THE LIVERMORE ROOTS TRACER

VOLUME XVI NUMBER 1, JANUARY 1997

The Roots Tracer is a quarterly publication with articles of interest to the genealogist. Members are encouraged to submit their "Profiles" as well as articles of general interest. Queries are free to members, $1.00 to non-members.
The deadline for each quarterly is the 15th of June, September, December, and March. Send to:
Roots Tracer, P.O. Box 901 Livermore, CA 94551

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Calendar of Events
• President's Message
• Editor's Message
• News from the Family History Center
• Family History Fair
• "Ancestors" Television Series
• Audio Tapes Available for Loan
• Comparisons of Four "People-Finder" Techniques
• Computer News
• Inexpensive Acid Free Paper
• "Names of our Ancestors" Update
• Notes From All Over
• Meet the Members
• Queries
• Write a Letter - Get a Letter
• How to kill an Organization.

Copyright Notice: No articles may be reproduced for profit or commercial gain without the express written consent of the authors, the editors, or the Livermore-Amador Genealogical Society.

JAN 14 Livermore-Amador Gen. Soc. (L-AGS) meeting, 7:30 p.m. Congregation Beth Emek, corner of College Ave. & South "M" St., Livermore.

JAN 23 L-AGS Computer Interest Group meets at LDS Church, 950 Mocho St., Livermore, 7:30 p.m. Representatives from Global InfoNet, who provide L-AGS Internet service, will describe various services offered by Internet providers. What it takes to establish a personal Web site will also be discussed.

FEB 11 Livermore-Amador Gen. Soc. (L-AGS) meeting, 7:30 p.m. Congregation Beth Emek, corner of College Ave. & South "M" St., Livermore.

MAR 11 Livermore-Amador Gen. Soc. (L-AGS) meeting, 7:30 p.m. Congregation Beth Emek, corner of College Ave. & South "M" St., Livermore.

MAR 22 Sonoma Co., Gen. Soc. seminar featuring J. Carlyle Parker and Bette Kot at the Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Bldg., Santa Rosa, CA.

APRIL 8 Livermore-Amador Gen. Soc. (L-AGS) meeting, 7:30 p.m. Congregation Beth Emek, corner of College Ave. & South "M" St., Livermore.

APRIL 25-26 Calif. Gen. Soc. 12th Annual Family History Fair "The Golden Gateway to Your Ancestry." At Herbst Pavilion at Ft. Mason Center, San Francisco; Friday noon to 8:00 p.m.; Saturday 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

MAY 7-10 National Gen. Soc. Annual Conference in the States, "Pennsylvania - Cradle of a Nation," to be held in Valley Forge, PA. Write for NGS '97 Conference Registration Brochure, 4527 17th Street North, Arlington, VA 22207-2399.

JULY 23-27 American Historical Soc. Germans from Russia, Golden Gate Chapter & the CA District Council presents 29th International Convention. Hyatt Hotel, 1740 North First Street, San Jose, CA.

SEPT 20 L-AGS Annual Seminar, LDS Church, Pleasanton, CA. Details will be announced in later editions of The Roots Tracers.

L-AGS Study Group Please call Jolene for meeting information about when and where.

As we begin the new year I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the members of L-AGS for their support of our programs. We have had a very successful year, adding about twenty new members to our Society. I would like L-AGS to recognize the special and outstanding efforts of some of our members.

Lori Codey did a magnificent job of refining our Members' Handbook and distributing one to every member of L-AGS. The Handbook was begun by one of our original members, Virginia Moore. Through the years, it has been modified and upgraded by such people as George Anderson and Erma McCue.

Jolene Abrahams and Dean Lee co-chaired another great one-day seminar, which was co-sponsored by the Mocho Street Mormon Church in Livermore. Many church members and L-AGS members worked extremely hard to make this a success. Special thanks go to Jolene and to Garth Ludwig for organizing the program and bringing in all those wonderful instructors; Karen Banta for the design of the flyers and registration; Garth and Rose Ludwig for the lunches; Linda and David Curry for the genealogy display; John Walden for providing secretarial needs and publicity; and the good folks who helped us set up tables and chairs and audio-visual equipment. All of the classes were well attended - some were so full we could not accommodate everyone!

