(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 120: Betty on a Trike

I'm posting family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but they won't be Wordless Wednesday posts like others do - I simply am incapable of having a wordless post.

I have scanned hundreds of family photographs over the past few years, and have converted the scanned TIF files to smaller JPGs, cropped and rotated as best I can.

Here is a photograph from the Carringer family collection handed down by my mother in the 1988 to 2002 time period:

This is a photograph of my mother, Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002, daughter of Lyle Lawrence and Emily Kemp (Auble) Carringer) at age 2 or 3 - so the photograph was taken in 1921 or 1922 in San Diego. I cannot determine the setting - it may be the Carringer family home at 2130 Fern Street in San Diego.

The tricycle she's riding looks like it's homemade - it has wooden parts and no pedals. My guess is that Henry Austin Carringer, her grandfather, and a carpenter, made it as a birthday or Christmas present.

When I see these pictures of my mother smiling as a young child, my heart fills with love and admiration for her. She looks very happy, doesn't she? I know that she brought joy and happiness to her parents and grandparents too, and as an only child, they must have spoiled her, but she grew up to be one of the most unpretentious persons I've ever known. But her parents were that way too.

CGSSD Meeting on Saturday, 18 September Features Debby Horton

The next meeting of the Computer Genealogy Society of San Diego (CGSSD) is Saturday, September 18, 2010.

PARKING NOTICE: Parking will be free. The previously announced charge for parking has been postponed until January 2011.

The schedule for the September meeting is as follows:

9:00 - The User Group for Macintosh, and SIGS for Web-Based Genealogy and Beginning Computer Genealogy, will meet.

10:00 - A break and refreshments.

10:15 - Announcements followed by the main presentation:

“For Family or Money? Publishing Your Genealogical Work” by Debby Horton

The lecture covers: Doing Your Research, Preparing Your Work, Marketing, and Publishing. Many of you keep saying you are going to get started on your book or complete the book your have started. Perhaps this will be the push you need to get you over that big hump!

Debby Horton owns and operates Connect-Your-Dots, a genealogical services company specializing in United States, British, and French Canadian records. Debby is an avid speaker at the local, regional, and national levels, and a web designer and consultant for individuals and genealogical societies. She is the webmaster for Genealogical Speakers Guild, International Society of Family History Writers and Editors, Southern California Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists, Just Genealogy, and several other genealogical related organizations. Debby also hosts a genealogical blog at http://www.littleknownpress.com/blog, helping novice and experts alike maneuvering through the wealth of published genealogical information available.

We meet at the Robinson Auditorium complex on the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) campus in La Jolla. From North Torrey Pine Road turn at Pangea Drive into UCSD. Free parking is available in the parking garage on the left; use any A, B, or S space. Signs will mark directions to our meeting room. Please refer to our website www.cgssd.org; or the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies website http://irps.ucsd.edu/about/how-to-find-us.htm for driving directions and a map.

Lesson Learned - Check the Image too!

...
In my post The Whittles Migrating to Australia - a Forrest Gump Genealogy Moment, I was so excited about finding the immigration record of Alexander and Rachel Whittle's in 1841 that I made an error of omission - I forgot to check the image (as kindly and helpfully pointed by reader bgwiehle) for information that might have been unindexed.

The image of the record on the FamilySearch Record Search Pilot, which I showed in the last post, indicated that there was an image - but the only indicator is out on the far right margin where it is easily overlooked. This time, just for convenience, I went to find the image on the FamilySearch Beta site, which provides a somewhat different record summary screen:


On this screen, the indexed data is the same as before, but there is a thumbnail image that will show the record image if you lcick on it (or on the "View Image" link below it). Here is the image for the Alexander Whittell family:



This is the index card from the original database, and it includes more information about the family, including:

* Alexander Whittell's religion - Prot.
* Alexander Whittell's R.W. - yes
* Alexander Whittell's occupation - a sawyer
* father Alexander Whittell's occupation - a sawyer, and status - he is living
* mother Margaret (Mansley) Whittell's status - she is living
* Rachael Whittell's religion - Prot.
* Rachael Whittle's R.W. - R
* Rachael Whittell's occupation - a house servant
* father Thomas Morley's occupation - a joiner, and status - dead
* mother Jessie Haslam?'s status - dead
* Children: Elizabeth 9 mos.

