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Showing posts from March, 2009

Blogging Prompt #11

The blogging prompt for week 11 is ~ "Have a unique record filing system? Share your secrets! Every genealogist has a stack of paper and an individual way of organizing the pile. Share your way of tackling the record mountain and help others get organized!" Wow, this can be a long subject! Let me think, I believe I have tried three different procedures, and refiled each time. Between online classes, a classroom instructor, and everything you read about on how to file, I think you have to try and find what works best for you. I feel I am much more organized with my computer files. I have color coded files for each surname and folders inside each to break down, census, photos, etc. I really like this setup, it has worked well for me so far, although I do have some filing to do there! My home files are set up similar to the computer files. I have matching (to my computer files) color coded binders with each surname. I have sectioned the binders with an area for census, vitals, e

Applying for a Delayed Birth Certificate

Some of you may remember that I had finally sent all the paperwork to hopefully find that my grandmother had a delayed birth certificate. I was so excited to get it done! I made copies of everything they asked for and went down to get the form notarized. Dropped in the mail and hoped I would get a pleasant surprise back. The delayed birth certificate that I sent for is in North Dakota. I received an envelope back in the mail this past week. I opened to find everything was sent back to me except for one piece of paper, and a letter. When I originally went to get the notarization, the Notary explained to me that the area in which her stamp was suppose to go was way to small and she couldn't use it. She then showed me a form and said she could use that. So I said ok, we will give it a go. Of course the form wasn't accepted, and that is what they didn't send back to me. The letter stated they HAD to have the stamp where it is requested. Ok, so I went back to the notary and show

Blogging Prompt #10

Week 10's blogging prompt is~ "Attend a National Conference and blog about it! Genealogists who can't make the conference will appreciate the first person account of the action. Exercise the same copyright caution as mentioned in #9." "Genealogists who can't make the conference will appreciate the first person account of the action." This would include me! Since I have never attended a National Conference, I will be looking to read what others wrote! Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts! Cheryl

Wordless Wednesday - Marta Brita Lundberg

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Marta Brita Lundberg. Date unknown. Location California. Digital Image February 26, 2006 by Cheryl. Privately held by Cheryl [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE] California. 2009

Wordless Wednesday

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Grandson's baby afghan. Date February 23, 2009. Location California. Digital image by Cheryl. Privately held by Cheryl [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE] California. 2009

The 2010 Census and It's Challenges

As with many other factors now a days, the economy has affected the preparations for the country's 2010 Census. Preparations and testing have been an ongoing process. Many changes have been made for the upcoming count next year. Last year there were funding issues for the Census Department as the budget for the department nearly doubled getting ready for 2010. There are new hand held computers and data capturing operations that needed a full test prior to the official counts. Some of the smaller tests, that normally would have been tested, weren't going to be tested this time if they worked well for prior censuses, in order to cut costs. The new system will supposedly enhance, help with efficiency, quality and costs of the census. I wonder how the testing has gone and how prepared the Bureau is coming along. Last April started "Dress Rehearsals" for the official census. Some communities received questionnaires to fill out to make sure there will be a correct count in

More of "The Best of The Genea-Blogs!"

Recently I blogged about Randy Seaver and his column "The Best of The Genea-Blogs." He had chosen one of my posts as a weekly "best" - One of My Posts Makes the Best of the Genea-Bloggers List . I hope if you hadn't checked out his blog, you have by now! Thought I would share, Randy chose: A Mini Bloggers' Summit at CGS as one of his favorites for March 8-14 2009! He loves to promote his fellow bloggers! Thanks Randy, I certainly hope to meet more bloggers soon! Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts! Cheryl (aka Msteri)

What's On Your Mind? See What's on Mine!

This is the phrase Facebook asks when you log in to the home page. What's on your mind? I thought I would embellish on this in my blog today! What’s on my mind? To start, I had the great pleasure of attending my first California Genealogy Society meeting this afternoon. It was a last minute decision, and I did have to rearrange my schedule in order to attend. The guest speaker was a local Bay Area author, Francis Dinkelspiel. She is the author of “Towers of Gold: How one Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California.” Francis spoke of the research she entailed in writing the book and some of the stories she learned along the way about her great great grandfather Isaias, a financier. The book is a portrait of his life in Los Angeles and San Francisco. It relates well with today’s times of financial crisis. His life covers, the 1906 earthquake, stagecoach robberies, an assassination attempt and explains wonderfully where the “Tower of Gold” title developed. She was a compe

