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• (SMPL) Introduction to Genetic Genealogy

  • When
    24 Aug 2025
  •  
    11:00 AM
  • Location
    SMPL Oak Room

  Introduction to Genetic Genealogy with Kate Penney Howard

  Sponsored by the San Mateo Public Library.  Registration here
  

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• SMCGS annual potluck picnic

  • When
    17 Sep 2025
  •  
    11:00 AM
  • Location
    Flood Park, Menlo Park

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  Please join us for our annual SMCGS members' picnic at Flood Park

  When:  Wednesday, Sept. 17.  Time 11AM

  What:  Bring dishes to share.  Hot dogs, drinks and plates to be provided.  A grill will be available.

  Where:  Flood Park. 215 Bay Rd, Menlo Park

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• Using Full-Text Search to Solve Your Brick Walls

  • When
    27 Sep 2025
  •  
    10:00 AM
  • Location
    San Mateo Public Library, Oak Room

  Speaker:  Margaret Melaney

  Does AI know more about your genealogy than you do?  NO.  But can it read handwritten documents faster than even the most experienced genealogist?  You bet!  Learn how this remarkable tool can allow you to access records you never thought possible.

  Maggie will use a combination of brick walls from her class, as well as a few others.  We'll be recruiting SMCGS members to submit their own brick walls starting in August, so watch our website!

  Margaret Melaney teaches an intermediat/advanced online genealogy class which meets every Monday.  Her genealogical interest is Medieval British records.

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• Teasing Out the Hidden Story Behind the Genealogical Facts

  • When
    18 Oct 2025
  •  
    10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Location
    via Zoom

   Teasing Out the Hidden Story Behind the Genealogical Facts 

  Speaker:     Pam Vestal

  
  

  If we are lucky, good genealogical research provides us with lots of information about our ancestors, but most of it consists of dry, lifeless data that doesn't give us much of a sense of who our ancestors were or what their lives were like.  One of the biggest challenges we face when writing family histories is how to turn those bare facts into tales worthy of being read, since our ancestors were real people, not just names, dates, and places, and their stories are worth fleshing out.  

   Often, unexpected clues are concealed or unexplored in the information we’ve already gathered, so in this class, we’ll explore four different approaches that can help us to understand our ancestors within the context of the time and place in which they lived.  

   Topics include finding their stories by: 

  ·      Setting the scene

  ·      Understanding the chronology of events

  ·      Considering the thinking of the past

  ·      Exploring the details in our genealogical records more completely.

   By digging deeply into the genealogical facts, we can bring our ancestors' stories to life. 

  
  

  

  Pam Vestal is a professional genealogist and speaker who turned her focus toher longtime love of genealogy after a 20-year writing career. Her articles have appeared in the National Genealogical Society Magazine and The Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly, and her lectures take her from coast to coast.  Pam specializes in conducting genealogical research and then transforming that information into illustrated stories that even non-genealogists can enjoy.

  
  

  
  

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• The History and Architecture of San Francisco’s Chinese American Neighborhoods

  • When
    22 Nov 2025
  •  
    10:00 AM
  • Location
    San Mateo Public Library, Oak Room

  The History and Architecture of San Francisco’s Chinese American Neighborhoods

  Speaker:  Grant Din

  The Chinese American Historic Context Statement, written for the San Francisco Department of City Planning by Grant Din with Eric Mar and the Chinese Historical Society of America, documents the expansive story of the Chinese American experience throughout San Francisco. It discusses initial

  19th century settlement and community formation in Chinatown and migration patterns to neighborhoods such as the Richmond and the Sunset in the mid-20th century.

  Grant will describe information especially relevant for genealogists, such as where people lived before and after the earthquake and fire of 1906, into the 20 th century, and stories about important people in the development of San Francisco’s Chinese American community such as historian Him Mark Lai, business owners Sinclair and May Louie, and 19th century rancher Lim Lip Hong and his descendants. The process of writing and editing this statement began in 2018 and recently a series of input sessions have begun. The draft can be downloaded from City Planning at https://sfplanning.org/project/chinese-american-historic-context-statement#info and your comments are encouraged.

  
  

  California Genealogical Society board member Grant Din has been researching his and others’ family histories for over forty years, including when he was on the staff of the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation. His research travels have taken him throughout the U.S., China, and Japan and he has spoken to local and national organizations about many aspects of Asian American genealogy.

  A highlight of his work was being on the research team for the film The Six, about the six Chinese seamen who survived the wreck of the Titanic, and helping many families research their immigration stories. Grant has a certificate in genealogical research from Boston University, an M.A. in public policy analysis from Claremont Graduate University, and a B.A. in sociology from Yale University and lives with his family in Oakland.

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