San Mateo County Genealogical Society

Discovering Our Family History Together

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Welcome to SMCGS

News

The Library is Open!  

See website for hours and location

Genealogy consultants are available Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday afternoons.  Contact president to schedule an appointment

See events at the San Mateo Public Library here

Find us

New England Genealogical Resources Before 1845 and Three Rhode Island Searches

Saturday, November 23, 10:30-11:30 am, virtual via Zoom

Social half-hour at 10AM 

This talk focuses on New England records and genealogical resources before 1850. It includes civil and vital records kept by churches and towns, military records, compiled indexes of records from many sources, and collections of genealogies of some families or town founders. Use of such records will be demonstrated with a search that began with no knowledge of my maternal grandfather’s parents or ancestry and led to discovery of his many colonial ancestors.

Sally Wood

Sally’s interest in genealogy began 30 years ago when her father asked her to update a 1982 Wood family history written by his second cousin that that started with the 1774 arrival on Prince Edward Island. She has researched colonial ancestors in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts as well as other family branches from PEI, Nova Scotia, and Ireland. In 2019 she was inspired to join the SMCGS by the “Sharing Stories” contest and has worked with the New England SIG. Recently she began phased retirement from her position as Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Santa Clara University and looks forward to having more time for genealogical research and writing. 

Register here


Remembering Bo Crane

We recently lost one of our enthusiastic and energetic local historians.  Bo has done talks for SMCGS and led tours for us around the historical sights in Menlo Park. 

Bo Crane, Jr.  06/23/1950 - 08/21/2024

Bo Crane (Robert L. Crane, Jr.) passed away on August 21,  2024

He served on the boards of Palo Alto Historical Association (PAHA), Palo Alto Stanford Heritage (PAST) and Menlo Park Historical Association, contributing to their newsletters, writing several books and leading walking tours of historic houses.

Full obituary here

And read some of Bo's posts here.

Bo's books are in our library:

The Life and Times of Dennis Martin, 979.469 CRAN 2016 

 The Streets of Menlo Park 979.469 CRAN 2018


Sharing Stories 2024 (click to start)

FLASH ALERT!


The SMPL, in conjunction with SMCGS, is now a FamilySearch Affiliate Library.  Find out more about the resources at these libraries here.

Upcoming public events

 For more information about our monthly meetings click here

Upcoming events for members

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Become a member of SMCGS and share our genealogical adventure!

About us

The San Mateo County Genealogical Society supports the study of family history in the Bay Area and beyond.

  • We get together to learn and share information in monthly meetings, twice-yearly seminars with well-known speakers, workshops and special-interest groups.
  • We support research through our genealogy library located at the San Mateo Public Library, online databases, and research services
  • We connect with each other through six-times-a year newsletters (available in the Members section), a blog, a Facebook page, and occasional eNews notices about SMCGS events.

Learn more   Email us

Download the SMCGS app

Download the SMCGS app from Wild Apricot to your smartphone. With this app, you can:

  • View your member profile
  • View a list of upcoming events
  • Contact other SMCGS members


SMCGS would like to thank...

Come visit us in our new facility at the San Mateo Public Library.

San Mateo County Genealogical Society

     SMCGS is a 501(c)(3) organization

PO Box 230
San Mateo, CA 94401-0230 

https://smcgs.org

 

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