The Livermore Roots Tracer Volume XXI Number 4 November 2001 Editors: Debbie Pizzato and Vicki Renz Web Editor: Mildred Kirkwood

The Roots Tracer is a quarterly publication with articles of interest to the genealogist. Members are encouraged to submit their "Profiles" and articles of general interest. Queries are free. The Roots Tracer is published in February, May, August and November. The deadline for each quarterly is the 15th of the previous month. Submissions must contain the name of the submitter, as well as the name of the author, publication and date of any published article that is being quoted. Send material to: The Roots Tracer, P. O. Box 901, Livermore, CA 94551-0901 or E-mail: rootstracer@l-ags.org

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Membership Report As of October 29, 2001

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In Memoriam – Bill Farrand By Brady Farrand (Bill's son)

Bill Farrand died suddenly on Friday, October 19, 2001 from complications of the cancer he had been fighting since the beginning of the year.  He lived in Pleasanton for the last seven years to be near his children and their families.  Although born in Toronto, Canada, in 1922, he has been a resident of California since his family came west in a Model T when he was six weeks old. He grew up in North Hollywood, received his BA, Masters, and Ph.D. from UCLA, and raised his family in Downey and Fullerton.  He was a radio technician in the Navy during World War II.  He worked in the electronics industry and aerospace from 1950 through the 1970s.  After retiring from North American Rockwell, he was a professor of computer engineering at Cal State Fullerton. He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Eleanor K. (Fairman) Farrand, his daughter Lanah Hotchkiss of Redwood City, his son Scott Farrand of Carmichael, his son Brady Farrand of Piedmont, six grandchildren and one great grandchild.  A private service and burial was held in Livermore on Tuesday, October 23, 2001.

Although the last year imposed an increasing number of ailments on him, he continued to enjoy designing the best solution to engineering problems that caught his fancy, exploring his family genealogy, playing with his Macintosh computers, and visiting with friends and family.

Bill traced his roots to Colonial America, as well as more recent immigrants from Britain.  The FARRAND family was in New England before the Revolution. They moved from Vermont to settle in Steuben County, New York at the beginning of the 1800s. Bill's great grandfather, a train conductor, was in the Union Army where he was shot during the siege of Petersburg.  Bill's grandfather, a telephone lineman, came west with his family when his son was told to move here for his health. Bill's father lied about his age to volunteer for the Canadian Army before the US entered the war. He was so badly shot up that he spent more than a year in English hospitals and much more time in and out of Canadian hospitals.

Bill's grandmother THOMAS was the daughter of a printer who worked in New York and Pennsylvania, although he was born in Canada of parents who were born in England.  Bill also traced his father's CRANE ancestors back to a father and son who were officers in the Revolutionary War, and before that to members of the Winthrop fleet and early settlers of Killingworth, Connecticut.  FENTON ancestors came from Wales around the time of the Revolutionary War.  SWARTWOUT and DECKER ancestors were early Dutch settlers in the Fishkill area of New York.  Their descendants settled the Sussex County area of New Jersey before moving west through Pennsylvania to Western New York.  Other Dutch ancestors include the immigrant ancestor of both Teddy Roosevelt and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  GRISWOLD, NORTH, and HICKS ancestors came over from England with the Winthrop fleet. Although his JONES ancestor was an officer in the Revolutionary War, he was also the grandfather of the Vice President of the Confederacy.  BASKIN and MARLATT ancestors helped settle colonial New York.

Bill's mother was the doyen of California's Girls' State organization, a founder of direct mail advertising, a political force in Southern California, one of the world's fastest typists, and a volunteer who hand sewed thousands of dolls for children's hospitals.  She was born on a ship sailing to England from South Africa.  She, her mother, and her aunt returned to South Africa just in time for the Boer War.  When her mother's health deteriorated, they sailed back to England.  When her mother died, her aunt took her to Canada rather than sending her back to the wilds of South Africa.  She never saw her father, a PICKERING, again.  Her father's family had immigrated from England a generation before to settle a farm and start a department store near Petermaritzburg.  Her mother's family, the SHEPARDs, were glove makers and grocers in Portsmouth, England.

Bill was a child of the Depression.  His parents had a printing shop where he spent much of his time while they tried to make a living when times were tough.  He also spent summers with his grandparents on a farm in the Central Valley.  From his grandfather, who was a technician and a craftsman, Bill learned to solve problems with the tools available.  From his father, who had been crippled in World War I, he learned stoicism and perseverance.  From both of his parents he learned the value of love, commitment, and hard work.  He, who had the opportunity, developed a love of learning.  Outside of academics, he became state champion in marbles and Southern California champion in high school wrestling.  He was the youngest Eagle Scout in the nation, earning the badge on his thirteenth birthday.  He went on to become the first Boy Scout in the nation to earn one hundred merit badges.

His inventions are part of the history of electronics and engineering.  He designed early mechanical integrating computers, electronic analog computers, and modern digital computers.

In 1957 the success of the Soviet's Sputnik satellite assaulted America's national pride.  One memorable event that helped restore our confidence in our technical abilities was the trip by the Nautilus, the first nuclear submarine, under the ice cap to the North Pole.  Bill designed and built the only inertial guidance system accurate enough and reliable enough to find the North Pole while navigating under the sea.  He hand delivered it to the sub.

Later Bill led the team and did much of the design for the Minuteman I guidance system.  This was America's ICBM in the early 1960s.  He was proud that its accuracy could not be improved on for many years, but he was even more proud that it never once failed in years of continuous operation in thousands of installations.

Before President Kennedy set us on the race to the moon, Bill was chosen to teach Wernher von Braun's Peenemunde scientists about digital computers.  He commuted to Huntsville, Alabama to bring that unusual crowd of space scientists into the modern era of rocketry.

He also led the team that designed the first commercial electronic calculator.

Having grown up in a print shop, he saw the potential for using computers for phototypesetting.  He prepared a patent application, but his company felt that since computers were so big and expensive it would never be practical. Similarly, they did not patent his collection of all possible designs for magnetic heads. They instead patented his design for air bearings in disk memories. In the 1950s he worked on designing a microwave oven.

After retiring from industry he turned to teaching others the engineering he loved.  Among other projects, he led a group of students who designed and built an electric car.  After several years of teaching he finally truly retired. Bill and Eleanor then found the time to travel. They saw the US and the world. In recent years he has been writing, relaxing, tinkering with his Macintoshes, and pursuing his family history.

