Sunday Happenings - Finding Your Roots

"Finding Your Roots," a 10-part Series on PBS Channel 6 KVIE

Look for another exciting genealogy series which is about to be launched on television with historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. will launch on March 25 Sunday. That will be the first episode of a 10-part series. The basic drive to discover who we are and where we come from is at the core of the new 10-part PBS series Finding Your Roots

Commentary from PBS online:

This 10-part series, with the renowned cultural critic and Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., delves into the genealogy and genetics of famous Americans, combining history and science in a fascinating exploration of race, family and identity in today's America. Professor Gates shakes loose captivating stories and surprises in the family trees of Kevin Bacon, Robert Downey, Jr., Branford Marsalis, John Legend, Martha Stewart, Barbara Walters and Rick Warren, among many others.The new series will feature two people in each one-hour episode, including husband-and-wife actors Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, who jokes she's afraid they might turn out to be cousins. "They are indeed distant cousins," revealed Gates. "Talk about six degrees of separation, right?"

Remember that there are video's on PBS and YouTube to watch.

Mark your calendars for the first episode of 10 on March 25, Sunday at 8pm on Channel 6 KVIE.

Looking through the TV guide the first episode #101 can also be seen on Feb 28 @ 2pm and Feb 29 @ 4am.  
Episode #102 is being aired Feb 25 at 9pm (this is going to be a great night of TV watching); aired again Feb 28 @ 3pm & Feb 29 @ 5am.

Society Saturday - New Coroner's Records Books

Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society is pleased to announce the release of its latest publications in the Sacramento County Coroner’s Records Collection series, 1887-1969. 

Volume VI, Book 13 is titled Coroner's Register - Indexed January  1935 - December 1940.  Extracted information includes Page (found in original Coroner's Record Book), Surname, Given Name, Date of Death, Place of Death, Sex, Nativity, Age, Status (marital), Cause of Death, Inquest Date, and Remarks (usually pertaining to cause of death).

Details:
Surnames: 2,714
Size: 8 1/2" x 11"
Soft cover
Pages: 240
Price: $20.00 + tax, shipping, handling

Volume VII, Book 14 is titled Coroner's Inquiry Register - Indexed January  1941 - December 1947.  Extracted information includes Page (found in original Coroner's Register Book), Surname, Given Name, Date of Death, Place of Death, Sex, Nativity, Age, Status (marital), Cause of Death, and Remarks (usually pertaining to cause of death).

Details:
Surnames: 4,438
Size: 8 1/2" x 11"
Soft cover
Pages: 263
Price: $25.00 + tax, shipping, handling

According to Extraction Committee Chairperson Marilyn Ulbricht, "family history researchers with ties to Sacramento County California have two more valuable resources for finding clues about their elusive ancestor".

Root Cellar volunteers extracted and indexed these records from original books of the Coroner's Office of Sacramento County held at the Center for Sacramento History and acquired through the efforts of the Sacramento Old City Cemetery Committee.

The Root Cellar Store has these publications and others available for purchase.

posted by Denise Hibsch Richmond

Society Saturday: Writing Contest Mojo

We wrote previously about the 2nd Annual Family History Writing Contest sponsored by Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society.  The August 1st deadline for submissions is really not that far off especially if you are just getting started.  Maybe the following resources will motivate your writing mojo:

• Producing a Quality Family History: this book by Patricia Law Hatcher is a helpful guide with informative tips on structure, format and industry standards.  Note, the book link connects you to Amazon.com using Root Cellar's shop Amazon affiliate web address.
• Stories To Tell Books: this website is mostly about writing a family history book but food for thought abounds.  This post offered several techniques that made me think about my writing. Entering "essay" in the search box on the home page resulted in several hits like this one about being a storyteller. 
• Writing-related blogs: entering the term "writing" in the search  box on GeneaBloggers provided several hits.  Worth roaming around!
• Cyndi's List: this website is a one-stop shop for all things genealogical.  Writing-related resources were found by clicking on Categories, then "W".
• Sources: Many resources exist about how to cite your sources.  Take a look at one created by Thomas MacEntee, a handy and free 2-page Genealogy Source Citations Quick Reference in pdf format. 

