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Our weekly roundup of upcoming genealogy events. Numerous associations offer online genealogy classes every week, many of them free. To register for an event below, click on the name of the host organization.

CONFERENCES and SEMINARS

July 24: “Researching 17th-Century Settlers to New England” (American Ancestors)

July 24: 2021 Family History Seminar (Genealogical Society of North Orange County CA)

CGS EVENTS:

July 20: “Non-Traditional Family History Books” by Betsy Thal Gephart

July 22: “Finding Your Ancestor’s Five Senses: Using Manuscript Collections to Build Context” by Maire Gurevitz

American Ancestors

July 20: “Plunder: A Memoir of Family Property and Nazi Treasure” by Menachem Kaiser

July 22: “The Great Migration to New England: Conventicles to Companies to Congregations” by Robert Charles Anderson

BYU Family History Library

July 21: “Effective Use of the Allen County Public Library’s Genealogy Center” with Curt Witcher

FamilySearch Family History Library

July 20: “Using the FamilySearch Wiki” by Danielle Batson

Legacy Family Tree

July 20 & 21: “The Time of Cholera: A Case Study about Historical Context” by Alison Hare

July 21: “That Scoundrel George” by Judy G. Russell

Southern California Genealogical Society

July 21: “The Most Southern Place on Earth: The Mississippi Delta” by Nicka Sewell Smith

OTHER LISTINGS

>>Sutro Library’s Bay Area Genealogy Calendar lists a wealth of Bay Area events and exhibits, including regular genealogical group meetings. This week’s highlights:

July 20: “Scottish Genealogy Research” by Tina Beaird (San Ramon Valley Genealogical Society)

July 20: “If Maps Could Talk: An 1889 Map Project” (Santa Clara County Historical & Genealogical Society)

July 22: “Jello, Molds, Peacocks, and Turtle Soup: Genealogy and History of Food” by Gena Phillibert-Ortega (Marin County Genealogical Society)

July 23: “Sephardic Jewish Research: Jewish Ethnicity and DNA: History, Migration, Genetics” with Schelly Talalay Dardashti (San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society)

>>Conference Keeper has a large calendar of classes (too many to list) hosted by genealogical organizations around the country and abroad. Lots to explore, and new events are added often, so be sure to browse the entire calendar. Here’s a sampling of the coming week’s offerings:

July 19: “Virtual Introduction to Genealogy for Beginners” (New York Public Library)

July 20: “Piecing Together One Family’s Holocaust History: Film and Discussion” (New York Genealogical & Biographical Society)

July 21: “Show Me the Money: Techniques to Verify Colorful Tales” (IL Town & Country Public Library)

July 22: “Pandemic 1918! Fighting Influenza During the Great War” (Batavia IL Public Library)

July 23: “Introduction to the Texas State Archives Part 1” (Texas State Library & Archives Commission)

July 24: “Organizing Paper, Books & Digital Files, and Courthouse Research, including Wills and Probate” (Puget Sound WA Genealogical Society)

July 25: “Interviews and Family Research In Your Ancestral Town” (Ukrainian History and Education Center)

See our post “Genealogy Learning in the Time of Coronavirus” for links to classes archived online at Ancestry, FamilySearch, RootsTech, and more. Be well, stay safe, and happy learning!

Copyright © 2021 by California Genealogical Society

A 1923 photo from the Griffin Collection

NOTE:

This post is from Stewart Blandón Traiman‘s blog “Six Generations” and is reposted with his permission. Thank you, Stewart!

I enjoy genealogy research because it brings forgotten stories back to life. Piecing together a person’s life story using online databases with document images is energizing. One clue leads to another and with luck you’ll come to know who that ancestor was.

Genealogy has been transformed in the last half-century with the internet and the tremendous growth of online records. It’s been said that genealogical records are like an iceberg. What can be seen of the iceberg above water are the online records, while the greater iceberg volume below the surface represents offline sources. Every day more and more of the iceberg is seen above the surface.

Digitizing records not only makes them more accessible by the public but is crucial for record preservation as well. There are still vast amounts of resources in need of scanning and photographing so the future will know about the past. I’m grateful to everyone who’s worked to scan, index, and post online records which has made my research a bit easier.

