The Chula Vista Genealogical Society Research Group met on Wednesday, 8 August in the Library Conference Room, with 15 in attendance.
Randy highlighted the news about the 1940 U.S. Census being completely indexed and searchable on Ancestry.com for free; that FamilySearch Indexing is completed, but 13 states are not yet searchable; that FindMyPast.com launched with a bargain price, including all of the 1940 US Census records; that SDGS has a bus trip, including hotel reservations, for the NGS Conference in May 2013 in Las Vegas; and that SDGS has an all-day seminar on Saturday, 8 September featuring Lisa Alzo.
In the first hour, Randy presented "Exploring FamilySearch.org - the Very Best FREE Genealogy Website." The Research Wiki, Research Video Courses, Community Forums, Family History Library Catalog, Historical Record Collections and Book Collections were highlighted and explored. Search and navigation tips were provided for the Historical Record Collections. FamilySearch Family Tree, Ancestral File and Pedigree Resource File were not explored.
In the second hour, the group asked and answered questions, explained and responded to attendee's research problems, and disclosed research successes.
* Rose (a guest) had received many Mexican church records, from the IGI and microfilms, from the Family History Library over the years that took her family back many generations in Zacatecas. One line even connected to Spanish royalty back to 8th century in Spain. Rose cannot find this information now on the FamilySearch website. The group explained that the records that Rose found in the International Genealogical Index, which noted the batch number, are now in the Historical Record Collections on www.FamilySearch.org. The databases include Mexico, Baptisms, 1560-1950 and Mexico, Marriages, 1570-1950. It appears that the Zacatecas Catholic Church Records (page images) are not yet available in the FamilySearch collection.
* Kitty asked about slave schedules - what were they and what did they include? The group noted that they were taken in 1850 and 1860, but the names of individual slaves were not included. Only the slaveowner's name and the age and gender of the slaves were listed. Randy showed an example from 1850 on the screen.
* Helen's grandmother Mallory was descended from the Mallory family of early Virginia. She found a link back to English royalty in the book.
* Bobbie is getting ready for her research trip to Lake County, Illinois. She will meet a LeMagdalen cousin from Michigan and a Lake County lady there who has lots of LeMagdalen information. She and Dennis bought a GiiNii feed scanner and a wand scanner so that they can copy photographs and papers on the trip.
* Arlene read Bryan Sykes book about DNA USA, and highly recommends it. Her Pomeroy family was one of the highlighted families in the book.
* Ralph's wife's grandfather served in the Mexican Army in the 1898 to 1920 time period, including time in San Diego interned at Fort Rosecrans with 500 other soldiers. He was actually of German and Russian heritage and did not return to Mexico. The family story is that he worked as a spy for the USA during World War II. Ralph has quite a few family papers, but wondered if there were other resources to explore. The group suggested the San Diego Union and Evening Tribune newspapers that are searchable on www.GenealogyBank.com during this time period. There may also be records on FamilySearch and Ancestry.com, or in Mexican Archives.
The next Research Group meeting will be on Wednesday, 12 September in the Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street) Conference Room.
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