Jamboree Program Now Available

The Jamboree Program is now available for download.  We will be mailing the program to homes, libraries and societies in the next couple of weeks.  But if you don't want to wait, you can download your copy now here.

Also, if you want to be added to our postal mail list to make sure you receive future mailings from SCGS, please provide your name and address here.

If you would like to receive several copies of the program for distribution at your library, genealogical society or other organization, please drop an email to jamboree@scgsgenealogy.com.  Tell us how many copies you want and give us the address where the program should be sent.

Upcoming events

March 1 - 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
The Master Genealogist Software Users Group

March 8 - 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m.
12:00 p.m. lunch (bring your own)
1:00 p.m. Lecture
Open to the Public - free
Beginning DNA: Genetic Genealogy - What is it all about?
By Doug Miller
Learn what it is, how to do it, and why you should. This is your chance to find out what this new genealogical tool is all about from Doug Miller one of SCGS's DNA Project Coordinators.  Doug Miller is past president of the Southern California Genealogical Society. He found the importance of DNA testing when he was able to prove (after 20 years of research) that his brother-in-law Daniel Fuller was indeed descended from Edward Fuller of the Mayflower. Doug is a founding member of the International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG) and is currently the Project Administrator of three DNA projects.  We invited Doug to give you the low-down on the latest research technique - DNA testing. Come to find out how important this new genealogical tool can be to the success of your research. He is here to give you the Who's, What's, Where's, When's, and Why's and he hopes that you will say Why Not?  **A $30.00 discount gift certificate for a DNA test through FTDNA will be in the opportunity drawing.  Any questions please contact Charlotte 323-669-1982 or Doug Miller 661-296-8740

March 11 - 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Writers Group (SCGS members only)

March 13 - 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Long Range Planning meeting

March 15 - 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
German German Interest Group - Immigration to Pennsylvania

March 20 - 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Board of Directors meeting

March 25 - 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Writers Group (SCGS members only)

March 29 - 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
DNA Interest Group
Contact            Doug Miller djmill@earthlink.net
On Saturday, March 29, 2008, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m., Bonny Cook and Charlotte Bocage will discuss Organizing a Family Reunion and Presenting DNA Information. Charlotte has been organizing family reunions for both her Bocage and Thomas/Bloom families and has had DNA information presented at these reunions. Bonny Cook presented "Genealogy & DNA- What's it All About"
at one of her family reunions. Learn how to be effective in both endeavors.

March 30 - 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Irish Interest Group
We are planning a very good workshop for you. In addition to getting to look at the Casey Collection, which is now on the shelves, we will have Alice Fairhurst giving a presentation on Searching for Your Scottish Roots. Clyda Murray-Bhatt will also be on hand to give you tips on Scots-Irish research.
Edward McKelvey will be there to offer help to those in need. I will review the basics of Irish research again for those of you who have not heard it before or who need a reminder. If you do not know where your family came from in Ireland, this is very important to know. Don't know if I'll have time to make soda bread again, but we will see. If you have any questions or would like to volunteer to bring refreshments, feel free to send me an email at mgrossini@cs.com.

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The French-Canadian Research Group meets at the library on Wednesdays, and the German Research Group is available for research assistance on Thursdays.

The Library is open to the public for research on:
10:00am - 4:00pm        Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays       
10:00am - 9:00pm        Tuesdays
10:00am - 4:00pm        on third and fourth Saturdays
10:00am - 4:00pm        on first and second Sundays
Closed                         Mondays

All activities held at the
Southern California Genealogical Society
417 Irving Drive
Burbank, California   91504-2408
phone: 818-843-7247
email:   scgs@scgsgenealogy.com
web:     www.scgsgenealogy.com

Join  the Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles for:

'It's Online: Internet Research for the Family Genealogist' a half-day computer genealogy workshop

Sunday, March 9th from 1:00PM - 5:30PM.

