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Archiver > CASANFRA > 2005-08 > 1125268786


From: "James R. Smith" <>
Subject: Re: [CASANFRA] In search of...Evelyn Kate Aronson
Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 15:39:46 -0700
References: <5.1.0.14.2.20050828122647.08583148@mail.sfgenealogy.com>
In-Reply-To: <5.1.0.14.2.20050828122647.08583148@mail.sfgenealogy.com>


Ron --

That's an outstanding example of super sleuthing. You needed every
step to solve this puzzle. Even the Germantown, PA source for the
scrapbook wouldn't have helped without her married name from 1916 alumni
directory. Now to find when she left the state & married. Was she
unnerved by the quake? :-)

Way ta go!
Jim
--

James R. Smith

San Francisco's Lost Landmarks

ISBN: 1884995446

www.HistorySmith.com <http://www.historysmith.com/>;



Ron Filion wrote:

>Awhile back, I bought a beautiful 1895 school scrapbook created by Evelyn Kate Aronson. She had gone to the Girls High School in San Francisco. I think it was the next best thing to a yearbook. It has a picture of her, the high school, a copy of her commencement program, newspaper articles, and a picture of the university she was probably going to attend: University of California, Berkeley.
>
>But, although I knew she graduated in 1895 and probably went to UC, I couldn't find anything about her afterwards. Because of this scrapbook I became really interested in the Girls High School and decided to make it my mission to post every graduate list for the school. I'm still working on that. :-)
>
>If you have ever looked in the older yearbooks, you will notice an Alumni section. This can be a gold mine. Besides mentioning where the graduates were at the time (at a college or working), they also often mentioned who got married, and other items of interest. As we transcribe yearbooks, we try to include these sections.
>
>Thus, I found Ms. Aronson mentioned in a Girls High 1905 yearbook as being elected to the Junior Council of Jewish Women of San Francisco. So, she hadn't been married yet as it would have probably mentioned that. The next lead I found was in another alumni resource. Pamela [Wolfskill] had bought a copy of the UC Berkeley 1905 Alumni directory. This must have been a popular issue because Nancy Pratt Melton also has a copy (which she has scanned and put the web) and I know there are two copies at the Oakland Library. Anyway, I remembered that Ms. Aronson had the picture of UC in her scrapbook. So, yes, she was listed, had graduated in 1900, and had a San Francisco address. But nothing else.
>
>So, again, I was at a standstill. I wasn't getting much information from the city directories and searching for a possible marriage might be fruitless.
>
>Yesterday I was over at the Oakland library and was browsing through their history room. I noticed that they had a 1916 UC Alumni directory. Would Ms. Aronson be mentioned? Yes! It mentioned that she was married to Max L. Margolis and their address was in Germantown, PA. I was flabbergasted. :-)
>
>Now, it dawned on me afterwards that when I bought the scrapbook it came from a seller back east, and it probably was from Germantown, PA. I should have made a note of that. :-/ It would have made sense to begin a search from where an item ended up.
>
>I also remembered that my own high school sent out an alumni directory last year. Of course, I had looked up an old girlfriend and found out that she was married, had two kids, and was now a yoga instructor. :-) But, that's another story.
>
>So, the point of this story is that Alumni directories and yearbooks are valuable resources and may just help you find that elusive ancestor who may have left the area.
>
>Ron
>
>San Francisco Girls High School: http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/schools/ghs.htm
>UC Berkeley 1906 Alumni: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~npmelton/caldir.html
>
>
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>See "What's New" at sfgenealogy.com:
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