Author Archives: Charles Hansen

Seattle Genealogical Society Tip of the Week

by Charles Hansen

Seattle

 

Tip of the Week – Ravenstein Atlas of Germany  

Courtesy of the University of Wisconsin an on-line version of Ludwig Ravenstein’s important “Atlas des Deutschen Reichs” published in 1883 is available to all and absolutely free.  In addition to Germany, the maps of this atlas also cover the bordering portions of present-day Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, the Russian Federation, Slovakia, and Switzerland. Even small towns can be located in this very detailed atlas.

There are 30 pages of index/gazetteer (namen-register) pp i-xxx, followed by 4 pages of statistics pp xxxi-xxxiv ,  and finally 11 map sections Ia, Ib, IIIa, IIIb through map section IX. Once you locate your town in the gazetteer portion, proceed to the map and quadrants cited in the gazetteer entry.

Navigating at this site is a little cumbersome and less than intuitive so here’s an example using a search for the town of Offenburg.    Proceed to the site:

https://uwdc.library.wisc.edu/collections/german/ravenstein/

•Click on the   BROWSE THE ATLAS
•Search for word or phrase within this work   Offenburg          Search

That returns 2 matches :
• “Namen-Register Page xix”   and
• “Statistische Page xxxiv”

Click on Page xix ; that displays a useless thumbnail of page 19 in the gazetteer, but above that you’ll see a PDF (154.8B) ; clicking on that opens the 30 page PDF of the gazetteer (takes a little while). Using the arrow, proceed to page 19 and find the Offenburg entry which cites map VII F6.  Back out of this PDF.

Click on the top line “Ravenstein, Ludwig Atlas des Deutschen Reichs”  which will take you to the contents page; find [Map section VII] and click on it. Again it opens a useless thumbnail of the map, but above that is the PDF(14.4MB) you need to click on. Voila, that displays a very detailed map you can Zoom In and Zoom Out at will.  This should keep you entertained for a while.

Seattle Genealogical Society News

by Charles Hansen

Seattle

JUST IN TO THE LIBRARY!

The May/June 2016 issue of Your Genealogy Today is now in the SGS Library. The issue features a synopsis of several different websites for German Surname Distribution Maps. Here you may be able to locate your ancestor’s village! Also featured is an article about solving mysteries in cemeteries. Come on into the library and check out this newest issue of Your Genealogy Today;  it’s on the coffee table!

Don’t Miss SGS’s Featured Speaker:
William Dollarhide !!

Nationally Renowned Speaker and Author
“Finding Solutions to Your Toughest Research Problems”

SGS’s Spring Seminar
May 21st
Fairview Christian School
844 NE 78th Street
Seattle, WA

For more information go to the SGS Website:

http://seattlegenealogicalsociety.org   – or –

call the Library @ 206.622.8658

** Remember if you have a PayPal account you can use the new “Online Registration” feature

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Eastside Genealogical Society German Interest Group Meeting

by Charles Hansen

EGS

Dear Genealogy Friends,

Our  next German Interest Group Meeting will be held next Friday, May 6, 2016, from 1 – 3 p.m.  Please invite your friends and relatives – anyone who would be interested in genealogy and our meeting topics – all are welcome!

The location is:  the LDS Church at 10675 NE 20th Street, Bellevue, WA 98004.

Attached is the flyer for this meeting, as well as one of the Location and Surname Sheet you need to fill out and return to us.  The other alternatives are for you to just send us an email at GermanInterestGroupEGS@outlook.com that lists the German State names, the city/town names, and the surnames that you are researching.  If you don’t fill out the form prior to next Friday’s meeting, please bring it with you.
Flyer for 5-6-16 GIG Meeting
Our program will be:

“Small Group Sharing – Divided into specific German Empire Regions”

We will break into small groups of the 16th States of Germany and adjacent countries for discussion of where our ancestors came from:

Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, and Thuringia.

Discussion will include sharing research tips, possible answers to research questions & maybe locating someone researching in the same village or even the same surname. It will be an interesting & interactive meeting as groups discuss the various parts of Germany, Russia, Poland, France/Alsace, etc., where their German speaking ancestors had lived.

 

Please email us at GermanInterestGroupEGS@outlook.com with a list of the States/Countries your ancestors lived in and the surnames you are researching. Alternatively, you can fill out the attached form and email it to us at the same email address.

