SJGS President to Speak at Merced Meeting

As a representative of the Northern California Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists, our Society president, Sheri Fenley, will participate in a panel discussion, "Calling in the Pros" as a guest speaker at the monthly meeting of the Merced County Genealogical Society. Along with panel members Janice Sellers and Corey Oiesen, she will field questions regarding hiring a professional genealogist, how to find one with expertise in your area of research, and what to expect of a professional's services.

If you are in the Merced area this coming Saturday, May 17, you are welcome to attend this noon presentation at the Merced County Library.

Tonight's Meeting: Featuring You!

Thursday, April 17, 2014

5:45 p.m.

Margaret Troke Library

502 W. Benjamin Holt Drive, Stockton

Round Table Discussions:

Breaking Through Our Brick Walls Together!

Returning to our meeting line-up after its successful inception last year is our Round Table Discussion, an interactive learning session featuring you as speaker!

Anyone who has spent time researching family history eventually comes to that one ancestor whose story seems impossible to trace. We call those instances our “Brick Walls.”

Using the power of collective effort during this month’s meeting, we’ll pool our resources to break through those brick walls. Through informal small round table discussions, we’ll use these cases to help each other find answers to our most challenging research problems.

To prepare for our April 17 meeting, SJGS members have already completed an online survey, allowing us to select the following four topics for discussion:

Research in New England: where to find those elusive documents

Tracing Ancestors to Europe through clues in passenger lists, immigration and naturalization forms

Headed West: Tips on researching Midwest and Western Territories and States

Finding Online Resources: Places to look online for lists, archives, and documents

Tonight, come meet and help your fellow Society members! Share experiences and techniques you’ve used to find elusive ancestors. It does not matter if you are a beginner, a seasoned genealogist, or haven’t even found a “brick wall” yet (you will!). Bring any information you already have about your mystery ancestor, his or her family and descendants—this might provide some clues. We can all learn something from each other, while also getting to know each other better.

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A New Venture: Workshops in Lodi

The San Joaquin Genealogical Society is beginning a new project: providing genealogy workshops in the city of Lodi, California. Although the Society has been providing training to patrons of the Margaret Troke branch library in Stockton, our goal is to reach out to other libraries within San Joaquin County with training sessions in beginning genealogy for their local patrons, too.

Our first session at the Lodi Public Library is an introduction to genealogy, "Digging Up Your Roots: Researching Your Ancestors." Today's session is the first of a two-part series, with the follow-up session on Saturday, May 10, focusing on free online resources for genealogical research.

Join us today, from 2:00 to 4:00 this afternoon, in the Community Room of the Lodi Library, at 201 West Locust Street. For more information, you may reach the library at 209 333 5503, or by email at referencelib@lodi.gov.

Join Us For Another Beginners' Workshop

Saturday, April 5, 2014

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

Margaret Troke Library

502 W. Benjamin Holt Drive, Stockton

The San Joaquin Genealogical Society is presenting another in its continuing Beginners' Workshop Series for this Spring with its upcoming class this Saturday. The April 5 presentation at the Troke Branch Library will be on Basic Internet Family History Research.

In this session, you will learn how to find and use the best free and inexpensive genealogical websites, including Ancestry Library Edition and FamilySearch. Join us to find out which search terms get the best results; how to find distant relatives through social networking sites; and how to order copies of distant county records, or access immigration, ethnic and foreign information and images.

This one-hour training session 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. Stop in at Troke Library and sign up for this April 5 workshop at the reference desk. You may also reserve your place by calling the library at (209) 937-8221, or by emailing your reservation directly to the Society at sjcogensoc@gmail.com.

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.