Virtual Research Strategy Sessions!

Can't wait to get back to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City?  Now the Family History Library will come to you!

The FHL volunteers are still on duty and ready to answer your questions.

Genealogical research strategy sessions are free, virtual meetings designed to provide you with research guidance, methodology, and next steps.

These are bookable sessions of 20 or 40 minutes with an expert in a variety of regions and topics.  Take a look at some of the choices:

            

For information and to sign up, go to

https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Virtual_Research_Strategy_Sessions

January is (apparently) Orphan Month in the Bay Area

I got a note this week from the genealogy librarian at Sutro, Dvorah Lewis. She noticed that there is "a bit of a theme this month" about orphans, with the SMCGS talk, her talk at Sutro, and Judy Russell's talk on "widows and orphans" for the Sonoma County Genealogical Society.

Must be the cold weather which makes us think about orphans:

Saturday, January 16th Sonoma County Genealogical Society. Judy Russell on "Dowered or Bound Out: Records of Widows and Orphans" Do you know who was considered an orphan in early years? You'd be surprised. Register at https://scgsonline.org.

Thursday, January 21st at 3PM "Finding your Orphan Ancestors" with the Sutro Genealogy Librarian Dvorah Lewis where she will talk about her own journey and provide tips for researching orphan ancestors. Sponsored by the Sonoma County Library.
https://events.sonomalibrary.org/event/4682740
See all the Sutro Library listings at: https://www.library.ca.gov/sutro/genealogy/programming/

AND see a link to Dvorah's own case study on the Sutro site at

https://thesutrolibrary.wordpress.com/2020/06/01/researching-your-orphan-ancestor/

Saturday, January 23 10:30 San Mateo County Genealogical Society
Children Left Behind    Presenter: Judy Fambrough Billingsley
Judy was born in Friedberg, Germany, shortly after WWII and was the daughter of a white German woman and a black American soldier, whose mixed race led to her becoming one of many unwanted “Brown Babies” abandoned by their mother. Her book Too Brown to Keep: A Search for Love, Forgiveness, and Healing recounts the inspirational odyssey as the search for her birth parents leads to discovery of the good, the bad, and the ugly family secrets that she had struggled to unearth for decades.
http://www.smcgs.org

Check out the Bay Area Genealogy Calendar for more events at Sutro and beyond.
https://www.library.ca.gov/sutro/genealogy/calendar/

What to do in January

It's 2021! What's your New Year's resolution?

• Sort all your families into folders
• Clear out your inbox!
• Find that illusive missing ancestor

Here are some events to help you:

VIRTUAL: Finding Your Orphan Ancestors

WhenThu, January 21, 2021, 3pm – 5pm

Whereonline (map)

Description

In this talk as Dvorah shares her own journey, attendees will learn how to trace orphan ancestors through go-to genealogical records, like census and city directories, as well as the types of records created by the orphanages themselves from annual reports to internal newsletters. Researching orphanage records is what originally sparked Dvorah's interest in conducting her own genealogical research.

Register here. https://events.sonomalibrary.org/event/4682740

Presented by the Sonoma County History and Genealogy Library.

Dvorah will also be speaking on Thursday, Jan. 28 at The Marin County Genealogical Society.
https://www.maringensoc.org/event-4088437

Children Left Behind 
San Mateo County Genealogical Society
Presenter: Judy Fambrough Billingsley
Saturday, January 23, 2021 10:30am - 12:00 pm, via Zoom
Social hour 10-10:30 am, via Zoom

Judy was born in Friedberg, Germany, shortly after WWII and was the daughter of a white German woman and a black American soldier, whose mixed race led to her becoming one of many unwanted “Brown Babies” abandoned by their mother.  Her book Too Brown to Keep:  A Search for Love, Forgiveness, and Healing recounts the inspirational odyssey as the search for her birth parents leads to discovery of the good, the bad, and the ugly family secrets that she had struggled to unearth for decades.  

This event is free and all are welcome. For more information about our monthly meetings, go tohttp://www.smcgs.org/event/january-gen-mtg-children-left-behind

Join a Special Interest Group!

Commonly called SIGs, special interest groups meet alongside the regular monthly meetings and activities to discuss specific areas of interest to the members. SMCGS currently has three SIGs running: German, British/Irish, and DNA.

For more information, go to http://www.smcgs.org/programs/special_interest

Take a class!

There are several Bay Area classes going on this year via remote teaching.  Here are a few:

Santa Clara County Historical & Genealogical Society

https://www.scchgs.org

SVCGG  Meetings and classes:  Reunion for Mac

http://www.svcgg.org/meetings.html

California Genealogical Society   https://www.californiaancestors.org

San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society
https://www.sfbajgs.org

And see the listing of local genealogy classes on the SMCGS website

http://www.smcgs.org/content/local-genealogy-classes