Author Archives: Charles Hansen

Monday’s Mystery

by Charles Hansen

Good morning, Washington (and surroundings)!  Our mystery for today is this: TRUE or FALSE:  Water going down a drain spins one way in the Northern Hemisphere and the opposite way in the Southern Hemisphere. Is this TRUE or FALSE?

A Delicious Calorie-Free WSGS Cupcake to Elsie Deatherage for correctly answering the previous mystery…. how many feet did Mt.St.Helen’s lose in the blast in 1980? The correct answer was 1300 feet. Wowsers, eh? And, as we Eastern Washingtonians know, lots of that ash residue is still findable and/or visable yet today.

 

Bainbridge Island Genealogical Society April Meeting

by Charles Hansen

For Immediate Publication

The Bainbridge Island Genealogical Society (BIGS) will meet Friday, April 21, 2017, at the LDS church on Bainbridge Island, 8677 Madison Avenue, from 10:00 a.m. – 12 noon.  Guest speaker, Karen Sipe from the Fiske Genealogical Library in Seattle, will be speaking on “Petticoats and Dowries – Women.”   Free to members, a $5.00 donation is suggested for nonmembers.  For more information go to http://www.bigenealogy.org, or call 206-842-4978.

Sylvia H. Nelson

Publicity and Public Relations Director

Bainbridge Island Genealogical Society

Clark County Genealogical Society Upcoming Meetings

by Charles Hansen


THIS WEEK AT CCGS
Tuesday, 10am – general meeting (see below)
Wednesday, 11am – webinar (see below)
SPRING CLASSES AT CCGS
Fee Classes – $12 for members, $15 for non-members

Researching in the Virginias, instructor Elsie Deatherage
Tuesday, April 4, 10am-12n
As one of this country’s earliest colonies, Virginia has seen many changes in laws and how vital records have been kept in its 400 year history. Learn how to locate and use order and minute books, land records, chancery court and tax records to connect family members.

Timelines and Analysis, instructor Lethene Parks
Tuesday, April 25, 10am-12n
You’ve been hot on the trail of an illusive ancestor. You’ve gathered quite a bit of information about them. But, what does it all mean? Organizing all these disparate “facts” into a timeline and subjecting them to critical analysis will help you make sense of it.

Family Search Strategies, instructor Alice Allen
Tuesday, May 2, 10am-12n
Family Search is a major go-to site for genealogical research. In addition to continuously adding searchable records, Family Search is constantly improving how we access those records. Alice is a “power user” of Family Search and will share her insights as to how to make the site “dance” for you.

Getting Started Tracing Your Ancestors, instructor Brian Runyan   FREE
Thursday May 11, 7pm – 9pm, CCGS Annex
This class will get you started researching your family tree.  Topics include collecting information from the family, family group sheets, pedigree charts, genealogy database programs and best practices for research.

Getting Started with Your Norwegian Research, instructor Kathy Solheim
Tuesday, May 16, 10am-12n
This class will guide the researcher through the process of searching for key ancestral information in FamilySearch, then locating and interpreting the original Norwegian parish records in Digitalarkivet.

CCGS GENERAL MEETING
Tuesday, March 28, 10am
“Reflections on Researching A Personal Family History” will be presented by Harold E. Hinds, Jr, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of History, presently retired and living in Portland, Oregon, where he volunteers at the Genealogical Forum of Oregon. For many years, he taught an annual course on Genealogy and Family History at the University of Minnesota–Morris. He is the author or editor of 26 volumes on genealogy and family history.
–The presentation will focus on the following: –What Story Should I Tell: the Scope and Design of the Project –Finding Sufficient Information to Justify a Book-Length Personal Family History –It Takes a Village –Getting Organized, So You Can Find the Information You’ve Collected –You Can’t Wish Upon a Star –When One Should Publish

IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR CCGS MEMBERS

Due to increasing costs the CCGS Board of Directors is recommending an increase to the annual dues of $5. We recommend the membership approve this increase to take effect when individual and joint memberships are renewed. New members would pay the new rate of $35 for individual and $45 for joint memberships beginning 1 July 2017. Voting on this proposed dues increase will take place at the March 28th General Meeting.

