San Ramon Valley Genealogical Society

Here is the program for our Zoom meeting next week, Tuesday, November 17th:

About the myth of family name changes at Ellis Island. https://www.nypl.org/bl/2013//02/name-changes-ellis-island

The latest additions to FamilySearch includes lots of German church records. https://media.familysearch.org/new-free-historical-records/

The Germanic-American Institute in St. Paul, MN, is presenting a FREE virtual talk on Fri, Nov 6th at 6 PM CST (4 PM PST). The subject is the 4 year American occupation of the Rhineland following the end of WWI. This sounds like an interesting topic for anyone with German roots or those First World War history buffs! Here is the link for more information on the talk. https://www.worldwar1centennial.org//6910-virtual-talk-nov Registration info here: https://gai-mn.org/Making-of-Stars-and-Stripes

New Norwegian church records are now on MyHeritage. https://blog.myheritage.com//myheritage-releases-major-c/

A request for help from the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society: Dear Friends, The NYC Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS) is proposing changes to how researchers can use public records held at the Municipal Archives (including New York City’s birth, marriage, and death records). ... In short, DORIS is adding language that limits your ability to share these documents with others and prohibits the use of these public records for educational, scholarly, non-profit, or media purposes without a paid license. The impact of these changes for researchers, genealogists, historians, and others is immense. You can learn more about these changes and their direct impact on you at nygbs.org/access-alert From that page, you can learn how to add your voice to this conversation before October 23, 2020, by submitting your personal comments, signing a public comment, participating in the public hearing, and/or sharing this news with others. We need your voice to affirm that public records created by taxpayer funds remain freely accessible. Thank you for your support Joshua

Good news - Contra Costa County Library has expanded access to Ancestry for remote use by library cardholders. https://my.nicheacademy.com/ccclib/course/695

Haven't had your DNA tested yet? This short video might inspire you to do so. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyaEQEmt5ls&feature=youtu.be

Free webinar next Tuesday, Oct 13, 11AM PST, from Legacy/MyHeritage: https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar_details.php

Here are the latest record updates from FamilySearch: https://www.familysearch.org//record-collection-septembe/

Surname changes make researching women sometimes difficult. Here are some helpful tips. https://www.familysearch.org//3-ways-unravel-mysteries-w/

Interested in Polish genealogy? Polish Origins is a great resource, with their own Forum and Blog, and they have just put together Polish Genealogy Academy, a series of free videos to help with your research. You'll need a password, however, so go to their site, sign up for their newsletter, and they will send you one. https://polishorigins.com/

This year RootsTech is going completely virtual and is FREE to all. Go to RootsTech.org to find the registration form. Dates are February 25-27, 2021. Take advantage of this chance to hear wonderful speakers and learn tips to help your research!

Who doesn't like maps?

Special online event tomorrow, Wed night: "We are excited to participate in a special presentation tomorrow - Wednesday, September 16, 2020 - with the USC Shoah Foundation. If you are available, please tune in at 6:00 PM EDT. For additional details, and to register, please visit: sfi.usc.edu/events/discover-your-family-history Looking forward.... E. Randol Schoenberg, Board Member Avraham Groll, Executive Director"

Upcoming tips for German researchers: