Northern California APG Chapter Welcomes Judy Russell!

Genealogists from the Northern California APG Chapter had cause to celebrate.  The San Francisco Giants were rewarded with a parade in San Francisco today for winning the World Series.  We had a Major League player from the genealogical community share a meal and hours of great stories with us.

Judy Russell, Carolyn Ybarra & Corey Oiesen

Judy Russell, The Legal Genealogist, is in Cali Land to give a day long seminar on Saturday for the San Mateo County Genealogical Society.  They had all kinds of plans for Judy this weekend, but SMCGS president Christine Green thought the Northern California APG Chapter might enjoy some face time with Judy as well.  Fifteen of us traveled from all over the Bay Area  and Stockton for this wonderful opportunity.

(back row)  Carolyn Ybarra, Corey Oieson, Janice Sellers

(front row)  Linda Okazaki  & Christine Green

NorCal APG members who joined us for lunch were:  Ellen Fernandez-Sacco (president of the California Genealogical Society), Jeff Vaillant (immediate past president of CGS), Corey Oiesen  ( APG Publicity Chair & CSGA Newsletter Editor ), Kim Cotton (vice president of CGS), Lisa Gorrell ( secretary for CGS), Joyce Morey (SMCGS), Todd Armstrong (CGS), Linda Okazaki (CGS), Christine Green (president SMCGS), Carolyn Ybarra, Janice Sellers and representing the San Joaquin Genealogical Society from Stockton was Jacqi Stevens (vice president) and myself (president).

Jeff Vaillant, Jacqi Stevens, My Empty Chair (I was the photographer for the day), Kim Cotton, Linda Okazaki & Christine Green

Judy had no problem at all feeling right at home with our group.  From the moment she arrived at the restaurant until we all walked out the door (3 hours later), it was non-stop story telling and sharing our most exciting genealogical discoveries.

Kin Cotton, My Empty Chair,  Jacqi Stevens, Jeff Vaillant & Lisa Gorrell

I absolutely love our Northern California group of people.  We do things a little different from other APG Chapters.  For instance - we do not have elected officers (no one is the boss of us :)), we don't charge dues and we don't have traditional chapter meetings.  Instead, one of us makes arrangements with a Northern California library, archives, etc for a "behind the scenes" tour and then we go out to lunch.  This formula seems to work for us and personally I accomplish more networking during one of our field trips than I do anywhere else.  We are a very friendly and happy group of people and welcome any member of  the Association of Professional Genealogists to join us on any of our field trips.  

Ellen Fernandez-Sacco, Todd Armstrong & Joyce Morey

Thank you Judy Russell for sharing your afternoon with us!

Northern California APG Chapter Field Trip

The California History Center

at De Anza College, Cupertino, California

NorCal APG Field Trip

29 October 2013

"Le Petit Trianon"

The California History Center at DeAnza College is housed in a mansion called "Le Petit Trianon" which was owned by one of Cupertino's first millionaires and avid polo player - Rear Admiral Charles S. Baldwin.  Charles married Ella Hobart, the daughter of W. S. Hobart who was a kajillionaire who profitted from the  riches of the Comstock Lode.  Charles Baldwin commissioned Willis Polk, a renowned San Francisco architect to design the mansion.

The next owner of the mansion was heiress Harriet Pullman.  Harriet was the daughter of George Pullman - inventor of the "Pullman Sleeping Car" for trains.

Left to right: Ellen Fernandez-Sacco, Sheri Fenley, Jeff Vaillant and Lisa Christiansen

Carolyn Ybarra was the organizer of this field trip and she deserves a huge "Atta Girl" for arranging the private tour for our group by archivist Lisa Christiansen.

Regarding the photo above:  I love, love, love Ellen Fernandez-Sacco's bright red clogs!

Left to right:  Janice Sellers, Phyllis Garratt, Kim Cotton and Sharon Hoyt

Located inside "La Petit Trianon" is the Louis E. Stocklmeir Regional History Library and Archives.  Although none of the photos here show it, the room has a beautiful domed oval skylight.

Much older photo of the library see above and below.  It still has the same built-in, floor-to-ceiling blookshelves!

Left to right:  Cath Trindle, Lisa Gorrell, Ellen Fernandez-Sacco and Jeff Vaillant

Lisa Christiansen, the archivist, knows the holdings of the library inside and out. She knows all the little intricate things about all the collections that are not written down on index cards or finding aids.