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President's Message By Jon Burditt Bryan – L-AGS President for 2000 – 2001

This will be my last chance in 2001 to say "Thank You" to all our L-AGS volunteers in a Roots Tracer. The other officers, members and I could not keep our organization moving forward without you. We are truly indebted to you.

Recently Gail and I spotted a Fall 1988 issue of Roots Tracer where our L-AGS President Shirley Siems Terry wrote: "There are not many of us left from the original group formed after taking Ed Pyle's ten-week genealogy course in early 1977. Those still listed as members are Muriel Camozzi, Olivette Chinn, Ruth Dierks, Ed Pyle, Art Skinner, Judy Williams and myself." In 2002 we will have a special celebration for L-AGS – our 25^th Anniversary. How should we mark this occasion? Please share your ideas with us.

In 2002 and beyond, I hope that L-AGS will continue to grow and strive to improve. How can we make this happen? It will need more commitment and ideas from each one of us. We never have enough good ideas for program speakers and Roots Tracer articles, leaders for interest groups, volunteers for refreshments, leaders for projects, volunteers for docents, answers for queries, assistance for both new and old members, officers – "et cetera, et cetera and so forth!"

Finally, I want to give a special "Thank You" to all you quiet members that I too often forget, including my wife Gail!

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This is a log of the events that led to the discovery of my mother-in-law's cousins in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She is Virginia Ryan Payne Durrant, daughter of Walter D. Ryan.

About 1990 – Jill Mulholland completes research on Walter D. Ryan, a famous illumination engineer (Panama Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco 1915), for a graduate thesis at the University of Oregon.

1/30/2000 – Norman Bailey posts a query on the GenForum Ryan surname database for information on W. D. Ryan, Virginia's father.

11/2000 – Jill Mulholland finally gets her paper published in the Lighting Design + Application magazine. She notes that Walter is from Nova Scotia.

11/2000 – William Phillips, Regional (Maritime Provinces) Representative for LD + A, sees article and calls "Mr. Knowitall."

12/2000 – Mr. Knowitall (Bruce Nunn), a radio talk show host who does stories about famous people from Nova Scotia, contacts Jill and does a broadcast about Walter. Marjorie McSweeney, a niece of Walter living in Halifax, hears broadcast and contacts Mr. Knowitall.

4/10/2001 – Felix Unger (Internet name), hears broadcast and sends a reply to Norm's GenForum query. FelixUnger@anywhere.com cannot be reached to be thanked.

4/11/2001 – Norm contacts Mr. Knowitall at the Halifax CBC radio station. He tells me that Marjorie McSweeney, a niece of Walter Ryan, had contacted him. Eva Ryan, Walter's sister, had married James Balch and there were three children, Helen, Marjorie, and Emily. Virginia did not know that Aunt Eva had married. Eva was 17 years younger than Walter.

4/13/2001 – Norm tells his wife, Carolyn, and mother-in-law, Virginia, that they have three cousins in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

4-5/2001 – Large telephone bill.

5/2001 – Mr. Knowitall does an "on air" telephone interview with Virginia.

6/2001 – Norm, Carolyn, Virginia, and Carolyn's siblings, John and Arvilla, journey to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where a great time was had by all. Mr. Knowitall does another interview with all the cousins for another broadcast. Mr. Phillips drops by and is impressed by the lighting insights that Walter showed in the 1910s when most illumination engineers did not start to use the techniques until the 1950s.

Who says that diligent research doesn't pay off? Well, it helps to broadcast, also.

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I caught the bug in January 2000. I call it the genealogy bug, the need to know more. In some cases it's something we are born with and at other times there's an event in our lives that starts us on our adventure. With me it was a little of both. My maternal grandmother unexpectedly died in September 1998. My step-grandfather, who I prefer to call Grandpa, spent most of 1999 sorting through her belongings and passing on her special keepsakes to family members.

One of the keepsakes that came into my hands was a stack of letters that later would ignite a passion in me that would become all consuming. The letters were from my maternal grandfather who was killed in action on Iwo Jima during World War II when my mother was 4 years old. They were sent to my grandmother while he was away fighting. At the age of 23 he volunteered for the draft and became a Marine. On February 19, 1945, the day before D-Day on Iwo Jima, the day combat was initiated, he turned 24 years old. He was killed in action on March 12, 1945.

Growing up, I remember walking by a memorial to my grandfather that my parents had in the hallway of our home. I would look at the picture and know the face was that of my grandfather; look at the map of Iwo Jima and know that was where he died; look at the medals and know those were earned for the sacrifice he made for his country, but I didn't know the man, until now. Reading those letters brought my grandfather to life for my mother and me. She had not known they existed.

I had so many questions after reading the letters. How did he die? What were the circumstances surrounding his death? Who was with him when he died? What kind of man was he? What were my chances of finding those answers? How would I begin?

My grandfather's name is Ernest Ryan Baker, born February 18, 1921. Luckily, his birth certificate was one of the documents bundled with the letters. I first started out wanting to learn more about the battle of Iwo Jima. I bought and read Iwo Jima, Legacy of Valor by Bill Ross and Flags of our Father by James Bradley. The Internet was my next source of information. I found a web site where I could download a form to request my grandfather's military records <http://www.nara.gov/regional/mprsf180.html >.

After a wait of approximately 14 to 16 weeks, I received his records in the mail. Once I found out what division of the Marines he was in, I searched online and found a 3^rd Marine Division web site <www.caltrap.com>.I went through their guest book and contacted a few veterans that had served on Iwo Jima. A veteran, John Powers, responded to my e-mail and suggested I put inquiries in two Marine publications. One was Caltrap, 3D Marine Division Association, Inc., P.O. Box 297, Dumfries, VA 22026-0297. The other was Leatherneck, Mail Call, P.O. Box 1775, Quantico, VA 22134. Another Marine, George Walden, forwarded me a list of names and addresses of men that were in the same company, regiment, and battalion.

I wrote letters to both of the Marine publications and a letter to all the men on my list. After some time, I started to get correspondence in the mail on almost a daily basis. I also got a few phone calls from veterans. Even though most of the veterans who reached out to me didn't know my grandfather personally, they were amazingly helpful in providing me with information on their journeys. The stories they shared helped me visualize what it might have been like for my grandfather. I'm sure the stories I would have heard from him would have been similar.

The veterans who have contacted me can only be described as being the best group of men I've ever had the honor to know. They are in a class of their own from a time period that seems to be forgotten, when one had integrity, honor, and pride.

