The Redwood Researcher

12/21/2025

I am all about the stories! Do you have good stories to share with others?
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1260352586136006&set=a.618323193672285

12/20/2025

Library is open till noon come join us!

12/15/2025

have you tried using AI LLM to be a genealogist assistant? I just did and its both interesting and disturbing.

I used ChatGPT to become an assistant for me. I have a brick wall I have been beating my head against for soemtime (decades) and I just asked it to talk to me as a professional genealogist. It did. I laid out the information said here is what I am looking for. It flattered me and said well that is professional work. Then it went on to tell me where I was correct and where my assumptions may be wrong and how to look at the entire problem from the other side of the wall. Bottom line, I am no further along than I was before I talked to ChatGPT but what I now have is a list of places to check and information to search for. (I didn't know that you could get divorce records from Oakland from the 1890s. It gave me addresses informed me there were fee's of course, and a short outline of what to ask for.
All in all I would say it was worth typing out my info into a question form and turning it lose on the problem. What have you got to lose?
For RGS members only, I will be showing the full transcript and summary of the information it gave in the next Redwood Researcher coming out in February. How about you have you used chatGPT for your research? drop a comment!

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12/09/2025

Speaker luncheon is happening this Wednesday. Ben shepherd will be our speaker. The lunch starts at 1130. Speaker at noon. Rochester restraint fortuna. Hope you can join us.

11/20/2025

Library will be open this Saturday from 930 to noon. Please join us for research assistance to help you preserve your history

10/28/2025

Here are the newspapers currently on Newspapers.com with the years of publication avaliable. If you have a subscription go save your info to your computer.

10/27/2025

So big mess at newspapers.com. they removed almost 40 years of the Ferndale Enterprise. They used to go up to 1977 suddenly they only go back to 1930. Here is their stupid AI response..

Thank you for contacting Newspapers.com. We invite you to use our BROWSE page to see the content we currently have available on our site. Starting on the left hand side, you can filter content down by location from Country, State, and City; then by title of newspaper; then by date from year, month, and day; and finally by page. Publisher Extra content is highlighted in orange, while all Basic content is highlighted in blue. When you have filtered down to your preferred field of search, click in the "Search within" bar in the upper right corner and type in the desired name or phrase and click on the magnifying glass to the right to perform your search. You can access our Browse page using this secure link: https://www.newspapers.com/browse/

My thought is this. If you have an ancestry account you need to down load the images of the documents you are using. Back them up to a flash drive. Do not count on things on line being there forever. The biggest lie ever told was things on line are there forever.

The largest online newspaper archive. Used by millions every month for historical research, family history, crime investigations, journalism, and more.

10/26/2025

Follow up on Newspapers.com The Blue Lake advocate is totally gone from the site. :-(

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10/25/2025

Remember me saying things on line vanish sometimes? Seems like Newspapers.com has vanished decades of info from the fernale enterprise, specifically from 1930 to 1977 are gone. no explination. So, I messaged them to ask why, will see what they have to say. If you didn't get to look at them, then sorry!

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10/04/2025

The Redwood Genealogical Society Speaker Luncheon meets Wednesday, October 8, 2025, at 11:30 a.m at Locha's Restaurant, 751 S. Fortuna Blvd., Fortuna. The featured speaker is Lay-Minister Kalesita Ka'asisila from Fortuna's United Methodist Church. Kalesita is a native Tongan currently residing in Fortuna. Kalesita's topic is “My Journey from Tonga to the United States and to Humboldt County.” RGS meetings are free and open to the public. The optional lunch is two tacos, chips, and beverage for $15 including tax.

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10/03/2025

Library will be open Saturday, 930 to noon! come on down and visit!!

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09/21/2025

take 5 keep them alive! They are more than just names and dates!
Who is the oldest relative you remember? do you remember stories your parents told you about those relatives you never met? Keep them alive! take 5 minutes in the evening and write down those memories and stories.
If you send those stories to RGSFortuna@gmail.com we will publish your story in our researcher.
While our researcher does not reach 1000s of people it does go to many libraries across the nation and the state historical library in california. Please do keep your ancestors alive!