With another informative Lunch and Learn presentation and our very first session of the Kids' Genealogy Camp, March is an especially exciting month at the Southern California Genealogical Society. The 37th Annual Genealogy Jamboree is only two months away, so now is a great time to join in the activities at SCGS. Speaking of Jamboree, be sure to register before April 1 to take advantage of the early-bird registration discount. You'll find the speaker schedule, vendors, hotel arrangements, topics and speaker bios at www.scgsgenealogy.com. Don't miss the special event on Friday night - our banquet dinner and Cemetery Crawlin' with long-time favorite Bill Dollarhide. Lunch and Learn Saturday, March 11 12:00 noon - lunch 1:00 p.m. - learn "A Look at Courthouse Records" with Lois Burlo Free and open to the public The Courthouse handled all land transactions, the buying and selling of the property and the mortgage, if there was one. Because of the system used in Europe to divide an estate, land ownership was of prime importance from the very first settlement on the continent. Land grants were the big incentive to risk life and limb to cross the ocean. Because these records were more apt to survive, along with the tax records, land records are sometime the only way we can trace our ancestors. The courthouse is also keeper of birth, marriage and death records. When a person died, it provided for the recording of the person's will, which in turn contained the names of the heirs; the property the deceased owned - both land and household possessions, where the land was located and who was to receive it. Witnesses to the will may have been relatives or neighbors. Those are the most obvious of the courthouse records, but that's not all. It is rich in genealogy, if you know where to find it. ------------------------------------------------ German Interest Group Saturday, March 18 1:00 p.m. - "Message Boards" Free and open to the public ----------------------------------------------- French Canadian Heritage Society of California Sunday, March 19 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Doug Miller will give a presentation on the French Heritage DNA Project and demonstrate the project website: home.earthlink.net/~djmill/fcdna.html ------------------------------------------------ Kids' Genealogy Camp Sunday, March 26 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Free and open to the public with preregistration What a great way to introduce your children and grandchildren to genealogy. Join us for our first Kids' Genealogy Camp and help infect the kids with the genealogy bug. The program is aimed at students in grades 4 to 6 and will help the junior genealogists start working on their family trees. The session is free, but advance registration is required so that we can get materials to you before the class. Download the flyer and registration from www.scgsgenealogy.com. Space is limited, so register early. ------------------------------------------------ March 4 - 1:00 - 3:30 p.m. TMG - The Master Genealogist User Group March 5 - 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. PAF - Personal Ancestral File User Group March 11 - 9:30 a.m. Jamboree Committee Meeting March 11 - 12:00 noon lunch, 1:00 learn Lunch & Learn Courthouse Records Library open for research for Lunch & Learn participants March 12 - 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. Writers Group Meeting March 13 - 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. LUG - Legacy Users Group March 16 - 6:00 p.m. Board of Directors Meeting March 18 - 1:00 p.m. German Interest Group March 19 - 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. French Canadian Heritage Society of California French Heritage DNA Project March 25 - 9:30 a.m. Jamboree Committee Meeting March 25 - 1:30 p.m. 1890 Project Committee Meeting March 26 - 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Kids' Genealogy Camp March 26 - 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. FTM - Family Tree Maker Users Group March 28 - 12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Writers Group Meeting March 31 Last day for Early-Bird Discount for Jamboree Register online at www.scgsgenealogy.com --------------------------------------------------- French-Canadian Research Group meets on Wednesdays German Research Group meets on Thursdays The Library is open to the public for research on: 10:00am - 4:00pm Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays 10:00am - 9:00pm Tuesdays 10:00am - 4:00pm on third and fourth Saturdays 10:00am - 4:00pm on first and second Sundays Closed Mondays All activities held at the Southern California Genealogical Society 417 Irving Drive Burbank, California 91504-2408 phone: 818-843-7247 email: scgs@scgsgenealogy.com web: www.scgsgenealogy.com