About the Program
The 1940 US Census opened in 2012 without a name index.  A FamilySearch-led consortium used 160,000 volunteers to name index that census in five months. In addition, Joel Weintraub and Steve Morse, over seven years, with about 125 volunteers, developed free utilities to find which of 150,000 census districts a person was in, when a location or address was known.  These projects are examples of crowdsourcing.  Steve and Joel are now doing a similar project for the 1950 census.  Joel will discuss differences between the volunteer response, Yahoo Group site, cloud storage, software, One-Step utilities, and project phases. 

Join us at our April meeting and program on Wednesday, April 18, 2018, 7pm at Yorba Linda Community Center.

About the Program

You Will Never Look at Your Old Photos the Same Way Again!

Step into the 21st century with your photo identification!  Every bit of a photograph – the thickness, the edges, the shape, and yes, even the image, can help you identify it.  It’s not only what you look at in a photo, it’s how you look at it that counts. Clues lurk in the most unusual places, you just have to find them. Even the most mundane items– the weather, the direction of traffic on a street, can be the clue that can solve a photo-mystery. After attending this talk, you will never look at your old photos the same way again!

About the Speaker

Colleen Fitzpatrick, PhD, is an internationally recognised forensic genealogist, the founder of Identifinders International.  She has been involved in high profile historic cases, including the identification of the Unknown Child on the Titanic and the Amelia Earhart project; she is now the Forensic Genealogist on the Abraham Lincoln DNA Project.  Colleen has also been a key member of team that have exposed three international Holocaust literary frauds. Colleen's collaborations include the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory, the US Army Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Office, the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem, the University of Arizona, Harvard Medical School and other noted professional organizations. She is a past Fellow of the Society of Photoinstrumentation Engineers (SPIE), an Associate Member of the American Academy of Forensic Science (AAFS).

Join us at our March meeting and program on Wednesday, March 21, 2018, 7pm at Yorba Linda Community Center.

About the Program

Find Your Story in the United States Census

The US Census is a great way to learn about the details in the lives your ancestors lived. It can give you information on family relationships, birth dates and places, marriage, occupations, Immigration, Naturalization, and Military. The census can also give you clues to other records your ancestors may have generated and where to find them. It can be a real time saver. Come learn how!


About the Speaker

Elna Katherman is a professional genealogist. She became interested in genealogy when attending college and has been researching her family for over 30 years. She is currently a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG), the Southern California Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists (SCCAPG), the National Genealogical Society (NGS), and The New England Historical and Genealogical Society (NEHGS).  Elna works as a staff trainer at the LDS Family Search Library in Orange. In addition to public speaking, she enjoys her work with patrons at the Family Search Library in Orange, collecting family histories, attending Family History Conferences, quilting, kayaking with her husband and visiting with their 6 children and 16 grandchildren.

Join us at our February meeting and program on Wednesday, February 21, 2018, 7pm at Yorba Linda Community Center

About the Program

Finding Vital Records Online Beyond Ancestry and FamilySearch

While many genealogists stop their search for online vital records after reviewing the commercial site Ancestry.com and the Mormon's FamilySearch.org website, there are a multitude of other internet locations where one might find birth, marriage, and death information. This presentation reviews and illustrates the breadth of other record sources available, including online genealogical sites; local, county, and state public agency websites; public, university and college library websites; newspaper websites; and historical and genealogical society websites.

About the Speaker

Ted Gostin has been conducting genealogical research since 1980 and has been a full-time professional genealogist since 1994.  He has twice been President of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles and has taught genealogy at several adult school and university extension programs. He lectures widely on Jewish genealogy, Southern California resources, and naturalization and immigration records.  He is the author of Southern California Vital Statistics: Volume 1, Los Angeles County 1850-1859.

About the Speaker

Jean Wilcox Hibben, MA, PhD, has been involved in family research for over 40 years.  She is the president of the Southern California Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists and president of the Corona Genealogical Society.  She was the lead researcher for the 2013 season of the PBS television program Genealogy Roadshow and did research for Follow Your Past that was presented on the Travel Channel in 2016.  She is a nationally known speaker whose articles frequently appear in family history publications.  

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