CVGS Program on 5/27 - Peter Rowe on "Newspaper Archives"

The next Program Meeting of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society will be on Wednesday, 27 May 2009, at 12 noon in the Auditorium of the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street in Chula Vista).

After a brief business meeting, the Program Speaker will be Peter Rowe, a reporter for the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper, who is currently the newspaper's archivist.



In July 1984, Peter Rowe was hired as a writer for the San Diego Union's Currents section. He has yet to be fired.

At the Union, he wrote feature stories and devoted five misspent years to editing. When the Union merged with the Tribune in 1992, he ransomed his byline and became a columnist for the Union-Tribune's Currents section.

A California native, Rowe attended high school in Encinitas (San Dieguito) and college in La Jolla (UCSD). He graduated from the journalism schools at UC Berkeley and Northwestern University.

Peter is a past president of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, a former Fulbright scholar (Japan, 2003) and owns a smattering of plaques from journalism competitions. But he'd trade them all for a chance to avenge his disastrous third-place finish during a 1994 appearance on "Jeopardy!"

Peter is married to a wonderful woman who does read the column, but refuses to set foot in it. A character known as The Woman Next Door handles all spouse-of-columnist duties. He has three sons. Not one of them reads his column.

Peter writes a monthly beer column for the Union-Tribune's Food section. He is also the Archivist for the newspaper. He does not look like his photograph.

Please enter the auditorium through the Conference Room door off the east entrance hallway in order to register, pick up handouts, buy an opportunity drawing ticket and have a snack before the meeting.

CVGS welcomes all members of the community, and all CVGS programs are free to attend.

CVGS Research and Query Services

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The Chula Vista Genealogical Society provides research services and answers queries concerning south San Diego County genealogy research.

The services that can be provided include:

• Obituary search in Chula Vista Star-News newspaper (twice-weekly). Microfilm for issues from 1900 to the present is available at the Chula Vista Civic Center Library. A copy can be made and sent by mail or email attachment.
• Obituary search in San Diego Union and Union-Tribune (since 1995) newspapers. The Chula Vista library has an index for 1930 to 1980, and microfilm for issues from 1973 to the present. A copy can be made and sent by mail or email attachment. Copies of obituaries before 1973 can be obtained at the San Diego Public Library in downtown San Diego.

• Directory search in San Diego City and Suburban directories. The Chula Vista library has directories from 1890 to 1982, although the collection is not complete. The directories provide addresses and employer for residents.

• Cemetery search at Glen Abbey Memorial Park (in Bonita), La Vista Cemetery (in National City), Mount Hope Cemetery (in San Diego), Holy Cross Cemetery (in San Diego), Cypress View Cemetery and Mausoleum (in San Diego), and Greenwood Cemetery (in San Diego). These searches are usually done by visiting the cemetery. Digital photos of gravestones can be obtained if requested.

• Birth, marriage and death certificates for San Diego County events can be obtained at the County Clerk's office in Chula Vista on a walk-in basis. There is a fee to obtain a certificate that can be used for non-identification purposes.

The Society would appreciate a $10 donation for these services (in addition to any fee payments).

Queries can be requested using the form on the CVGS Queries page at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cacvgs2/page07.html or by email to Randy Seaver at rjseaver@cox.net.

CVGS Research Group Summary

We had our Chula Vista Genealogical Society Research Group meeting on Wednesday, with 10 persons contributing. There were some interesting problems.

Ann (a visitor) is doing research for a friend, and was looking for a McNabb born in about 1892 in Texas in the census records. She found him in the 1920 and 1930 census with his family, but couldn't find him in 1900 and 1910 with his parents. The group suggested trying different last name variations - McNabb, MacNabb, M'Nabb, Nabb, etc. And to use wild cards for both names, and birth year and birth place to narrow the search.

Mary has an interesting challenge - her mother was raised by her father, and Mary has looked for what happened to her mother's mother without much success. And she wants to know her grandmother's ancestry too. The grandmother's maiden name was Esther Fletcher, and after she left her first husband (mother of her mother, born in 1912 in Quebec) in Maine, she married a Sprague and a Marks and lived in Toronto, Ontario. The group suggested looking for an Ontario death record, obtaining a death certificate, finding an obituary, etc. One of the marriage records may provide a birth date and place and perhaps parents names.

Ruth had an interesting problem too - her great-grandfather, John C. Hayley born in 1872 in Tennessee, ran off from his family at age 14 when his step-father put him down a well (who could blame him for running off?). She thinks that John C.'s father was Johns W. Hayley (1829-1874) who died in Tennessee, and left no land or probate records. Her question had to do with the father of James W. Hayley - was it James W. Hayley who died in 1842 in Madison County, Tennessee? Ruth has James W.'s will and John W. is not mentioned. The group suggested looking for other Hayley's in the area in the 1840 time frame (census, land, probate, tax records) and pursuing records of John W.'s death (obituary, county history) which might provide clues to his parentage.

Dearl decided to clean up some of his older file folders, and found that he had many more records than he recalled from his early years of researching. There's a good lesson here for everybody - check your previous work before doing more on a family.

