Seattle Genealogical Society August 2024

by Charles Hansen

stock images courtesy Erol Ahmed and Leiada Krozjhen / Unsplash
 

VISIT TO THE PUGET SOUND BRANCH
SET FOR SEPT. 17

Join the staff of the Puget Sound Regional Branch of the Washington State Archives in Bellevue for an overview of this repository and its collections, and a behind the scenes tour of the stacks. All field trip participants will be able to request a file to view after the tour. A prior visit yielded photos and description of great great grandparents first Seattle home built pre-1900, a tax assessors book naming second great uncle in Washington Territory 1881, and a Sanborn map pre-1910 showing great grandpa’s first residence under today’s Westin Hotel towers in Seattle.  What might you discover?

The tour will be at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17. Limit 24 people. The cost is $10 for SGS members, and $15 for non-members. Details follow registration. This event is hosted by the SGS Field Trip Committee.
 

Sign up for the tour

CAROLYN SCHOTT LEVELS UP, EARNS CREDENTIAL 

Congratulations are due to Carolyn Schott. Schott has just received word that she is Washington’s (and SGS’s) latest individual to receive the credential of Certified Genealogist. You may know her as the German SIG leader. Schott took SGS’s Certification Discussion Group course in the winter 2020. The program is administered by the Board for Certification of Genealogists.

You can find out more about the certification at https://bcgcertification.org. You can find out more about the Certification Discussion Group at https://theCDGseries.wordpress.com. Next class is fall 2024.

courtesy Jill Morelli

Susan Waller, right, came in to research her Germanic ancestors, while Natalie Douglas made use of the scanner, scanning her ancestral photos

Beenices 100th!

courtesy Amanda Bennett

Bernice Keller (far right in both photos) has turned 100. The Thursday work group gathered to celebrate at the library on July 18. Keller has been a part of the archives committee and the Thursday group for at least 12 years! We are so excited to mark her centennial.

SAVE THE DATE

AppGen Signups to Begin Soon
Aug. 22–28, 2024

Applied Genealogy Institute classes cove a variety of topics. You can find out more on the website. These courses are oriented towards “Learn By Doing.”

Family Tree Maker SIG
Eastside Genealogical Society
Aug. 16, 2024, 10:30 pm-12:30 pm

Join Eastside Genealogical Society and SGS to learn and share tips and tricks for using Family Tree Maker by Software MacKiev. The meetings open about 15 minutes in advance. You can join and/or leave whenever you have to, and you may email your question(s) in advance or bring them up during the meeting.


East European Family History Conference
Tuesday, August 6 through Friday, August 9
Salt Lake City (in person)

The Foundation for East European Family History Studies (FEEFHS) will hold its annual conference on August 6-9, 2024, in Salt Lake City, Utah. More than 60 sessions will be presented in 8 tracks: German, Polish, Russian, Germans from Eastern Europe, Austro-Hungarian, Jewish, DNA, and Resources. For more information visit the FEEFHS website.


2024 GFO Virtual Fall Seminar
Genealogical Forum of Oregon
Eastside Genealogical Society
Friday, Nov. 1 through Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024

GFO has announced there 2024 Fall Seminar. It will feature a feast of DNA topics. Genetic Genealogist Paul Woodbury will discuss using DNA to solve genealogical questions. Friday evening will be a beginner session, with Saturday devoted to intermediate and advanced techniques. For more information visit the GFO’s website.SGS CALENDAR OF EVENTSGood Shepherd Center, Suite 302
4649 Sunnyside Ave N
Seattle, WA 98103
206 522-8658Hours :  Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday   
** 10:00 a.m .- 3:00 p.m. **  Always check the SGS Website Calendar of Events for the meeting links, registration, or for last minute updates or changes to the schedule. Be advised you may need to register in advance to join a meeting.   All times listed are Pacific Time unless otherwise notedMonday, Aug. 5, 2024, 10:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m., Brags & Bricks Social Interest Group (Virtual), Join us for an informal social gathering. Share your recent genealogical successes and challenges, or just come to hang out with other genealogists. Remember the new Zoom link started this monthWednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, 6:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.,  Pacific Northwest Interest Group (Virtual), Share information and discuss Pacific Northwest genealogical research. Register on the SGS website.

Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, 10:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m., Brags & Bricks Social Interest Group (Virtual), Join us for an informal social gathering. Share your recent genealogical successes and challenges, or just come to hang out with other genealogists. Remember the new Zoom link started this month

Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, 1:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m., SGS Board of Directors Meeting (Virtual), All SGS members are welcome to attend. SGS is an all volunteer organization. Please be involved. Members must sign in to website to see Zoom link.