I enjoy research, but I also enjoy record preservation. Both are key components of modern genealogy. I’ve been fortunate to have a few opportunities to digitize records for online publication. A few years ago, I worked with My China Roots at preserving a few dozen zufus. Today, I’m working with the California Genealogical Society (CGS).

I’ve been a member and volunteer with CGS since 2014. Part of our mission is to provide unique California, Bay Area, and San Francisco records to researchers. We have an extensive library in downtown Oakland with one-of-kind books. Our Manuscripts Collection archives donated research papers from dozens of past genealogists. And our Vertical File collection preserves hundreds of unique documents. All these resources can be found at Online Resources and Searchable Finding Aids.

During the CGS library pandemic closure, a group of volunteers ramped up our digitizing efforts. Since no one could come to the library it made sense to bring the library to them. Several unique books have been digitized and preserved online. As we’ve indexed and added images to our online offerings, we’ve also increased our Names Index searchable database.

For my part, I’ve gone through three archival collections gleaning any documents that are of interest to genealogists. I found beautiful treasures of old family photos, original marriage certificates, handwritten old correspondence, original deeds, diplomas, pedigree charts, and lots more. To date, I’ve scanned 4,600 documents from three manuscript collections – Frank Morgan Covell, Charles Francis Griffin, MD, and John Ellis Hale. All three men were members of CGS with the latter two being past presidents of the society.

This month the CGS board approved a motion allowing our volunteers to continue the effort, even though the library is reopened. We will continue identifying unique items in the library and making them available through our website.

I love research and I love preserving documents for the future. I will continue document preservation through CGS and any other opportunity that presents itself. In part, it’s my way of paying it forward, as gratitude to all the people who’ve posted online records and helped me piece together my family histories.

Our weekly roundup of upcoming genealogy events. Numerous associations offer online genealogy classes every week. Most are free. To register for one of the events below, click on the name of the host organization.

CGS Events:

July 13: “Using Facebook for Genealogy”

July 15: “Become the Family Historian Before You Become Family History!”

BYU Family History Library

July 14: “Best Practices for Working in FamilySearch’s Shared Family Tree” by Kathryn Grant

July 18: “Discovering Your Ancestors Using Federal Census Records” by James Tanner

FamilySearch Family History Library

July 12: Using the FamilySearch Catalog

July 13: Using the FamilySearch Mobile Apps

July 15: “Introduction to Latter-day Saint Church Records”

July 17: 在世界上最大的在綫家譜收藏搜尋家譜 (in Chinese) – Search for Genealogy in the World’s Largest Online Collection

Legacy Family Tree

July 14: “Comparing Jewish Resources on the Giant Genealogy Websites” by Ellen Kowitt

July 16: “Using Irish newspapers and other printed material” by Natalie Bodle

OTHER LISTINGS

Sutro Library’s Bay Area Genealogy Calendar lists a wealth of Bay Area events and exhibits, including regular genealogical group meetings. This week’s highlights:

July 12: “Blogging: Installment Plan for Publishing Your Family’s Story” by Jacqui Stevens

July 14: “US Migration Across the Country” (Solano County Genealogical Society)

July 15: “Sharing Your Family History: Ideas from the Experts” (Napa Valley Genealogical Society)

July 17: “Organize Like An Archivist” (Sonoma County Genealogical Society)

Conference Keeper has a large calendar of classes (too many to list) hosted by genealogical organizations around the country and abroad. Lots to explore, and new events are added often, so be sure to browse the entire calendar. Here’s a sampling of the coming week’s offerings:

July 12: Epidemics: An issue of Politics, Economics, and Religion (Tempe Chapter, Family History Society of Arizona)

July 13: “New DNA Features and Tools” (Genealogical Research Institute of Virginia)

July 14: “Ancient Snapshots: Verde Valley Family Life from the 11th to 14th Centuries”  (Arizona Historical Society)

July 15: “Researching Your Maritime Ancestors” (Portsmouth ME Public Library)

July 16: “Following The Irish Trail to Canada & Beyond” (Legacy Family Tree)

July 17: “Genealogy Garage: California History & Genealogy” (Los Angeles Public Library)

See our post “Genealogy Learning in the Time of Coronavirus” for links to classes archived online at Ancestry, FamilySearch, RootsTech, and more. Be well, stay safe, and happy learning!

Copyright © 2021 by California Genealogical Society