Author Archives: Charles Hansen

THE GENEALOGICAL FORUM’s Wednesday Evening E-News

by Charles Hansen

GFO1

THE GENEALOGICAL FORUM’s Wednesday Evening E-News 28 September 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 go to www.gfo.org/calendar.htm.

Also, if you missed your free copy of our monthly Insider for August 2016, you’re in luck because we saved you a copy at http://www.gfo.org/insider/16-Aug.pdf.

***
Joshua

Notice: Fall Seminar has a WAITING LIST

Thank you all for your registrations. We have reached capacity. BUT!! If you’d like to be put on the waiting list, please email seminar@gfo.org today!

Hope to see you at the The Milwaukie Center on Saturday, Oct 15th, 10am – 4:30pm.

Continue reading →

Kittitas County Genealogical Society Meeting

by Charles Hansen

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October 3, 2016 General Meeting:
Judy Clayton will present “Mysteries and Discoveries from DNA Testing

Kittitas Co Genealogical Society Meeting Mon Oct 3 7PM 413 N Main St, Ellensburg WA & Bob Wieking (actually Nancy) will be providing our refreshments

 

[Background explanation for Judy’s DNA talk]

In KCGS library are more copies of solution to 200 year mystery of origin of Abe Lincoln’s mother, Nancy Hanks.

It’s okay to merely appreciate the mystery and the surprise answer. But the background in cellular DNA testing is that there are 3 different kinds of DNA birth parent tests now:

  • First we had the test like Candace Hooper used to find out why her genetics were so different from her apparent “Hoopers.” That tests the similarity of the Y-chromosome that boys get from their Dad’s Dad’s Dad’s Dad’s Dad etc.
  • Nowadays AUTOSOMAL-DNA is a generally useful DNA test for similarity anywhere among your genetic ancestors for about 4 or 5 generations back.  Ancestry.com mostly uses Autosomal DNA tests of the similarity of your 22 non-sex chromosomes (to other people’s test results).  It’s more reliable, for more lines and for further generations, if multiple siblings (close relatives) all get tested, because any one person could happen to receive an abnormally low percentage of DNA from a particular ancestral line.  AND ANCESTRY.COM DNA TESTS tell us more if we attach to the test-results-section, a simplified ancestry.com of our family tree.  If the DNA correlation to another sample is low, Ancestry.com may only report it to you if both you and the other submitter list the same people among their online tree.
  • Your genetic father only contributes, to your cellular make-up, a tiny bit of DNA from the cell nucleus.  All the rest of each of your body cells’ makeup came directly from your birth mother (and from her mom’s mom’s mom).  And one of the non-nuclear inclusions in your cells is/are called Mitochondria, which give us our energy.  But for DNA studies Mitochondia have some of their own DNA, unrelated to your chromosomal DNA in your cell nuclei.  So if our family history mystery concerns “Who was the mother?” mt-DNA (mitochrondial) is a useful genetic test for the similarity to possible maternal lines.  Abe Lincoln’s mother’s mitochondrial DNA happened to be of an unusual type; so her maternal genetic similarities were extremely certain.

 

Tri-City Genealogical Society Monthly Meeting

by Charles Hansen

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Tri-City Genealogical Society

Monthly Meeting:  Wednesday, October 12th

Place:  Charbonneau Retirement Center- 8264 Grandridge-Kennewick

Time:   7:00 p.m.

Topic:  Find-A-Grave and Billion Graves 

             Learn how to use these graves registration websites

             Learn how to search for an individual/cemetery 

             Learn how to post a memorial, add a photo or a document

 

Speaker:  Veronica Anguiano

 

For more information, please contact summerfest.44@gmail.com

Heritage Quest Research Library Autumn Quest

by Charles Hansen

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October is Family History Month and HQRL is celebrating in a     big way with 3 days of Autumn Quest and 3 NEW classes.
As a courtesy to  our patrons and instructors, please refrain from wearing perfume or heavy cologne in the classroom.

October

Autumn Quest

If you are unable to attend Saturday’s Seminar, 

you may still register for the Friday and Saturday classes.

 

Please note the change of instructor at this class and HQRL hours. 

Friday, October 7th, 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. $15.00

“Resources to Tap into Washington State from the Comfort of Your Home,” with Janet O’Conor  Camarata at HQRL

Washington State is digitized! Come and learn about the many resources available. This will cover more than Washington state ancestors. HQRL is open 10:00 – 4:00 p.m. It will remain open for Seminar attendees. 4 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

 

Saturday, October 8th, 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. ($60.00 includes lunch), “Enriching Research through Library Sources,” with Curt B. Wicher, (held at the Emerald Queen Ballroom & Conference Center). No walk-ins.