There is another category on this card on the Religion and Age line - "R.W." that I cannot figure out just now - Alexander was a "yes" and Rachael was an R. I'll bet it means "Read/Write" and that Alexander can do both, but Rachael can only Read, not Write.

There are links in the index for Rachael Whittell and for Elizabeth Whittell - Rachael's card looks like this:

So there must be a card for each family - the top one above, and a card for each additional person on the family card - in this case, Rachael and Elizabeth.

Reader bgwiehle made another good point in the comment -

"The card is a typed extract of the original passenger list, but still, one should always verify indexed information when possible."

I clicked on the "About this Collection" link on the Record page above, and saw the collection description page for the Australia, New South Wales, Sydney Index to Bounty Immigrants (FamilySearch Historical Records) on the FamilySearch Research Wiki. This page describes the database as:

"This index consists of two kinds of interfiled cards: brief handwritten cards and pre-printed typewritten cards. The cards are in alphabetical order by surname and then by given name. "

and the history of this collection is:

"This collection indexes about 60,000 records of immigrants arriving in Sydney. Beginning in 1828, the Australian Government organized a program to encourage people to migrate to Australia, particularly to the State of New South Wales, which had been founded in 1788. “Assisted Immigrants” were immigrants whose passage was paid for or partially paid for by the Government as an incentive to settle in New South Wales. Another program which ran from 1835 to 1841 was the bounty reward system. “Bounty immigrants” were selected by colonists and who paid for their passage. When the immigrant arrived the colonist would employ them and the colonist would then be reimbursed by the government for all or part of the cost of passage. The first immigrants to apply for this assisted immigration were the people from Ireland, England, Wales, and Scotland. Later, people from other European countries began immigrating to Australia."

The sources of information for this collection:

"Index to bounty immigrants arriving in N.S.W., Australia, 1828-1842”, database, FamilySearch; compiled by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Family History Department; from State Archive, Western Sydney Records Centre, Kingswood, N.S.W., Australia. "Index to bounty immigrants arriving in N.S.W., 1828-1842". FHL microfilm, 8 reels. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah."

There are no links to the original source on the Wiki page to the 8 reels of microfilm - they are on 416,870 through 416,877. The film with the Whittells on it is 416,877, since the list is alphabetical. These films are probably the cards and not the specific handwritten volumes. The information on the FHL Catalog page says for the original records:

"Microfilm of original records at the State Archives, Sydney.
The index covers the following series: Persons on early migrant ships, 1828-1832 (4/4823) Persons on early migrant ships, May 1832 - Jan 1833 (4/4824); Entitlement certificates of persons on bounty ships, 1832-1842 (4/4825-4891)
Archives Office of New South Wales reel numbers: 30-37."

It appears that the State Archives microfilms (8 of them) are for these same index cards. Presumably, the original lists are also available at the State Archives in Sydney (probably the 4/4823 through 4/4891 reference numbers above). I knew that I should have visited the State Archives in Sydney when I was there in March! Ah, another road trip!

There is also a link to the Australian Emigration and Immigration page on the FamilySearch Research Wiki - which has more information about the subject and links to other available databases.

So there are many Lessons Learned here, including:

* Check the record image if it is available - there may be items on the image that are not in the FamilySearch indexed record

* The http://beta.FamilySearch.org site makes it easier to find the image than the Pilot site

* There is a FamilySearch Wiki page for many of the collections available on the FamilySearch Beta site.

* The FamilySearch Wiki site has much more information, including links to non-LDS websites, for many research subjects. Researchers should familiarize themselves with the history of the locality, the availability of all records, and obtain the original record if possible.

My thanks to reader bgwiehle for helping me out here - it's apparent that I need as much help as I can get.

I'm reminded of the adage that: "There is no such thing as a useless blog post - it can always be used as a bad example!" And learned from!