UPCOMING WEBINARS
Wednesday, March 29, 2017, 11:00am, CCGS Annex.  Discussion to follow
Introduction to Quaker Genealogy Research by Craig Scott, MA, CG, FUGA
This lecture examines how Quakers created records at the various types of meetings, be they Yearly, Quarterly or Monthly. It examines the types of records, their value to a researcher and where they can be found.

Tuesday, April 5, 2017, 5:00pm, CCGS Annex.  Discussion to follow
Preserve, Share, and Search Your Digital Pictures with Google Photos by Geoff Rasmussen
Got digital images? Get an in-depth look into Google’s newest photo service – Google Photos. Learn best practices for managing, sharing, searching, enhancing, and preserving your digital photos. Learn how to access your collections via your computer, smart phone, or tablet.

Puget Sound Genealogical Society April Meeting

by Charles Hansen

Puget Sound Genealogical Society
Tuesday April 4, 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
at Kitsap Regional Library. 1301 Sylvan Way, Bremerton
The Scots-Irish: Settlers in the Wilderness with Janet Camarata
Learn how the Scots-Irish contributed to our country and
the sources available to genealogists researching their
Scots-Irish heritage.
Registration is required: call Genealogical Center
(360)475-9172
Thanks Jackie Horton, Publicity Chairperson

Serendipity Friday

by Charles Hansen

*** A Cemetery is a Cemetery is a Cemetery

*** Genealogy Bank: Did you realize?

*** Roslyn’s 26 Ethnic Cemeteries: Ever been there?

*** Google Translate & Other Ethnic Alphabets

We were recently in Maui and on a beach-lava-rock hike, I spotted this cemetery of sorts. This sort of beach-memorial-cemetery is not a bit unusual in Hawaii. You perhaps cannot see but the crosses are festooned with shell and flower garlands and piled with rock and white coral. Sometimes they have a name/date inscribed but often not. Just a memorial. I found these most touching.

*************************************

Do you use newspapers in your genealogical research? Silly question, eh? Have you investigated Genealogy Bank? When you subscribe to this newspaper database, these are your benefits and opportunities:

     1. Unlimited access to over one BILLION records (and growing)

     2. Access to over 7000 newspapers from all fifty states

     3. Access to over 320 years of historical (1690-2016) newspapers

     4. Access to 57 million recent obituaries (1977 to today)

     5. Access to over 14,000 rare historical books (1749-1900)

     6. Access to over 376,000 rare historical documents (1789-1994)

     7. Access to 94 million death records in the SSDI (1937-2014)

     8. Access to over 6,000,000 records added monthly

Click to www.genealogybank.com for more information. And be alert for discount opportunities offered through various partner websites.

*************************************

I never missed an episode of the TV show in the 1970s, Northern Exposure, filmed mostly in Roslyn, Washington. Of course, I had to visit the town and have lunch in the Roslyn Cafe. And we had to visit the cemeteries! There are some 5000 graves spread across nineteen acres on the hillsides on the back side of town. These burial grounds are divided by heritage…Croatian, Serbian, Polish, Lithuanian, Slavonian…as well as several lodges. Back in Roslyn’s coal mining heyday when coal was king, immigrants came from all over Europe for work. And then died here. Wandering across these ethnically divided areas was so very interesting. Some of the markers were clearly handmade and some were quite expensive looking (keep in mind that Roslyn back 100 years ago was a long way from anywhere). Roslyn is just on the east side of Snoqualmie Pass and when your travel plans next call for you to cross our state, do take a break and visit Roslyn…… and the gulch and hillsides of those ethnic burials.

*****************************************

I taught a class the other day and one of the questions asked was “how do I do research in countries where I don’t read the language?” Good question. Lisa Alzo answered that question in a class I attended in December 2016:

     1. www.babelfish.com  —  free online translator enables users to translate phrases and sentences into any language…in a text block of up to 150 words.

     2.  www.digitaldialects.com  —  a site for free interactive games for learning languages (you need Adobe Flash Player (free) for this).

     3.  www.familysearch.com  —  FamilySearch offers free word lists to help you translate common words found in church or other records; FS also offers letter writing guides in many languages.

     4. www.translate.google.com  —  popular online free tool for translating words, paragraphs or sentences in 71 different languages. If you use Google Chrome and visit a foreign website, Google will ask if you would like to have the page translated authomatically. Yah, Google!

******************************

TFT:  What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly. 