Marcia followed up on some of the ideas from the April seminar, and has found another Timothy Leahy descendant in Ireland and they are corresponding. In the mean time, she found her Corkery family in Iowa, and found cousins on the Internet along with some family trees. We recommended getting death records and obituaries for the siblings of her Corkery, and to check the county history books also.

Pam is still chasing her Benjamin Sherman in Connecticut. She's going to step back from finding new records and try to sort out what she already has before charging off for more new information. She's planning to find a book by Roy V. Sherman using Inter-Library Loan.

Gary wondered where he could find information about the history of La Vista Cemetery in National City for a Memorial Day project. We suggested the National city library's Local History Room which has the Star newspaper indexed in a card file and has many books and pictures about National City history.

John sent an email to one of Randy's blogger and Facebook Friends and received a packet of information about two North Carolina families, including land records and the will of a John Leeper in 1796. He was surprised that the wife's name was Elizabeth, and now wonders if he started with the wrong information from an online family tree. He really appreciated the results from the query!

Dick has a problem with Family Tree Maker 2009 - he downloaded the update and now cannot open the program. He will contact the FTM customer service to see what needs to be done. We assured him that his databases were fine, and he could uninstall and reinstall the program, or anything that FTM sends him, and use his database with it.

There wasn't much time for Randy, who briefly described how the War of 1812 pension file index is not name indexed on Ancestry.com, and that he had found 15 databases like that on Ancestry.com.

Several people wanted to know about how to obtain the Social Security for a relative, and we pointed them to Rootsweb where they write the letter to the SSA for you.

The two hours seemed to fly by as we all wondered about the complexity of families, the things that happen in family life, and the fact that we may collect only 10 to 20 records that reflect just snapshots of a person's life over 60 to 80 years (perhaps 20,000 to 30,000 days).

CVGS Visit to Fredericka Manor

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About 20 CVGS members and family attended a very nice program meeting, luncheon and guided facility tour at Fredericka Manor in Chula Vista on Tuesday, 12 May from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event was hosted by Betsy Keller, Marketing Manager of Fredericka Manor, which is a senior retirement community in downtown Chula Vista.

The idea was for CVGS to introduce Fredericka residents to starting genewalogy and fmaily history research and the genealogy society, and for Fredericka Manor to introduce their facility and services to CVGS members. It may be the start of a symbiosis relationship! About 25 CVGS members and family attended, and about 40 Fredericka Manor residents attended the program.

The program meeting started with a sign-in, a snack and drink. Betsy Keller welcomed everybody and held the first 15 door prize drawings. Gary Brock, President of CVGS, summarized the CVGS activities and introduced some of the members in attendance. Pam Journey of the San Diego Genealogical Society gave a wonderful lecture on Beginning Genealogy Research, with a six page handout that included a pedigree chart and family group sheet. Besides talking about the "how-to-start-your-genealogy," she addressed why people do family history research and the family, educational and social benefits of it. After the talk, there were more door prize drawings.

Then it was off to lunch in the Fredericka Manor dining room, hosted by staff people who answered questions and made sure that everyone at their table was well fed. The menu was a salad, spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic bread and bread pudding and/or ice cream. After lunch, we were shown six different living accommodations in the facility from a one room studio to a 1,500 square foot two-bedroom detached house. Some of the units are detached on the property, and some are in the seven-story tower building. The tour lasted about 30 minutes and was very well done.

We were quite pleased with the event, and hope that some of the Fredericka attendees will come to our society meetings. We already have several residents in our society.

This event pointed out to me that meetings with community groups and businesses can have mutual benefits. CVGS can provide speakers at social, church and service clubs and businesses, like Fredericka Manor, could partner with CVGS to the mutual benefit of both.

May 2009 CVGS Newsletter is online

The May 2009 edition of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society Newsletter is available on the web site - go to http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cacvgs2/page04.html.

There are ten pages in this newsletter about the Society events - past and future. Two and a half pages are devoted to computer-related genealogy - web sites, this blog, a book review, etc. These computer-related pages are not included in the printed newsletter sent by mail to the members who wish to receive it by mail.

Please tell me what you think about the newsletter content. We had to put the Bylaws information in this issue so that we can approve them at our next general meeting. The minutes of the two meetings are a bit long - we are working to reduce the length of them in order to be able to add original content from our members.

If you would like to exchange society newsletters via email, please let me know and I will add you to our email distribution list, and I woulds appreciate being added to your list also (rjseaver@cox.net).

Recent CVGS Newsletters are on online

Until recently, the current Chula Vista Genealogical Society Newsletter was hidden from public view by a password, although earlier editions were available.

The CVGS Board of Directors removed the password restriction recently on the theory that hiding the current edition prevents online browsers from finding out more about the society activities.

The newsletters since January 2008 are online at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cacvgs2/page04.html.

CVGS still prints the first eight pages of the newsletter and sends it by US postal mail to members who wish to have a printed copy and to societies and/or libraries that will display it and save it in their libraries. However, additional pages concerning computer-oriented genealogy information (software, web sites, databases, etc.) are added to the online version of the newsletter.

