Author Archives: Charles Hansen

Monday Mystery

by Charles Hansen

The origins of Valentine’s Day are shrouded in centuries of dust. No matter to the retailers of today; Valentine’s Day is a $15 billion dollar industry!!! (Now THAT’s a mystery to me.) Anyway. 

Some history here: In the year 380, Christianity became the legal religion, so dictated the Holy Roman  Emperor Constantine. But all those “converts” did not entirely abandon the traditions and practices they had held before their “conversion.” One of these was a fertility celebration, known as Lupercalia, which eventually became Valentine’s Day.

Now you know…………. somewhat.

International German Genealogy Partnership (IGGP)

by Charles Hansen

The International German Genealogy Partnership (IGGP) will be hosting our second conference in Sacramento California June 15-17, 2019.  IGGP is a growing partnership comprised of more than 100 international genealogical societies and organizations interested in collaborating to help further all members’ family history research with respect to their ethnic German roots.

 

The inaugural 2017 International German Genealogy Conference (IGGC) was highly successful, with 700 in attendance from 5 countries and 34 of the US states.  IGGC is emerging as one of the pre-eminent international German genealogy conferences.  Attached is the notice of the upcoming Call for Presentations.  Please pass this information on to any who might be interested in making a proposal to participate.  IGGP 2019 Call for Presentations Save the Date

Regards,

Amy Chidester

Presenter Team Chair

Tri-City Genealogical Society February Meeting

by Charles Hansen

Dear Members and Guests:

As you know, February 14th is Valentine’s Day and if you already have plans to be somewhere else for that evening, it is understandable, but if not, I hope you can attend our TCGS Beginning Genealogy Class and our Program Meeting that evening.

Please know that we will have another Genealogy Book Sale which means you will need to bring your $1 bills or checks as we will not have any change. By the way, if you want to donate any genealogy books/magazines, your donation would be very appreciated. We would first give preference to our TCGS Library for such books and then if there is duplication, we would place the books in our Genealogy Book Sale.

Beginning Genealogy Class: 6:15 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. (please note that once the class starts, the book sale is restricted until the class is over and then after the program. We certainly do not want to distract from our speakers and persons who are listening to such presentations. Thank you.

Program: 7:00 p.m. – Native American History and Researching Native American Records – see the attached “flyer”

As usual, we want to ask you to invite a friend to our meetings.

Art Kelly

TCGS Feb 2018 Flyer

GENEALOGICAL FORUM’s Thursday Evening E-News

by Charles Hansen

THE GENEALOGICAL FORUM’s

Thursday Evening

E-News, Edition

8 February 2018
For more information visit www.gfo.org, contact us at info@gfo.org, or call our library at 503-963-1932. We love hearing from you!

For a complete GFO CALENDAR click here.

Also, if you missed your free copy of our monthly Insider for February 2018, you’re in luck because we saved you a copy HERE. NOTE: The Insider issues are now located under the “Learn” > “Our Publications” menu at www.gfo.org.

GFO’s 2018 Elections Call for Candidates!

The following positions are available for new candidates this coming fiscal year:

▪ GFO President
▪ Director-at-Large
▪ Secretary

Interested in taking on one of these roles?

Just send an email to president@gfo.org today! We need candidates candidates candidates. And there is on-the-job training available for all of these positions.

These people help keep the GFO going in so many ways. Just curious?? Send a note to Laurel Smith at president@gfo.org for more information!

Insider Editors Needed

We also need two or three people to help take over editing and publication of the Insider this summer.

This is our monthly newsletter and our fearless editor is stepping down this summer. Interested in helping out? Email Jackie Olson at insider@gfo.org.

Continue reading →

Friday Serendipity

by Charles Hansen

Way, way back in June 2015, David Rencher was the speaker at the WSGS/Kittitas County Gen Society’s conference. Anybody remember?

With his teaching remarks, he introduced to us the concept of “framing the problem.” And framing it correctly. He began by teasing us with, “have you a tough genealogy problem? Worried you won’t solve it in your lifetime? Do you keep doing the same-old-same-old things and wondering why you have no new conclusions or answers?”

He then explained that you must “frame the problem differently.” Simply put, how to look at the problem differently. He showed three photos of the Golden Gate bridge……

If you’re driving on the bridge, you see the bridge from that angle only. If you’re boating on the bay, you see the bridge from that angle only. And if you’re flying overhead, you will see the bridge from that angle only. 

His point with these images of the Golden Gate bridge is that, with regards to your tough genealogy problems, you’re looking at the bridge from your angle. That’s all you see. But if you were to see it from a boat or from the air, you’d have an entirely different perspective.

“To solve a tough problem,” he said, “You must frame your picture differently.” 

Towards the finale of his talk, David quipped, “I know where lots of my ancestors aren’t because I’ve looked there!”

Wednesday Nostalgia

by Charles Hansen

I spotted this gem in Apple Annie’s in Cashmere last fall. This is a glass IV medical bottle, in use from about WWII to the 1970s. What about it took my breath away was the SIZE of it and the SIZE of the opening…. liquids would gush from this thing into a patient’s arm! 

Another dandy good reason I’m thankful my surgeries were more recent! Any of you remember a tube from a bottle like this going in to your arm???

Tuesday Trivia

by Charles Hansen

 

Great quote to share with you today. Found it in the book “The Scotch-Irish: A Social History,” by James G. Leyburn, 1962.

“A person in search of his ancestors naturally likes to believe the best of them, and the best in terms of contemporary standards. Where genealogical facts are few, and these located in the remote past, reconstruction of family history is often more imaginative than correct.”

German Interest Group of The Eastside Genealogical Society March Meeting

by Charles Hansen

German Interest Group

 

The German Interest Group of The Eastside Genealogical Society (EGS) will meet on Friday, March 2, 2018, from 1 to 3 pm in the Relief Society Room of the LDS Church at 10675 NE 20thSt, Bellevue, WA 98004 with doors opening at 12:45 pm for networking. Visitors are always welcome at our meetings.       

Topic: Ken Passe’s Updated Windmill Story –  While the story was the result of his research and travel up to that time, the larger family story has been updated and enhanced through use of new tools, technologies, information availability and some good luck. Ken will describe the various processes that he has used to expand his family tree, with the hope that GIG members might find some of the steps helpful for their own research. 

Speaker: Ken Passé has been doing genealogy research for more than 20 years and has been fortunate to have visited his ancestral village in Germany several times. A self-professed maritime guy/waterfront rat, he has extended his research to touch upon shipboard travel from Europe to America.

  

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