Genealogical Forum of Oregon extends our warmest wishes

The to all our members, patrons and supporters for a safe and lovely Christmas holiday.

GFO’s Research Library will be closed today, Saturday, December 24th, and tomorrow, Sunday, December 24th, until 9:30 a.m. on Monday, December 26th.

We will also be observing the world’s most recent revolution around the sun the last week of this month. In other words, the Library will be closed Saturday, December 31st, until 9:30 a.m. on Monday, January 2nd.

Don’t forget! Monday, January 2nd, is a First Free Monday day!! Tell your friends and remind yourself if you don’t have a regular membership to take advantage of the holiday quiet to use the library resources for free that day!

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Serendipity Day……. Christmas Serendipity!

Dec23 by Charles Hansen

The official White House Christmas Tree has come from Washington State only once, back in 1961. It was a 75-foot tall Douglas Fir. I don’t think the above tree was it; Wikipedia said it was placed in the Ellipse. (You can ask Grandma Google anything; I asked her “white house christmas tree from washington state” and from Wikipedia came an article listing each year this has been a tradition and from which state the tree came.)

Sugar Cookies — This addictive holiday essential was originated by the Amish and is now the Pennsylvania state cookie. (Ask Grandma Google about other state’s cookies???)

Gingerbread Houses — Gingerbread dates back to Greece in the year 2400 B.C. and by the late Middle Ages Europeans had their own version. But Gingerbread HOUSES originated in Germany in the 1500s. The largest gingerbread house on record was erected in Bryan, Texas, in 2013. It required a building permit and covered 40,000 square feet and was constructed of 4000 gingerbread blocks. (Texas always has to be biggest.)

Eggnog — Eggnog derives from the British aristocracy. The wealthy drank warmed milk and egg beverages with expensive spices and brandy or sherry. The origin of the word nog is disputed but it may come from a noggin a kind of wooden mug. And did you know, December is National Eggnog month, so drink up!

Happy to be politically incorrect, I wish you all a Merry Christmas.

THE GENEALOGICAL FORUM’s Wednesday Evening E-News

Dec22 by Charles Hansen

THE GENEALOGICAL FORUM’s Wednesday Evening E-News 21 December 2016

=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 November 2016, you’re in luck because we saved you a copy at HERE. NOTE: The Insider issues are now located under the “Learn” –> “Our Publications” menu at our new website (still gfo.org).

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GFO’s 2016 Annual Appeal
Don’t delay! To ensure your donation is tax-deductible on your tax return for 2016, checks need to be postmarked by December 31st. Donations can now be made by credit card right on our new website or you can still use PayPal if you prefer–but for a 2016 tax deduction, your gift must be received by midnight on December 31. Continue reading →

Kittitas County Genealogical Society January Meeting

Dec22 by Charles Hansen

Jan 2017 KCGS is Mon Jan 9, not Jan 2,

7 PM 413 N Main Ste L, Ellensburg WA

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Jan 2017 program All members write, e.g. on 3X5 card, for one ancestor of ours:

Write our 2017 goal to learn more about that ancestor

2017 dues now due for 2016 members that have not paid yet.

Can mail $15 to KCGS, 413 N Main St, Ste L, Ellensburg 98926

“New” re-conditioned APPLE computer: in Suite M now,
Thanks to Dave Storla!

In addition, Bob Wieking (actually Nancy) will be providing our refreshments

Whatcom County Gen Society Newsflash

Dec19 by Charles Hansen

O Canada: Children of a Common Mother, Heritage Weekend — April 21-23, 2017in the Skagit Valley.

We hope you can attend (registration is on-line beginning January 2) and also help us spread the word by sharing the PDFs with others and/or printing them out to post in your community.
There are activities on Friday evening and Sunday morning to complement the full day seminar on Saturday — Plus, the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival has activities that weekend that the rest of your
family can enjoy while you attend the genealogy seminar and history tour of Burlington. The O Canada theme is in honor of Canada’s 150th Anniversary of Confederation. The official holiday is July 1, but
we wanted to show our cousins coming from across the Pacific Northwest the Skagit Valley at its most brilliant — during tulip time. Look also for our announcement in the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival brochure.

Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you and your genealogy friends on the weekend of April 21-23, 2017.

Happy Holidays!

