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Saddleback
Valley Trails
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South
Orange County California Genealogical Society
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Vol.
17 No. 8
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P.O.
Box 4513, Mission Viejo, CA. 92690
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August
2010
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Editor:
Mary Jo McQueen
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Monthly
meetings are held on the third Saturday of each month from 10:00
a.m. to Noon at the Mission Viejo Family History Center Institute
Building, 27978 Marguerite Parkway, Mission Viejo, between Medical
Center Drive and Hillcrest Drive. Membership is open to anyone interested
in genealogy. Individual membership fees are $20 per calendar year,
$25 for joint membership.
SOCCGS is not affiliated with the LDS Family History Center.
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General Meeting
August 21, 2010
"Places You May Not Have Thought
To Look
Or, “Know What You Don’t Know."
Presented By
Liz Stookesberry Myers
Have you looked
everywhere for that elusive “impossible-to-find” ancestor? Have
you been searching for years and still have few solid results? In
this presentation Ms. Myers will discuss how to break through those
brick walls. She will give suggestions to review and redirect research.
Both the experienced researcher and those just beginning will learn
ways to fill in the empty spaces in their genealogy research. Those
new to family history research will discover how to avoid the frustration
of not finding the person for whom they are looking!
Liz Myers came down with “genealogy fever” a number of years ago,
following a trip to her father’s Ohio hometown. According to her
husband and daughter, she has never been the same since. She is
currently President of Questing Heirs Genealogical Society in the
Greater Long Beach area. Also, Liz is Legislative Watch Chairman
for the California State Genealogical Alliance trying to keep the
Public Vital Records open to all of us. She has led workshops, discussion
groups and given speeches to many different groups in Southern California
and Ohio. She is currently teaching Beginning Genealogy classes
at the Elder University of Long beach State University.
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"2010 Seminar"
Dr. George Schweitzer is coming October 16!
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| To date, over 40 reservations
have been received for the 7th Annual Seminar. We expect a full
house for Dr. Schweitzer’s third visit to Mission Viejo. Members,
please note that reservations are processed on a first come basis,
and the capacity of our venue is 125 Persons. You will find a Reservation
Form on the last page of this newsletter. Tell your friends! Information
is also on the SOCCGS Website. |
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Condolences
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| We are sorry to hear of the passing
of former member Rich Faber. A Memorial Service is planned for August
14, 2010 at 1:00 p.m. We have received the following from Rich’s
family: “Please join with our family to celebrate Rich's life at
1647 Highland Drive. Solana Beach, California 92075. Lunch following.”
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President's Message
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~Sandy Crowley
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I hope you all are enjoying our
summer of speakers. Connie Moretti spoke to us this month on Special
Census Schedules. At our August meeting Liz Stookesberry Myers will
be speaking on "Places You May Not Have Thought To Look."
In September Joan Rambo will be delivering the presentation.
Thanks to those who donated treats for this month: Marilyn Kowalski,
Tina Murtha, Mary Jo McQueen, Barbara Heebner, and Eunice Murai.
I can’t think of another group that has better refreshment breaks
than we do. We enjoy the yummy snacks and the chance to chat with
our fellow SOCCGS members about genealogy research.
Do think about sending in your registration soon for the annual
October seminar on Saturday, October 16 with speaker Dr. George
Schweitzer. He is a renowned genealogy lecturer, and his presentations,
done in period costume, are very entertaining as well as informative.
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Brick Walls &
Genealogy Research Suggestions
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The July meeting brought a number
of suggestions to facilitate our research efforts:
Victoria Crane told us that persons at the military cemetery
in San Diego will take pictures of gravesites.
Tricia Leard shared with us that she has in-laws buried in
the San Diego Military Cemetery at Point Loma. The cemetery is now
closed to new burials, but that it is still open for visitors. New
burials will be on the military base at Miramar.
Diane Hearne suggested checking with Ancestry for US Public
Records addresses and Mary Jo McQueen referred us to archives.com
and World Vital Records.
Myrna Hamid recently went to Ireland. She noticed that a
group from the New England Historical Society was going to be in
Dublin about the same time. They offered to let her send in a list
of who/what she was researching. They then shared the data with
the other Dublin researchers. Myrna was able to make some connections
and receive some valuable data.
