Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Wordless Wednesday: Grandparents (Mine)


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"Reba and Lee Swanay." Digital image. Undated. Original photograph privately held by Elizabeth O'Neal, Santa Barbara Co., California, 2012.

About Wordless Wednesday.

Copyright © by Elizabeth O'Neal

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Daughters of the American Revolution Partners with Children of the American Revolution to Promote Education and Literacy

Molly Schutzenberger delivers a donation to
United Through Reading in San Diego. 

On September 26, 2011, Molly Schutzenberger, Honorary State President of the California State Society Children of the American Revolution (C.S.S.C.A.R.), delivered a $5000 check to the San Diego-based non-profit organization United Through Reading (UTR).

This donation is a combination of funds including a matched grant from the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution and a full year of fundraising by members of the C.S.S.C.A.R.

“United Through Reading helps USOs, ships, and other military units create a special library and recording area where deployed parents can read books to their children. The recording is sent home to their children, who can watch it at bedtime or whenever they want to see their mom or dad,” says Ms. Schutzenberger. “For the service member, it helps morale because the parents feel as if they are staying emotionally connected. Plus, it helps cultivate a love of reading in the children. My family read aloud together when I was growing up, so it was especially meaningful for me.”  Molly adds. “For military families, year-long deployments, sometimes into a war zone, create incredible stress. Young children may not even recognize their parent when they return. United Through Reading really makes a big difference.”

In the process of working to support deployed parents and their children, Molly became aware of another group of military dependents who receive help from UTR. These are children deeply affected by the incarceration of a parent in the brig. They are often confused about their parents’ absence and may wonder whether their parents care about them. Many experience problems in school, act out in socially undesirable ways, or are sad or withdrawn. The military brigs are continually in need of books to provide for video-recorded reading which can then be sent along with the DVD to their children. Volunteers train incarcerated parents about the literacy needs of their children and how they can contribute to their child’s success through a positive reading relationship with them.  Children will see their parents reading with love and enthusiasm, in many cases for the first time ever.

Linda Stufflebean, C.S.S.C.A.R. Honorary Senior State President, worked with Ms. Schutzenberger, as well as Elizabeth Swanay-O’Neal, C.S.S.C.A.R. Senior State President, and Jean Mollenkopf, Regent of the Captain Henry Sweetser Chapter DAR in Santa Maria, to apply for an educational grant from the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR). The C.S.S.C.A.R. was awarded a $925 matching grant so that United Through Reading could purchase a one-year supply of new children’s books, DVDs, and mailers specifically for the Brig Program.

Regarding her chapter’s participation in the project, Mrs. Mollenkopf said, "It was a great honor for the Captain Henry Sweetser Chapter DAR to be part of this meaningful patriotic endeavor to help build a lasting bridge between deployed veterans, military incarcerated, and their children at home through United Through Reading. We feel blessed to have been the DAR chapter engaged in the original grant process along with C.A.R."

"I want to thank Mrs. Mollenkopf and the NSDAR for getting behind our effort to raise money for UTR," says Ms. Schutzenberger. “It is a great partnership of the C.S.S.C.A.R. and the NSDAR to make a difference for military families going through terrible circumstances. We are helping at-risk children to become literate and find success at school, which means a better future for those children and a better future for our country."

In 2011, the NSDAR awarded over $180,000 in grants to support historic, patriotic, and educational projects all over the United States. For information about DAR Special Projects Grants, please see http://dar.org/natsociety/specialprojectsgrants.cfm.

For information about the Children of the American Revolution, please visit http://california-car.org. To learn about the work of United Through Reading, see http://www.unitedthroughreading.org

Copyright © by Elizabeth O'Neal

Friday, January 13, 2012

DAR's Forgotten Patriots Project Now Online (free)!

If you are researching African American or Native American ancestors who may have provided service in the American Revolutionary War, this online publication may be of interest to you. I have a copy of the book, and it's a terrific resource.

The following announcement is from the DAR web site.

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Since the mid-1980s, the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution has supported a project to identify the names of African Americans, Native Americans, and individuals of mixed heritage who supported the American struggle for independence from Great Britain during the American Revolution. In the 1980s and 1990s, a series of small booklets for each of the original states were published, and in 2001 these booklets were merged into one volume and their contents greatly expanded in the publication titled African American and American Indian Patriots of the Revolutionary War.

The 2001 book also inspired a well-received and interesting exhibition in the DAR Museum "Forgotten Patriots: African American and American Indian Service in the Revolutionary War, 1775-1783." The exhibition was open to the public from the fall of 2002 to the summer of 2003. During the exhibition's run, a seminar on the same topic was held at DAR Headquarters in Washington, D. C. in January 2003 and featured noted historians from around the country.

