LIVERMORE-AMADOR GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY E-BULLETIN FOR MARCH 2006 March 2, 2006 ======================================================= Summary of Meetings for March 2006: - Family Tree Maker Group: - Thursday, March 2 - Study Group: Thursday, March 16 - The Master Genealogist Group: March 18 - General Meeting: Tuesday, March 21 NOTICE THE DATE! NOT OUR USUAL MEETING DATE - L-AGS Board Meeting, March 28 ======================================================= Future General Meetings March 21, 2006, "Genealogy Quilting," Caroline Earhart Note the change of date for the March meeting! April 11, 2006, "Colonial Handwriting," Margery Bell May 9, 2006, "DAR Trip to Salt Lake City" June 13, 2006, "Breaking Down Stone Walls," Margaret Toth October 10, 2006, "Scotch and Irish Records," Cath Madden Trimble November 14, 2006, "Chinese Genealogy," Kay Speaks ======================================================= A N N O U N C E M E N T S ENDANGERED! OUR BOOTH AT THE COUNTY FAIR Jane Southwick, President One of the most valuable and acclaimed services that L-AGS provides to the public is our booth at the Alameda County Fair. We have put the spark of interest in genealogy in thousands of fairgoers in the six years since we started. Our success at the fair in the past was largely due to the leadership of the late Jon Bryan. He is no longer with us this year. His widow, Gail, has agreed to carry on in 2006, provided she can depend on two other persons to work with her. So far, in spite of announcements of the need, no one has stepped forward. There will be no lack of willing hands to set up and staff the booth during the fair. Gail's need is for immediate help in planning, coordinating with the fair management, scheduling the training sessions, soliciting help from other local genealogy groups, creating the handouts, gathering the displays, generating publicity, and similar tasks. Please don't let us fail to carry on this worthy project - one of the best that L-AGS has ever started. If we don't get the support soon for the advance work that is needed, we will simply have to cancel the booth for this year, and may never be invited to participate again. If you can help, call me at XXX-XXXX or e-mail me at: mailto:president@L-AGS.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A NEW ROOTS TRACER OPTION George Anderson The printed version of our quarterly newsletter, The Roots Tracer, is distributed to members every February, May, August and November. Shortly after its appearance in print, it is also posted on our Web site at http://www.L-AGS.org Scott Gagnon, who recently took over the duties of printing and distributing the Roots Tracer, has announced a new option for members: to receive the Tracer as an e-mail attachment. If you would like to save L-AGS some money, spare a few trees, and read the Tracer in full color, send an e-mail to Scott at: tracer@L-AGS.org He will take you off of the print-edition list and send your copy by e-mail as an Adobe Acrobat (PDF) file. If you don't currently have PDF reader software, you can easily obtain it for free from Adobe. Scott will include directions for downloading this software in the cover letter for the PDF attachment. Of course, you can reverse this decision at any time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LOCAL NEWSPAPER LOOKUPS - HOW YOU CAN HELP Dick Finn The Tri-Valley Heritage Families Project has so far collected over 13,000 names of early local settlers. We are documenting the histories of these families and their many interconnections to provide a valuable database for history centers, genealogical groups, museums and libraries, as well as for individual historians and genealogists. We need help in looking up information on these families in the microfilmed newspapers at the Livermore Library and at the Livermore Heritage Guild. You will be furnished the exact citation for the articles of interest - the date, page and even the column where the article appears. My experience in doing these lookups is that it so fascinating to read about the events that went on in the early days in our Valley that I digress into browsing the whole paper. If you would like to take part in this project, please call me at XXX-XXXX or e-mail me at mailto:XXXX@wecare.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ L-AGS BOARD MEETINGS Jane Southwick, President Meetings of the L-AGS Board of Directors are open to any member. If you have an issue you want to put before the board, or just want to observe the directors conducting the Society's business, you are welcome to attend the meetings. For 2006, the board meetings are held at my home, Drake Way, Livermore, starting at 7:30 PM on the last Tuesday of the month. Note that the last Tuesday is sometimes the fourth, and sometimes the fifth, Tuesday of the month. To request a copy of the agenda in advance of the meeting, or to obtain a copy of the minutes after the meeting, please send a request to me at mailto:XXXX@comcast.net Announcement of the board meetings will be included in future mailings of this monthly e-mail bulletin. ======================================================= M A R C H M E E T I N G S Visitors are welcome free of charge at all of our meetings. ======================================================= FAMILY TREE MAKER FOCUS GROUP Leader: Dick Finn at XXXX@wecare.net Date and Time: Today, Thursday, March 2, 2006 - 7:30 PM Always the first Thursday of the month. Place: Room 2, Almond Avenue School, 1401 Almond Avenue, Livermore Map to the school: http://www.l-ags.org/maps/Liv-AlmondSchool.html At this meeting we are going to share little-known but useful tools that FTM may have hidden away in their program. Please bring your finds and share them with the group. Bring your questions (on any version of FTM, any and all skill levels welcome) and let us help each other find answers. Most of our group are FTM users (from beginners to experts) who discuss problems and solutions, share successes, answer questions, and in general help each other with the Family Tree Maker genealogical software. All persons interested or potentially interested in Family Tree Maker are invited to attend. For information on our group please call Dick Finn at 925- XXX-XXXX or e-mail him at XXXX@wecare.net. Contact Dick for information about topics to be discussed. Visitors are welcome and there is no charge to attend. Bring your questions, comments, and if you have a laptop with FTM loaded (any version) and/or the FTM Handbook, you might bring them. Please avail yourself of the L-AGS FTM e-mail forum at