CVGS Workshop on Sunday, 4 November: "RootsMagic Workshop 2"

The next CVGS Workshop will be on Sunday, 4 November from 1 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Bonita-Sunnyside Library (4375 Bonita Road) in the Community Room. 

 The topic will be ”RootsMagic 5 Workshop – Part 2” led by Randy Seaver. We had the first workshop in August. Many users requested a second workshop devoted to answering questions about using RootsMagic 5 genealogy software on their PC or Mac computers. 

Some of the more advanced features of RootsMagic 5 we will explore include:

*  The Web Search feature - how to search from within RootsMagic to find records in online sites like Ancestry, FamilySearch, etc.

*  The To-Do List - how to create and maintain To-Do items

*  The  Research Manager - how to create and maintain research logs

*  Problem Reports - how to find potential errors in your database

*  Media Gallery - how to manage media, including tagging persons and events

*  Book Publisher  - how to create a book about your family, including media, charts, etc. 

Randy will solicit questions before the workshop, and during the workshop, about using RootsMagic 5. Bring your laptop with RootsMagic 5 installed so you can work along with Randy.

Randy Seaver is Program Speaker on 31 October

The October general meeting of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society will be Wednesday, 31 October, at 12 noon in the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library Auditorium.

The Program Speaker is CVGS Member Randy Seaver, on “Discovering Jane's Roots in California, Australia and England”

In this presentation, Randy will explore the research journey to find the ancestors of his wife's great-grandmother, Jane (Whittle) McKnew (1847-1921). She married in Gold Country, had a family of 11 children, survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and died in San Francisco.
Jane was born in Australia to parents who were born and married in England. Most of the research was done with online resources and in a collaborative environment. Come watch Randy unveil a fascinating family history worthy of a “Who Do You Think You Are?” television episode.

Randy Seaver is a native San Diegan. His ancestry is mainly colonial New England and Upper Atlantic, with some colonial German, French and Dutch forebears, and several 19th-century English immigrants. He has been pursuing his elusive ancestors since 1988, and has been online since 1992. 

Randy is a former President of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society, and is currently the Newsletter Editor and Research Chair. He speaks to Southern California societies, libraries and groups, teaches "Beginning Computer Genealogy" adult classes at OASIS, and writes the Genealogy 2.0 column for the FGS FORUM magazine. He is a member of NGS, NEHGS, SCGS, SDGS, CGSSD and CVGS. Randy blogs daily about genealogy subjects at Genea-Musings (www.geneamusings.com) and the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe (http://CVGenCafe.blogspot.com).

There will be a short business meeting before the speaker, and refreshments before and after the meeting at the back of the Auditorium.

CVGS Newsletter for October 2012 published

The October 2012 issue of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society Newsletter was published last  week.  You can read it online, in a PDF format, at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cacvgs2/Newsletters/12_10_oct.pdf.

The Table of Contents lists: 

page 1 - October 31st Program 

page 2 - President’s Message

page 3 - Sunday, Nov. 4 RootsMagic 5 Workshop 

page 3 - Lemon Grove Research Group News

page 3 - Cemetery Committee News 

page 3 - Rest In Peace, Helen Todd

page 4 - Research Group News

page 4 - Computer Group News

page 5 - September 26th Program Review

page 6 - Daughter of the Kings, and mtDNA Too!

page 6 - Read All About Us, by Olive Lenane

page 7 - CVGS Seminar Review “Show Me Your Roots”

page 8 - Important Notice from the President

page 8 - September 2012 Genealogy News

page 9 - CVGS Society Information 

page 9 - San Diego Genealogy Events

page 10 - Genealogy Days in Chula Vista 

Read all about CVGS!

Two new methods of obtaining information about Chula Vista Genealogical Society activities have been added to our previous information sources.

• The Chula Vista Community Calendar: www.chulavistaca.gov/apps/eventscalendar/Main.aspx

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChulaVistaGenealogicalSociety

Previous sources:

• Website: www.rootsweb.com/~cacvgs2/

• Blog: http://CVGenCafe.blogspot.com

• Chula Vista Genealogical Newsletter: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cacvgs2/Newsletters/

• Quarterly Activities Pamphlet (via email)

• Email reminders to membership

October Research Group Summary

The 10 October Research Group meeting of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society had 20 attendees.  

In the first hour, Randy shared his mitochondrial (Ancestry), Y-chromosome (Ancestry) and autosomal DNA (FamilyTreeDNA and AncestryDNA) test results with the group so that they could see the process of receiving, matching and analyzing the test results.  