One veteran in particular, John Murphy, an Iwo Jima veteran himself, was one of the first people to reach out to me and genuinely want to help. From my inquiry in Leatherneck Magazine he could tell my grandfather's journey was similar to his. He helped me construct and explain the events of my grandfather's journey from boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina, to Iwo Jima. He also put in a request on my behalf for my grandfather's "Deceased Personnel File." This is a file that is kept by the Army, detailing the route his remains took from Iwo Jima to his final resting place in Florence National Cemetery in South Carolina and describes what condition the remains were in. One can obtain that information by writing to:

Mr. Thomas M. Jones
Freedom of Information and Privacy Officer
Total Army Personnel Command
Department of the Army
200 Stoval Street
Alexandria, VA 22332-0404

In November, 2000 my efforts paid off when I got a letter from a Robert Banks. He mentioned that he knew my grandfather well and described "Ernie" as being about 5 feet 10 inches tall, husky build, with black curly hair, and always had a smile on his face. He added that he was a great guy everyone liked, the nicest person you could ever meet, and was proud to have known him. After receiving the letter, I called Mr. Banks to thank him for taking the time to write me. Mr. Banks shared that when they were overseas fighting in the foxholes, they would say to each other that if anything ever happens to one of them that the other would go home and tell their family how much they loved them. He couldn't bring himself to do that after Ernie was killed. After so many years, it was now his chance to fulfill that promise. Mr. Banks even sent me a picture with my grandfather's face superimposed over his so I could see what he would have looked like in uniform.

On January 6, 2001, I got the kind of phone call that makes the hair on your arms stand up and your heart sink to your stomach. It took one year to get the answer to my question: how did my grandfather die? Robert Baker introduced himself and proceeded to explain that he found my article of inquiry in Leatherneck Magazine and knew my grandfather. He said he'd never met a more pleasant person and considered Ernest his best friend. He was full of life and devoted to his wife and child. He and "ER" as he called my grandfather were together from boot camp to Iwo Jima. They would call each other "Cous" since they had the same last name. To others, Robert was referred to as "little Baker" and Ernest was called "old man Baker." Robert told the story where they were waiting in line to get vaccinated when "ER" almost passed out and Robert had to catch him. Everything he said was right in line with what was described in my grandfather's letters.

I had hit the jackpot. Should I dare ask? It just came pouring out of my mouth, "Were you with my grandfather when he was killed?" With a choked up answer he said, "Yes, and I've never quite recovered from his loss and from the terrible experience on Iwo Jima." It was obviously painful for him to relive it. He said that "ER" was gathering rocks and stacking them around his foxhole when he was hit. On Iwo Jima they had to build up their foxholes instead of digging them due to being on a volcanic island. The ground was too hot to dig holes. As my grandfather was building up his foxhole, a mortar bounced in front of him and into his chest. They ran to him, but were unable to do anything for him. He said my grandfather was unrecognizable, and hoped we could take some comfort in knowing he didn't suffer.

There are a handful of veterans that I still correspond with on a regular basis. My girlfriends now tease me saying I would rather hang out with 70-year-old men than with them. My search still goes on for more information and anyone else who may have known him. I can never thank the veterans enough for helping me attach a persona to the picture on the wall and help me to appreciate the efforts that all of them gave to protect the freedoms we enjoy today. Even though I am saddened by not being able to have known my grandfather, I have great pride in knowing that he gave his life for the comforts that I enjoy today. There could be no greater hero in my eyes.

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Historical Research Methodology - Engaging the Process to Find All The Answers

Curt B. Witcher, MLS, FUGA, President of the National Genealogical Society and Manager of the Historical Genealogy Department at the Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, IN, presented this topic at the NGS Regional Seminar in Foster City on October 28.

Information received from this seminar will be shared with those attending the November Study Group meeting. Curt showed us how to work to find all the answers during your research so that you don't have to repeat your work. We'll discuss his "Information Retention Scheme," moving outside the library's Genealogy Department to fully utilize the library's resources, and go over his suggested web sites.

We meet on the third Thursday of every month at 7:30 p.m. at the LDS Church, 950 Mocho Street, Livermore.

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Editor's Note: Gary Drummond has long been a student of Livermore Valley History. He is the author and editor of several publications on valley history, including the stories of Mary Ann Harlan Smith, William Mendenhall and James D. Smith, Headmaster of Livermore College from 1875 to 1893. He is on the Board of Directors of the Livermore Heritage Guild.

Mining in San Antone Valley

Mineral deposits in the Red Mountain area of the San Antone Valley had been known since the 1870s and 1880s. Prospectors had located cinnabar (mercury), chrome and magnesite deposits. But it was not until the 1890s with the development of the steel industry that the magnesite deposits could be made to pay.

Up until this time, the source of magnesite was the vast mines in Germany which held a world-wide monopoly.

Local mines were opened approximately 14 miles south of Livermore off Mines Road, near a roadhouse aptly called the Fourteen Mile House. Development of the mines was slow primarily because of the transportation problem. The undeveloped nature of Mines Road up the Mocho, at that time extremely primitive, required that ore could only be brought down by pack mule. Storage facilities in unused warehouses were found, and crushing facilities were brought in to pulverize the ore before shipment.

In the spring of 1903, several prominent Livermore businessmen lobbied the County Board of Supervisors to improve the road, citing the economic advantages to both the town and the county. Heretofore the only access from Livermore was via the old Crane Ridge road. But transportation of ore down to the valley was limited for some time by the seasons – horses tend to slip and slide on wet hillsides.

It was estimated that there was probably 1,000,000 tons of magnesite available.

Other transportation methods were developed. One was a steam tractor that was steered by a single front wheel. In August 1906, as the ore train was coming into town, the tractor got away from the engineer as it was going downhill. The engineer was killed and the tractor and cars were almost total losses.

Within ten years motorized trucks conveyed ore down the mountain to a loading site along the railroad tracks in Livermore. One mining company utilized a fleet of 40 Moreland trucks to do the job.

There were ups and downs in the magnesite mining business. When Germany entered World War I the price of ore went up. One choice contract with a British company was canceled about this time because the British government would not allow money out of the country. Accusations of claim infringement were frequent in the 1910s and 1920s. The record is full of litigation between companies, between father and son , and between whoever there was to sue.

During the 1920s and 1930s, mines were closed and then reopened. There was an upswing in activity during World War II with the need for domestic magnesite in the war industry, but after the war production dropped. By 1954 the mines were closed.

