Ancestral Discoveries: Genealogical Forum of Oregon

Showing posts with label Genealogical Forum of Oregon. Show all posts

Monday, January 6, 2025

Thank You, and You, and You

Coming out of COVID, I really fell behind on posting on my blog, including for such things as thank yous. Having been raised by my mother to tell people thank you, I have felt very guilty about this. So I'm going to catch up on my thank yous from 2022 and 2023 and include them with those from 2024.

First I want to thank all those groups that invited me to be a genealogy speaker. I am honored that you felt that I had information worth sharing with your members and attendees, and I appreciate you having chosen me.

I was mostly able to maintain my genealogy volunteer work. It's very rewarding being able to give back to a field so near and dear to me. My health definitely was a factor in my level of involvement, but since so much was (and still is!) remote, I kept plugging along. So a big thank you to the people I worked with at the Gresham FamilySearch Center, Jewish Genealogical Society of Oregon, Genealogical Forum of Oregon in general and the African American Special Interest Group in particular, San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society, and (new for me last year) Geneabloggers.

Last on my list but most decidedly not least, thank you to the readers of my blog. It's rewarding to know that people find it worth spending their time reading my comments and reflections on this incredibly engrossing pastime that we share. I particularly appreciate when you write to me, online and offline, with your comments and feedback. I hope you find this year's posts interesting as well.

Graphic created by WiR Pixs.

Saturday, January 4, 2025

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Your Genealogy Goals for 2025

It's the beginning of the year, so it's time to think about what we want to accomplish with our genealogy, thanks to prodding from Randy Seaver for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun.

Come on, everybody, join in and accept the mission and execute it with precision.

1. What are your genealogy goals for 2025? Consider genealogy research, education, organizing, service, writing, and whatever else you care to share.

2. Tell us about your goals in your own blog post, in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook Status post. Please leave a link on this post if you write your own post.

My list is never as long as Randy's, but I'm not retired yet. Most of my goals are the same as or similar to the ones from last year.

• Maintain regular posts on my blog. I did a lot better in 2024 than the previous two years, so I'm hoping I have a rhythm again. I have several ideas for posts already scheduled in my calendar.

• Finish going through the scans of the photo bonanza I received from my sister. I probably made it halfway through last year.

• Work on finding a way to do more research on the man who probably isn't the son my aunt surrendered for adoption in 1945. Even though I no longer think the mystery man is my missing cousin, he does resemble a known family member, so I want to determine if there is a connection.

• Get back to researching my unidentified biological great-grandfather. Find more information on Bert Mundy, particularly a photograph, so I can either rule him out or keep him as a contender.

• Work on new genealogy presentations. I have some ideas I've been batting around for a while that I need to finish.

• Continue my volunteer work with the Jewish Genealogical Society of Oregon, San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society, and Genealogical Forum of Oregon African American Special Interest Group.

• Continue researching my own family. I need to devote more in-depth research time to that and follow up on the many clues and document trails that I've discovered during the past few years.

• Determine a systematic way to go through my family tree databases and look for errors, omissions, and items that need to be updated.

• Continue to encourage my brother to start doing the number crunching that's necessary to really do good DNA analysis. In particular, I'm hoping that work might help us discover who our mystery great-grandfather is (see above).

• Continue my genealogy education through Webinars. Maybe try to go to an actual in-person genealogy event this year.

• If I really get caught up on other things, return to going through the documents relating to Emma Schafer and the constellation of people around her. I used the documents as my Treasure Chest Thursday posts. I began the series on July 20, 2015. My last post was August 25, 2017, just before I moved to Portland. Whenever I do get back to these I'll probably have to read through the entire chronology to refresh my memory adequately.

That's eleven items. I think that's enough to keep me busy for the year.

Saturday, October 14, 2023

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Have You Helped Someone with Their Genealogy?

Oh my goodness! It was difficult to choose who to write about for this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge from Randy Seaver!

