One day you ll be just a memory for some people. Do your best to be a good one.

Transcription

1 / Mt. Diab lo Ge nea logic al Soc iety THE DIGGER PRESIDENT S MESSAGE DIANE 2016/2017 MDGS Board Members DE GOLIA Summer has definitely arrived and the advent of this season usually brings along with family gatherings generated by graduation ceremonies, weddings and such. For the Mt. Diablo Genealogical Society, it means the election of our officers and board for the coming year. We fill chairmanships for the organization s several committees as well. President: Diane de Golia Vice President: Arta Fleming Rec. Secretary: Shirley Thomson Treasurer: John Gilbert Directors: Bill Steinmetz & Margaret Ready Past President: Stan Wells Historian: Bob Wolf Program Chair: Karla Henderlong Publicity Chair & Newsletter: Susan Rush Membership Chair: Gretchen Hansen & Cheryl Sibthorp Hospitality Co-Chairs: Mary Ellis Someone once said that the reason volunteers aren t paid isn t because they are worthless, but rather because they are priceless. That is so very true! The collection of family researchers, under the umbrella of the MDGS, would not be able to access informational meetings or pick up helpful hints in the The Digger without the individuals who don t get paid and they are absolutely priceless. The board s goal is to build active committees making light work for everyone in carrying out our goals. We could really use your help and in spite of receiving no monetary compensation, there are benefits. Connecting with others who share your interest in genealogy along with the fellowship that is part of the experience are so rewarding. Also, the continuance of the MDGS is dependent upon members contributing not only their dues, but also their time toward the furtherance of the activities. I hope that you ll step forward and let us know that you d like to participate in some way to further our efforts. Whether it would be involvement in one of the committees or serving as a Director, we would welcome your offer of a helping hand. Feel free to introduce yourself at a meeting or give me a call at (925) and we can talk about what role you d like to take. INSIDE THIS ISSUE: President s Message 1 Speakers & Programs 2 New Members, Other Societies & Upcoming Events 3 New Officers, Committee Chairpersons, & Directors 4 Ancestry.com s move to the Cloud 5 Resource The Heritage Room 6 Membership Application 7 One day you ll be just a memory for some people. Do your best to be a good one. Roots Magic & Family Tree Maker, Help Wanted 8 Lessons Learned in Life Volunteer Form & Publicity 9 Calendar of Events Diane de Golia President

2 Page 2 J U L Y S P E A K E R July 21, Gena Philibert-Oretega We are excited to have Gena back at Mt. Diablo Genealogical Society. Last summer she spoke about 5 Tips from Researching on Genealogy Roadshow. This time she will be doing two sessions: The WPA-Sources for your Genealogy and Using WPA Images for your genealogy. Gena Philibert-Ortega holds a Master's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies (Psychology and Women's Studies) and a Master's degree in Religion. She does presentations on various subjects involving genealogy, women's studies and social history, Gena has spoken to groups throughout the United States and Canada as well as virtually to audiences worldwide. Gena is the author of hundreds of articles published in genealogy newsletters and magazines. Her writings can also be found on her blogs, Gena's Genealogy and Food.Family.Ephemera. She is the author of three books including her latest From The Family Kitchen (F + W Media, 2012). NO MEETING IN AUGUST T H A N K Y OU TO O UR J U N E S P E A K E R S Our mini-speaker was MDGS member, Bill Reiley. He did a presentation about his father s service in World War I. After a brief history of the war and how it effected his hometown, Bill share a beautiful video of memorabilia, family photos, newspaper articles along with music of the era and some historical speeches. Thank you Bill for sharing your family history with us. After our break our main-speaker was Jeffrey Vaillant. His speech was entitled Lies, Lies & Damn Lies. Can DNA testing help solve my paternal genealogy. Jeffrey s father & two sisters were the secret keepers as to how his family surname went from Veneziano to Vaillant. Jeffrey presented how he used every piece of information to hunt down the truth about his surname. Along the way, Jeffrey imparted good researching techniques and discussed DNA testing as another facet to your research. Always use the highest number of markers with your DNA testing. Thank you, Jeffrey, your presentation was enjoyable and informative. P R O G R A M S - M A R Y E L L I S Date Mini Speaker Main Speaker & Topic 21 Jul 2017 Mini Seminar with Gena Philibert-Ortega WPA Sources for Your Genealogy & Using WPA Images for Your Genealogy Aug 2017 No Meeting 15 Sep 2017 Martha Whittaker-California County Records in the State Archives Katheryn Marshall Latest & Greatest in Genealogy Software and Databases 20 Oct 2017 TBA TBA

