Motivation Monday - We Lasted Two Years!!!

       Happy Second Blogiversary                                                                                                                                                                          Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society!

                                                          HIP! HIP! HOORAY!!

posted by Sandra Gardner Benward

 

Make your wish! Blow out the candles!  Today April 29, 2013, Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society's (RCSGS) will celebrate its second anniversary as a member of  GeneaBloggers - the ultimate site for genealogy blogs.

 

For our newer members that don't know about Geneabloggers, I will attempt to explain. Root Cellar SGS tech committee opened a blog for its members on April 29, 2011. We were introduced to a website (more of a blog community umbrella) called GeneaBloggers. It has all kinds of helps for bloggers trying to get started and to continue. A LOT OF SUPPORT AND HELP. It offers a set of Daily Blog Prompts (Society Saturday, Wordless Wednesday, Friends of Friends Friday) and searches on them nightly. Their search engine (like Google or Bing) crawl through the internet looking for and collecting posts from many different genealogy blog sites. They are then collected in GeneaBloggers roll-up for Daily Blog Prompts.

 

Root Cellar Ramblings Blog Team is very excited that we are so involved with GeneaBloggers and have been accepted by the genealogy blogging community.  Over the past two years, Root Cellar Ramblings blog posts have appeared many many times on the GeneaBloggers roll-up for Daily Blog Prompts, and our events (Root Cellar SGS Spring Seminar/ Family History Day) have appeared on the GeneaBloggers Calendar. The benefits to our Society and members has been tremendous - increased visibility of what our Society has to offer researchers, e.g., publications (thanks to our Extraction Team), and an increased audience and a showcase for our member's family history including those pebble /stone /or brickwalls. The acceptance of our fellow bloggers has been so encouraging.

 

I personally have had a family connection this past week with a post I put up April 2012. It does work.

Let's offer a toast to our THIRD successful year on GeneaBloggers! A Special Thank You to Thomas MacEntee, creator of GeneaBloggers, for his service to the blogging community and genealogical societies. (You remember Thomas from our own Spring Seminar)  

 

HAPPY SECOND BLOGIVERSARY

Root Cellar Ramblings  & Team

Society Surprise Sunday We Have Exceeded Our Goal TWICE!!

... posted by Sandra Gardner Benward - Thank You!!

Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society has challenged their members to raise funds for the "Preserve the Pensions War 0f 1812". This effort is being spearheaded by the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS). They are doing the actual digitizing of the Pension Records - all with a mass appeal for support and funds to the genealogical community. The community has listened and funds are being raised all over the county.

In early April, we told our members that Root Cellar SGS would match any funds received for this project up to $300.

YOU HAVE MET THAT GOAL AND EXCEEDED IT.............

So Root Cellar SGS board extended their offer to their members to match funds received up to $500

YOU HAVE MET THAT GOAL AND EXCEEDED IT TOO!!

WOW, what next??? Root Cellar SGS will continue collecting funds through their June General Meeting. After all, what ever funds we match and additional funds raised will ALL be matched again by Ancestry.com. So this can only be a WIN-WIN effort.

This is a genealogical community effort.......  if you would like to contribute please feel free to send us your donation (please label it 1812). Make your check out to Root Cellar SGS, and mail it to same, P.O.Box 265, Citrus Heights, CA 95611..... and Thank You.  

Special Thank You to Rick Hanson for creating our graphic and continuing to update it when necessary.

Society Saturday - Root Cellar's May Calendar

Editor's note:  This post was written by Denise Hibsch Richmond, Publicity Chairperson for Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society.  Image courtesy of Flickr.


Here is a list of events, aka learning opportunities, we hope you'll take advantage of in May 2013:

Thursday, May 2
Board Meeting, members welcome
Time: 10 am – noon
Location: Sylvan Community Center, 7521 Community Dr, Citrus Heights

Thursday, May 9
Membership Meeting, visitors always welcome
Time: 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Program: Old Genealogy Books Online by Jim Rader
About the Program and Speaker
Location: Christ Community Church, 5025 Manzanita Avenue, Carmichael
NEW! 6:30pm - 7:00pm: Special Interest Groups - States TBD

Wednesday, May 15
Workshop, visitors always welcome

Program: Help with brickwalls; helpful research and tech tool tips
Time: 1 pm – 3 pm
Location: Sylvan Community Center, 7521 Community Drive, Citrus Heights

Wednesday, May 22
Reunion for Mac Special Interest Group, everyone welcome
Program: Brainstorming solutions to users’ problems and questions
Time: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm
Location: Family History Center, 2745 Eastern Ave, Sacramento
Contact: Ron Setzer, PreservesEditor@rootcellar.org

More Information
We'd be more than happy to answer any questions you may have about these activities.  Leave a Comment on the Blog or drop us a line at rootcellarsgs@gmail.com.  See you in May!