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News From Paper Roots

A computer program used by the CIA analyzes profiles of suspects and displays grids of relationships that might not have been apparent to investigators, Reuters said. The chart layout it uses seemed to one agent to resemble "a family tree."

The next time you hear family stories about ancestors arriving in America with "pennies in their pockets," the Washington Post said, use an inflation calculator at <www.westegg.com/inflation> to learn the current value of the money they carried.

Reprinted with permission from: Paper Roots: A Weekly Round-Up of Genealogy in the News, a free e-mail newsletter. For more information and back issues, see the web site at <http://people.ne.mediaone.net/ehwoodward/paperroots.html>

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The CIG meets once a month to hear speakers on a wide variety of genealogical computer related subjects such as software (new, revised, how to use it, etc.), hardware (computers, storage devices, scanners, cameras, printers), websites, useful CDs, etc., that help us in our quest for genealogical information. Often we have very useful handouts. During the last several months we have had expert speakers talking on a range of items. For example, in August we had Duncan Tanner speak to us on "Billions of bytes and nowhere to put them!" Duncan reviewed what data we might want to archive, some of the methods used for archiving data, and what current data archiving options PC users can implement. The September meeting was devoted to "My favorite Internet sites for genealogy." Members were asked to make a list of five web sites that they have found especially useful with emphasis on lesser-known sites that might be of use to other members. The October meeting focused on methods of entering titles below images that might be included in family histories, newsletters, etc. Many of the popular software packages were demonstrated including Microsoft Word, Microsoft Publisher, Adobe Photoshop, Word Perfect, Microsoft PictureIt!, Power Point, and even Excel.

I want to include an "old" Danish Proverb that Wanda and I learned in Denmark when we took a genealogy course earlier this year. We think those of you who use computers will find it hits close to home. Thanks to Anna Siig, Janne and Jette for the translation.

Gammelt Dansk Ordsprog
Guuuuuud, jeg hader den forbandede maskine og ville ønske jeg kunne saelge den. Den vil aldrig gøre, hvad jeg vil ha' den til at gøre; men kun hvad jeg ber den om.

Old Danish Proverb
O God, I hate this darn machine and wish that I could sell it. It never does what I mean, but only what I tell it.

During the school year we meet the fourth Thursday of every month, except November and December, at 7:30 p.m. at the Livermore Adult Education Facility, 543 Sonoma Avenue, Livermore. URL for a map to the school: http://www.l-ags.org/sonoma.html. See you in January.

Members needing help with a computer problem may call one of the mentors listed in the Member's Handbook.

For information on CIG please call Dick Finn at 925-447-9652 or e-mail him at rwfinn@pacbell.net or George Anderson at 925-846-4265 or gwajr@home.com. Contact Dick or George for information about topics to be discussed or to let us know about items you would like to hear about.

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Family Tree Maker Group By Dick Finn at rwfinn@pacbell.net

The L-AGS Family Tree Maker (FTM) Focus Group meets the first Thursday of the month at 7:30 p.m. at the Livermore Adult Education Facility (during the school year), 543 Sonoma Avenue, Livermore. URL for a map to the school: http://www.l-ags.org/sonoma.html. In the summer, the location of our meetings will be announced by e-mail and posted on our web site.

We are primarily a group of FTM users (from beginners – even those who have not yet installed FTM - to experts) who discuss problems and solutions, share successes, answer questions, and help each other with the Family Tree Maker software. At recent meetings we have talked about using shortcuts in FTM to input data, how to generate charts that show specific information and generations, and using work-a-rounds to bypass problems. We discussed the newest version of FTM 9.0 (its pros and cons) and Doug Mumma gave a presentation on how we might protect our systems from viruses.

All persons interested or potentially interested in Family Tree Maker are invited to attend. For information on our group please call Dick Finn at 925-447-9652 or e-mail him at rwfinn@pacbell.net or George Anderson at 925-846-4265 or gwajr@home.com. Contact Dick or George for information about topics to be discussed.

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1930 Federal Census Tips: Start Your Pre-Research Now! By Helen Crisman hcrisman@juno.com and Dan Nealand, NARA-Pacific Region daniel.nealand@nara.gov

Editor's Note: This article was printed in the November 2001 issue of the CSGA Newsletter with explicit instructions to copy and print in local genealogical society newsletters.

As almost everyone knows, The National Archives and Records Administration's 1930 Census microfilm will become available to the public and open for research at National Archives locations on April 1, 2002. The National Archives-Pacific Region has found in "experimental searches" that for states not indexed via Soundex (most of them), the search process can be daunting, consuming many hours even for those highly familiar with census research. We're passing what we've found out so far on to you, the genealogical community.

We advise as many researchers as possible to visit NARA now or in the near future before the "Grand Opening," to do advance research for unindexed states using 1930 Census-related finding aids that are already currently available, especially for urban areas. While the actual 1930 Census and Soundex remain closed, "substitute finding aids" – like 1920 Soundex, microfilmed city directories, census Enumeration District (ED) descriptions, and hard-copy maps – can take you a considerable distance down the road. Then, come April 2002, you'll be miles ahead of what looks to be a major research traffic jam, and miles closer to the final destination – your ancestral family citations on the 1930 Census.

Unindexed states

Only 10 (Southern) states have thorough Soundex indexing for the 1930 census: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. There are also very partial Soundexes for Kentucky and West Virginia. Clearly, this dearth of indexing will complicate the research process. Locating people in the other states and territories will often be an arduous, multi-step process.

Research Process Overview for States that are not Soundexed for 1930:

1. Cities

• Determine as precisely as possible where your ancestor lived in (or around) 1930: state, county, city, street address, and what section, part or block in the city it's in. Check family sources, naturalizations, etc.
• The 1920 Census Soundex may be of use if the family did not move prior to 1930.
• Check the microfilmed 865-roll City Directories set (circa 1929-31) already available now at NARA. Some libraries may also have historical 1930-era city directories.
• Consult NARA Microfilm publication T1224, 1930 Census Enumeration District (ED) Descriptions, already available now at NARA. Many pages give conversion information from 1920 Census EDs to those for 1940. Work between the City Directory information, T1224 and any good quality city street map(s) available. Try to bring your own map, though NARA will also try to have some available.
• Search for the most promising ED number(s).
• Cross-check, narrow it down to the correct ED.
• Search within the ED using any additional detail that may be given, like "block number."
• Pinpoint the location for your ancestor's address within the Census ED.
• You are now ready to "roll on" to your 1930 Census citation, come April 2002.

