1910 swimming costumes
Author Archives: Donna Phillips
Let’s Talk About: WikiTree & Geni
I heard a respected genealogy expert (Arlene Eakle) once say that you could and should check 50 sources to fully document any one family group. Bet we’ve not been doing that, right?
Two places we might look are places were family trees are posted and genealogists collaborate. WikiTree has been around since 2009, currently (as of March 2026) has 1,326,162 community members with 44,622,928 ancestors on trees. Geni offers 208,319,099 profiles connected in its trees.
Both websites are free so why not check them out?
Wikitree Strong Points: strong focus on accuracy and sourcing; collaborative environment, free access and helpful community. Potential Weaknesses: relies on user input; potential for inaccuracies and unsourced claims, not a record repository and can be clunky and unintuitive.
Geni Strong Points: collaborative world family tree; curator program, DNA features, GEDCOM support. Limitations: reliance on user-generated content; lack of internal record database and does offer subscription for premium features.
Recommendations: always verify information; focus on well-sourced profiles, consult original sources whenever possible, don’t rely on any one tree for all your information; use these collaborative websites as starting points not definitive sources; always cite your sources.
Let’s Talk About: Money Laundering
No, not the illegal process of making large amounts of money generated by criminal activity. I’m talking about with-soap-and-water WASHING money. No, not in a wringer washing machine.
Spotting this tidbit in the March 19, 1910 issue of the Colville Examiner, I just had to share it with you: “Representative Wiley of New Jersey has a bill before Congress providing that all paper money which reaches the treasury be burned and new clean currency furnished in lieu of it. In support of this measure he had a current $1 bill microscopically examined and the report on its condition laid before the house committee on banking and currency. The bill in question had on it 92,000 germs of different diseases and paper money generally has been found to carry germs of smallpox, scarlet fever, typhoid, tuberculosis and diphtheria. Desiring to aid in this crusade against diseased paper money, the Examiner hereby announces that anyone having dirty paper money in their possession may bring it to this office and receive in exchange a clean paper every week in the year. An editor takes so many chances in this world that a few million germs more will not make any great difference. It’s the absence of these money germs that makes trouble for us.”
This is a hoot! I think the newspaper is saying “Baloney!” to the idea of “dirty money” and just telling folks to come in and subscribe to the paper……… bring your money to this office and exchange it for a clean paper every week???? Too funny.
What is really too funny is that Spokane’s historic Davenport Hotel, during this same time period, offered the service to its guests of washing their coins and pressing their currency as part of a high-end service idea. Supposedly this added to the prestige of the hotel.
Let’s Talk About: McNeil Island & Prison
First off, McNeil Island was, indeed, a tiny seven-square-miles island in Puget Sound west of Tacoma. Its name comes from William Henry McNeil, a captain of some Hudson Bay Company steamers. Oregon Trail pioneer and advocate, Ezra Meeker had a homestead on McNeil Island where the prison yard would be but sold it in 1862. (Isn’t it interesting how history overlaps?)
In 1867, Congress authorized a territorial jail in the Washington Territory; in 1875 this became a federal penitentiary. The original cellhouse was built in 1873; by the end of 1875 the total prison population was nine. There are several websites available to you giving a chronological history of the place and are most interesting reads. At one time, the island provided for itself by raising vegetables, fruit, pork, beef and milk. By 1947, the incarcerated population was 320 individuals. Additional prison cells were added as the inmate population increased as did the housing facilities for the prison staff. McNeil ultimately had a capacity of 853 prisoners; the prison was closed in 2011and the land was deeded to the Washington State Department of Fish & Wildlife for continued use as a wildlife refuge.
One of the more famous inmates was Robert Franklin Stroud whose story was portrayed by Burt Lancaster in the movie Birdman of Alcatraz. (He was at McNeil but the movie was Alcatraz??)
Perhaps one of your family members was a “guest” at McNeil Island? Want to find out?
The McNeil Island Penitentiary records, spanning 1875-2010, are primarily held by the National Archives at Seattle and the Washington State Archives, Digital Archives. They include inmate case files, mugshots and registers of prisoners received. Key digital records are accessible through Ancestry.com and the Washington State Archives, Digital Archives (www.digitalarchives.wa.gov).
