THE LIVERMORE-AMADOR GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY E-MAIL BULLETIN FOR AUGUST 2008 August 2, 2008 ====================================================== SUMMARY OF EVENTS FOR AUGUST 2008 (See details on a later screen.) - Family Tree Maker Group: No meeting until September - General Meeting: Tuesday, August 12 - The Master Genealogist: to be announced - Study Group: Thursday, August 28 - L-AGS Board Meeting: Tuesday, August 28 ====================================================== A N N O U N C E M E N T S OUR SEMINAR AND WORKSHOP - JUST ONE WEEK AWAY Don't forget to register for our free seminar on Saturday, August 9, featuring Trevor Hammond from Footnote.com and L- AGS' own Susan Goss Johnston. The online sign-up page is at: http://www.L-AGS.org/seminar/ To register via postal mail, download the form at: http://www.L-AGS.org/temp/Seminar_mail-in_form.pdf To view more details about the seminar, workshop and the presenters, see: http://www.L-AGS.org/temp/Seminar_details.doc L-AGS and the Livermore Family History Center are once again sponsoring this free seminar. Footnote.com is the latest, greatest new genealogy database on the Web. It lets you view a huge number of original documents online - the primary sources for your research. We are honored that Trevor Hammond agreed to appear at our seminar and describe his database in person. We are equally honored to count Sue Johnston among our members, and to have her again be a co-star at a L-AGS seminar. You won't want to miss it! The California Genealogical Society has publicized our forthcoming Seminar on their blog. See: http://calgensoc.blogspot.com/ Scroll down to July 31 2008. As a result of the CGS publicity, the nationally-famous genealogy columnist, Pat Richley (better known as "Dear Myrtle"), has just published an announcement about our seminar at: http://tinyurl.com/6c4xem This wonderful publicity results from the extra efforts on outreach to other clubs that was put forth this year by Kay Speaks and Barbara Hempill. --------------------------------------------------------- GENEALOGY BOOTH AT THE ALAMEDA COUNTY FAIR We were pleased to have so many volunteers from our sister societies act as docents at the county fair this year. Lorna Wallace of the California Genealogical Society published an interesting report about her experience in our booth at: http://calgensoc.blogspot.com/ Scroll down to Saturday, July 19, 2008. The article includes two photos taken by Duncan Tanner. At the end there is a link entitled "4 comments." Be sure to read these comments. Again, Kay Speaks and Barbara Hempill should be congratulated on the success of their publicity efforts this year. Further interesting details about our better-than-ever genealogy booth will appear in the August issue of the Roots Tracer. ================================================== 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 THERE WILL BE NO FTM MEETING IN AUGUST BECAUSE THE SCHOOL IS CLOSED. WE WILL ANNOUNCE THE DATE OF THE SEPTEMBER MEETING LATER IN THE SUMMER. 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 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, First Vice President, Programs mailto:program.chair@L-AGS.org For a formatted version of this announcement, see: http://www.L-AGS.org/temp/Mel_Stephensen.doc Date: Tuesday, August 12, 2008 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, no charge Topic: "Scandinavian Genealogical Research" Presenter: Mel Stephensen Former Director of the Sacramento Family History Center Scandinavian Genealogical Research: Mel's lecture will include a brief outline of the geography and history of Scandinavia; purposes of Scandinavian genealogical records and their accessibility; the role of the State Church in creating these records; some customs in the use of names; a study of the languages and handwriting of these records; a survey of the parish, census, probate and civil records; and will end with a practice trial of reading some parish registers from all three countries. Biographical Sketch of Mel Stephensen: Mel was born in Ogden, Utah, attended elementary and high school in Merced, California, and graduated from California State University, San Francisco. He is a retired high school teacher of Biology and Ornamental Horticulture for 33 years. He became the first Park Naturalist at Donner Memorial State Park 1957-1959. Mel and his wife, Elizabeth, have 4 children, 11 grandchildren, and 10 great grandchildren. Mel became associated with Sacramento Family History Center in 1964. He and his wife served as co-directors of the LDS Family History Center in Sacramento until 2006. He received training in Scandinavian Research from Brigham Young University and has taught at numerous seminars in the past 30 years. He served as Missionary for LDS Church in Western Canada. While he and Elizabeth served as LDS Missionaries in Denmark, he had the opportunity to work in the archives in Copenhagen. He is currently called to be a missionary with the World Wide Family Search Support of the LDS Church. --------------------------------------------------------- Coming September 9: Guest speaker Marge Bell "The New Family Search" "The New Family Search" will replace FamilySearch.org, hopefully by next year. There is a massive indexing process going on at this time by over 100,000 people. Search labs.familysearch.org will have all microfilm digitized. Marge will demonstrate what records are being digitized, and how simple and easy it will be to search online. --------------------------------------------------------- TRI-VALLEY TMG USERS GROUP The Master Genealogist Software 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 NOTE: THE DATE FOR OUR AUGUST MEETING CANNOT BE SET UNTIL SUE JOHNSTON LEARNS THE SCHEDULE FOR HER TEACHING AT LAS POSITAS THIS FALL. THE DATE AND SUBJECT WILL BE ANNOUNCED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. 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: tvtmg.chair@l-ags.org. --------------------------------------------------------- STUDY GROUP MEETING Leader: Kay Speaks Contact mailto:study.chair@l-ags.org For a formatted version of this announcement, see: http://www.L-AGS.org/temp/Aug08_Study_Group.doc Date: Thursday, August 28, 2008 (the fourth Thursday of every month) Time: 7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Location: LDS Church, 950 Mocho Street, Livermore, CA Map to the meeting site: http://www.l-ags.org/maps/Liv-FHC.html Study Group Chair: Kay Speaks Topic: Interpreting Passenger Lists or Manifest Annotations Do you need help interpreting the markings, or annotations, found in the different columns of passenger lists or manifests? These reports frequently have a variety of markings. Do the codes B-i-l, LPC, N.O.B., P, Rech, ACL, or other markings leave you with unanswered questions? This month's meeting will help you understand the mystery of these annotations. Have a genealogy brick wall? Let the Study Group help you brainstorm your research options. 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! E-mail the forum at mailto:study.group@L-AGS.org. You can also post any suggestions for future Study Group topics or computer related questions. ================================================== 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 August 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 ----------------------------------------------------- August 12 Scandinavian Research Mel Stephensen September 9 The New Family Search 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 Show and Tell: Members Sharing L-AGS Members and Guests ==================================================