President's Pen - September 2024
It has been a while since WAGS members participated in a field trip and this recent venture to the Orange County Family Search Center was both fun and a genealogical success. Without trying to sound like an advertising brochure, the FSC has amazing volunteer staff ready to help visitors get started or dig deeper into their family history. The center has about 24 large-screen desktop computers, free equipment to digitize videos, photos, slides, and 8mm film, and free thumb drives if you forget to bring yours.
Our group of merry researchers consisted of Brian Swanson, Marilyn McCarty, Cyndy Hartman, Gerhard Schaefer, Marisa Reyes, Barbara Gile, Christine Cohen, Trish Stumpf-Garcia and her friend Rebecca, Janice Zolnekoff, John Theilen, and me. We each came hoping to find answers to our genealogical questions about immigration, birth, marriage or death records, military participation, or family mysteries. From the smiles and happy chatter around the facility, I believe that the trip was a success.
Brian’s research focused on his maternal grandfather’s line who had immigrated from either Russia or Germany. He found that his ancestors had immigrated to the United States through Canada and North Dakota when his grandfather was a young child. Brian was delighted with all the new information that he found.
Christine found her Civil War ancestor, Samuel B. Owen, who was in Union Company H 146th Illinois Infantry and received his pension from the U.S. Sanitary Commission. Other new details included his wife and six children, his occupation as a day laborer, and the fact that he didn’t own any land.
Janice told me this was her first trip to a Family Search Center and she was very impressed by the facility, how helpful and kind the staff were, and how welcoming and clean it was. She saved some draft registration and census forms to a thumb drive and added her third great-grandparents to her family tree on the Family Search website.
Barbara said that the field trip was a “lovely, cool way to spend a hot day in August.” This was her third trip to a FSC over the last fifteen years, and all the new upgrades and excellent help have motivated her to finish her grand- and great-grandchildren’s genealogical charts.
Trish found a page from a German Village Family Book that she had overlooked years ago when visiting an FSC. She also located the marriage entry for her ancestor from that village. Her friend, Rebecca, also made some wonderful finds.
Marisa felt that the field trip gave her the wonderful opportunity to learn more about computer research methods and credited a center volunteer with helping her to print out beautiful, full-color fan charts. She said that she learned so much and will be going back!
John said his motivation for going to the FSC was to see what they had to offer. Secondly, he was focused on his great-grandfather and his three brothers who all fought in the Civil War for the Union. The helper showed him how to access Fold3 and the results have encouraged him to plan another visit soon. He was very impressed with the Orange County facility.
As for me, I went hoping to find the immigration record for my Swedish great-grandmother and found a likely lead about an Inga Svensdotter who sailed in 1880 from Malmö to the United States. I also found the birth, marriage, and death records for my German fourth and fifth great-grandparents and their children. I was so focused on my research that the next thing I knew it was 4 p.m. and we had to finish and exit the facility. I want to return, soon!
The OCFSC computers offer free access to Ancestry, MyHeritage, NewspaperArchive, American Ancestors, British NewspaperArchive, FindMyPast, Fold3, Geneanet, Irish Ancestors, The Genealogist and more. They are open Monday – Thursday 10 – 6, Friday and Saturday 10 – 4, and are closed on major holidays. My advice to you is to gather up all those pesky questions you’ve been unable to find answers for and get yourself down to the Orange County Family Search Center to spend a delightful day fixing those sticky problems in your family tree!