Visit a little bit of Sacramento at the 2013 NGS Conference

[Editor's Note: Today's post was written by Richard Hanson. Image courtesy of NGS.]

Are you attending the NGS 2013 Family History Conference (May 8-11 in Las Vegas)? The local Sacramento German Genealogy Society is hosting a vendor booth at that event. They will be selling books and memberships. Booth volunteers will include Shirley Riemer and Ingeborg Carpenter. Be sure to stop by and say hello! Or in their case, Hallo!

The Sacramento German Genealogy Society is one of two local sister societies of Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society. The other is the Genealogical Association of Sacramento.

Follow Friday – Conference Keeper Website

[Editor's Note: Today's post was written by Richard Hanson.]

Local genealogist Virginia Kysh recently found a useful calendar of upcoming genealogical conventions called Conference Keeper (www.conferencekeeper.net). It lists local, state, national and international genealogical conferences. It also includes calls for papers, writers events, a #genchat schedule and conference alerts.

If you look on the list for California, you will see an announcement for Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society's 2014 annual seminar.

Spring Seminar: Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society

Apr 5, 2014; Fair Oaks, CA. Website.

Get Emailed Pages from the FHL in Salt Lake City

[Editor's Note: Today's post was written by Richard Hanson.]

Not all of the holdings of the Family History Library (FHL) in Salt Lake City can be loaned to its branch libraries. For years the FHL provided a photocopy service for those not wanting to make a personal visit. Volunteers there would copy and mail requested pages.

That mailing service is still available. But beginning early February of this year a new service has been added. They will email digital scans of the requested pages to you in the form of attached PDF of JPEG files. For details go their new Feb. 4 blog entry. Be sure to review the posted comments and replies since important experiences and clarifications are posted there.

Tuesday's Tip – Find Your Family Photographer

[Editor's Note: Today's post was written by Richard Hanson. Photo courtesy of Richard Hanson's Hanson-Olson family history photo collection.]

Photos are both an important source of information and critical to creation of interesting family history publications. All of us inherit photos and make an effort to get copies from known relatives. But for many of you, there may a pot of gold out there awaiting your discovery. As you identify your historical extended family, pay special attention to their occupations and hobbies. Look for that professional photographer or photography hobbyist. That person would likely have accumulated a vast collection of extended family photos (portraits, family events, residences). Try to find out what happened to that photographic collection. I found one such person in my father's family, a grand uncle named Edward Olson.

Edward Olson and his home-built motor-bicycle. Photo taken during 1920s or 30s. Edward Olson (1879-1946, son of Louis Olson and Hilda Anderson) was a professional photographer, musician and inventor – the family techie of his era. Joined in the migration of his Olson family relatives from Minnesota to Sacramento during the 1930s, himself having arrived in 1936.

Virtually everyone had some of Edward Olson's photos. He must have widely distributed some  photos which made him easy to identify. But what happened to his collection? Edward Olson had no descendants and no wife when he died. As my father and I contacted the extended family we found various people had caches of his photos, starting with my Olson grandmother. I subsequently inherited most of her cache of photos. Relatives must have divided up his library of photos. We made copies of those belonging to others usually by personally visiting them with 35mm cameras and tripods (pre-digital camera era). One trusting relative in another state mailed us a big packet of 1920s-era photos to copy. I currently have all the photos cataloged, scanned and saved as high-resolution TIFF files. I provide a complete set of scanned images on optical media to all interested extended family members. Phase II of my search begins with me coming up with a better way of categorizing the photos so that recipient relatives will easily be able to determine which ones I am missing. Likely, many more of his photos are out there waiting to be found.

Mobile Monday – Recording Textual Notes

[Editor's Note: Today's post was written by Richard Hanson.]

I so dislike transcribing from a recording. It invariably plays too fast which means I have to listen to it ten times before finishing my typing. From almost day one, smart phones included a recorder app which I never used for anything beyond a brief message. But with voice recognition technology recently becoming a built-in feature for both the newer-model iPhone and Android phones, the situation has changed.

I use an iPhone 5 and its included Notes app allows me to verbally create textual notes. Upon creating a new note (page in the virtual tablet) I press the microphone icon on the presented keypad and start talking. Nothing happens at first, except for a microphone icon displaying the fluctuating volume of my voice.

At this point the app is simply making a record of my voice. Not until I stop talking and press the "Done" button does the phone send the encoded voice to the Apple's servers in North Carolina for translation. The resulting text sent back to the phone and displayed on the Note app's page. You've now deduced that an Internet connection is needed for all this to work. Accurate voice translation is far too complex for the phone to do on its own.

