Blog

Using Land Records in Genealogy – A CGS Workshop with Pam Miller

Saturday, August 8, 2009
10:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
California Genealogical Society Library
2201 Broadway, Suite LL2, Oakland, California

Join CGS member Pam Miller for this practical overview of land and property records and learn why they are absolutely necessary to your family history research. Discover how these often overlooked records can help you solve lineage problems, accurately identify ancestors, correct faulty information and enrich the story of those more distant ancestors.

Lecture topics will include terminology, abstracting, property law, the Public Land Survey System (PLSS, the aliquot system), the metes and bounds system, and the critical information found in deed books.

In addition, the workshop day will include a lunch break and “hands-on” sessions where participants can practice platting and locating specific lands. Bring your own land records to work on after learning how!

Attendees are encouraged to bring laptop computers; the six CGS computers may not all be available for the program. For the practical component Pam will supply graph paper and protractors. Suggested supplies are pencils, erasers and a ruler.

Bring a brown bag for lunch or, if you prefer, there is a nearby deli where you can buy a sandwich and bring it back to the library.

The workshop is FREE for CGS members but is limited to fifteen people. There is a sign-up fee of $10 for non-members. (This fee can be applied toward membership on the day of the workshop.) Download the registration flier. Questions? E-mail or call CGS at 510-663-1358.

Pam Miller, a native of Dallas, Texas, attended Stanford University where she earned a B.A. in Linguistics and an M.A. in Spanish. She was employed as an educator in the Bay Area for twenty-eight years, teaching Spanish and computer science. Pam grew up “walking the family lands” with her parents, inheriting her family’s love of maps and developing a severe case of what she calls “Tara Syndrome.” She has been a member of CGS since 2005.

Graphic courtesy of Pamela A. Miller.

Three exhausting but fun days at SCGS Jamboree 2009 are behind us. Tim has promised to write a report for the blog so I’ll just share a few photos and express my appreciation to everyone who contributed to the CGS table in the exhibit hall.

Special kudos to Tim Cox and Carolyn Steinberg who organized every aspect of space #114 in the hall and who are already planning to make next year’s CGS table even better. Heartfelt thanks also to CGS members Ron Filion, Arlene Folkers, Pamela Storm, Marston Watson and Geri Willinger for helping to staff the table.

Marston Watson and Tim Cox

Marston was a speaker at Jamboree this year. He graciously signed over his table in the hall to CGS and brought two of his Royal Families: Americans of Royal and Noble Ancestry books to sell: Volume Two – Reverend Francis Marbury and Five Generations of the Descendants Through Anne (Marbury) Hutchinson and Katherine (Marbury) Scott and Volume Three – Samuel Appleton and His Wife Judith Everard and Five Generations of Their Descendants.

Pamela Storm and Ron Filion

Pam and Ron of SFgenealogy.com brought their brochures and magnets and their expertise to the table. (And they wore their special tee shirts!)

Carolyn Steinberg, Steve Danko and Elyse Doerflinger.

Steve Danko of Steve’s Genealogy Blog and Elyse Doerflinger of both Elyse’s Genealogy Blog and The Graveyard Rabbit Student stopped by. They are both first-name-only geneabloggers since they have universal recognition in the gen-blog world (think Madonna). Steve will be our speaker at the July membership meeting.

Marston, Kathryn and Tim

Thanks, everyone, for a successful California Genealogical Society and Library presence at Jamboree!

Back in March I reported on an idea based on a conversation between CGS members Lisa Gorrell and Tim Cox that turned into a wonderful graphic designed by Lisa’s daughter Elizabeth Gorrell.

The “Tip of the Iceberg” graphic went viral after it was picked up by Dick Eastman who quoted Lisa’s wish:

What would be nice is to have a poster of it in every research facility – especially those with computers – to remind them that so little of their research will be found on the internet.

Thanks to the efforts of Tim Cox, Lisa’s dream has become a reality and the “Tip of the Iceberg” poster will make its debut on Friday at the Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree.

Tim informs me that an 11 x 17 full color poster will be available at Jamboree for only $10, including taxes and a protective cardboard tube, at the California Genealogical Society and Library table #114. Tim, Carolyn Steinberg and I will be staffing the table with some other CGS members so please stop by and see us. And consider purchasing a poster to donate to your local public library!