Spring is Genealogy Seminar Time

While trees are budding and blooming all over the south coast, the Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society will present our Annual Spring Genealogy Seminar aimed at solving your genealogy mysteries. For those who would like to find the answers to their family history questions this seminar is a must attend event.  Titled “Solve Your Genealogy Mysteries – Think Like a Detective” and geared to beginners and experts alike, it promises to help researchers discover and organize the hidden clues and evidence hiding in their family tree.

This year’s Annual Spring Seminar takes place on Saturday, April 28^th, 2012 at the Goleta Valley Presbyterian Church, 6067 Shirrell Way, Goleta CA.  Doors open at 7:45am and the program starts at 9:00am.

The seminar features nationally known lecturer and creator of “Casefile Clues”, Michael John Neill, who will present four mystery solving topics including:

Elementary My Dear Watson – Problem solving for Genealogists utilizing George Polya’s problem solving process.

Cold Case File – Learn how to deal with hitting the “brick wall”.

The Unwritten Laws – Learn how to view the unwritten reasons underlying the existence of many commonly used documents.

Using the Crime Board – How to organize your genealogy searches CSI style.

An additional track focusing on beginning genealogy is also available including:

            The Investigation Starts Here and Data Detectives – Beginning Computer Knowledge for Genealogists

Cost for this fun and exciting seminar is only $30 for members and $40 for non-members in advance ($35 and $45 respectively after April 16). You are encouraged to make your reservations early!

The 1940 US Census is Here and There I Am!

On April 2 at 6 a.m., three devoted SBCGS members arrived at the Sahyun Library to watch the launch of the 1940 Census. More members began arriving thereafter until there were 20 members, all waiting impatiently for the images to appear. Ancestry.com led the race to get the first 5 states' images online.  Jim and Cari were the first to find themselves and other relatives with much hollering and celebration. 

By late evening, five states were ready for indexing from FamilySearch. 1940census.archives.gov had unexpected technical difficulties and is working on the problem as of April 3. 

Over 30 indexers in the SBCGS Project group are anticipating being able to begin indexing Santa Barbara County, if the batches are listed by county.  Otherwise, we will be indexing whichever batch is downloaded for indexing. 

An earlier message from FamilySearch told indexers, "The digital images for the 1940 US Census are larger and of higher quality than typical FamilySearch indexing images. Consequently, downloading batches may take longer than usual."

Dorothy