FGS - Springfield Here We Come!

My husband Scott and I are winging our way to Springfield, Illinois for the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) annual conference Wednesday, September 7th.  I think we packed light, don't you agree --- his, her and ours luggage?  I'll be posting to the blog from there so stay tuned!

Tilt head to right to view (don't ask)

Posted by Denise Hibsch Richmond

Society Sunday: Fresno County Genealogical Society - 8th Annual Seminar - 29 October

The Fresno County Genealogical Society and the Fresno County Public Library, California History and Genealogy Room, will co-sponsor their 8th Annual Genealogy Seminar October 29, 2011, 9 a.m.—3 p.m., at Woodward Park Regional Library, 944 East Perrin (at Champlain), in Fresno, CA.

Beverly Rice, Certified Genealogist from Coos Bay, Oregon, will present the following four lectures during the all-day event, in this order:

1. An Ancestral Journey - Charting Family Migration using Census, Land, Military, and other Records. Focuses on using a variety of records to better understand your family and avoid those research brick walls.
   
   
2. Effectively Using the Census Records of 1790-1840. Includes indexing, microfilming, digitizing and availability of these schedules, and how to turn the "tally marks" into a family with names and ages.
   
   
3. The Forgotten War, the War of 1812. Caught between the glory and size of the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, the soldiers and sailors of the War of 1812 still have a story to tell if only we would listen. The pensions, bounty land, and service records at the state and national repositories will be discussed.
   
   
4. Heading West to new Horizons, or "Following Your Man." Women are often lost in the lives of their men. This lecture explores the resources available to the researcher which pertains to a woman's experience in the west, 1850-1900. Going beyond the records created by the "male" in her life and focusing on the activities that defined a woman's life from school, church, and home.

This seminar is FREE...  yes it is FREE but you need to register in advance to reserve seating. Syllabus, with Lecture Outlines must be prepaid by October 15... in time for printing.

Print off the Seminar Flyer

posted by Sandra Gardner Benward for Society Sunday

San Mateo County Genealogical Society Seminar

John Philip Colletta, Ph. D.

Topic: Federal Secrets Revealed (4 lectures)

Date: Saturday, October 29, 2011

Place: Menlo Park LDS Church, 1105 Valparaiso, Menlo Park

Lectures:

• Passenger Arrival Records: Advanced Problem Solving
• Federal Court Records 1789-1920s
• Lesser -Used Federal Records: A Sampling for Fresh Research Ideas (Homestead Files, Passport Applications, Civil War Income Tax, Appointments of Postmasters...)
• Discovering the Real Stories of Your Immigrant Ancestors

The SMCGS seminar committee is delighted that John Philip Colletta, one of America's most popular genealogical lecturers has agreed to be our Fall Seminar 2011 speaker. Several members of the society went to Burbank recently for the satellite writer’s conference the day before Genealogy Jamboree, where John Colletta was presenting 4 talks on “Writing a Narrative Family History.” He was excellent. John is that rare combination of an animated entertaining speaker who knows his material superbly well. He is Washington D.C. based and has 20 years’ experience conducting workshops at the National Archives and teaching courses for the Smithsonian Institution. Today he lectures nationally, and is a faculty member of the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research at Samford University (Birmingham, AL) and the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (Salt Lake City).

John Colletta’s publications include two manuals – “They Came in Ships: A Guide to Finding Your Immigrant Ancestor's Arrival Record” and “Finding Italian Roots: The Complete Guide for Americans” -- and numerous how-to articles. His latest book – “Only a Few Bones: A True Account of the Rolling Fork Tragedy and Its Aftermath” -- is a history of the German-speaking merchants of the Mississippi Delta during Reconstruction. It is written around the mysterious destruction of his great-great-grandfather's country store, and its five unfortunate inhabitants.

For more information go to the San Mateo County Genealogical Society's website.

Posted by Ron Setzer

Follow Friday

The California Genealogical Society and Library blog is well worth following. They offer excellent information, workshops and seminars. Their library is conveniently located in Oakland.  They are joining with Ancestry.com to put on a seminar in San Francisco on Saturday, November 5, 2011. Go to their website for further details. Check out their blog at: http://blog.californiaancestors.org/.


Posted by Ron Setzer

Genealogical Events Coming Up!!

