Finding Your Family History
by Robert Cox, MVHA Vice President
Managing Your Genealogy Research Budget
One of the best pieces of advice I ever received regarding genealogy was,“ Before you get started on research, estimate how much you are willing to spend on it. There is no end to opportunities to buy access to more information.”
“ Before you get started on research, estimate how much you are willing to spend on it.”
Of course, the simplest way of managing your genealogy research budget is to only use information that you can essentially get for free. This includes doing online searches, visiting the local library or history center, using the Mormon church sponsored Family Search website, and using Ancestry from your local library. You can accomplish a lot by doing just this. But whatever research you do will leave some questions unanswered, and that’ s when you’ ll need to decide whether to take the plunge and pay for access to tools that can provide additional information.
The companies selling these tools understand that many people will be reluctant to pay for additional information, so they offer deep discounts to get you started ordering from them. Ancestry offers a free 14-day trial subscription, but you need to select a paid subscription plan and cancel after 14 days if you don’ t want to be charged. They also have offered gift memberships around the holidays at 50 % off. Note, though, that the regular subscription price ranges from $ 264 / year to $ 840 / year, depending on the records to which you want access. One way to control the cost of your subscriptions is to try various options( like access to newspapers) for a while and then drop them after you can no longer get a discounted price. A more drastic move is to cancel your subscription and renew it again later at the introductory price.
Making continuing payments is also an issue if you use a tool like Family Tree Maker to manage your family tree on your local computer. I had paid $ 80 for the software package.
I resisted paying for upgrades because I didn’ t see the company adding any new useful features. But one day I tried to upload a family tree I had done to Ancestry, and the feature didn’ t work. The person on the company help line told me that the version I had bought was no longer supported, so I would need to buy the latest version. So, in reality, there was no such thing as“ pay once and you’ re done.”.
Mountain View Family History Spotlight
By Robert Cox
Former Mayor Nick Galiotto’ s family history is peppered with stories of how a spirit of adventure, combined with resilience, and a willingness to work hard leads to success.
Nick’ s paternal grandfather, also called Nicolo Galiotto, was born in Contessa Entellina, a small town near Palermo, Sicily. After immigrating to America through the Port of New Orleans in 1894, Grandfather Nicolo and family relocated to San Francisco. Following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Grandfather Nicolo decided it would be best to move to San Jose.
Grandfather Nicolo and his wife Santa( Cynthia) raised nine children, of which future Mayor Nick’ s father, Salvador, was the youngest. Both parents and all of the children worked on the family orchard.
One of Salvador’ s older brothers, Victor Andrew Galiotto, was a prizefighter, then a legendary boxing promoter“ Babe Griffin.” He was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990.
Salvador Galiotto and his wife Carmelle raised three children, of which future Mayor
Victor Andrew Galiotto, Boxer and famous Boxing Promoter
Nick was the youngest. Nick was always dedicated to self-improvement through education. He studied philosophy and communications in college with the intention of becoming an attorney but then decided to enter the police force, as he believed he could make a greater impact in contributing to the community. Starting as a patrolman in Mountain View, he took both the sergeant’ s and lieutenant’ s exams. He finished first on both.
Nick’ s future wife, Rebecca Moore, came from Kansas to San Jose as a young girl. She had a reputation of being a rifle sharpshooter, carrying a rifle with her on the bus to target practice. Rebecca met Nick in college. She played a game of chess with Nick and beat him! Rebecca majored in chemistry in college, went to work at Lockheed- Ames Research, and was always on the forefront of women’ s employment opportunities.
Once Nick was on the police force, Nick and Rebecca decided to live in Mountain View, as this was expected of police officers at that time. Nick was one the first local officers hired during the progressive wave in police work. Police officers were now expected to be college-educated and engage with the community when establishing policing practices. Nick served 26 years on the Mountain View police force.
Nick joined the Mountain View City Council after winning a special election to replace Mayor Mario Ambra.
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