Our March Meeting: Land Records

Thursday, March 20, 2014

5:45 p.m.

Margaret Troke Library

502 W. Benjamin Holt Drive, Stockton

Discovering Your Family’s History

Through Land Records

Deeds. Warrants. Patents. Could these provide any hints for the pursuit of your family’s history?

Come join us as we reconvene at the Troke Library on March 20, to examine how genealogists use land records to help trace their family history.

This month, we are pleased to have as our speaker Kathryn Marshall from the Lodi Family History Center.

Kathryn Miller Marshall holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of California at Berkeley where she taught for many years. Dr. Marshall is the Director of the Lodi California Family History Center, serving there for the last fifteen years. 

Dr. Marshall began to specialize in the history of California between 1840 and 1865 when asked to prepare interpretive panels for museums, edit books for fellow historians, and write books of her own. As a curriculum designer for "Odyssey of the Mind," she particularly enjoyed planning and implementing exciting educational activity days for children and their families. She recently published Discovery of California Gold, a curriculum augmentation book for 3rd, 4th, 5th and 8th grades, which is being adopted by school districts throughout the state. 

Dr. Marshall is a member of the Advisory Board for the California Pioneer Heritage Foundation, which builds monuments, provides living history re-enactors at state parks and special events, and preserves historical sites in California.

SJGS Continues its Spring Workshop Series

Saturday, March 15, 2014

11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Margaret Troke Library

502 W. Benjamin Holt Drive, Stockton

San Joaquin Genealogical Society is continuing with its Beginners' Workshop Series for this Spring with its upcoming class on Saturday. The March 15 presentation at the Troke Branch Library will be on "How Libraries Can Help With Family Research."

While many family history researchers have become accustomed to searching online for information on their ancestors, we can't lose sight of the many resources available to us through our local library system. Many of the reference books in our holdings are not available anywhere online, and we are fortunate to be able to access them in our own city.

The Chavez Library in downtown Stockton has a comprehensive genealogical reference section, with over three thousand volumes donated for public use by SJGS in a program we have had in place since our founding in 1952.

In addition, our library system includes many historical resources of local significance, as well as microfilmed copies of local newspapers.

Of course, the entire Stockton-San Joaquin County library system offers free access to the Library Edition of Ancestry.com to patrons while they are in any of the library's branches, county-wide (one of the prime reasons SJGS has partnered with the SSJCPL to provide monthly Beginners' Workshops).

A one-hour overview of how to best utilize the many genealogical resources of our library will be followed by time to consult with SJGS members about your genealogy research questions. Be sure to bring whatever data you have for this one-on-one session: birth, marriage, death dates of ancestors, and where they lived. To access the wi-fi that is available for this workshop session, you may either bring your own laptop or tablet, or use one of the library's laptop computers.

Since space is limited for this workshop session, pre-registration is required. You may sign up for the March 15 session at the Troke Library reference desk. Or you may call (209) 937-8221.

"I Have Searched Every Cemetery in the County, But..."

"...I cannot find the resting spot of my missing relative."

Our Society has gone one step beyond. We have painstakingly indexed all the cremations performed at the Casa Bonita Mausoleum in Stockton, California. These books are now on sale for $15.00 each. Or, you may purchase both books for $25.00.

Death Records of Casa Bonita Mausoleum, Stockton, California: August 1928 to December 1948 - Book I

Death Records of Casa Bonita Mausoleum, Stockton, California: 1949 to 1958 and 1967 to 1970 - Book II

To order your copy of either or both of these two valuable books, you may complete our order form for this special sale by clicking here.