One advantage of reading the newsletter online, or downloading and saving it, is the ability to use graphics and color, and to have live links to web sites. We are leery of too many graphics because they increase the size of the PDF file.

CVGS Library Booklist

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The Chula Vista Genealogical Society devotes a significant portion of its' yearly budget to purchase genealogy books for the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street in Chula Vista). After purchasing and receiving the books, they are taken to the library office and put into the Family Research collection at the library. The Family Research collection has over 2,000 titles (books and periodicals) in one long bookcase stack on the north wall of the library, near the public computer terminals.

The CVGS librarian is Bernice Heiter, and she maintains the CVGS Book List of the holdings. She recently updated the list to the end of 2008, and it was put on the CVGS web site. You can see it at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cacvgs2/includes/book_list.pdf.

Genealogy Days in Chula Vista - May 2009

The Chula Vista Genealogical Society events for May 2009 include:

** Saturday, May 2, 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. CVGS Research Trip to San Diego Public Library. Contact Randy Seaver (619-422-3397, rjseaver@cox.net) for carpool information.

** Tuesday, May 12, 10 a.m. to 2:15 p.m., Fredericka Manor Retirement Community (Third Avenue) -- Free genealogy talk ("Beginning Genealogy" by Pam Journey), luncheon and Fredericka Manor tour. Contact Betsy Keller (619-205-4116) for information and reservations.

** Wednesday, May 13, 12 noon to 2 pm, Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street) -- CVGS Research Group meets in the Library Conference Room. 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, May 20, 12 noon to 2 pm, Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street) -- CVGS Computer Group meets in the Library Computer Lab. We will visit some helpful genealogy web sites. This is an opportunity for those members who haven't used computers for genealogy research to practice with a mentor to guide them.

** Wednesday, May 27, 12 noon to 2 p.m., Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street) - CVGS Program Meeting in the Auditorium. After a brief business meeting, the featured speaker will be Peter Rowe, Archivist of the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper, who will speak on "Newspaper Archiving."

** Monday afternoons (12 noon to 2 PM) - May 4, 11, and 18 - Genealogy Table Talk with Dearl Glenn and John Finch in the Family Research section of the Chula Vista Civic Center Library. They are ready and willing to help people with their research, discuss a problem or success, or just tell stories.

The Chula Vista Civic Center 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).

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. If you have questions, please email Randy at rjseaver@cox.net or phone 619-422-3397.

"Digital Documentation" by Shirley Becker - CVGS Program Summary

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Shirley Becker presented "Digital Documentation" to the Chula Vista Genealogical Society today. There were 25 in attendance for this excellent description of a problem almost all of us have - how to organize our computer files so that we can find what we want when we want it. The talk description and Shirley's CV are here.

Shirley's talk concentrated on the digital computer files - the ones that we have an image of, whether they are vital records, book pages, census pages, photographs or scanned pages. She did not address the paper files that most of us have in bookcases, file drawers, notebooks, folders or loose papers, except to say that if we want to reduce the paper stacks we should scan the important pages that provide accurate source material and put them in the digital documentation system.

The digital documentation system that Shirley has adopted is Leland Meitzler's system that he described in his talk "Genealogical Organization in the 21st Century" at the 2008 SCGS Genealogy Jamboree in Burbank last June. She spoke to him at the Escondido Family History Fair in March and he advised "...people don't have to cross every T in order to use this method. Do what is best for you and the way you do things."

The major topics that Shirley covered included:

* Buying a large capacity external hard drive to store the genealogy digital documents

* Use or buy a flat-bed scanner to scan your paper records

* Use Adobe Photoshop Elements software (or a similar program) to enhance and edit your images

* Take the time to scan the paper documents you want into the digital file system.

* Have a backup plan and adhere to it - use online, offsite, and local backup of that external drive.

* Create a document organization system for each Surname and Locality.

She discussed the last item during most of her talk. Shirley's Surname file folders look like this:

* GenDocs > Wright > Wright, Alpheus & Maria Graves WAMG
* GenDocs > Wright > Wright, James & Lydia Jones WJLJ
* GenDocs > Wright > Wright, Thomas & Mary Smith WTMS
* etc.

The four letter code refers to the married couple for the specific family file folder. In that file folder are all of the digital documents that pertain to the family, including all records for the children of the couple until the children get married. She puts an Index file in each Couple folder which lists all of the digital documents available in the folder:

* WAMG001 - picture of Wright gravestone
* WAMG002 - 1860 US census record
* WAMG003 - Alpheus Wright Civil War military record
* etc.

Then each digital document is named according to the index list.

For Locality folders, this is also done by Surname. The folders might be named:

* GenDocs > Wright 1 > USA > New York > Otsego
* GenDocs > Wright 1 > England > Wiltshire > Trowbridge
* etc.

The number after the surname ensures that the computer sorts these Locality folders at the top of the Surname Folder list.

Shirley uses commonly used file types for everything she puts into this system, such as Rich Text Format (RTF) for text files, Portable Document Format (PDF) for scanned or downloaded printed material, and TIFF (for images).

She's been using this file system for almost one year now, and has made great strides in adding information to her digital documentation system and is able to find information quickly. From what I can see, she has followed Leland's system to the letter and it is working for her.

