According to Wikipedia, there were 425,000 German prisoners of war housed in 700 camps throughout the United States during World War II. I had no clue…….. until the fact was mentioned in a genealogy program. The map below is fuzzy but you get the idea.

After the U.S. entered World War II in 1941, the British Government requested American help with housing prisoners of war due to a housing shortage in Britain. The U.S. was asked to take 175,000, and reluctantly agreed since we were not prepared to house and care for them. As the war years slipped by, sometimes as many as 30,000 prisoners per month arrived into New York or Virginia where they were processed and distributed to camps. Some 46 of the 48 states hosted camps. 

After the war, the German prisoners were expected to go home immediately, but seeing that their treatment had been good, some 5000 Germans emigrated back to the U.S. Some stayed in other European countries. A national poll found that 74% of Americans solely blamed the German government for the war, not Germans. 

The camps in the U.S. are otherwise what the Associated Press later called an “all but forgotten part of history.” About 860 German POWs remain buried in 43 sites across the U.S. In some local communities which formerly hosted POW camps, local residents often do not know the camps ever existed. 
Washington had two camps:  Fort Lewis and Fort Lawton.  Idaho had two:  Farragut and Camp Rupert.  Oregon had two:  Camp White and Camp Warner.  Montana never had a POW camp. 

If you’d like to know more, Wikipedia has a 13-page article on German Prisoners of War in the United States.

 I thought, and was told by locals, that LocoMoco is THE quintessential Hawaiian dish. But according to the American Food Network, Hawaii’s specialty food is Shave Ice. I’ve tried both; they’re both yummy. Have YOU ever tried Loco Moco?

Picture a big blob of cooked white sticky rice. Top that with a quarter-pound lean hamburger patty. Smother is all with brown gravy. Add one or two fried eggs (cooked to order) and onion rings optional. This dish will fill you up for all day and likely has an all-day worth of calories. 

What is Washington’s famous/favorite food? Or the dish we’re most known for? Seafood Chowder, according to the American Food Network list. Idaho’s choice is the Steak-Cheese Loaded Baked Potato.  Marionberry Pie is Oregon’s dish. And Montana? Huckleberry Ice Cream!

How many types of apples are grown in Washington???     Over 30 types!Washington is home to over 30 types of apples that range in flavor, texture, and color. They all have a few things in common. You can count on every Washington apple to be juicy, nutritious, and delicious.  Washington Apple Commission

How many varieties can you name?????

 French Fry ice cream. How does that sound to you? Or Ranch Dressing ice cream? These exotic new ice cream flavors are a reality from a Los Angeles company called VanLeeuwen’s. The idea was that many of us in the past have enjoyed dipping our French Fries into our Malted Milkshakes. Well maybe you, but not me never. Would you try it?

In a very old newspaper clipping from an undated, unidentified newspaper, was this bit:
“Abe Kissed 34 Women During His Ceremony.”  Quoting Jewell Casey “in the current issue of The Holy Names Journal,” Honest Abe bussed no fewer than 34 girls at his first inauguration….. one from each state.

The article also stated that George Washington was the only president inaugurated in two cities, New York and Philadelphia. He wore a “made in America brown wool suit made from the wool of American sheep.”

John Adams was so galled over the larger popularity of his successor, Thomas Jefferson, that he left Washington early in the morning to avoid seeing Jefferson sworn into office. Then 28 years later, John’s son, John Quincy Adams, got out of town early, too, so he wouldn’t have to watch Andy Jackson, his bitter rival, succeed him.  

Thomas Jefferson rode to his inaugural on horseback. Warren Harding was the first to arrive in a motor car….but kissed the same Bible “that had known the lips of George Washington.”

Calvin Coolidge was sworn into office by his own father, a justice of the peace, in a simple Vermont farmhouse lit only by a flickering kerosene lamp. No other father has had that privilege. 

Quote from Mark Twain:  “Clothes DO make the man; naked people have little of no influence in society.” 

She: “What’s that lump on your head?”  He:  “Oh, that’s where a thought struck me.” 

 While attending RootsTech the end of February, I sat in on two classes to learn more for myself and to share with all of you. The two presentations were on the FamilySearch Library Catalog and the FamilySearch WIKI. 

You most likely cannot read that small print, but there are currently 106,000 articles on the WIKI. . “The WIKI is your online genealogy guide which links you to all known records of the entire world.” Did you catch that? “To all KNOWN records of the entire world.” And new free links and websites are constantly being added. The presenter, Danielle Baston, advised us “to search by locality because that’s were things happen.” Some countries, she said, have pages of links and info (like Denmark) but some (like Bulgaria) don’t have as much. “The FamilySearch WIKI is your Researchers’ Golden Ticket,” Danielle quipped. 

