What a Day for Genealogy in Stockton!

Saturday's free genealogy seminar, presented by the San Joaquin Genealogical Society (SJGS) and cosponsored by the California State Genealogical Alliance (CSGA) and University of the Pacific's Jacoby Center for Public Service and Civic Leadership, was a roaring success.  Well before the event, SJGS president and event organizer Sheri Fenley proudly announced that the seminar was completely filled — all 180 registration slots had been taken.

On a gorgeous February morning, everyone gathered in the Biological Sciences Building on the University of the Pacific campus.  The lecture hall was totally filled with excited genealogists.  We actually started early (!) and managed to stay on time throughout the day.

Linda Serna, vice president of the Orange County Genealogical Society, talked about how to create family stories by starting with the facts you have and adding background historical information for context.  She particularly emphasized that Google is your friend and can help you find lots of great details to add to your stories.

Letty Rodella, president of the Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research, gave a lot of practical advice on how to research Mexican ancestry.  She discussed several online resources, including FamilySearch.org, Ancestry.com, and a free guide to transcribing Spanish-language records (I've already downloaded it to my computer!).

Tim Cox, program and events chairman for the California Genealogical Society, shared a lot of tools that can help genealogists do their research smarter, more easily, and sometimes just better.  He covered databases, software, gadgets, computer equipement, and even the Internet.  And he was even generous enough to send everyone registered for the seminar a PDF listing all of the resources he talked about in his presentation!

I was the last speaker of the day.  I used some research I had done as a case study and showed how even when you start with only a few pieces of information, if you work methodically and use a large variety of resources it is possible to learn a lot of information about a family and build a tree of several generations.

Throughout the day attendees asked a lot of great questions and were very engaged.  All the talks were well received.  And there were freebies!  The National Institute of Genealogical Studies (NIGS) had sent certificates for every attendee to register for one complimentary online class.  Then we had prize drawings after Tim's talk.  NIGS had also donated two special gift certificates, and Tim had prizes from Clooz and Snagit.  So seven people were especially lucky and went home with a little something extra.

Many thanks to Sheri Fenley, SJGS, UoP, and CSGA for a fun day spent learning about genealogy!

Free Genealogy Seminar February 22, 2014

University of the Pacific

The San Joaquin Genealogical Society is presenting a free seminar on Saturday, February 22, 2014 at University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.  Cosponsored by the California State Genealogical Alliance and University of the Pacific's Jacoby Center for Public Service and Civic Leadership, this is a great opportunity to attend four interesting talks at no cost, hang out with other genealogists, and learn more about the Alliance.

The presentations and speakers will be:

• "Family Stories:  Genealogy beyond Just the Dates", by Linda Serna

• "Fun Tools to Help Genealogists Work Smarter", by Tim Cox

• "Researching Your Mexican Ancestors", by Letty Rodella

• "Reconstructing Family Information When You Start with Almost Nothing:  A Case Study", by yours truly

I'm looking forward to the event and hearing the other speakers.  They're all covering topics I haven't heard before.

Even though the event is free, registration is required to receive the packet of speaker handouts, and seating is limited to 180 attendees.  More information and the registration form are available online.

If you have any questions or cannot register online, contact Sheri Fenley at (209) 373-6847 or sherifenley@gmail.com.

Field Trip to University of the Pacific

Muir in Hetch Hetchy Valley, 1895

This past Thursday the Northern California chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists took a field trip (arranged by Sheri Fenley, who unfortunately was not able to attend) to the Holt-Atherton Special Collections at the University of the Pacific Library in Stockton.  Archivist Michael Wurtz gave us a tour and overview of the collections.  Two of the more significant collections at the library are the John Muir Papers, the largest collection of Muir documents in the world; and the Brubeck Collection, the archives of jazz musician Dave Brubeck.  Other collections are Japanese American Internment documents; the University Archives; and Western Americana, which encompasses more than 400 collections, including the Spooner Collection of California stereographs taken between 1875-1905.

Mr. Wurtz showed a PowerPoint presentation about the Stockton State Hospital, formerly known as the Stockton Insane Asylum.  Under various names, it was in operation from 1851-1996.  Researching the hospital has become a project of Mr. Wurtz's since he found information about it in the archives.  The archive has annual reports for the hospital from 1869-1928.  The reports include tables for such things as causes of death and causes of insanity (such as a lost love).

One historical incident connected to the hospital was an 1857 duel between Dr. Washington Ryer and Dr. Samuel Langdon, who disagreed not only about some hospital policies but also about slavery (Ryer was an abolitionist, while Langdon was pro slavery).  By amazing coincidence, I had recently watched a repeat episode of History Detectives where the pistols used in that duel were discussed.  In 1859 the same pistols were used in the duel between U.S. Senator David Broderick and former Chief Justice David Terry.  The latter duel was also caused by a difference of opinion on slavery.  The pistols were owned by a Dr. Aylette, a friend of both Langdon and Terry.  I always find it interesting to see how apparently unrelated events are linked.

After the PowerPoint presentation Mr. Wurtz passed around some sample items he had pulled from the archive.  What captured our interest the most was a box of "mug shot" books from the San Joaquin County Sheriff's office, dating from about 1877-1899.  There are about thirteen books of photographs (totaling about 7,500 photos), almost all of them with names, many of them with numbers, which we guessed were either case or prisoner numbers.  Some men served time in San Quentin, Folsom, and San Francisco, and one person had a number listed for Walla Walla.  Some abbreviations we couldn't decipher (H.B. and H.C. among them).  One book had sections for where the people were from:  Oakland, Solano County, foreign countries.  A few people are noted as being dead.  The vast majority of the photos were of white men, with several Hispanic men; we noted about a dozen white women, a dozen black men, half a dozen Chinese men, and one black woman.

Many of the archive's holdings have been digitized and can be viewed online.  After our fascination with the mug shot books, there are now plans to put the name index for the photos online also.