Okay now, get out your writing tools of choice and begin!  Good Luck!

Do you have any writing advice?  Post a comment below or send to rootcellarsgs@gmail.com.

posted by Denise Hibsch Richmond

RootsTech 2012 Videos Now Available

Thanks to Jim Rader, member of Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society, for telling us that the RootsTech 2012 live streamed sessions are now available for viewing as separate entities at RootsTech.org.

The sessions available are:

• Do I Trust the Cloud? by D. Joshua Taylor
• Effective Database Search Tactics by Kory Meyerink
• Twitter – It’s Not Just “What I Had For Breakfast” Anymore by Thomas MacEntee
• Eleven Layers of Online Searches by Barbara Renick
• Exabyte Social Clouds and Other Monstrosities by Josh Coates
• Publish Your Genealogy Online by Laura Prescott
• Optimizing Your Site for Search Engines by Robert Gardner
• Genealogists “Go Mobile” By Sandra Crowley
• Google's Toolbar and Genealogy by David Barney
• Making the Most of Technology to Further the Family History Industry by Tim Sullivan
• Genealogy Podcasts and Blogs 101 by Lisa Louise Cooke
• Privacy in a Collaborative Environment by Noah Tutak

In addition, there are videos from these FamilySearch presentations:

• YouTube Your Family History by Devin Ashby
• Reputation Systems for Genealogy by Jimmy Zimmerman
• GeneTech: YDNA Solutions to Common Genealogical Problems by Nathan Murphy
• Introducing the FamilySearch Indexing & Linking Tool by Grant Echols
• Using Android Devices for Genealogy and Family History by David Lifferth

There are two presentations that are not listed on the website and will be posted at a later date:

• Jay Verkler's keynote Inventing the Future, As a Community"
• Ron Tanner's presentation "Future of FamilySearch Family Tree"

submitted by Jim Rader
posted by Denise Hibsch Richmond

Free 1940 Census Webinar - Limited Time Only

Legacy Family Tree announced today that its recent webinar "Navigating the 1940 U.S. Census" by Thomas MacEntee is now available for free online. The announcement stated in part:

If you have ancestors in the 1940 U.S. Census you need to watch the recording of today's webinar by Thomas MacEntee. He taught about:

• what information will you find in the census?
• how to locate the images (since there is no index yet)
• how to volunteer to index the census
• the one-step tools at the Stephen Morse site
• other census resources

If you could not make it to the live event or just want to watch it again, the 1 hour 26 minute recording of Navigating the 1940 U.S. Census is now available to view in our webinar archives. Visit www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/webinars.asp to watch. It is available for free until March 19, 2012.

Note: you do not need to be a user of Legacy Family Tree software to benefit from this webinar.

posted by Denise Hibsch Richmond

Those Places Thursday - Enumeration Districts

If you want to view the 1940 U.S. Census on its release date of 2 April 2012 at 9:00 a.m. (EST), people "in the know" recommend that you find their Enumeration District (ED) in advance.  Sassy Jane Genealogy reminded readers about the cool tools created by Stephen P. Morse to help you do this:

1940 Tutorial Quiz:  http://stevemorse.org/census/quiz.php

Unified 1940 US Census Finder: http://stevemorse.org/census/unified.html

Learn more about the 1940 census from the National Archives press release on GeneaPress.

Drop us a line at rootcellarsgs@gmail.com when you find your ancestor's ED.

posted by Denise HIbsch Richmond

Wordless Wednesday - Fearless Female



Ethel May Kendall Hibsch
May 1899 - Oct 1988
Honeymoon in Yosemite
June 1922

Who is your Fearless Female?  Tell us at rootcellarsgs@gmail.com.
posted by grand-daughter Denise Hibsch Richmond