February 2013 Research Group Summary

We had 12 attendees at the 13 February 2013 meeting of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society Research Group, which met in the library Auditorium.

In the first hour, Randy discussed the Find A Grave website, how to navigate in the New York Land Records on FamilySearch, looked at his Ancestry DNA autosomal test results, and provided attendees a look at the FamilySearch Family Tree, including the known problems of duplicate persons and multiple sets of parents.

In the second hour, the attendees shared what they have been doing recently, and brought up questions or problems from their research:

*  Shirley has browsed the New York Land and Probate collections on FamilySearch, but has not found much for her New York families.  She has been corresponding with another Wright researcher who insists that his William Wright is also Shirley's William, and that Shirley should change her online family tree.  Shirley has evidence convincing to her that this should not be done.  She also asked "Why do people do DNA tests without posting a family tree?"  Great question!

*  Susi has been looking at New York and  Pennsylvania probate records on FamilySearch, and has found some of her families in guardianships that name the parents and the guardian, but don't name the children involved for some reason.

*  Mary Lou was cleaning up her garage and found a storage box with Civil War era trading cards with soldiers photos, including signatures.  The names are from her 2nd-great-grandfather's regiment from Livingston County, N.Y.  She wants to share these with descendants if possible, and would love to find one that her ancestor traded to someone else.  She wondered what she should do.  The group suggested posting on the surname and county mailing lists on Rootsweb and Genforum, and to look for a GAR post in Livingston County that might be able to help.

*  Caroline was a guest who found Susi's blog online and came to the meeting.

*  Kitty has been making autosomal DNA cousin contacts.  One cousin is going to Ireland to take pictures of homesteads and towns there.

*  Joanna has been finding lots of ancestors, and their records, with John's help on Wednesday mornings.

*  Gary has dropped his Roff in New York research for now, and is focusing on his Blay line, which lived in Canada.  He also asked where he can find Revolutionary War records.  The group suggested the Ancestry and FamilySearch record collections, the complete Pension and Bounty Land Warrant files on Fold3, and the DAR website.

*  John is working on his Civil War veterans, and has found a descendant of a soldier in the same regiment.

*  Sam is working a lot in Find A Grave finding burial locations of his relatives.  He asked if there was a "master list" of resources to check to make as complete a search as possible.  Randy promised to send him one for both traditional and online resources.