Blog

In the 125 years that the California Genealogical Society has been knocking around, we’ve acquired a number of interesting artifacts. One such item, the ceremonial President’s gavel, is still in use. Now nearly 110 years old, the gavel was a gift of Sarah Soule McMillan Patton in 1915. It’s made of wood from Roanoke Island, North Carolina, where Sir Walter Raleigh established an ill-fated colony in 1585.

The inscription on the silver band reads:

SIR WALTER RALEIGH’S COLONY
1585 ROANOKE ISLAND NC
CALIFORNIA GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY
1915 SARAH SOULE MCMILLAN PATTON

Chris Pattillo hold the CGS gavel as Jim Sorenson looks on

The gavel has been passed from one CGS President to the next for over a century, and recently Past President Jim Sorenson presented it to current President Chris Pattillo. Despite its age, it’s sturdy enough to deliver a satisfying whack, as Chris demonstrated at the close of the last Board meeting.

To register or for more information, click the link for any event. All times are Pacific Time. All classes free unless otherwise noted.

There are two classes in the “Tips & Talk” series at the Oakland FamilySearch Library this week. And you can attend them either in person or via Zoom!

Tuesday, March 12, 11 AM: “Snipping, Clipping, and Irfanview.” Robert and Portia NeVille demonstrate how to capture images online. This “How-to” session will teach you how to use the computer’s Snipping Tool and IrfanView to highlight, capture, and save parts of records and photos. We will practice with online records. Robert and Portia NeVille are one of three full-time missionary couples assigned as FamilySearch specialists. This is their fourth full-time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. They’ve previously served in Peru, Argentina, and Spain. Robert is fluent in Spanish and Portia “holds her own.”

Wednesday, March 13, 6:30 PM: “German Research Part 1” with Robert Jackson. First in a three-part series examining what motivated Germans to emigrate to America in the 19th century, as well as how to find the village of origin of your German ancestor. Once found, it is quite possible, and even fun, to easily extract at least a few generations of ancestors from German church records, which are increasingly available online. Robert will also show how much one can learn about one’s forebears from these records, not just names and dates. Robert, a Harvard history PhD, has engaged in German research for decades and looks forward to discussing your questions, ideas, and theories. Series continues on March 20 and March 27.

The following Special Interest Groups are meeting this week:

Friday, March 15, 10:30 AM: Mayflower Descendants SIG. Led by Robert Trapp. Focus on Mayflower ancestry and how to join The Society of California Mayflower Descendants. Discussion of ongoing research.

Sat., March 16, 10 AM: San Francisco SIG. Sandra Huber leads this group for those interested in finding San Francisco ancestors, with discussion of where to look for records both pre and post the 1906 earthquake.

Sat., March 16, 1 PM: Family Tree Maker SIG. Presentation, discussion, and troubleshooting for users of the popular genealogy software. Led by Ron Madson and Karen Halfon. Hybrid (held in person and on Zoom). 

And don’t forget:

Recording available through March 24:

How to Leave Your Genealogy: Don’t Let It Get Thrown Away! Lisa Gorrell’s presentation on tasks you can do now to leave your genealogy in good shape for your heirs.

Coming up March 30:

“You Can Do This: Photo Organizing and Preservation.” Thomas MacEntee, creator of “Genealogy Bargains,” discusses the best ways to organize and preserve family photos.

Library hours: Thursday and Friday 10 AM-2 PM and Saturday 10 AM-4 PM

Helpful Links
Events: https://www.californiaancestors.org/events-and-education/
Special Interest Groups: https://www.californiaancestors.org/special-interest-groups-for-members/
Calendar: Google calendar

RootsTech, the world’s biggest genealogy conference, has just wrapped up its 2024 session, and one thing that’s got the genealogy world buzzing is the unveiling of a new experimental search function on FamilySearch.org that can search every word of text in handwritten documents that haven’t yet been indexed. The program operates using AI, and the word everyone seems to be using is “game changer” (or game-changer or gamechanger, depending on your preference). What’s got people most excited is that you can type in a name and instantly get the return of numerous documents–they might include wills, deeds, or more. You can filter by state or county, or search using other keywords.

Right now the technology only applies to two collections: US Land and Probate Records and Mexico Notary Records. But what an abundance is to be found in these two collections! Genealogist Lisa Hork Gorrell, CGⓒ, a longtime CGS member, tried it out and reported her experience in her blog, Mam-ma’s Southern Family. A search for the surname “Coor” quickly turned up a document she’d never seen before that pertained to her fourth-great-grandfather John Coor (1785-1838), documenting his plan to build a sawmill with his neighbor Joel Hoggatt. She has since followed up on that with a post at her other blog, showing how to copy the information and cite it.

In the words of “The Legal Genealogist,” Judy G. Russell, “This is what we’ve all been hoping artificial intelligence could do for us.”

To learn more details of Lisa Gorrell’s search, see her blog posts here and here.

To try out the search function for yourself, log in to your FamilySearch account, or create an account (it’s free). Then go to https://www.familysearch.org/en/labs/, where you’ll find a link to the new Full Text Search, as well as links to several other experimental programs you can try out. Have fun!