THE LIVERMORE-AMADOR GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY E-BULLETIN FOR AUGUST 2007 August 1, 2007 ======================================================= SUMMARY OF EVENTS FOR AUGUST 2007 (See details on a later screen.) - Family Tree Maker Group: No meeting in August - General Meeting: Tuesday, August 14 - The Master Genealogist: Saturday, August 18 - Study Group: Thursday, August 23 ======================================================= A N N O U N C E M E N T S CONCORD SEMINAR The very popular family history seminar presented annually by the Concord FHC is scheduled this year for Saturday, 20 October 2007. Several L-AGS members attended in years past and came back with high recommendations. The seminar lasts from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. and consists of six periods of classes, with each period giving the attendees a selection of different classes. The cost is $25 per person for the seminar with syllabus, and $7 per person for the seminar alone. The location is the LDS Church at 3700 Concord Blvd., Concord. For more information, call Jackie at 925-XXX-XXXX. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS OF OUR MEMBERS Our new Web page, "Publications of our Members," will be launched this month. So far, only four members have submitted lists of their publications. We believe other members have written books or booklets, or interim summaries of their research, or collections of documents, or other self-standing printed publications that should be on the L-AGS Web page. Placing information about your publication on our list in no way implies that it is available to the public, or available to other L-AGS members, or for sale - just that you have taken that vital step of organizing some of your research for posterity. There is no danger in listing even strictly private publications. There are several purposes for our listing. One is to offer members a way to publicize their work to others - our Web site is regularly indexed by search engines. Another is to inspire other members to get busy with their publishing by showing that even small parts of your genealogy research can be wrapped up in a package that is of value to your family - especially if the "big" package never gets published. Some words on this point have been published in the Roots Tracer at: http://www.l-ags.org/tracer/vol_xxiii4.html#hiding Our Web page is also useful to members wanting to start publishing their work by providing names of those who have some experience in the process. An interesting case history of the value of publishing your work is described in the article, "How to Make a Grown Man Cry," by Arleen Wood at: http://www.l-ags.org/tracer/vol_27_1.html#Wood A sample of what the list will look like can be found at: http://www.L-AGS.org/mempubs_copy.html If you have publications deserving to be on our list, please contact me at mailto:gwajr@comcast.net George Anderson ======================================================= A U G U S T 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 mailto:XXXX@wecare.net PLEASE NOTE: THERE WILL BE NO FTM MEETING IN AUGUST. The FTM E-Mail Forum is not closed for the summer! Please avail yourself of the Forum at mailto:ftm.group@L-AGS.org to post questions, answers and comments. NOTE: Duncan Tanner has used the FTM Forum to post an incisive review and critique of the new version of Family Tree Maker due to be released this month. The new edition, version 17, FTM 2008, is a major revision. Read Duncan's review at: http://www.L-AGS.org/temp/Tanner.doc ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MONTHLY GENERAL MEETING Arleen Wood, Program Chairperson mailto:program.chair@L-AGS.org Tuesday, August 14, at 7:30 p.m. Location: Congregation Beth Emek, 3400 Nevada Court, Pleasanton. Map to the meeting site: http://www.L-AGS.org/maps/Pls-BethEmek.html A formatted version of this announcement, with more details, is at: http://www.L-AGS.org/temp/General_Meeting.doc Presentation: "Church and Cemetery Records" Presenter: Margery Bell Assistant Director Oakland Regional Family History Center This program will cover the kinds of records kept by most churches, including those records created around the birth of a child, a marriage, and a death, as well as membership lists, membership transfers, etc. The kinds of cemeteries and the differences in their records will also be discussed. Then, using both new technology and traditional methods, Mrs. Bell will talk about locating the records. Margery Bell is the Assistant Director of the Oakland Regional Family History Center at 4766 Lincoln Ave., where she has worked for 24 years. She is the author of "Line Upon Line: A Beginner's Guide to Genealogy," published with Ancestral Quest software, and has been an active and avid genealogist for some 35 years. She currently resides in Moraga, and is the mother of two grown children and grandmother of 7. For more details, see http://www.L-AGS.org/temp/General_Meeting.doc Visitors are welcome. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TRI-VALLEY TMG USERS GROUP Date: Saturday, August 18, 2007 Formatted version of this announcement: http://www.L-AGS.org/temp/TMG.doc Time: 9:00 a.m. - Noon (each meeting is like a mini- workshop) Location: 7077 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 110, Pleasanton, CA 94566 Map to the meeting site: http://www.l-ags.org/maps/Pls-KollCenter.html Leader: Kay Speaks, mailto:tvtmg.chair@l-ags.org Instructors: Kay Speaks & Sue Johnston Topic: "Managing Unknown Names" We continue with Terry Reigel's website tutorial on Managing Unknown Names, located at http://tmg.reigelridge.com/BlankNames.htm. How do you enter a name you have found which is only the given name? What if the name is inferred? What if the name variation is a married name? What if you know the name of the child but not the name of his parents? You may choose to enter your own term or leave the field blank. What happens to reports in either choice? We will discuss different unknown name options, reporting problems when using "blank names", and how to customize your reports when using "Unknown" or "blank names". If possible, please RSVP if you plan to attend the meeting, mailto:tvtmg.chair@l-ags.org. About our meetings: With the aid of a digital projector, Kay and Sue work as an instructional team. We discuss, demonstrate, and brainstorm best practices of the software. We use a hands-on method, thus you learn TMG's features by actually entering samples of the lesson into a class TMG database. Each monthly session is like a mini three-hour TMG workshop. Guests are always welcome at our meetings. Accommodations for laptops are available. 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. A free demo version of the software can be downloaded at http://www.whollygenes.com. For additional information, contact mailto:tvtmg.chair@l-ags.org. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ STUDY GROUP Formatted version of this announcement: http://www.L-AGS.org/temp/SG.doc Date: Thursday, August 23, 2007 (fourth Thursday of the month) Time: 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM Location: LDS Church, 950 Mocho Street, Livermore, CA Map to the meeting site: http://www.l-ags.org/maps/Liv-FHC.html Leaders: Kay Speaks and Dick Finn Contact Mail: mailto:study.group@l-ags.org Topic: "Genealogy Research Tips & Tricks" Our August meeting will cover Genealogy Research Tips and Tricks. We continue our mini series on research techniques. You will be given an opportunity to share some of your personal research techniques. Have a brick wall that's driving you crazy? Need help brainstorming a particular research problem? Run out of ideas of where to research next? Have a great success story you want to share? How about a challenging research situation? Want to know how to research a specific ethnic group? Use the L-AGS Study Group Forum mailto:study.group@L-AGS.org for sharing, helping, and brainstorming. That is what the L-AGS Study Group is all about! You can also post any suggestions for future Study Group topics. ======================================================= FUTURE GENERAL MEETINGS Arleen Wood, Program Chairperson mailto:program.chair@L-AGS.org ** August 14 - Marge Bell - "Churches and Cemeteries." For more details, see http://www.L-AGS.org/temp/General_Meeting.doc ** September 11 - Chuck Knuthson "Newspaper Research: A Window to the Past" - Newspapers provide a window on the lives of our ancestors, including vital statistics, death notices and obituaries, news, photographs and illustrations, legal notices, and social events and "gossip." They are also a rich source of information on individual and community lifestyle. Do not overlook this valuable family history resource. ** October 9 -Cath Madden Trindle "But It's My Family: Copyright Issues for 21st Century" This lecture offers a discussion of current US copyright law, international copyright, pending legislation and court actions and ethical issues of copying and sharing genealogical information electronically or in print. ** November 13 - Shirley Reimer, "German Genealogy." Examine cultural and historical bases of ancestors' lives to gain clues to genealogical problems; to look into the many resources available for finding ancestors' often elusive place of origin in Germany ** December 11 - Mary Dillon - "101 Ranch Genealogy" - The 101 Ranch, considered to be the largest diversified ranch of the early 1900s, played a major part in her father's childhood in Oklahoma. Oil, Wild West shows, currency, and much more interesting "stuff" were part of the 101.