The Whittles Migrating to Australia - a Forrest Gump Genealogy Moment

I spent quite a bit of time on Monday researching more about the Alexander and Rachel Whittle family that migrated from England to Australia in the early 1840s, then to California in 1850. They were the parents of my wife's great-grandmother, Jane Whittle (1847-1921).

Earlier posts in this series include:

* I Found Rachel in the 1852 California Census where I found Rachel "Wadle" and three children in San Francisco in the 1852 California State Census on Ancestry.com

* Jane's Birth Record, and more... - I found out that Jane's parents were Alexander and Rachel Whittle, not Joseph and Rachel.

* Finding the Whittles in Australia highlighted some of the newspaper articles about the family in The Sydney Morning Herald in the 1840 to 1850 time frame from the Historic Australian Newspapers , 1803-1954, Trove website.

My favorite reader Rod Van Cooten commented on the second post that:

"You're in luck! I thought I'd try to find Alexander and Rachel in the NSW online shipping records.There's a good site at http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/indexes-online/indexes-online#immigration

"I tried each of the online ones, and believe it or not, they're on FamilySearch. At the bottom of the following search you'll find them both. http://search.labs.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=recordResults&collection=fs%3A1542665&surname=whittle&searchType=close "

Another great tip. The database is the Index to Bounty Immigrants Arriving in N.S.W. Australia, 1828-1842. It is also on the Beta FamilySearch.org website, but is not listed under Australia at this time (it's in the alphabetical list between Illinois and India). The link above provides the index of Whittles (and similar spellings):





Down the list are the entries for Alexander Whittell and Rachel Whittell. Here is Alexander's index entry:



The information includes:

* Principal's Name = Alexander Whittell
* Estimated birth year = 1818
* Age in years = 23
* Native place of Principal = Bolton, Lancashire, England
* Father's name = Alexander Whittell
* Mother's name = Margaret Mansley
* Spouse's name = Rachael Whittell
* Native place of spouse = Bolton, Lancashire, England
* Spouse's Father's name = Thomas Morley
* Spouse's Mother's name = Jessie Haslam
* Ship = Brothers
* Date of arrival = 11 Mar 1841
* Volume = 38
* GS Number = 416877
* DGS Number = 4117092
* Image number = 02852

Rachael Whittell's entry provides the same information.

This record tells me much more than just the ship (the Brothers) and the date (11 March 1841) that they arrived in New South Wales. It also provides their native place and the names of both sets of parents. What a wonderful genealogy find!

One more thing here - up until finding this entry, I had thought that Rachel's maiden name was Moore - based on the Mother's name in Jane (Whittle) McKnew's death certificate (which also listed her father as Joseph Whittle - wrong!). It appears to be Morley, and her parents are Thomas and Jessie (Haslam) Morley. So now I think we know the true names of Jane Whittle's parents - Alexander Whittle and Rachel Morley.

I've referred to Forrest Gump Genealogy Moments (FGGM) before - see the Forrest Gump Principle of Genealogy Research which states "Genealogy research is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to find, but you have to look everywhere your 'genealogy gem' might be hiding." This was certainly an FGGM!

There is lots more to this research trail. We'll look at online English parish and civil records tomorrow.

My sincere thanks to Rod Van Cooten for leading me through the available online Australian records (my guess is that I've only scratched the surface here!).

Checking out www.BackUpMyTree.com

One of my great fears is that I will lose my computer system and all of my data (including whatever backups I have) in a home disaster - fire, earthquake, flood, storm, etc. Here in the San Diego area, this could happen at any time.

I have an external hard drive that I backup my desktop computer files to once a month, and USB drives that I use to transfer data from my desktop to the laptop, and I often carry one with my latest database files in my pocket (which sometimes gets gunked up from my pocket lint). I have not used one of the online data backup sites like Mozy or Dropbox - I've been too busy to experiment with them.

