Poof! Like Magic It Is June

OMG!  I cannot believe that another year has gone by and it is going to be June again.  I swear I just closed my eyes for a minute and when I opened them - Poof! Like magic - it is time for Jamboree again.

The 43rd annual Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree is June 8th thru 10th at the Burbank Marriott Hotel.  


The list of speakers and the topics they intend to cover for the weekend are outstanding.


I am not giving any presentations however I will be (wo)manning a couple of different booths over the weekend.


Friday, June 8th I will be hosting the genealogy roundtable for discussion on lineage societies. This is part of the Genealogy World Roundtable Discussions that are part of the JAMBOFREE sessions.  There is no charge and you do not have to be registered for the conference to join in.  There will be over 25 different topics at 25 tables set up in Pavillion A.  Pop in anytime between 9:00am and Noon.


On Sunday, June 10th I will be in the "Ask An Expert" Booth from 10am to 11am. Come on by and play "Stump the Genie."


Right after that I move over to the California State Genealogical Alliance booth for an hour or two.  I serve on the board as secretary for the Alliance.

On Friday evening, June 9th there will be an event you won't want to miss - the Hollywood Gala!  Red carpet, paparazzi, glitz and glamour.  Oooohhh this event is sooo up my alley.  Costumes are optional but who would want to miss an opportunity to dress up like a "movie stah" and vamp around?  Certainly not me.


I must also try to make time for stalking some of the best and brightest in the genealogy world. ( Disclaimer:  I stalk in a TOTALLY NON-RESTRAINING ORDER kind of way)  I failed miserably last year in my quest to have Curt Witcher notice me.  So I am going to try again this year but in case of a fail I have backups selected:  Warren Bittner, Jana Broglin, Jay Fonkert, Laura Prescott and Josh Taylor.  To qualify as a victim of my stalking the person must be someone I have never met but really, really want to.  I did meet Jay Fonkert when we share duties manning the APG table at the NGS conference at Salt Lake City a couple of years ago but I doubt he remembers me so he is on the list.


I have heard through the grapevine that it might be best not to bring a pinata with me this year.  Sigh.  I have suggested an alternate form of entertainment but for some reason have not heard back from the powers that be.  Heavy Sigh.

FOR MY DAHLING MOTHER

A Video for my Dahling Mummy.  Happy Mother's Day!

Shades: Birthday Edition - A Very Special Birthday Surprise!

Yes indeedy, you are reading this correctly.  Today is a legal holiday in honor of the footnoteMaven's Birthday!

Not only is she the editor and publisher of the award-winning "Shades of the Departed" (an online, full featured magazine) but she is also a very dear and special person to all here at Camp Fenley.  It is because of her, the world is a better place.

So, as one of the team of writers for the magazine, I join them in wishing the footnoteMaven a very     Happy Birthday!

My gift to you, Maven is something you probably won't ever see again - Tony Curtis, Frank Sinatra, Rock Husdon, Cary Grant and Marlon Brando dancing their behinds off to wish you happy birthday.

As if this video wasn't enough, please visit the blogs of the other brilliant writers to read their Birthday tributes to the footnoteMaven

Shades: Birthday Edition - Captured Moments of Footnote Maven, by Jasia

Shades: Birthday Edition - For Your Family Story, by Caroline Pointer

Shades - Earth Day/Birthday Edition,  by Craig Manson

A Shades of the Departed Special Birthday Edition: Ladies in Glasses, by Rebecca Fenning

Shades: Birthday Edition -- A Teacup Throne at Moultrie Creek, by Denise Olson

Shades: Birthday Edition - The Fountain of Youth, by Donna Pointkouski
Shades: Birthday Edition - Lost Images Found?, by Janine Smith
Shades: Birthday Edition - Finding footnoteMaven in the 1940 U.S. Census, a dreadful tale, by Denise Levenick

footonoteMaven. "Earth Day - Birthday Graphic." footnoteMaven, 22 April 2009. www.footnotemaven.com/2009/04/earth-day-birthday.html : 2012. 