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Serendipity Day!

by Charles Hansen

Blurb in our daily paper explained that Spokane has been visited by a dozen U.S. presidents plus some VPs, wives and others. Our list is Taft, Harding, both Roosevelts, Truman, Carter, Nixon, Clinton, Reagan, Ford and GW Bush. How about your town? How many presidential visits do you mark?

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Cemeteries have always been of great interest to family historians. It’s always interesting to me to read about cemeteries of yore and of other cultures. In December 1634, three men set out from Fort Orange (now Albany) New York to make contact with the Mohawks to convince them that the Dutch made better trades than the French or English. They visited a series of villages, “surprising Harmen with their level of civilization. They encountered cemeteries, surrounded by palisades, ‘so neatly made that it was a wonder,’ and graves painted red, white and black. A chief’s tomb they found was large enough to have an entrance and was decorated with carvings and paintings of animals.” (From The Island at the Center of the World: Epic Story of Dutch in Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America, by Russell Shorto, 2005.)

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Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State Meeting

by Charles Hansen

JGSWS_header

 

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State meets on the second Monday of each month, from September through June.  Doors open at 6:30 p.m.  Our meeting location, since September 2013, is the LDS Factoria Building, 4200 124th Ave SE, Bellevue, WA 98006 (in Factoria, just off I-90 and I-405).

NEXT MEETING: Monday, May 9, 2016
at the LDS Factoria Building

  • Presentation starts at 7:15 PM
  • Doors open at 6:30 PM
  • Free admission and refreshments
  • Free Wi-Fi

Come early to use the Family History Library computers and databases, as well as our extensive JGSWS library!

“The Journey of Albert Levy,” presented by Ashley-Rae Bobman
AND “The Beginnings of the Seattle Sephardic Community,” presented by Isaac Azose

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Jefferson County Gen Society Newsflash

by Charles Hansen

JCGS Banner

“I’ve Had My DNA Tested: What Now?”

Many people have had their DNA tested only to get confusing results and don’t know how to utilize them. Mary Kathryn Kozy, a knowledgeable and favorite speaker at the monthly meetings of Jefferson County Genealogical Society (JCGS), plans to help all of us learn what DNA testing is, what it can (and can’t) tell you, and give you some help interpreting those results from your autosomal and/or Y-DNA testing.

Bring your DNA results to the JCGS meeting the morning of Saturday, May 21, 9:30 coffee/tea, 10:00 – 11:30 program, at the Tri-Area Community Center, 10 W. Valley Rd, in Chimicum.

The public is invited to come and participate. In addition to helping people, Mary Kathryn will talk about 3rd party tools, contacting matches (aka “cousins”), and how to determine when more testing needs to be done. Donations for future JCGS programming will be gratefully accepted.  <www.wajcgs.org>

Seattle’s Mary Kathryn Kozy has been doing genealogical researching for over 35 years and in many different areas. She has served in multiple positions in genealogical societies on both local and state levels. Mary Kathryn is currently the Secretary of the Jewish Genealogical Society of WA State and speaks to many groups in the Puget Sound area. She recently completed her second bachelor’s degree in Information Technology and Systems, and is currently enrolled in the ProGen program with an eye toward certification.

THE GENEALOGICAL FORUM OF OREGON Wednesday Evening E-News

by Charles Hansen

GFO1

THE GENEALOGICAL FORUM OF OREGON Wednesday Evening E-News 27 April 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.

Calling All Volunteers, Saturday, April 30, 2016!

LAundry

Have an hour to spare to help us spruce up the GFO Library this Saturday?
We could use a few helping hands on Saturday, April 30, 2:30 p.m. to spiff-up and clean the GFO Library in preparation for a special event taking place on Sunday, May 1. What are we talking about? Spending about 1 hour or so doing some moving and re-arranging of tables and chairs, vacuuming, dusting, and table and chair surface cleaning.

If you can help, please shoot Cathy Lauer an e-mail at catlauer@comcast.net and let her know!

And as always, thank you for all you do. Your contributions are what keep the GFO’s doors open each year!

