August 12th CVGS Research Group Review

The Chula Vista Genealogical Society Research Group meeting on August 12th had 20 attendees.

In the first hour, Randy discussed:

*  RootsMagic 7 users should upgrade to Version 7.0.7.0 in order to access the FamilySearch Family Tree.

*  Family Tree Maker 2014 users should upgrade to Build 404 or 1404, a required update.

*  Check out The Family History Guide for computer, genealogy and family history tutorials (www.TheFHGuide.com).  

*  Ancestry.com added the Social Security Applications and Claims database in July - this database includes parents names and applicant name changes for 49 million deceased applicants (this database does not have all Social security applicants).

*  www.Findmypast.com is a commercial genealogy database and family tree website, featuring records in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.  The family tree has Record Hints for persons in an isolated family tree.

*  When was the William Sever Mansion house in Kingston, Mass. built?  This was Randy's research goal in July after receiving an inquiry from the house's present owner.  He found land records, probate records, and 1935 era WPA survey records that show the house location, grounds, photographs and floor plan, but could not determine an exact year of the building.  It's in the 1760 to 1770 time frame.

In the second hour, several attendees shared their research challenges and successes, including:

*  Shirley used the New York Marriage Records collection on FamilySearch to search for her parents marriage record.  She didn't find it, but did find two other marriages for her father before he married her mother!  

*  Lorrie has a Beavers ancestor in Virginia who served on the Union side in the Civil War.  She has a 23andMe autosomal DNA match with a Beaver ancestor, who has private journals with family information.

*  Susi's grandmother's brother is not allowed "in the house", but a descendant of the man on Facebook contacted Susi and she provided family information.

*  Karen S.'s mother's family resided in Western Pennsylvania in the 1700s, but she can't find parentage of William Ritchey born in 1784 and resided in Armstrong and Clarion Counties.  The group noted that records may be in parent counties, and she should  look for Ritchey entries in land, probate, census, military, church records, and county history books.

*  Bethel's cousin says their Hooker ancestor was related to the Civil War general and was born in North Carolina.  The obituary says he was born in 1787 in South Carolina, died 1873 in Alabama.  There way be War of 1812 pension file records on Fold3.

*  Carole's grandfather was in one of Gabe Selak's photographs of early San Diego standing by the plaza fountain in 1913, just before the "coldest day ever." The grandfather was an electrical engineer, but she proved he did not install the electrics in the fountain, which were shown to be unsafe, according to the San Diego newspaper (article found on GenealogyBank).

The September 9th Research Group meeting will be at 12 noon in the Conference Room at the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street in downtown Chula Vista).