This was an interesting talk in that it provided specific examples of how to organize your digital documents. It will be especially useful to researchers just starting out with few digital documents - they can create the system and fill it up knowing that they will be able to find their important digital documents quickly. For researchers with many linear feet of paper documents in their genealogy space, this system will work, but getting all of the paper sorted, scanned and filed will be a major time challenge. For researchers who have many document images obtained by scanning or downloading from the Internet, this system can be made to work by following the folder and file name conventions.

CVGS Program on 29 April - Shirley Becker on "Computer Document Organization"

The next program meeting of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society is Wednesday, 29 April, at 12 noon in the Auditorium of the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street, Chula Vista).

The program speaker is CVGS member and Past-President Shirley Becker, who will present "Computer Document Organization."

In her presentation, Shirley will demonstrate her new document image filing system for her computer. It is based on Leland Meitzler's document organization methods described at the Genealogy Jamboree last year.

Shirley Becker has been doing genealogy research for over 29 years, with an emphasis on New York families. She has been a member of CVGS for 13 years, and has served in many offices, including President in 2003-2004, and newsletter editor for many years. She currently leads the monthly Computer Group meeting.

Please enter the auditorium through the Conference Room off the east library hallway in order to register your attendance, pick up handouts, buy an opportunity drawing ticket, and have a snack. There will be a brief business meeting before the speaker's presentation.

CVGS Spring Saturday Seminar Review - Part 2: "Solving Your Brickwall Problems" Panel

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The Chula Vista Genealogical Society held the fourth annual Spring Saturday Seminar on 25 April at the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. The "Finding Your Elusive Ancestors" program announcement is here. There were 40 genealogists in attendance, including 12 non-members of CVGS.

After lunch in the park, the second part of the seminar, titled "Solving Your Brickwall Problems," was a panel discussion moderated by Gary Brock, with panel members Shirley Becker, John Finch, Susi Pentico and Randy Seaver (all CVGS members and past-Presidents) analyzing research problems submitted by members. Before the seminar, CVGS members were asked to submit one of their brickwall research problems on a form for review and comment, with the goal that the panel would suggest new research avenues for the member to use to attack their brickwalls. The member was asked to describe their research problem and the summary of the problem was shown on the screen while the panel discussed them.

There were six research problems analyzed and commented upon:

1) Nancy's problem was James Matthew Peace (1843 TX - after 1870 TX); she is trying to find his death date and location. The last known record is the 1870 US census in Shelby County TX, living with an uncle while his wife and children are in Indiana. The panel suggested checking the county USGenWeb site, the Shelby County TX FHLC entries, a local genealogy society, deeds, church records and cemetery records. It was suggested that perhaps he "went west."

2) Marcia and Pat's problem was Timothy Leahy (1809-Ireland - ca. 1860 Ireland); they are looking for Timothy's parents names, siblings, etc. for this man apparently lived in Tipperary. His widow (Mary O'Dwyer) came to the USA with several children after his death and settled in Iowa. The panel suggested checking Irish genealogy research books, the Tipperary Family History Research Center which has church records, and Griffith's Valuation for residency records. There may be passenger list, naturalization and obituary records for his wife and children that may help also.

3) Alice's problem was Samuel and Anne (Tisdale) Geddes (Samuel 1786 Scotland to ??? in New Brunswick, Anne 1800 England to 1889 New Brunswick). She wants to know when and where they married and when they immigration to Canada. Alice has already checked Canada census records for 1861 to 1911, cemetery records in Kent County NB, and the New Brunswick Archives. She has an earliest record date of 1830 for a Canadian land grant in NB. The panel suggested checking all available surname books, look for manuscripts and records in NB societies, check databases at www.OliveTreeGenealogy.com and other Canadian databases, and check www.ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk database for baptism and marriage records in the Old Parish Records.

4) Pam's problem was Benjamin Sherman (1787 CT to 1853 CT). She wants to find a birth record and ancestors. Pam thinks his parents are Benjamin and Lydia (Ray) Sherman who lived in Haddam and Chatham CT in the 1790 to 1810 time frame, this Benjamin being a RevWar soldier. She has checked the Barbour Collection, many town,land,probate and online records. The panel suggested church records (there are some on FHL film), probate records for the parents or other Shermans in the area, and to contact Rick Sherman at CGSL for help.

5) Susan's problem was Rachael Gastron (or Whittenberg?) (ca 1791 to ??? in IL) who married Matthew Whittenberg in 1817 in Greene County, Tennessee, and had five children. She has looked for records in Blount and Greene counties TN and Washington and Jefferson counties IL, but has found no other Gaston families in these records. The panel suggested following the children, finding county history books, contacting local societies, and checking probate, land, tax and church records.

6) John's problem is Johann Carl Schultz (born 1801 in Danzig, Westpreussen, Germany, died 1873 there), married Carolina Grothe, and had 8 children, some of whom came to the USA. He wants to know this man's parents and ancestors. John has quite a bit of biographical data on Johann, because he was a famous artist. He has checked the church records from Danzig in the 1800-1870 time frame, and thinks his parents were Martin and Jacobina (Rohr) Schultz, but can find nothing more about them. Due to the effects of war, there are very few records of this area other than the church records. The panel suggested following the children who came to the USA to see if they left information about him (and John is from one of those lines and has no more info), check Germany and Poland message boards and mailing lists for other descendants.

