August Research Group Review

The August 10th meeting of the CVGS Research Group had 10 in attendance.

In the first hour, Randy discussed:

*  The San Diego Genealogical Society Fall Seminar is Saturday, 10 September at Marina Village on Mission Bay.  The speaker is The Photo Detective, Maureen Taylor.

*  The latest issue of Family Tree Magazine published their 101 Best Genealogy Websites for 2016.

*  Family Tree Maker sent an email describing their progress in updating the software.

*  The 1895 will of Elling Eriksen Natvig named his wife and four daughters, but not his two sons and another daughter.  Three of the daughters were from his wife's first marriage.  Randy also found the Natvig land on the 1873, 1890 and 1899 plat maps of Cottage Grove, Dane County, Wisconsin.

In the second hour, the attendees described their genealogy challenges and successes, including:

*  Helen S. found her ancestor, John Winkle, on one Revolutionary War muster roll listed as "on command" for a Pennsylvania regiment.   She wondered what that meant.  He is not listed on any Revolutionary War service record or pension file.  During the discussion, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission website (http://www.phmc.pa.gov/Archives/Pages/default.aspx) was mentioned as having useful information for Pennsylvania residents in this time frame.

*  Diane G. did more research on her serial killer who died at age 34 - she found he requested that they put cement is his coffin so his body would not be stolen.  She is corresponding with two cousins from Romania and encouraging them to get their DNA tested.

*  Bill H. is adopted, and knows the name of his birth father from an affidavit provided by his mother, and has found him in census records and the Social Security Death Index.  The father is listed as a child in the 1920 U.S. Census in Chicago, but the father's father's surname (Rizzo) is different than his father's surname (Reiss).  It may be that the grandfather was married to another woman at the time of the census.  The group suggested that he obtain the Social Security Application for his father which will probably name his parents.

The next meeting of the CVGS Research Group will be on Wednesday, 14 September 2016 at 12 noon at the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library in the Conference Room.