So yesterday I get an email from Cliff Shaw, highlighting his new website. The email said:

"Boulder, Colorado - BackupMyTree (www.backupmytree.com) went live today, offering a free service to help genealogists automatically back up their family tree files. The service is the creation of Cliff Shaw, whose previous successes in genealogy include GenForum, Family Tree Legends and GenCircles. Users of the service have the choice of installing the BackupMyTree software for Windows or uploading files through their browser. The software automatically finds family tree files and creates a remote, off-site backup that the user can restore when disaster strikes. BackupMyTree is completely free and users maintain complete ownership of their family tree files. The service supports all the major genealogy applications including Family Tree Maker, Personal Ancestral File, RootsMagic, Legacy Family Tree, Family Tree Legends, Family Tree Builder, and GenoPro. Additionally, the service maintains multiple previous versions of tree files should a file become corrupted by a bad merge or a program crash. BackupMyTree utilizes Amazon S3 to store and protect the files. Try BackupMyTree by visiting www.backupmytree.com."

I can't resist trying things out, so I went to the site, the home page looks like this:



I chose to sign up with my name, email address and password - again, really easy:



On the next page, I was prompted to upload a genealogy database. The site would search for my databases or I could choose which one to upload. The "all databases" option is really easy to use...but I didn't want to junk up the site with all of my different versions of many databases (I probably have 50 databases for five different programs). So I found the way to choose which one to upload and did it. The upload went smoothly and took several minutes for my 49 megabyte Family Tree Maker database.

Now, when I log in, I see this screen with my database:



I can upload another database, download the selected database to my computer, see previous versions of my database, and exclude the database (meaning to delete it from the system).

I think that this service will work for me - it's free, it works quickly, I know where my data is, I can control what I save, etc. If it doesn't, I'll let you know!

Disclosure: I have received no remuneration or services for writing this post.

Finding the Whittles in Australia

Reader Rod Van Cooten is providing a lesson in accessing Australian resources in the 1800 to 1900 time period - and he's working faster than I'm writing! The previous posts were I Found Rachel in the 1852 California Census and Jane's Birth Record, and more... From the latter, I found out that Jane's parents were Alexander and Rachel Whittle, not Joseph and Rachel.

Last night, Rod commented on the latter post that:

"A fantastic resource for Australian family history research is the online newspaper repository at http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper

"Searching in this for Alexander Whittle, and restricting the decade on the results to the 1840s raises the possibility that Alexander was a publican."

It is a fantastic resource! I entered Alexander Whittle, limiting the dates to 1838 to 1855, and received 16 matches. Using Rachel Whittle and restricting years to 1838 to 1855, resulted in 6 matches. There were several interesting articles in those matches:

* On 14 September 1842, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Alexander Whittle had a house on Cumberland Street in Gipps Ward.

* On 13 August 1846, The Sydney Morning Herald ran a notice that Alexander Whittle and William Beach had dissolved their partnership in a business, and Mr. Whittle is assuming all debts.

* On 30 October 1848, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Alexander Whittle of Sussex Street, a publican, had Mr. Jones arrested for obtaining money and goods under false pretenses - he showed him a large amount of future money.

( On 31 August 1849, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that:

"The undersigned being on the eve of leaving Sydney for a short time, hereby requests all persons having any claims against him to forward them to his residence in Sussex-street, for examination and immediate payments; and all persons indebted to him are requested to pay their respective accounts at the same place, to A. Whittle or to Mrs. Rachel Whittle by whom the business will be carried on as usual in the home, and whose receipt will be a suffiecient discharge.
.........................ALEXANDER WHITTLE
N.B. The cedar, pine, pits, racks, turned work, lathe, office, and the business of the yard, will be sold by auction, together with two or three dozen chairs, two sets of bedsteads, tables, boxes, and other things, on the 3rd September, if not previously disposed of my private contract.
Witness Joe Makin ..................... A. WHITTLE
August 30"

* On 2 Apr 1850, the Sydney Morning Herald on 2 April 1850 provided a list of Publicans General Licenses for Sydney for the coming year, and it includes:

" #162 Rachel Whittle, Sussex-street
#163 Alexander Whittle, Sussex-street"

* On 6 May 1850, The Sydney Morning Herald listed several court cases, including:

"Application of Margaret Birmingham
The husband of this applicant had gone to California. The license was first applied for in the name of the husband, but an application had also been made in the name of the wife.The first having been withdrawn, the latter was now taken into consideration. It was admitted that the husband was absent in California. He was, however, shortly expected to arrive in Sydney."

Further down:

"The Attorney-General was of the opinion, that the presumption of law being that the husband was alive, the wife could not enter into recognizances. Several other magistrates expressed a similar opinion, but admitted that the case was a very hard one, and regretted that they were prevented by law from granting the application. The license was therefore refused."

And then:

"Application of Rachel Whittle
This was a precisely similar case, and was similarly disposed of."

To summarize the information from the Australian Newspapers, it appears that:

* The Whittles were residing in Sydney in September 1842.

* Alexander Whittle was a publican (owned and operated a "pub" - a public house - probably a restaurant and bar) in the 1848 to 1850 time period, and perhaps earlier. The pub was in their home on Sussex Street in Sydney.

* Alexander Whittle left Sydney in or after September 1849 after giving notice to debtors and creditors, and putting his personal property up for sale.

* Rachel Whittle was denied a publicans license in May 1850 because were husband was not residing in Sydney.

There are many more clippings, and some of them are similar to others.

This created a very fun evening for me, discovering more articles about the Whittles and trying to figure them out.

Now I wonder what happened to Alexander Whittle - did he come to California? Are there lists of passengers lost on ships between Australia and California? Did he come to California but die there before or after Rachel and the family came across to join him? If she knew he was dead, would she have migrated too? What happened to Rachel after 1852?

Rod Van Cooten has also provided leads, in more comments to my Jane's Birth Record, and more... post, about passenger lists to Sydney and a potential marriage in England.

My thanks again to Rod for providing the links, and doing enough research to point me to online records in Australia, and now in England. More to come!

Amanuensis Monday - Probate Records of Isaac Seaver (1823-1901)

Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent TransylvanianDutch blog) started his own Monday blog theme many months ago called Amanuensis Monday. What does "amanuensis" mean? John offers this definition:

"A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."

The subject today is the probate file of Isaac Seaver (1823-1901) of Leominster, Massachusetts, my great-great-grandfather. I posted the image of his one-page will in Treasure Chest Thursday - Isaac Seaver's Will on last Thursday.

Isaac Seaver died testate, and his probate papers are in Worcester County (MA) Probate Records, Probate Packet B-27905, accessed at the Worcester County Courthouse in Worcester, Massachusetts. His will reads:

"Know All Men by These Presents, that I, Isaac Seaver of Leominster, in the County of Worcester and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, being of sound and disposing mind and memory, do make and publish this my last will and testament, hereby revoking all former wills by me at any time heretofore made.

"First. I hereby appoint Hamilton Mayo of said Leominster, the executor of this will.


"Second. I give my beloved wife Alvina M. Seaver, the sum of Twelve Hundred Dollars; also all my household furniture and housekeeping effects of every name and nature. This legacy is given by me in lieu of all her rights in my real estate and personal property.

"Third. I give and bequeath to the child or children of my deceased son, Benjamin, the sum of one Dollar.


"Fourth. All the rest and residue of my estate I give, devise and bequeath in equal shares to my children, Juliette G. Bryant, Frank W. Seaver, Elizabeth L. Blanchard, and Nettie M. Seaver.

"Fifth. I authorize and empower my said executor to sell my real estate at public or private sale, and to pay from the proceeds thereof the above legacy to my wife, dividing the residue among my children above mentioned.


"In testimoney whereof, I hereunto set my hand and seal, and publish and declare this to be my last will and testament, in the presence of witnesses named below, this twenty-eighth day of February, in the year nineteen hundred and one."
................................................................................... Isaac Seaver (seal)


"Signed, sealed, published and declared by the said Isaac Seaver as and for his last will and testament, in presence of us, who, in his presence and in the presence of each other, and at his request, have subscribed our names as witnesses hereto."
Hamilton Mayo
Andrew C. Belcher


Hamilton Mayo filed his affidavit on 22 March 1901, listing the heirs at law to be:
Alvina M. Seaver of Leominster Mass, widow
Juliette G. Bryant of Fitchburg Mass, daughter
Frank W. Seaver of Leominster, son
Elizabeth L. Blanchard of National City Ca, daughter
Nettie M. Seaver of Leominster, daughter
child of Benjamin Seaver, a deceased son, name and residence unknown.


