CVGS Program Meeting on 30 March 2016

 WEDNESDAY, March 30th GENERAL MEETING

from 12 noon to 2 p.m.

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

“The Land of Hansel and Gretel: Genealogical Resources for Hessen” 

with Toni Perrone

     Toni's presentation will cover the genealogical resources in archives, books, microfilm and online databases, for the Hessen region of present-day Germany. 

    Toni Perrone is a founding member of the Immigrant Genealogical Society, the Immigrant Library in Los Angeles, CA, and the Temecula Valley Genealogical Society.  She is the present day Chair of the German Interest Group in Temecula. Toni serves as President of the Pommern Interest Group at the Immigrant Library and on the Board of Directors of the Immigrant Genealogical Society.  She volunteers at the Family History Center in Murietta and has for many years. She has been a speaker to various genealogical societies since 1981. 

     Toni has a background of 33 years of research in  German and Italian ancestry, has received numerous awards from genealogical groups, has published articles in genealogical publications, two books on family lines and is currently working on a third. 

All program meetings of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society are free to attend.  Guests are welcome.  There are refreshments before and after the meeting in the back of the Auditorium.  Attendees should not take food or drink to their seats.

March 2016 CVGS Newsletter Published

The March 2016 newsletter of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society was published last week.

Society Members can read it online, in a PDF format - use the "Members" link (roll over "Members," and click on "Newsletters") at www.CVGenealogy.org.  

Non-members can read CVGS Newsletters two months after publication, per Board of Directors direction (on www.CVgenealogy.org, roll over "News" and click on "Newsletters").

The Table of Contents lists:

page 1 -- March 30th Program Meeting   
page 2 -- President’s Message  
page 2 -- Register for Meetings on CVGS Website
page 3 -- Next Computer Group Meeting
page 3 -- Lemon Grove Research Group News

page 3 -- April 2nd Saturday Workshop
page 3 -- Chula Vista Family Discovery Day
page 3 -- New Auditorium at Chula Vista Library
page 4 -- More Family Tree Maker News
page 5 -- February 24th Program Review

page 5 -- Escondido Family History Fair Review
page 5 -- RootsTech 2016 Videos Available
page 6 -- February Research Group Reviewpage 7 -- Long Lost Family on TLC
page 7 - Relative Race on BYUtv

page 7 -- Legacy Family Tree Webinars
page 8 -- Monthly Member Calls
page 8 -- Library Use Survey Coming 
page 8 -- Program Meeting Schedule Changes
page 9 -- CVGS Society Information 


page 9 -- San Diego Genealogy Events 
page 10 -- Genealogy Days in Chula Vista 

Computer Group Meeting is Wednesday, 16 March 2016

    The next Computer Group meeting will be on Wednesday, 16 March 2016 at the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street in downtown Chula Vista, Calif.).  There will be a “Beginning Computer Genealogy” class at 10:15 a.m. in the Conference Room, followed by the regular “Computer Group” meeting in the Computer Lab from 12:30 to 2 p.m., both led by Shirley Becker.  

          This is an experiment. We are giving it three months.  Class will start at 10:15 a.m. in the Conference Room and go until 11:45 a.m. when we will break for lunch. It is called a “Beginning Computer Genealogy” group. If you have a laptop, you should bring it. Gary Brock will be demonstrating very basic computer tasks such as how to find tutorials and use them. 

     We will move to the computer lab at 12:30 p.m. and stay until 2 p.m.  Basic genealogy tasks are planned, such as going to a website, copying an item and placing that item in your database. We will use the lab computers at this point with a kind of fake database set up in Microsoft Word. We will delete those databases when we leave the lab. Hopefully, the attendees will have some basic knowledge at that point to follow on the computers.  We want their input on what they would like to learn.

     The expectation is that the attendees will follow up at home by practicing on things they will learn in class.  In two months, if they practice we will try for more advanced things in the lab. If it doesn’t work that way, we will answer requests for assistance and we will discontinue the extra class. 

CVGS Research Group Summary - 9 March 2016

The Chula Vista Genealogical Society Research Group meeting on Wednesday, 9 March had 18 attendees, including one guest.

In the first hour, Randy discussed some of the recent genealogy news items, including:

*  RootsMagic announced that the program can now read native Family Tree Maker files (all versions of FTM) without a GEDCOM import.

*  Software MacKiev has an upgrade for Family Tree Maker 2015 for Windows and Family Tree Maker for Mac 3 at a discount price.  Existing users of the programs will have a free update.  

*  GenealogyInTime Magazine published their Top 100 genealogy websites for 2016 - see  http://genealogyintime.com/articles/top-100-genealogy-websites-of-2016-page01.html.

*  Ancestry.com and Findmypast.com added 10 million Irish Catholic Church records to their collections.

*  MyHeritage announced Record Detective II technology to their features, and offers Record Matches for their large Books collection.

*  There are about 30 videos from the 2016 RootsTech Conference available for free at  https://www.rootstech.org/video2/4739804696001. 

*  His research in land and probate records for Amos Plimpton (1735-1808) of Medfield, Mass. 

In the second hour, the group discussed these issues:

*  Karen Y. noted that her father's grandparents corresponded with cousins in Norway, and she has his family group sheets.  She connected at the Escondido Family History Fair with Robin who found her great-grandfather's records.

*  Jean's mom had her 2nd-great-grandmother's name, and was able to go back to the 1700s in France.  She immigrated to the US in 1848.

*  Jane noted that the German Society in America is now working with a society in Germany to help researchers with German ancestors find their families in Germany.  The 2017 conference will be in Minneapolis.  Back in October, the SDJGS speaker discussed the USCIS pre-1906 naturalization documents that could be obtained for $20.  Her DelVecchio immigrants didn't obtain theirs until later, apparently.

*  Karen S. asked if there were specially trained people who wrote things down in pre-20th century times for wills, deeds, court records, etc.  There were court or town clerks, registrars, justices of the peace and others who were educated and would perform these services for a fee or as a job.

*  Susi is in contact with 2nd or 3rd cousins who share her father's DNA.  One is a 16-year old adoptee in Greene County, Pennsylvania where she has ancestry.

*  Linda needs a new computer to replace her Windows 7 machine from 2009 with Legacy Family Tree.  She is reading Consumer Reports.

The next CVGS Research Group meeting will be at 12 noon on Wednesday, 13 April 2016 in the Conference Room at the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library.

Genealogy Days in Chula Vista - March 2016

The Chula Vista Genealogical Society events for March 2016 include:

 ** Sunday, 6 March, 3:30 p.m to 6 p.m., Bonita-Sunnyside Library (4375 Bonita Road) -- 
CVGS Workshop in Community Room.  Gary Brock and Shirley Becker will lead a discussion of "GEDCOM"  Saturday Workshops are for hands-on experience with computers, software, websites, etc.

** Wednesday, 9 March, 12 noon to 2 p.m., Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street) -- CVGS Research Group meets in the 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.  

** Wednesday, 16 March, 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 March, 12 noon  to 2 p.m., at Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street).  CVGS Program Meeting meets in the Auditorium.  The program speaker will be Toni Perrone on"The Land of Hansel and Gretel -- Genealogical Resources for Hessen."  The business meeting will be after the presentation.  Refreshments before and after the meeting.

**  Wednesdays, 2, 9, 16 and 23 March, 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.