Local Family History Resources in Ventura, California

When I do research, I like to think outside the box. At one point in my life, I was hired by a woman to do some genealogy work, and was her personal information detective, working full time to obtain very specific information she needed. I love to dig through the past. It touches my heart. It drives my imagination. It makes me both happy and sad that I do not live in times gone by.

I live in Ventura, in Ventura County, California. Fortunately for those who are searching for family history, Ventura is our county seat, and a great place to start. The community was named after San Buenaventura Mission. Vital and Public Records are stored in the Administration Building, at the Ventura Government Center, 800 S. Victoria, CA 93004.

When I think of family research, the first source that comes to my mind is the LDS church, which is as local as your Online-PC. Because of their particular faith, family ties are of great importance. I have used their site for my own family research. You can find them at: http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp

The LDS Church will also help family researchers with family research classes they offer. While most people think information on the internet, is as easy as "letting your fingers do the walking..." it is more complex than that. Privacy laws, Post 9-11 changes in public information, the legally required time for census records to become unsealed and then made electronically available, can make family searching, the challenge of a life time.

I have a Cousin in Texas who traced the French side of my family to the 1400's. What a fantastic amount of knowledge PC gathered. And I found PC, by registering at Ancestry.com a few years ago. I also relocated my cousin Rudi there.

In Ventura County, there are 8 LDS Family Research Centers. They are staffed by people who can help to teach the basics of Microfiche, census records, church records, public records. And if materials can actually be ordered, just like the books you order to your branch of your local public library, they will help you with that. Our Ventura LDC Family Research Center is at: 3501 Loma Vista Rd, Ventura, California, Phone: 805-643-5607 Visit: http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp and
http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/FHC/frameset_fhc.asp

In Downtown Ventura and around Ventura, there are many resources, photos, exhibits, records and documents that might otherwise not be available. When you visit different museums, you will find who has worked hard to preserve and share local history, making efforts that insure our history does not die, or get lost in the rush of time. Often, valuable information comes to you in very passive ways. Are your ancestors part of what makes Ventura, such a great and culturally diversified place to live and learn? Let's find out...

Albinger Archaeological Museum, 113 E. Main St. Ventura, CA 93001. This museum features exhibits related to Chumash Indians, Chinese immigrants and others who lived on the site. This is in downtown Ventura, where current digs are still ongoing.

Bell Arts Factory, (http://www.bellartsfactory.org a little piece of Ventura history in its' own right. They also helped to produce some local art and historical pieces dedicated to Tortilla Flats. I am proud to say that one of my friends, MB Hanrahan, played a huge part in continuing to keep the memories alive for Tortilla Flats. http://www.mbuniverse.com/tortilla.shtml. MB's site is fantastic way to enjoy this exhibit, if you can not get there personally. You can also visit:
http://www.twcsocalnews.com/index.php?option=com_seyret&Itemid=26&task=videodirectlink&id=82

Since some art is factual and historical. Yuo may want to take a tour of the Carnegie Art Museum, 424 S. C St., Oxnard, CA 93030. You won't know what you find, till you look. Art often depicts real life and real people caught in a moment of time.

For some, it is just a bike ride up the coast to Carpinteria. Where you'll find the Carpinteria Valley Museum of History at 956 Maple Ave., Carpinteria, CA 93013. The museum may over lap some of what you find at other local research spots, because this museum also offers research of different local cultures such as, Chumash, Spanish, and Americans, that helped to build, settle and influence local history, up to today.

Civil Engineer Corps/Seabee Museum, NFELC, 1000 23rd. Ave. Bldg. 99, Port Hueneme, CA, 93043, 805-982-5165. The CEC-Seabee Heritage Center documents local history, collects, preserves, and researches history of the U.S. Naval Construction Force, Civil Engineer Corps, and Naval Facilities Engineering Command. They provide local engineering history of the ports, harbors, and coastal areas of Ventura County. They offer educational services and exhibits. http://www.navfac.navy.mil

Gull Wings Children's Museum, Ventura County, CA, and documents information about the California coastal matters, with over 15 "imagination stations." Credit is of course given for efforts made to preserve our coast and our coastal history. http://www.gullwings.org It's one of my favorite places to visit. I wonder whose child I could borrow this weekend, so I can go there to play and learn.

Ojai Valley Museum, likes to say they are bridging our past to our future. I could not have said it better. Many families in the Ojai Valley are responsible for arts, culture, preservation of both land and history, and the upper end of local life styles in Ventura County. Ojai is a magnet to people in the creative industries of life, who want a quieter and gentler place to reside. http://www.ojaivalleymuseum.org

I have yet to make it to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. I would like to see if there is any thing housed there, which would shed some light on my own step-uncle, William Sweeney, who was aide to the Supreme Chief of the Federal Judicial System of these United States. His wife, Doris Jo Steffens-Sweeney, took law courses and graduated Magna Cum Lade, simply so she could participate in her husband's life. http://www.reaganfoundation.org

I also love visiting the original Mission San Buena Ventura, in downtown Ventura. It is a wealth of local information and a place where families who have lived for several generations may find ties to local history and family. I never tire of visiting here. The gift shop has some literature for history seekers. Most recently, they opened a part of the building that used to be a hotel. And there is much to be discovered and shared from that re-opening. http://www.sanbuenaventuramission.org/history_main.html

Ventura is constantly uncovering the past in our own back yards. In fact, where I sit as I write this is in an apartment complex, on the west side of town. And the Aqua-duct which the Chumash built with their own hands, runs, and falters somewhat, right in our own back yard. Because we are still a somewhat small and close knit community, it is very difficult to hide "finds" that might otherwise be lost. Shoot, even the gophers that migrate from the back hills behind our apartments, to our front yard, bring me pieces of old glass, old nails, ancient sea shells, and one a cutting tool. They dig them out of their way, and deposit them in our front yard. Reminding me; I live on land that once was lived upon (not owned) by the local Chumash tribes. Reminding me, I walk upon history every day.

The Olivas Adobe is a historical park, with an adobe home that is over 160 years old. Docents take you on guided tours, filling you minds eye with visions of the laborer who worked there, the Olivas family who lived there, and yes, even some ghosts who are reputed to decline leaving there. Ever. http://www.olivasadobe.org

And finally, one of my favorite places to explore and visit is the Ventura County Museum of History and Art, where the exhibits are constantly updated, and a wealth of information, documents, photos, objects, art and more is safely held, in the heart of downtown Ventura, where it all started for us. http://www.venturamuseum.org

Grab your pen, and some paper, and put your walking shoes on. Ventura is a wealth of information about the settlers who came here, about the people they found here when they arrived. And many of the families here are a starting place taking you back to the mid-west of the USA, to the east, and beyond; just one link of the chain of family ties that brought you to where you are today, in Ventura, California.