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Recap of the Annual CGS Membership Meeting

(1/13/2021)

While it was definitely “different” to hold our annual Membership Meeting via Zoom last weekend (and who doesn’t know “different” after the past year?), it was still good to see lots of familiar faces.

CGS Board Members with their different backgrounds,
some more creative then others. Ready for our closeups!
(Click to enlarge)

We had about 50 people in attendance on Saturday. This occasion saw the departure of two much-appreciated CGS Board members: Arlene Miles and Stacy Hoover Haines each stepped down at the end of her term. Arlene is well-known to many of our members for her years of service as the CGS Library Manager and as a volunteer in other capacities. Stacy is an invaluable researcher and editor who continues to serve as co-editor of The California Nugget. We are grateful for their service.

Two new Board members were voted in at the meeting. Ron Madson is familiar to our members as a teacher, lecturer, and leader of the Family Tree Maker Special Interest Group. Adelle Treakle, who has served on the membership committee and is currently our EventBrite coordinator, has also accepted an invitation to serve on the Board. Welcome, Ron and Adelle! You can find more information on each of our current Board members and Officers at the CGS website.

After general business, we heard from Jane Lindsey, who gave us a preview of the 2022 NGS Family History Conference, to be held in Sacramento in May 2022. CGS is hosting the event, which is now soliciting proposed speakers. Of course, we will need lots of volunteers to help out as the time draws near. More details will be coming your way via the blog and eNews in coming months.

Thanks to all our members, to the Board and Officers, and everyone who helped pull the event together. Here’s to good things in 2021!

Online genealogy, week of January 11-17

(1/8/2021)

Our weekly roundup of upcoming genealogy events. Numerous associations offer online genealogy classes every week. Most are free. To register for one of the events below, click on the name of the host organization.

January 16: CGS Family Tree Maker Special Interest Group with guest speaker Russ Worthington. For details or to RSVP, see our link at EventBrite.

American Ancestors

January 13: A Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year History of America’s Hurricane author talk by Eric Jay Dolin

January 14: “What’s New at AmericanAncestors.org?” by Molly Rogers

January 15: “The Crown: A Tour of Filming Locations of the Most Expensive TV Series Ever Made” by Curt DiCamilo

BYU Family History Library
January 13: “Census Records in Germany 1816-1916” with Dr. Roger Minert

Legacy Family Tree

January 12: “MyHeritage Mobile App: All New Features From 2020″ by Masha Novak

January 13: “Do You Have an Artificial Brick Wall?” by Robyn Smith

January 15: “From Grandmother to First European Landowner of Canada” by Lianne Kruger

Conference Keeper has a large calendar of classes (too many to list) from beginning to advanced, hosted by various genealogical organizations. New events are added often, so check the calendar frequently.
Here are a few of the coming week’s highlights:

January 11:

“Picturing” Your Research—Finding, Procuring, and Preserving Images” (Genealogical Society of Bergen County)
“Reading Old Handwriting” (Library of Virginia)

January 12:

“How to Choose the Right Genealogical Software” (Schaumburg IL Public Library)
“The Times of Our Lives: Writing Our Stories” (Allen County IN Public Library)
“Finding Your Scandinavian Parish of Birth” (Central Jersey Genealogical Club)

January 14:

“Best Practices for Organizing Photos” (Fox Valley IL Genealogical Society)
“Diary of a Contraband: The Civil War Passage of a Black Sailor” (HistoryCamp)

“Maps and Mapping for Genealogists” (Sacramento Genealogical Society)

January 16:

“Finding Ancestors in Ireland Before and After the Famine” (Lee County Library System)

January 17:

“Genealogy, Identity and Citizenship” (Israel Genealogy Research Association)

See our post “Genealogy Learning in the Time of Coronavirus” for links to classes archived online at Ancestry, FamilySearch, RootsTech, and more. Be well, stay safe, and happy learning!

Annual Membership Meeting, Saturday, January 9: Live on Zoom

(1/4/2021)

The festive board at a previous Membership Meeting.
This year, BYOB (bring your own brunch) and enjoy
online fellowship with other CGS members

We hope you’ll make a virtual appearance at our Annual Membership Meeting this coming Saturday, January 9. We know it’s not the same without the usual potluck and in-person fraternizing, but you can still see your friends online (and message one another via the Chat feature). President James Sorenson will give a recap of the past year and Past President Jane Lindsey will discuss the 2022 National Genealogical Society Conference in Sacramento, which CGS is hosting. We’ll also vote on the slate of new nominees to the board and the 2021 budget.

Still here and fun-loving as ever.

Grab your favorite snack and beverage of choice, and join fellow CGS members online – for Auld Lang Syne. Enjoy these photos from past Membership Meetings and remember: we WILL gather again some day. A toast to the new year, and to putting the pandemic behind us!

We’ll meet again!