12 July 1865.
1867 - Harriett Idella WILSON born on 7 January 1867.
1868 - Joseph Patterson WILSON born 1 March 1868.
1870 - Mecklenburg County, NC (Member of household of Joseph McKnitt WILSON.) Microfilm publication M593, Roll 1148;
1870 - John McKamie WILSON born on 9 August 1870.
1873 - Daughter born: Laura Augusta (Minnie) WILSON on 24 January 1873.
1880 - Mecklenburg County, NC (Member of household of Joseph McKnitt WILSON.) Microfilm publication T9, Rolls 971/972.
1886 - Father, WIlliam PATTERSON, died on 3 December 1886.
1890 - Mecklenburg County, NC (Member of household of Joseph McKnitt WILSON.) No census records available.
1898 - Husband retired from medical practice.

Cont’d. next page.

INTERNET SITES TO VISIT

RMS LUSITANIA. This British passenger liner, carrying a number of Americans, was torpedoed off the Irish coast during World War I by the German submarine U-20. The websites provide passenger and crew lists, facts, figures, and firsts about the ship, history, and a media gallery.
http://rmslusitania.info/pages/index.html
http://www.pbs.org/lostliners/lusitania.html

It is important to cite the sources in your genealogy research. For guidance, check out these sites:
For tips on citing electronic sources study "A Cite for Sore Eyes: Quality Citations for Electronic Genealogy Sources," by Mark Howells at: http://www.oz.net/~markhow/writing/cite.htm
"Skillbuilding: Citing Your Sources" http://www.bcgcertification.org/skillbuilders/skbld959.html
"Creating Worthwhile Genealogies for our Families and Descendants"
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/lesson12.htm
"Citing Sources" (many links): http://www.cyndislist.com/citing.htm

"Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing."
~Lyn Karol

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