Author Archives: Roxanne Lowe

NW Genealogy Conference Ends on a High Note

by Roxanne Lowe

What a day! What a day! What a day!

Judy Russell, the Legal Genealogist, educated and entertained us throughout the day with information and stories (oh, the stories she told!) about research trips to the courthouse, wills and no wills and using court records. She was self-deprecating, witty, smart, and “pretty in pink”! If you don’t already subscribe to her blog, you should consider it — it’s full of information we all should know.

Forgot to mention in yesterday’s blog post that my break-out sessions included DNA and GPS (Genealogical Proof Standard) with Angie Bush (that was the second workshop I’d taken with her — she’s great!) and Genetic Originals of Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England with Olympia’s Steven W. Morrison. Excellent sessions! Today I learned all about “America: Land of the Farm, Home of the Plow” with Jean Wilcox Hibben and Janice Lovelace’s “Beyond Online — What’s at the Courthouse?” I’m now armed with enough knowledge to make the most of an upcoming trip to the Grays Harbor Courthouse in Montesano to learn more about my pioneer ancestor Patrick Murphy.

At the end of the day, my brain was overflowing with information and good intentions, so it’s a good thing I have an amazingly complete set of workshop syllabi and my scribbled notes. A big congratulations to the Stillaguamish Valley Genealogical Society — your hard work paid off in delivering a first-rate event!

DNA Dominates the Day at NW Genealogy Conference

by Roxanne Lowe

The second day of the Northwest Genealogy Conference in Arlington was all about DNA and genetic genealogy, featuring CeCe Moore, one of the nation’s foremost professional genetic genealogists. You may have seen her on TV in “Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr.” Well…it’s even cooler to see and hear her in person! She held our interest for four plenary sessions, explaining the intricacies of everything from alleles to Y-chromosomes. Can’t wait to relook at all the results from those DNA tests I bought and didn’t understand!

We ended our day with a great banquet. Many kudos were extended, including to the Stillaguamish Valley GS 2014 WSGS Conference Planning Team and Larry Taylor who were recognized as WSGS Outstanding Volunteers. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, we were entertained by Judy Russell, the Legal Genealogist, and her version of Alphabet Soup. (Thanks for today’s shout-out on your blog about the County Resource Guides on our WSGS website, Judy!!) Can’t wait to hear Judy again tomorrow!

Northwest Genealogy Conference in High Gear

by Roxanne Lowe

Fellow blog team member Charles Hansen and I are here in Arlington at the Northwest Genealogy Conference, hosted by the Stillaguamish Valley GS. This 3-day event is packed with classes, networking, new ideas, and inspiration.

On Wednesday afternoon, I attended a Beginning Genealogy workshop, taught by the dynamic duo of Winona Laird and Janet O’Conor Camarata. Even though I’ve been doing genealogy for 30 years, I still got a TON of tips, tricks, organizational tools, and new resources! Great handouts, too!

Today (Thursday) was the first “official” day of the conference. The headliner was Angela Packer McGhie — and she was terrific! Her plenary sessions included how to make a research plan, federal land records, historic newspapers, and the Family Search Wiki. I’m so inspired! I want to try it all!

From an impressive menu of possibilities, it was hard to choose my two break-out sessions. Finally settled on Cyndi Ingle’s “Advanced Googling for Your Grandma” and “Genealogical Assumptions — Friend or Foe with Angie Bush. Cyndi never disappoints and she really packed a lot of information into her 60 minutes. Whew! And Angie Bush…great session! There was a standing room only crowd eager to hear her engaging discussion about common assumptions we make, like assuming words have the same meaning now as they did way back when. I’m still chuckling about her story asking her daughter to throw her her “thongs.” You know — the kind you wear on your feet!

Tomorrow’s a whole day of DNA and more. Will get to hear CeCe Moore for four sessions AND I’ll have to pick two break-out sessions. Will be hard to choose!