Each of these problems appears unsolvable at first glance, and may never be solved due to a lack of records or erroneous records. However, the panel was able to suggest research avenues for the researcher to follow in their "reasonably exhaustive" search.

After the six problems, there were several general research questions and answers about books, web sites, repositories, etc. which were answered by the panel. The session ended on schedule at 3 p.m.

The exhausted attendees, and the panel, enjoyed talking more after the session while enjoying some desserts in the conference room. The seminar was judged to be informative and successful by many of the attendees and the panel.

CVGS Spring Saturday Seminar Review - Part 1: "Doing a Reasonably Exhaustive Search"

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The Chula Vista Genealogical Society held the fourth annual Spring Saturday Seminar on 25 April at the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. The "Finding Your Elusive Ancestors" program announcement is here. There were 40 genealogists in attendance, including 12 non-members of CVGS.

The first part of the program was an 80 minute presentation by CVGS member, past-President and current Newsletter editor Randy Seaver on "Doing a Reasonably Exhaustive Search." The PowerPoint presentation was in two parts - an educational segment about the Genealogical Proof Standard and then a Case Study illustrating the elements of doing a reasonably exhaustive search, and where that search led him in his pursuit of life events of his second great-grandfather, Devier J. Smith.

In the first segment of the talk, Randy defined the terms Data, Information (Primary or Secondary), Source (original or derivative), Evidence (direct or indirect), and Proof. He then described the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS) developed about ten years ago by the professional genealogy community. The first item in the GPS is to perform "a Reasonably Exhaustive Search for all Pertinent Information." The rest of this segment of the talk was concerned with:

* What records should be found -- including home, vital, burial, legal, government, directory, military, immigration, newspaper and published material.
* Where should the search be performed -- including libraries, societies, court houses, town halls, churches, other repositories, and online.
* Web sites for online record and family tree searches -- including subscription databases, free databases, user-submitted data, message centers, book collections, and search engines.
* Perils of online searches -- emphasizing that not all genealogy data is online, and never will be, that online data can be unreliable and should be used only as a finding aid, and that there never will be a "mother of all genealogy databases."
* Five favorite search techniques combining online, repository and distant locality research.
* Eight general search strategies for effectively and efficiently doing research
* Using cluster research techniques to find associates of the target persons to research.

This is information that most professional and experienced genealogists know about and understand, but the great majority of local society members have rarely heard about, especially the Genealogical Proof Standard and the techniques used in its' application.

The segment of the talk was a Case Study showing what Randy has found to date about Devier J. Smith (1842-1894), who was born in Jefferson County NY, grew to manhood in Dodge County WI, married to Abigail Vaux there, sired five children, moved to Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska while raising his family, dying in Red Willow County, NE and is buried there. Randy showed the family Bible pages, the papers written by Devier's wife, the census records, the business items from a family scrapbook, his obituary, funeral parlor bill, etc. He then asked the question: "Have I done a reasonably exhaustive search?" Everyone that raised there hands said "yes" and no one said "no," despite the exhaustive list provided in the GPS handout.

Having gathered a fine consensus of opinion, Randy showed just what information had not been found yet (including probate, land, church, tax, newspaper records). To the shock of almost everyone, he proceeded to describe how he found evidence that Devier J. Smith was actually the adopted son of Ranslow and Mary (Bell) Smith, and his birth name was Devier J. Lamphier. The net result was that Randy has lots more research to perform to find the birth parents of Devier, that he lost about 50 ancestors of Ranslow and Mary (Bell) Smith in the process, and relearned some lessons about getting ahead of one's self in researching ancestors.

The final portion of the second segment was a summary of how Randy has searched for records of the birth and/or parents of Devier J. Lamphier. He was unable to find any record in online databases for the birth or existence of Devier Lamphier. Using census records for 1820-1860, and listing entries in guardianship, probate, and deed records in Jefferson County NY (using FHL microfilms), he is compiling a list of potential parents of Devier Lamphier.

All that in 120 slides in 80 minutes left Randy breathless and the audience thinking about how the information and his experience applied to each of them. Randy's purpose, of course, was to inform about the subject matter and to introduce the principles of the Genealogical Proof Standard and demonstrate by examples how it can be used to find elusive ancestors.

Randy had a three page handout that covered the first segment of his presentation - you can obtain a copy by emailing him at rjseaver@cox.net.

After this session, the group filed through the Conference Room, picked up sandwiches, fruit, chips, dessert and water and took them out to the nearby park for lunch and conversation in the sun.

Genealogy Software Review Summary

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Randy Seaver presented a two-hour Genealogy Software Review on Wednesday, 22 April at the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library with 11 in attendance. The Review consisted of:

* A brief PowerPoint presentation of the features, costs, mapping capability and Web Search capability of Family Tree Maker 2009, Legacy Family Tree 7, and RootsMagic 4. The mapping and web search features were included here because there is no Internet access from the library Conference Room.