During the next few years, DAR researchers continued to build on the 2001 book, and by 2006 it became clear that a new publication was needed to present all of the additional findings. In April 2008, DAR published Forgotten Patriots: African American and American Indian Patriots in the Revolutionary War, an 874-page expansion of the 200-page publication. In the three years since this book was published, research continued and new findings have been complied in a supplement that is now available.

All print copies of the 2008 edition of the Forgotten Patriots book were sold-out by the summer of 2010, and discussions began to determine the next step in the process of providing this information to the public. DAR is now offering the full text of the Forgotten Patriots book and its corresponding supplement online! These documents can be downloaded for free from the DAR website. Subsequent updates will appear online as needed.

Note: Please be aware that the following publication is not connected with NSDAR publications, with the 2002-2003 DAR Museum exhibit, or the 2003 seminar.

Burrows, Edwin G. Forgotten Patriots: The Untold Story of American Prisoners during the Revolution. New York: Basic Books, 2008.

Copyright © by Elizabeth O'Neal

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Happy New Year!


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We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, 
drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. 
Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through 
the rooms of our lives... not looking for flaws, but for potential.
~Ellen Goodman

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Wishing you a very happy New Year, from our house to yours. May your dreams and resolutions all come true, and may you find even more of your elusive ancestors in 2012!

Vintage greeting card from Connect.in.com, which unfortunately no longer exists.

Copyright © by Elizabeth O'Neal

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Central Coast Genealogy Calendar: January 2012



"Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right."    ~Oprah Winfrey

Thursday, January 5
Monterey County Genealogical Society
6:00 PM (Doors open at 5:30 PM)
Volunteer Appreciation Night

Saturday, January 7
San Luis Obispo County Genealogical Society
12:30 PM Research Class - "What's in the 1940 Census?" by Joel Weintraub
1:00 PM Business Meeting
1:15 PM Social time; book and drawing sales, snacks, coffee and tea
1:45 PM Joel Weintraub - "Here Comes the 1940 Census and We ARE Ready!!"

Sunday, January 8
Jewish Genealogical Society of the Conejo Valley and Ventura County
1:30 - 3:30 PM
Panel Presentation - "Ethics, Sensitivities, Sensibilities and Property Rights"

Tuesday, January 10
Conejo Valley Genealogical Society
6:00 - 8:00 PM
Computer Interest Group Meeting
Barbara Warren - "Fast Pencil Revisited"

Tuesday, January 17
Conejo Valley Genealogical Society
5:30 - 6:30 PM - Genealogy Tools - TBA
6:45 - 8:45 PM - General Meeting - TBA

Saturday, January 28
31st Annual Genealogical Seminar on the Monterey Peninsula
8:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Claire V. Brisson-Banks, Keynote Speaker
Sponsored by the Commodore Sloat Chapter DAR and FHC

Saturday, January 28
Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society
9:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Joel Weintraub - "Preparing for the Release of the 1940 Census"

Saturday, January 28
Ventura County Genealogical Society
1:00 - 4:00 PM
Kerry Bartels - "The Many Facets of the National Archives Website"

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Please send me an email if you would like to have your event included in this monthly calendar series.

Copyright © by Elizabeth O'Neal

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Don't Miss the SLOCGS Seminar: Genealogy NOW! Growing Your Family Tree


"Genealogy NOW! Growing Your Family Tree"

February 4, 2012
8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Veterans Hall
801 Grand Avenue
San Luis Obispo, California

Mark your calendars for Genealogy NOW! Growing Your Family Tree, featuring nationally acclaimed author and speaker Dr. Thomas W. Jones, PhD, CG, CGL!

This full day of outstanding presentations is designed to enhance your genealogical sleuthing skills, and add a few branches to your family tree. Genealogy NOW! also features the always-entertaining Ron Arons, author of Wanted! U.S. Criminal Records and The Jews of Sing-Sing, as well as English research expert Apryl Cox, AG.

Included in the event will be vendors, project displays, refreshments, a freebie table, and drawings for dozens of genealogy prizes and gift certificates. For schedule, registration information, or more about this event, please visit http://www.slocgs.org/.

Copyright by © Elizabeth O'Neal

31st Annual Genealogical Seminar on the Monterey Peninsula

and the
Family History Center of the 
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
present the

31st Annual Genealogical Seminar


Saturday, January 28, 2012
Family History Center and classrooms at the LDS Church
1024 Noche Buena (at Plumas) in Seaside, CA
8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Claire V. Brisson-Banks, BS, MLIS AG®, of  Timeless Genealogies is the keynote speaker and one of over a dozen instructors at the all-day genealogy conference.

$30 registration fee includes lunch and a syllabus with early registration by January 15, 2012.

Download registration flyer and schedule of classes.

For more information contact Serita Sue Woodburn.

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Copyright © by Elizabeth O'Neal