As executor of the estate, Hamilton Mayo filed his account for the period of 9 April 1901 to 21 June 1901, showing that he charged himself with the amounts received from the estate, in the amount of $3737.88, and had disbursed the same amount to the creditors and heirs. The four living children signed a release of the account on 22 June 1901. The account was presented for allowance on 13 June 1916.


The inventory showed personal estate of $707.43, two debts due of $30, and the amount received by sale of the real estate as $3000, plus $0.45 interest, totalling $3737.88. Payments, charges, losses and distributions included $300 to Alvina M. Seaver for furniture, $1200 for her legacy, and $481.71 each to Juliett G. Bryant, Frank W. Seaver, Nellie M. Seaver and Elizabeth L. Blanchard.

When I first found this will, the surprise was the unnamed child of the son Benjamin Seaver. Subsequent research showed that Benjamin Seaver (1854-1894) married Ella Farrer in 1885 in Orange County, Florida, and they had a daughter Edith J. Seaver, born in 1887. Isaac must have lost track of Ella and Edith - probably because Ella married again in 1897 to Jessie H. Caldwell. Edith married Arlie Russell in about 1908. I wonder if she ever received the $1 bequeathed by her grandfather?

I wonder why the account kept by Hamilton Mayo wasn't presented to the court for 15 years, even though the estate was distributed in June 1901. Perhaps it was just an oversight.

Best of the Genea-Blogs - 5-11 September 2010

Hundreds of genealogy and family history bloggers write thousands of posts every week about their research, their families, and their interests. I appreciate each one of them and their efforts.

My criteria for "Best of ..." are pretty simple - I pick posts that advance knowledge about genealogy and family history, address current genealogy issues, provide personal family history, are funny or are poignant. I don't list posts destined for the genealogy carnivals, or other meme submissions (but I do include summaries of them), or my own posts.

Here are my picks for great reads from the genealogy blogs for this past week:

* Mailbox Monday: Future of the NFS Tree and Killer Cool! Wow!!! by the writer of The Ancestry Insider blog. More "under the hood" information about new FamilySearch and the potential of a reference page for each person in it.

* Recycling Family Histories by Tom Fiske on Leland Meitzler's GenealogyBlog. Tom has an interesting story about helping his future wife, and telling family stories to his older brother, who just died.

* Bonnie's New Family by Colleen Fitzpatrick on the Identifinders Blog. Here is an amazing research story about an adoptee being reunited with her father and sister.

* Open Thread: Should Genealogy Volunteers Be Paid? by Lynn Palermo on The Armchair Genealogist blog. Lynn has some observations and some questions, and would like your comments too.

* Genealogy Rule #326: Watch What You Say and How You Say It by Cyndi Howells on the Cyndi's List blog. Cyndi had comments on her Facebook page denigrating "the LDS site" for its lineage-linked databases. She sets them straight.

* Ancestry, Genealogy Programs and Online Trees by Carol Yates Wilkinson on the iPentimento: Genealogy and History blog. Carol answered a question about "which is best...?" saying, well, go read it.

* You Can Think That if You Want but It's Wrong by Lorine McGinnis Schulze on the Olive Tree Genealogy Blog. Lorine nicely explains how to deal with other researchers who insist that their interpretation of data is correct.

* A beloved uncle, a war, and a Dobro by Jean Wilcox Hibben on the Circlemending blog. There are several wonderful stories in this post from Jean - a beautiful tribute to to young soldier and his instrument, which Jean now plays in her presentations.

* Using a blog for research note-taking by Pat Richley on DearMYRTLE's Genealogy Blog. Ol' Myrt describes Birdie Holsclaw's method of using a private blog to create and update research on specific persons or families. The benefit is that it's always available online.

Other "Best of..." weekly pick posts are here:

* Follow Friday: 10 September 2010 by Greta Koehl on Greta's Genealogy Bog. Greta picks her faves too, and they are all good.

* Weekly Genealogy Picks by John Newmark on the TransylvanianDutch blog. John highlights blog posts, carnivals, press releases and more, plus he links to several other weekly pick posts.