A Very Cool Story of Genealogical Interest

My friend Johan Mathiesen over at Blogging A Dead Horse wrote a lovely tribute to a man who is being buried 88 years after he died.  Yes - 88 years after he died.  This is one of the coolest stories ever!

Here is the short version of the story.

During the Civil War, Company G of the 37th Alabama Volunteer Infantry were defending the city of Vicksburg, Mississippi from the Union.  A sharpshooter from that unit named Willis Meadows was picking off Union soldiers from behind a iron boiler plate through a peephole.

A Union soldier from Company H of the 5th Iowa Volunteer Infantry named Peter Knapp shot at Meadows through the peephole and the bullet went straight into his eye.  Thinking he had killed the man, Knapp left him there.

Apparently Willis Meadows did not die but the bullet was never removed and Meadows went home to Alabama.  58 years later, in a fit of coughing, the bullet was dislodged and he spit it out.  The story "Coughs Up Bullet" was front page fodder in newspapers across the country.

Peter Knapp who was living in Washington by this time, read the story and realized that he was the soldier who had shot Willis Meadows in the eye.  He made contact with him, the two became friends and remained so until their deaths.

In 1990, a newspaper article is written about an anecdote from the 1950's which prompts a man named Henry Kilburn to contact the editor of the newspaper.  Mr. Kilburn produces  a photograph of the coughed-up bullet flanked by photographs of Willis Meadows and Peter Knapp. He also has the personal diary of Peter Knapp.  So how did Henry Kilburn end up with those items?

Peter Knapp and his wife, with no children of their own, adopted Henry Kilburn's younger sister, Minnie Mae.  Their mother had been divorced and abandoned by her husband. She must have decided that adoption by the Knapps would provide her daughter with a better life.  It was Mae who gave the items to Henry.

Fast forward to 2012.  In yet another newspaper article, we learn that  the wife of the 3rd great nephew of Peter Knapp is researching the Knapp family history.  She was looking for the burial site of Peter Knapp in particular.  At Find-A-Grave she locates an obituary for him that states he had been cremated.  Contacting the Crematorium she was told  no one had ever claimed the cremains.  Those were still on a shelf in the back room.

She then made contact with the Oregon Military Department because Peter Knapp was a Veteran of the U.S. Army he deserved a military funeral.  On 13 April 2012 he got it.

Johan Mathiesen  attended the service and has photos from the funeral on his Flickr page located HERE.  They are most excellent photos so head on over and have a look.

My Connection To WDYTYA and Helen Hunt

Actress Helen Hunt was the latest guest to discover some of her ancestry on Who Do You Think You Are. Lorine McGinnis Schultze over at the Olive Tree Genealogy Blog wrote about her thoughts on the show.  Over at Geneabloggers, several people left comments with their thoughts and Cyndi Beane Henry from Mountain Genealogists weighed in with her review.

In searching for her roots, Hunt discovered she was a descendant of William Scholle, a German Jew who came to San Francisco around the time of the Gold Rush and who became a successful insurance broker and investor.

I was pleasantly surprised when who of all people appeared on my TV screen - Frances Dinkelspiel, who revealed to Ms. Hunt that her 2nd great grandfather Isaias Hellman and Hunt's 2nd great grandfather William Scholle were running buddies  not only the in very elite San Francisco social circles but also conducted business together namely the Nevada  Bank in San Francisco.  Hellman had come from Los Angeles to San Francisco to rescue the failing bank and scores of millionaires lined up to buy in.

The Nevada Bank at the corner of Pine & Montgomery , San Francisco

Frances wrote a book called "Towers of Gold" which is a biography of her 2nd great grandfather Isaias Hellman based on years of research that included over 50,000 archival documents.  Frances is related to my SIL through marriage a couple of times removed.  I had the pleasure of meeting Frances when she spoke at the California Genealogical Society awhile back.