Let’s Talk About: Indian Princess Buried In Utah?
Some time ago, a friend told me that as a youngster, she enjoyed roaming a nearby cemetery where she lived in Beaver, Utah. She clearly remembers seeing this tombstone and asking folks who this was? Here’s what Google taught us:
“The “Indian princess” story associated with Beaver, Utah, is a family legend about an East Indian woman who converted to the LDS faith and moved to Beaver. The narrative is a specific family tale and there is no historical record of an “Indian princess” of this kind in Native American history or in the founding of Beaver, Utah. The concept of an “Indian princess” is often a romanticized and inaccurate portrayal of Native American nobility which didn’t exist in the European sense.”
Just for fun, I did some sleuthing on FindAGrave. Entering “King” in the first name box yielded 15,958 hits. Entering “unknown” showed 307,472 hits. What really was sad was the entries for “baby” as the first name: 786,412. This one really was awfully sad.
Let’s Talk About: FindAGrave vs. BillionGraves
I’d bet we all use one of these cemetery-searching websites. Maybe some of us use both. Is one better than the other? What’s the difference between the two? Well!
The focus of Findagrave.com is on the individual. Contributors can create a “memorial” (web page) for anyone. There is no requirement for a photograph of a headstone or anything else but a name. BUT a Findagrave memorial can potentially contain much additional information such as biographical information, photos, obituaries and information on other family members.
The focus of Billiongraves.com is photographs of headstones with their geolocation tags. To submit a photo to BillionGraves, one must use their app and a GPS enabled camera or smart phone. Having these GPS coordinates, can save hours of wandering time when visiting a large cemetery.
Both websites are free to use, so you decide. Just do realize that all of the information on these two websites is secondary, not primary (with the exception of the location of the grave). Despite efforts to ensure accuracy, there is no way on either site to document the primary sources of the information…. with the exception again of folks adding other forms of documentation.
Even though a date is “carved in stone” the stone is a secondary source, not a birth or death certificate.
Let’s Talk About: Women’s Safety Bicycles
In the carriage house adjacent to the Campbell House in Spokane was a most interesting display of a Woman’s Safety Bicycle in the 1890s. “Medium-sized wheels and a chain drive eased the physical strain of bike riding. A string skirt guard, hygienic breathable leather seat, and pierced metal chain guard made riding safer for women.” The image is of Helen Campbell riding on the handlebars of just such a bicycle. Below is that bicycle.
Bicycles revolutionized women’s lives. It necessitated changes in clothing (shorter skirts and (horrors) trousers); it offered independence from home or husband; it became a symbol of women’s liberation and a tool for the feminist movement.
These early bicycles were heavy (up to 50 pounds) compared to today’s bikes at 20-30 pounds. In 1890, a new safety bicycle cost between $100 and $150, roughly $3000 to $4500 in today’s money, making it a luxury item for the wealthy. Prices did drop to an average of $75 by the mid-1890s due to increased competition. They represented a significant investment, often costing one to two month’s wages for an average worker. So Google says.
What garb do you wear when riding your bike? And what is your bike like? Aren’t you once again you live today and not in the 1890s?
Let’s Talk About: WWII Potato Piglets
World War II was especially hard on England, specifically English citizens. And most specifically English housewives striving to feed their families on limited and rationed food. Quoting from a 2024 article on the BBC History website by Eleanor Barnett:
“Sharing information on the benefits of potato eating and recipes for potato-based breakfasts, dinners, teas, snack and desserts, Potato Pete’s Recipe Book aimed to educate those on the home front on the benefits of potato-eating. Potatoes could be easily grown at home or bought cheaply, providing a rich source of nutrients.”
“When rationing was introduced in January 1940, the amount of butter, bacon and sugar you could buy was limited and by August 1942 almost all foods other than home-grown vegetables, fruits and game were in some way restricted.”
Here’s the recipe for Potato Pete’s Potato Piglets: “Take 6 potatoes, 6 sausages and 1/2 head of cabbage. Remove the centre (sic) of the potatoes using an apple corer or knife. Remove the skins from the sausages and fill the potato holes with sausage meat. Bake for 45″ at 200oC (400oF). Meanwhile, chop the cabbage and boil on the hob (stove) for five minutes. Once baked, serve your potato piglets on top of the cooked cabbage.”