Becky Loveridge, another FamilySearch library employee, gave the news that as of Feb 2022 there was a whole new catalog:  libcat.familysearch.org/library . There is a new home page making it much easier to narrow down your search to specifics. Most surname books are now digitized but some are restricted to in-library use. The new catalog integrates with the WIKI. And when you click on a specific book, other books are suggested. I think we all need to take an hour or so away from TV and check out the updated FamilySearch catalog. Treasures await!

I did get to spend two days in the library and did explore something “fun.” On the top bar, just to the right of SEARCH, was MEMORIES. This was fun! I went through my pedigree chart’s brick wall problems to see if anybody, anywhere, had posted something new. And I did find some new leads. But let me make clear: these were items from online trees, Ancestral File, Pedigree Resource File, American Ancestors, and other similar databases. Which meant, and I recognized this, that they might or might not be correct. If you want to have some careful fun, search for your chart names under Memories….but do remember the old adage of “buyer beware.” 

“The little brown bulbs went to sleep in the ground,

In their little brown nighties they slept very sound.

And winter he raged and he roared overhead,

But never a bulb turned over in bed.

But when spring came tip-toeing over the lea,

Her finger on lip, just as still as could be,

The little brown bulbs at the very first tread

All split up their nighties and jumped out of bed.”

This little poem came from a scrapbook kept by Laura Stuart’s mother; John and Laura Stuart are long-time EWGS members but due to age, cannot attend anymore. I recently helped Laura go through some of these scrapbooks………. and this poem, written by a friend of her mother’s, was unimportant to Laura. But not to me!

NOTE TO THE WISE:  Don’t just toss grandma’s scrapbooks until you go through them page by page, watching for treasures. 

In February, 2023, we were blessed to be in Maui, Hawaii. Walking in downtown Lahaina, I spotted this memorial stone-marker. It really made me pause and think. I knew about Roosevelt’s WPA projects, and the CCC corps, but only thought of it within the 48 states. But no, there were projects in all 50 states!

In Lahaina, it was a WPA project to develop the downtown Banyan Tree Park. Other Maui projects were Lahaina’s  Sea Wall, the highway between Lahaina and Wailuku (and the airport) and the Hala Pa’ahao Prison……. which was first built in the 1850s and restored several times since as a historic site in Lahaina. 

A project many of you will recognize, having driven it perhaps more than once, is the Haleakala Road, built as a WPA project between 1933-1944 at a cost of nearly $500,000 (nearly $12 billion today). This is was a ten-year project as Haleakala summit lies at 10,000 feet and is about a15-mile very serpentine road. 

As you probably know, there were WPA/CCC programs and projects in all 50 states, and it was YOUR ancestors (as young men) who were involved in those programs and projects. Records of the many and various work camps in each state are available; ask Google.

I think most every county in Washington has a genealogical society; some have more than one. Each one of these groups was established for two reasons: to help members with finding their family history, and to keep a library or collection of local resources with which to offer that help.  Do not overlook what can be found locally in a smaller, local society. 

Burlington, in Skagit County, Washington, began as a logging camp in 1882 and was officially incorporated in 1902. That’s a long-time history! The city sits near the Skagit River, which has a history of flooding, but the city bounced back after a terrible flood in 1909 and is a sweet little place to visit today. When I visited with this group, several members told me the stories of how their recent ancestors had moved there from the midwest, lured by lumbering jobs. 

The Skagit Valley Genealogical Society was established in 1987 “to promote and preserve family history,” especially in their area. SVGS maintains an extensive collection of genealogy reference books in the Burlington Public Library. Are you needing research help in Skagit County? Do contact the Skagit Valley Genealogical Society. As a bonus, Burlington is just a tad north of the Skagit Valley tulip explosion; time your trip to enjoy the blooms and visit Burlington and other nearby places in Skagit County. 

After my time with the SVGS group, I took the ferry to Port Angeles to visit family. Thinking of small places as I drove west,  I saw two place-name signs I’d never seen before. One directed folks to turn left for the town of Big….. could find nothing for that town but Big Lake is a designated place in Skagit County. Big, Washington; interesting designation.

Beaver is an unincorporated community in Clallam County on the Olympic Peninsula, settled in the early 1900s. Wikipedia designated it as “one of the wettest places in the contiguous U.S. with an annual rainfall of 121 inches.” Yikes.  Anybody’s ancestor from Beaver, Washington?? I wonder why they left? (smile)
I’ve been to Joyce, in Clallam County. This townlet was founded in 1913 by Joseph Joyce and is 16 miles west of Port Angeles. The historic general store there opened n 1911 and is still offering refreshments to travelers today. Interesting trivia: as there is only one road into town, residents are very aware of  the possibility of a catastrophic earthquake happening (the town sits on the Cascadia subducton zone) and have extensive emergency and survival planning in place. Good for them! 