George Anderson and Doug Mumma, our computer "gurus", spent many hours creating a Home Page for L-AGS on the Internet. Due to their efforts, we now have our Surname Index and the cemetery books available for people all over the world to look at. George told me that during the first two weeks of availability, about 1,000 people accessed our Home Page! As a result of their efforts, L-AGS is the recipient of the "Tracking Your Roots" award. According to the citation, "This award is given to those Internet web sites which further the abilities of genealogical research on the web by placing actual genealogical research documents/materials on the WWW".

The monthly Computer Interest Group, hosted by Doug and George has been very successful. The mentoring program they initiated has helped many members who are new to computers or had problems using them.

The monthly Study Group, hosted by Jolene Abrahams and Jeanne Tanghe, was also very helpful to members who were beginning their genealogy and needed special assistance in addition to the programs provided at regular L-AGS meetings.

Attendance at our monthly meetings has increased dramatically during the past year. The interesting programs organized by Katherine Bridgman and Lucille Kusko played a great part in this increase, and I believe, the increase in membership.

To all of the Board members and committee chairs, I want to say

I have thoroughly enjoyed working with all of you and look forward to another great year.

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Rosemary Biel Lighty

JoAnne Frazier

The time has come for us to make some changes in the editorial staff of The Roots Tracer. Many of you know I have started teaching Beginning Genealogy at the local Adult Education two times a day once a week. And I now have added Intermediate Genealogy to be taught once a week jointly with my husband, David. In addition I am two-thirds finished with my book "Beginning Genealogy" and I promised myself it will be published by June 1997. While attending the Centennial Reunion of the Knowles/Knoles Family Association in Indiana this past summer I was elected President. The organization has never had a newsletter so I have started one with David's help.

David and I started editing The Roots Tracer about four years ago as a joint effort. This included typing, formatting, printing and distributing the Roots Tracer quarterly. When David became president of L-AGS, I enlisted the help of Regina Schaefer, who provides typing support. Peggy Norman and her daughter, Beth, also help us by assembling each Tracer. Recently, we have added Dave Whisman to our "staff". Dave has offered to help us with typing and similar editorial efforts. Of course, the Tracer would not be possible without the contributions of our members. David and I will continue to read the material that comes to L-AGS routinely and extract that which we think may be important or of interest to our members.

However, we need to add one more person to our staff. It is necessary to have someone come forward who would like to do the final preparation and organization of the Tracer, and take the masters to the printer. There is some urgency to this, since David is retiring and we have planned our first retirement trip to commence in April!! Those of you who are interested in providing this service for L-AGS should call David or me as soon as possible.

Jolene

The Family History Center at the LDS Church, 950 Mocho St., Livermore, has recently received a microfilm/microfiche printer. Now patrons can not only view the records they are interested in, but they can make 8 1/2 X 11 inch paper prints as well. Additionally, as an experiment, the FHC is open on Saturday afternoons, from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm, for the month of January. If patronage is sufficient, the Church will consider keeping the FHC open on more Saturdays.

As of publication of this issue of The Roots Tracer, we have not received registration/program information from the California Genealogical Society, sponsors of the Family History Fair in San Francisco. For those of you wishing to receive this information, it will be available at L-AGS meetings.

"ANCESTORS" TELEVISION SERIES

David Abrahams

KQED, Channel 9: Sunday, 5 January, 10:30 am

KTEH, Channel 54: Saturday, 18 January, 5:00 pm

KCSM, Channel 60: Saturday, 25 January, 3:30 pm

"ANCESTORS" is a series of ten 30-minute television programs to be aired on Public Television throughout the country this year. The series is hosted by Jim and Terry Willard, amateur genealogists and former high school teachers, who introduce the topic of each episode.

Each episode has two components, a "mini-documentary" and a "how-to" segment, with the exception of the tenth episode, Leaving a Legacy, which has three mini-documentaries and no how-to segment.

EPISODE 1 explores the simple and universal question, "Who am I?" with tips on how to start a search for roots, including how to fill out a pedigree chart, and why successful research means starting with yourself.

