======================================================== THE LIVERMORE-AMADOR GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY E-MAIL BULLETIN FOR MARCH 2009 March 1, 2009 ======================================================== SUMMARY OF EVENTS FOR MARCH 2009 (See details on a later screen.) - Family Tree Maker Group: Next meeting: Thursday, March 5 - General Meeting, Tuesday, March 10 - The Master Genealogist: Saturday, March 28, 9:00 - noon. NOTE CHANGE! - Study Group: Thursday, March 26 - L-AGS Board Meeting: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 ======================================================== A N N O U N C E M E N T S ALAMEDA COUNTY FAIR DATES Special Announcement from Kay Speaks, Genealogy Booth Coordinator This year's Alameda County Fair dates are Wednesday, July 1 to Sunday, July 19, closed Mondays. We continue to work on preliminary coordination of the Alameda County Fair Genealogy Booth. Once again, Sue Johnston has agreed to present a workshop just for fair volunteers. Sue's workshops and seminars are always events you don't want to miss. This special event, topic to be determined, and our ongoing training workshops and drop-in training sessions are to help volunteers become familiar with the software available at the fair booth; they are also a L-AGS thank you for being a volunteer. Mark your calendars and become a fair volunteer! If you belong to a group who would like to sponsor a volunteer day at the fair, please let me know so we can block the date for you. For example, the L-AGS Tri-Valley TMG Users Group sponsored day is Sunday, July 12. - - - - - - SEMINARS Jane Southwick A Scots-Irish Seminar is being presented by the California Genealogical Society at the Oakland Airport Holiday Inn on March 7, 2009. Please go to http://www.calgensoc.org/ for more information. The Sacramento Genealogical Society is holding their Spring Seminar on March 28, 2009 featuring Geoff Rasmussen. Please go to http://www.rootscellar.org for more information. - - - - - - ============================================================= 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 Co-Leaders: Dick Finn and Duncan Tanner Date and time: Thursday, March 5, 7:30 p.m. The meeting is the first Thursday of each month during the school year. 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 We provide a problem-solving atmosphere in which attendees are free to ask questions and offer answers and tips about FTM. We will continue to discuss the question, "Should I or should I not upgrade to FTM 2009?" We are especially interested in comments from those who have upgraded. 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. 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 Derrell Bridgman, First Vice President, Programs mailto:program.chair@L-AGS.org For a formatted version of this announcement, see: http://www.L-AGS.org/temp/General_Meeting_Mar09.doc Date: Tuesday, March 10, 2009, 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 Guest Speaker: Ron Filion Co-founder of SFgenealogy.com Topic: "San Francisco Genealogy" Are you looking for some information on the San Francisco Bay Area? Then, you should consider visiting Sfgenealogy.com, a website in which you will find information regarding the genealogy and history of the San Francisco Bay Area. The aim of the site is to provide a tool in order to connect people and help them find information on the past historic events. Start searching the different links provided in order to find the information you are looking for. If you are not used to navigating genealogical sites, you can use the help of the research tools which will guide you through this learning experience. The page is constantly adding information, so be sure to frequently check out the "what's new" category to see the new information available. In the page, you will also find a colorful map of San Francisco Bay Area which shows the counties involved in this region. Click on the county you are interested in, in order to see its respective information. Ron Filion will discuss researching genealogy in San Francisco, using the SFgenealogy.com website as a research tool. Genealogy and history: includes various items such as a city directory, books, newspaper notices, vital records, cemetery information, and research help Biography: Mr. Filion is the co-founder of the web site SFgenealogy.com. He is also a locally known genealogical speaker, and has also been a consultant on San Francisco history for books, television, and film. He has been involved in genealogy for over 30 years. His professional life has included positions in computer programming, computer network management, and commercial property historical research. ------------------------------------------------------------- TRI-VALLEY TMG USERS GROUP The Master Genealogist Software For a formatted version of this announcement, see: http://www.L-AGS.org/temp/TMG_Mar09.doc Date: Saturday, March 28, 2009 - NOTE RESCHEDULED DATE! Time: 9:00 a.m. - Noon Location: 7077 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 110, Pleasanton, CA Map to the meeting site: http://www.l-ags.org/maps/Pls-KollCenter.html Leader: Kay Speaks, tvtmg.chair@L-AGS.org Instructors: Kay Speaks and Sue Johnston Reminder: The March TV-TMG Meeting has been rescheduled to the fourth Saturday, March 28, 9 AM-Noon. Topic: Creating Tasks and Research Reports Using TMG Chapter 8 - A Primer for The Master Genealogist by Terry Reigel TMG has a wide variety of reports, which are divided into two groups-research tasks or recording and communicating the findings of our research. All reports have a setup process which defines who or what the subjects of the reports are to be and the type of output required. TMG classes use Terry Reigel's Book, "A Primer for The Master Genealogist" written for Version 7. Read about the book at http://reigelridge.com/press/primer.htm. If possible, please RSVP if you plan to attend, mailto:tvtmg.chair@L-AGS.org. 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 TV-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. ------------------------------------------------------------- STUDY GROUP MEETING Date: Thursday, March 26, 2009 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 Study Group Chair: Kay Speaks Topic: To be announced. 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 FUTURE GENERAL MEETINGS Derrell Bridgman, First Vice President, Programs See details of the March program in the full announcement above. 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. ------------------------------------------------------------- March 10 "San Francisco Genealogy," by Ron Filion, co- founder of SFgenealogy.com. Researching San Francisco genealogy using the SFgenealogy.com website =============================================================