I've found the text translation to be extremely accurate, even with proper names. In the event it makes a mistake, you must fix it using those tiny little keys on the screen's displayed keypad. You cannot issue verbal editing commands. Getting the text back to your main computer can be done by email, messaging or Cloud-based syncing. I use that sync option.

Android-based smartphones have the same built-in capability. And they too need an Internet connection, to Google's servers.

See also Ron Setzer's Mobile Monday blog (Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society) dated October 24, 2011 that discusses a 3rd party app, Dragon Dictation. That app also turns your spoken words into text. While Dragon Dictation also requires an Internet connection, it has the advantage of being compatible with older smartphones.

Census Sunday – Census Finder

[Editor's Note: Today's post was written by Richard Hanson.]

FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com are not the only online sources for census records. Both domestic and international census databases are posted elsewhere in whole or in part. But finding them can be a bit of a challenge. Ditto for finding free versions of them.

One solution, more structured and focused than Cyndi's List, is the website Census Finder (http://www.censusfinder.com).

Census Finder provides a listing of over 40,000 census links. If you can't find what you want through the posted census websites, each page also provides related links and identifies the traditional sources for vital records.

Society Saturday - Sacramento County Coroner's Records 1887-1969 New Additions

[Editor's note:  Today's post was written by Denise Hibsch Richmond.]

Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society (RCSGS) announces the release of three new books for the Sacramento County Coroner’s Records Collection 1887-1969. This release marks the completion of the series totally 20 books in 12 volumes. RCSGS volunteers, under the direction of Marilyn Ulbricht, extracted and indexed these records from original books of the Coroner's Office of Sacramento County housed at the Center for Sacramento History (Center) and acquired through the efforts of the Sacramento Old City Cemetery Committee.

The books include the decedent’s name; date of death; place of death; nativity; age; cause and circumstances of death; burial and funeral information; and book and page of the original book. A Master Index of all 20 books will be available soon. The extracted information is comprehensive but even more is available in the original books. Also, the Center has many of the original Coroner Inquests that correspond with surnames in the Sacramento County Coroner’s Records Collection.

These publications and others are available for purchase at the Society’s Store. The original books are available for research at the Center by appointment, (916) 808-7072 or email csh@cityofsacramento.org.

The three books just published include:

Vol. XI - Book 18: Coroner's Register January 1961 - June 1964

4,000 Surnames, 332 pages

8½ x 11 soft cover

$30.00+ tax

Vol. XII - Books 19 and 20 with Index

Book 19: Coroner's Register June 1964 - December 1967

Book 20: January 1968 - December 1969

8,989 Surnames, 68 pages

8½ x 11 soft cover

$20.00+ tax

About Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society
The Society was formed in 1978 to help members with genealogical research through education, publication of information and preservation of records. Society activities include a monthly membership meeting, workshop and Reunion for Mac Special Interest Group, an annual spring seminar, a monthly newsletter Geni-Gram, and an online periodical Preserves. It has a long-standing partnership with the Center for Sacramento History for the extraction of original records housed there. Publications of these records and many genealogy books are available for use at the Root Cellar Genealogical Library housed at the California State Archives in Sacramento, California. Contact: rootcellarsgs@gmail.com or Facebook.

Thankful Thursday: Fundraiser for War of 1812 Pension Records

[Editor's note:  Today's post was written by Denise Hibsch Richmond.  Image credit: Richard L. Hanson.]

Thank you Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society members and friends for your generous response!

Nearly two weeks ago, the Society announced that it was joining the "Preserve the Pension Records - War of 1812 Project" spearheaded by the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS).  The initial challenge to membership was to match the $300 issued by the Board.  The goal was met within days.  Root Cellar issued the same challenge to all Northern California genealogical societies.

Noting the excitement of its members, the Board increased the challenge to $500.  Again, members responded overwhelmingly.

As of today, $460 has been raised toward the Society's goal of $500 for the fund to digitize the fragile pensions records of the War of 1812.  Double this amount with the match from Ancestry.com. (Image update pending.)

The Numbers, updated

• $920 raised by Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society including the dollar for dollar match by Ancestry.com
• 2,045 pages digitized

Challenge to Northern California Genealogical Societies
Days ago, Root Cellar issued a challenge to all Northern California Genealogical Societies to initiate their own fundraiser to help preserve the pension records for the War of 1812.  Meet, beat or establish your own goal - any amount will help pay for this mass digitization project.  Root Cellar is waiting to hear from its sister societies!

Root Cellar members and their friends can donate to the fundraiser through June 2013.  All donations will be forwarded to FGS shortly thereafter.  Updates about the progress in donations will continue through June.  Thank you again for supporting this project.

