CVGS Members at SCGS Jamboree

Four Chula Vista Genealogical Society members, and two CVGS "friends," attended one or more days of the Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree on 26 to 28 June 2009 at the Burbank Airport Marriott and Convention Center. There were about 1,500 registrants for this conference, which is the largest regional conference on the West Coast.

Three CVGS members (Shirley Becker, Susi Pentico and Randy Seaver) and one "friend" (Mary Kanta) went on the early AMTRAK train on Friday morning, arriving before 10 a.m. at the convention center, and returned on the 4:25 p.m. train on Sunday, arriving back in San Diego at 7:50 p.m. The train trip was organized and sponsored by the San Diego Genealogical Society, which handled all reservations and arrangements - what a great thing to do! CVGS member Ruth Himan and "friend" Ann Diffley drove up together on Saturday and drove home on Sunday.

There were over 100 educational sessions and several special events over the three days, plus the exhibit hall where commercial vendors showed and sold their wares. Many Southern California genealogical societies had exhibits also. In addition to the educational opportunities, one of the highlights of every conference and seminar is the chance to meet and talk with other genealogy enthusiasts. It was great to meet and listen to world renowned genealogy speakers and to be able to talk to them in the exhibit hall or hotel lobby.

There was a Facebook face-to-face meeting on Saturday afternoon in the convention center area. Here is a picture of Susi Pentico (in red) and Pam Journey (in blue) talking to Bruce Buzbee (of RootsMagic), and Shirley Becker (in plaid with her back turned) talking to Jackie MacMaster.

Randy has shared some of his experiences at Jamboree, along with many photos mainly from the genealogy bloggers events, on his http://www.geneamusings.com/ blog.

CVGS member Ruth Himan started a blog called Genealogy Is Ruthless Without Me after returning from the Jamboree.

I hope that we can inspire Ruth, Shirley and Susi to write something about their Jamboree experiences in a blog post and newsletter article too.

CVGS Program - Joan Lowrey on Passenger Lists

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The June program meeting of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society featured Joan Lowrey, who presented "Did They Really Come on That Ship?" Joan's CV was described here.

The presentation covered eight case studies of passenger lists and indexes that demonstrated one or more of the following problems:

* Some entries on passenger lists may be crossed out because the passenger didn't make the boat. However, they may be indexed in passenger list databases.

* Some index entries may provide wrong date of arrival. You can use several resources to try to find the correct date and find the passenger list entry.

* While a ship may have originated in one port, some passengers may have boarded at another port.

* More than one resource should be reviewed to obtain all possible information about names, ages, relationships, birthplace, etc.

* Persons not born in Germany (or earlier German entities) may not be listed in the book Germans to America, even though they boarded the ship in Germany.

* Some online passenger lists may be duplicates of an earlier passenger list of the same ship because of errors by providers, enumerators, or indexers.

* Different passenger list indexes may spell names differently. Search by ship (if known) or first name.

* Persons may have sailed on one ship, then boarded another ship in another port before landing in the USA. The departure list and arrival list may not match.

* The Castle Garden web site has more passenger records than those that arrived at Castle Garden between 1850 and 1890. The records on the website before 1850 and after 1890 may not reflect the actual arrival location.

For her case studies, Joan used the book series of Germans to America, the Ellis Island and Castle Garden websites, the Ancestry.com USA passenger lists collection, the Hamburg departure lists on Ancestry.com, and newspaper articles (especially The New York Times 1851-1980 archive). The San Diego Public Library in downtown San Diego has a complete collection of Germans to America in the Genealogy Room. Unfortunately, the Chula Vista library does not have this resource.

Joan's case studies demonstrated how poorly the handwriting on the lists were, and how poor some of the indexes are. Experienced genealogists know and understand this, and learn how to work with all of the available resources but novice researchers often expect perfect indexes and easily readable lists.

This was a well-done and useful presentation because it showed that the records and indexes are imperfect and that traditional resources can be used effectively with online resources to solve passenger list research problems. This is one of Joan's specialties and her counsel should be heeded!

CVGS Program on Wednesday - "Did They Really Come on That Ship?"