Timelines
Solano County Genealogical Society
Speaker: Marian Kile
Date: Saturday, September 3, 2011, 11:00 am
Location: The Becker-Balmer Room of the Fairfield Civic Center Library, 1150 Kentucky Street, Fairfield. 
Family Tree Maker User Group Meeting
Placer County Genealogical Society
Leader: Jerry Unruh
Date:Thursday, September 8, 2011, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Location: Church of Jesus Christ ofLatter-Day Saints,1255 Bell Road, Auburn.
Social Networking For Genealogists
Roseville Genealogical Society
Speaker: Tamara Noe
Date: Tuesday, September 13, 2011, 1:00 - 3:00 pm.
Location: Maidu Community Center, Senior Wing, 1550 Maidu Drive, Roseville.
Monthly Meeting
Nevada County Genealogical Society
Date: Tuesday, September 13, 2011, 6:30 - 8:30 pm.
Location: The Community Room of the Madelyn Helling Library, 980 Helling Way, Nevada City.
County Records At The California State Archives
Root Cellar – Sacramento Genealogical Society
Speaker: Linda Johnson, Senior Archivist
Date: Wednesday, September 14, 2011, 7:00 – 8:30 pm
Location: Citrus Heights Community Clubhouse, 6921 Sylvan Way, Citrus Heights.
For information: Call 916-412-3511. 
The Jews of India
Jewish Genealogical Society of Sacramento
Speakers: Mitch and Yael Numark
Date: Monday, September 19, 2011, 7:00 pm.
Location: Albert Einstein Residence Center, 1935 Wright Street, Sacramento.
The How and Where to Finding Your Ancestors in the Five Civilized Tribes of the Indian Territory
Roots and Gold Dust Genealogical Society (El Dorado County)
Speaker: Guy Nixon
Date: Tuesday, September 20, 2011, 1:00 pm
Location:  Church of Jesus Christ ofLatter-Day Saints, 3275 Cedar Ravine Road, Placerville.
General Meeting
Genealogical Association of Sacramento
Date: Wednesday, September 21, 2011, 1:00 pm
Location: Belle Cooledge Library, 5600 South Land Park Drive, Sacramento.
Workshop – Help with Brick Walls
Root Cellar – Sacramento Genealogical Society
Free – guests welcome.  More information on website, or call 916-331-0963.
Date: Wednesday, September 21, 2011, 1:00 – 3:00 pm
Location: The Clubhouse, Country Squire Estates, 5720 Oak Hill Drive, Sacramento.
Nisenan Indians and Genealogy
Placer County Genealogical Society
Speaker: April Moore
Date:Thursday, September 22, 2011, 7:00 – 9:00 pm
Location: Beecher Room, Auburn-Placer County Library, 350 Nevada Street, Auburn.
Climbing Brick Walls 
Roseville Genealogical Society
Speaker: Glenda Gardner Lloyd
Date: Tuesday, September 27, 2011, 1:00 - 3:00 pm.
Location: Maidu Community Center, Senior Wing, 1550 Maidu Drive, Roseville.
Superstitions and Other Irrational Beliefs That Guided Our German Ancestors' Lives
Sacramento German Genealogy Society
Speaker: Ingeborg Carpenter
Date: Tuesday, September 27, 2011, 1:00 – 3:00 pm.
Location: St. Mark's United Methodist Church, Lusk Drive & St. Mark's Way,Sacramento.
The Sacramento Regional Family History Center offers free genealogy classes on Wednesday afternoons, 2:00-4:00 pm and Wednesday evenings, 7:00-8:00 pm, September through June. 
 The September Wednesday afternoon topics include:

• (Sept. 7th)    European Research—Jim Rader
• (Sept. 14th)  Scanning Photos—Linda Todd
• (Sept. 21st)   Restoring Scanned Photos — Linda Todd
• (Sept. 28th)  To Be Announced– Glenda Lloyd

The September Wednesday evening topics include:

• (Sept. 7th)   Online Film Ordering – Ed Lucky
• (Sept. 14^th)   Organizing Research Records – Trevor Thomas
• (Sept 21st)   Getting Started with German Research – Joan Gunn
• (Sept. 28th)  What Your Sibling Will Tell You That Your  Ancestors Won’t – Pamela Dallas

The Family History Center alsoconducts a Writer’s Workshopat 5:00 pm on the 2nd Wednesday of each month.  You can register by visiting the Center or by calling 916-487-2090. 


Posted by Ron Setzer

Treasure Chest Thursday — Family Artifacts

The Geiger Family Cement Mixer

As gold mining continued its decline during the early 1900s, the growing Geiger family (George Geiger, Amelia Rutishauser, and small children) looked for a more stable occupation. In 1925 they purchased a small dairy ranch in Galt. As the eleven children became teenagers, the tiny ranch house and top floor of the tank house became insufficient. So George Geiger and relatives built a new larger house. It was at this point they likely acquired a cement mixer. That house burned down about ten years ago. But its concrete foundation and now water-filled basement remain.

When the family children entered in their late teens and early 20s, the Geigers sold the Galt ranch and purchased a much larger dairy ranch in Rio Linda (1943). The parents retired in 1948, leasing the ranch to the four oldest brothers. They called it the Geiger Brothers Dairy. And thus the cement mixer was passed to the second generation. A year later the Geiger brothers and one in-law relative doubled the size of the feed barn, using the cement mixer to build the foundation and pavement. The work was done in their "spare time" - evenings and weekends. The project took a year and large quantities of bottled beer to complete. The Geiger Brothers Dairy is now a county park, the Dry Creek Parkway. Although the barn is now gone, its concrete foundation remains.

The Geiger brothers eventually decided that they didn't want to be dairy ranchers and, one by one, left the ranch for careers where they didn't have to get up at 3 a.m. in the morning to milk cows. In 1954, the last two remaining brothers sold the ranch to the LDS Church. The brothers took the cement mixer with them, each of them plus in-laws later using it to do concrete work at their homes. Dayne Hanson, my father, also borrowed that mixer and I was drafted to do the highly technical job of shoveling in the correct proportions of cement, sand and gravel.

The cement mixer eventually ended up in the back yard of Earl Geiger (one of the the original Geiger brothers) for thirty years. A couple of years after his death it was passed on to Bill Geiger, the third generation and one of my army of cousins. I have eleven Geiger uncles and aunts.

Submitted by Rick Hanson

Posted by Ron Setzer

Wordless Wednesday

Nellie Emma Prewett (b. 27July 1879, d. 31 May 1936), Arthur W. Towle (b. 14 June 1877, d. 22 September 1950)

Submitted by Judy Willey

Posted by Ron Setzer