Wordless Wednesday - Workshop Wednesday

[Editor's Note:  Today's 'almost wordless' post is presented by Denise Hibsch Richmond who also took the photos.]

 

 

Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society conducts monthly workshops to discuss member's successful family history discoveries and get suggestions on how to find those brickwall ancestors.  Pictured: the 20 Mar 2013 workshop which included a briefing about Amish research by President John Jay. 

Society Saturday - "Preserve the Pensions War of 1812" Project

I suppose you heard Root Cellar SGS (RC) is participating with the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS),  Ancestry.com,  fold3, FamilySearch and many other societies and individuals around the country and the world to financially help support the
"Preserve the Pensions War of 1812 "Project

We announced our participation in this project through our blog, and then spoke directly to you about it at our April Meeting. You have embraced it and made your donations. Thank You So Much.


 ........  want to know how we are doing already? 

As you can see  from the graphic below we have ALREADY reached our goal.......
 

$300 in donations from our membership

this will be matched dollar for dollar from Root Cellar SGS organization....

 giving us $600 total donation, but WAIT

with additional matching funds from Ancestry.com

Root Cellar members now will be donating $1200

  

WOW!! I am so impressed and you should be just as impressed with your generosity and support. 

Maybe we should continue to collect and see how much more we can collect. What do you say? We were going to collect through the June Meeting and that is still almost two months. Let's do it!!!

Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society would like to challenge all the societies in Northern California to get involved with the "Preserve the Pensions War of 1812" digitizing project. Let the country know that Northern California cares and wants to support and be a part of this huge effort.

special thank you for the wonderful graphic created by Rick Hanson
...............and posted by Sandra Gardner Benward on behalf of our membership - Thank You!

Follow Friday - Indexing Indexing Indexing

Don't abandon INDEXING continue to follow your Root Cellar team - sign on and help ....... this is something that you can do anytime, anywhere, dressed however you want. You can even do it in bed, drinking champagne (this might help those letters to pop out better or NOT) and eating strawberries and chocolate.......  convinced yet??

Just a reminder that even though the "1940 US Census Records" are completely indexed and are searchable doesn't mean that you are no longer needed to help. There are hundreds of projects on FamilySearch.org that need you attention, your help, your time. Look at see what is available. You can do California Records, Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida or whatever is available but if you want you can do any records that are available from all over the world. (If you are blessed with speaking/reading/writing more than one language your skills are truly valuable and can help others in other countries as well. Continue to maintain those skills and use them on a regular basis by indexing)

INDEXING ...  this is a great way of keeping that beautiful brain of yours active and alert.

Root Cellar's indexing team is still intact and most are active. Did you know we have our own team? You can be on the team and work on whatever project you would like. If you want to try your hand at it and don't know where to start contact Sandi Gardner Benward

Remember that these records only become available with your help. [I hope that there is someone in Alliance, Stark Co., Ohio; Allegheny(Pittsburgh), Allegheny Co., PA; New Haven, New Haven, CT; Cuba, Allegany Co., NY is doing the same thing so I might find my elusive anscestors - their immigration records, naturalization records, probate records, simple B,M &D records. I thank you now. In turn I am working very hard getting Sacramento County Records indexed, and any other California record for you.

Go to FamilySearch click on INDEXING (across the top of your screen) click on GET STARTED. A new screen will come up - click on DOWNLOAD NOW and follow instructions...... You are downloading a separate program that will deposit a new icon on your desktop. This icon is where you will go to begin your indexing life. Please contact me if you need assistance. Once you understand what the icon is, the program is that you are using and how to move around, how to find the project to index you will feel comfortable. If you go back to the original page on FamilySearch under Indexing - instead of clicking on Get Started look over the rest of the page for help and support.

Good Luck .........  let me know when you are on and up and running. I would love to have you join our society team - but still only an option.

posted in hopes that you will sign up - Sandra Gardner Benward

Treasure Chest Thursday - a basket full of goodies

pictures & post by Sandra Gardner Benward 

Have you ever been to the Root Cellar SGS Spring Seminar?               It is always a sold out event with a full day of learning, sharing, buying and winning.

One thing they do that I have not seen done to the extent they do it....  "raffle baskets" - huge, filled to top, shrink wrapped and tied in a bow. They are amazing. I believe that the committee is collecting for these baskets all year long. Everything in all the baskets (except for wrapping materials) is donated from you. Now that is amazing.

