Author Archives: Charles Hansen

Northeast Washington Genealogical Society September Workshop

by Charles Hansen

NeWGS LOGO cropped

 

Saturday, September 17NeWGS Annual Workshop- Unlocking Our National Treasures

9:00 am to 4:00 pm

Ambulance Shack at the north end of Colville (east of the Roundabout)

Our presenter will be Carol Buswell who has been the Education Specialist for the National Archives at Seattle for the past 10 years, which holds 41,000 cubic feet of permanently valuable Federal Government documents from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska.   She also has worked as a sixth grade teacher, published author, public speaker, small scale publisher, and bookstore owner.   She writes and speaks about the National Archives, American Indian history, genealogy, and topics in Education.  She holds degrees in Elementary Education, Fine Arts, and American Indian Studies.

 

Her topics include general information on the records held by NARA and what’s online, immigration and naturalization records, census records and the WPA and depression era records.

2016 Fall Seminar flyer

Kittitas County Genealogical Society Events

by Charles Hansen

KCGS_logo

Kittitas Co Genealogical Soc events:

June 25 Meeting is a field trip 8:50 AM (we depart at 9AM) Sat June 25 from parking lot on Water St in Ellensburg WA, behind our KCGS library. We’re visiting Wanapum Heritage Center, whose prime-mover, for years, has been our KCGS-member Angela Neller.  Their phone is 509-766-3461, if you want to meet us there at Priest Rapids Dam & website

http://www.grantpud.org/community/the-wanapum/wanapum-heritage-center

for directions and explanations.  Bring a brown bag lunch to eat there

 

Usual meeting time Mon June 6 at 7pm

Come see movies of construction of the Wanapum or Priest Rapids dams at

Library 413 N. Main St Suite L, Ellensburg WA

 

No meeting in July, as 4th would be our meeting night.

 

Genealogy Annual Potluck Picnic

Sunday Aug 14 at 4 pm at home of Mary and Lew Christensen, 60 Moe Road, at corner of Moe&Tjossem Rds.  Please bring something to share – a salad, fruit, meat, a side dish or dessert.  Hosts will furnish beverages and table service.  Come enjoy this time of fellowship with others in our society.

Guests are WELCOME!

 

No Sept 2016 meeting because of Labor Day and Rodeo-County Fair conflict

 

Our October 3, 2016 7pm meeting will have a program related to DNA-genealogy, by our member Judy Clayton.

 

Our November 7, 2016  7pm meeting will have a program on special censuses, such as Mortality schedules of the US federal censuses, by our member Erik Bakke.

 

Annual Christmas Dinner by the Methodists:

Monday Dec 6th at 6 pm at Methodist Church 208 N. Ruby St Ellensburg, for members and guests who pay about 2 weeks ahead of time.

 

 

Kittitas County Gen Society Newsflash

by Charles Hansen

KCGS_logo

Kittitas Co Genealogical Soc events:

June 25 Meeting is a field trip 8:50 AM (we depart at 9AM) Sat June 25 from parking lot on Water St in Ellensburg WA, behind our KCGS library. We’re visiting Wanapum Heritage Center, whose prime-mover, for years, has been our KCGS-member Angela Neller.  Their phone is 509-766-3461, if you want to meet us there at Priest Rapids Dam & website

http://www.grantpud.org/community/the-wanapum/wanapum-heritage-center  for directions and explanations.  Bring a brown bag lunch to eat there.

 

Usual meeting time Mon June 6 at 7pm

Come see movies of construction of the Wanapum or Priest Rapids dams at

Library 413 N. Main St Suite L, Ellensburg WA

THE GENEALOGICAL FORUM Wednesday Evening E-News

by Charles Hansen

GFO1

THE GENEALOGICAL FORUM Wednesday Evening E-News 1 June 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, you’re in luck because we saved you a copy at http://www.gfo.org/insider/16-May.pdf.

***

TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER! YOUR GERMAN ONE THIS TIME PLEASE…ALSO, DO YOU HAVE THOSE SPECIAL BOOKS ON GERMAN MAP PARISH GUIDES?? Firstly…
The GFO’s German Interest Group is in need of a brave new soul to lead this flock of researching fans! Won’t you help? Are you ready for the challenge? We think you definitely are!

If destiny’s calling, please give the library a call at 503-963-1932 or email volunteer@gfo.org to help out in this very vital way!

Visit the German Interest Group website for a peek at what they’ve been up to, and what we’ll all be missing with the upcoming retirement of their fearless leader, Nanci Remington, after Saturday, June 4, 2016.

Continue reading →

Whitman County Gen Society Newsflash

by Charles Hansen

WCGS

SAVE THE DATE!
Your WCGS is planning a “summer gathering” on Saturday morning July 9. We will meet at 10 AM to tour McConnell Mansion, 327 E. Second in Moscow, Idaho, followed by a tour of the Latah County Historical Society Centennial Annex across the street. After these tours those interested can
plan lunch together.

Latah

 

When one lives in a place near a state border, it is always good to check out
resources across the state line. Many times there are birth, death, marriage and land records just across the border. A good tip to remember wherever you are researching!