EPISODE 2 teaches viewers how to start at home, in some of the most unlikely places, to find clues to their ancestors and pieces of the past. It includes a brief discussion of how to handle and store fragile items, like old photographs, and an introduction to the Family Group Record.

EPISODE 3 gives tips for interviewing family members, including how to help older family members "open up," how to ask thought-provoking questions, and how to record the interviews.

EPISODE 4 will teach viewers how to search records to fill in the blanks on pedigree charts and family group records. A special emphasis is given to compiled vs. original records and basic research strategies.

EPISODE 5 takes the fear out of library and archive research. Jim and Terry go on location to the largest genealogical library in the world, the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, where staff and patrons offer their personal tips for a successful research trip.

EPISODE 6 shows how census and military records can be a rich source of biographical information.

EPISODE 7 addresses some of the challenges inherent in African American research. Although it is often difficult, research strategies specific to these ethnic challenges can yield rich and interesting information.

EPISODE 8 discusses the life-saving potential of family medical pedigrees. Viewers will see how a medical pedigree differs from a standard pedigree chart, with discussion about issues that naturally arise for individuals who seek to learn about their genetic history.

EPISODE 9 will show viewers how a computer can be a genealogist's best friend.

EPISODE 10 will explore the provocative question: "One hundred years from now, will anyone know who you were?"

Through the years, L-AGS has acquired a small collection of audio tapes relating to genealogy. Some were recorded during presentations at our meetings; others were purchased from commercial sources. They are currently available for local members to borrow between meetings.

Members wishing to borrow tapes may contact L-AGS member Jerry Reynolds, who brings the tapes to our meetings.

George Anderson

One of the undoubted blessings of the computer revolution is the ability we now have to search the whole world for an elusive living person. The probability of finding the person ranges from a theoretical possibility in some cases to a virtual certainty in others.

There are three principal people-finding techniques now available: the Telephone Book, CD-ROM telephone databases, and online searchable databases. There are others - much more powerful - that private investigators use, but typically they are too expensive for us genealogy hobbyists.

I have often wondered how various "people-finder" techniques compare to each other. I decided that an experiment comparing these three types of sources would be instructive and fun.

If you want an address or a telephone number, the old-fashioned way is to get out the telephone book and look up the name. That works only if you have the telephone book for the city in question, and if the person you seek has a listed number. If you don't have the right phone book, you can go to the library and probably find one for the city you want.

Many of us face the problem of finding all of the people with a given surname. Looking through the 30 odd feet of shelved phone books at the library is possible, but daunting. Fortunately, computers have come to our aid. There are now several competing databases on CD-ROM, and several searchable databases on the Internet.

PhoneDisc is a commercial CD-ROM database available at some public libraries. The one I used is open to the public at the Pleasanton Library. It is dated September 1995. It is easy to bring up all persons in the US fitting various selection criteria, and to print out the name, address and telephone number. There are no entries without telephone numbers, but many without addresses. This, plus the name of the database, leads to the deduction that all of the information is from telephone books, but the results below show that some listed entries are not in the telephone book.

SelectPhone is a similar commercial CD-ROM database claiming to contain more than 85 million business and residential telephone listings from US white and yellow pages. I own the edition for 1995 so that is the one I used.

Switchboard is a World Wide Web online search tool for finding the telephone number of a person by entering the surname. The URL address is "http://www2.switchboard.com/bin/cgiqa.dll?" The question mark is part of the address. Switchboard can use other information, if you have it, to narrow the search. In addition to the telephone number, the output also lists the city and sometimes the street address.

I used two Telephone Books in this comparison. Both were Pacific Bell Tri-Valley White Pages covering Alamo, Blackhawk, Danville, Diablo, Dublin, Livermore, Pleasanton, San Ramon and Sunol, one valid until October 1996, the other until November 1997.

For the purposes of the this study, the surname Abbott was chosen to be searched in the four sources. That name was chosen because there seemed to be enough entries to provide a meaningful study without undue effort. In the 1996 Telephone Book there were 26 entries, but two entries were for the same number under different names. In the 1997 Telephone Book there were also 26 entries with 2 duplicates, but two old numbers had been dropped and two new ones added. In the other three sources, separate searches were performed for each of the towns covered by the Telephone Book. PhoneDisc had 36 entries, 8 of which were for the same number under different names. SelectPhone yielded 21 numbers, 2 of which were duplicates for different names. Switchboard gave 30 numbers, but 9 were duplicates.