I encourage you to go to the blogs listed above and read their articles, and add their blog to your Favorites, Google Reader, RSS feed or email if you like what you read. Please make a comment to them also - all bloggers appreciate feedback on what they write.

Did I miss a great genealogy blog post? Tell me! I am currently reading posts from over 670 genealogy bloggers using Google Reader, but I still miss quite a few it seems.

Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.

CVGS Highlights for August/September

Here are some of the recent posts on the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe blog, which I also write, concerning activities of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society:

* CVGS Seminar -- Where Do We Go From Here? posted 3 September

* CVGS Research Group Summary - 8 September 2010 posted 11 September

* New or Updated Genealogy Databases - September 2010 posted 10 September

* Ruth Himan's "Five Generation Pedigree Chart Classes" posted 9 September

* CVGS Newsletter for September 2010 posted 8 September

* Saturday Class, 11 September - Alfredo I. Peña talk posted 7 September

* Gary Brock's "Surnames and Their Meanings" Talk posted 5 September

* Genealogy Days in Chula Vista - September 2010 posted 1 September

* CVGS Annual Picnic - "Wheel of Fortune Surname Game" posted 26 August

* CVGS Weekender Program on "Surnames" - Sunday, 29 August posted 25 August

* CVGS Annual Picnic on Wednesday, 25 August posted 22 August

CVGS has had a very busy summer with the monthly Weekender Talks on Sundays and the monthly Classes at Bonita Library on Saturdays, in addition to the monthly Program, the Research Group and Computer Group meetings.

The fun continues in October with the Annual Fall Seminar featuring Jean Wilcox Hibben and Alfredo I. Pena on Saturday, 2 October. Check out the program CVGS Seminar -- Where Do We Go From Here? and register by 20 September to join in the fun.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Your Sports Teams

It's Saturday Night -- time for more Genealogy Fun for readers of Genea-Musings.

I almost did a 9/11 SNGF theme but realized that that isn't fun, it's real life.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

1) Recall your favorite sports heroes and teams of your childhood, and how you supported them.

2) Tell us about them in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a comment on Facebook.

Here's mine:

The San Diego Padres were my favorite baseball team (AAA Pacific Coast League 1936-1967) when I was a boy. I listened to the radio for almost every game (sometimes beneath the covers!) from 1949 to 1960 or so. We occasionally took the bus downtown to go to games at Lane Field at the harbor, and then to Westgate Park in Mission Valley. The Pads were the farm team for the Cleveland Indians in the 1950's, and we saw Herb Score, Rocky Colavito, Bob Lemon, Luke Easter, Bob Elliott, Earl Rapp, Max West, Jack Graham and other players on their way up or on their way down. The Pads won the PCL pennant in 1954 which was real exciting.

The Major League franchise in San Diego started in 1969 with an expansion team that didn't have a winning season until 1978. We have attended games every year, and have had a 20-game season ticket plan since 2003. Padre heroes over the years were Nate Colbert, Randy Jones, Dave Winfield, Ozzie Smith, Tony Gwynn, Tim Flannery, Steve Garvey, Ken Caminiti, Steve Finley, Jake Peavy, Adrian Gonzales and many more. The Padres won the National League pennant in 1984 (lost the World Series to the Tigers) and 1998 (lost the World Series to the Yankees). We're due! My Padres are tied for first place right now...and we'll be at the game when this post appears on the blog.

The Chargers came to town in 1961 and they became my favorite football team. They won the AFL championship in 1963 and were a playoff team in 1961, 1964, 1965 and 1966. I worked for them in training camp in 1963 and have always considered myself the "lucky charm" for their only league championship. The Don Coryell years (1978-1985) and Bobby Ross years (1993-1998) were the most enjoyable because of the exciting offense and decent defense. The 1994 team went to the Super Bowl and lost to the 49ers. The Chargers have made the playoffs the last few years but have faltered getting to the Super Bowl. Maybe this year! Linda and I had season tickets in the early 1970s but the team was so bad, and the tickets became so expensive, and the crowds were so unruly, that we now watch them on TV.