Have you wondered where your family members came from in 'the old country' or what their lives were like when they immigrated to the United States? Are you longing to reconstruct your family tree to pass on to your children, but think the process is too overwhelming or time-consuming to tackle on your own? This one-day seminar about searching online resources will give you the inspiration, motivation, and tools to begin your own research project.

Speakers:

Ron Arons: Online Odysseys: Exploring and Exploiting Internet Resources

Suzanne Russo Adams: Advanced Ancestry: Searching Like a Pro!

Beau Sharbrough:  Footnote.com: Bringing History to Life

Film: Past Lives:  The Stanley Diamond Story - 5:10PM – 5:30PM

Skirball Cultural Center – Magnin Auditorium
2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90049  Tel: (310) 440-4500

$25 fee, $15 Students

You can register online for this class at: http://tinyurl.com/2ovk8u or go to http://www.skirball.org and click on “What’s On” at the top, then click on Courses: Winter 2008. The first course to appear is the March 9 program.  You can also register the day of the workshop in person.  Any questions?  Please email: Pamela Weisberger - pweisberger@hotmail.com.

SCGS Officers Elected for 2008

Congratulations to the officers who will lead SCGS for the next twelve months!

A Bit of Bragging - Surname Wall & Jamboree Blog

The Virtual Surname Wall has been important for getting publicity for SCGS, and we couldn't be happier.  When the searchable VSW was introduced last week, many genealogy bloggers carried the announcement.  Notices appeared on Leland Meitzler's Genealogy Blog, Dick Eastman's Online Newsletter, Schelly Talalay Dardashti's Tracing the Tribe, Lisa Alzo's The Accidental Genealogist, and many other sites.  (Just do a search for "Virtual Surname Wall" on Google if you're interested in seeing the full list).

Once these popular bloggers picked up the announcement, the word spread like chicken pox at a Brownie campout (and I can tell you from personal experience that is really really fast). 

And then.... and then.... the SCGS website went crazy!!

At the height of the frenzy on Monday January 21, we had 5,906 visitors to the website and 20,957 page loads.  The previous record was the preceding Friday, when we had just 1502 visitors and 5,047 page loads.  By comparison, we typically run about 200-250 visitors a day.

What's even more interesting is where the visitors were coming from.  We have a new little gadget on our website that shows where our users live.  If you go to the website (www.scgsgenealogy.com) and scroll down to the bottom right hand corner, you can see a map of the word with lots of red dots.  The red dots are visitors to the website since January 9, 2008. (Click on the map to see a larger version of the map).  We have lots of visitors from Europe, several from Australia and New Zealand, five in South America, even a couple in Japan.  It is so much fun to see the number of red dots grow.

Surname wall entries are still being sent in and we continue to receive publicity.  One of the contributors to the project is the author of a genealogy column in the Terre Haute News, Terre Haute Indiana.  She wrote about the Virtual Surname Wall in the January 26, 2008 edition of the newspaper.  You can read the article at http://tinyurl.com/34zfzp.  How about that?  SCGS getting coverage in Terre Haute!

The Jamboree section of the website is also seeing a fair amount of traffic, as is the Jamboree blog at  http://genealogyjamboree.blogspot.com.  If you haven't visited the blog, we encourage you to check it out. Start reading at the bottom -- the newer posts are on top.  To stay up to date on all aspects of Jamboree, I suggest you subscribe to the blog.  There are lots of ways to get to the blog, but I like using Bloglines.com.

To subscribe, go to http://genealogyjamboree.blogspot.com.  On the right hand side of the screen, at the bottom of the side column, you'll see a section entitled "Subscribe to this Blog."  You have several options for subscriptions - Click on whichever system you prefer.  As I mention, I use Bloglines to read all of my blog subscriptions.  Bloglines has a feature that notifies you whenever there are new messages to read.  The others may have similar features.  Bloglines is free and it does not cost anything to subscribe to a blog.

