Blog | California Genealogical Society

(Don’t) Be Afraid. (Don’t) Be Very Afraid

by Debbie Mascot (6/2/2025)

To register for an event or for more information, click the link for any event. All times are Pacific Time.
Questions? Email [email protected]

The title’s tag line is from the movie, The Fly, where technology is ALMOST but NOT QUITE there and instead of moving a man from Point A to Point B, it merges a man and a fly, because… details.

Artificial intelligence can be a bit like the technology in The Fly. It’s sometimes almost, but not quite, there. It intrigues me that AI wants to please us so badly that sometimes it just makes things up (“hallucinates”). You could say, “Oh, I’m not using that until it’s got all its bugs (pun intended) worked out.” Well, sorry to say, but you are already using it.

If you use any search tool and you wait for something like what you are looking for to pop up after typing a couple of letters? AI. If you want Word to gramma-check your paragraph? AI. I think personally that it’s a great tool, but a tool, not a cheat.

To get you over any fears you have of AI, CGS has put together a whole series of AI talks for you this summer.

Save the dates for the below, which will also be featured in the Friday Upcoming at CGS blog posts with details as they are learned. Get Up to Speed on Artificial Intelligence with CGS. Registration pages are under construction and will be available by the end of June. Save the date, check our CGS web page, and start revving your motors.

Artificial Intelligence
Details to follow, but Stephen Little, AI Program Director for the National Genealogical Society and the founder of AI Genealogy Insights will give a talk for us in July.
When: Saturday, July 26, 2025 at 11:00 a.m.
Where: Online via Zoom
Cost: Free to CGS members
How to Register: Forthcoming

CGS Member Experience
Keith Montgomery and Janet Netz will share with us how they got started with AI and their excitement about what they have learned.
When: Saturday, August 9, 2025 at 1:00 p.m.
Where: CGS Library and Online via Zoom
Cost: Free to CGS members
How to Register: Forthcoming

AI Discussion
Keith Montgomery and Janet Netz will host a Zoom discussion group the following week to follow-up and gauge interest in a possible CGS AI SIG.
When: Wednesday, August 13, 2025 at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Online via Zoom
Cost: Free to CGS members
How to Register: Forthcoming

Using Artificial Intelligence on FamilySearch: Some Amazing Discoveries and Broken Brick Walls

Kelvin Brewer of the Oakland FamilySearch Center will give a talk about using AI with FamilySearch.
When: Wednesday, September 10, 2025 at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Online via Zoom
Cost: Free
How to Register: Forthcoming

Helpful Links
Events: https://www.californiaancestors.org/events-and-education/
Special Interest Groups: https://www.californiaancestors.org/special-interest-groups-for-members/
Calendar view: https://www.californiaancestors.org/cgs_calendar/
Tips & Talk: Oakland FamilySearch Center Family History Classes: https://www.familysearch.org/en/centers/oakland_california/classes

Upcoming at CGS

by Debbie Mascot (5/30/2025)

To register for an event or for more information, click the link for any event. All times are Pacific Time.
Questions? Email [email protected]

Local Meet-ups
Members gather together in homes, public libraries, cafes and even community rooms in condominium units. A facilitator leads the discussion as members share research topics, common interests, new resources discovered in an informal setting. Friendships have developed along with partnerships in resources and a better understanding of the many benefits available to CGS members.
• Danville – June 5 10:30-12
• Oakland – June 5 1-2:30
• Lamorinda – June 10 10:00-11:30
• Martinez – June 30 10:30-12
If interested in one of these or another Regional Gathering in your area, please contact Kim Farnham-Flom ([email protected]).

Introduction to Genealogy for 2025
In these 4-week sessions the CGS experts will help you get started with your research or reboot your research. The classes may be taken in any order, and participation in one class is not required to attend others in the series. See below for dates and topics:
• Jan 4, May 3, Sep 6 Genealogy Basics Overview
• Feb 1, Jun 7, Oct 4 Using the Census
• Mar 1, Jul 5, Nov 1 Vital Records (Birth, Marriage, and Death)
• Apr 5, Aug 2, Dec 6 Organizing Your Family History Work

When: Saturday, June 7, 2025 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Where: Virtually via Zoom or in person at the CGS Library
Cost: Free!
How to Register (Note: Separate registration required for each session: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2025-intro-to-genealogy-1st-saturday-free-overview-and-focused-topics-registration-1114289041519)

Mayflower Descendants Special Interest Group (SIG)
Do you have Mayflower ancestors (or think you may have them)? Join Robert Trapp the first Saturday of each month to lean more. This SIG meets on the first Saturday of each month in person at the CGS Library. Each month will vary as to the subject matter followed by a Q&A session. Robert is an expert in all things Mayflower and can help show you what you need to join the Society of California Mayflower Descendants or learn more about your Mayflower ancestors.
When: Saturday, June 7, 2025 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Where: CGS Library
Cost: Free to CGS members
How to Register: https://www.californiaancestors.org/special-interest-groups-for-members/

