THE LIVERMORE-AMADOR GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY E-MAIL BULLETIN FOR April 2009 ======================================================== SUMMARY OF EVENTS FOR April 2009 Family Tree Maker Group - Thursday, April 2, 2009, 7:30 p.m. General Meeting - Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 7:30 p.m. The Master Genealogist Group - Cancelled for April only Study Group - Thursday, April 23, 2009, 7:30 p.m. L-AGS Board Meeting - Tuesday, April 28, 2009 7:30pm ======================================================== A N N O U N C E M E N T S ROOTS TRACER article submission deadline is April 15th. The publish date is May 12th... that is, the newsletter will be available for pickup at the May 12th General Meeting. ALAMEDA COUNTY FAIR DATES - Kay Speaks reports that the Genealogy Booth at the Fair has been cancelled this year. MACINTOSH GENEALOGY GROUP is starting up Sat. Apr 25, 2009 - An exploratory meeting will take place at the Oakland LDS Temple Family History Center Conference Room 4766 Lincoln Ave, Oakland, CA 94602. It will focus on the Reunion Lineage program, only available for the Macintosh, but all topics relating to using the Mac to help your Genealogy research will be covered. This first meeting will discuss some charting features, genealogy web pages and formation of the new group. See a flyer at http://www.bdgeorge.com/macgen.pdf. FOOTNOTE AT PLEASANTON LIBRARY - There were some problems with Footnote access at the Pleasanton Library, but Patrick Lofft reports that it is working fine as of March 24th. OAKLAND FAMILY HISTORY CENTER CLASSES - Four sessions of Intermediate Genealogy classes start at the end of April through May, 2009 at the FHC and CGS in Oakland. See this class listed, and more at http://oaklandfhc.org/classes.php. GOOGLE GENEALOGY SEARCH HINT - By way of Kay Speaks' Study Group recently: When doing a Google search, add " ~genealogy" after the search argument. It narrows down your results quite a bit. - - - - - - ============================================================= A P R I L 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, April 2, 7:30 p.m. Program: Gedcom Files 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 Guest Speaker: Tilli Calhoun - L-AGS member and author of the Holms Family cookbook See the cookbook web site at http://www.holmfamilycookbook.com/abouttheauthors.htm. Also, see an article about the cook book in the Roots Tracer Feb 2009, Vol 29, No. 1 (http://www.l-ags.org/tracer/vol_29_1.pdf). 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_April.doc Date: Tuesday, April 14, 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 ------------------------------------------------------------- Tri-Valley TMG Users Group The Master Genealogist Software Date: Normal Saturday, April 18, 2009 meeting has been cancelled. Time: No April Meeting 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, tvtmg.chair@L-AGS.org Instructors: Kay Speaks & Sue Johnston Next scheduled meeting is Saturday, May 16, 2009 – 9 AM - Noon TV-TMG classes use Terry Reigel’s new A Primer for The Master Genealogist book written for Version 7. Read about the book at http://reigelridge.com/press/primer.htm. 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 practice 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. Terry Reigel’s book can be purchased from this website. For additional information contact: tvtmg.chair@l-ags.org. ------------------------------------------------------------- Study Group Meeting Date: Thursday, April 23, 2009 Time: 7:30 - 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 Topic: New York City Genealogy Research, Frank Geasa Presenter New York City has on more than a few occasions been called “the black hole of genealogy”. Certainly doing genealogy in the city is more complex and challenging than it is in most other places in the U.S., especially for those not familiar with the unique history, structure and institutions of the city. Being even a little familiar with these can make your search easier and hopefully more rewarding. Frank will try to bring to light how these affect your search and some of the good aids and information that can help you. Frank is an experienced New York City genealogy researcher. Mark your calendar so you don’t miss this presentation. If you have particular NYC research questions, please send them to study.chair@L-AGS.org. Have a genealogy brick wall? Let the Study Group help you brainstorm your research options. 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: study.group@L-AGS.org. You can also post suggestions for future Study Group topics. ============================================================= PROGRAMS FOR FUTURE GENERAL MEETINGS Derrell Bridgman, First Vice President, Programs - Programs whose dates are close to being firmed up City Directories for Oakland - http://www.oaklandlibrary.org/Seasonal/Sections/oakhr.html Lisa B. Lee - The Gene Queen - http://www.thegenequeen.com/ - Program where inquiries have been made Ron Arons - http://www.ronarons.com Cath Trindle - Scottish Genealogy and organizing digital and hardcopy materials 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. -------------------------------------------------------------