Kitty shared her autosomal test results (from AncestryDNA), and had been contacted by a cousin who provided the identity of Kitty's 4th-great-grandfather.  

In the second hour, we shared our recent research challenges, questions and successes:

*  Connie is trying to write a letter to her adopted brother's relatives, and is struggling.  The group suggested that she check the Adoption message boards for examples and advice.  

*  Olive's grandson needed family information on causes of death for a school project, and she helped him out.

*  Kitty helped her granddaughter find a newspaper article about Kitty's stepfather's war medals.

*  John found quite a bit of helpful information in The Essex Antiquarian, new on the shelves at the Chula Vista library.

*  Shirley noted that Carlsbad library has removed periodicals from the shelves, and users need to request specific issues at the desk.  

*  Karen's grandson wanted information about his ancestry, and she forwarded links to the LeCompte family website to help him out.

*  Helen is still searching the 1940 US census for her grandmother without success.  She also noted that some California death certificates now have ethnic background included.

*  Bobbie received her mitochondrial DNA results, and will join the X haplogroup.

*  Marie's uncle had a piece of the roof from a Friends meeting house in Pennsylvania, and she hopes to receive it from the family.

*  Ken had a hard drive failure, and needs to use Family Tree Maker to see the shaky leaves.

*  Diane found a relative in Italy and they are now friends on Facebook.

*  Ralph's trip to San Antonio was successful, he visited family, and found his grandparents marriage record.

*  Sam recommends checking the "More results" link in Family Tree Maker Web Search )on Ancestry.com) - there may be additional records.  Randy suggested using "list by category" instead of "sort by relevance" on Ancestry.

*  Susi is working on her Mattison family from NY/MA.  A Mattison cousin owned land in the 1870 census in Iowa, so she will try to obtain land records there to see if family information can be obtained.

*  Randy mentioned that Adele had asked about what to do with her photo albums, since she has no close family.  This is a common problem, and a local historical or genealogical society may be the answer.  

*  Randy noted that he was adding information to photo albums on 1000Memories, he's mining the Record Matches on MyHeritage, and that he has created 10 generation ancestral reports and saved them in PDF format to Dropbox and Scribd.com, where they are searchable.

The next CVGS Research Group will be Wednesday, 13 November at 12 noon in the Conference Room at the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library.

Workshop Review - CeCe Moore on "Starting Out with Genetic Genealogy"

Genetic genealogist CeCe Moore provided an excellent tutorial on genetic genealogy with graphic examples in her presentation "Getting Started in Genetic Genealogy" to 28 members and guests of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society on Sunday, 7 October at Bonita-Sunnyside Library in Bonita.

In a relatively short 15 years, genetic genealogy has grown from the first Y-chromosome tests on Jewish priests to full genome tests for selected people.  CeCe described the four genetic genealogy tests available for a fee at several genetic testing companies:

*  mtDNA - mitochondrial DNA tests provide genetic information passed by a biological mother to her male and female children.

*  Y-DNA - Y-chromosome DNA tests provide genetic information passed by a biological father to his sons.

*  atDNA - autosomal DNA tests provide genetic information on 22 chromosomes passed to a person by his/her biological parents (contributed by all biological ancestors)

*  X-DNA - specific X-chromosome tests are not available yet (passed by a biological mother to a child)

CeCe described the science of DNA - a mother's egg provides about half of a child's DNA, as does a father's sperm.  Each human person has 46 chromosomes - 23 from each parent, including 2 sex chromosomes, which define the genetic characteristics of a person. The chromosomes are in the nucleus of each cell. The mitochondrial DNA is in the cytoplasm of each cell.  The sex of a child is determined by the X or Y chromosome contributed by the father - an X chromosome creates a female child, and a Y-chromosome creates a male child.

The mtDNA test results can be used to define the matrilineal line (mother to child) for a person - a person with the same mtDNA results probably has a common female ancestor back in time.  The Y-DNA test results can be used to define the patrilineal line (father to son, the surname line) for a male person - a person with the same Y-DNA results probably has a common male ancestor back in time.

Maternal or paternal Haplogroups contain similar characteristics for mtDNA and Y-DNA, respectively, and the results are classified by a letter and subgroups. These haplogroups can be used to identify human migration over the past 100,000 years.

Surname projects are available for Y-DNA testers that can help prove patrilineal lines by descent if there are nearly identical matches with other males with the same Y-DNA markers.  If there are fewer matches of males with a common patrilineal ancestor, then either there is an adoption, a "non paternal event," or a person's genealogical research is wrong.  

Autosomal DNA tests can be used to determine which genetic material was contributed by a specific ancestor by comparison of a person's test results with a relative's test results.  However, autosomal tests can only indicate relationships as early as approximately 5th cousins.

