THE LIVERMORE-AMADOR GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY E-MAIL BULLETIN FOR MARCH 2008 March 2, 2008 ======================================================= SUMMARY OF EVENTS FOR MARCH 2008 (See details on a later screen.) - Family Tree Maker Group: Thursday, March 6 - General Meeting: Tuesday, March 11 - L-AGS Board Meeting: Tuesday, March 25 - Study Group: Thursday, March 27 - The Master Genealogist: Saturday, March 29 - NOTE CHANGE FROM THE USUAL DATE. ======================================================= A N N O U N C E M E N T S SEMINARS AND CONFERENCES There are so many worthwhile programs being presented in the near future by other genealogical societies that they will be described in a separate e-mail message to be sent later today. Watch for it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NIGHT-DRIVING PROBLEMS Anne Homan, President Some of our members want to come to L-AGS meetings but cannot drive at night. If you would like a ride to our meetings, or if you are willing to offer someone a ride, please contact me at: mailto:president@L-AGS.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LIVERMORE CULTURAL ARTS COUNCIL (LCAC) Anne Homan, President L-AGS is a member of LCAC, which, according to its charter, "...is an association of educational and cultural organizations. The purpose of these organizations and of the LCAC is to promote educational and cultural activities within the Livermore community.and to strive to heighten community awareness and appreciation of the arts." More about LCAC can be found at: http://www.lcac.org/ Caroline Foote has been representing L-AGS on the LCAC but is no longer able to do so. The Council meets the first Wednesday of each month at 7:30 pm in the Livermore Community Center at Robert Livermore Park. If you are willing to represent L-AGS at the monthly meetings and report back to the board on matters of interest to our society, please contact me at: mailto:president@L-AGS.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ L-AGS PUBLIC INTEREST PROJECTS George Anderson L-AGS has become favorably known for its publication - on the Web and in print - of local vital records and history. It has all been done by volunteers in the spirit of genealogists everywhere - to contribute to the world bank of genealogy information in the expectation of benefiting from similar work of others. Dozens of L-AGS volunteers have taken part in our publications work. There is more to be done. For instance, our cemetery gravestone surveys are now about twenty years out of date. There are records of churches, museums, government offices, schools, ... that have not yet been indexed and transcribed. The L-AGS board of directors is actively promoting and organizing these future projects. If you want to contribute, the work you do can be tailored to your desires and circumstances. It can be done at home, at the source of records, at the library, at the Family History Center. It can be high tech or pencil and paper. It can be a small part or a major part of a project Making previously hidden documents available to the world of genealogy is a rewarding experience. If you would like to take part, please let me know at: mailto:XXXX@comcast.net It would be especially useful if you are willing to be a leader of a project, to organize and guide the work of others. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FIELD TRIP TO THE SAN FRANCISCO LIBRARY Kay Speaks See: http://www.L-AGS.org/temp/SF_trip_08.doc I had hoped to schedule this trip for March, but a suitable date could not be found. I now believe that the best date would be Saturday, April 12. The link above provides preliminary information about the excursion. Further details will be announced as they evolve. This ought to be a fun and fruitful day in the City. Bart takes us literally to the doorsteps of the library. Please mark it on your calendars. ======================================================= 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 Date and Time: Thursday, March 6, 7:30 p.m. Always the first Thursday of the month. Place: Old Almond Ave. School, now called Vineyard Adult Education Facility, at 1401 Almond Avenue, Livermore. Drive into the back parking lot. As you face Almond Ave., we are in the building to the right in the front complex, room 5. Look for the FTM sign. Map to the meeting site: http://www.L-AGS.org/maps/Liv-AlmondSchool.html The meeting will be devoted to answering questions mainly about FTM 2006/16. However we will talk a bit about the new FTM 2008. We are very interested in comments from members who are using FTM 2008. Please bring your suggestions to better use FTM as well as any questions you have that we, as a group, can help solve. 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 ftm.group@L-AGS.org to post questions, answers and comments. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MONTHLY GENERAL MEETING Arleen Wood, First Vice President, Program mailto:program.chair@L-AGS.org For a formatted version of this announcement, see: http://www.L-AGS.org/temp/march_program_08.doc Date: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 Time: 7:30 p.m. - 9 p.m. Location: Congregation Beth Emek, 3400 Nevada Court, Pleasanton Map to the meeting site: http://www.L-AGS.org/maps/Pls-BethEmek.html Guest Speaker: Hildi Kang Retired Livermore Teacher, Author Visiting Scholar at the Center for Korean Studies, U.C. Berkeley Topic: Tradition and Tradition Breakers: One Korean Family Lineage, 720 A.D.