March 16 2013 was the day of the last Seminar.  As you can see below there are 16 themmed baskets. The contents of the basket is all spellled out for you, no guessing games there. And it only takes one ticket to win but who buys one ticket. It is a fund raiser for the society and is well supported. (even though it tells you what is in each basket there is nothing like being able to actually touch and feel....  that is a whole other thing and you only experience this when you win one of these baskets)

After all these years of attending, I was lucky to win one. These baskets are packed with goodies, so packed that you will need a rolling cart and help to roll it out to your car .........  mine was no exception. Now of course getting into the car is another matter. Mine only fit in the passenger front seat, so I belted it in (sort of) and off we went.........  so excited!!

Do you wonder what could be in those baskets? I know they give a list but when you have it all out in front of you, you really wonder how it all fit in that basket. (note: the baskets are usually recycled back to the next Seminar Committee and they start all over again)

My Basket was named the "CRAFTY" basket,  and you will shortly see why it was named that. Attached to  my basket was a $100 gift certificate donated by one of our vendors "Family Tree Inspirations" This is going to be something special, an orginal family chart for the wall. OMG, that gives me goose bumps just thinking about it.  (Other donations came from Cox Black & White Lab (Custom Photographic Lab/ Sacramento CA)  and Family Roots Publishing Co., LLC  (excellent book selection for sale)

 

This is before the doors of the Seminar opened. All the baskets waiting, waiting waiting !!

 

 

That's me, Sandra Gardner Benward, MY Crafty Basket & $20 worth of tickets (and yes it only takes one ticket but you never know which one of those tickets will be the winner)

Below is a list of what is in the basket & my gift certificate. SWEET!!

Family Tree Inspirations with Christine Greenall

 

A Big Thanks for Christine for her generousity. 

She donated several other gift certificates attached to other baskets

 

OK here we go. A picture is always worth a thousand words.

 

A little paint and a couple of pictures would make a nice gift for a grandchild to put on their wall

 

AND somewhat Genealogy related books plus a surprise in the FamilySearch bag - Syllabus for the 2012 Family Hitory Day Event at the California State Archives

 

Mark Your Calendars  Family History Day2013 - October 12, 2013 

 

Our Family Tree Book will make a nice gift for a young couple just starting out in life. (humm I have one or two of them in my life)

"How to Write Love Letters" is very interesting.  

Lots of paper products......... writing paper, note cards, tablets, bow around a tower of note pads, pencils, pens & highlighter in its own great box (that box looks very familiar)                               

I know you are looking at the flower packs at the bottom and thinking why are they there - they are not packets of seeds but note pads - so original. 

Photo Box, Scrapbooking Book plus DVD software (now I am very excited) plus some scrapbooking accents.....  and a small purse size picture album

 

.....odds and ends - Drafting paper, two packs of colorful craft sticks, lint cleaner, a sweet metal heart shaped box, a very flexible ruler, foam stamps and a great chocolate stamp plus that nice little strawberry on the top right of the drafting paper is in reality a shopping bag- the bag is all stuffed in the strawberry shape ready to use whenever needed - I like that.  

 

All different types of craft books, booklets - knitting (YEA!), lots of stenciling books & booklets, folk art, painting, candlewicking, hand towels to embroider on...........

 

.........plus lots of booklets, materials, patterns, kits on sewing and quilting, a nice pin cushion (great color) plus a great Table Top Book titled "Creative Crafts and Stitchery"

Now you know it is meant for me - the only bookmark in the "Quick-Method Quilting" Book is for the "Snowball in OHIO" quilt. Any of you that know me know that I am a Buckeye Baby from Alliance, Stark Co., Ohio born too many years ago.

 

Something totally different found tucked in the Creative Crafts & Stitchery Book

is a typed letter (6 pages) 

Dated March 20, 1977 written to Roger & Rosalie from Frances                  

The first parapragh reads "I ran across this paper a couple of years ago, and then found it again just last week. I thought you two might want to read it. It's about the crucifixtion of Christ."

If someone recognizes this and wants it back please contact me and soon. 

 

Wow, what a haul! Now you know what to expect when you win a basket next year.

 

Mark your Calendars: April 5, 2014 with Geoff Ramussen of  Legacy Family Tree

more details to come online soon:

Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society 

 

Root Cellar's Blog 

 

or you can always email us at rootcellarsgs@gmail.com with questions, comments or suggestions

 

Thank you ladies and gents of Root Cellar SGS

 

posted by Sandra Gardner Benward

 

Wishful Wednesday - Attending National Genealogical Society in Las Vegas?

My wish came true.........  I am going to NGS Las Vegas Conference May 8-11, 2013.

NGS

Is the NGS3013 Conference on your wishlist? You still have two more weeks for preregistration -  deadline is April 22 and then the cost goes up. Don't wait register now.