One of the many in-house finding aids

The back of my head and archivist Lisa Christiansen

There are so many different collections available to researchers but a few that stood out for me were these:

The Photograph Collection number approximately 10,000 photographs that focus mainly on local families, agriculture, public works, historic buildings and the history of Moffat Field Naval Air Base.

There are over 2000 student research papers which are a unique resource for genealogists because the reports are written using primary source records, oral interviews, etc.

The Palo Alto Times from 1908-1991 is available on microfilm.

Special Collections include the Castro Family collection, Fuller Albumn, Laura Thane Whipple collection and the Bol Family collection.

A few of the great county history books house in the library

Special "Thank You" to Corey Oiesen who served as the photographer for the day and has allowed the use of these photos.

California History Center

Open Tuesday thru Thursday  9:30 am to 4:00 pm

Open Friday by appointment only

(408) 864-8987

Library use fee:  $5 per day if you are not a student

Plenty of on campus parking, however it will run about $3 per day.

Northern California APG Chapter Field Trip to Sutro

Sutro Library

Wednesday - June 26th  -  10:00am

The Northern California APG Chapter is going on a field trip to the Sutro Library.  The archivist responsible for all the vault material will be giving us a guided tour.

We will meet at the entrance to the library at 10:00 am.  Anyone who is a member of APG is welcome to join us.

The Sutro, which is part of the California State Library, is located on the fifth and sixth floor of the J. Paul Leonard Library on the San Francisco State University campus.  The address is :

1630 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco and a map of the university campus can be found HERE.

To search the California State Library catalog click HERE.

Northern California Chapter APG January Field Trip

The Northern California Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists has scheduled their quarterly field trip for Thursday January 5th, 2012.  This time it will be right here in Stockton at the Holt-Atherton Special Collections of University of the Pacific Library.

Archivist Michael Wurtz will take us on a tour of their holdings and give a presentation on the Stockton State Hospital.  Constructed in 1853, it was first known as the Stockton Insane Asylum.  The state legislature at the time felt that existing hospitals were incapable of caring for the large number of people who suffered from mental and emotional conditions as a result of the Gold Rush and so they authorized the creation of the first public mental health hospital in the State of California.

Just a few holdings of  the special collections:


Japanese-American Internment Collection which includes oral histories of Japanese-Americans who had been relocated during WWII


The archives of jazz Legend Dave Brubeck

The John Muir Papers - the world's largest collection of Muir documents.  The furniture in the special collections reading room is from John Muir's study.

Western Americana is comprised of over 400 collections of unique primary sources and a specialized book collection - over 22,000 volumes on the American West

Spooner Collection - This collection consists of stereographs taken by John Pitcher Spooner in California between approximately 1875 and 1905.


University of the Pacific was established by pioneer Methodist ministers in Santa Clara in 1851 as California's first chartered institution of higher learning. Initially named California Wesleyan College, it petitioned the state to change its name to University of the Pacific one month after it was chartered.  The University provided the West Coast with its first medical school in 1858 (which later became part of Stanford, and today is California Pacific Medical Center), its first coeducational graduating class in 1858, and its first conservatory of music in 1878.  In 1871, Pacific moved to San Jose and in 1896, it merged with Napa College. Its final move was from San Jose to Stockton in 1924.


Are you a member of APG?  Are you thinking about becoming a member?  Are you a Northern California Genealogist?


All are welcome to join us for the tour, presentation and lunch afterward at a nearby restaurant. There is no cost for the tour and presentation, however we all go dutch at lunch. I will need a headcount no later than December 31, 2011 so the good people at UOP can accommodate us comfortably.  Please email me, Sheri Fenley, to RSVP :  sherifenley@gmail.com








DATE:       Thursday  -  January 15, 2012


TIME:        10:30 am until 12:00 pm
                Please plan on arriving at 10:15am inside the library in the cafe.


PLACE:     University of the Pacific
               3601 Pacific Avenue
               Stockton, California 95211

It Was A Geek-Girl's Dream Come True

The Northern California Chapter of APG met last Saturday for an extra special field trip. Tim Cox (who must have used a primo juice card) made arrangements for our group to have a behind the scenes tour of The National Archives Pacific Regional Facility. Since it was a Saturday, it was closed to the public and we had the entire place to ourselves. I was beside myself with geeky, bookwormish delight!