Thanks to you all for your support of SCGS and especially to those of you who helped to spread the word about the Virtual Surname Wall.

Paula

Footnote Affiliate Program

Through Footnotes affiliate program, SCGS receives a commission on all subscriptions created when you use a special link to Footnote. The revenue is used to support the development of our online resources and our website, www.scgsgenealogy.com.

Your costs will not be any higher and there will be no adverse affect from using this link.

Feel free to pass this message along to your friends, too.

Write Your Family Names on Our Virtual Surname Wall

You are invited to add your family surnames to the Southern California Genealogical Society's Virtual Surname Wall.   Use this valuable service to help connect with online cousins everywhere.

There is no charge for this service, and the offer is open to the public. We encourage you to forward this invitation to your cousins, genealogy-related email lists, society members, your genealogy acquaintences, or other family historians.

Although this project is being sponsored by the Southern California Genealogical Society, we welcome family information from any geographic area, not just California. You may submit up to 10 surnames. We plan to allow for more surnames to be added and will let you know when we are able to accept more names.

Participants will be asked for the following information. You may wish to have your family group sheets, pedigree charts, or genealogy database available for reference.

1. Your family surnames (including spelling variations).
2. The geographic area in which they lived, or the migration path.
3. The associated period of time.

Your participation in the Virtual Surname Wall project is completely voluntary. Surname Wall information will be maintained by SCGS and may be included in printed or a searchable free online database that would be accessible on the SCGS website at www.scgsgenealogy.com. Your participation in the project is your authorization to include your surname information in any printed or searchable online databases that may be developed.

Of course, we have instituted steps to protect your privacy. Your contact information will not be displayed, either in print or online. You will have the option of asking SCGS to serve as intermediary, or authorizing SCGS to release your contact information should we receive an inquiry regarding a possible family connection.

Click here to add your names to our Virtual Surname Wall.

Download the flyer here.

SCGS on YouTube.com

Take a virtual tour of the SCGS Family Research Library compliments of www.YouTube.com. Many thanks to Doug Miller, who arranged for a videographer to record the tour and who appears on camera to give the tour. View the tour at http://youtube.com/user/SCGSgenealogyand let us know what you think.

Thanks Doug! Great use of technology to spread the word about SCGS.

SCGS Tree-shirts

You saw the shirts at Jamboree and on display at the SCGS Library, and now you can have your own golf shirt or t-shirt with family surnames displayed proudly for all to admire. Use the order form to order the graphic designs that will appear on your shirt. You can order the design layout through the shopping cart. You'll have a chance to approve the design and when the design work is completed, you can order directly from CafePress.

Please note. $10 is the cost for the design setup only. You will order your shirt directly from Café Press. The shirt will cost an additional $23 which you will pay directly to CafePress.

SCGS Tee-Shirt
SCGS Golf Shirt

Click on the tee-shirt to see a larger image.

Ancestors Gallery Memorials

What is the Ancestors Gallery?

The Ancestors Gallery is a special feature that will be included on the SCGS Website and in the 2007 Genealogy Jamboree syllabus. The program has been developed to give genealogists and family historians a new outlet to honor ancestors and relatives. The traditional genealogy query of details about the individual will be accompanied by a vintage photograph of your family member to create a memorial that will appear online and in the Jamboree Syllabus. Fees for Ancestors Gallery listings are nominal and are based on the size of the listing and the number of photographs. To read more about the program, see here.

Library and SCGS Headquarters Seek New Home

Over the past several years, because of the generosity, resourcefulness and drive of many of our members, the breadth of SCGS collections has expanded; the number of computers has increased; and resources for our members’ use have grown.

Despite the increase in materials and resources, the physical size of the SCGS library and headquarters has remained the same. In August 2007, monthly rental will increase by $1,200 from $3,800 to $5,000. It has become very obvious that SCGS and its library need a new space to call home.