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The next Program meeting of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society is Wednesday, 24 June, at 12 noon in the Auditorium of the Chula Vista Civic Center Library (365 F Street in Chula Vista).

After a short business meeting, Joan Lowrey will present "Did They Really Come on That Ship?"

Joan Lowrey has been researching her family since 1957, and has been a professional genealogist since 1990. She specializes in Germany and the U.S., and does extensive research in San Diego County. She has a Bachelor’s degree in mathematics with a minor in German from Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, and worked with analog and digital computers as an engineer in the guided missile department at RCA in New Jersey.

A charter member of the German Research Association, Joan served as president 1989– 1992 and editor of its quarterly newsletter, The German Connection, 1989–1993.

In 1986, she started a Personal Ancestral File user group and in 1988 founded the Computer Genealogy Society of San Diego, of which she is a past-president. She led the PAF User Group in CGSSD until 2000, and was editor of CGSSD’s quarterly newsletter, COMPU.GEN for 13 years.

Joan’s first book, The Green Family - the Descendants of Barzilla Green and Susan Elizabeth Boyt, was self-published in 1971. She was the author of the Personal Ancestral File Users Guide (1990–1997), co-author of A Guide to Selecting Genealogy Software, and co-author of the Guide to Genealogy Software.

Since 1985 she has compiled the “Family History—Upcoming Events, Classes, Opportunities” column for the San Diego Seagull, and distributes a monthly flyer with this information, which is also posted online at http://www.cgssd.org/.

Joan is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists and numerous local genealogical societies. She speaks on German genealogy and computer genealogy topics nationally, and makes presentations at genealogical societies in Southern California.

CVGS welcomes and encourages guests and visitors to all society programs, which are free to attend. Please enter through the Conference Room in the east hallways in order to sign in, pick up handouts, and have a snack before the meeting. There will be refreshments after the meeting also. For more information, please contact Randy Seaver at rjseaver@cox.net or call 619-422-3397.

Live-blogging the Computer Group meeting

We had some problems connecting the control PC with the projector and the wireless mouse was not charged, so we eventually connected the projector to a computer that was working with a wired mouse connected. Frustrating to think the library has systems that don't work.

When we got it working, we tried to find Dick's family in the 1873 plat map for Dane County, Wisconsin. There are maps for each township in Dane county at http://www.danecountyhistory.org/1873plat/1873plat.html. He found the area in Westport township where his Ibenthal family settled after 1873. Then he found the map of Middleton WI on the www.middletownhistory.org site, and found the area he lived in in the 1940s. Dick also found a photograph on the Wisconsin Historical Society site for his Ibenthal family.

Several others worked on their own during the time the rest of us were looking for Dick's homesteads and haunts.

CVGS Research Group Summary - 10 June 2009

The Chula Vista Genealogical Society Research Group meeting on 10 June 2009 had nine in attendance. We tried to get a wireless signal on the laptops from the lbirary but failed miserably. We shared information instead:

* Shirley B. printed out a working pedigree chart (7 wide, 3 tall 8.5 x 11 sheets) and pieced it together. She identified several research opportunities from the chart - Sweet, Robbins, Shelmandine, Graves and several other surnames - all from upstate New York in the 1800s.

* Dick said "if you don't do anything long enough, something will show up in your mailbox." He received a letter from a cousin providing articles about his grandfather in Wisconsin. Another letter from a man in Wisconsin contained images from a 1908 Sears Catalog for a 9 room Kit House for $1995, which Dick's grandfather ordered and built.

* Ruth is "up to here in genealogy, and loving it," working 8 to 12 hours a day finding ancestors and adding to her family tree. She learned in the past month that this is a life project, and is hooked. She bought a 40 x 25 family tree chart from ancestry to give to her father for a birthday present. Ruth also found out that her mother's gravestone in Napa has wrong dates on it and wants to fix it.

* Dorothy is back to genealogy after a 10-year hiatus. She searched for death dates and places for her Norgaard grandparents in San Diego, got the dates from the www.vitalsearch-ca.com site, but couldn't get the death certificate at the Chula Vista office of the County Recorder - she will have to go to the San Diego office. Dorothy also visited the Danish house in Balboa Park last Sunday and had a great time.