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Kittitas Valley Gen Society Newsflash

by Charles Hansen

KCGS_logo

 

Next Kittitas Co. Genealogical Society meeting May 2nd is

A Field Trip to the CWU library , which has an archives–different from the State Archives on the CWU campus.  CWU library is the huge 4 story building on south side of 14th Ave in Ellensburg WA, a block East of D Street (Wildcat Way). Entrance on East side of that CWU library.

Meeting will be by 3rd floor desk, but we can meet at 6:45 PM in CWU library lobby.

Easiest parking if you can walk easily is SW corner of 14th and D St (Wildcat Way), or get dropped off, or take your chances getting parking at the CWU library lot.

Those archivists actually did attend our April meeting and should be ready for us.

Speaking of Family History Center, starting May 1, their new hours will be Wed 10-noon, and BY APPT ONLY at 7pm (if Thurs evening inconvenient).  Thurs 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm and every week evening hours Thurs. 7 pm- 8:30 pm. For appointments and questions call Director Christine Fowler 509-306-9279.  We will be open this summer.  As of now, the only week for sure closed is 4th of July week.  KCGS member Tuck Forsythe works Wed 10-12 shift, but rarely during the summer.  You pump up your skills&spirit, just by coming in to experience Chris Fowler’s infectious enthusiasm!

 

 Special announcements:

Wed Apr 27 our KCGS library will not be open only 10 AM – noon so that afternoon, Mary can attend county archive-librarians association CAMAH meeting.

 June Meeting also a field trip Sat June 25th to KCGS member Angela Neller’s new interpretive museum at Priest Rapids Dam on Columbia River.  Angie spent 5 years planning this great new museum.  Car Pool at 9 AM in parking lot on Water Street behind our KCGS office. BRING A SACK LUNCH.

 7 pm June 6th (would have been our meeting night) President Diane Huckabay will show movies of Priest Rapids (or other) dam construction, preparatory to our field trip there 9AMJune 25th, 2016.

 Friday May 13th from 2 pm to 5 pm at the 420 Building (SE corner of Pearl and 5th in Ellensburg) President Diane Huckabay will show us how to learn digital indexing of 1890s newspapers currently stored in our KCGS library.  She needs to train more of us to help make an index to genealogical events in 1897 Ellensburg newspapers.

 August 14 at 4pm annual KCGS picnic at Mary and Lew Christensens’s home (also her childhood Mary Lou Rizer’s home) 60 Moe Road (directions coming later).

 No Sept meeting because of Labor Day and County Fair

Oct program Judy Clayton

Nov program Erik Bakke on Special Censuses

5 Dec 6 PM Annual KCGS Dinner (if you pay your fee early) at Methodist Church

 PLEA TO TELL Tuck Forsythe, Treas, who returned 2016 KCGS membership payment a month ago in a self-­addressed-stamped envelope (it was just cash with no name)  Whom should I credit with 2016 dues?

Tuck’s email  : forsythe (at) fairpoint.net

Or KCGS, 413 N. Main St, Suite L, Ellensburg WA 98926-3083

or  Tuck’s phone message 509 925 2356

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Serendipity Day

by Charles Hansen

Did you get the answers to my trivia-quiz?  The sun never sets in northern Norway from May 12 until August 1st………….. no wonder one reason possibly why our Norwegian ancestors wanted to come to the sunny U.S. Midwest.  Robinson Caruso was the fictional character created by Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk.  And it was true, the Spanish Flu sprang to life at Fort Riley, Kansas, was carried over to Europe and then back to the U.S. Who guessed correctly?

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Few weeks back I explained a bit about burned counties. (From James Tanner’s Genealogy’s Star blog, Monday, March 7th.) I referred you to the FamilySearch Research Wiki, article on “Burned Counties Research,” and the map that accompanied this Wiki article.  One thing we must realize is that a burned courthouse is not the end of the records or the research world. Tanner explained in that post that if/when you encounter a burned county, “look for records in adjoining counties and other jurisdictions….. here are some of the places you might start looking:”

  • University libraries, especially special collections sections
  • Local, county and state libraries
  • Adjoining counties
  • State and local archives
  • Local and state historical societies

“Remember,” Tanner added, “that the same type of information you are searching for may also be in alternative records kept in another level of jurisdiction. A good place to start is a record selection table. See the FamilySearch.org Research Wiki, “United States Record Selection Table.”

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