2. Rural

• Determine county and township of residence, as best you can. Then consult T1224, the ED description microfilm, if you believe it will be helpful to narrow down the rural search to the ED level. Once again, consider cross-working with any maps that look useful.
• It is highly unlikely that rural people/addresses will be found in a City Directory, though some directories do include surrounding rural counties. Once a location has been established, it is necessary to read the census film for that county or township or Enumeration District line-by-line.

More on City Directories:

The 1930-era City Directories microfilm now open for research at NARA regional archives is a commercial microfilm publication by the Gale Group (NARA doesn't sell it). The set is massive, but does not include all extant 1930-era city directories that may be available around the nation. NARA continues to be interested in any information about any city directories that anyone may know of. NARA may be able to arrange for filming of additional directories that come to their attention, especially for major cities. Even researched as a stand-alone project, the Directories can often yield interesting information, such as business (b) and residence (r) addresses, period ads and city maps (which may not be too detailed).

T1224 – Descriptions of Enumeration Districts (rolls 61-90 cover the 1930 Census):

• These descriptions are very time consuming to work with.
• Used in combination with the information from the City Directories and possibly even current city street maps, they can be useful in narrowing down the search to one or two Enumeration Districts within a city.
• For many of the larger cities, each city block within the Enumeration District is numbered, and the numbers are shown on the census pages. Enumeration District descriptions often include these block numbers, which help to narrow down the search. Any 1920 ED information is given to the left of the 1930 ED column. (NARA Microfilm Publication M1931, a Street-to-ED cross-index covering 40 cities, will be available soon.)

NARA Microfilm Publication M1930 – 1930 Census Enumeration District Maps

These are now available for use. Unfortunately, we've found the microfilm version of these maps to be not so useful; detail is hard to read. Soon, large hard-copy ED maps will also be available at NARA, but only for a limited number of selected, major cities. As of this writing, it is not yet known just how much help the hard copy versions will provide.

Recommendations for Researchers:

1. To be on the safe side, come prepared with street maps of any large cities you need to research. If a current map won't work, due to infrastructure changes such as freeways, bridges, new subdivisions, etc., check with an appropriate county recorder or historical society to obtain a map of approximate 1930 vintage. We are asking that NARA also attempt to obtain more map resources for research use, but as of this writing, we don't know what the outcome will be.

2. Because Enumeration Districts were laid out on the basis of political subdivisions, it can shorten search time in large cities if you know the Precinct, Ward or Assembly District that would have been applicable for a 1930 address.

3. Start now to determine the location of your ancestors and the Enumeration District and block numbers in which they lived. The ED descriptions for the entire United States fit on only 30 rolls of film. If you need to read the entire listing to find your ED number and block number, it can take anywhere from one to several hours.

4. Genealogical societies may wish to consider limited purchases of selected rolls of City Directories, ED indexes, etc., of special interest to the societies.

5. Check the National Archives 1930 Census World Wide Web sub-page, under the Research Room > Genealogy pages, for current information, publications available, etc.

6. Watch for and attend NARA-sponsored 1930 Census Research Workshops scheduled in advance of the opening.

The wise researcher will beat the rush and start now! Check city directories. Locate that critical ED number, a time-consuming activity. Get around the competition by doing this part of the work now! And bring along a good street map and/or precinct map of the city! It just may prove very valuable!

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For more information check the National Archives web site at <www.nara.gov/genealogy/1930cen.html>.

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America Online Problem Viewing Some Internet Files By Wes Nelson  ( wesnel@aol.com)

Sometimes my computer hangs up when I'm using AOL to display a file (usually a TXT plain text file) on the Internet. The first screen of the file is displayed, but any attempt to use the Page Down key or vertical scroll bar causes the entire system to lock up. The only way to recover is to power down and then restart. Apparently there is some little detail about that particular file that makes AOL stumble, because the failure is reproducible. Luckily this is a rare event, but still very annoying.

This problem has occurred on my generic PC while using Windows 3.1, 98, and 98SE, with AOL versions 3, 4, and, most recently, 6.

Finally I stumbled onto a solution, presented as a "Special Instruction for AOL users," on either ROOTSWEB or GENWEB (I forget which, and can't re-find that helpful page). It works just fine in my current system: Windows 98SE and AOL 6. The procedure detailed below, adapted from that notice, is tailored for AOL 6, but I would be virtually certain that some variation will work on other versions of AOL.

In the following, you do not type the quote marks.

o      Click the "Keyword" button near top right of the AOL screen. In AOL Keyword box, type "ftp", click Go.

o     In the FTP - File Transfer Protocol window, click "Go to ftp" button.

o     In Anonymous FTP window, click "Other Site" button.

o     In the Other Site window, type the FTP site address, for example "ftp.rootsweb.com". Press the enter key or click "Connect" button

o     Now, if the site is actually a FTP site, and available to general public use (as RootsWeb is), then a window will appear showing a list of files and/or first-level folders.

o     You can select a file name and either open the file for viewing or download it to your computer.

o     You can view the contents of a folder by double-clicking its name or by selecting the name with a single mouse click and then clicking the "Open" button.

If this process doesn't work for you, send me an e-mail and I'll try to help

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Earlier this summer Wanda and I attended a family reunion in the very small English village of Hartlip in Kent. With more than 70 other Kitchingham descendants and their spouses we toured villages in Kent and Sussex where Kitchinghams have lived since at least the early 1500s. In the village hall we shared old family photographs, historic documents relating to the family, and a huge "family tree" which stretched about half way around the village hall walls. We had tours of many local sites including the village parish church (where a hermit was said to have lived in a cell without even eye contact for over fifty years). We had lunch at the Rose and Crown pub – once owned by a Kitchingham.

In County Sussex we visited the old Kitchingham Farm, which dates back to the 1500s. The farm still carries the family name, but is now owned by a Lord and Lady – they are really okay – they drive a Jeep, wear Levi's, and raise sheep.

The reunion was a real fun event with "cousins" from England, Wales, and Scotland, as well as Canada, New Zealand, Louisiana, Florida, Texas and us from California.

We had made contact with the Kitchinghams by posting a query on the Kent web mailing list. If you have not searched for your distant cousins that way, you should try it. I never would have found these folks without using the World Wide Web.

After you find your relatives and before you go to that family reunion, you might do a few things that will make your trip more worthwhile:

• generate a family history of what you know about the family,
• print out a descendants chart of all known relatives,
• make copies of pictures of your ancestors, and finally
• print out a wall chart of all known relatives to hang at the meeting place.

