Celeste,
What a wonderful story! Thank you for reminding us of the reward that can follow persistence in family history! I sometimes feel that my ancestors want to be found, and that when I do all I can, 'things happen', like the woman overhearing your conversation who just happened to be acquainted with the Erickson Collection. It was no coincidence. Eileen Leite From: azores@googlegroups.com [mailto:azo...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of celeste perry Sent: Friday, October 15, 2010 10:17 PM To: azores@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: [AZORES-Genealogy] voter registration & local directories OK, I can tell you now. Of course, I have to tell you how I found the collection. I was looking for my son-in-law's paternal gr-grandfather. I could not find his naturalization even though I knew he had been naturalized. I found the 1890 voter registration that is on microfilm at the Oakland Library. You have to know what precinct or search every precinct. I knew where he lived so I went to the office of voter registration. When I asked what precinct his address was in, I was told the precincts changed so they did not know what it was in 1890. While I was talking to the clerk, a lady heard my conversation and told me I needed to check the "Erickson Collection." I asked where it was kept and she told me it was at Cal State Hayward (at that time) now, Cal State East Bay. I went to Cal State and asked to look at the collection. It was kept in the archives and you had to make an appt. when someone was in the archives. I made the appt. and was not prepared for what I found. An entire wall of binders with the original forms that the voter filled out to register. They must have filled them out for each time they voted (my person never moved) and I found 16 forms for him. I found that he had been naturalized in San Francisco; I had been looking in Oakland for a full summer! Of course he was naturalized before 1906 so there was no record of his naturalization. The good news is that most of the forms said he was either born in Portugal or the Azores. One form said Flores, Azores. That is how I found the island where he was born. In 2005, the person in the Archives & Special Collections was Dick Apple. richard.ap...@csueastbay is the email he had at that time. They were open from 10 to noon on M & W. The phone # was: 510 885 3892. I know that is more information than you asked for; however, I don't know how to just give a simple answer to anything. Happy hunting. Hugs, Celeste Celeste Perry ccgran...@yahoo.com --- On Fri, 10/15/10, Eric Gomes <gomes.ances...@gmail.com> wrote: From: Eric Gomes <gomes.ances...@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [AZORES-Genealogy] voter registration & local directories To: "azores@googlegroups.com" <azores@googlegroups.com> Date: Friday, October 15, 2010, 5:05 PM Celeste, You'll have to tell me about the voter reg forms at CSUH sometime... Could be a good resource for my whole Portuguese side. Eric Gomes Castro Valley On Oct 11, 2010, at 8:44 AM, "Bernie Franusich" <bern...@pacbell.net <http://us.mc506.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=bern...@pacbell.net> > wrote: Hi Celeste, I will check some of these avenues out as soon as I get home from Mexico. Thanks again, Bernie From: azores@googlegroups.com <http://us.mc506.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=azo...@googlegroups.com> [mailto:azo...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of celeste perry Sent: Monday, October 11, 2010 8:40 AM To: azores@googlegroups.com <http://us.mc506.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=azo...@googlegroups.com> Subject: [AZORES-Genealogy] voter registration & local directories Hi Bernie, You have a lot of information that can lead you to answers for your questions. I have a couple of ideas that may be of help to you. Since some of your ancestors were naturalized, you may be able to find the original voter registration forms that they filed when they registered to vote. Here is how it worked for me in Alameda County. I checked with the voter registration office (I was trying to learn the name of the pristinct in which they lived) and while I was there I was told that the original voter forms (all nicely bound and in alphabetical (by last name) order, were at Cal State Univ. in Hayward. I found that the person for whom I was searching was naturalized in San Francisco and born in Flores, Azores. What a find. The other idea is I attended a workshop in Santa Cruz sponsored by the Santa Cruz genealogy society. The members of that organization were very helpful and may be able to lead you to available sources to help you find your ancestors that lived in Santa Cruz County. Some states and counties did census counts inbetween the 10 year federal census. There is also the possibility that your ancestor may have be recorded in a city directory. If they lived in an outlying area, they were sometimes listed in the closest city. One example of this is that I found people who lived in Decoto (not Union city) in the Hayward City directory. You can usually find copies of these old directories in the library for the city you are searching. Sometimes, a larger nearby city has copies of some of the surrounding smaller cities. One exception I found is the copies were all at the mortuary that had advertised in the directory and they had been stored in the back of a closet. I was lucky to find that the person to whom I spoke knew about them and let me search all of them. Celeste Perry ccgran...@yahoo.com <http://us.mc506.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=ccgran...@yahoo.com> -- To unsubscribe from this group, send email to azores+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com <http://us.mc506.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=azores+unsubscr...@googlegroup s.com> . Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." -- To unsubscribe from this group, send email to azores+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com <http://us.mc506.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=azores+unsubscr...@googlegroup s.com> . Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." -- To unsubscribe from this group, send email to azores+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." -- To unsubscribe from this group, send email to azores+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." -- To unsubscribe from this group, send email to azores+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership."