* A 30 minute review of Family Tree Maker 2009 screen views, navigation, editing data, menus, indexes, sources, reports, charts and media.

* * A 30 minute review of Legacy Family Tree 7 screen views, navigation, editing data, menus, indexes, sources, reports, charts and media.

* * A 30 minute review of RootsMagic 4 screen views, navigation, editing data, menus, indexes, sources, reports, charts and media.

Most of the attendees already have Family Tree Maker (either 2009 or earlier versions before 2006) and wondered if they should migrate to one or the other programs. He told the attendees that:

* Unless there were specific features in one of these programs that they absolutely had to have, they should stay with the program they have if it suits their wishes.

* One major reason to stick with Family Tree Maker, whether an earlier version or to upgrade to 2009, is if the user has many media files already linked to their FTM software database. In many cases, these media files will not migrate to the other programs automatically. For instance, Legacy Family Tree 7 will not import Family Tree Maker family files or media files. RootsMagic 4 will import FTM 16 and earlier family and media files but not from FTM 2009.

* Family Tree Maker 2009 screens seem very busy in the Family View (with an index, a pedigree chart and a family summary) and the Person View (with a small pedigree chart, an edit area, a notes/media area and an area with a choice of Facts, Timeline or Relationships). Navigation is easy in the Family View using the Pedigree Chart or Index, but not so intuitive in the Person View without some practice.

* Family Tree Maker 2009 takes a relatively long time to load my 23,000 person database. It takes over 60 seconds on my Windows XP computer. The family file size is over 48 megabytes.

* Legacy Family Tree 7 has fairly simple View screens labelled Family, Pedigree, Descendant and Index. The Family View shows the parents of each parent, the two parents, and the children of those parents. The user has to click on the target person to get a menu in order to edit or add information about Facts, Notes, sources or Media for the target person. There is a bit of a learning curve to use the icons on the Individual's Information menu.

* Legacy Family Tree 7 seems to be able to create more types of reports and charts, with more editing and formatting features, than the other two programs. Wall charts are made with a separate Legacy Charting program that opens in a separate window.

* Legacy Family Tree 7 took only 4 seconds to load my 23,000 person database, with a file size was 48 megabytes.

* RootsMagic 4 has fairly simple View screens labelled Pedigree, Family, Descendant and People (an index list). The Family View shows a person index, the parents of each parent, the two parents, and the children of those parents. The Pedigree View shows a person index and 5 or 6 generations of ancestors of the current person. In either view, the user has to click on the target person to get the Edit Person menu in order to edit or add information about Facts, Notes, sources or Media for the target person. There are buttons in the Edit Person menu for Notes, Media, and Sources.

* RootsMagic 4 seems to be able to create many reports and charts, but has limited editing and formatting features at the present time. Wall charts are made with a separate RootsMagic Chart program that opens in a separate window.

* RootsMagic 4 took only 5 seconds to load my 23,000 person database, with a file size of 16 megabytes.

There are many more features for each program and it is difficult to generalize my comments about them.

Randy likes Legacy and RootsMagic better than Family Tree Maker 2009 at this time because they load much faster, the navigation seems easier and more intuitive, and the reports and charts seem to be more easily generated and formatted. For what it's worth, he has kept Family Tree Maker 16 as his primary program until he can rectify most of the place names and source errors in his databases.

Any one of these three programs, and the expected upgrades to them over the years, will satisfy almost any genealogy researcher, whether novice or experienced.

CVGS Seminar on Saturday, 25 April - "Finding Your Elusive Ancestors"

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The next Saturday Seminar of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society will be Saturday, 25 April 2009, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Chula Vista Civic Center Library (365 F Street, in Chula Vista) in the Auditorium.

The Seminar theme is "Finding Your Elusive Ancestors." The schedule of events is:

10:00 a.m. Registration in Auditorium

10:30 a.m. Program Introduction – Gary Brock

10:40 a.m. “Doing a Reasonably Exhaustive Search” -- presentation by Randy Seaver

12 noon. Refreshments (sandwiches, veggies, fruit, goodies, water) – provided by CVGS in the Conference Room adjacent to the Auditorium, please eat in the Park adjacent to library (not in the auditorium).

1:00 p.m. “Solving Your Brickwall Problems” – Panel Discussion of Member Research Problems. Panel of Shirley Becker, John Finch, Susi Pentico and Randy Seaver, moderated by Gary Brock.

2:30 p.m. Questions from audience answered by the Panel

3:00 p.m. Conclusion.

This all-day seminar is FREE for all to attend (a donation for the refreshments is appreciated).

RESERVATIONS ARE REQUESTED!! We need an accurate count of attendees to provide handouts and the refreshments. For more information, and to make reservations, please contact Virginia Taylor (619-425-7922, email irishdoll@cox.net).

Genealogy Software Review on Wednesday, 22 April

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There will be a special meeting about the newest genealogy software programs on Wednesday, 22 April 2009 at 12 noon (until 2 p.m.) in the Chula Vista Civic Center Library Conference Room.