There will be a lot of things going on before, during, and after the conference.  Extend your time and do some sight seeing, see a show or two, drop a couple of quarters into the slots and just have fun. The weather should be great if you are outdoors - lots of golf courses in the area

What's new this year? What is being planned? ....of course this is besides all the great sessions that are planned to aide in our research of our ancestors.

 * it will be held at the LVH-Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, 3000 Paradise Road, Las Vegas, Nevada, in the ground floor conference center.
* hotel and conference center are under one roof
* LVH is ten minutes from McCarran International Airport and is convenient to I-15 and I-515.
* Las Vegas Monorail begins at the LVH and carries passengers to six major Strip resorts
* self-parking is free and plentiful
* valet parking is free
* this year the Conference will feature an extra-large lecture hall. The largest lecture hall this year will accommodate more than 700 participants  
* Thursday morning breakfast gatherings, NGS is sponsoring a first-timers’ breakfast for those attending their first NGS conference
* an Internet café with free Wi-Fi Internet for up to 300 attendees at a time 
* pre-events: Hoover Dam AND Ethel M. Chocolates Tour
* pre-events: Museum Tours to Clark County Museum and the National Atomic Testing Museum
* Youth Camp on Saturday
  

I am getting spoiled. When I go to a conference (any conference) I expect to have a conference app available for my iphone & ipad. I am so dissappointed when there isn't one available.      

But my wish came true again......      
Did you know that NGS has a Mobile App for your smartphones and ipads and it is available now? Yes NOW. If you are going to  attend this conference, download the app from the app store and get organized. You can schedule your sessions, travel, meals, extra activities, keep in touch with other participants through the app twitter and facebook connection. The app contains maps of the conference center, hotel..... lists of other events, activities and restaurants inside and outside the hotel. You can evaluate each session through the app.

                                                  To download the NGS Mobile App


I am hearing (rumors only at this point) that there may be several free sessions for people who cannot attend to watch and enjoy. More on that when information comes available.

Go to National Genealogical Society Conference Online Information


  posted in hopes that you will be attending - Sandra Gardner Benward
 
 

Tombstone Tuesday - Mystery at the Cemetery

              What do you know about Cemeteries? 

     Do you need some help with Cemetery Research?

Come and Join Us April 11, 2013 Root Cellar SGS Meeting - This meeting is for you...7pm

Paul Hodel, an active genealogist with an obsession with cemeteries will be coming to our April 11 General Meeting to discuss what you can learn at the cemetery about your ancestors.  In this presentation, learn about the available information and how to find it; unique terminology; and the types of cemeteries, graves, and markers. read the whole story  (look down the right column of our home page at Root Cellar SGS)

a Little About Our Speaker

Paul E. Hodel has been active in genealogy for over 30 years. He worked for Caltrans for almost 30 years before taking early retirement due to a family illness. As a genealogist he got interested in cemeteries and has taken on cemeteries as his second hobby, or as he says, his "obsession." He is a regular contributor to www.findagrave.com and is an active volunteer with the cemeteries in El Dorado County, especially the pioneer cemeteries. He has done research in and photographed graves at over 200 cemeteries in 16 different states. Paul will be discussing cemeteries from both a genealogist's and taphophilia's viewpoint.

Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society
Christ Community Church
5025 Manzanita Ave.
Carmichael, CA  (just south of Madison Ave, on the right side)

Park in the back. We are meeting on the second floor in the two story building (stairs & elevator avaiable)

posted by Sandra Gardner Benward

Military Monday- Digitizing of the Pension Records of 1812? What???

Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society has decided to participate in

            "Preserve the Pensions-  War of 1812" Project.

The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) is spearheading this project.   There is a $3.7 million nationwide fundraising initiative going on to digitize the long-neglected War of 1812 pension records.

These orginal documents are extremely fragile and they need to be digitized quickly to preserve the best possible image of each page. This is the first time in history that the entire genealogical community is coming together to see a project of this magnitude to completion... from the National Archives to fold3 to individual states and local genealogical societies (Root Cellar SGS).

This IS where Root Cellar SGS fits in............ We are going to have our own "money raiser" in support of this project.  Root Cellar SGS will match donations up to $300. We will be collecting from now through the June Meeting. So in the end we hope to be donating $600 (your money plus RC matched funds) to the project. In June our donation of $600 will be sent to FGS.

But wait it gets so much better....... FGS reports the donation to Ancestry.com and Ancestry.com will match our donation.  So now we have acutally donated $1200. Isn't that amazing.

If you would like to help and donate any amount please send your checks to:

Root Cellar SGS
P O Box 265
Citrus Heights, CA 95611

(make checks payable to Root Cellar & indicate on the check it is for War of 1812)

......we will also be collecting at each general meeting through the June Meeting.

Thank you so much for your support .......  we will keep you informed.