Among the five sources, there were 40 different telephone numbers. In the table below, a dot is placed under the source name if I found that telephone number in the source. If the number was listed more than once under different names, extra dots were added. Note - if your computer or printer does not recognize the dingbats character set, a 1 will be printed instead of a large dot. An asterisk means that the street address was given for that number.

Why did I decided to use telephone numbers as the independent variable instead of person names? It was because names are too ambiguous. To illustrate using fictitious names: in one source there might be a John Abbott with a certain telephone number, and in another source a J. Abbott with a different number. Are these the same person? There is no way to know without calling both numbers and asking, and that was, as the saying goes, beyond the scope of this study.

There are several superficial conclusions from this survey. PhoneDisc contains the greatest number of unduplicated telephone numbers. Whether that is from a greater valid coverage or from the inclusion of outdated invalid numbers is unknown. Even if the entry is outdated, when looking for relatives, finding where they used to live can be helpful. Switchboard has the highest percentage of different names for the same number. That could be important if you knew a woman's first name and married surname, but did not know the husband's first name. There is only one example that is contained in the 1996 Telephone Book and not in any other source, but two more examples in 1997, presumably because the other sources lag the Telephone Book in adding new numbers. There were no cases at all of street addresses being given in one source but not in others.

One conclusion seems obvious: if you want to compile the most exhaustive possible list of your surname, it would pay to use all four sources. For example, I found 40 different numbers, but SelectPhone lists only half of them. PhoneDisc and the Telephone Books on paper are available at the Pleasanton Library. SelectPhone owners who are willing to do look-ups are listed in the L-AGS Members' Handbook. Many L-AGS members now have access to Switchboard on the Internet. Most would be willing to do a search for anyone who does not have access. For help, call any of the computer mentors listed in the L-AGS Members' Handbook.

L-AGS now has its own home page on the Internet!!! It was created by George Anderson and myself for the pleasure of our membership and for the benefit of genealogical researchers throughout the world. For a while, it was attached to my home page, then the Alameda County Libraries home page, George Anderson's home page and briefly to Larry Renslow's page. Now it has a permanent home. George is advertising its existence and serving as the page's manager and caretaker. If you haven't seen it yet, be sure to stop by as he is adding new things to it on a regular basis. If you don't have a computer, stop by either the Livermore or Pleasanton Libraries and use one of the public computers.

Some of the things that are on the home page include some general information about L-AGS, a listing of our coming events, and the complete listing of the Livermore, Pleasanton, and Dublin cemeteries. In addition, the latest version of the Roots Tracer is also available for viewing. We have included links to some of the more interesting sites that are worth using and visiting. The final item that has received a lot of attention is a listing of the Surnames that our members are researching. This is a similar to the book version that L-AGS published in 1994. Since the home page was "announced" on December 10th and we began keeping track of the number of visitors, over 1000 visits were recorded on our counter in just 10 days. That is very busy! From those 1000 visits, over 80 messages or inquiries were made regarding our members' surnames. I'm sure a number of you have received calls or e-mail messages from George regarding the various inquiries. This turns out to be a good way for our non-Internet and computerless members to get their surnames listed on the Internet and to respond to inquiries. Cheers and hats off to George for the fine service he is providing our membership. So remember, when there is a call to the membership (meaning you!) to update their (your) surname listing, be sure to respond so you too can become a part of the Internet. Who knows, you might find the ancestor link you've been missing.

