Follow up discussion of Michael Lacopo’s presentations from the Seminar on October 21.

Mags is a Professional Genealogist specializing in Genetic Genealogy as the founder of Grandma’s Genes in Ottawa. Growing up in a family full of family historians, Mags was primed to become a Genealogist.

After earning her Bachelors Degree from Columbia College, she began to work her own Genealogy as a “hobby”. This 35-year “hobby” eventually led her to a Leader role with WikiTree, where she currently leads: The DNA Innovators Project and The United Empire Loyalist Project. She also leads the Gaulden, McElmoyle, and Templeton Name Studies and the Gaulden, McElmoyle, and Templeton DNA Group Projects.

Mags is an international Genetic Genealogy Lecturer, Blogger, and Social Media Maven. She serves as Admin for Facebook groups including the ISOGG Facebook Group. She is a former member of the Canadian Casualty Identification Team.

Through her non-profit work with mitoYDNA.org, Mags and other genetic genealogists are providing a free and accessible YDNA and mtDNA database for the Genealogy Community. “Doing DNA Right”, mitoYDNA.org.

---

[This meeting will be held online with Zoom and an invitation will be sent out to the VCGS DNA SIG via email about 12 hours prior to the meeting. If you are not already on the email list you may contact the webmaster at webmaster@venturacogensoc.org to be added.]

The VCGS Mexican-American Special Interest Group meets to discuss historical literature, research strategies and current information pertaining to Mexican-American Genealogy. We strive to encourage our members to assist one another, as well as the general public in learning about family history. Members and attendees are encouraged to propose topics for discussion and to share ideas and knowledge in Mexican-American genealogy so that we can grow as a group.

Our meetings are open to the public and you don’t have to be a VCGS member to attend. We currently meet six times a year on zoom, The meetings are held in odd months of the year, (January, March, May, July, September, and November) on the first Saturday of the month.

Our next Zoom meeting will take place on Saturday, November 4, 2023 from 10:00 a.m to 11:30 a.m. 

To request to attend our meeting please contact Juan Venegas @ jvenegasgenealogy@gmail.com or Nancy Lehnhardt @ nancylgenealogy@gmail.com

Land records are among the earliest, most complete and most valuable genealogical records-and often among the most puzzling. Learn more about how a colonial-era ancestor could have acquired land.

Judy G. Russell, The Legal Genealogist ® , is a genealogist with a law degree who provides expert guidance through the murky territory where law and family history intersect. An internationally-known lecturer and award-winning writer, she holds credentials as a Certified Genealogist ® and Certified Genealogical Lecturer℠ from the Board for Certification of Genealogists ® . Her blog is at https://www.legalgenealogist.com .

During the first year of the California Gold Rush approximately 100,000 men came west to seek their fortunes. Some struck it rich, some returned home during the winter of 1849-50, some stayed, and some died in their quest.  Judy Janes will discuss ways to determine whether you have a Gold Rush ancestor in your family tree.

Judy Janes is a past President of the Ventura County Genealogical Society, and currently serves on the Executive Board. Judy is a third-generation Californian who has been doing genealogical research for 27 years. She has successfully tracked several of her 17th century immigrant ancestors back to their roots in France, Holland, England, and Germany.

---

All our monthly lectures and workshops are free to our members and the public. Non-members should request a Zoom invitation here. Please note that we cannot respond to same-day requests.

---

There is no DNA Special Interest Group meeting this month and CVGS has no DNA SIG meeting this month.