Interesting Facts: (taken from FGS flyer and website)
* Ancestry.com has generously stepped up and agreed to cover costs to digitize HALF of the War of 1812 pension records. So every dollar donated will actually go twice as far.
  example: at a cost of $.45 per digitized page, your tax-deductible gift of $45 would normally digitize 100 pages. But with the help of Ancestry.com it will digitize 200 pages.

* All of the War of 1812 Pension Records digitized with your donation will be made available to the public on  fold3

* The Federation of Genealogical Societies is pleased to partner with Ancestry.com, fold3, and FamilySearch, as well as numerous individual state and local genealogical societies (that's us -Root Cellar SGS) and leaders in the genealogical community.

* There are 180,000 pension records from the War of 1812 housed at the National Archives, a total of 7,200,000 pages.  From 2012-2015 we commomorate the 200th anniversaries of the War of 1812 battles - batttle of a war some hail as our second Revolutionary War.

posted with excitment and anticipation by Sandra Gardner Benward

Society Saturday – Rio Linda/Elverta Historical Society

[Editor's Note: Today's post was written by Richard Hanson. Photo courtesy of Richard Hanson's Geiger family history photo collection.]

You won't find their website or email address. They have neither. Searching for them using Google yields a few small hints of their existence (their name, a mailing address and sometimes a phone number). But if you are looking for information on your ancestors in the Rio Linda or Elverta areas (northern part of Sacramento County, California), their library may have what you need.

The Rio Linda/Elverta Historical Society currently manages Sacramento County's Dry Creek Parkway. They maintain a museum and library in the one surviving historical structure, a two-story farmhouse.

Street address: 6852 Dry Creek Road, Rio Linda, California

That museum/library is open to the public on a part-time basis. The library is housed in one of the upper-floor bedrooms. It contains numerous local-area historical books, maps and photos. In addition, their society historian has thousands of historical images of Rio Linda and Elverta area, its businesses and its residents.

This Dry Creek Parkway property was owned and run as a dairy by my Geiger grandparents for about ten years (1943-54). They sold it to the LDS Church which ran it as a farm. Sacramento County later acquired it for use as an unimproved park. I wrote a book about the history of that property while it was owned by my Geiger grandparents. That book can be found in their library.

The society hosts several public events each year on that park property, notably Farm & Tractor Days (next one: May 10 & 11, 2013) and Classic Car Show and Swap Meet (next one: August 31, 2013). Pay modest dues to become a member and you get their bi-monthly newsletter containing society news and an events calendar. Membership year runs from January to December.

Phone – society's President:

(916) 991-2484

Mailing address:

P.O.Box 478

Rio Linda, CA 95673

Follow Friday – Root Cellar's Message Boards

[Editor's Note: Today's post was written by Richard Hanson.]

One of the under-used features of Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society's new website is its Forums page (message boards). A message board allows logged-in members to post new textual messages and reply to existing posted messages. Each message board has an assigned topic.

One of Root Cellar's message boards (dated 25 Mar 2013).

Root Cellar's message boards can be browsed by the visiting public. But the visitor must be logged-in to post messages or replies. Root Cellar currently has messages boards for the following topics.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

General Genealogy & How-TO

Reunion for Mac Software & SIG

Legacy Family Tree Software

Roots Magic Software

Family Tree Maker Software

The problem here is that these message boards are deader than cemeteries on a Monday night.

So what message board topics would motivate YOU to view and post messages? Topics could pertain to an area of knowledge, a genealogical activity, a product, a location, some part of history, some aspect of problem solving, Root Cellar meetings plus many other possibilities. Please post your ideas as replies to this blog.

Those Places Thursday – Finding that Church

[Editor's Note: Today's post was written by Richard Hanson. The story and photos were contributed by a member of the Sacramento German Genealogical Society who wished to remain anonymous.]

A member of the Sacramento German Genealogy Society recently described to me how the creative use of Google's images search search engine solved a little family history mystery. The starting point was the 1958 picture of a church somewhere in Germany that was found in that all-too-common parents' stash of unlabeled images.

Two images of the Sankt (St.) Boniface Church, Luisenplatz in Wiesbaden, Germany dated 1958 (left) and 2011 (right).  Click here for a list of names on the pictured Waterloo obelisk.

The member's account: "I found the picture among my parents' slides and remembered it was taken during a vacation in Germany in 1958. I thought the church was in Frankfurt since we flew into Rhein Main AFB when we went to Germany. I did several Google searches using keywords like Frankfurt Germany church, Frankfurt Germany kirche, Germany churches and various combinations of these. St. Boniface never came up in any of those searches. Next, I did a Google Image search by posting the picture of the church. Again, no luck. Finally, I found something in my parents' records that reminded me we had spent time in Wiesbaden. As soon as I Googled Wiesbaden Germany churches, I found images of St. Boniface."