CVGS Research Chairman Randy Seaver will provide a Genealogy Software Review of the Family Tree Maker 2009, Legacy Family Tree 7, and RootsMagic 4 programs. This will be more of a demonstration than an exhaustive review of the features of each program. He will discuss importing an existing database, navigation, adding and deleting persons and information, creating sources, making charts, creating reports, publishing books, etc. He will not deal with the Web Search or Mapping capabilities of the programs because the Conference Room does not have a reliable Internet connection.

If time permits, Randy will answer specific questions about the genealogy software programs.

If you would like to attend, please come to the Library (365 F Street in Chula Vista) at 12 noon on Wednesday, 22 April. The Conference Room is just inside the east-facing entrance. If you have questions, please contact Randy at rjseaver@cox.net.

CVGS Computer Group Summary - 4/15/09

Ten hardy Chula Vista genies celebrated completing our income taxes by attending the CVGS Computer Group meeting at the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library today, including two visitors. Gary had another commitment, and Shirley had a doctor's appointment, so Randy was elected to hook the projector up and chair the meeting at the mouse podium.

Since he had nothing pre-planned, he asked for research problems from the attendees. Almost everybody had a problem to pursue, but we only solved one out of the 12 or so challenges - a Washington Death record from 1955 found in the Washington State Digital Archives.

During the meeting, we visited (often several times!) the following web sites:

* www.Google.com to find information about people or places

* www.Wikipedia.com to find information about people or places

* www.FamilySearch.org to find records in the Family History Library Catalog

* www.USGenWeb.org to find information about specific states and counties.

* www.CanadaGenWeb.org to look for Quebec resources

* www.USGWArchives.org to search for user-contributed information about specific persons in specific places

* www.WorldCat.org to search for repositories for certain books and periodicals.

* www.deathindexes.com to lead us to death records in specific states

* www.ancestry.com for specific databases

* www.worldvitalrecords.com for specific databases

Unfortunately, the computers in the library Computer Lab are fairly old - probably 2003 hardware and software, and don't have Flash installed. This limits the genealogy web sites we can use during our computer time. The web sites that currently use Flash, and therefore cannot be accessed from the Lab, include www.Footnote.com, www.pilot.FamilySearch.org (Record Search), and the BYU Family History Archive at http://www.lib.byu.edu/fhc/index.php. There are probably others.

A good time was had by all and we hope that everybody learned something today at the Computer Group meeting.

Genealogy Class at Chula Vista Adult School

CVGS member Judy Helton is teaching a FREE weekly class on Genealogy at the Chula Vista Adult School (1034 Fourth Avenue, Room 303, a computer lab) on Mondays from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Judy describes the class as:

"We work from the Family Tree Maker 2009 data base and the subjects taught in the class are a variety of subjects that all pertain to "Recording Family History." We learn how to use Ancestry.com, Photoshop CS2 for photo restoration, digital book preparation and publishing, help with scrapbooking to record pictures and family stories, and using a variety of computer resources to find more family data. There is personal help as well as group discussions and lectures. All are welcome and the classes are free. Students just need to go the office and register. Students are required to bring a portable thumb drive to carry info back and forth to their own records at home. Preferably at least 8 gb."

This is an opportunity to learn how to use Family Tree Maker 2009 and to use the World Deluxe version of Ancestry.com. Several of our CVGS members attend this class regularly and have benefited from it. The attendees save their FTM 2009 database, and any other work they do, to their flash drives and can use it at home if they have the software.

You can't beat the price, or the opportunity, and Judy makes it fun for everyone. It's a great place to learn about doing genealogy research online too.

If you have questions, please contact Judy at grandmaof12@gmail.com.

CVGS Seminar on Saturday, 25 April - "Finding Your Elusive Ancestors"

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The next Saturday Seminar of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society will be Saturday, 25 April 2009, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Chula Vista Civic Center Library (365 F Street, in Chula Vista) in the Auditorium.

The Seminar theme is "Finding Your Elusive Ancestors." The schedule of events is:

10:00 a.m. Registration in Auditorium

10:30 a.m. Program Introduction – Gary Brock

10:40 a.m. “Doing a Reasonably Exhaustive Search” -- presentation by Randy Seaver

12 noon. Refreshments (sandwiches, veggies, fruit, goodies, water) – provided by CVGS in the Conference Room adjacent to the Auditorium, please eat in the Park adjacent to library (not in the auditorium).

1:00 p.m. “Solving Your Brickwall Problems” – Panel Discussion of Member Research Problems. Panel of Shirley Becker, John Finch, Susi Pentico and Randy Seaver, moderated by Gary Brock.

2:30 p.m. Questions from audience answered by the Panel

3:00 p.m. Conclusion.

This all-day seminar is FREE for all to attend (a donation for the refreshments is appreciated).

RESERVATIONS ARE REQUESTED!! We need an accurate count of attendees to provide handouts and the refreshments. For more information, and to make reservations, please contact Virginia Taylor (619-425-7922, email irishdoll@cox.net).

