You Better Get Your Shades!

I've got mine on.  The newest issue of Shades of the Departed Magazine, all about occupations,  has been published. Among many of the photos that portray people at work, the footnoteMaven has included some  wonderful photos of  firemen and policemen.  I just love a man in uniform, don't you?

With over 100 pages, there is certainly something for everyone in this edition.  The Photo Detective, Maureen Taylor's column "Dressed To The Nines" makes its debut.  Your favorite regulars like Denise Levenick / Peneople Dreadful, Craig Manson, Janine Smith, Caroline Pointer and Denise Barrett Olson do not disappoint with their contributions.

Cheri Hopkins, one of the two You Go Girls, makes a guest appearance showing off her most excellent talent of scrapbooking.  The footnoteMaven has raised the bar of excellence even higher with this issue.

I took a couple of months off from my column, but look for me in the next issue when Shades focuses on School Days, due out in September.

Heritage Pie

Always looking for new ways to procrastinate, my eye spied a post by Diane Haddad over at The Genealogy Insider.  She created a great heritage pie chart for her son Leo using a chart generator from Kid Zone.



So I took a few minutes to make my own heritage pie chart.

Ok. I've shown you mine.  Let's see yours!

Oh How I Love A Parade!

Ever since I can remember, I have always wanted to be in a parade.  Riding in a red convertible, perched  on top of the back seat smiling and waving.

Oh let me tell you about the waving.  I have been practicing "The Parade Wave" all my life.  I even took a class in parade waving.  Think I am kidding?  When I was about 11 or 12 years old, my mother enrolled me in the "Wendy Ward Charm School."  For those unfamiliar, this was a service offered by Montgomery Wards in the 1960's to young ladies so that they might learn social graces, correct posture, how to walk (GLIDE, step and pose, GLIDE)  and most importantly the "Parade Wave." 

"Parade Waving" is truly an art form, it is even listed in the Urban Dictionary - "A slight hand gesture used to wave for prolonged periods of time (like during a parade) or as a casual non-verbal greeting to friends. With the arm bent at the elbow, the waver turns their wrist back and forth exposing the front and then the back of the hand in a single motion."   

Well I wasn't in a red convertible, but I was in the 4th of July Parade this morning here in Stockton.  El Toyon chapter NSDAR was a participant.  Nothing fancy, we decorated a member's pickup truck and several ladies rode in the back.  I walked in front of the vehicle with two other ladies - we were holding our chapter's banner.  We all wore red, white and blue and had wreaths of glitter on our heads.  The route was about 1 mile and it was about 100 degrees in the shade, but I had a BLAST!  The sidewalks along the parade route were crowded with people cheering and waving back at us.

We were in good company - in front of us were players from the Stockton Thunder (Ice Hockey Team) and in back of us were the Sacramento Kings Dancers (Kings = basketball team).  There were over 75 entries in all.  Quite a turnout for Stockton!

I made some family history today.  So how did you spend your holiday?  Did you make any family history?

Holiday Greetings From Camp Fenley

FROM EVERYONE HERE AT CAMP FENLEY

(well ok it's just me and the cat this weekend)

HAVE A WONDERFUL 4th of JULY HOLIDAY WEEKEND!

San Joaquin County Obituary Index Project

Decades ago, staff at the Stockton-San Joaquin Library faithfully clipped obituaries from the Stockton Record and affixed them onto 3x5 index cards.  By 1991, the collection grew so large that the Utah Genealogical Society came and put all the cards on microfilm - 59 rolls of microfilm. A copy of the 59 roles of film were given to the library and the original film went off to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Recently, the film was handed over to the San Joaquin Historical Society and Museum.

There are so very few records online for San Joaquin County so Leigh Johnsen, the archivist at the Historical Society came up with a most brilliant idea - make these records accessible to everyone with an online, searchable database which will link to the digital image. 

Representatives from the San Joaquin Genealogical Society, the Stockton-San Joaquin County Library, and the San Joaquin County Historical Society and Museum gathered with information technologists from San Joaquin Delta College to figure out how this data can be made available over the Internet. The coalition, which calls itself the San Joaquin County Obituary Index Project, has decided to partner with FamilySearch which hopefully will get the project up and running for us.

The objective is simple: creation of an online database accessible anywhere in the world through which visitors can search for obituaries in San Joaquin County newspapers by name. But before that can happen, information from the digitized microfilm needs to be indexed.  That task requires volunteers.

Anybody who has a computer, Internet connection, and the ability to type can participate. They can work from the comfort of their own home, at any time of day, for any length of time. They need not live in San Joaquin County, but can reside anywhere in the world.

Please contact Leigh Johnsen via e-mail at leighjohnsen@sanjoaquinhistory.org if you would like to participate, and please share this invitation with others who might be interested. A headcount of potential volunteers is indispensable for the project to plan strategy as it moves forward.

This is the first time that the organizations in the coalition have come together for a project.  I am  so excited about this project and if this goes well, who knows what we can accomplish working together!

Community Spirit = Becky Jamison

Believe it or not, there are many genealogists and family historians out there that still don't know about Geneabloggers - who we are, what we do and why we do it.

We are a community of nearly 2000 bloggers who care deeply about genealogy and family history.  Some blog for profit, some for teaching and promoting genealogical education. Others use their blog as "Cousin Bait" hoping to connect with others researching the same family lines, yet there are others who use their blog as a journal for their own research. We each have our own reasons and purpose for blogging but there is one thing we all have in common - community spirit.