The Computer Interest Group will hold the next meeting on Thursday, the 23rd of January at 7:30 pm at the Mormon Church, 905 Mocho Street in Livermore. Please note the time change to 7:30 pm. This should help those who, previously, have had difficulty arriving at 7 pm. I will be there at 7:00 with a computer setup and will be happy to do some problem solving or brain storming until the meeting starts at 7:30. There should be some topics of interest to all at the meeting, which are as follows:

Global Infonet - Global Infonet, our Internet Service Provider (ISP) for L-AGS home page, will come and make a presentation as to why you should consider using them as your ISP. George and I feel they have served us well, so far with the home page, and they have a lot of exciting improvements and changes planned for 1997. They offer some of the lowest cost plans for access to the Internet in the entire Bay Area. There will be IBM and Mac formatted diskettes available with free Internet software for people to take with them. Global offers a free 7 day trial period to try out their system, absolutely free. And if you have problems with access or configuring your system, one of our mentors will be available to help you. Be sure and come out and listen to what should be an interesting presentation. We will have a computer available for some interactive viewing of L-AGS home page. Possibly we could have some of the experts at Global Infonet come out again and put on a class on "how to create home pages and use of the HTML language", if there is enough interest.

Updates - This will be a sharing time to explore some of the new genealogical software that has hit the market since we last met. Some of the new programs are Roots 5 which was just released before Christmas. This is the new Windows version of Roots IV. There is also Family Gathering, the forerunner to Roots 5 that is a slightly stripped down version. Commsoft hoped Family Gathering would become a contender against Family Tree Maker. There is also a new program called PAF-MATE and GED-MATE which is a utility to display and print your PAF or Gedcom data in interesting ways. The program fills in some of the printing gaps that PAF can not do. It also prints some very neat circular ancestor charts. I'm sure there are some other programs that have recently been released so bring along your information to share. A computer will be available to view the programs.

Where is the Computer Interest Group going? - If the group is to continue, we need help with program direction, leadership, and ideas for meeting topics. One of the toughest areas is trying to come up with programs that are of value and interest to everyone, yet not too technical nor too elementary. One topic area that I am interested in myself is how to do effective matching and merging of data bases. With the advent of the Internet and discovering "cousins" who are also doing similar genealogy research, it is easy to receive large Gedcom or data files from these helpful "cousins". The question then becomes how do you evaluate their information and your information side by side and then merge the best data electronically. If you do it wrong, you can make a real mess of your data with duplicate records or overwritten records. I would like to hear from all our smart members out there who have been doing this in Gedcom format, which would be the most universal. Are there any good programs to do it? Bring your ideas of other suggested topics to the meeting to share.

Now that you've got that nice, shiny new computer for Christmas, what are you going to do with that old one that is not working as well as it should or might even have some problems? One solution it to give it to a non-profit, charitable organization that will fix it and see that it gets a new lease on life. An organization that accepts old computers is called "Tri-Valley Crayons to Computers." They are located in the old Camp Parks facility and they use the repair process as a learning experience for students. Machines that are not working are cleaned and repaired. When they are finished, the computers are made available to teachers in the Tri-Valley area. It is a win-win situation. You get a tax deduction and a teacher gets a working computer. They are only open on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons between 2 and 5 pm. If you have something to donate, give them a call to find out how you can help and get directions.

We have added some interesting new data to our Web site, thanks to Gary Drummond and the Livermore Heritage Guild. The material is the record of 358 burials from the Robert Graham Mortuary in Livermore from 1878-1893. Many of the entries supply missing information about burials in Oak Knoll Cemetery, where most of the gravestones had disappeared by the time of the first survey of the cemetery by the DAR in 1934.

Recently I was printing a book about the life of my mother for her family. I decided to keep the costs as low as possible, yet I wanted to use the best materials that I could reasonably find. I found that Kinko's copy store could obtain and use acid-free paper to print the book, but at a premium price. They did say that they would be happy to print the book on my paper, if I wanted bring it in. They said they would reduce the copying cost by 1 cent per copy.