Blog Banner Photo Challenge Continues

by Roxanne Lowe

Photo by Roger Newman, Shelton

Photo taken by Roger Newman, Shelton

Photo taken by Roger Newman, Shelton

Did you notice the latest photos in our Blog banner? They’re part of a rotation of photos submitted by you — our enthusiastic readers.

Roger Newman from Shelton submitted a beautiful photo of Coast Rhododendrons taken near Walker Mountain near Quilcene. The Coast Rhododendron (Rhododendron macrophyllum) is our state flower.

His other submission is one of Native American Racing Canoes — so sleek and fast. Can’t you imagine them gliding swiftly across the water?

Both of Roger’s photos were part of our Blog Banner Photo Challenge — photos you’ve taken of scenes in our great state of Washington. There’s still plenty of time to send us your favorite photo for the Blog banner. For more details, read the 08 July 2015 blog post or enter “Blog Banner” in the search bar on the right.

We hope to see your photo soon!

Do You Have An Emergency Preparedness Plan?

by Roxanne Lowe

My husband works in Aiken, South Carolina and has maintained a temporary office and apartment there for three years. Recently the apartment building he was staying in was completely destroyed by fire. He had no idea that when he crossed the threshold at midnight he would be the last person to ever pass through that door. Since he was sleeping at the time the fire broke out he was very lucky to escape with the shirt on his back, his smartphone, and his laptop.

DaveFireAikenStandard

 

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Blog Banner Photos Coming In

by Roxanne Lowe

Have you noticed the different photos in our Blog banner each time you visit? They’re the first batch of photos submitted by Blog readers in our “Blog Banner Photo Challenge” (see the 08 Jul 2015 Blog post for details).

  • Steamboat Rock near Banks Lake. Photo taken by Donna Potter Phillips, Spokane
  • Spokane Falls – Charles Hansen, Spokane
  • Block 72 of the Evergreen Cemetery in Everett (Does anyone know Russian???) – Larry Taylor, Arlington
  • Wild Horses Monument near Vantage – Charles Hansen, Spokane
  • Whitestone Rock in Lake Roosevelt – Donna Potter Phillips, Spokane
  • Snoqualmie Falls – Donna Potter Phillips, Spokane

Where’s YOUR photo? There’s still plenty of time to submit your photo (jpg only, please) to WSGSBlog@wasgs.org. Read more about the Blog Banner Photo Challenge here. If you’ve still got questions, email the blog team at WSGSBlog@wasgs.org.

 

Innovative Grant Awards Announced

by Roxanne Lowe

WSGS President Mikal McKinnon has announced the local society projects that received Innovative Grants at last month’s state conference. The Innovative Grant Program, awarding financial awards up to $100, was created to support the inventive and creative efforts of WSGS-member societies and organizations. The successfully funded projects, which include matching funds from the local society, are:

  • Chelan Valley Genealogical Society – Purchase of a computer, solely for genealogical research, at the Chelan Public Library. The computer will have access to Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org.
  • Northeast Washington Genealogical Society – Removal of trees that are endangering the safety of people and protection of grave markers at the Evergreen Cemetery, a local cemetery near Colville. Until NWGS began caring for this long-neglected cemetery, vandalism and lack of care had left its mark on many of the headstones and gravesites. Today, the cemetery looks like an old, but loved, pioneer cemetery.
  • Skagit Valley Genealogical Society – Purchase of a new laptop computer to be used for society presentations and transcription of documents from the Northwest Regional Archives in Bellingham.
  • Tri-City Genealogical Society – Funds will support the society’s “Archived Records Contest” which encourages individuals to share records they have obtained by various means other than just downloading an image from the Internet. Click here for more about the Archived Records Contest.
  • Wenatchee Area Genealogical Society – Specialized computer software to enable more than one volunteer to enter data related to local obituaries, cemetery records, World War I records and more. The software purchase will enable WAGS members to add to their extensive genealogical holdings of more than 394,000 records and 90 databases.