Blogging Prompt #9

Week #9: Attend a local genealogy presentation and talk about the experience. How was the speaker? How was the venue? How did the event help your personal research? Talk about the day, but use caution when discussing the subject matter in detail. The information presented belongs to the speaker(s). Posting part or all of the presentation would violate copyright. Since I recently posted on the last presentation I attended, I am going to refer you to that post! It was a presentation by Lisa Louise Cooke on podcasts . My post is here . Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts! Msteri

Google Your Family Tree - Part 3

It has been awhile since I have updated you on this book by Daniel M. Lynch, so I thought it was about time to do so again! Chapter five is all about Google Books, exploring, searching, and results. Again, there is a special relevance section to genealogists, along with a special note for family history research. Now, I have to admit that I had heard about Google Books, but not used the actual search myself. I know, shame on me! This chapter has given me the encouragement and desire to research this area of Google. Recently, I was sent some information regarding one of my ancestors that came through a Google book search. This has also intensified my desire to explore Google Books! Chapter six covers the Google News Archive. This was a very interesting chapter as it gave me many ideas I may never have thought about before, in regards to searching for articles about my ancestors. Advanced news archive search should be getting easier and convenient by now, if you have read the book to thi

Wordless Wednesday

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Quilt by Msteri's grandmother. Date unknown. Photo by Msteri. Privately held by Msteri [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE] California. 2009

Blogging Prompt #8

Blogging Prompt Week 8 -Talk about highlights and events from your local genealogy society. Most genealogy bloggers are members of several historical societies and love to hear about the events in other organizations. This is also a great way to attract new members. I would like to share with you a special event one society participates in. When it is County Fair time, this genealogy society hosts a booth! The fair runs approximately two and a half weeks. Volunteers man the booth the full time of the fair. With hundreds of people going through the fair, what a great way to introduce genealogy! The "booth" is actually set up in a building with several computers. A greeter talks with anyone who may be interested in seeing what the booth is about. A couple years ago I was a greeter and it was lots of fun. At that time we had a large world map posted and guests could put a colored push pin in the map showing where their family originated. The greeter would speak with the

DearMYRTLE'S Get Organized-March 2009

I am a week or so behind with this, but wanted to make sure you were aware that DearMYRTLE's "Finally Get Organized" March 2009 post is here ! How are we all doing, getting organized? I really need to work on this month's organization and I have already lost a week. Keep in mind, even a little bit of organization is better then nothing at all! Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts! Msteri

One of My Posts Makes The "Best of the Genea-Blogs" List!

I am so very honored (and still blushing) that Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings chose my article A Light That Still Shines as an article worthy of his "Best of the Genea-Blogs" column! Each week Randy picks several articles that he feels are the best articles written from the genea-bloggers. This is a monumental task in my opinion! There are hundreds of genea-bloggers and articles written each week. So many great articles and great bloggers! Many of these bloggers have been blogging for years and have wonderful formats, stories, articles and information. Other's are new to the blogging world, and bring fresh ideas. To go through the posts and pick a few to make his list would be very tough indeed to do. I ALWAYS read Randy's "Best of the Genea-Blogs" column as the articles he chooses are articles I don't want to miss! As I was reading his most recent column for the week of March 1-7, maybe you can understand my surprise when I ran across one of my own art

Wordless Wednesday

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Flood. 1955 or 1956. Weaverville, California. Scanned photo. Original held by RLF. Scanned photo privately held by Msteri, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE] California. 2009.

A Light That Still Shines!

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How much have you reminisced about the lighting your decendants used? I have to admit that this hasn't been one of my priorities in my genealogical research, until now. Last week I was finally able to view the world's longest burning lightbulb! I will share some pictures of it with you, but first let's review a bit of history involving lighting our ancestors used. Candles made by beeswax were used by the Egyptians as early as 3000 BC. Oil lamps were used in the eighteenth century with the glass chimney or kerosene model lamps being developed in 1783. In 1792 William Murdock used the first commerical gas lighting in his house. A "thermolamp" was patented in 1799, using gas distilled from wood. In 1804 coal gas lighting was patented by Freidrich Winzor (Winsor). David Melville received the first U.S. gas light patent in 1810. By the early nineteenth century most United States and European streets were gas lit. At the turn of the nineteenth century gas lighting was