 

Please note the change of HQRL hours.

Sunday, October 9th, 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. $15.00

“Hidden Treasures at HQRL,” with Dee Haviland Fournier at HQRL

A gold-mine tour explore the books, microforms, compact disk, and other non-database resources available at HQRL.  HQRL will be open from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. for Seminar attendees.

 

Back to our classes at HQRL. . . . . . . . . . . . .

 

Thursday, October 20st, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. $15.00

“The Palatines. Who are they? And why should you care! with Jim Johnson. 

Jim will answer the burning question –What is a Palatine? He will explore where they came from, where they settled and how you can find lists of Palatine names and information about these German and/or Irish ancestors. Yes, he said, “IRISH.” He will also discuss resources you can use to make your Palatine connection. Join Jim for this informative class.

An additional class:

Tuesday, October 25th, 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. $15.00
Voices From the Past: Researching Old Letters and Diaries with Janet O’Conor Camarata   $15.00

Old letters, diaries, journals and other handwritten items are primary sources of genealogical information and an can offer an intimate look into the hearts and minds of our ancestors. They offer valuable, exciting and sometimes challenging opportunities for discovering missing pieces to the family puzzle, giving valuable clues of where to look next. Learn tips on what to look for, what questions to ask, tools for transcribing, how to archive and organize the gems we have hidden in our family papers.

  

Saturday, October 29th, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 pm $15.00

“How to find your Revolutionary War Ancestor in 90 Minutes” with Ann Crawford. 

Ann is currently serving as DAR Registrar for the Mary Bell Chapter in Tacoma. She will talk about the Revolutionary War, Patriots and Posers. More information to follow.

 

 

Saturday, November 5th, 9:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. $15.00 (The HQRL library will open at 9:00 a .m. for this event.)

Steven Morrison will present this special event.

The Quakers are coming! The Quakers are coming!

Join us as we learn about the Quakers in this two topic event. There will be a short break between classes.

Simply Amazing – US Quaker Records on Ancestry .com

The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) was one of the largest religions in colonial America. Finding a Quaker ancestor may open multiple brick walls. Learn the basics of Quaker church records and discover how rich these records are for your genealogical research.

 

Irish Friends Migration to Pennsylvania – Uncovering an Ulster Family Story

        Did you know that the Quakers (Religious Society of Friends) were one of three major religions in America prior to the revolution? While small in numbers, the travels of the Irish Friends are so well documented they provide a migration template for English-speaking nonconformists.

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Thursday, November 17th, 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.  FREE “Beginning Family History Research,” with Dee Haviland Fournier

Join Dee in a FREE class and learn about Heritage Quest Research Library (HQRL). This class will help you in the search for your ancestors, by learning how to find and use birth, marriage, and death records, along with a discussion on how to use census records to further your research and some genealogy hints. Everyone is welcome and you may attend as many times as you like.

 

No classes during the month of December.

 

*3 ways to sign-up:*

1. In person at HQRL, 1007 S. Main St., Sumner, WA. The sign-up notebook is at the Front Desk.

2. E-mail *HQRLinfo@gmail.com <HQRLinfo@gmail.com>* – provide name, telephone number and your HQRL membership number, if you are a member.

3. Telephone HQRL at 253-863-1806 between 10:00 am – 4 pm, Monday through Saturday. Provide your name, telephone number and HQRL membership number, if           you are a member.

Olympia Genealogical Society October Meeting

by Charles Hansen

 

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Visiting Your Ancestral Town– Carolyn Schott will help you experience the places where your family lived at the Olympia Genealogical Society meeting on Thursday October 13, 7-9 pm at Thurston County Courthouse, Bldg 1, Room 152. 360-451-1059

Thank-you   JOYCE OGDEN  publicity

=======================================================================                                                                  Joyce T. Ogden             jtogden@comcast.net

YAKIMA VALLEY GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY Fall Workshop

by Charles Hansen

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Take a road trip to Yakima on Friday, the last day of September and enjoy the Union Gap Agricultural Museum tram tours on a beautiful fall day.  Then, Saturday October 1 attend the Yakima Genealogy Society fall workshop 9:00 am to 4:00 pm at Mt. Olive Church 7809 Tieton Drive.  12 separate genealogical classes.

