Author Archives: Donna Phillips

Let’s Talk About: Days of Yore Washday

by Donna Phillips


Don’t we groan when the laundry basket overflows and we’ve no choice but to do the wash? We’ve got it SOOO much easier than our ancestors did!!  This bit was printed in the December 2010 issue of The Bulletin (Eastern Washington Genealogical Society). Enjoy………. and be thankful!

Grandma’s “Receet” for Washington Clothes….. Years ago, a Kentucky grandmother gave a new bride the following directions for washing clothes. It appears below just as it was written and despite the spelling has a bit of philosophy:

1. bild fire in backyard to heet kettle of rain water

2. set tubs so smoke won’t blow in eyes if wind is pert

3. shave one hole cake lie soap in billin water

4. sort things, make 3 piles. 1puile white, 1 pile cullord, 1 pile work briches and rags (Guess what “rags” meant!!)

5. stir flour in cold water to smooth then thin down with billin water

6. Rub dirty spots on board, scrub hard, then bile. Rub collord, don’t bile, just rench in starch.

7. take white things out of kettle with broom-stick handle, then rench, blew and starch.

8. spread tee towels on grass

9. hang old rags on fence

10. pour rench water on flour bed

11. turn tubs upside down

12. go put on clean dress, smooth hair with side combs, brew cup of set, set and rest and rock a spell and count blessins. 

When we see movie or TV shows with our ancestors in snowy white SHEETS, I always think “how did they ever…..!” 

Let’s Talk About: Family Tree W&M..?

by Donna Phillips


Would you be interested in knowing of a One-Stop-Shopping Place for genealogy research???? WELL, it’s here! Almost, anyway. 

Family Tree is not just a magazine that you find on many news stands. (Although the magazine is well worth the price, it is surely is cheaper by subscription.)

Family Tree offers:

* A really, really helpful bi-monthly magazine both in print and e-edition. 

*A website with a hundred “clicks” to check out!

* A long list of FREE resources, forms, guides and E-books.

* A long list of Cheat Sheets for help with various websites (Like The Big Four).

*A long list of country-centric guides.

*A long list of (paid) 13 courses to teach you “more better.”

*A YouTube channel offering free tutorials…like Finding Ancestors Who Worked on the Railroad.

* A list of 15 Cheat Sheets one can order (like for Ancestry, Find My Past, My Heritage, Jewish Genealogy, Adoption, Scandinavian, Scottish plus Civil War Genealogy and US Census Genealogy (plus packages of several).

I most enthusiastically urge you to take a cold January winter day or afternoon and click to www.FamilyTreeMagazine.com. With soft background music, and a warm drink nearby, you’re in for a learning treat, I guarantee it!

Let’s Talk About: Washington Beans!

by Donna Phillips

Did you know that Washington bean farmers grow a dozen different kinds of edible beans??    These are: Black beans, Cranberry beans, Dark Red Kidney beans, Garbanzo beans, Great Northern beans, Navy beans, Orca beans, Pinto beans, Rojo Chiquito beans, Small Red beans, White Kidney beans and Yellow beans. 

Did Orca beans catch your eye? These are “an heirloom variety from Mexico but very rare in the U.S. Most often used in thick soups or with rice. Named after the Orca whale.” 

I learned this reading about Central Bean in Quincy, Washington. This family-owned business has been providing dry beans for more than 30 years. From their website one can order #5 bags of most of their varieties for $5.00 plus shipping. For $15 you can order a “Simply Beans” cookbook. 

I urge you to visit their website simply for self-education. All those types listed above are described. Beans are planted in the spring when the ground warms up and are harvested within 90 to 120 days. Harvesting is August through October. When the beans arrive at the elevator for processing and packaging, they are tested to determine moisture content, percentage of damaged beans and foreign material…. After testing the beans are cleaned. Central Bean uses a sophisticated method to accomplish this to ensure a quality product to be shipped throughout the world. 

Their website, www.CentralBean.com, even offers three pages of how to store, soak and cook beans. (“Don’t over-soak; beans soaked longer than 12 hours can absorb too much water…”) 

And this last, “Dry beans are the richest source of vegetable protein available. Combining beans with a small amount of animal protein (meat, cheese, egg) or small amount of grain (corn, wheat, rice) will create a complete protein….” 

Let’s Talk About: Forks & Wastucna

by Donna Phillips

What do you know about two of the littlest towns in our state? Yes, Forks is the “home” of the Twilight stories and movies and Washtucna is near the amazing Palouse Falls. Have you been to either of these darling and interesting places?