SCGS is extremely fortunate that its membership has always been supportive of its mission and committed to its success. Once more, members are asked for assistance. This time, we need your help to find a new facility.

SCGS anticipates future growth and we are looking for a facility that is 7,500 to 10,000 square feet. For the convenience of our members, we would like to stay within ten miles of the current location. Cities under consideration include Glendale, Sunland, Tujunga, North Hollywood, Eagle Rock, Montrose, Sun Valley, Pasadena, and Lake View Terrace, in addition to Burbank. Ideally, we would like to purchase a building; however, we would also be interested in leasing to own.

We would consider moving into a handicap-accessible warehouse, industrial building or storefront. On the list for tenant improvements are a kitchenette and separate spaces for an office, print room, storage area, class/lunchroom, and a lounge for volunteers.

Obviously, we will need to raise funds for this endeavor. However, our immediate need is to relocate our facility.

• Perhaps you or someone you know is in a position to donate a building (SCGS is a non-profit organization) or lease one to us at a friendly rate.
• If you are a realtor, your knowledge, contacts and talent could be very beneficial to our search.
• If you know of a realtor who would like to assist us in this endeavor, please have them contact us.

E-mail scgs@scgsgenealogy.com with Long Range Planning Committee as the subject, or send US Postal mail to:

Long Range Planning Committee
Southern California Genealogical Society
417 Irving Drive
Burbank, CA 91504-2408

Please help us by:

• Notifying us of any location you know is available and will meet our needs
• Taking a drive, perusing a newspaper or searching the web, with a new home for the SCGS Library in mind.
• Asking your friends, family members, and business associates if they know of a facility that will meet our needs.
• Offering ideas on major funding-raising activities to facilitate our obtaining the thousands of dollars we will need to realize our goal.

SCGS is looking forward to serving future generations of genealogists and family researchers; offering Library patrons up-to-date technology and resources; expanding our Internet presence and offerings; and providing our members and patrons with a Library that will definitely serve as the heart of our Society.

Librarian Needed Tuesday Nights

Marva Grove is making a special request for a Tuesday evening librarian. According to Marva, SCGS may need to close on some Tuesday evenings unless a librarian is found. Hours are from 6:00 pm until 9:00 pm on two Tuesdays per month. Please contact Marva at scgs@scgsgenealogy.com or leave a message at the SCGS Library.

Ralphs Club Contribution Program - Sign up for the 2008 Program Year

Thanks to all of the SCGS members and friends who joined the Ralphs Community Contribution Program in support of the Southern California Genealogical Society. Over the past year, SCGS has received about $1000 through this program.

1. Go to www.ralphs.com
2. On the far left side of the page, look for the "Community Contribution" link.
3. Click "Community Contribution"
4. You'll see two boxes - one "Organization" and one "Participant"
5. Click on the "Sign Up" button in the "Participant" box.
6. Certify that you are the Ralphs cardholder.
7. Fill in the blanks on the Participants Enrollment Form For the NPO number, enter 82966
   

If you do not have Internet access, you can add your name to the sign-up list located at the Librarian's desk, or call the library during office hours and the librarians will take your information over the phone.

Participation in the Ralphs Club Contribution program is not limited to SCGS members. Please pass this message along to your family members and friends.

KTLA Prime News

Doug Miller and Lin LaRochelle had their 15 minutes of fame in November when they appeared in a television news series, "DNA Testing: The Search for Your Family History."

Lead Reporter Kim Rouggie interviewed our SCGS members Lin LaRochelle and Doug Miller at the SCGS Library in Burbank about the role DNA testing now plays in the search for our most elusive ancestors. Bennett Greenspan, President of Family Tree DNA Company also participated.

The video segments will be available for a limited time on their website www.KTLA.com/dna. This link works best with high speed DSL or cable internet connections.

Congratulations to Doug and Lin for representing SCGSl! 11/20/06 - As seen on FOX19, CW39 and KTLA News: Find your ancestral origins by ordering a DNA test.