Now here is the very cool part.  As you may remember, I have done quite a bit of research on my sister-in-law's family.  They are Jews from Bavaria who came to San Francisco in the 1850's and to this day still live there.  My SIL's 2nd great grandfather, David Nathan Walter, became a director for the Nevada Bank when he purchased $100,000 worth of stock in the bank.   Today, that bank is Wells Fargo.  D. N. Walter was boyhood friends with Isaias Hellman.  They are both from the village of Reckendorf in Bavaria. 

Sutro Library Has A New Home!

Old location of the Sutro, to the right  (not seen) is a shopping center

The first time I visited the Sutro Library I remember thinking "Wow this place is a dump!"  It was located across from a shopping mall in an ugly brown building.  The inside wasn't much better.  It always seemed dark, like half of the lights were shut off.  There were no windows to the outside world.  I really did not like to do research there at all.

I don't know why I was surprised at the condition of the library.  It has been treated like an ugly red-headed step child since the very beginning.  

In 1859, Adolph Sutro planned and built a tunnel which made it possible to drain and ventilate the many mines in the Comstock Lode, and to permit the miners to bring out the rich silver ore.   This made Adolph a very rich man.

He ran for mayor of San Francisco in 1894 on the Populist ticket, as the "Anti-Octopus" candidate, which opposed the politics of the Southern Pacific Railroad. He served one term.

Adolph Sutro's  Cliff House  1894

At one time he owned one-twelfth of the acreage in San Francisco. He purchased the Cliff House in the early 1880s and a thousand acres of land facing the ocean, now named Sutro Heights. He also built the famed Sutro Baths and planted Sutro Forest.

The Sutro Baths

He owned the finest private library in the United States and had planned to build a library at Sutro Heights, then decided to use half the acreage subsequently given to the University of California, on Mount Parnassus (now Mount Sutro). A specific design for this building was published and the university regents actually approved the offer.  However Sutro, who died in 1898, had failed to provide the necessary legal basis for this plan in his will, unrevised since 1882, and his heirs disputed the ownership of the collection. Only after extended litigation and several unsatisfactory location changes did they finally agree to donate it to the California State Library in 1913, on the condition it must remain permanently in San Francisco.

Bookplate from Sutro Library

In the 1906 Great Earthquake, about 40% of the library collection was destroyed by fire.  Over the next forty-six years, the California Legislature repeatedly failed to provide funding for maintenance of the collection or construction of a building to house it. At one point returning the collection to the Sutro heirs was a consideration.  

In 1959 The University of San Francisco offered to house the collection in the Gleeson Library for a nominal fee.  There it remained until 1983 when it was moved to the location on Winston Street - the ugly brown building.

I am really looking forward to visiting the Sutro Library in its brand new home. May 2012 is when the door will open to the much improved location for the library.

New home of the Sutro Library on the 5th and 6th floors

The new address is:  1600 Holloway Ave, San Francisco, CA 94132


The Sutro Library is the San Francisco branch of the California State Library.  Its holdings are cataloged and can be checked online using MELVYL.

A Pleasant Surprise

This morning I was going to publicly start whining about how January 2012 was going down as one of the longest, most miserable, "don't want to get out of bed" months in recent history.

That is,  until I read an email from the author of one of my favorite blogs telling me that I was the winner of his weekly give-away!

Michael Popek is the author of a blog called "Forgotten Bookmarks."  He describes his blog like this:

"I am a used and rare bookseller.  I buy books from people every day. These are the personal, funny, heartbreaking and weird things I find in these books"

It was in fact, Dahling Thomas MacEntee who turned me on to Michael's blog about 3 years ago.  I have been a faithful reader ever since.

Michael shares the wonderful things that people have left in books.  There are the usual items :  pieces of paper with recipes written on them, letters written but never mailed, quite a few photographs and alot of just plain weird and bazaar crap.  A clever, witty comment accompanies each item Michael posts.  A few of my personal favorites can be found HERE, HERE and one of special interest to any genealogist researching New York and the Hudson River Valley.

I know, I know - I can hear some of you thinking - "Didn't she just write something recently about  trying to overcome the OLSS (Oh Look, Something Shiny!")  thingy?"  Well judge me not dear readers.  Here is my defense that time spent at Forgotten Bookmarks is not the time sucker you may think it is.