CVGS Research Group Meeting Summary

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We had our monthly meeting of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society Research Group today at the library, with nine in attendance, including three guests (and hopefully soon-to-be members). The highlights were:

* John received another marriage record from the English Civil Registration for his daughter-in-law's family. He is happy that the cost has come down to about $11 (7 pounds) for them due to the exchange rates. He ordered a will from the North Carolina State Archives, and found land records for one of his families online at the Archives site after working through books on the CVGS library shelves.

* Dick is frustrated that the FBI won't send him information about his Uncle Jim, the post-office robber. Jim's been dead over 50 years, but they are withholding documents to protect the privacy of third parties (who are probably deceased). He's planning a trip to Wisconsin to visit graveyards, and wondered how to find places with GPS coordinates without a GPS. We suggested maps from Google Earth to help him find the cemeteries. Or buy a GPS!

* Shirley's trip to the FHC last week was fruitful - she found some Plue (Plug/Plough/Pflug) people in the 1820 census in NY, and later found them in the 1840 to 1880 censuses also - a different spelling every year! She's been corresponding with a man who found Pflug family baptism records in a Schoharie County record book that look like her folks.

* Joyce (a visitor) is just starting her search, and wants to trace her father's life in Alabama where he died in 1944. We gave her a quick primer on doing research, and suggested that she find death, marriage, birth, cemetery, obituary, military, census, etc. records to try to define his life, and those of his wife and children, then work back to his siblings and parents. We offered family group sheets and a pedigree chart as a way to document what she finds, and offered to help her on Mondays in the Table Talk area. She's excited by the hunt, and has lots of questions.

* Flossie (a visitor) came with Joyce, and has quite a bit of ancestral family information already. She's been to the LDS FHC in Mesa and received help there. She wants to gather all of the family photos, scan them and distribute them to her family members.

* Gary is still working on his second great-grandfather Solomon Roff, but has had little luck finding Roffs living or buried in Cayuga County NY where Solomon was born in 1805. He has looked at records from over 200 cemeteries there.

* Dearl says that there were too many Glenns who were illiterate and moved around too much. He's stuck on his second great-grandfather William Glenn, born in 1795 in North Carolina. There are 24 Glenn families in the 1800 census, five of them with sons under age 10. Dearl has had a Y-DNA test, and has an exact match with a man in Turkey. Huh?

* Ruth (a visitor) is not new to genealogy research, but wants to get better organized. She has family tree data on Ancestry, MyHeritage and MyFamily, and wants to get it all in one place. We suggested a free software program like Family Tree Builder or Personal Ancestral File, and getting GEDCOMs of her data from the web sites, create one database with all of the information, and then replacing the databases at the online sites.

* Randy briefly mentioned buying and working in RootsMagic 4 and trying to find the parents of Devier J. Lamphere before his talk on 25 April.

This session went long because the visitors were excited about finding help and listeners. Dearl took them over to the CVGS library shelves and provided some family group sheets, pedigree charts and membership applications to them.

Genealogy Days in Chula Vista - April 2009

The Chula Vista Genealogical Society events for April 2009 include:

** Wednesday, April 8, 12 noon to 2 pm, Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street) -- CVGS Research Group meets in the Library Conference Room. 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, April 15, 12 noon to 2 pm, Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street) -- CVGS Computer Group meets in the Library Computer Lab. We will visit some helpful genealogy web sites. This is an opportunity for those members who haven't used computers for genealogy research to practice with a mentor to guide them.

** Wednesday, April 22, 12 noon to 2 pm, Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street) -- Genealogy Software Review meeting in the Library Conference Room. Randy Seaver will demonstrate the features of Family Tree Maker 2009, Legacy Family Tree 7 and RootsMagic 4. There will be time for questions and answers.

** Saturday, April 25, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street) -- "Finding Your Elusive Ancestors" Seminar in the Auditorium. The schedule:

10:00 a.m. - Registration and handout pickup
10:20 a.m. - Welcome - President Gary Brock
10:30 a.m. - Randy Seaver will present "Doing a Reasonably Exhaustive Search."
12 noon - Refreshments (sandwiches, veggies, fruit, water),
1:00 p.m. - "Solving Your Brickwall Problems" panel discussion (Shirley Becker, John Finch, Susi Pentico, Randy Seaver, moderated by Gary Brock) that will address research problems of CVGS members.
2:30 p.m. - Questions from the audience, answers by the Panel
3:00 p.m. - program conclusion

Please sign up for this FREE seminar (a donation for refreshments will be appreciated) by calling Virginia at 619-425-7922 or email her at irishdoll@cox.net.

** Wednesday, April 29, 12 noon to 2 p.m., Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street) - CVGS Program Meeting in the Auditorium. After a brief business meeting, the featured speaker will be CVGS member Shirley Becker who will speak on "Computer Document Organization."

** Monday afternoons (12 noon to 2 PM) - April 6, 13, 20, and 27 - Genealogy Table Talk with Dearl Glenn and John Finch in the Family Research section of the Chula Vista Civic Center Library. They are ready and willing to help people with their research, discuss a problem or success, or just tell stories.

The Chula Vista Civic Center 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).

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. If you have questions, please email Randy at rjseaver@cox.net or phone 619-422-3397.