YAKIMA VALLEY GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY
Fall Workshop:  Saturday, October 1, 2016
Mt Olive Lutheran Church 7809 Tieton Dr
Registration: 8:15-8:45am; Announcements 8:45-9:00am
Morning Classes 9:00 -12:00; Lunch 12-1; Afternoon Classes 1:00-3:45
Session 1: 9-10:15
  1. Genealogy Photo Preservation
  2. Military Pension Acts
  3. Windows 10 Basics
Session 2: 10:30-11:45
  1. River Migrations
  2. Immigrant Labor: Treatment & Records
  3. Washington State Central Archives
Session 3: 1-2:15
  1. Online Foreign Newspapers
  2. Quaker Records
  3. Adoption Family Research & DNA
Session 4: 2:30-3:45
  1. Using Biographical Sketches in Genealogy Research
  2. Catholic Records
  3. Life Aboard Ship: The Immigrant Experience
Workshop Fee $20, includes Handouts & Hot Dog Lunch                                          $_________
Lunch can’t be guaranteed with registration after Sept 29 & at the door.
Make check payable to YVGS
Send to YVGS 1901 S 12th Ave Union Gap, WA  98903
—————————————————Cut Line———————————————————–
NAME_________________________________________________________________
ADDRESS______________________________________________________________
CITY__________________________________________STATE__________ZIP:______
PHONE:_________________________EMAIL:_________________________________
Circle Letter of Class You Want to Attend (1 per session):   A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I   J   K   L

Serendipity Day

by Charles Hansen

** Tibetan Dress Customs

** Why You Might Not Find Your Ancestor’s Grave

** Egyptian Genealogy

** Was Your Ancestor a German Redemptioner?

 

From the book, Seven Years in Tibet, by Heinrich Harrer, who lived in Tibet in the 1940s and 1950s and wrote his famous book in 1982. And was turned into a great movie with Brad Pitt!  I learned so much about the Tibetan people from enjoying this book and could have copied out endless bits for you but will settle on this one….just in case you might have Tibetan ancestors:

Tibean

“(Now spring had come). The season of sandstorms was over, and the peach trees were in blossom. On the neighboring peaks, the last remnants of the snow shone blindly white in the warm sunshine. One day the summer season was officially declared to have begun, and the summer clothes might be worn. One had no right to leave off one’s furs when one wanted to. Every year, after considerations of the omens, a day was fixed on which the notables and monks put on summer dress. The weather might have been very warm or snowstorms might follow. That did not matter. Summer dress must be work from that date only. The same thing happens in autumn, when winter dress is officially resumed. I continually used to hear complaints that the changeover had come too coon or too late and that people were stifling hot or half frozen.”

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This next was penned by Janet Margolis Damm, member of the Whitman County Genealogical Society (which is 75 miles south of Spokane). She wrote and submitted this bit to her society’s newsletter and I share it with you with her permission.

Why you will not find your ancestors headstones! By Janet Margolis Damm

If you have ever been to France or Germany or many other countries in Europe looking for your ancestor’s gravesites, you probably couldn’t find any headstone. I visited cemeteries in Germany in the early 2000s looking for my ancestors and could not find stones with a death date before the 1960’s. At the time no one told me about the charnel house tradition. I didn’t even know what the word charnel meant. A few months ago I found out and I am passing this knowledge on to you.

Charnel House, Beinhaus, bone house or ossuary are all names for the same thing. A charnel house is a vault or building where human skeletal remains are stored. They are often built near churches for depositing bones that are unearthed while digging graves. In countries where ground suitable for burial was scarce, corpses would be interred for approximately five years following death, thereby allowing decomposition to occur. Germany interred remains for 30 years. After this, the remains would be exhumed and moved to an ossuary or charnel house, thereby allowing the original burial place to be reused.

Donna:  You want some most interesting browsing and then reading? Google the term ossuary German and you’ll get an afternoon’s worth of reading hits.

********************** Continue reading →

Seattle Genealogical Society October Seminar

by Charles Hansen

seminar

The author of the best new book on using DNA for genealogy is giving a seminar in Seattle 9 am Sat Oct 15th

 

For brochure or to sign up, see:

http://www.seattlegenealogicalsociety.org/content/seminars

 

Speaker and author Emily Aulicino is the Regional Coordinator for the International Society of Genetic Genealogists (ISOGG) for Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. She teaches genetic genealogy classes at the Genealogical Forum of Oregon in Portland and manages 13 different DNA projects through Family Tree DNA. Ms. Aulicino is the author of Genetic Genealogy: The Basics and Beyond.[which Tuck has order for KCGS libreary] She also teaches weekly classes on writing childhood memories and family stories.

