SJGS President on Panel for Wednesday's DearMYRTLE Broadcast

The topic slated for this week's "Wacky Wednesday" broadcast is DAR applications, and DearMYRTLE has invited a panel of experts to walk the audience through the process of completing the required research and preparation. If you ever wondered what is considered acceptable for DAR proof of lineage from a Patriot ancestor, this is your opportunity to tune in and find out.

Professional genealogist Sheri Fenley, who happens to be our Society's president, will don a different hat as Registrar with El Toyon, our local chapter of DAR, to participate in this panel discussion.

Follow this link here to access the live broadcast at 6:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, 9:00 p.m. Eastern (UTC - 7).

Tonight: More Tools for Brick Wall Smashing

Thursday, May 21, 2015

5:45 p.m.

Margaret Troke Library

502 West Benjamin Holt Drive, Stockton

   
"Re-Branded Lives: Tracking Name Changes"

Presenter: Kathryn Miller Marshall, Ph.D.

Do you have mystery ancestors whose invisible trail through time has driven you to distraction? Every genealogist eventually runs across a Brick Wall case in which the ancestor seems to have literally disappeared. Research responses include the usual tactics: puzzling over name variants, typos, transcription errors, and mishearing of names by census enumerators.

But what if names have been changed intentionally? Your ancestor may have had one of many reasons for such action. Forbidden romance, adoption, debts, criminal records, avoiding military service, religious persecution, and national quotas have been common motives for selectively filtering or modifying information about oneself over time.

Returning for an encore following her February presentation, Dr. Marshall will show us techniques for tracking intentional name changers in these different scenarios during tonight's membership meeting. The principles she will describe are important to problem solving about elusive ancestors, resolving contradictory claims about family lines, and recognizing if a same-named individual is part of your family line or actually belongs to another's ancestry.

Please consider yourself invited to join us for this evening's presentation, and to invite a friend, as well. Come early to enjoy refreshments and an opportunity to socialize with fellow members before the beginning of our 5:45 p.m. business meeting.

Tonight’s meeting will be the last in our Society’s regular spring line-up. Next month is our annual potluck dinner. The meeting location will be sent to members in the monthly newsletter.

We will resume our evening meetings at the Troke Library after our summer break, with our first fall presentation scheduled for Thursday, September 17.

Beginners' Workshops Continue at Troke Library

Saturday, May 2, 2015

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

Margaret Troke Library

502 West Benjamin Holt Drive

Stockton, California

 

Our Spring beginners' workshop series continues this Saturday with a session designed to help locate and use free Internet resources for genealogical research.

 

The Internet can serve as your portal to access online copies of documents and records for family history research. Although many people are aware of subscription services on the Internet such as Ancestry.com, there are numerous free resources that you can avail yourself of, as well.

 

This session is designed to acquaint you with top-rated online genealogical resources, and provide direction in how to find them and use them, both at your local library and from your own home.