Here is your assignment, should you decide to accept it (you ARE reading this, so I assume that you really want to play along; cue the Mission: Impossible! music!):

1. Have you helped someone (a friend, a colleague, someone you didn't know, etc.) with their genealogy and family history? Genea-blogger Ellen Thompson-Jennings wrote on this topic last month in Have You Helped Someone with Their Genealogy? on Hound on the Hunt.

2. Write your own blog post, leave a comment on this post, or write something on Facebook.

Helping people with their genealogy is what I do with a lot of my time, and I've been doing it steadily since 2000, when I started volunteering at the Oakland Family History Center (now the Oakland FamilySearch Center). Since my move to Oregon in 2017 I've been helping at the Gresham FamilySearch Center. I've also helped people in the various genealogical societies of which I have been a member, including Jewish Genealogical Society of Oregon, Genealogical Forum of Oregon, and San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society, which are a few of my current affiliations.

Probably the most interesting time I had helping people was when I worked at the Seismological Society of America and was doing the genealogy of all four people I worked with: Susan N., Dorothy G., Kathy R., and Bo O.

Susan's family was mostly British Isles people who had been on this continent for a long time. One of her grandfathers was from Greece, however, and I had fun reading Greek records on microfilm at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. One great-grandfather went from Missouri to California for the Gold Rush, and I found him in an early California state census.

Dorothy was always saying that her family wasn't interesting, but I found that her Portuguese line was one of the original settling families in the Azores. She had a grandmother who lived to be 100 and was feted in San Francisco. Her parents eloped and then pretended not to be married for a few years because her maternal grandmother did not approve of her mother's choice of husband.

For Kathy I researched both her and her former husband's families, because she was interested in sharing the information with her children. Kathy had ancestors from Alsace-Lorraine with a surname that originated in only three towns there. She had always been told that her maiden name was from a Jewish line, and I found her ancestor in Colonial Virginia identifed as a Jew; he even signed documents in Hebrew.

Rumor had it that Kathy's former mother-in-law had had the family history well researched and then thoroughly obscured. A "family tree" had been created that listed only the male of the line and his wife, going back several generations. After only a small amount of research (two or three generations) it was clear that the tree had been made up of whole cloth. It appeared that perhaps part of the reason to hide the real information was that the family might have been scalawags.

Bo had one parent who was Jewish and one who was solidly British, so the research went in two entirely different directions. His is the only family I am still working on. I've actually found some of his Jewish ancestors in European records, which is more than I can say for my own family.

Everyone used to comment how I knew more about their families than they did!

Sunday, June 4, 2023

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: What Genealogical or Historical Societies Have You Joined?

For this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, Randy Seaver asks about our membership in groups, something I'll have to think about to answer, at least for the past ones.

Here is your assignment, should you decide to accept it (you ARE reading this, so I assume that you really want to play along; cue the Mission: Impossible! music!):

1. What genealogical or historical societies have you joined to pursue your family history research over the years?

2. Write your own blog post, leave a comment on this post, or write something on Facebook.

I am pretty sure the first genealogical society I joined was the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society. I found out about it from someone who came to the Oakland Family History Center. That was way back about 20 years ago. For several years that was my only membership. I have stayed a member continuously since joining.

I was a member of the California State Genealogical Alliance from 2006 or 2007 until the group was dissolved in 2017. In fact, I was one of the board members who voted in favor of and helped with the processing of the dissolution.

I think the next group I joined was the California Genealogical Society, in 2011, after giving a presentation to them about online newspapers. I remained a member of CGS until I moved to Oregon. I think my last year was 2018.

Soon after CGS I became a member of the African American Genealogical Society of Northern California (how's that for a mouthful?), in 2012. That membership also ended when I moved to Oregon in 2017.

I think I was a member of the Southern California Genealogical Society for a couple of years in conjunction with having given presentations at Jamboree, but I can't remember which years.

