DAR Early Settlers Project
By Martha Wallace Special Contributor
In September 2020 , the Los Altos Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution ( DAR ) embarked on a one-year project to learn about the life and history of early settlers in the Los Altos / Mountain View area . So often we learn only about the famous people ; this project helped us learn about people for whom our streets , schools , and local landmarks are named : some famous and some not so well-known .
We concentrated on people who lived in or were active in early Los Altos , Mountain View , and Los Altos Hills before 1900 to help us understand the pioneering and entrepreneurial spirit that contributed to the commercial and civic evolution of the early San Francisco Bay Area .
Due to the pandemic , the project was designed to be completed while quarantining and staying at home , using information we could �ind at home and online : maps , genealogy resources , internet articles , newspapers , books , and more . Participants often chose to investigate the pre-1900 owner of the property where they now live , or a street or school named for a property owner .
The results were reported in one-sheet pro�iles created for each settler . A compilation of these pro�iles was assembled and published in PDF format in September 2021 . That PDF with clickable links is available on request at : losaltosdar @ gmail . com .
Printed copies should soon be available at the Los Altos Library , the Mountain View Public Library , the Santa Clara City Library , and the Los Altos History Museum .
Financial Report
By Emily Ramos MVHA Treasurer
Checking Account Balance as of 10 / 6 / 2021 : $ 22,307.12 Income : $ 1,240.91 Expenses : $ 2,320.00 Checking Account Balance as of 1 / 18 / 2022 : $ 21,228.03
Certi�icates of Deposit Balance : $ 60,519.62
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Finding Your
Family History
By Robert Cox MVHA Vice President
Many regular TV watchers have seen the commercials for Ancestry . com , which invite you to buy a subscription to their service or take a DNA test to discover more about your family history . While I agree that doing this is one of the best ways to discover your family ’ s past , there are also several key free alternatives . If you are just beginning your family history research and you have more time than money , I recommend looking into them �irst .
My # 1 choice for free family history information is Family Search , which is run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- Day Saints ( Mormon ). They maintain online , searchable historic records as well as a worldwide family tree with entries for 1.3 billion people , making it the world ’ s largest . Use of the records is open to anyone . Their historical records are primarily from the United States , Canada , and the United Kingdom , but they also have records from some other European countries . Their website is www . familysearch . org .
My # 2 choice is Find-A-Grave website . It is an online database of cemetery records , primarily in the United States and Canada . The website was started in 1995 by Jim Tipton , to support his hobby of visiting the gravesites of famous people but has grown beyond that to include an almost complete inventory of gravesites in the USA and Canada . Because the website allows gravesites of immediate relatives to be linked to one another , it is often possible to follow a family ’ s history many generations using the links . Check it out at www . �indagrave . com .
My # 3 choice is Wikitree , another worldwide family tree , started by Chris Whitten in 2008 . Each person in the Wikitree has his or her own pro�ile page , which is managed by a pro�ile owner , who can be contacted by email . The pro�ile owners are volunteer genealogists , each of whom has signed the Wikitree honor code . Wikitree genealogists collaborate to grow their worldwide family tree , and volunteer “ arborists ” work to merge duplicate entries . There are currently 27 million pro�iles in the Wikitree , mostly from the United States . I personally have contributed to almost 50,000 pro�iles on Wikitree . Their website is www . wikitree . com .
In my next column , I ’ ll talk about DNA testing .
Cynthia Hanson Editorial Consultant & Copy Editor
Whether you ’ re updating your resume or writing the world ’ s next great novel , Cynthia Hanson is available to help make sure your writing is clear and typo-free . As the MVHA ’ s volunteer copy editor , she ’ s helped make this newsletter shine and is available to hire for other projects .
Contact Cynthia today : cynthialynnhanson @ gmail . com
Former Mountain View Mayor John McAlister
Mtn . View Family History Fun Fact ! Former Mountain View Mayor John McAlister ’ s seventh greatgrandfather was also named John McAlister . He immigrated from Inverness , Scotland , to colonial Virginia in the late 1600s .
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