Forks is a city on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula (Clallam County) and was originally known as Quillayute.  The Forks Timber Museum tells the story of the region’s logging industry. Around the city, the Calawah, Sol Duc and Bogachiel rivers are known for their abundance of steelhead and salmon. Just east of Forks, sprawling Olympic National Park features glacier-studded peaks and the moss-covered Hoh Rain Forest. To the west, rugged Rialto Beach is known for its rock formations. ― Google I also read that Forks bills itself as the Rainiest Town in the Contiguous U.S. Twilight brought the town to our attention and to this day there is still a Twilight Festival annually. Over 3000 people call Forks home (but there are NO vampires). 

Washtucna is a farming town in Adams County, some 65 miles west of Pullman and 220 miles east of Seattle.  The town derived its name from a nearby lake which was first named for a Palouse Native American chief. George Bassett, an Iowan,  first homesteaded the area in 1878. Goal then was to raise horses. Soon the area was known for growing wheat and by 1891 some 30,000 bushels of wheat had been shipped out by railroad. Washtucna was officially incorporated on 27 Oct 1903 and as of 2010 census there were 208 people living there. 

So, given a choice, which town would you like to visit? Too many choices of neat places to go and things to see in Washington!

Let’s Talk About: Different Cemetery Types

by Donna Phillips

Cemeteries: Different Types

Last fall, I listened to a webinar by Christine Cohen teaching me about Online Cemetery Websites. I share some of her “good stuff” with you. (If you want more, click to www.ChristineCohenGenealogy.com).

Her handout included an explanation of TYPES of cemeteries:

*Church cemeteries or graveyards – These are on church property and are governed by church leaders.

*Family cemeteries – These are on private property; are reserved for one or a few related families.

* City cemeteries – These are public property; there is a great variety of them and their upkeep; unrelated people rest there.

*Military cemeteries – These are Post Cemeteries for those who died in a particular battle or war or National Cemeteries, maintained by the federal government, for veterans, military personnel, spouses and minor children.

*Memorial Parks – These are private commercial business properties; are non-denominational and often have open areas…trails, benches and flat headstones.

Bet you didn’t know:

There are FIVE National Cemeteries in Washington State:

*Fort Lawton Post Cemetery, Seattle

*Fort Worden Post Cemetery, Port Townsend

*Tahoma National Cemetery, Kent

*Vancouver Barracks National Cemetery, Vancouver

*Washington State Veterans Cemetery, Medical Lake

I found these listed via an online search BUT what about:

*Fort Wright Military Cemetery, Spokane

Do you know of any others????????

Yes, my choice of image had nothing to do with types of or records of cemeteries but didn’t it make you shed a tear? It’s from Seaview Cemetery, Rockport, Maine.

Let’s Talk About: January’s Name?

by Donna Phillips

January is named after Janus, the Roman god of beginnings,  endings and transitions. Janus was the god of doors and gates and was often depicted with two faces, one looking forward and one looking backward. This is fitting for a new year!

We owe Julius Caesar thanks for reforming the Roman calendar to establish the beginning of the year in January. (So stated Wikipedia.)On this day, Romans simultaneously remembered the past year and looked forward to the coming year. They would make offerings of wine and incense to Janus and exchanged gifts of dates, dried figs and honey to usher in a sweet and peaceful new year. 

January has some important official and unofficial holidays:

* Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on the third Monday in January

*January 14: Dress Up Your Pet Day

*January 19: Popcorn Day

*January 24: Belly Laughs Day

*January 28: Kazoo Day!  (Look it up 🙂 !!!) 

If you, or your ancestor, was born in January by the 19th, you’re a Capricorn and such folks are said to be idiosyncratic and genteel. If born after the 19th, but before February 18th, you’re said to be an Aquarius, said to be assertive and open-minded. REALLY????

Let’s Talk About: What American Ancestors Offers

by Donna Phillips

AmericanAncestors.org is a website offering a million (well, close) ways to help you find your early American ancestor. For instance, these are FREE webinars at www.americanancestors.org/events

13 Feb:  Researching Famine Irish Ancestors in Ireland’s Poor Laws

13 Mar: Friend or Foe: Researching colonial Ancestors During the American Revolution

17 Apr: Best Published Sources for Colonial New England Research

13 May: English Immigration to the American Colonies

12 Jun: Best Published Sources for German Research in America

17 Jul: Top Repositories for Researching Upstate New York

Surely viewing these FREE webinars would help you??????

Here are some Sad & True Genealogy Rules Your Ancestors Followed…shared to guide your research in 2025:

* Thou salt be consistent in naming male children; only acceptable names are: James, John, Joseph, William and Thomas.

*Ditto for female children: Mary, Elizabeth, Ann and Sarah.

*Thou shalt never write down the surname of female children on any document.

*Thou shalt, after naming children from the approved list, call them by nicknames: Polly, Dolly, Sukey, Tommy or Billy.

*Thou shalt never write a surname legibly: let them guess!

*Thou shalt discard any documents created prior to your grandparents’ time; descendants really won’t care.

*Thou shalt bury your people on your land without a headstone.

*Thou shalt leave no family Bible records nor letters or diaries.