We support each other's endeavors with something as small as a comment left on a blog or with something as big as what Becky Jamison has done for me.  Becky Jaminson is the author of the beautiful and well-written blog Grace and Glory.  Her father, Ernie Margheim, also authors a blog called Ernie's Journeys which is where I found a post that he had written about Germans From Russia in Kansas.  I had emailed Ernie and Becky and told them all about my German Russian heritage and family in Kansas.  This was about 3 or 4 years ago.

Through a wonderful serendipitous moment of her own, Becky came into contact with someone in my paternal  BEFORT family line.  She remembered my family name and hooked the two of us up.  This could not have happened at a better time.  I was just about to put away that line of my family because I was so frustrated not being able to find living family members.

My heartfelt gratitude to Becky Jamison for thinking of me.  It is actions like this that help form the glue that keeps our community together.  There is no "Us" and "Them" in our corner of the world, only "We."

Wanted: A Photo Of Me At Jamboree That Doesn't Make Me Look Fat

Or that shows me making a funny face or looking three sheets to the wind!  Jeez Louise, 2 tiny cocktails imbibed one evening and whee! out come the cameras.  The photos containing parrots, hula skirts and sock monkey pj's are without question par for the course.

Jamboree 2011 was by far the Best Ever!  I met so many new friends and hopefully didn't scare too many away.  Geneabloggers are truly a community of fun-loving people.  My face still hurts from laughing so much.

Bloggers I met for the first time:

Diana Ritchie - Random Relatives
Caroline Pointer - Family Stories
Terri O'Connell - Finding Our Ancestors
Tonia Kendrick - Tonia's Roots
Kim von Aspern - Le Maison Duchamp
Heather Rojo - Nutfield Genealogy
Joan Miller - Luxegen Genealogy and Family History
Donna Wendt - Another Day With Donna
CeCe Moore - Your Genetic Genealogist
Angela Kraft - Leaves of Heritage
Cindy Harris - Generations of Germans
Nancy Lowe - Sassy Jane Genealogy Blog
Denise Spurlock - Denise's Life in the Past Lane
Patricia Stanard - My Genealogy Obsession
Lisa Gorrell - Mam-ma's Southern Family

If I left someone out, please let me know.

I plan another post about the educational aspect of the Grand Soiree but for now here are a few photos to tide you over.

Seated L to R - Caroline Pointer and Elizabeth O'Neal

Standing L to R - Me, Denise Levenick, Terri O'Connell and Donna Pointkouski 

The Photo Detective Maureen Taylor and daughter 

Schelly Dardashti at the MyHeritage booth

Steve Morse "stringing up" Ron Aarons

Standing L to R - CeCe Moore & Joan Miller
Seated L to R - Diana Ritchie & Caroline Pointer

L to R - Elyse Doerflinger and Janet Horvorka the "Chart Chick"

L to R - Janice Sellers, Schelly Dardashti (holding up what might be a "Get Out Of Hell Free" card), Steve Morse & 1/2 of Ron Aarons

And last but certainly not least me and the Best Roommate Ever - Elizabeth O'Neal
Photo courtesy of Kathryn Doyle - ok, ok I swiped it off the California Genealogical Society Blog, but I am a member and I am giving Kathryn her props and it is such a good pic of Elizabeth and I and I don't have a parrot on my head nor do I look really fat so I just had to have it.  Thanks Kathryn!

Adventures at Jamboree

So here I am at the Southern California Genealogical Society's 42nd annual Jamboree, minding my own business when out of nowhere I am kidnapped by a marauding band of genealogists who ply me with a few drinks and force me to wear a parrot on my head. If this photo doesn't start my phone ringing off the wall with clients wanting my services for professional genealogical and historical research, I don't know what will.

This is typical of the fun you too can have when you come to Jamboree. If the party atmosphere is a bit too much, there is of course the real reason people come to Jamboree - 130 speakers giving almost 200 presentations over three full days of genealogical heaven. The vendors this year are so varied, there is certainly something for everyone.

There is still time - come join us on the most excellent Jamboree adventure!

Got To Love Her!

NGSQ Articles Online Study Group

Evaluating others' research is one of the best ways I know to acquire advanced knowledge and research competence - Tom Jones

A great way to further your genealogical education is participation in one of the online NGSQ Articles Study Groups. These groups began back in 2008 and are still going strong. Now I know what you're thinking and you can rest assured that these groups are not for brain-ee-acks only, although you might be more comfortable if you have a good understanding of the GPS - Genealogical Proof Standard.

The groups meet once a month online to discuss an article from the National Genealogical Society Quarterly. This study is based on the model set forth by Dr. William M. Litchman where each participant reads the selected article several times, making notes about the research techniques, evidence and logic used in solving the genealogy problem. Members meet online to discuss the methodology used in the article and take turns moderating the discussions.

Articles for the next 3 months:

June
Paul Graham, "A Blue Ridge Family for Alsaph Briggs Barker," National Genealogical Society Quarterly 97 (June 2010): 85-100.

July
Richard A. Hayden, "Resolving the Inexplicable: The Marriage Bond of Archibald Young and Lettice Morgan," National Genealogical Society Quarterly 95 (March 2007): 5-16.

August
Philip Burnett Adderley, “Assembling and Correlating Evidence: Was Robert William Jemison a Planter, District Attorney, Land Register, Traitor, or All These?” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 98 (December 2010) 263-282.

Interested? Contact me for further details via email - sherifenley@gmail.com