-1955 A.D. Korean lineage records are among the oldest and most complete in the world. After years of research exploring the records in general and her husband's family records in particular, Hildi completed a book on the results. Her talk, based on the book, will present highlights from the three separate threads of the research: the history of the records themselves, translation of the 39 generations of direct ancestors, and the Korean history that interacted with those ancestors. Hildi Kang, a retired Special Education teacher in Livermore, is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. Her life-long interest in Asia became an avocation, resulting in journal articles, presentation of papers at various Association for Asian Studies conferences, guest lecturer in Korean studies, and appointment as Visiting Scholar at the Center for Korean Studies, U.C. Berkeley. Her book, "Under the Black Umbrella: Voices from Colonial Korea," was published in 2001 by Cornell University Press. A second book, "Family Lineage Records as a Resource for Korean History: A Case Study of Thirty-Nine Generations of the Sinch'on Kang Family," was published in 2007 by the Edwin Mellen Press. [Read more about Hildi's publications and her interesting life at http://www.hildikang.com] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ STUDY GROUP MEETING Leader: Kay Speaks Contact Mail: study.group@l-ags.org Date: Thursday, March 27, 2008 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 Topic: To be announced Don't forget to use our L-AGS Study Group forum for any genealogy topic discussion or computer interest questions. L-AGS is blessed with people willing to share their knowledge and expertise! E-mail the forum at: mailto:study.group@L-AGS.org. You can also post suggestions for future Study Group topics. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TRI-VALLEY TMG USERS GROUP The Master Genealogist Software For a formatted version of this announcement, see: http://www.L-AGS.org/temp/TMG_March_08.doc Date: Saturday, March 29, 2008 (note special one-time date change) Time: 9:00 a.m. - Noon 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 and Sue Johnston Topic: Saving GEDCOM Report Definitions Note: In March we will continue to use TMG Version 6.12 in class, even though Version 7 is now available to download. The March meeting topic will be "Saving GEDCOM Report Definitions" from Terry's TMG Tips: http://tmg.reigelridge.com/export.htm. TMG versions 4 and earlier allowed the user to save different versions of GEDCOM export definitions. Some users saved several different definitions, including various combinations of filters to collect the individuals to be exported and specifications of tags to include in the export. One version might be used for GEDCOMs sent to cousins, another for files to be posted to RootsWeb or other Web site, and perhaps another for exporting to a hand-held device or a favorite charting program. The redesigned Export feature works in a much different way, and will require users used to working with several saved definitions to change their practices significantly. This information is the same for Version 5 and 6, with no indication of change for Version 7. 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 using a hands-on method. We learn TMG's features by actually entering samples of the lesson into a TMG class 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 have a laptop, bring it with you to the meeting. A copy of the group's practice database will be provided to you. A laptop is not a requirement as the lesson will be digitally projected. 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 the next meeting! 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. ======================================================= PROGRAMS FOR 2008 GENERAL MEETINGS Arleen Wood, First Vice President, Programs See a formatted version of this announcement at: http://www.L-AGS.org/temp/program_calendar_08.doc See also details of the March program in the full announcement above. We have been fortunate to get a calendar of excellent speakers for 2008. The programs are held at our regular meetings on the second Tuesday of each month. Meetings are open to the public at 7:30 p.m. at the Congregation Beth Emek, 3400 Nevada Court, Pleasanton. Visitors are welcome, admission free. Date Topic Presenter ----------------------------------------------------- March 11 Tradition and Tradition Breakers: One Korean Family Lineage, 720 A.D.-1955 Hildi Kang April 8 Detecting the Date of Historical Photographs Ron Willis May 13 Tri-Valley Civil War Veterans - What an Interesting Group They Were Dick Finn June 10 WPA Depression Era Jobs Turn into Great Gifts for Genealogists Pamela Dallas July 8 Using Maps in Genealogy Marcia Murray Holstrom August 12 Scandinavian Research Mel Stephensen September 9 Familysearch.org (Tentative) Marge Bell October 14 The Five Civilized Tribes of South- eastern United States Taffy Couts November 11 An American Story - The History of Abram Bradbury Lowell and His Family David Lowell December 9 (To be announced) =======================================================