CeCe described the autosomal tests provided by 23andMe (called Relative Finder), Family Tree DNA (called Family Finder) and AncestryDNA.  These tests, with more than half a million markers,  compare a person's results with those of reference populations, and results in a definition of "Deep Ancestry" (for example, 50% Europoean, 25% African, and 25% Asian) for the person tested.

Automsomal tests can also provide indications of relationships with other persons. CeCe provided comparisons of her test results with a number of close relatives.  By testing several relatives, and knowing the genealogical relationships, the specific segments of DNA on specific chromosomes can be attributed to a specific ancestor.

There were many questions about the DNA tests, their costs, their results, and about genetic characteristics and medical problems.  Only 23andMe tests for, and provides information for, medical problems.  CeCe had an answer for everyone.

CeCe wrote four articles on the Geni.com blog about Getting Started in DNA Testing - see:

*  Part 1 - http://www.geni.com/blog/dna-testing-for-genealogy-getting-started-part-one-375984.html
*  Part 2 - http://www.geni.com/blog/dna-testing-for-genealogy-getting-started-part-two-376163.html
*  Part 3 - http://www.geni.com/blog/dna-testing-for-genealogy-getting-started-part-three-376261.html
*  Part 4 - http://www.geni.com/blog/dna-testing-for-genealogy-getting-started-part-four-376433.html

You can read CeCe Moore's blog - Your Genetic Genealogist - at www.YourGeneticGenealogist.com.

You can join (free) the International Society of Genetic Genealogy at www.isogg.org, and receive an invitation to join the DNA Newbie mailing list, which CeCe moderates.

This workshop was a two-plus hour session that passed a lot of information about DNA testing, and was well received by the attendees.

CVGS Workshop on Sunday, 7 October: CeCe Moore on "Genetic Genealogy"

The October Chula Vista Genealogical Society (CVGS) Workshop is this Sunday, 7 October, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Bonita-Sunnyside Library (4375 Bonita Road in Bonita, turn left at Billy Casper Way, library is on the left) in the Community Room. 

The workshop speaker will be CeCe Moore on "Getting Started in Genetic Genealogy." 

Discover the fascinating world of genetic genealogy (DNA Testing for Genealogy). Genetic Genealogy is a wonderful resource for the family genealogist or historian and is growing daily! This presentation will provide you with an overview about DNA testing for genealogy by making the subject accessible and understandable for the non–scientist. 

CeCe Moore is a full-time genetic genealogist, and author of the Your Genetic Genealogist blog.  She is the Ancestry Ambassador for 23andMe, the Moderator for the ISOGG DNA Newbie List, on the Advisory Board for the Mixed Roots Foundation, the Co-Director of the Global Adoptee Genealogy Project, ISOGG Regional Coordinator for Southern California, Proctor DNA Project Administrator, Travis DNA Project Co-Administrator (FTDNA), and Administrator for the ISOGG Wikipedia (www.isogg.org/wiki). 

Genealogy Days in Chula Vista - October 2012

The Chula Vista Genealogical Society events for October 2012 include:
** Sunday, 7 October, 1 p.m.to 3 p.m., Bonita-Sunnyside (County) Library (4375 Bonita Road) -- Outreach Workshop meets in Community Room. CeCe Moore will present  "Getting Started in Genetic Genealogy."  

** Wednesday 10 October, 12 noon to 2 p.m., Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street) -- CVGS Research Group meets in the Library Conference Room, led by Randy Seaver. We will review the latest genealogy news, share success stories and information, and discuss members research problems, and potential solutions, based on the collective knowledge and wisdom of the group.
** Thursday, 18 October, 12 noon to 1:30 p.m., Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street) -- CVGS Computer Group meets in the Library Computer Lab, led by Shirley Becker. Sharpen your computer skills and investigate online genealogy resources.
** Wednesday, 31 October, 12 noon to 2 p.m., Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street) -- CVGS General Membership Meeting in the Auditorium.  Randy Seaver will present "Discovering Jane's Roots in Califronia, Australia and England."

The Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library is located at 365 "F" Street in Chula Vista - between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue, midway between I-5 and I-805 (take the "E" Street exit from the freeways). 

The Bonita-Sunnyside (County) Library is located at 4375 Bonita Road in Bonita - turn left on Billy Casper Way, just west of the Otay Lakes Road intersection with Bonita Road, on the north side of Bonita Road. 

We welcome guests and visitors to our CVGS programs and events - if you are in the greater San Diego area and want to attend our events - please come and introduce yourselves.