If you try this recipe, please let us know how it turned out and how your family liked it.
Let’s Talk About: Spokane’s Trent Alley
Then (above) and Now (below)
Richard Sola probably knows more about Spokane’s history than anybody else I know. He shares his expertise with folks via presentations to EWGS and with local tours via the Southside Community Center. Along with an eager group, I recently took his tour where I learned a bit about Spokane’s historic Trent Alley. Read about Trent Alley below, quoted from the Spokane Historical website:
“In 1913, the east side of Spokane’s downtown teemed with small businesses run by Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Greek and German immigrants. Their restaurants, laundries and baths, barber shops, hotels, groceries and pool halls mainly served the city’s working-class residents. Japanese photographer Ryosuke Akashi captured the lives of Spokane’s Japanese entrepreneurs in an album entitled Spokane Japanese Business Men and their Enterprises. Akashi carefully photographed each Japanese business and proprietor, as well as Japanese farmers, Japanese baseball players, and a Japanese cemetery. “We are always discriminated based on our race in this foreign place,” he wrote. “I would like to share our story.”
In the 1880s, downtown Spokane had a bustling international district. Known as Trent Alley, the four block stretch between Spokane Falls Boulevard and Main Avenue, contained a network of alleys filled with Chinese and Japanese businesses such as Kotaro Konishi Barber Shop, located where you are standing. The neighborhood attracted workers passing through to work for the various railroads and mines in the region.
Scattered with bars, gambling houses, opium dens and bordellos, Trent Alley started out with a bad reputation. Edith Huey describes Trent Alley as “a small but busy community living to a considerable extent apart from the rest of the city.” As more families moved in and businesses grew, the area became a thriving international neighborhood. A 1912 newspaper article observed residents of Trent Alley celebrating Christmas “in true American fashion . . . all along the alley the rattle of ivory chips and dominoes could be heard . . . and the click of the cue ball was also in evidence.”
During the 1930s, Trent Alley was hit hard by the Great Depression. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, the neighborhood experienced a brief renewal, as many Japanese-Americans attempting to escape internment settled in Spokane. Through the 1950s and 1960s, most of Trent Alley’s Asian residents relocated into other parts of the city or passed away from old age. In 1972, the Spokesman-Review described the area as derelict: “Spokane’s ‘Chinatown,’ centered along Trent Alley just south of Trent and east of Washington, is now a series of empty, boarded-up buildings. Gradually the old hotels and stores once occupied by Chinese [people] are being torn down.” The one surviving building was the Hip Sing Association’s headquarters, which hosted tea and conversation for a handful of elderly men who remembered Trent Alley in its heyday. In late 1974, the Hip Sing left Trent Alley for a new headquarters on the north side of town. Its headquarters and the other buildings of Trent Alley succumbed to urban renewal efforts over the subsequent decades. The last building associated with the Trent Alley area was torn down in 2009.”
So now you know about Spokane’s Historic Trent Alley. Ever wandered there?
Let’s Talk About: Accessing Digitally Newspapers
The full title of this post should have read “Digitally Accessing Newspapers State by State,” and it’s from an article by Kyle Hurst appearing in the American Ancestors magazine for Winter 2026. I quote:
“Appreciating the importance of preserving US newspapers, all fifty states have participated in at least one project to digitize their newspaper collections.” WOW, indeed.
Your first click-to-website for finding digitized newspapers should be the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America (ChroniclingAmerica.loc.gov). This site “contains millions of newspaper pages from nearly every state and territory in the U.S. published through 1963.” Hurst states in her article that “about one third of the states have elected to keep their (digitized newspapers) solely accessible via Chronicling America.”
Other states offer their digitized newspapers via different institutions such as state archives, state universities or libraries. Our own Washington Digital Newspaper website brings together over 600,000 pages from Washington’s earliest Territorial newspapers to the present day. Freely accessible to the public, this growing collection complements the Washington State Library’s physical collection of more than 6500 newspaper titles.
I suggest you ask Google for “free digitized newspapers in XXXX” state and prepare to be amazed and rewarded.