People like to see their names and how they fit into the overall picture – and if you have some wrong information on the chart it will soon be corrected and added to!

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Ed. Note: I receive a monthly newsletter from Your Family Legacy <www.webyfl.com>, a web site devoted to encouraging the passing on of our family history. The owners have given permission to reprint a recent issue. Following is Part Two.

Another way to "give forward" to future generations is to write your autobiography: You are the best person to tell your life's story. Start now and add to it as time passes. Try this simple technique: Jot down your core information, with dates if you know them, in list form. Your birth, high school graduation, wedding day – all the basic information of your life. Leave room between the items so you can add more later. Beside each event write something about that part of your life. It can be one word or dozens of paragraphs – anything you know or remember. Include your feelings, too – was the first day of school exhilarating or terrifying? Don't rack your brain, just jot down the things that come to mind. You can go back later and expand on your thoughts. In time, your autobiography may turn into a full volume of memoirs!

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The biggest news we have this quarter is that the Friends of the Pleasanton Library has purchased Genealogies in the Library of Congress. This large set will enable us to see if someone has already compiled a genealogy on a particular family, so that we can start from there, or add our findings. We have long had Local Histories in the Library of Congress, and we're glad that Genealogical Publishing Company has reprinted the Genealogies work. Thanks to the Friends for their major contribution ($395) to the Pleasanton Genealogy Collection. It will be about a month until these are on the shelf, so watch for them.

Someone on the Genealogy for Librarians online forum (genealib@lists.acomp.usf.edu) asked how to obtain a copy of the National Archives' Prologue magazine issue of Summer 1997, a special issue devoted to Federal Records and African American History. I have also been trying to find a copy, and this week a National Archives librarian announced that it is online. It is a fine source for African American genealogists. The URL is <www.nara.gov/publications/prologue/aframpro.html>.

There are some other books going into the collection, but I'm waiting to whet your appetite until they are on the shelves. Happy Hunting!

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During my trip to Denmark in August, 2001, I was taken to The Danish Emigration Archives and The National Collection of Books and Documents on Emigration History in Aalborg, Denmark.

The Danish Emigration Archives, established in 1932, collects the source material of Danish emigration history. The collection consists of private letters, institutional records, manuscripts, diaries, biographies, books, periodicals and newspapers relating to emigration history, and also a large collection of photographs and portraits.

It is this last information which I will write about. A German photographer, Johann George Heinrich Ludwig Tonnies (10 May 1825-11 December 1903), went to Denmark to pursue his work. He was a prolific photographer who used the glass plate method and his work dates from about 1856 to 1900. He used only new glass plates for his clients, whereas other photographers would reuse the plates. He kept his glass plates so that additional prints could be made. He put a number on the back of each print to be able to find the original plate and kept meticulous records. There are now over 250,000 plates in the Archives available for research and reprinting.

When the number of the photograph is found in the database, the researcher will find the date of the photograph, the person's name who posed for the photograph, the city, and sometimes a comment or two. In my collection, I have two card photographs with the Tonnies name on them. Through the Archives, I was able to correctly identify two persons on one card photograph. It is most likely a wedding picture, since it was taken in the same year as the marriage.

My grandmother also had her picture taken and my cousin has the original. I had copied that photograph and I had identified the owner of the original. This is important if you have a copy of an original photograph: Always identify the person in the photo and the person who owns the original. In this case, it was easy to call my cousin who gave me the number on the back. I e-mailed it to Denmark and had the information in a week.

The web site for the Tonnies Archives is <http://www.emiarch.dk/news/Tonnies>. Tonnies information is in Danish. I have a cousin there in Aalborg who has been my contact. I used Google for my search engine and used the above web site information and the Danish Emigration Archives became visible in English.

There is a book in the Biblioteksaetrulen Forlag archives: Photographers in & from Denmark up to and including 1920, by Bjorn Ochsner, 1986. In Aalborg alone, over the years, there were over 94 professional photographers. They do not have negatives or glass plates for each of them, but if you visit with your card photos in hand, they may be able to help you.

There is a Danish Immigrant Museum in Elk Horn, Iowa whose work is to collect and preserve Danish-American history. The museum, established in 1992, can be reached by calling 712-764-7225.

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The Master Genealogist software uses "tags" to enter a collection of data about a subject's name, life events and relationships into your database. The tags are classified into the following groups: name, relationship, birth, death, burial, marriage, divorce, history, address, and other events. Within these groups, you can designate primary data tags for each tag type. For example, you can have a primary name tag and as many name variation tags as you wish to enter into the dataset. TMG has over 100 predefined tags, and gives you the ability to create an unlimited number of custom tags.

We will discuss the different types of Tag Types and Tag Lists, when they should be utilized, and how they can help sort your database and generate reports. This discussion will cover Lesson 3 – Working With Tags – in the TMG Getting Started Manual and page 306-317 in the TMG Reference Manual. Consideration of how these Tag Types can help in report generation will be discussed.

We wish to thank Larry Renslow for his continued support. His guidance has been a great help to all of us attending these meetings.

A free demo of the TMG software can be obtained from <www.whollygenes.com>.

We meet on the second Thursday of the month at 7:30 p.m., at 6377 Clark Avenue, Dublin, California, off Dublin Boulevard, past the National Food Lab.

URL for a map to the meeting place: <www.L-AGS.org/clarkave.html>

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Our speaker at the August 14^th meeting was Jane Steiner of Oakland and the San Ramon Valley Genealogical Society (SRVGS) who spoke about "Men in San Francisco in 1890."

Projects have been developed to help supplement the missing 1890 Federal Census. Jane volunteered to coordinate the project for the California Genealogical Society (CGS) to transcribe the voter registration records for both the city and county of San Francisco. At the time, Jane didn't realize it would take 35 volunteers and seven years to complete the effort. Her team found about 57,000 entries, accounting for about one in five of the total population! These 1890 voters were all men: no women, no Asians and few Negroes were included.

We canceled our L-AGS meeting scheduled for September 11^th after the terrorists attacks. Our speaker Fran Schweitzer agreed to reschedule her presentation titled "Quilting and Genealogy Can Go Hand in Hand" for November 13^th.