The first group I joined after my move to Oregon was the Jewish Genealogical Society of Oregon. As I recall, I joined not long after arriving in September 2017. I had a break in membership for about a year but returned and am currently a member.

I began participating in the African American Special Interest Group of the Genealogical Forum of Oregon also soon after I moved here, but that group is open to the public and didn't require joining officially — until I volunteered to take over as coordinator after the founder of the group stepped down. To be a SIG coordinator, you have to be a member of GFO. So I joined and have maintained that membership through to the present.

I was a member of the Oberlin African American Genealogy and History Group in 2020 and 2021, but I forgot to renew for 2022 and they didn't remind me. Earlier this year I sent a message asking about current benefits of membership but was told that I would find out about benefits only after joining. I didn't consider that the best way to market the group and still haven't decided if I'm going to renew.

I joined the Jewish Genealogical Society of Long Island in 2021 as a life member, so that's still current.

I was given a membership in the Virtual Genealogical Society because I gave a presentation at its 5th birthday party this year. Hmm, I don't think I've received any messages from them since then, but it was only a month ago.

I can't recall ever having joined a historical society.

So that makes my current memberships SFBAJGS, JGSO, JGSLI, GFO, and VGS.

Sunday, January 3, 2021

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You

As I look back on the past year, I want to thank all of those who were part of my genealogy world, particularly as our world in general changed so much. First I would like to say thank you to those conferences and societies that chose me to be a speaker. I am honored to have been part of their educational programs during the year.

And because 2020 was the pandemic year, some groups that chose me as a speaker had to cancel or significantly rearrange their events, and I didn't end up giving presentations to them after all. I still am proud that they chose me for their original plans.

Thanks go also to the genealogical societies for which I volunteered during the past year. I continue to serve on the board of the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society and also have responsibility for editing the quarterly journal ZichronNote, programming, and publicity. I am the very active coordinator of the African American Special Interest Group (AA SIG) of the Genealogical Forum of Oregon. And I am still involved with the Jewish Genealogical Society of Oregon, although I moved from board member to vice president, and then to president when the previous president had to step down for health reasons. If it weren't for genealogical societies, many people would have even more difficulties accomplishing their research. I am happy to be associated with thriving groups filled with other energetic volunteers.

And as my blog continues to plug along, I very much appreciate my readers. Your comments, both online and offline, let me know that you find it worthwhile to spend some of your time reading my commentaries about our shared hobby.

I learn something from everyone I interact with, and I'm glad I leanred with all of you during 2020. The adventure of 2021 will probably keep us on our toes, but at least we have genealogy to keep us sane at the same time.

Sunday, September 20, 2020

Volunteer of the Month

I have been doing volunteer work for most of my life. I started about the age of 12 at the public library in Niceville, Florida, where I used to shelve books and help people with basic questions. Since then I've tutored at an elementary school, distributed food at a pantry, cooked dinners at an AIDS support facility, worked as a docent at house tours, been an usher and green room monitor at performances of various types, portrayed a historical character at museum events, and lots more, paricularly focusing on genealogy for the past several years.

As I'm sure is the case with most volunteers, I do it because I enjoy helping people. It's always nice to be thanked, and most organizations do that routinely, so that their volunteers know that they are appreciated. But sometimes you get a really big thank you that stands out.

Since moving to Oregon three years ago, I have become involved with the Genealogical Forum of Oregon (GFO), one of two state-level genealogy organizations here. And for September the GFO board named me its GFO Star!

On the one hand, the cynic in me says that GFO probably cycles through its list of volunteers and everyone is named a Star at some point. But I'm still proud to have been chosen.

The announcement was made in the September 17, 2020 GFO weekly e-news. The short squib about me is about a third of the way down.

Thank you, GFO Board! I'm happy to help and thrilled at the recognition!