I started looking in the various office supply catalogs for paper and discovered that 20# Hammermill CopyPlus® and their Fore DP® copy papers are listed as acid free. This was rather surprising because the CopyPlus is one of the least expensive papers. I buy it by the case and use it in my laserjet printer and copier. Still being somewhat skeptical, I called Hammermill's 800 number (1-800-242-2148) and verified this fact with the company sales representative who faxed me additional data. The person I spoke with said that over half of the papers they now produce are acid free and that trend will continue to increase as the older paper mill equipment is replaced. I inquired about other manufacturers and they said you have got to check with each company and the specific paper type. It is quite variable. The back of the wrapper that surrounds the CopyPlus paper even says, "Archival Quality". You can buy it in case quantities (10 reams or 5000 sheets) for about $26 per case at Office Depot or Staples. That works out to about 0.5 cents per sheet. Staples also sells it in ream quantities for $3.09. The Fore DP 20# paper costs $5.59 per ream. What is the lesson? The fact that a paper is acid free does not mean it is expensive or needs to cost more, it is just the type of manufacturing process that is being used. You need to call the various paper manufacturers to determine if your favorite paper is also made acid free. It's a nice feeling to know that anything I print and keep or send to others is on archival quality paper.

In August 1994, L-AGS published the second edition of Names of our Ancestors, compiled by Beverly Schell Ales, George Anderson and Harriet Anderson. This wonderful book consists of "5861 surnames documented by members of the Livermore-Amador Genealogical Society, with separate indexes for surname, locality and soundexed surname."

Since the book was published, L-AGS has added many new members to its roster, none of whom have had the opportunity to provide their information for inclusion. Moreover, many of us have added surnames of interest during the past two years.

It is now time to revise the book, adding the surnames of our new members and correcting and changing existing information. This is a very exciting project for many of us, because George Anderson has recently installed the Index to Surnames from the book on the Internet. By having the Index to Surnames available internationally, we may get contacts from all over the world! It should be noted that contributors names and addresses have not been included in the Internet version; however, e-mail addresses are shown. Anyone wishing to contact a member who does not have e-mail must send either an e-mail to George or write to L-AGS at our mailing address.

We will distribute surname information forms for all members of L-AGS to complete at the January and February L-AGS meetings. For those of you who are unable to attend our meetings, please send a stamped self-addressed envelope to our postal address and we will mail the form to you. We also urge all of the members who contributed originally to ensure that the information in the book is current. (Draft copies of the current list of contributors and index to surnames will be available for inspection at L-AGS meetings until 11 March.) Additionally, there will be printouts of each member's previous submission available at the meetings, and we will transfer this data to a diskette on request. We would like to have all forms returned to L-AGS, either at the March meeting (11 March) or sent to our postal address no later than 15 March. Once we have the forms in hand, we will proceed with the update.

Recently, Beverly Schell Ales sent your editors several sheets relating to genealogical and historical records available from various agencies and societies in Ohio. Because there is so much information here, we can't publish all of it. Instead, we will have copies of Beverly's originals available at L-AGS meetings and will post a set at the Family History Center in the Mormon Church, 950 Mocho Street, Livermore.

One sheet lists the general location of historical and genealogical records in Ohio court houses. Another sheet discusses birth, death and marriage records, delayed birth certificates, and where to write for copies - as well as the prices. There is also a map of Ohio which displays the network of American history research centers. Probably the most important sheet in this collection is a list of Ohio addresses that may be useful to genealogists.

Beverly Osman Morris has two microfilms she is willing to share with members. One is the 1860 Federal Census for Clarion Co., PA. The other is titled "Reformed Church Records in Eastern Pennsylvania 1745 - 1936." According to Beverly, this film includes information regarding churches in Montgomery , Berks, Lancaster, Northumberland, Lehigh and York counties, and Witpain Township.

The 1890 Great Register of California voters is well on its way to completion. According to Janice G. Cloud, a member of the California State Genealogical Alliance (CSGA) and coordinator for this project, the only counties not completed include Lake, Mendocino, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Tehama. Once all the counties are complete, probably by the end of 1997, the CSGA will determine how best to make this material available to researchers.

George Anderson has sent your editors a copy of an e-mail he received Dave Mears in Cherry Hill, NJ. The body of the message reads: "A television series on genealogy, 'Family Historian', airs weekly on the New Jersey (Public Access) Cable Television Network. This 30 minute interview-format show, possibly the only one of its kind in the country, is broadcast to New Jersey cable television subscribers Tuesdays at 9:30 pm. It has been on the air for about 7 years now and has featured discussions on many different genealogical topics. Recently, its host/producer, New Jersey genealogist Stephen Conte, has begun to make available videotape copies of these shows. They are available at $20 each (postage & handling included) and for the following topics: [Editor's note: There are far too many topics to list here, but they include New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, ethnic, foreign, and general]. Please note that these are NOT commercial television shows and that proceeds from these videotapes will help fund more of these public access television shows in the future on additional genealogical topics. I have no connection with this show but enjoy watching it and have learned much about genealogy from it. Write Mr. Conte at P.O. Box 962, Caldwell, NJ 07007 to order or if you have any additional questions."

