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Genealogy can be a lot of fun, but it isn’t easyPosted by admin on October 2nd, 2011

“Genealogy is so simple and easy to do that it can be done in five minutes.” That’s the very misleading introductory remark on a video on the popular Mormon Church website, FamilySearch.org.

We family historians must thank the church for all the wonderful records they’ve microfilmed and made available to us in Salt Lake City and through their worldwide Family History Centers. But my immediate response to this first video was one of horror.

This “catchy,” attention-getting approach to education is irresponsible. Genealogy is not simple and it definitely isn’t easy. It’s a complicated process of study to understand laws and customs and to put each ancestor in historical context in order to understand behavior and activity.

If you watch the video, narrator Jessie Davis clarifies her remarks a bit by demonstrating that through the online FamilySearch digitized records, a researcher in five minutes can find “a document” relating to an ancestor.

If you take away the hype associated with this 12-part series on how to get started, Davis offers some standard tips that will help the beginner get off on the right foot. You can access these videos at www.familysearch.org/learningcenter/home.html. .

This link also connects viewers to lectures aimed at intermediate and advanced researchers. The lectures are on a variety of topics, ranging from planning a research trip to researching in foreign records. Most of them were recorded at various conferences around the country. Most of the episodes also offer a link to a handout. It is possible to look at the handout and listen to the video simultaneously.

Spending time on this site, watching these free lectures, is a great alternative for those who can’t afford to travel to regional or national conferences where these big-name professionals lecture.

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Speaking of big-name professionals, noted genealogical educator Lloyd Dewitt Bockstruct will headline the 2011 program of the Florida State Genealogical Society’s 35th Annual Conference in Maitland.

The conference will be held Nov. 11 and 12 at the Sheraton Orlando North, 600 N. Lake Destiny Drive.

Bockstruct will present four lectures: “Finding the Maiden Names of Your Female Ancestors,” “American Migrations 1607- 1850,” “The War of 1812 and its Genealogical Consequences” and “Newspaper Genealogy.” A number of local and state genealogists also will present lectures on a variety of topics

A full schedule and links for registration and hotel arrangements are available at http://tinyurl.com/4xlbpnn.

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The Pinellas Genealogical Society has an impressive list of fall classes. Check it out at http://www.flpgs.org/classes.aspx.

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Those with possible Native American heritage or those interested in this element of American history will be excited to learn that noted Cherokee historian and author Don L. Shadburn is about to publish another significant work.

“Upon Our Ruins, A Study in Cherokee History and Genealogy” will be going to print within weeks and is now available at the pre-publication price of $55 ($45 for two or more copies). After publication, the price will be $75. Both prices include shipping.

Shadburn co-wrote this book — 785 pages organized into 27 chapters — with John D. Strange III. It focuses on mixed-blood Cherokee families primarily in the Carolinas, Georgia, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Alabama, Virginia, Tennessee and Texas.

The appendices includes Wills and Estate Records (1760-1889), Cherokee Reservation and Spoliation Claims (1837-1845), Georgia Citizenship Acts (1838-1845), Cherokee Georgia Census Schedules (183), letters by Major Ridge’s granddaughter Emily McNeir (1906) and a roster of 134 intermarried white men and women with Indian spouses.

Books can be ordered by sending a check or money order payable to Shadburn at The Cottonpatch Press, P.O. Box 762, Cumming, GA 30028.

Readers can visit Shadburn’s website at donshadburn.com to see other historical books from his press. He will respond to questions at (770)-887-1626 or donshadburn@webtv.net.

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News Briefs: Genealogy class slated Saturday at Marysville library – AppealPosted by admin on October 2nd, 2011

A free basic genealogy workshop is scheduled at the Yuba County Library, 303 Second St., Marysville. The program is slated from 2-5 p.m. Saturday.

For more information, contact the library at 749-7380.

Banquet will aid Yuba-Sutter trauma program

Tickets are available for the annual Tri-TIP banquet sponsored by emergency responders to raise funds for the Trauma Intervention Program.

The event, scheduled at 6 p.m. Oct. 22 at the Elks Lodge, 920 D St., Marysville, includes a silent auction and raffle.

Individual tickets are $40.

TIP volunteers provide emotional and practical support to persons involved in emergency incidents.

All law enforcement and fire departments in the Yuba-Sutter area, as well as the hospital and ambulance service, use the local program, which was established in 1994.

For tickets, call Greg Mann at 701-9979 or Lou Binninger at 673-9300.

Yuba-Sutter youth development awards presented

A total of 15 awards were presented Sept. 24 in the 2011 REACH Choice Awards of Sutter Yuba Friday Night Live’s Coalition for Youth Development.

Recognized were:

Youth Friendly Business — Janyo Yogurt in Yuba City; Youth Friendly Civic Leader — Ricky Samayoa; Youth Advocate — Rachel Farrell; Youth Supporting Family — Hinckley Family.

Also, Supporting Military Member — Javon Grey; Partnership Award — Camp Singer Youth Guidance Center; REACH Officer Leadership Award — Marriah Watson-Royer; REACH Officer Most Improved Award, Blake Miller; Wow Adult of Yuba Sutter — Emily Woodall.

And Allyn Scott Committee Awards — Briana Duran and Antonio Vargas; Harmony Health Committee — Triston Miller and Trisha Stern; FNL Committee — Cristobal Jamie and Elizabeth Jamie; Substance Abuse Steering Committee — Angel Perez and Rebecca Foss; The Spot Committee — Ciria Salazar and Tayyba Kahn; and Wow Youth of Yuba Sutter — Antonio Vargas.

Monte Carlo Night scheduled Oct. 15 in Yuba City

The sixth annual Monte Carlo Night, hosted by the Kiwanis Club of Yuba City, is slated Oct. 15 at the Veterans Hall in Yuba City.