On October 9 ^th, Barry Schrader of Livermore presented "Will the Last Person Leaving Livermore Please Dig Up the Time Capsule? - (and other Livermore lore)." This title was a variation of a book Barry wrote and printed in 1990 titled Will The Last Person Leaving Livermore Please Unscrew The Bulb In Fire Station One. His handout included a list of about 25 of "My favorite locally-produced books" by authors including L-AGS members Gary Drummond, Anna Siig and Anne Homan.

Barry used photos and highlights starting in 1967 when he and his wife first moved to Livermore from Illinois. He worked for both newspapers (now the Tri-Valley Herald and the Valley Times) followed by jobs at Sandia National Laboratories and currently Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). One interesting 1950 newspaper article discussed a planned Radiation Laboratory with a $7 million budget and 150 to 200 employees. This nearby laboratory began in 1952 and at times has had over 10,000 employees! It is especially interesting that next year when the LLNL celebrates its 50^th anniversary, our organization (L-AGS) will celebrate its 25^th anniversary.

Barry is an advocate of using Livermore's past heroes as subjects of future pieces of art – cowboy Johnie Schneider, ranchers A. D. "Sport" and Virginia (McClellan) Fillingham and World Heavy-weight Boxing Champion Max Baer. Among his preservation successes are the Southern Pacific Depot and the Ravenswood Historic Mansion. Among the preservation failures he counts Jack London's boyhood home (about age 8 to 10 years) (demolished), the Fallon House (wrong address burned in a fire department exercise), Ruby Hill Winery (arson fire) and May School (arson fire).

Some of our valley's historians have passed on including Janet and Ralph Newton, Virginia Smith Bennett, Dagmar Fulton and Herb Hageman. Living historians include Merilyn "Tillie" Calhoun, Barbara Bunshah, Gary Drummond, Anne Homan and Barry Schrader [adding an important name that was omitted]

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Eighth Grade Exam From Wayne Barnes

This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, Kansas. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, Kansas, and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

Grammar (Time, one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.
2. Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no modifications.
3. Define Verse, Stanza and Paragraph.
4. What are the Principal Parts of a verb? Give Principal Parts of do, lie, lay and run.
5. Define Case. Illustrate each Case.
6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of Punctuation.
7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 feet deep, 10 feet long, and 3 feet wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 pounds, what is it worth at 50 cents/bushel, deducting 1050 pounds for tare?
4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find cost of 6720 pounds of coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest on $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 feet long at $20 per metre?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)
1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607; 1620; 1800; 1849; 1865.

Orthography (Time, one hour)
1. What is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication?
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals?
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u'.
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e'. Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: Bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

Geography (Time, one hour)
1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America.
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the United States.
7. Name all the republics of Europe and give capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give inclination of the earth.

This gives the saying of an early 20^th century person that "she/he" had only an 8^th grade education a whole new meaning!
Sorry, no answers included. (Where would I get them?)

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If you have a particular interest in the American Revolutionary War, you will find this site interesting. One unique feature is its lists of still existing military orderly books from both armies. These chronicled the everyday events of an army's existence. Sample excerpts taken from one such a book makes fascinating reading.  http://www.revwar75.com/

If you trace any of your roots to County Clare, Ireland you will want to visit the Genealogy section of the Clare Library site. It offers several excellent search lists including an alphabetical index to the biographical notices in the Clare Champion newspaper for the period 1935-1985. http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/genealogy/genealog.htm

Dedicated to African American genealogy, this excellent site offers volumes of information, links to many searchable lists and unique items such as ships lists of emigrants sent to the colony of Liberia by the American Colonization Society in 1843.  http://www.ccharity.com/

An excellent aid for research in Wales is the National Gazetteer of Wales which includes a place name index with both Welsh and English names, a map of the counties and an explanation of the administrative units.  http://www.gazetteer-wales.co.uk/

The site of the Hispanic Genealogy Society of NY offers advice on research, links to surname search lists and online telephone number searches for Spain and Puerto Rico.  http://www.hispanicgenealogy.com

The British Columbia Archives has made available online searches of vital statistic indexes. All begin with 1872 but extend to different years. Births currently run to 1900, marriages to 1925, and deaths to 1980.  http://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/textual/governmt/vstats/v_events.htm

The Michigan State Archives has a work-in-progress project indexing the naturalization records by county. So far the indexes exist for Allegan, Kent, Mackinac, Marquette, Newayco and Sanilac counties. The site also has a directory of genealogy services available from the clerks of any of the counties in the state. http://www.sos.state.mi.us/history/archive/naturalization/index.html

If you are researching Pennsylvania data, you may want to visit the web site for that state's genealogy guide. It offers many searchable indexes – birth, marriage, obituaries, cemeteries, military and census data. http://pennsylvaniagenealogyguide.com/

If you are researching your Italian roots, this site focuses on Italian genealogy. It offers many good links for everything from maps to history along with several good online search lists. http://www.daddezio.com/

This site, well structured and growing, has links to both local and international sites relating to New Zealand genealogy.  Included are searchable lists for voters, surnames, land grants, military and others. http://www.geocities.com/babz_nz/index.html

A unique and ongoing project, this web site lists names transcribed from yearbooks of high schools and colleges in southern California. Some of these date back to the early years of the last century.  http://www.dreamwater.net/socal/ybhome.html

This site with both German and English introductions contains an alphabetized database of over 60,000 names from the area of Weiskirchen and nearby villages of the Saarland.   http://db.genealogy.net/ofb/hochwald/hochwaldlist.htm?

Suggesting a creative tool to explore when tracing descendants of African American slaves, this site attempts to match the surnames of the largest slaveholders on the 1860 census with the surnames of African-Americans enumerated on the 1870 census.  http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~ajac/

The Minnesota Historical Society has the deaths in that state for the period 1908-1950 indexed and available for online searching. http://people.mnhs.org/dci/Search.cfm

If you are interested in Greek genealogy you can find many useful suggestions at the personal site of Dr. Lica Catsakis.  http://www.licacatsakis.com/index.html

A site with online lists of  California marriages in several counties including San Francisco from the mid-1800s to early 1900s is located at http://www.idreamof.com/marriage/ca.html

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L-AGS Future Programs

November 13^th, we have Fran Schweitzer of Walnut Creek presenting "Quilting and Genealogy Can Go Hand in Hand". Earlier we had Fran scheduled for September 11^th when we canceled our L-AGS regular meeting after the terrorist attacks. Fran graciously agreed to reschedule her appearance for our November meeting.

December 11^th, we plan to have "Member Sharing." Some members have suggested that we don't have this "Member Sharing" session frequently enough during the year. Typically many of our L-AGS members bring items and genealogical stories to help update all of us with research successes and failures. Occasionally someone will even share a "genealogical brick wall."