Patricia Christiansen reminded us that there might be some
family members who won’t talk to each other. This feuding can make it
difficult to handle burial decisions. Patricia suggests that one
might consider having that lone relative’s ashes buried in their
own casket, when the time comes. Mortuaries are able handle this
arrangement.
Ed Reardon informed us that Middlesex County, Connecticut
lists all their cemeteries online. See GodfreyLibrary.org. Portland,
Connecticut has a list of all their Civil War deaths with the genealogy
of each in the Union troops. |
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Membership
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We have two members. Please welcome
Alice Colby Volkert who lives in Lake Forest
alice@volkertservices.com
and Charlene Maezumi (949-330-9521). Charlene is searching
for Evans, Fatty, Hatch in Erie & Chautauqua County, New York and
Wilson, Reipke in Nicolette County, Minnesota.
New email addresses:
Sandy Crowley, sandy.crowley@cox.net
Herb Abrams, hvabrams@gmail.com
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"Changes Have
Come To The Library"
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The books have been moved! The
SOCCGS Research Center is up and running. It is time to get back
in the hunt for those evasive, elusory, slippery ancestors who are
so hard to pin down. Please visit soon!
Docents and subs who were unable to attend the recent docent
workshop, you will be contacted by Bunny Smith to make arrangements
for your tutorial. |
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Do you realize
in about 40 years we'll have millions
Of old ladies running around with tattoos?
And rap music will be the Golden Oldies!
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Message From
Ralph's
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~David Flint - Ways
& Means Chairman
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PARTICIPANT REGISTRATION FOR
THE NEW TERM BEGINS ON SEPTEMBER 1, 2010.
There is no pre-registration! This means that you cannot register
for the new term until September 1, 2010 or after.
All of your members who are currently enrolled in the Ralphs Community
Contribution Program will remain active until August 31, 2010.
Participants will be required to register or re-register for the
new term at www.Ralphs.com or
by using the scanbar letter at the register starting September 1,
2010. The scanbar letter you received last year applies to this
year as well.
Even if your participants registered as recently as June or July
2010, they will be required to register again, on or after September
1, 2010. |
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David Flint will have Scanbar
letters available at the August meeting.
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Family History
Centers
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Are you aware that the Orange
FHC has a website? (http://orangefhc.info).
Click on "Collections" for a list of films and microfiche that are
available.
You can also search the Los Angeles Family History Center’s film
and microfiche collection at:
http://www.lafhl.org/microsearch.html
Before you order film from our local FHC it will save you time and
money to check to see if they are available at either of these Centers.
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Ancestry World
Archives Project
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~David Flint, Chairman
davidflint@cox.net
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| Please visit our website at
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~casoccgs/
(or type SOCCGS into Google) to learn about our society’s co-sponsorship
and participation in the World Archives Project with Ancestry.com.
There are links on our website to connect you with information about
the program and how to get started. Please consider helping with
this service project. It’s a great way to give something back to
the larger genealogy community. |
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Safari News
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| The next safari will be September
22. The destination will be announced in the September newsletter.
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Newspaper Clipping
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Franklin, Nebraska
November 30, 1900
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"There was a spirited scrape in
town this week twixt W.H. Ryan and H. Whitmore on one side and Professor
Short and J. M. on the other. Mr. Short was victorious. It is said
Mr. Ryan's boy got impudent and saucy in school and that Mr. Short
used severe corporal punishment. The boy's father had Short arrested
before Davis's court, but Short took a change of venue to Greenwood's
sanctum. A jury of five declared Mr. Short was justified in using
severe measures. Public sentiment sustains the jury."
"The numerous parties in town who think perhaps Professor Short
was a little severe in trouncing young Ryan, but yet insist that
public policy and good government in school, county, state, and
nation demand imperatively that order and discipline must be maintained,
else we should have no schools and no government. The modest, retiring,
studious, gentlemanly boys never have trouble with their teachers,
and they are the boys that make leaders and fill places of honor
in manhood's ripened years. Noble boys make noble men."
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The Star Spangled
Banner
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~Isaac Asimov
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I have a weakness--I am crazy,
absolutely nuts, about our national anthem. The words are difficult
and the tune is almost impossible, but frequently when I'm taking
a shower I sing it with as much power and emotion as I can. It shakes
me up every time.
I was once asked to speak at a luncheon. Taking my life in my hands,
I announced I was going to sing our national anthem--all four stanzas.
This was greeted with loud groans. One man closed the door to the
kitchen, where the noise of dishes and cutlery was loud and distracting.