3 The Digger Page 3 New members: Derek & Janice Ransley and John Shaw Reinstated members: Judith Watkins & Harris Greenberg OT H ER GENEALOGICAL SOCIETIES C o n t r a C o s t a C o u n t y G e n e a l o g i c a l S o c i e t y CCCGS July 13, :00 p.m. Research Night at Family History Center CCCGS No Meeting in August More info at cccgs/membership.htm S a n R a m o n V a l l e y G e n e a l o g i c a l S o c i e t y SRVGS July 18, :00 a.m. to Noon Pam Miller DNA SRVGS No Meeting in August More info at S o l a n o C o u n t y G e n e a l o g i c a l S o c i e t y CASCGSI- No meetings in July and August More info at S p e c i a l I n t e r e s t G r o u p s San Ramon Valley Genealogical Society Special Interest Groups Solano County Genealogical Society Discussion Groups U P C O M I N G E V E N T S San Mateo County Genealogical Society The Berryessa Family: A California Legacy Date: Saturday, June 24, :30am Speaker: Anthony Ray, a descendant of the Berryessa Family Place: Grace Lutheran Church, 2825 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo, CA More information on classes and events can be found on our website at HOW TO CLASS Contra Costa County GS Save the date Saturday, October 21, 2017 Fall Seminar Gina Philibert-Ortega, Finding Your Female Ancestors California Genealogical Society (CGS) Two Upcoming Events: 1) September 23, 2017 Judy Russell 4 Topics Seminar at David Brower Center in Berkeley. Facts, Photos, and Fair Use: Copyright Law for Genealogists Martha Benschura-Enemy Alien Rogues, Rascals and Rapscallions: The Family Black Sheep ABCs of DNA More information: -the-legal-genealogist-seminar-registration ?aff=Website 2) February 11-18, 2018 CGS Genealogy Caribbean Cruise Joined with The Genealogy Guys to host a 7- day genealogy cruise to 3 Caribbean islands. More Information: We know all the best spots to hide a body

4 Page 4 W H A T S N EW? Diane degolia Areta Fleming John Gilbert Shirley Thompson Karla Henderlong Susan Rush Bob Wolf Gretchen Hansen & Cheryl Sibthorp Mary Ellis & TBA Bill Steinmetz & Margaret Ready and two other TBA Thank you to all who served on the Board, as Directors, and on Committees this past year! Your service has helped make Mt. Diablo Genealogical Society grow & prosper. Also, thank you to all the volunteers who brought us such tasty goodies during the past year! We appreciate your generosity and hospitality.

5 The Digger Page 5 Ancestry.com Migrates Its Entire Server Infrastructure to the Cloud Dick Eastman June 8, 2017 Business News, Online Sites 12 Comments I have written often about the advantages and the disadvantages of storing your data, especially backup copies, in the cloud. Mostly, it is an efficient and effective method of keeping your information safe. A lot of industry leaders agree. Now Ancestry.com s entire data center has been moved to cloud computing. A few years ago, I visited Ancestry.com s data center on two different occasions. While impressive, it was a typical data center. (I have been inside hundreds of data centers over the years.) One major disaster, such as a fire or earthquake, could have left the company without a lot of data processing capabilities. To be sure, Ancestry.com maintains almost constant backups of their data. However, building a new data center after a disaster, probably in a new location, and restoring the backups would Now Ancestry.com has a new solution. According to an article by Natalie Gagliordi in ZDet: Genealogy service provider Ancestry.com is the latest data-heavy company to migrate its entire infrastructure to Amazon Web Services. Ancestry is a 34-year-old company and is rarely mentioned for its technological prowess, but it deals in data at a massive scale. Its services rely on artificial intelligence and machine learning to help subscribers uncover connections in millions of family trees and historical records. On the technology front, Ancestry currently manages about 10 petabytes of structured and unstructured data generated by more than 2.6 million subscribers, including 20 billion historical records detailing births, marriages, deaths, military service, and immigration. On average, more than 75 million searches are handled by Ancestry servers daily. NOTE by Dick Eastman: 10 petabytes is 10,000 terabytes or 10 trillion bytes. The old data center is being decommissioned. You can read the entire article at: Family Tree Maker 2017 and RootsMagic 7 are in the final stages of Beta testing and the new versions should be released soon. Both Family Tree Maker and RootsMagic will be using the new Tree Share feature to sync your trees with Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org

6 Page 6 Resource Did you know we have a great Genealogical Library in our backyard? The Heritage Collection located inside the Pleasant Hill Library. Volunteers from local Genealogical Societies from around Contra Costa are available to help you use the Heritage Collection. Hours are : If you are interested in volunteering, please contact: Turalu Brady at Reedlajus@sbcglobal.net OR Geri Willinger at Gegwillinger@yahoo.com (They are in need of volunteers the 4th week of the month.)

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8 Page 8 Are you interested in meeting with other MDGS members who are using RootsMagic or Family Tree Maker software? Send an to gen4you@astound.net and you will be connected to other RootsMagic & Family Tree Maker users. Susan Rush, Publicity Chair The Program committee is looking for a few members to share an experience, a discovery, a topic or a story at an upcoming meeting in 2017 during our mini-session. No need for fancy presentations or handouts, just a short discussion about something you found interesting and would like to share with the group. Contact Program Chair, Karla Henderlong at khenderlong@gmail.com HELP WITH REFRESHMENTS? Do you bake? Could you bring store bought? If you can help, please contact, Hospitality Chair, Mary Ellis at mary.ellis88@gmail.com

9 The Digger Page 9 P U B L I C I T Y S U S A N R USH Do you have something to share in the Digger? Submit it to gen4you@astound.net by the last Monday of the month.

10 MDGS meets on the third Friday of each month in the Club Room at Creekside in Rossmoor Date Mini Speaker Main Speaker & Topic 21 July 2017 Mini Seminar Gena Philbert-Oretaga WPA Sources for Your Genealogy and Using WPA Images for your Genealogy. August 2017 NO MEETING 15 September 2017 Martha Whittaker California County Records in State Archives Katheryn Marshall Latest & Greatest in Genealogy Software and Databases 20 October 2017 TBA TBA No Host Lunch at Creekside with the Speaker, immediately Following Meeting on 3rd Friday of month. Reservations MUST be made by Monday afternoon prior to the meeting! For more information or to make reservations, contact Susan Rush or MDGS DIGGER 1001 Golden Rain Road Walnut Creek, CA July/August, 2017 Edition We re On The Web: mdgs.webs.com