In December we also plan to have a drawing with prizes including copies of J. Carlyle Parker's book, Wanting to Go to Salt Lake City But Can't. Barbara Bunshah has provided some prizes with fascinating photos and local history.

Soundex Solution

Whenever I would go to the library for census work, I would have to stop and look up the Soundex equivalent of the surname I was looking up and then use the Soundex and then the census. I was so frustrated at the extra step that I drew up a simple database of all the surnames in my collection (roughly 800) and using a Soundex calculator got the code numbers for each. I printed a six-column sheet and carry it with me whenever I am doing census research. I also keep a copy in my research books and where I keep my census pages. On these I just made two columns for each branch of each family. I listed the censuses I had found and left a column blank for the ones I would find in the future.
Vicki Renz from Ancestry.com Daily E-Mail Newsletter

Books We Own (BWO)

You might like to check out this site <www.rootsweb.com/~bwo/>. It is frequently updated with new information. If you have some family histories you might want to become a contributor/volunteer. This could even become a project within L-AGS if enough members were interested and there were enough books to make it worthwhile.

Another interesting book site is <www.higginsonbooks.com/surnameb.htm>. Once you are aware of a title and author you may be able to make a request at your local library for a helpful book.

Remember that indexes to books rarely include the names of all persons mentioned in the book and, in addition occasionally contain errors. If it appears that a book is likely to have valuable information, spend some time skimming its contents rather than return it to the library shelf after a quick glance at the index.

Beware of mail-order promotions offering what might purport to be a personalized genealogy of your surname. These books are not properly researched and documented genealogies; instead they are often little more than lists of names from phone directories or other readily available sources. Notify the Better Business Bureau, postal authorities and consumer advocate agencies if you receive one of these.

Remember that just because information is on the computer or in print, it isn't necessarily fact! Information in recent family histories is often based on that from older published works. If the older books are incorrect, the wrong information simply gets repeated and further disseminated.

Tip
It is always difficult to decide how to list each person's name in a family group photo. Try putting a light sheet of paper over the picture while holding it on a window or light box and trace an outline of all the people. Then number each person and put the numbered list, with names, below the tracing. Now the photo is safe and there is a nice identification list.

There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings.
Cecelia Lasbury

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2001

December 8, Santa Rosa, CA – CSGA North Bay region sponsoring a workshop, "Advance preparation for Researching the 1930 Census," 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Sonoma County Rincon Valley Regional Library, 6959 Montecito Boulevard, Santa Rosa. Helen Crisman, President of the San Mateo County Genealogical Society and a volunteer at the Pacific-Sierra Branch of the National Archives (San Bruno) will give a presentation about preparing in advance to research the 1930 census when it is released in April 2002. FREE.

2002

January 7-11, Salt Lake City, UT – Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy includes ten different courses for the beginning, intermediate or advanced genealogist. More information at <www.infouga.org>.

January 25-26, Boston, MA – GENTECH Conference "Family History at the Speed of Light." More details available on their web site at <www.gentech.org>.

March 2, San Luis Obispo, CA – "Tracing Your Family Tree in the 21^st Century." 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.. For location and fees contact slogen@fix.net or call 805-460-9021.

March 9, Sacramento, CA – The Family History Day at the State Archives, sponsored by the California State Archives, Root Cellars, and the Genealogical & Historical Council of Sacramento Valley. 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.. Research, resources, computer demonstrations, preservation techniques, genealogy and historical mini-classes. 1020 "O" Street, Sacramento. More details later. FREE!

March 23, Santa Rosa, CA – James L. Hansen will present an all-day seminar for the Sonoma County Genealogical Society. Topics include The Draper Manuscripts, Getting Around the Lost 1890 Census, Genealogy in Alphabetical Order, and What To Do When You Hit a Brick Wall. For information, contact Audrey Phillips, 96 Eastside Circle, Petaluma, CA 94954-3609, or call 707-537-1684; see the web site <www.rootsweb.com/~cascgs/hansen.html>, or e-mail LoisNim@aol.com.

April 7-14, California Genealogical Society trip to Salt Lake City. – Librarian Bette Kot and Jane Lindsey, will provide participants with a library orientation, assistance with their research and the opportunity to discuss research goals and how to achieve them. Experienced researchers are welcome! Look for more specific information after Thanksgiving. Tour will be limited to 30 participants. Call CGS, 510-663-1358 and ask to speak to Jane Lindsey, SLC Event Chairman.

April 13, Carmichael, CA – Sacramento German Genealogy Society's annual seminar held at the La Sierra Community Center in Carmichael. Registration starts at 8:00 a.m. with program beginning at 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.. Trudy Schenk, AG, will present: Counties and Principalities of the 18^th Century – A Political Map of Germany; "My Ancestor Came From Germany, That's All I Know" – highlights on research in Saxony and Thuringia; and Research in Germany with emphasis on primary records. For additional information contact Chuck Knuthson at cknuthson@surewest.net or see the web site at <www.sacgergensoc.org>.

April 13-14, Pasadena, CA – Southern California Genealogical Society's Annual Genealogical Jamboree, Pasadena Convention Center. For information, call Chris Hubbart, 818-843-7247, or e-mail scgs@earthlink.net or check the web site at <www.scgsgenealogy.com>.

May 11, Sacramento, CA – The Sacramento Genealogical Society presents Sandra H. Luebking lecturing on a variety of topics. Contact Chuck Knuthson cknuthson@rcsis.com for preliminary information.

May 15-18, Milwaukee, WI – The National Genealogical Society presents its annual Conference in the States. For information, check their web site at  <www.ngsgenealogy.org>.

August 7-10, Ontario, CA – Federation of Genealogical Societies Annual Conference. Ontario Convention Center, Ontario, CA. Information on their web site at <www.fgs.org>.

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The following page is still open for adoption:
From the Attic
If you would like to be responsible for this page, please contact Debbie Pizzato for more information.

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Some of our members have wished to donate books or other items to our group. We will be happy to receive such donations. The donor will receive a Thank You note to use for tax purposes, if desired.

Other members have wished to make a monetary donation on behalf of a loved one or friend. These donations will be used according to the donor's wishes, or if none is expressed, we will purchase items for our Pleasanton and Family History Libraries.

We welcome such donations and our Corresponding Secretary will acknowledge the gift. If a memorial, an acknowledgment will be sent to the family.

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