Wednesday, July 30, 2014

August 2nd Workshop at Bonita-Sunnyside Library - Preparing for a Research Trip

The August 2nd CVGS Workshop at Bonita-Sunnyside Library (4375 Bonita Road) is from 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. in the Community Room.  

Susi Pentico will lead the discussion on “Preparing for a Research Trip.”  

Do not forget the State Archives, Local Newsletters, and Church Bulletins.


Sunday, July 27, 2014

CVGS Program on Wednesday, 30 July 2014 - Native-American Genealogy

 WEDNESDAY, July 30th PROGRAM MEETING
from 12 noon to 2 p.m.

At Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street) Auditorium

Donna Bradley: “How Do I Prove My American Indian Genealogy?”

How do you find evidence and prove that your ancestor is a Native-American?  The presentation will discuss how to find records of Native-Americans in the census, in books, in government documents, as well as on the Indian Rolls. 

Donna Bradley is an author, historian, genealogist and Native- American.  She has been a professional genealogist for over 25 years and is a member in good standing with the APG (Association of Professional Genealogists).  Donna has written many articles, given many lectures and taught genealogy throughout Southern California.  Although she specializes in Native-American ancestry, she is very proficient in American and various international bloodlines.  


Donna is an Honored Member of “The Worldwide Who’s Who Registry of Executives, Professionals and Entrepreneurs” as a business owner, author and professional genealogist. 

 Her first book, Native Americans of San Diego County, was published in 2009 and she is currently working on another book which she hopes to have published in 2014.  She resides in the mountains of Southern California with her husband, having retired from over 30 years as a medical administrator, and parenting 29 foster children as well as her own daughters.

The doors to the Auditorium will be open at 12 noon, the meeting will start with a short business meeting at about 12:15 p.m., and the presentation should start after 12:30 p.m.  There will be snacks and drinks available before and after the meeting provided by CVGS members.

Friday, July 18, 2014

July Research Group Summary

The July 2014 meeting of the CVGS Research Group on 9 July had 15 attendees, including one visitor.

In the first hour, Randy discussed some recent additions to the online genealogy world, including:

*  Pennsylvania Death Certificates, 1906-1944, on Ancestry.com
*  Find-A-Record (www.FindARecord.com) - a new website that provides online and offline resources for a specific geographical location
*  FamilySearch Family Tree Hints for persons in the Family Tree
*  Puzzilla (www.puzzilla.org), an add-on to the Family Tree that finds descendants of a specific person
*  Uploading a GEDCOM file to a new Ancestry Member Tree

In the second hour, the group discussed their research challenges, questions and successes:

*  Susi described the problems she has with her Meyers line (John - Valentine - Philip) in Pennsylvania.  There were two Valentine Meyers in the 1790 census, and researchers have struggled to sort them out.  Susi's Valentine Meyers died in 1822, and his probate record identifies his son John.  However, the county boundaries changed often as the population went west, and records for one location are often in several county jurisdictions.  She had a Meyers book that described her Meyers families, but wanted to know how she could find more records to prove identities and relationships.  The group suggested finding records of all Meyers persons, including siblings of her known ancestors, in order to find probate, land, church, tax, military, cemetery, newspaper and other records that would provide evidence with which to draw conclusions.

*  Diane D. has had problems entering persons into the FamilySearch Family Tree without a birth or death date - the system won't let her do it.  The group suggested estimating the dates so that other researchers could contribute more information.

*  Helen has entered information for several generations of her husband's family into the FamilySearch Family Tree, but has been unable to connect them to other persons in the Family Tree.  She has received emails saying her work will be deleted if she doesn't add more persons and/or link to other persons in the Family Tree.  The group suggested adding herself and her ancestors until she can link to others already in the Family Tree.

*  Sylvia received some original Travis County, Texas marriage certificates about 20 years ago when she visited the county courthouse.  The office was trying to empty their file cabinets, and gave them away to persons who wanted them.  She passed them around, encased in plastic to preserve them.  

*  Joanna is trying to connect to Roger Williams of Rhode Island, and asked if she should work on descendants of Roger.  The group advised working backwards in time and find the link that way in order to avoid making mistakes and negating years of work.

*  Diane G. shared her father's obituary that she found using Google.  Her father's second family did not mention her mother or herself in the obituary, but listed her children as his grandchildren.  She also found the obituary of her step-father, which didn't mention Diane either.  She described visiting her father's family in Canada several years ago, and not being well accepted.  She also provided information on her father's surname line back into the 16th century to a cousin, and received a nice report from him.  Her point was that obituaries and stories may be incomplete.

*  Sylvia asked "What is the purpose of a marriage bond?"  The group noted that a bond was a guarantee that the groom was not currently married and would show up at the wedding.  The bondsman was usually a friend or relative of the family.

*  Gary was checking online trees on Ancestry.com and found Anne Boleyn on two lines of his wife's ancestry.

*  Mary Lou took the "Google for the Wise Genealogist" at NIGS and found some photos of her ancestors.  She also found a diary of one of the men in the Civil War regiment that her great-grandfather was in that mentioned his name.  There was lots of great information about the regiment's activities during the war.

