LIVERMORE-AMADOR GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY E-BULLETIN FOR APRIL 2006 April 4, 2006 ======================================================= Summary of Meetings for April 2006: - Family Tree Maker Group: - Thursday, April 6 - General Meeting: Tuesday, April 11 - Study Group: Thursday, April 20 - The Master Genealogist Group: No meeting in April - L-AGS Board Meeting, April 25 ======================================================= Future General Meetings April 11, 2006, "Colonial Handwriting," Margery Bell May 9, 2006, Nancy Peterson speaking about her forth- coming book, "Raking the Ashes." 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 FAIR VOLUNTEERS MEETING - Tomorrow night Jane Southwick, President mailto:president@L-AGS.org We're off to a good start with preparations for the Fair, but we still need more volunteers to help - not with staffing the booth (that will come later) but with a multitude of jobs that must be done in advance. These jobs are described at: http://www.l-ags.org/Fair_Committee.htm We invite all can do something to help to attend a meeting at my house tomorrow evening, Wednesday, April 5, at 7:30 p.m. The location is Drake Way, Livermore. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HERE'S MY CARD Jane Southwick, President mailto:president@L-AGS.org Friend-to-friend, word-of-mouth contacts are the very best way to introduce people to L-AGS. We all know the scenario: in a casual conversation, the subject of genealogy comes up. The other person says, "I have all these family papers that my mother left me. I don't know what to do with them." At this point, you whip out a card with information about L-AGS - meeting date, e-mail address, Web site URL. You invite the person to go with you to the next meeting and perhaps start him or her on the avocation that we all find so rewarding. Thanks to designer Duncan Tanner, L-AGS has a supply of cards to give to any member who requests them. The membership table will have them at general meetings, and I will carry some to pass out at other meetings. We hope you find them useful. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SPARE THAT TREE! Scott Gagnon mailto:tracer@L-AGS.org I got a flurry of responses to my offer last month to e-mail your Roots Tracer instead of printing a copy for you. In case you still haven't made up your mind about it, here is the information again. 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 I recently took over the duties of printing and distributing the Roots Tracer. I decided to offer 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 me at: mailto:tracer@L-AGS.org I 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. I 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. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ L-AGS BOARD MEETINGS Jane Southwick, President mailto:president@L-AGS.org 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. The board meetings are held at my home, Drake Way, Livermore, starting at 7:30 PM on the last Tuesday of the month. ======================================================= A P R I L 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, April 6, 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 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 to post questions, answers and comments. ======================================================= MONTHLY GENERAL MEETING Barbara Huber, Program Chairperson mailto:program.chair@L-AGS.org Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - 7:30 PM Location: Congregation Beth Emek, 3400 Nevada Court, Pleasanton Map to the meeting site: http://www.L-AGS.org/maps/Pls-BethEmek.html Topic: Reading and Transcribing Colonial Handwriting Presenter: Margery Bell "Reading and Transcribing Colonial Handwriting" will cover the basics of reading American records from the mid 1600s through the 1800s and the rules for transcribing those records. Margery Bell is one of the Assistant Directors of the Oakland Multi-regional Family History Center and has been an active genealogist for 36 years. She has taught various research methodology classes throughout the Bay Area for the last 22 years and is the author of "Line Upon Line: A Beginners Guide to Genealogy" that is published with Ancestral Quest software. Visitors are welcome. ======================================================= STUDY GROUP MEETING Co-Leaders: Kay Speaks, Dick Finn, and George Anderson Date: Thursday, April 20, 2006 Always the third Thursday of the month. Time: 7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Location: LDS Church, 950 Mocho Street, Livermore, CA Map to meeting site: http://www.l-ags.org/maps/Liv-FHC.html Program: A promising new magazine, "Internet Genealogy" George Anderson My visit to the National Archives in Washington DC Kay Speaks Problem solving - bring 20 copies of a one-page handout describing a genealogical problem you are having. We will discuss possible solutions and post the handout in an e-mail message to study.group@L-AGS.org. You will be reimbursed for the cost of the handouts. - - - - - Don't forget to use our L-AGS Study Group forum for any genealogy topic discussion or computer interest question. L-AGS is blessed with people willing to share their knowledge! E-mail the forum at: mailto:study.group@L-AGS.org Specific questions? Please send them to study.group@L-AGS.org prior to the meeting. ======================================================= TRI-VALLEY TMG USERS GROUP Date: No meeting in April (We meet [almost] every third Saturday of the month.) Time: 9:00 a.m. - Noon Location: 7077 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 110, Pleasanton, CA 94566 Map: http://www.l-ags.org/maps/Pls-KollCenter.html Leader: Kay Speaks, mailto:tvtmg.chair@L-AGS.org Instructors: Kay Speaks & Sue Johnston Guests are always welcome. Accommodation for laptops are available. If you have a laptop, bring it with you to the meeting and a copy of the group's practice database will be provided to you. A feature of our teaching sessions is the ability to connect laptops to the digital projector so that attendees can also share their ideas and projects. It also allows us to provide custom instruction to the individual user. If you can't stay for the entire 3 hours, come and leave early. TMG questions not specific to all attendees will be addressed in the later part of our meeting. Please bring samples of your problem if possible. We hope to see you at next month's meeting! Free demo version of the software can be downloaded at http://www.whollygenes.com. For additional information contact tvtmg.chair@l-ags.org. ======================================================= L-AGS BOARD MEETING Date: Tuesday, April 25, 2006 Always the last Tuesday of the month Time: 7:30 PM Location: Drake Way, Livermore, CA Members of L-AGS are welcome to attend meetings of the Board of Directors. =======================================================