* Joan is "waiting for an epiphany - her brick walls are still standing firm." She volunteered to help a friend obtain a 1934 death record in New York - the group said she should contact the New York State Archives.

* Randy mentioned that his OASIS class is finished, that he is reviewing RootsMagic 4 on his blog, and that RootsMagic 4 seems to have the easiest-to-make source citations.

* Susi is working on filling in blanks and sources in her database, and is enjoying her Facebook Friends. We found that five of the attendees were on Facebook.

The next CVGS Research Group meeting will be the second Wednesday of July, the 8th, in the Chula Vista Civic Center Library Conference Room at 12 noon.

June Newsletter is online

The Chula Vista Genealogical Society has been putting the monthly newsletters online for some time. Before last month, the current newsletter was hidden behind a password protection. We are experimenting with opening it up for the genea-world to see the current issue on the theory that it is a publicity vehicle that will bring more prospective members to our meeting than we might lose by putting it online.

You can read the June 2009 issue of the CVGS Newsletter here.

We welcome constructive comments of the content. What should be added? What doesn't work? Do you like the colors? Does it need more graphics? Tell us at cvgenealogy@gmail.com.

Genealogy Days in Chula Vista - June 2009

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The Chula Vista Genealogical Society events for June 2009 include:

** Wednesday, June 10, 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, June 17, 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, June 24, 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 Joan Lowrey, a well-known and respected San Diego genealogist, who will speak on "Did They Really Come on That Ship?"

** Monday afternoons (12 noon to 2 PM) - June 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29 - 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.

"Newspaper Archiving" Program Summary

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The program at today's Chula Vista Genealogical Society meeting was "Newspaper Archiving" by Peter Rowe, a staff writer for the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper. Peter is also the newspaper's Archivist. His CV can be read here.

Peter started the program by noting that he likes Chula Vista, but fears that after his talk that it will climb higher on the Forbe's "America's Ten Most Boring Cities" list. I doubt it! He noted that the reporting and newspaper business is very chaotic, and that the deadline pressures and editing decisions often result in stories that are incomplete or partially erroneous.

He provided a short history of archiving at the San Diego Union (and Union-Tribune) over the years:

* From 1868 (when the Union was first published) into the 1970's, whole copies of the paper, and cut up stories put in large envelopes by subject, were kept in the newspaper offices. This was called the "morgue" by the reporters and the envelopes were consulted often by reporters and the librarians.

* In the 1970's, the newspaper ran out of storage space, and moved to a new building, and the envelopes with all of the cut-up stories were placed in the San Diego Historical Society collection in Balboa Park. The separate Photo Archives were also placed at the San Diego Historical Society.

* In 1984, digital archives were started for the newspaper and the practice of cutting up articles and putting them in the envelopes was discontinued. However, the "digital archives" are not available to the public on the newspaper web site.

* In 2000, the www.SignOnSanDiego.com site was started, and the online archives cover this time period, but is available only to subscribers through the web page. There is a Search box on the home page of the newspaper, but it does not always provide accurate results.

Peter observed that a Search for his mother's 2008 obituary using the home page did not find any articles, but using the subscriber Archives search there were four articles about her.

In response to a question, he noted that there were no digital archives for San Diego newspapers before 1984 on any historical or current newspaper web site.

The San Diego Public Library has microfilms of the complete run of the San Diego Union (1868-1992), San Diego Evening Tribune, San Diego Union-Tribune (1992 -present) and other San Diego newspapers in their second floor Newspaper Room.

To find newspaper articles in other cities, Peter recommended contacting the local libraries and historical societies to determine the extent and availability of their collections. He searched for specific people in Seattle and San Francisco newspapers as examples.

For searches of Irving people, he said that he used www.Pipl.com, www.Anywho.com and the Superior Court records (available for San Diego at www.sdcourt.gov). Peter also provided some "fun" sites - www.paulsadowski.com and www.deathclock.com.

This was a fun-filled talk. Peter is pretty laid back and has a dry sense of humor. He spoke without notes. He does look like his picture.

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.