Each item left behind in a book tells us a little about the person who left it there.  Some of the books are really old, which makes the item left behind really old.  So this makes the item an artifact.  (still with me?)  So if I am looking at an artifact left in a book by a person from a long time ago that means I am doing some kind of social science kind of thing.  And what Michael is doing is preserving cultural history, right?  So voila! Reading  the Forgotten Bookmarks blog does not equal time sucking, rather it contributes to my ongoing commitment of education for myself and others.

I rest my case.  You are welcome.

An Open Response To Dahling Polly Kimmitt

Yesterday, as I was catching up on 3 weeks worth of blogs, I came across one of my favorites - "PollyBlog" authored by Polly Kimmitt.

Below is a snippet of a recent post from her blog:

"There is a lot of negative buzz in the genealogical community lately about people overselling themselves, and I certainly don't want to come across that way because in reality I don't think anything I'm doing is all that spectacular. I myself am happy with it, but I'm not out to impress anyone. Then again, it seems kind of dumb that you can read my blog and have no idea what I'm doing. I always say that if you carry modesty too far it becomes an egotistical thing. A person who purposefully does not share anything about him/herself can seem closed-off, and for what purpose?"

At the end Polly asks this of her readers:

"Do you think this post is boastful, arrogant or publicity-based? Does it seem self-serving? I'm curious what people think about this one because it is different from my others. Let me know your thoughts!"

I started to leave a comment but found shortly that it was turning into almost a thesis and decided to address her concerns and put in my 5 cents worth of thoughts here.

Writing a blog and making it available to the whole world to read is very scary stuff when you first start out.  Some of my first thoughts were: How much about my personal life to I want to share with John Q. Public?  I am so very proud of my 3 sons and like any mother I love to brag about anything they do.  OK mostly it is all about me - I pat myself on the back daily for a job well done on those boys.  But, am I violating their privacy if I use their names?  They are all grown men now but the world is full of weirdos and we all want to keep our children safe.  Then came the most horrifying thought of all - what if no one evens reads my blog at all?  

So after about a year I made the decision to just be me - I decided not to write with a formal business tone.  My blog is a perfect way for me to meet and "talk" to people in the genealogical community.  Truth is, I am painfully shy, and a blog was a curtain to hide behind.  As I began interacting with others online more and more, my confidence grew. I started putting some of my research work in posts.  The comments and constructive criticism I received from others bloggers and genealogists - the peer review - the knowledge that people thought well enough of me and my work to take time to leave words of advice and encouragement turned the tide for me personally and professionally.  Gone are the days of living in a vacuum.  Yes a genealogist usually does work alone, but we now can reach out to one another in seconds for support and friendship.

I have learned that if there is something that you do well, why not let the world know about it?  I gave myself permission to toot my own horn when I accomplished a goal or if I have knowledge that can be of use to another then Hell yes I let people know.  How else are they going to know about it?  

I had a client last month who told me that when he decided he was going to hire a professional, he narrowed down the choices to a group of 4 or 5 genealogists of which I was one.  He went on to say that for each of us he had gone on Facebook, Google+, Twitter and our personal websites or blogs to learn more about each of us.  He knew that all of us were more than capable and experienced to take on his project but he wanted someone who he felt comfortable enough with to share his family and ancestors with.  

He said that there are a kazillion people out there that could pull records and find the facts and documents and write a cold and impersonal report.  He wanted a researcher to get to know his ancestors  and go into the project with the mindset that his ancestors were living, breathing people at one time in history and not just names on a piece of paper.

He said that I was the only one of the group of his choices that let people get to know who I am as a person.  

He said hiring a genealogist is not the same as hiring a plumber or a tax accountant, etc.  A genealogist would be privy information about what he holds most dearest - his family - both the living and the dead.  He wanted someone who he felt could conduct research knowing these things.

I said to him - "Well you have read my blog and so you must be aware that I can be at times snarky, irreverent and just a plain goofball and that didn't concern you that I might not be professional or businesslike enough?"  He told me that he had seen my work and had even spoke to a previous client (unbeknowst to me) and he was confident in my experience and abilities.  

Well that was a first for me and he is probably one in a million of clients that would make a choice for a professional with that criteria.  But it did make sense to me and was thrilled and honored that he thought I was the one who fit the bill.

On the other hand, there are probably many other prospective clients that did NOT choose or even consider me because of the very reasons he did.

Each one of us blog for different reasons.  They are so many out there that are wonderful blogs and the information that they have is invaluable.  They have been blogging for years and to this day to not even reveal their real name or location or (believe it or not) have any information about how to contact them.  But that is their choice.

It's your blog, and you have the power to do anything you want.  If my blog or posts ever bother some one I would hope they would tell me why and we can always agree to disagree but I will not change or delete because of that reason.  

There is nothing wrong with self-promotion.  If we were all rich and famous enough we would do the same thing but we would be paying a publicist to do it.

There is a huge difference between self promotion and getting your name out there to let people know what you can do for them - and and being a braggart, blow-hard and uppity know-it-all (for lack of a word that isn't offensive).  Anyone with common sense is able to tell the difference as far as I am concerned.

So Polly Kimmitt - I for one am so pleased to know more about you and what makes you happy in life. You are my kind of people!   I am sad though that you probably won't ever be joining me in the Unholy Abyss  playing video games and watching TV and abusing other time-wasters. But we can work on that. . .LOL.

A Bit Under The Weather

Cold and Flu Season has hit Camp Fenley with a vengeance.  Hope to be back soon.

Forecast of 2012 Arrives In A Fortune Cookie

"A Goal is a Dream with a Plan and a Deadline"

Last night we dined on our traditional New Year's Eve fare - take out from Dave Wong's Chinese Restaurant.  Yeah, we are a classy bunch here at Camp Fenley.  Tradition also dictates that I eat the fortune cookies before I start in on the main courses.  Being an adult who doesn't have any examples to set, I can eat my dessert first if I want to so don't judge me people.

The very first cookie I cracked open contained a slip of paper that read:  "A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline."

A perfect set up to segueway into revealing my genealogical plans for 2012, don't you think?

I have only one real goal for 2012, but it is huge people, really huge.  I am going to send in my application to the Board for Certification for Genealogists  this month and start the one year clock ticking to submit my portfolio.  Am I nervous?  Am I scared?  A big and hearty HELL, YES! I am shaking in my Jimmy Choo shoes!

This year I also have moved up the ladder in my genealogical volunteer gigs.

I am now a member of the executive board for the California State Genealogical Alliance serving as secretary.  I will also be a contributing author to the blog for the Alliance.

In May 2012, I will begin a 2 year term as the District II Registrar for the California State Society Daughters of the American Revolution.  I will also remain registrar for El Toyon Chapter NSDAR here in Stockton, a position I have held since 2007.

I also will continue as the editor for the San Joaquin Genealogical Society newsletter and serving on the board.  The board has approved the creation of a blog for the society, which I will manage and I hope to have its debut this next week.

In between all the above, I hope to attend all of the field trips planned for the year with the Northern California Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists beginning with the tour of the Special Collections of the University of the Pacific Library on January 5th.

I will continue indexing for various projects throughout the year.

 I will continue to participate in the monthly NGSQ article online discussion groups.  Last year, Angela McGhie, who is the head Honchess of the ProGen Study Group,  turned the article discussion group coordinator reins over to me.  

Leah Allen, author of Leah's Family Tree,  has volunteered not only to be my genealogy goal buddy, but has made the suggestion that we round up Northern California bloggers to form a group of buddies.  The more the merrier.  What fun it would be to meet up with a group of NorCal bloggers a couple times a year to cheer each other on and help each other obtain their goals for 2012.  I say we could include anyone interested in becoming a buddy in our group would work if we use the Google+ Hangout to meet.  Anyone interested?