Our seminar features 5 sessions. The morning sessions will have two track options – beginner and advanced. Choose which track to attend based on your interest and level of knowledge in genetic genealogy. Members of the SGS DNA Special Interest Group will assist with the presentations. We’ll break for lunch, and then come together again for the final three sessions.

 

 

Saturday, 15 October 2016
9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

$40 for member/$50 for non-members
Boxed lunch for $12 – sandwiches and gluten free salad options
Registration deadline is October 8th, $50/$60 after deadline

Further questions can be directed to Sandra Stark
seminar@seattlegenealogicalsociety.org(link sends e-mail)

Fairview Christian School
844 NE 78th Street
Seattle, WA

Doors open at 8:00 a.m.
Welcome at 9:00 a.m.

 

THE GENEALOGICAL FORUM’s Wednesday Evening E-News

by Charles Hansen

GFO1

THE GENEALOGICAL FORUM’s Wednesday Evening E-News 21 September 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 go to www.gfo.org/calendar.htm.

Also, if you missed your free copy of our monthly Insider for August 2016, you’re in luck because we saved you a copy at http://www.gfo.org/insider/16-Aug.pdf.

***

Joshua

Notice: Fall Seminar is SOLD OUT
.

Thank you all for your registrations. We have reached capacity.

See you at the The Milwaukie Center on Saturday, Oct 15th, 10am – 4:30pm.

***

archives

OREGON ARCHIVES CRAWL, Saturday, Oct 8th, 11am – 3pm
Portland-Area Archives and Historical Repositories, Unite!!

Come meander between to this year’s 3 downtown hosting repositories (stop by at the GFO’s table to see how we’re doing with our Digital Manuscript Collection), the City of Portland Archives & Records Center, the Oregon Historical Society and the Multnomah County Library. What a lovely day this will be! Lots of historical and archival talks, with lovely short jaunts through Portland’s beautiful and mysterious downtown.

Hope to see you there at GFO’s table at the Oregon Historical Society!! Click HERE for more information.

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GFO’s September 2016 Star – April Ober

april

April is a knowledgeable, helpful GFO member who sees and instinctively knows what needs to be done…and makes it happen! April has served on the Seminar Committee for many years, picking up speakers EARLY the morning of the seminar and driving them to the seminar location. April also works at the seminar registration table and attendees are welcomed with a smile and a warm greeting as they arrive to receive name tags and materials.

April volunteers as a Research Assistant on Monday mornings. The person who nominated April noted that it is a challenge for her to come to the Forum due to parking issues, so a few weeks ago, April offered to pick her up so she could enjoy a few hours researching at the Library – and both had a great time!

April is a true team player with excellent ideas.

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Hot Links in Genealogy

allthings

2016 Milwaukie Stake Family History Conference
Come learn about “All Things Relative” on Sat. Oct 22nd, from 9:00am-4:00pm, at 8331 Cason Rd., Gladstone (exit 11 off of 205). The conference and lunch are both free with pre-registration going on now through Oct. 20th. Click HERE for more info.
Family Histories Writing Class
Learn to write down your memories, thoughts, major events, and experience and collect them together into a simple book. You can also combine stores with records, recipes, photos or memorabilia.
WHERE: Pioneer Adult Community Center, 615 5th St., Oregon City.
WHEN: Thursdays, Sep 29th-Dec 8th 10:30-11:30 (11 classes).
WHO: Instructor Kathryn Litjeholm.
HOW: Call for registration at 503-380-1504 (fee $100, 62+ $66).

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What’s Happening this Week at the GFO?

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24TH
Italian Interest Group 11am – 1pm

Ciao to everyone interested in Italian genealogy research. This is a great opportunity to learn, share, and enjoy others with a common interest. Italian genealogy research in the Portland area now has a home. Come join our group. Facilitated by Keith Pyeatt.

British Interest Group 1pm – 3pm

Come join us to research family history in the British Isles, including England, Wales, Scotland, and Scots-Irish. We try to have speakers who provide interesting experiences or online databases for research in these countries. One hour of the two hour meeting is devoted to brick wall questions.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25TH
Library Work Party

There’s another work party at the GFO library today for those of you who can come. There’s lots to do and we’d love to have your help. Doors open at 9am and work usually wraps up around noon. Some people come for just an hour or so and you’re welcome to do the same. Any time you can share is valuable. Hope to see you there.