THE LIVERMORE-AMADOR GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY E-BULLETIN FOR SEPTEMBER 2007 September 1, 2007 ======================================================= SUMMARY OF EVENTS FOR SEPTEMBER 2007 (See details on a later screen.) - Family Tree Maker Group: Thursday, September 6 - General Meeting: Tuesday, September 11 - The Master Genealogist: Saturday, September 21 - Study Group: Thursday, September 27 ======================================================= A N N O U N C E M E N T S PROGRAMS FOR 2008 We will soon plan our programs for the 2008 year. Suggestions for future topics or programs are welcome. Please contact me with your ideas at mailto:program.chair@L-AGS.org Arleen Wood, 1st Vice President, Program ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LIVERMORE LIBRARY TO GET ANCESTRY AND HERITAGE QUEST Thanks to requests by L-AGS members, the Livermore Library has decided to purchase subscriptions to Ancestry.com and Heritage Quest online databases. Installation is scheduled in October. Please direct questions to mailto:gemyer@livermore.lib.ca.us. Anne Homan. President ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS OF OUR MEMBERS Our new Web page, "Publications by our Members," is now available at: http://www.l-ags.org/mempubs.html There are 44 entries from eight members. If you have publications deserving to be on our list, please contact me at mailto:gwajr@comcast.net George Anderson ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MUSEUM ON MAIN EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY The Museum on Main in Pleasanton has recently posted an opening for Executive Director, the top position at the museum. It is a full-time position with a $55,000 annual salary, depending on qualifications. Although the successful candidate will not be an employee of the city, the search is being conducted by Human Resources Department City of Pleasanton 123 Main Street P.O. Box 520 Pleasanton, CA 94566 Resumes will be accepted at that address until 5:00 p.m., Friday, September 28, 2007. A brochure with full details of the posting is available at the Museum on Main. Because L-AGS has had a close working relationship with the Museum on Main and will benefit from continued strong leadership there, members are urged to apply if they qualify, and to publicize the opening to others who would qualify. George Anderson ======================================================= S E P T E M B E R 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 Date and Time: Thursday, September 6, 7:30 p.m. Always the first Thursday of the month. Place: Room 3 (around the back - we may have moved so check around), Almond Avenue School, 1401 Almond Avenue, Livermore Map to the meeting site: http://www.L-AGS.org/maps/Liv-AlmondSchool.html The new 2008 version of Family Tree Maker is out. We will show how different it is (a major rewrite), what are the pros and cons, should you order it, etc. Please come and help us make up our mind if this is the best thing that ever happened to FTM. As a plus we have door prizes to all who come. Duncan Tanner has used the FTM Forum to post an incisive review and critique of the new version of Family Tree Maker. Read Duncan's review of the beta release and his recent update at: http://www.L-AGS.org/temp/Tanner.doc 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 mailto: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 mailto:ftm.group@L-AGS.org to post questions, answers and comments. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MONTHLY GENERAL MEETING Arleen Wood, 1st Vice President, Program mailto:program.chair@L-AGS.org Date: Tuesday, September 11, 2007 Time: 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 Visitors are welcome at all of our meetings. Guest Speaker: Chuck Knuthson Topic: "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. Chuck Knuthson, a fourth generation Californian, has over thirty years research experience. While he specializes in 19th and 20th century California and the West, research in other areas of the U.S. is possible through professional contacts in other areas. Chuck also lectures on a wide variety of topics. For the past eleven years Chuck has instructed beginning genealogy classes in the community education departments of two Sacramento-area community colleges, and lectures locally, regionally, and nationally. A retired police captain, Chuck served in law enforcement for thirty-two years. He is active in the USGenWeb Project as a volunteer County Coordinator since 1998 for Sierra County, California, and a volunteer librarian at the Sacramento LDS Family History Center. He is an active member of many local, state, and national genealogical and professional organizations. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TRI-VALLEY TMG USERS GROUP Leader: Kay Speaks, mailto:tvtmg.chair@l-ags.org Date: September 15, 2007 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 Formatted version of this announcement: http://www.L-AGS.org/temp/TMG.doc Topic: Dealing with Conflicting Dates and Places Instructors: Kay Speaks & Sue Johnston We continue with Terry Reigel's website tutorial on "Dealing with Conflicting Dates and Places," located at http://tmg.reigelridge.com/Tags-Conflicts.htm. We often find conflicting information on the dates or places that events occurred. TMG allows one to record an unlimited number of tags to record these events. At our September TMG meeting, we will discuss different methods used to record conflicting dates and places. 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 MEETING Co-Leaders: Kay Speaks & Dick Finn mailto:study.group@l-ags.org Date: Thursday, September 27, 2007 Time: 7:30 p.m. - 9 p.m. Location: LDS Church, 950 Mocho Street, Livermore, CA Map to the meeting site: http://www.l-ags.org/maps/Liv-FHC.html Topic: Exploring Google Earth Learn about Google Earth and how it can be used for genealogy research, http://earth.google.com. We'll also look at Microsoft's Virtual Earth website. Have a brick wall that's driving your 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, 1st Vice President, Program mailto:program.chair@L-AGS.org ** 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.