Margie Wilson, SVGS V-P
(360) 757-6224 / genealogy0715@gmail.com
SVGS website for registration on-line after Jan. 2, 2017: skagitvalleygenealogy.org

Tip of the Week Digitized Washington State Records

Dec18 by Charles Hansen

I was asked to help with updating the Spokane County WIKI on Family Search, and I found an interesting record group which is not indexed, but in poking around I found an index to the Washington County Records that have been digitized by Family Search already

as of December 18, 2016

( https://familysearch.org/search/catalog/1910364 ) The one I was interested in is not indexed and since it is not indexed probably very hard to use.

Serendipity Day

Dec17 by Charles Hansen

*** Kudos to WSGS Past President Steve Baylor

*** Should Washington Split Into TWO States?

*** Astoria’s Beginnings: Trees

*** Chehalis Town Name

Dear Archives Volunteers,

The holidays are here and I want to take the opportunity to thank all of you volunteers for your massive contributions to the Archives’ mission. Our ultimate goal is to make all of our information freely accessible to the public, and that would not be possible without you. While the records are already free, they are not as accessible as they can be, but we’re getting there. As you may already know, we have digitally indexed nearly 200 million records. That’s a huge success! There are still hundreds of millions more records to go, and there isn’t another group of volunteers we would rather have.

I would like everyone to congratulate Stephen Baylor, the December Volunteer of the Month. Stephen has indexed over 65,000 records in SCRIBE this year, leading the pack. Thank you, Stephen!

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Northeast Washington Genealogical Society meeting

Dec16 by Charles Hansen

The next Northeast Washington Genealogical Society meetings are on Wednesday, January 11, 2017. The morning Computer Interest Group (CIG) will meet in the basement meeting room of the LDS Church on Juniper Street in Colville at 10:30 AM. Entry is located at the back of the building. The building is located one block east of the South Main Restaurant on Hwy 395.

For all you lovers of Pinterest this month’s CIG presentation is for you. Even if you aren’t a Pinterest lover you just might want to join us and see what all the excitement is about and how it relates to your genealogy research. Karen Struve, Vice-President of NeWGS will be sharing some useful tips to help you expand and share your genealogy through Pinterest.

We will take a lunch break at noon and then meet again in the LDS Lower Meeting Room at 1:30 p.m.

For our afternoon session our members and guests are encouraged to share special discoveries and successes they experienced recently. This will be an informal “round-table” format.

Perhaps you have something to share that would help another researcher break through their “brick wall”. This can be anything from a book you recommend to your experience obtaining hard to find documentation. Perhaps you have recently discovered a long sought burial location for your ancestor. The more we share the more we learn.

All visitors are welcome. You do not need to be a member to attend the Northeast Washington Genealogical Society’s meetings.

Seattle Genealogical Society Tip of the Week

Dec15 by Charles Hansen

TIP OF THE WEEK – Courthouse Research, Trial Run

Never been to a county courthouse to do research? Think it may be in your future? Why not practice in your local county seat? Even if your ancestors and their county courthouse are quite distant from where you live, your experience and knowledge of your local courthouse and the whole research process will make you more comfortable and efficient when it comes time to making that trip to the courthouse of your ancestor’s home county.

Interview the archivist (big city), talk to the Recorder (small town), or the Tax Assessor. In your particular locale, their titles may differ from these. Find out who posted the earliest probate packet (recorder) or ask where the tax records are for 1939. Then go look at them! Happy hunting.

Seattle Genealogical Society News

Dec15 by Charles Hansen

INTERESTED IN BECOMING A
BOARD CERTIFIED GENEALOGIST?

Jill Morelli, a recent submitter of her portfolio for BCG certification, has agreed to share her insights about the submission process. Although she won’t know the results for several months, Jill found that preparing her BCG submission was a terrific learning process and she’d like to share this knowledge. She anticipates maybe six, 1-hour sessions, that will be more discussion than presentation. Because so many of the likely attendees work or have other obligations, she would like to run it as a Google Hangout, which limits the number of attendees to 10.

If you are interested, contact Jill at jkmorelli@gmail.com. Sessions will probably start the end of January. SGS members will be given first priority up until the date of January 15. Exact dates and times for the sessions will be determined by consensus of the attendees.

It’s the Annual Deep-Cleaning of the SGS Library
Thursday, December 29 at 10:00 A.M.
COME JOIN THE FUN!

It’s that time of year again; we need to give the library its annual deep-cleaning. If you can help, please call Nancy Haugen, SGS Director of Operations at 206-633-1999. Even if you have just a couple of hours to give, we would be so grateful. Coffee and pastries to start. Hope to see you then.