*  Jane won one hour of research from SCGS at Jamboree, and recently received her results.  The researcher found naturalization records from Rhode Island and vital records from Nova Scotia for her ancestors that extended her ancestry two more generations.

*  Karen also took the Google course with NIGS and noted that it opened up quite a few research possibilities and opportunities.

The next CVGS Research Group meeting will be on Wednesday, 13 August from 12 noon to 2 p.m. in the Conference Room of the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street in downtown Chula Vista).  




Wednesday, July 16, 2014

CVGS Research Trip is on Wednesday, 23 July

John Finch is arranging a genealogy research trip to the FamilySearch Library in Mission Valley for Wednesday, 23 July. 

We wil car pool from the Chula Vista parking structure, on the 2nd floor, at 9:30 a.m. and depart about 9:45 a.m. to arrive there at about 10 a.m. We plan to stay until 1 p.m. and then meet at Marie Callender's in Chula Vista (on F Street) for pie afterwards. Contact John Finch (jan27@cox.net) to reserve a car pool space.  

If you want to drive yourself, the FamilySearch Library (4195 Camino del Rio South, opposite the Penske Truck Rental site) opens at 10 a.m.

 Remember that many subscription record providers are available for FREE at the FamilySearch 
Library, including Ancestry.com, Archives.com, Newspapers.com, FindMyPast, MyHeritage, and more.

Sunday, July 13, 2014

July Computer Group Meeting is on Wednesday, 16 July

The July meeting of the Computer Group is on Wednesday, 16 July, at 12 noon in the Computer Lab at the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street in Chula Vista).  The Lab is on the East Hallway and has 12 Windows 7 work stations to access the Internet. 

Shirley Becker will lead the discussion to help you discover online resources to aid your genealogical research.


Friday, July 11, 2014

July 2014 Issue of CVGS Newsletter is Available

The July 2014 issue of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society (CVGS) Newsletter was published this week.  You can read it online, in a PDF format - use the Newsletter link at www.CVGenealogy.org.

The Table of Contents lists:

page 1 -- July 30th Program Meeting 
page 2 -- President’s Message 
page 2 -- Library Committee Report 
page 3 -- 2014 Who Do You Think You Are TV Show 
page 3 -- 2014 CVGS Scholarship Winners 

page 3 -- Do You Have Something Belonging to CVGS?
page 4 -- July 12th Saturday Workshop
page 4 -- August 2nd Saturday Workshop 
page 4 -- August 9th Saturday Workshop 
page 4 -- Lemon Grove Research Group News 

page 4 -- Next Computer Group Meeting 
page 4 -- July 23rd Research Trip to FamilySearch Lib. 
page 5 -- Genealogy News for May and June 2014 
page 5 -- Randy's Genealogy Links
page 6 -- Research Group Review 

page 7 -- June 25th Annual Picnic Report
page 8 -- Ancestry.com Retires Five Services 
page 9 -- CVGS Society Information 
page 9 -- San Diego Genealogy Events 
page 10 -- Genealogy Days in Chula Vista


Wednesday, July 9, 2014

July 12th Saturday Workshop on "Indiana, Ohio and Michigan Research" and Family Tree Maker

The July 12th CVGS Saturday Workshop at Bonita-Sunnyside Library (4375 Bonita Road) is from 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. in the Community Room. 

Susi Pentico will lead the discussion on “Tri-States of Indiana, Ohio and Michigan Research."  There may be several presenters, with information about repository resources, online resources, including mentioning museums, historical societies and local genealogical societies. 

Then, Ken Robison will lead a demonstration and discussion of Family Tree Maker 2014 genealogy software.  Bring your laptops with the software installed, your questions and research problems.

There will be a follow-up Family Tree Maker workshop on Saturday, August 9 led by Ken Robison.

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Next CVGS Research Group Meeting is 9 July

The July meeting of the CVGS Research Group is on Wednesday, 9 July, from 12 noon to 2 p.m. in the Conference Room of the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street in downtown Chula Vista).

The Research Group is moderated by CVGS Member Randy Seaver.  We usually review the latest genealogy news, discuss educational opportunities, share success stories and information, and discuss members' research problems, with potential solutions, based on the collective experience, knowledge and wisdom of the group.  

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Genealogy Days in Chula Vista - July 2014

The Chula Vista Genealogical Society events for July 2014 include:

** Wednesday, 9 July, 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.  

**  Saturday, 12 July, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Bonita-Sunnyside Library (4375 Bonita Road) -- Saturday Workshop:  Susi Pentico will lead a workshop on "Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan Research."

** Wednesday, 16 July, 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. Bring your laptops to sharpen your computer skills and investigate online genealogy resources.

** Wednesday, 30 July, 12 noon to 2 p.m., 
Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street) -- CVGS Program Meeting meets in the Auditorium.  The speaker will be Donna Bradley on "Native-American Research." Refreshments before and after the meeting.

**  Wednesdays, 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30 July, 10 a.m. to 12 noon, Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street) --Research Assistance in the Family Research area.  John Finch will help you with your research problems.  Bring your laptop if you want to do online research.

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 north 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.  All CVGS events are FREE to attend, except for some seminars and picnics.