The National Genealogical Society (NGS) has appointed a committee to review the policy for scheduled destruction of such important records as Social Security files after they are entered into a computer data base. The genealogical community can take credit for the success of this change in policy of the NGS. From California State Genealogical Alliance Board meeting, 31 Aug 1996.

Ruesch International can supply researchers needs when it is necessary to send funds to foreign countries. This financial company can issue drafts (prepaid, of course) in thirty different currencies, including most western European and Scandinavian countries, several of the former British Empire countries, Mexico and Thailand. Their toll-free phone number in Los Angeles is 1-800-696-7990.

MAPLES, BAKER: Looking for information on William E. Maples: b abt 1890 in MO. Died ? believed to be in the Livermore area. Golda Baker Maples: b Dec 1894 on MO. Died Feb 1955 ?? Livermore, CA. Their son William Maples b ?? died or was killed in a mine explosion in the Livermore area, abt 1940. Would like to find obituary notices for these three. Will pay for copies or reasonable expense for searching.

Ann C. Nunes 13345 Johnson Road Los Banos, CA 93635

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I am doing research for a local history based on people who lived on Morgan Territory Road or had connections with people who lived there. If any readers have personal memories about the road or know someone who can add to my store of knowledge, please let me know.

Thank You to fellow members for the push to write a letter.

At the genealogy Seminar in October, I sat next to a member and talked with her and others around me. They encouraged me to write to the church again. I couldn't find where in France my Great Grandfather Pierre Monnier had been born. I had found a letter in the state archives he had written & mailed concerning his family's arrival in San Francisco, along with the name of the vessel. He arrived (found in San Francisco Daily Alta) on 9 May 1859 aboard the Clipper Ship Sweepstakes. My sister and I decided to write again to the French Church in SF, Notre Dame Des Victoires, where we had previously received the christening dates for seven of his eight children. The priest wrote us back apologizing for a delay of 17 days from receipt of our letter. He gave us the marriage of an unknown sister with Pierre & his wife Rosalie Froment as witnesses. The place of birth as well as confirmation that Pierre & Rosalie must have been married in France before their departure. Where in France? In the village of Lacolonge in the Department of Haut-Rhin, now a part of Belfort Territory. He told us that Lacolonge was originally in Alsace-Lorraine as my Grandpa always said. But it became a part of Germany in 1871 after he had left, then became a part of Belfort Territory. The priest went to the French Consulate to check on the village. There were 192 inhabitants in 1994 and he closed by giving the address of the Mayor of Lacolonge. He then apologized he couldn't give us more information as most of the church records are in storage because the church is undergoing a renovation. Maybe more to come. Wow!! What a way to get information. Barbara Wills

No one purposely sabotages a group which he or she has joined. But a glance at this list might reveal ways to work against an organization without being aware of it.

1. Don't come to meetings. If you do come, be late.
2. If the weather doesn't suit you, don't think of coming.
3. If you attend, find fault with the work of others.
4. Never accept an office -- it's easier to criticize.
5. Be angry if you're not appointed to a committee.
6. If you're asked your opinion say nothing. Afterward, tell everyone how things should be done.
7. Do no more than necessary. If a few persons work tirelessly, complain that the group is run by a clique.
8. Don't bother to help get new members.
9. Don't tell leaders how the group can help you or achieve certain goals -- but if it doesn't, quit coming.
10. . When you attend a meeting, vote for one thing, and then forget about it after you go home.
11. . Don't read mail from headquarters, it's not important -- then complain that you are not kept informed.
12. . Get all the benefits your organization provides -- but don't make a personal contribution.
13. . Talk about cooperation, but don't practice it.

(Fresno GS. "The Jotted Line", Jul 1996, Hayward GS "Informer", Sep 1996)

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