To all our subscribers and followers a Very
Happy New Year.


Speaking of the New Year, Mike Spathaky has an article on Old Style and New Style Dates and the Change to the Gregorian Calendar: A Summary for Genealogists. He explains the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar and the history of when the first day of the year began in various areas of Europe, some as early as 1522.  Before 1752, not all areas considered January 1 the first day of the year, in fact it could have been on March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation, as the first day of the new year in. Read more at http://www.cree.name/genuki/dates.htm for a very thorough explanation.  See you at the Sahyun!

Steve Morse has devised a way for you to find your people on the 1940 Census. Obtaining EDs for the 1940 Census in One Step (large cities and some smaller ones):   http://stevemorse.org/census/ .

Cemetery Clean Up

Genealogists love cemeteries! We love to walk around them and read the inscriptions. We love to find our ancestors. We enjoy taking photos of markers for people out of town. We even like to clean up old cemeteries.

 Recently a couple of us spent several hours doing just that. We pulled weeds; we raked leaves and generally made a small, little known burial area clean and presentable.

 The burial ground is the Santa Barbara County Hospital Cemetery; sometimes know as Potter's Field. You can read more about it on our website and click on County Hospital Cemetery Register.

 There is also a book compiled by one of our society members, Michel Nellis, detailing the history and genealogy of the 100 or so souls buried there.  Visit the Sahyun Library to view the book.