"Thanks, Herb," I said. "That's all right," he said. "It was at
the request of the kitchen staff."
I explained the background of the anthem and then sang all four
stanzas. Let me tell you, those people had never heard it
before--or had never really listened. I got a standing ovation.
But it was not me; it was the anthem.
More recently, while conducting a seminar, I told my students the
story of the anthem and sang all four stanzas. Again there was a
wild ovation and prolonged applause. And again, it was the anthem
and not I. |
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So now let me
tell you how it came to be written.
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In 1812, the United States went
to war with Great Britain, primarily over freedom of the seas. We
were in the right. For two years, we held off the British, even
though we were still a rather weak country. Great Britain was in
a life and death struggle with Napoleon. In fact, just as the United
States declared war, Napoleon marched off to invade Russia. If he
won, as everyone expected, he would control Europe, and Great Britain
would be isolated. It was no time for her to be involved in an American
war.
At first, our seamen proved better than the British. After we won
a battle on Lake Erie in 1813, the American commander, Oliver Hazard
Perry, sent the message "We have met the enemy and they are ours."
However, the weight of the British navy beat down our ships eventually.
New England, hard-hit by a tightening blockade, threatened secession.
Meanwhile, Napoleon was beaten in Russia and in 1814 was forced
to abdicate. Great Britain now turned its attention to the United
States, launching a three-pronged attack. The northern prong was
to come down Lake Champlain toward New York and seize parts of New
England. The southern prong was to go up the Mississippi, take New
Orleans and paralyze the west. The central prong was to head for
the Mid-Atlantic States and then attack Baltimore, the greatest
port south of New York. If Baltimore was taken, the nation, which
still hugged the Atlantic Coast, could be split in two. The fate
of the United States, then, rested to a large extent on the success
or failure of the central prong.
The British reached the American coast, and on August 24, 1814,
took Washington, D. C. Then they moved up the Chesapeake Bay toward
Baltimore. On September 12, they arrived and found 1000 men in Fort
McHenry, whose guns controlled the harbor. If the British wished
to take Baltimore, they would have to take the fort.
On one of the British ships was an aged physician, William
Beanes, who had been arrested in Maryland and brought along
as a prisoner. Francis Scott Key, a lawyer and friend of
the physician, had come to the ship to negotiate his release.
The British captain was willing, but the two Americans would have
to wait. It was now the night of September 13, and the bombardment
of Fort McHenry was about to start. As twilight deepened, Key and
Beanes saw the American flag flying over Fort McHenry. Through the
night, they heard bombs bursting and saw the red glare of rockets.
They knew the fort was resisting and the American flag was still
flying. But toward morning the bombardment ceased, and a dread silence
fell. Either Fort McHenry had surrendered and the British flag flew
above it, or the bombardment had failed and the American flag still
flew.
As dawn began to brighten the eastern sky, Key and Beanes stared
out at the fort, trying to see which flag flew over it. He and the
physician must have asked each other over and over, "Can you see
the flag?" After it was all finished, Key wrote a four-stanza poem
telling the events of the night. Called "The Defense of Fort McHenry,"
it was published in newspapers and swept the nation. Someone noted
that the words fit an old English tune, a difficult melody with
an uncomfortably large vocal range. For obvious reasons, Key's work
became known as "The Star Spangled Banner," and in 1931 Congress
declared it the official anthem of the United States. Now that you
know the story, here are the words. Presumably, the old doctor is
speaking. This is what he asks Key……
Oh! Say, can you see,
by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed
at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright
stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched
were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare,
the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night
that our flag was still there.
Oh! say, does that star-spangled
banner yet wave,
O'er the land of the free
and the home of the brave?
"Ramparts," in case you don't know, are the protective walls or
other elevations that surround a fort. The first stanza asks a question.
The second gives an answer
On the shore,
dimly seen thro' the mist of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in
dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze,
o'er the towering steep.
As it fitfully blows, half conceals,
half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the
morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines
on the stream
'Tis the star-spangled banner.
Oh! Long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the
home of the brave!
"The towering steep" is again, the ramparts. The bombardment has
failed, and the British can do nothing more but sail away, their
mission a failure. In the third stanza, I feel Key allows himself
to gloat over the American triumph. In the aftermath of the bombardment,
Key probably was in no mood to act otherwise. During World War II,
when the British were our staunchest allies, this third stanza was
not sung. However, I know it, so here it is
And where is
that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's
confusion
A home and a country should leave
us no more?
Their blood has washed out their
foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling
and slave
From the terror of flight, or the
gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in
triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the
home of the brave.
The fourth stanza, a pious hope for the future, should be sung more
slowly than the other three and with even deeper feeling.
Oh! thus be
it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the
war's desolation,
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may
the Heav'n - rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made
and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause
is just,
And this be our motto--"In God
is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in
triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the
home of the brave.
I hope you will look at the national anthem with new eyes. Listen
to it, the next time you have a chance, with new ears. And don't
let them ever take it away. |
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--Isaac Asimov, March 1991
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Freedom has its
life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men,
And so it must be daily earned and refreshed – else like
A flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.
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~Dwight D. Eisenhower
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An Invitation
For Iowa Natives!!
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The 110th Annual Iowa State Picnic is being held on Saturday, August 14th from 9:30 to 2:30 at the Long Beach Lawn Bowling Club, 1109 Federation Drive, Long Beach, CA 90804. At about 11:30 the potluck will start. Bring a dish to share, your own beverage, and your own eating utensils. Let us know if you are coming by calling
562/421-0726 or E-mailing:
stookesberry@gmail.com.
The Lawn Bowling Club has several picnic tables, is handicapped accessible with plenty of parking. However, extra chairs may be needed. Take East Anaheim Street West, Left on Park Avenue, and left on Federation Drive. Or the 22 Freeway-West turns into 7th Street. Take 7th Street West, and Right on Federation Drive.
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2010 Upcoming Genealogy Events
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August 14 - British Isles Family History Society - USA, “Come to Your Census” at Pasadena City College.
Contact Jessie Tait (310) 670-9611 or jatait1@att.net
September 25 - NSDCGS Fall Seminar, “The Immigrant Experience: Case Studies” Carlsbad City Council Chambers.
October 16 - SOCCGS’ Annual Seminar featuring Dr George Schweitzer.
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Do you need a
name badge?
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| Wearing a name badge at the monthly
meetings is an excellent way to meet new friends and/or possibly
a “cousin.” These are provided to all members at no cost. Please
contact Herb Abrams at (949) 581-6292 or
hvabrams@gmail.com. He will
have one ready at the next meeting. |
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South Orange County
California Genealogical Society Membership/Renewal Application
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( ) New
( ) Renewal
( ) Individual, $20/yr.
( ) Joint Members, same address $25/yr.
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Name(s)
________________________________________________________________________________
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Address _________________________________________________________________________________
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City _____________________________
State_____ Zip ____________ Phone _________________________
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Email address:
____________________________________________________________________________
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Make check payable
to: SOCCGS (South Orange County CA Genealogical Society)
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Mail with application
to: SOCCGS, P.O. Box 4513, Mission Viejo, CA 92690-4513
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South Orange County
California Genealogical Society
Mission Viejo, California
Presents
A Family History Seminar
Saturday, October 16,
2009 - 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
(Doors Open 8:00 a.m.)
City Hall, Saddleback Room, 100 Civic
Center Drive, Corner La Paz & Marguerite
(North end of the city hall directly across the library parking lot.)
“Our Patriotic & Adventurous
Ancestors”
Featuring
Dr. George K. Schweitzer
Renowned Genealogy Author & Lecturer
- in full costume!
Topics:
“Revolutionary
War Genealogy”
“German Emigration, Immigration, and Migration Patterns”
“Rivers to Trails to Roads to Canals to Trains”
“Questions and Answers”
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Refreshments - Door Prizes - Drawing
for Handmade Quilt
Sales Tables and Displays
Pre-registration must be received by
October 13 / Tickets at the door $25.00, no lunch.
(Seminar information & registration form are also available on SOCCGS website.)
***** Send your registration in as soon as possible. Seating is limited.
*****
Refunds will be made when venue capacity is reached.
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SOCCGS ‘2010’ Seminar
Registration
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| Name(s)______________________________________________________ |
Registration:
_______ @ $20.00 |
| ____________________________________________________________ |
Box Lunch:
_________ @ $9.00 |
| Address:______________________________________________________ |
Total: $
___________ |
| City
& Zip_____________________________________________________ |
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Telephone:____________________________________________________ |
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E-mail________________________________________________________ |
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