Planned from 6 p.m.-midnight, the event includes 28 gaming tables with professional dealers, free hors d’oeuvres, no-host cocktails, and jazz musician Pete Baker.

Tickets are $35 per person. Money raised helps the local Kiwanis Club support its various programs in the community including high school scholarships.

The hall is at 1425 Veterans Memorial Drive, Yuba City.

For tickets, contact a member of the Kiwanis Club of Yuba City or call Katrina Barrette at 674-5996.

Descendants of German Immigrants discuss Genealogy with Visiting HistorianPosted by admin on October 1st, 2011

Descendants of German Immigrants discuss Genealogy with Visiting Historian

Oct 01, 2011 (Times Record – McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) –
German heritage races with pride throughout the Arkansas River valley.

Several descendants of 19th-century German immigrants recently met in Fort Smith to discuss their genealogy and share stories about their great-great grandparents and other relatives. Spearheaded by Renate Zyszk, a historian and resident of the German village of Gelnhaar, the group learned more about the 38 German residents who fled their then-oppressive hometown to find new freedom in the Fort Smith area.

“Germans in the 19th century didn’t have enough to eat — they would have crumbs of bread, but you can’t feed your family with that,” said Zyszk, whose visit was her first to Fort Smith. “Sometimes families in Germany had more than four or five children, so you couldn’t feed your family on that.

“And people in Germany left for political reasons then, too,” she added. “People were told what to do — they had no rights in Germany back then. They had no right to vote, and so people left Germany and all over Europe to come to America.”

One of the descendants meeting with Zyszk and her husband, Ruediger, was Charlie Reutzel, a 99-year-old Fort Smith man whose great-grandfather, Casper Reutzel, sponsored several fellow Germans allowing them to migrate from Germany to Fort Smith in the 1800s.

“Casper was able to help Germans come to America, and he lived to about 1901,” Renate Zyszk said. “At the time, Gelnhaar had about 500 people, with 73 people leaving for the U.S.A. From those 73 people, 38 people settled in Fort Smith.”

Casper Reutzel and a business partner eventually opened Bocquin Reutzel General Merchandise in downtown Fort Smith, Charlie Reutzel said.

“Casper had a general store, a hardware store and grocery store, and their big business was buying and shipping cotton,” he said. “They were a big shipper of cotton in this area, and the general merchandise store was located in about the 200 block of Garrison Avenue.

“Now Garrison Avenue looked different back then; there wasn’t a bridge down there,” Charlie Reutzel added with a laugh. “I don’t know how long it would be before the railroad stations had trains coming into Fort Smith.”

The Zyszks and Reutzel joined descendants Nancy Robertson of Fort Smith, David Dick of Lucas, Texas, as well as San Antonio couple Bob and Cathy Lorenz and their son, Joe Lorenz, for a luncheon Wednesday at Dr. Marilyn Barr’s house before visiting Oak Cemetery and the First Lutheran Church on Thursday. Renate Zyszk and pastor Allen Stuckwisch, First Lutheran’s pastor, are hoping to forge a partnership between First Lutheran and the Zyszks’ church, Gelnhaar Lutheran Church.

“We have a letter to our pastor, and we’ll see how it goes,” Renate Zyszk said with a grin.

Zyszk then presented Stuckwisch with a letter to seek the partnership before presenting the descendants with honorary citizenship letters from the Gelnhaar mayor. She and Reutzel also viewed and discussed the large, colorful stained-glass window inside First Lutheran’s sanctuary that was created years ago in honor of Casper Reutzel.

“This started when I mailed a letter to (then-Mayor Ray Baker), who then contacted Charlie Reutzel,” Renate Zyszk said. “Meeting these people now, this is exciting.”

Reutzel stood beaming after he received his honorary citizenship certificate for Gelnhaar, staring at the document’s black, Calligraphy-style writing.

“Renate has done a whole lot of history and research on the families here, and it’s really been exciting to learn this and to meet with the families,” he said. “There’s no telling how many descendants from those original German families are still around here in the Fort Smith area. There could be descendants from 125 families now, because those families spread out and grew after they came here.”

Casper Reutzel, his wife, Katharina (Jager) Reutzel, and their son, Heinrich Reutzel, were among the first in Gelnhaar to move to Fort Smith in 1848, following Johannes and Anna Katharia (Kromm) Beckel and their family. Other Germans relocating to Fort Smith in the 1800s included the Johannes Knopp family, the Karl Beckel family, Johann Beck, Christiane and Christopher Triesch, Heinrich and Caroline Dick and the Heinrich Mehmel family.

Dave Dick, whose grandfather, Henry Dick, came to Fort Smith at age 15, said he was “fascinated” while visiting with descendants and the Zyszks in Fort Smith.

“We plan on keeping in touch with each other,” he said.

“Yes, we have swapped emails and will stay in touch with each other,” added Charlie Reutzel.

The Lorenz family agreed that staying in touch with fellow descendants and the Zyszks will be a long-term priority.

“It’s fascinating to learn so much from research and from Renate,” Joe Lorenz said. “We even learned that we had a relative who fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War, got shot in the head and lived, and then later fought for the Union. It’s just amazing the history that you learn.”

When asked if Fort Smith was leaving a positive impression, the Zyszks grinned.

“I do want to come back here and visit Fort Smith,” Renate Zyszks said. “And I’m hoping (the descendants) come to my country, too, so we can visit and see each other’s homeland. We must stay in touch.”

___ (c)2011 Times Record (Fort Smith, Ark.) Visit Times Record (Fort Smith,
Ark.) at www.swtimes.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

Copyright (C) 2011, Times Record, Fort Smith, Ark.