The San Mateo County Genealogical Society supports the study of family history in the Bay Area and beyond. We have monthly meetings with speakers, twice-yearly seminars, workshops, special interest groups, a genealogy library, online databases, and research services. We produce a newsletter, a blog, and a Facebook page, and we send occasional email notices about SMCGS events to anyone who is interested.

Our monthly meetings are free, and everyone is welcome to attend. Our special interest groups are open only to members, but non-members may email the moderator of a group to ask for a one-time invitation. During the Covid-19 pandemic, most SMCGS meetings will be held via the Zoom web conferencing system -- for details, click here.

Zoom links to future meetings, recordings of past Zoom presentations, and meeting handouts will be available in the Members Only section of the website, under Handouts/Recordings/Zoom (as allowed by presenters). Non-members can get a Zoom link to future meetings by subscribing to our eNews.

A recording of the April 24 presentation by Lisa Oberg, entitled Sisters Unite! Two Hundred Years of Women's Suffrage, will be available in the Members Only section until May 24, 2021.

For a flyer of SMCGS upcoming events, click here.

The Importance of On-Location Research in a Digital World
Presenter: Craig Siulinski
Saturday, May 22, 2021   10:30am - 12:00 pm

Computers and technology provide today’s genealogists with many resources for basic research and for communicating/collaborating with family members and other genealogists, but sometimes research on location provides family history information that you just can’t find online.

Immigration to America Prior to 1820
Presenter: Chris Green
Saturday, June 26, 2021 10:30 am - 12:00 pm

Early settlers were primarily English and Irish. Dutch settlers came to New Netherlands between 1630 and 1674, and prior to 1800 about 50,000 immigrants arrived from what is now Western Germany, Alsace Lorraine, Austria, and Switzerland.  Chris will tell us about these early immigrations.

Using Maps to Tell Stories
Presenter: Sue Long
Saturday, July 24, 2021   10:30am - 12:00 pm

In 1687, Thomas Holme, the Surveyor General of Pennsylvania, made a map for William Penn so Penn could persuade investors back in England to buy land in his new colony - Pennsylvania. Learn how Sue identified some of the early landowners. The names on Holme’s map turned into people with voices of their own. We can hear these stories after 300 years.