THE GENEALOGICAL FORUM’s Wednesday Evening E-News

by Charles Hansen

THE GENEALOGICAL FORUM’s Wednesday Evening E-News 22 March 2017

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 2017, 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 our new website (still gfo.org).

Have a GFO Membership?? Please Consider Joining the GFO

***

Don’t act so surprised! There’s still seating available for the Colletta Seminar on Saturday, April 29th!!

REGISTER for SATURDAY’s SEMINAR

When APRIL 29TH, 10am – 4:30pm

Where THE MILWAUKIE CENTER

Who JOHN PHILIP COLLETTA

What OUR ANCESTORS FROM OVERSEAS

How It’s so simple! Just click HERE to register right now online.
Again, the Saturday Seminar is NOT sold out yet. Click HERE now to register your seat!
John Philip Colletta is one of America’s most popular genealogical lecturers. Knowledgeable, experienced and entertaining (what a genealogical catch!), he is a faculty member of the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research and the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy. For twenty years, he worked part-time at the Library of Congress and taught workshops at the National Archives.

Continue reading →

Family Search Webinars for April

by Charles Hansen

 

Salt Lake City, Utah (21 March 2017), April is a great month to take a free family history class or webinar taught by specialists through the world reknowned Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. Attend in person or online. Beginner or intermediate skill level, we bet you’ll find something of interest. British, Portuguese, Finnish, Scottish, French, Chinese, Dutch, and US records-related classes are on tap. Take the introductory DNA class to help understand all the genetic genealogy excitement. And there are quite a few classes about how to get the most out of all the features and content on FamilySearch.org.  Mark your calendars for events you want to join so you don’t forget. Find and easily share this release online in the FamilySearch Newsroom.
Online classes offered in the schedule below are noted as “Webinars”. Webinar attendees need to click on the link next to the class title to attend the online class on the scheduled date and time. Those attending the Library in-person need to simply go to the room noted. Invite family and friends. All times are in Mountain Standard Time (MST). No registration is required.

Card Catalog File Cabinet

by Charles Hansen

Anyone in need of a Card Catalog File Cabinet for your Society?  Clallam County Gen. Society has one in surplus.  It is in great condition.  Has 30 drawers and 2 pull out shelves.  Height 44”, Depth 21”, Width 34”.  Contact Clallam Co. Gen. Society and Research Center, 402 E. Lauridsen Blvd, Port Angeles, WA 98362.  Phone # (360)417-5000.

 

Volga German Event at Leavenworth Washington

by Charles Hansen

For Immediate Release    Contact: Tanya Bushnell
tbushnell@cu-portland.edu
503.493.6369

Celebrating 250 Years of Volga German Heritage
Seminar Series on April 26 – 28

Portland, Oregon (17 March 2017) – From 1764 to 1772, there were 106 German colonies established along the Volga River on the barren Russian steppe.  To celebrate the 250th Anniversary (1766-2016) of the establishment of the colonies of Frank, Hussenbach, Kautz, Kolb, Norka, Walter, and Yagodnaya Polyana in Russia; the Center for Volga German Studies at Concordia University is hosting a seminar at The Icicle Village Resort, in Leavenworth, Washington on April 26-28, 2017. Registration is $165 per person, which includes all programs and two banquets. The public is invited to attend.
Sessions will focus on the founding of the Volga German colonies, location of the German origins of our ancestors, demonstration of an old Volga German dialect, churches of the Volga German villages, rural life of the colonies, the events that led to emigration to North and South America and a session showing what exists of the colonies today.  Featured presenters include: Steve Schreiber, Director of the Center for Volga German Studies and Village Coordinator for Norka; Maggie Hein, Genealogist and Village Coordinator for the colonies of Frank and Kolb; Jean Roth, Village Coordinator for the colony of Walter; Michael Frank, Village Coordinator for the colony of Kautz; Mike Lust, teacher; Reuben Miller, descendant of the colony of Norka; and Dr. Richard Scheuerman, of Seattle Pacific University and descendant of the colony of Yagodnaya Polyana.  Seminar sessions begin on Wednesday, April 26, at 12:45pm and end on Friday April 28, at 10:30am.
For more information about the event, please visit the website at: http://cvgs.cu-portland.edu/events/2017Apr26.cfm or contact Valerie at highlife56.vm@gmail.com.

Continue reading →