The Chula Vista Genealogical Society Research Group meeting on 10 April had 16 attendees in the library auditorium.
In the first hour, Randy:
* Discussed the "Where I'm From" poem template (http://www.swva.net/fred1st/wif.htm) and recited his own poem (see http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/04/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-where-im.html). He encouraged attendees to write their own and share it with their family members, and also in the CVGS Newsletter.
* Demonstrated using Ancestry.com's location filters (see http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/04/using-ancestrycom-filters.html) and Ancestry Anne's presentations on Ancestry.com Searches (see http://ancestry-reference-desk.com/links/slides-from-presentations/).
* Showed the Jyl Pattee Keynote presentation at RootsTech 2013 (see http://www.rootstech.org/?start=0&id=K2&video=2245338986001).
The second hour was problem solving, questions and answers, and some success stories of the attendees, including:
* Joan started an Ancestry Member Tree, but was disappointed that she had better detail data for her family than the Hints that Ancestry provided. We explained that Ancestry does not have ALL records for each state or country, especially vital records, and that many records (e.g., census records) do not provide exact dates and places for vital events.
* Karen S. asked how to research Southern families in the late 1600s, since there are no vital records available. The group suggested church, land, tax and probate records. For more information about available records for specific states/colonies, the group suggested the FamilySearch Research Wiki (https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Main_Page) and the Ancestry.com Family History Wiki (http://www.ancestry.com/wiki/).
* Virginia sent a correction to Find A Grave, and the correction was made in about two weeks.
* Karen Y. bought a book about the History of Southern Culture at the library book sale, and found all sorts of historical and cultural material, including recipes.
* John found that CVGS member Pam is a cousin - the Gaylord family in Connecticut - and discovered information about the immigrant family in The Great Migration Begins series on the library genealogy shelf. He also found a record that one of his colonial ancestors was convicted of fornication.
* Joan found a letter from her mother's friend from the 1920s in the family papers that listed her mother's birth date. She asked for help on her ancestor Sarah Orr who married David Hixson. Sarah might have been born in England in 1877 and the Hixson's resided in Iowa by 1900. A search for Sarah Orr's birth found several candidates in the English Civil Registry, and in the 1881 England census. A search on Ancestry in the US census records did not find her, but her death was found in the Minnesota Death Index on FamilySearch.
The next CVGS Research Group will be on Wednesday, 8 May at 12 noon in the Conference Room at the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street in downtown Chula Vista).
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