Tuesday, December 31, 2019

A Very Grateful Thank You

As we prepare to welcome the new year, it seems an appropriate time to thank all those in the genealogy world with whom I have worked during the past year. My world has been enriched because of them. First I would like to thank those societies that hosted me as a speaker during the year. I am proud that they chose me to be part of their educational programs.

Genealogical Forum of Oregon
Sweet Home Genealogical Society
Oregon Genealogical Society
Ohio Genealogical Society
International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies
Jewish Genealogical Society of Cleveland
Klamath Basin Genealogical Society
Jewish Genealogical Society of Oregon
Milwaukie Family History Center
Sacramento Public Library
Mt. Diablo Genealogical Society
Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Orlando

Another big thank you goes to those societies with which I am involved on a regular basis as a volunteer. I serve on the boards of the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society and the Jewish Genealogical Society of Oregon, and I am the coordinator of the African American Special Interest Group (AA SIG) at the Genealogical Forum of Oregon (GFO). I am so happy to spend time with other individuals who are interested in the vitality of today's genealogical societies and work hard to keep them alive and thriving.

A special thank you goes out to Harold Hinds, another volunteer at GFO, who provides tremendous help and support for me with the AA SIG. Without his advice and guidance, the group would not be in as good shape as it is.

I was fortunate enough this past year to connect with cousins I did not know previously. I am especially grateful to them for their willingness to share family information and photos, which has helped my research into our shared families.

And since this is a blog, some of my most heartfelt thanks go to my readers. I appreciate every comment that is sent to me and that you find my writing a worthwhile expenditure of your time.

I have learned something from everyone this past year. I look forward to another year of learning and enjoying this obsessive hobby we all enjoy.

Happy new year!

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Genealogy Volunteer Work in Oregon

I knew I would end up doing volunteer work in genealogy after my move to Oregon, because volunteering is just something I do, and most of it nowadays has something to do with genealogy.

Less than a week after I arrived I called the Family History Center in Gresham, a mere three miles from my house, and asked if they were looking for volunteers. No surprise, I was told, "Yes!" I think I started my Tuesday morning shift the week after that. It's a lot slower pace than when I was at the Oakland Family History Center in California, though. We usually have only one or two patrons come in during the four-hour shift, and most of the time the help they need is computer-oriented rather than for research. I'm still trying to figure out ways to "market" the FHC to get more people to come in and use our resources.

I didn't realize I hadn't posted about this when it started, and somehow a year has passed already. Last fall I took on the job of coordinating the African American Special Interest Group (AA SIG for short) at the Genealogical Forum of Oregon. The group began the year before, soon after I moved here, and I attended regularly. The person who started the SIG determined she was trying to do too many things and asked for someone to take over leading the group. Apparently I was the only person who volunteered. I have had a small amount of pushback, because I am not black, but neither of the two people who complained was willing to do the work and everyone else is fine with me, so I'm still doing it. I've been able to get some good speakers, and we've built a pretty solid group.

At the 2018 Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) conference, one of the sessions I attended was about records access for the genealogical community. The primary genealogical group that keeps an eye on such issues is the Records Preservation and Access Committee (RPAC), which is a joint effort between FGS (which is now part of NGS), the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies, and the National Genealogical Society (NGS). I felt so inspired by the presentation that I volunteered to be the contact person for the state of Oregon, which did not have one at the time. One of my responsibilities is to let the committee know about "records access and preservation activities within the state, including both problems (issues) and successes." So if you hear about any records access problems in Oregon, please let me know!

The most recent position I've taken on is Vice President of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Oregon (JGSO). The board voted me in a mere week ago. My primary job is handling programming for our meetings. So far I've attended only one board meeting, although I have put together a long list of ideas for future programs. All I need now is the schedule for the year (which someone else is handling), so I can try to find speakers!

Genealogy still relies heavily on volunteers in so many ways for societies to function. I'm very happy I am able to help these groups.

What genealogy volunteer work do you do?

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