Member Spotlight- Jacqi Stevens!

Our first SJGS  member to be featured is Jacqi Stevens, who joined our organization last October. She is listed as a follower on this blog site, with links to her excellent, entertaining blog on genealogy, “A Family Tapestry”.

Last fall, Jacqi became acquainted with Sheri Fenley.  They found out they had much in common, both being San Joaquin County writers of genealogy blogs. Jacqui became involved in the  San Joaquin County Obituary Indexing Project, a collaboration of volunteers from organizations including  our SJGS and the Historical Society. The digital images are now on the Familysearch.org site, thanks to all the work these volunteers put in.

Jacqi enjoys researching her own and her husband’s ancestry, as well as being a writer. She is also involved in a consulting business with her husband and daughter. In the past, Jacqui worked in government and social services, public administration, and as well as home schooling.

Reviewing her blog will help you understand her discoveries and thoughtful observations about her family history.. While her mother’s line has been well researched, with European heritage traced back to the 1500’s, her challenge now is researching her father’s line (from Poland) and her husband’s maternal line (Irish). While she has made great strides, she has also hit some brick walls that she hopes to resolve.

Last summer, Jacqi and her husband journeyed to Chicago and met with relatives who shared old photos, and memorabilia of the family. Included with the material was an old certification of a Irish baptism from three generations back,, which surprised her since she had seen that information before from a different source. A while back, Jacqi had been contacted by an ABC sportscaster, concerning  possible common heritage and he shared a letter from an Irish priest to certify that same baptism!  His family’s roots were from Ireland and his branch of the family had settled in Canada, where he was born.

Jacqi would love to share ideas on genealogical research in Chicago, Ireland ,Canada (Ontario and Western Provinces), Poland)  with other members of our organization. She also is planning to write a memoir about her father-in-law, who was in the Navy in WWII, and looks forward to doing more genealogical indexing and preservation work.