January Research Group Review

The 14 January 2015 Research Group meeting had 21 attendees, almost a record!

In the first hour, Randy discussed:

*  CVGS program and membership surveys need to be filled out and returned.  They will be available at the computer group and program meeting also.
*  Did you watch the first episode of Genealogy Roadshow?  The videos are available at http://video.pbs.org/program/genealogy-roadshow/ the morning after the episode is shown.  Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. on PBS through February 17th.
*  The FGS and RootsTech conferences are February 11-14 in Salt Lake City.  Look for free live-streaming videos.  Randy will attend, and John will lead the 11 February Research Group meeting.
*  The CGSSD meeting on Saturday, 17 January will feature DearMYRTLE via a live Hangout On Air.  This is a cost-effective way for quality speakers to present to genealogy societies from a distance.  
*  Family discussions over the holidays included helping his granddaughter make a family tree, telling a story from his own childhood, and providing a chart to his grandson showing the relationship to President Obama.
*  The home farm of 4th great-grandfather Simon Gates in Gardner, Mass. was described in an 1803 probate record.  Randy plotted the land boundaries, and found the location on a topographical map.

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

*  Bobbie reviewed her two-year goals, and found that she satisfied the one on her mother's side - finding descendants in Louisiana that connect back to Acadia.  She also found a book on Acadian-Cajun Genealogy.  Her new goal on her mother's side is to find another Native-American ancestor.  Her goal on her father's side is to find the German home of her 2nd great-grandparents.

*  Shirley has been finding interesting Texts on the Internet Archive website (www.archive.org).  She recently browsed through the Columbia University collections.

*  Bethel contacted a 4th cousin.  She passed around a relationship chart to help folks determine a relationship.  She also brought cookies and muffins to share!  Yum!

*  Diane attended the SDGS seminar with Josh Taylor, and enjoyed the four presentations.  She did a migration list for all of her surnames - where did the families live in what time frame.  More 23andMe autosomal DNA test kits will go to her husband's relatives in an effort to discern paternity of his uncle.

*  Carole found a 1919 newspaper article and picture about her great-grandaunt, who made a float for the Rose Parade using the family roadster, and came in second place.  She's trying to obtain a better copy of the photograph from the Rose Parade folks.

*  Susi described her research problem - John Myers was born in 1809 in Dauphin County, Penn., son of Valentine Myers, and died in 1865 in Illinois.  His children put information in the family Bible that may be wrong.  Valentine died in 1822; the 1820 census for Valentine shows 3 male and 6 female children, but no other children besides John are known.  What should she search for?  The group suggested probate, land, church, tax, and military pension records.

*  Gary discussed the revamped CVGS website (use www.cvgenealogy.org) and noted that members can add their surnames and ancestral localities.

The next meeting of the CVGS Research Group will be on Wednesday, 11 February, in either the Conference Room or the Auditorium of the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street in downtown Chula Vista).