Northeast Washington Gen Society Newsflash

by Charles Hansen

NeWGS LOGO cropped

 

The next Northeast Washington Genealogical Society meetings are on Wednesday, June 8, 2016. 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.

NeWGS President, Susan Dechant, will share several scanning options available to us for digitizing those old photos we have been lucky enough to find and a few tricks for enhancing and improving faded or damaged ones.

We will take a lunch break at noon and then meet at the Evergreen Cemetery located on Aladdin Road approximately one mile north of Highway 20 here in Colville at 1:30 p.m.

NeWGS board member and Chairman of the Evergreen Cemetery Restoration Project, Lora Rose, has spent hours and hours cleaning and improving the Evergreen cemetery. Additionally she spends hours researching and inputting valuable genealogical information on the NeWGS Cemetery page of our website (www.newgs.org) .

NeWGS has a long history of caretaking and restoring this pioneer cemetery that is such an integral part of the history of Colville and its citizens past and present. This is the time of year that the cemetery gets a special clean-up for Memorial Day when we have numerous visitors. We invite anyone who would like to learn more about the history and the inhabitants of the cemetery to join Lora as she leads us on a walk through time and introduces us to some of the characters who built this community in the 1800’s forward.

For those of you who are able to walk across a small field there is public parking in the parking lot next to the old abandoned outhouse just before you come to the main entrance to the cemetery. There is some space for parking in the cemetery near the road. We ask that you please do not park near the grave markers on the grass. There are many unmarked graves.

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

Jefferson County Gen Society Newsflash

by Charles Hansen

Jefferson Co GS

LOOKING BEYOND THE DEEDS

When researching your family history, land records can be a “treasure chest” of information. Deeds and transfer of ownership are only half the story! Understanding survey systems, survey maps, and connected survey maps can answer questions like nothing else. Mapping your findings can be fun and illuminating. The public is welcome to hear about using this additional research avenue at the Jefferson County Genealogical Society (JCGS) monthly meeting on Saturday, June 18 at the Tri-Area Community Center, 10 W. Valley Rd.  Come at 9:30 A.M. for coffee/tea; 10:00 – 11:30 for the program.  Donations to JCGS are gratefully accepted to bring future guest speakers into our area.

Eric Stroschein photo

JCGS is delighted to bring this month’s speaker, Eric Stroschein, a professional Forensic Genealogist from Mt. Vernon, WA to the Quimper Peninsula. He and his wife Karen own “Generations Detective”, a genealogical research firm where he specializes in resolving difficult genealogical questions using land records as an important resource in his work. One case used over 250 individual pieces of evidence including deeds, surveys and connected survey maps of the county to pinpoint the locations of dozens of people, proving their town had been covered by a reservoir. When Eric is not researching, he can be found at his ‘day job’ driving a fire engine for the Seattle Fire Department where he is a 26-year veteran. Eric serves on the Board of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) and is Chairperson of the Advocacy Committee. He also serves as a representative on the Records Preservation and Access Committee for the Federation of Genealogical Societies. He is past President of the Puget Sound Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists and is in his second term as a Board member of the International Society for British Genealogy and Family History.

 

 

Seattle Genealogical Society Tip of the Week

by Charles Hansen

Seattle

 

TIP OF THE WEEK – WRITTEN IN STONE

Anyone who has tried to glean information from an ancestor’s centuries old gravestone realizes while “written in stone” by definition means permanent, in reality weathering of the stone renders many inscriptions impossible or difficult to read.  Applying chalk, flour, cornmeal, cornstarch, shaving cream, or doing crayon rubbings  to make inscriptions more legible were once popular techniques.  Please do not use these substances. They may seem benign, but they are harmful.   Here’s a couple of tips using aluminum foil that are not harmful to the stone.

Aluminum foil impression  – this works best with the thinnest, cheapest foil you can find and a damp sponge or clean, soft brush such as a makeup brush. Apply the foil shiny side down on the gravestone and gently press the foil against the stone with a damp sponge or soft brush. Carefully remove the foil from the stone and almost magically things that had not been discernible to your naked eye appear imprinted in the foil.

Remember if you find it necessary to secure the foil to the gravestone, do not apply any tape directly to the stone. Instead encircle the gravestone with the foil, overlapping the ends, and only tape foil to foil. Some cemeteries don’t allow visitors to touch the gravestones at all so check that out before taking a foil impression.

Aluminum foil mirror –  cloudy overcast and shadows make older stones more difficult to read so try visiting cemeteries on bright, sunny days when the sun is high in the sky.  It’s also suggested you bring a large mirror to cast light diagonally across the face of a difficult to read gravestone like a professional photographer would use a silver reflector board.  The mirror should be taller than the headstone.   In place of a cumbersome and breakable full length mirror, cover a large piece of cardboard with aluminum foil, shiny side out.  Use this as your full length mirror. This technique will require two people; one to direct the light with the foil mirror and another person to do the reading and/or photography   Try adding a powerful flashlight to your arsenal of equipment.  Experiment with the angles and reflecting light back onto the gravestone.

Happy headstone hunting to you and here are two links as examples of what you might expect from an aluminum foil impression.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=33059891

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=38952943