Announcements for the 2016 grant cycle will be posted on the Blog in Spring 2016. For more information about the Innovative Grant Program, contact Roxanne Lowe, WSGS Recognition Chair.

Fred Pflugrath Receives President’s Award for Outstanding Achievement

by Roxanne Lowe
Lynda Pheasant accepts Fred's President's Award from Roxanne Lowe and Mike McKinnon

WAGS President Lynda Pheasant accepts Fred Pflugrath’s President’s Award from Roxanne Lowe and Mike McKinnon

Fred Pflugrath was named the first recipient of the WSGS President’ Award for Outstanding Achievement at the WSGS Conference in Ellensburg last month. He was nominated by the Wenatchee Area Genealogical Society (WAGS).

Over the last dozen years, Fred has single-handedly identified, researched, and documented information about almost 2,500 Civil War veterans from all over Eastern Washington. Much of his research is available in 35 notebooks in the WAGS library with an index available online. Additionally, he has taken the extra step to submit the information to the National Grave Registration Project (part of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, SUVCW).

Fred has connected families with their Civil War ancestors, arranged for headstones and markers, and orchestrated dedication and memorial ceremonies. He has willingly shared information, resources and expertise with anyone wanting information, including those outside Chelan and Douglas counties.

As if that isn’t enough, Fred also gives tours of local cemeteries and has been the WAGS newsletter editor.

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Skagit Valley GS Earns First Outstanding Project Award

by Roxanne Lowe

Kris and Chris, proud Skagit Valley GS members, accepting the Outstanding Project Award

The inaugural WSGS Outstanding Project award was awarded at the WSGS Conference in Ellensburg last month to the Skagit Valley Genealogical Society (SVGS) for their “Making Connections Through Roots (Researching Our Origins Teens With Seniors)” project. This deserving effort was a community collaboration between SVGS, the Burlington Public Library and the Burlington-Edison Alternative High School. The purpose of the project was to teach 12th grade students who were at risk of dropping out of school basic researching methods by researching their own unique family histories. In addition to the dedication of many committed individuals, this innovative project received a $23,000 grant from the Paul G. Allen Foundation. The SVGS received a certificate and one-year membership to WSGS for their accomplishment.

Upon reviewing the ROOTS nomination, one reviewer commented,

“I can only find positive remarks to make about this marvelous project. It perfectly combines answers to various struggles that genealogical societies encounter. It embraces youth and validates them. It is an amazing tool for outreach…I applaud the mastermind that created a solution to address so many concerns. I also applaud each and every person that participated in this project. I would love to see this project duplicated by every genealogical society in every county of every state of this great country. Bravo!!”

If you would like to hear more about this outstanding project, contact John Hayes, SVGS President. In addition, the Washington State Library featured a recent First Tuesday webinar about the project. https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?sid=2008170&psid=2015-01-06.0907.M.51A1F6BD288768B43F3C46EBA9B642.vcr

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Columbia Gorge GS Earns Outstanding Communication Award

by Roxanne Lowe

The Columbia Gorge Genealogical Society’s “Tales and Trails” quarterly newsletter was awarded the 2015 Outstanding Communication Award at the WSGS Conference in Ellensburg last month. The society received a certificate and will have possession of the perpetual Outstanding Communication Plaque for the next year.

Besides news, reports and announcements that pertain to their 38-member society, the newsletter features interesting and useful information about genealogical research and family history. It’s no easy task for Editor Jim Bull to constantly be on the lookout for quality material. He has been the Editor in Chief since 2010.

Formerly “paper copy only,”  the newsletter has now transitioned to an “on-line” edition that is available to society members, other genealogical societies, family history centers and libraries. Those without computer access still receive their copy in the mail. The change to electronic publication has resulted in a higher quality newsletter, which can be published at less expense.

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