Genealogical Society of Stanislaus County

Stay Tuned Everybody! Our Spring/Easter See's Candy fundraiser will begin tomorrow. YUMStay Tuned Everybody! Our Spring/Easter See's Candy fundraiser will begin tomorrow. YUM

This information was sent unsolicited to the Society. Because the contents are interesting, and because the information could be useful to someone doing research on this family, is being placed here with a disclaimer: The GSSC takes no responsibility for the accuracy of this information or the documentation, or lack thereof, used to prove the contents.

Already in 2021, a marriage! This one between myDNA, FamilyTreeDNA and Gene by Gene. How do you feel about this?

This week's NOVA is about DNA testing companies. Should be an interesting watch.

This might be of interest to some of you doing research on U.K. Ancestors:

Can’t wait to. * Get your Christmas shopping done REALLY EARLY! * Ship it all to your door.FREE!... * Help us upgrade the learning part of our website with your shopping Visit our GSSC Candy Shop at: https://www.yumraising.com//genealogysos_gssc_candy/candy Shop See’s for the Holidays!! Follow the site’s directions so you can make your choices. Our group will be credited for your purchase!! We only have until November 9th, three weeks away! Please do so as soon as you can!! See’s likes to ship orders by November 16th. Shipping is FREE, if your order is more than $65. Shipping is FREE, if your order is less than $65 and you find an ordering partner. Friends, neighbors, co-workers, relatives, friends from church groups, etc. can order, too, using the link above. And of course, SHOP for yourself. Please be part of our effort in any way you can. We need you to help us reach our goal! What a sweet way to say . . . Here’s to a much better year . . . Happy Holidays!!

For all our members with German ancestry, Enjoy

Not sure I would want to work on this tree https://www.cbc.ca//how-a-toronto-woman-discovered-she-has

Not sure I would want to work on this tree https://www.cbc.ca//how-a-toronto-woman-discovered-she-has

In case anyone has family here. Racine,WI (thank you, Jackie Niemeyer)

Jackie Niemeyer sent in this video. Very interesting

Unfortunately, we still won’t be able to meet this month either. July is always a dark month for us, so keep your fingers crossed for August! Meanwhile, happy researching.

Due to the corona virus outbreak, the beginning genealogy workshop that was scheduled for May 16 will be rescheduled to a later date. Hope everyone stays safe until we can all get together again. Jackie Niemeyer

No meeting this month! Everyone stay home and stay safe. Are you keeping a journal of this experience for your descendants? Think about doing this.No meeting this month! Everyone stay home and stay safe. Are you keeping a journal of this experience for your descendants? Think about doing this.

Attention! Due to the Covid-19 issues, the March meeting has been CANCELED! With any luck, we'll see you in April.Attention! Due to the Covid-19 issues, the March meeting has been CANCELED! With any luck, we'll see you in April.

General Meeting, February 20, 2020 It's Souper Supper Month! Come join us for a delicious meal of soups and salads provided by our board members. Additionally, our program will be presented by Alvis Ward, Jr. from the Oakland FHC. Alvis is a very dynamic and interesting speaker. Trinity United Presbyterian Church 1600 Carver Road, Modesto... 6:00pm for supper, 7:00pm for meeting See you there! P.S. For you Antiques Roadshow enthusiasts, watch for our secretary Pam Atherstone on one of the Sacramento episodes. There will be three hours on KVIE Channel 6, beginning tonight and airing the next two Mondays as well.

Reminder! General Meeting will be this coming Thursday, January 16, 2020. 7:00pm See You There!Reminder! General Meeting will be this coming Thursday, January 16, 2020. 7:00pm See You There!

A BLACK FRIDAY SALE? NO, A 492% PRICE HIKE! Hello again from Reclaim The Records! We're interrupting your probable post-Thanksgiving stupor to bring you some important and time-sensitive records access news.... Two weeks ago, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) proposed an unprecedented *492% increase* in fees for researchers who want copies of historical records held by their Genealogy Program. Yes, that did say 492%. No, it's not a typo. This special Genealogy Program was set up about a decade ago as a way for researchers to bypass the usual tedious USCIS Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests system, which can take six months or more to respond. In return for the expedited handling for these historical files, the agency charged a bit more than the usual FOIA fees, but only enough to recover the costs of running the program. But under this brand new proposed rule change, the price of a copy of a single paper file could rise in 2020 from $65 to a whopping $625! SIX HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE DOLLLAAAAASSS WHAT Obviously, we want to stop this thing. So, please read our latest newsletter, where we tell you all about it! Here's the link: https://mailchi.mp//for-black-friday-we-raised-our-fees-by We at Reclaim The Records are pleased to announce that we have teamed up as part of an ad hoc non-partisan group of fellow genealogists, historians, and records access advocates, to try to stop these fee hikes. And we're starting with a website to explain what these records are, why they're important, what the USCIS Genealogy Program is, and why this price hike is totally ridiculous and unjustified. Please check out 'Records, Not Revenue' -- that's RecordsNotRevenue.com -- where you can learn about: - The Issues: Access, Transparency, and Efficiency Read all about the main problems with this outrageous proposal https://www.recordsnotrevenue.com/issues/ - Who might show up in these records? ...and why you should care about preserving public access to American history https://www.recordsnotrevenue.com/uscis/ - Check out some example files Read real USCIS files that would be affected by this proposed fee hike https://www.recordsnotrevenue.com/example-files/ - Some conversation starters You might want to bring these questions up in your comments https://www.recordsnotrevenue.com/conversation-starters/ But most importantly, make sure you submit your comments to USCIS about this proposed fee hike by ***December 16, 2019***. That's not too far away! If you're as mad about this totally needless and unjustifiable and sudden and awful fee hike on our history, as we are, we hope you'll submit your comments to them today. All the instructions are right there on the website, including a postal mail address in case a good old fashioned letter is more your style. Thanks for reading, and we hope we'll see *your* comments in the Federal Register.

Don't Forget! New Meeting Night, Thursday, October 17 at 7:00Don't Forget! New Meeting Night, Thursday, October 17 at 7:00

Thank you to everyone who attended our dinner last Saturday! For those of you who didn't attend, you really missed out on some great food and a very interesting speaker!