Click here for Google's Basic Search Help

Click here for Google's Search by Image

Wordless Wednesday – Building the Model T Ford

[Editor's Note: Today's post was written by Richard Hanson. Photo courtesy of Richard Hanson's Hanson-Olson family history photo collection.]

Model T suspension components in a Ford auto assembly room. My grandfather, Edmund Hanson, appears fourth from the left. Probable location is Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Tombstone Tuesday– Finding Sacramento Area Cemeteries

[Editor's Note: Today's post was written by Richard Hanson. Photo courtesy of the Find A Grave website.]

At workshop meetings of the Root Cellar Sacramento German Genealogical Society, the opening question/answer/discussion session can lead in any direction. At the March 20 meeting, it led to the now gone New Helvetia Cemetery with the question being where did all the residents go. Several attendees provided helpful tips and information. But if you cannot attend the workshop meeting, is there somewhere else to obtain information on local cemeteries and find out what became of the missing ones?

Historical marker for the New Helvetia Cemetery. Photo is from Find A Grave.
(http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=1982256)

One source is the website of the California GenWeb Project. Specifically, its Sacramento County website. To see a list of local cemetery resources posted there, go to:

http://www.cagenweb.com/sacramento/cemetery_dist.htm

Almost all the listed entities have websites and some include online searchable databases. It also includes a summary listing of over 150 cemeteries. And there is a page dedicated to the New Helvetica cemetery. As of the date the blog was authored (March 21), the URL on that website for the Sacramento County Cemetery Advisory Commission is wrong. Correct one is:

http://www.coroner.saccounty.net/sccac

I emailed the correction to the webmaster for the Sacramento CAGenWeb website and she replied back the same day saying Sacramento County has changed the URL for that page a number of times over the past year or two. So if you bookmark this county coroner page, be prepared to find it again.

She also wants to make this page the go-to place for finding local cemetery information. So if you have any corrections, updates, missing information or lists of graves, please send them to her. The website contains a contact form.

Oh yes. The answer to the question as to where the residents of New Helvetica where relocated follows.

   4,691 sent to East Lawn Memorial Park and buried in a common grave
   410 to City Cemetery
   84 to East Lawn and buried in private plots by relatives
   32 to Odd Fellows Cemetery
   6 to Sacramento Memorial Lawn
   3 to St. Joseph’s
   3 to Sylvan Cemetery
   3 to Elk Grove Cemetery
   2 to St. Mary’s
   1 to Masonic Cemetery
Source: http://www.cagenweb.com/sacramento/pdf/NewHelvetiaBrochure.pdf

Cemetery information provided courtesy of

Sacramento County part of the CA GenWeb Project

(www.cagenweb.com/sacramento)

The Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society also provides information local cemeteries:
• Root Cellar's online store sells volunteer-created publications, some of
  which contain cemetery records.
• Root Cellar maintains a library at the State Archives Library in downtown
  Sacramento.
• Root Cellar provides volunteer research service to search accessible local
  records including cemetery listings.

Mobile Monday – Wireless Screen Mirroring using Reunion 2.0

[Editor's Note: Today's post was written by Richard Hanson.]

Whether visiting or researching, it is handy to have on-hand your complete genealogy database. Sometimes you need something more portable than a laptop. Thus I have the software app Reunion installed on my iPad (an Apple smart-tablet computer). But Reunion had a major limitation. It did not support the iPad's built-in screen mirroring capability. That means I could not display its screen image on a connected television or project it onto a screen.

In mid-March, that changed with the release of Reunion version 2. I tested that new release and it does indeed support screen mirroring. There are two ways to display the screen of an iPad (or iPhone) on suitable video device. The simple cheap way is a $40 audio/visual cable kit. But talking about that would make this Tethered Monday rather than Mobile Monday. The following diagram illustrates a more technologically impressive wireless method using an Apple-proprietary technology called AirPlay.

The television or digital projector must have either a HDMI or DVI port. To that you a little black box called and Apple TV (costs about $100). You cannot connect to a VGA port because VGA does not return a copy-protection signal to the Apple TV's HDMI port, thus causing that port to shut down. Then to get your iPad's screen image to the Apple TV, both must be connected to the same wi-fi server.

For you non-Apple users, there are other wireless screen mirroring technologies out there.
Android 4.2 users – Miracast. Display devices must support Miracast.
Samsung – AllShare (proprietary) on its Android devices. Display devices must support AllShare.

There also numerous video streaming apps and devices. Investigate well before buying since they all have limitations.

The Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society hosts monthly special interest group meetings for the Reunion software product on all platforms.