*Thou shalt never enter a courthouse to sign any legal documents.

*Thou shalt promote and propagate misleading legends, rumors and vague innuendos regarding ancestral information to mislead descendants. 

Let’s Talk About: Live, Learn & Pass It On

by Donna Phillips

That’s the title of a wonderfully inspirational little book. As the final blog for 2024, may I share some “good stuff?”

I’ve learned that having a baby doesn’t solve marital problems.

I’ve learned that the best thing about growing older is that now I don’t feel the need to impress anyone.

I’ve learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.

I’ve learned that anger manages everything poorly.

I’ve learned that there is no substitute for good manners

I’ve learned that it’s better not to wait for a crisis to discover what’s important in life.

I’ve learned that it’s easier to stay out of trouble than to get out of trouble.

I’ve learned that days are long but life is short.

I’ve learned that successful living is like playing a violin…it must be practiced daily. 

That’s the title of a wonderfully inspirational little book. As the final blog for 2024, may I share some “good stuff?”

I’ve learned that having a baby doesn’t solve marital problems.

I’ve learned that the best thing about growing older is that now I don’t feel the need to impress anyone.

I’ve learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.

I’ve learned that anger manages everything poorly.

I’ve learned that there is no substitute for good manners

I’ve learned that it’s better not to 

I’ve learned that young people need old people’s love, respect and knowledge of life, and that old people need the love, respect and strength of young people.

I’ve learned that an expensive new blouse is always a spaghetti sauce magnet. 

And finally,

I’ve learned that if you smile at people, they almost always will smile back. 

Happy New Year to all my friends!!!

Donna

Let’s Talk About: Remembering Christmas Stories

by Donna Phillips


Today I’d like to ask YOU, dear readers, to share your Christmas memories or stories. What was The Best gift you ever received? What year did you so-want something that you didn’t get? I do invite (and beg!) you to share your memories with me, Donna243@gmail.com.
I’ll start with mine.  The year was 1950, the place Fairfield, California, next to Travis Air Force Base where my dad was stationed. I recall being SO EXCITED to be invited to go with Mom and her friend on the train to Sacramento to go Christmas shopping in a big department store. Oh the joy!
I picked out Daisy……… life-size, soft-fleshed with curly red hair. Oh, she was wonderful. I was in heaven all the train ride home. I knew I’d not see her again until Christmas but that was not for lack of trying! Whenever the opportunity arose, I’d look into every closet, drawer and box but to no avail. Where was she?????
Christmas Day, there she was! In a white bassinette and with plenty of real baby clothes!  (My brother was born in Aug 1950…this had been his bed and some of his clothes.) So where had she been? My parents, knowing their daughter well, had secreted her in the neighbor’s shed!!! 
Here she is today in an outfit that was my daughter’s in 1963…

I have one granddaughter and six great-granddaughters. Who will love her next??????

Let’s Talk About: Snoqualmie

by Donna Phillips

 First off, it’s Sno-qualmie’  not Sno-qual-A-mee. How often have we said it incorrectly?

While my family has lived in Spokane since 1955, and over those years have made hundreds of trips over Snoqualmie Pass, we never got to experience it as it was in those first early days. (Thank goodness.) But in all the years since 1955, I cannot recall one trip where there was NOT road construction. Can you???

In the beginning, the only way the first Oregon Trail wagons could get through the Cascades was via the Columbia River. The clamor for a road across the Cascades became increasingly persistent. Washington’s first governor, Isaac Stevens, back in 1853 was convinced that an old Indian trail over Snoqualmie Pass was the most feasible route. But nothing was immediately done due to Indian hostilities and lack of funds. In 1861, Congress voted $75,000 for a road but then the Civil War broke out and the funds were diverted. 

Tillman Houser was the first to get a wagon over the narrow winding trail through stands of giant Douglas Fir. In 1868 he left Tacoma in a wagon loaded with cargo, wife and 3 children and headed east. “After much exasperating toil…..” the family reached Snoqualmie summit. Once over the summit they built a raft, loaded the wagon onto it, and poled the 3 mile long Lake Keechelus “to more favorable slopes at its outlet.” The Houser family reached Ellensburg “only” after 3 weeks of travel, staked a homestead and stayed put. (Small wonder.)

The 1909 Seattle-Pacific-Yukon Exposition in Seattle created a big demand for road improvements as tourists flocked west. Finally in May 1915, a real road over the summit became a reality. It still took nearly a day to travel the short distance between Ellensburg and Seattle. But the primitive condition of both the road bed and the vehicles barely slowed the progress of east-west or west-east travel. 

If you’d care to read more, I recommend The Pacific Northwesterner, Vol. 21, Summer 1977, article by John Prentiss Thomson. 

We are now so blessed to have the WDOT live camera on the pass so we know to the minute what conditions are………… on the multi-lane paved highway. The only rocks being in sight are uphill!