 The historic wooden-hulled, three-masted frigate, was built in Boston and launched in 1797. Did you know it is still a commissioned vessel of the modern U.S. Navy? 

Named by President George Washington, the Constitution is most famour for her actions against the British Navy during the War of 1812. She earned the nickname “Old Ironsides” in an engagement with the HMS Guerriere when her thick, oak hull sustained relatively minor damage from the Guerrier’s  cannon balls. 

You can read six pages of history on this great old ship on www.historylink.org (our Washington State history site). 

“On May 31, 1933, the historic frigate USS Constitution arrived at the Port of Seattle. After making a grand circuit of Elliott Bay, “Old Ironsides” was moored at Pier 41 in Smith Cove. This was part of a three-year tour around the United States, a public “thank you” to everyone who, from 1925 to 1930, helped raise almost $1 million ($18 billion today) to completely restore the deteriorating vessel.” Some 84,000 people toured the ship in Seattle.
She then made her way up the Washington coast, stopping in Bremerton, Tacoma, Everett, Bellingham, Anacortes, Port Angeles and Port Townsend before heading south for stops along the California coast. She wintered in San Diego before heading back to Boston where she now is permanently moored. As a still-commissioned vessel, she floats IN the bay, not stuck in a concrete bay. 

Don’t we just love our Washington State history tidbits???

Some short time back I was given three big boxes of the basic reference/resource books for New England research. Here in Spokane I’ve tried to find way for anybody interested to have access to these books and I have failed. Could lengthen the story but bottom line I have all these wonderful books that need a home. I’m posting here hoping that some one of you, dear readers, belongs to a genealogical society who has interest (and space!) to have these books available to your members. (EWGS no longer has a genealogy library; too long and too sad a story to share here.) For postage, or UPS charges, I’d be happy to ship these boxes to you………. just say the word. Here is the short history and the list of those books:

I have two “Xerox-size” boxes of books pertaining to early New England research. These books were discards from the Yakima Valley Genealogical Society library.  These are basic books for New England research. That’s not to say everything in each volume is correct; but the volumes do provide clues.

1.  Compendium of American Genealogy, First Families of America by Virkus, published 1926-1942; there are Volumes 2 – 3 – 4 – 6 – 7.
2. New England Marriages Prior to 1700, by Torrey, and Supplement
3. The Great Migration Begins, Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, by Anderson; 3 volumes,  A-F,  C-F,  G-H. (yes looks like a typed mistake but tiz not), published 1995. Likely there are more volumes to this series but my two boxes don’t contain them. J
4. The Great Migration, by Anderson, published between 1999 and 2011, 7 volumes, A-Z.
5. Genealogical Dictionary of First Settlers of New England, Three Generations prior to May 1692, by Savage; 4 volumes covering A-Z, originally published 1860-1862.
6. Digest of Early Connecticut Probate Records, by Manwaring, Vols 1-3 cover Hartford, 1635-1750.
7. Families of Ancient New Haven, by Jacobus, there are 3 compiled volumes only,  1-3, 4-6, and 7-8, first published 1922-1932
8. New England Historic Genealogical Society Register:
   1. 15 volumes from Fall 2019 to Winter 2022
   1. Bunch of old ones, Volumes 1-6,  15-26,  31-34, published between 1847 and 1881.

Email me directly, please: Donna243@gmail.com…. and ONLY if you’re interested in having the books. Please don’t just say “sorry we cannot.”

 Last March, several EWGS members had a Learning Day Out Road Trip! Jeanne Coe, Jennilyn Weight and me, were joined by Karen Lehfeldt and Janet Damm (of the Whitman Co Gen Soc), for a most fun day.

Janet is the Librarian for WCGS and since they are paring down their collection to keep mostly only Whitman County books, a long list of give-away-books enticed us to stop and load our tote bags. (Possibly they still are culling and giving away; contact them if you’re interested.) 

For years I’ve driven past this museum and today was the day to finally stop and learn. I had thought this breed of horse somehow originated with the Native Americans in the Palouse area, but no. There are ancient cave paintings depicting “spotted horses.”

And did you realize that Appaloosa horses, like many horse breeds, have recorded pedigrees? In the museum was a big thick book of Appaloosa Horse Pedigrees…..

Then we five had a fun lunch at Roosters in Clarkston and attended a local history talk in the Lewiston Public Library………. after a stop at the Lewiston County Historical Society Museum, of course!

There are soooooo many day trips to take in our wonderful Evergreen State! Gather up a car full and GO!