Special Events:

Finding Missing Ancestors in Institutional Records
Do you have any family members who mysteriously disappeared? Were their rumors that they were institutionalized or committed to a “lunatic asylum”?”poorhouse”? What about orphanages? Or other places not to be mentioned like jails? Madeline Yanov will provide tips on where to find records and other sources for clues such as court records, probate or surrogate records, newspapers, and death records so your ancestor dones’t have to be lost anymore.
When: Wednesday, June 11, 2025 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Where: Online
How to Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/finding-missing-ancestors-in-institutional-records-registration-1319533091999

LGBT Genealogy
Stewart Traiman will present his extensive coverage of census, newspapers, obituaries, military records, photographs, phone books and archives for clues on the oft hidden LGBTQ members of our family trees.
When: Saturday, June 14, 2024 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Where: Online
How to Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lgbtq-genealogy-registration-1319526692859

Family Tree Maker Special Interest Group
Save the date for Saturday, June 21, as the FTM SIG is going to host a Photoshop Elements workshop from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. This event will be at the Oakland FamilySearch Center. Sign up link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ftm-sig-june-21-2025-photoshop-elements-labelling-photos-and-ftm-registration-1332383718569?aff=oddtdtcreator

Opportunities and Resources at the United Irish Cultural Center
Pati Traktman and Jennifer Dowling will provide a brief history of the Patrick J Dowling LIbrary and the genealogy club at the United Irish Cultural Center. They will also give three live demonstrations of the riches there: the online library catalog, the available digital content including the Leader newspaper, and the 1898 Irish Fair names list. Other items of note in the collection and recent Genealogy Club topics will whet your appetite for a visit or membership
When: Saturday, June 27, 2025 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Where: Online or in person at the CGS Library 2201 Broadway, Oakland
Cost: Free for CGS Members, $10 for non-members
How to Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/irish-ancestry-special-interest-group-registration-1243718227699?aff=oddtdtcreator

Chinese American Genealogy: Silver Linings
Sponsored by the Genealogy Institute/National Genealogical Society. Coordinated by Grant Din. He brings together a team of 13 other faculty members in various aspects of Chinese American Genealogy including access to Immigration and Naturalization case files, DNA, zupu, ancestral village visits, etc. This course will focus on Chinese American genealogy from the early gold miners and railroad builders through years of government exclusion and the records left behind. Post World War II, it will talk about ways families began to be created and reunited through war brides legislation and then finally the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. It will also provide information on learning about families in China. (Grant Din, Ron Can, Patrick Chew, Baldwin Chiu, Tammy Hepps, Michael Ho, Larissa Lam, Leona Lau, Marisa Louie Lee, Jeanie Low, Carly Lane Morgan, Trish Hackett Nicola, Linda Harms Okazaki)
When: Sunday, June 22 through Friday, June 27
Cost: Regular Price: $585.00, NGS Member Price: $550.00
Registration and more information: https://grip.ngsgenealogy.org/courses/chinese-american-genealogy-silver-linings/

Helpful Links
Events: https://www.californiaancestors.org/events-and-education/
Special Interest Groups: https://www.californiaancestors.org/special-interest-groups-for-members/
Calendar view: https://www.californiaancestors.org/cgs_calendar/
Recordings for Members: https://www.californiaancestors.org/videos_for_cgs_members/
Tips & Talk: Oakland FamilySearch Center Family History Classes: https://www.familysearch.org/en/centers/oakland_california/classes

Legacy Family Tree Webinars

by Debbie Mascot (5/28/2025)

To register for an event or for more information, click the link for any event. All times are Pacific Time.
Questions? Email [email protected]

Do you visit Legacy Family Tree Webinars? They have over 2,400 webinars about family history to listen to, with many (if not most) free! I personally am a subscriber because I want to see them around and growing for years, so it’s a small token of my support. But even without being a subscriber, there is so much there.

Categories are vast—Beginners, Historical Records, Writing and Publishing, Technology, and much more. There are also several languages available including Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German and Italian, just to mention a few.

I love to visit and search for whatever I feel like learning at the time. Today I was looking at South Dakota in my family history and on Legacy Family Tree Webinars, there is a class called “Genealogical Research in the Dakotas” by Paula Stuart-Warren. To study my Scottish ancestry, there are 33 webinars to choose from. Want to learn more about DNA? There is a 5-part series in the foundations of using DNA for family history research.

I hope you visit and find something to help in your genealogical education!