Thursday, April 14, 2011

CVGS Research Group Summary - 13 April 2011

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We had 17 enthusiastic attendees at the 13 April meeting of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society Research Group. 

Randy Seaver gave a short presentation on "Newspaper Records" - showing how to determine what newspapers have been published in specific localities, and a list of online finding aids and online newspaper collections (both free and subscription).  He also showed several newspaper articles from his family history, including a 50th wedding anniversary article, an ancestor's biography, information about an ancestor moving to town and buying land, and his recent research into an 1821 murder mystery.

Myrna G. described some of her family history newspaper collection, and she noted that they serve two purposes - to fill in some of the family history details of people's lives, and to provide information about births, marriages and deaths.  Her examples included finding probate notices, immigration information, and life events.  She noted that she has only used Ancestry.com so far, and was happy to get information on additional online resources.  As a result of her newspaper research, she is off on a trip to Germany to meet some Zuck relatives and do more family history research.

John F. went to Illinois in March to see his grandson graduate from NTC, and was able to have two days doing research in nearby Lee and Will counties.  He called ahead to the libraries, and the librarian had materials ready for him to review.  He copied many newspaper pages with information about his Holdren families, and was able to determine the parents of his ancestor Mathias Holdren, the list of Mathias Holdren's  children  from an obituary, and Holdren farm sale news.

Helen S. noted that, she was able to find her husband's ancestor's obituary from cemetery records, and the obituary helped with subsequent research.

Susi P. and Shirley B. have had good success finding records on the Old Fulton History website and obituary clipping collections in libraries and genealogical societies.

Ann S. is helping to transcribe articles from Clark County, Wisconsin historical newspapers.

Other success stories included:

Shirley B. found a death date for her Jacob Plue in the 1860 Census Mortality Schedule, and information about a War of 1812 Land Warrant for another ancestor.

Susi P. found a compiled military service record for one of her second-great-grandfather's Civil War service - she had not known he had served.

Helen S. passed around an image of two records for a marriage, both dated the same day - one was the license to marry, the other the certificate of marriage, with different record book references.  She also learned from this record that the bride had been married previously.

Randy shared news of the SCGS Genealogy Jamboree in June and the DearMYRTLE Organization Checklist he is using to create surname notebooks as part of his file organization task. 

All in all, this was an informative session with lots of records discussed and questions answered.

The next CVGS Research Group meeting will be Wednesday, 4 May at 12 noon in the Conference Room at the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library.
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