The first order of business was filling out paperwork so that we could be issued a NARA researcher ID card.

Seated at the desk is NARA's Rose Mary Kennedy issuing a researcher's ID card to me (Sheri Fenley). Next in line from left to right is: Kay Ingalls, Suzy Miller, Ginny Meadowcroft , Mr. Rose (who drives Miss Christine) and Jeffrey Vaillant

With our researcher ID cards in hand, we gathered for a short introduction to the archives and Marisa Louie gave us an itinerary of the tour.

From left to right: Lisa Lee, Shelia Prada, Kay Germain Ingalls, Suzy Miller,Ginny Meadowcroft, Dave Fong, Christine Rose, Mr. Rose (who drives Miss Christine), Carolyn Ybara, Ron Cannon, me

THE STACKS

THE ACCESSIONS ROOM

In the accessions room are from left to right: Steve Danko, Kathryn Cannon, Ron Cannon, Marisa Louie (the archivist), Lisa Lee

After the tour, it was into the classroom for some mini-lectures about each of the record groups that are of the most use for a genealogist.

The record groups covered in class were:

RG 21 - Records of US District Courts: Naturalizations; bankruptcy, civil, criminal and other cases. Admiralty cases for coastal regions. San Francisco dates—1850-1970s. A major genealogical source.

RG 49 - Bureau of Land Management/General Land Office: homestead, mining claim, and other Federal public lands (only) transactions case files, tract serial register books and other registers; survey plats, and land entry and patent case files. San Francisco dates—1850s-1960s. SF has CA and NV State offices.

From left to right: me, Steve Danko, Suzy Miller, Ginny Meadowcroft , Christine Rose, Sharon Hoyt, Jeffrey Vaillant (standing), Kay Germain Ingalls, Janice Sellers, Lisa Lee and Marisa Louie (the archivist)

RG 85 - Immigration and Naturalization Service: Massive collection of immigration investigation case files, 1884-1950s, for Honolulu and San Francisco relating mostly to Chinese and other Asian immigrants. Some regions have INS compilations of naturalization records created by county superior courts.

RG 15 - Veterans Administration: c1918-1920s, World War I era only, programs for veterans rehabilitation, employment and training of disabled vets.

From left to right: Ron Cannon, Kathryn Cannon, Cath Trindle and Carolyn Ybarra

RG 147 - Selective Service System World War II: WWII SSS draft registration records are now available in most regional archives, but the master index is held by the National Personnel Records Archives for Military Records, in St. Louis. By mid-2011, WWII SSS records are scheduled to be centralized at MPRA-St. Louis.

RG 163 - Selective Service System World War I: Draftee lists and records of delinquents and deserters.

After the mini classes, we moved to the reading room where Marisa and Rose Mary had pulled some original records from each of the record groups that had been discussed in class for our viewing enjoyment.

Kay Ingalls and Carolyn Ybarra carefully study a case file from RG 21 that includes Deceased & Deserted Seaman Case Files.

Petition for Naturalization from RG 21 - U.S. District Courts

Many, Many thanks to Tim Cox for arranging this outing for our group. Extra special thanks to Marisa Louie and Rose Mary Kennedy for sharing their knowledge and expertise with us.

For anyone interested in conducting research at the NARA facility in San Bruno, California, here are a couple of tips that will make your trip a more productive one.

Use these online finding aids before your visit:

NARA's Online Microfilm Catalog allows researchers to determine the microfilm publications held by the San Bruno facility.

Use the Archival Research Catalog (ARC) to search for records in San Bruno

Call or email the archivists ahead of time to let them know the scope of your research project and when you plan to visit. Records can be pulled, ready for you to start in on when you get there. A heads up to one of the archivists and they can schedule some time to assist you with you project. Contact Rose Mary Kennedy or Marisa Louie.

San Francisco Federal Records Center

National Archives and Records Administration Pacific Region

1000 Commodore Drive

San Bruno, CA 94066-2350

Phone: (650) 238-3501
Fax: (650) 238-3507

email: sanbruno.archives@nara.gov

Another view of the stacks. I could spend days in here without coming up for air.

All photos taken by Tim Cox and used here with his permission.