Monday, Aug.

12, 2024, 6:00 p.m.-7:30 p.m., Write It Up! SIG (Virtual), Join this group  to share and discuss writing projects, resources, and ideas. To join or learn more, contact SGS Director of Education (education@seagensoc.org).

Tuesday, Aug.

 13, 2024, 10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m., Tech Tuesday (Virtual), informal consultation time on DNA, genealogy software, or genealogy-related technical issues. All are welcome. No appointment necessary. Bring us your problem; we’ll try to help.

Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, 10:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m., Brags & Bricks Social Interest Group (Virtual), Join us for an informal social gathering. Share your recent genealogical successes and challenges, or just come to hang out with other genealogists. Remember the new Zoom link started this monthMonday, Aug. 26, 2024, 10:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m., Brags & Bricks Social Interest Group (Virtual), Join us for an informal social gathering. Share your recent genealogical successes and challenges, or just come to hang out with other genealogists. Remember the new Zoom link started this month

Tuesday, Aug.

 27, 2024, 10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m., Tech Tuesday (Virtual), informal consultation time on DNA, genealogy software, or genealogy-related technical issues. All are welcome. No appointment necessary. Bring us your problem; we’ll try to help.

Sunday, Sept. 1, 2023,  1:00 pm-3:00 pm, DNA Workshop, with Cary Bright and Craig Gowens. To participate you need to be on the SGS DNA Interest Group email list. Contact Cary Bright at SGSDNASIG@gmail.com to join. 

Monday, Sept. 2, 2024, 10:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m., Brags & Bricks Social Interest Group (Virtual), Join us for an informal social gathering. Share your recent genealogical successes and challenges, or just come to hang out with other genealogists. Remember the new Zoom link started this monthWednesday, Sept .4, 2024, 6:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.,  Pacific Northwest Interest Group (Virtual), Share information and discuss Pacific Northwest genealogical research. Register on the SGS website.

Let’s Talk About: Cloud Thoughts

by Donna Phillips

Approaching Spokane while flying home recently and having my nose glued to the window 🙂  I got to thinking. ONE little puff of a cloud makes a nearly mile-square wide shadow on the ground. If you’re under that cloud-shadow, you think it’s a cloudy day. If you’re not, then it’s a sunny day. Yes, I know the cloud-shadow will move in a few minutes.

Apply this to life. A little puff of a cloud so often shrouds us in a dark shadow. And we’re “there” before we realize what’s happened in too many cases. We need to, we must, realize that the darkness WILL pass, driven away by the warmth and light of the sun moving away the cloud. 

Something to think about on a hot August summer day??

Yakima Valley Genealogical Society Tennessee Research

by Charles Hansen

Yakima Valley Genealogical Society

1901 S. 12th Avenue

Union Gap, WA 98903

Phone: (509) 248-1328

Email: yvgs@yvgs.net

Yakima Valley Genealogical Society

General Meeting

Date: Saturday, August 3rd, 2024

Location: Y.V.G.S. Library 10:00a.m.

Following the General Meeting, Barbee Buchanan is giving a presentation on the many books that cover the state and counties of Tennessee. Being the 16th state in the Union. Rich in history. More Civil War battles were fought in Tennessee than any other state except Virginia. If your ancestors settled or traveled thru Tennessee, this would be a beneficial presentation.

Let’s Talk About: Warm Fuzzy Newspaper Story

by Donna Phillips

 Alvin Gauthier was going about is workday as a postal carrier in Grand Prairie, Texas, when he stumbled upon something unusual in his parcel hamper: a Christmas card sent in 1944.

Gauthier sifted through the hamper and found several other loose letters written in 1942 and 1944, all of which were signed by Marion Lamb. There was also a tattered envelope postmarked 1942, and addressed to “Mr. & Mrs. Harvey Lamb, Jacksonville, Arkansas.” It was stamped “U.S. Army Postal Service.”

As a Marine Corps veteran, Gauthier felt a personal connection to the wartime letters. He know they would probably mean a lot to the writer’s relatives. “I had to find the family,” Gauthier said. 

He searched online and found Marion Lamb’s obituary from 2010. Reaching out to a local news station in Arkansas, they ran the story. Soon Gauthier was in touch with JoAnn Smith, Marion’s sister. “I was shocked,” said Smith, 84, the only one alive of her six siblings. Marion was the eldest and had no children; he had served in the military from 1941-1945. 

To shorten the story (it was a lovely long newspaper article), JoAnn Smith’s nephew had the letters in his possession for decades and in mid-April had mailed a large package of family artifacts to his cousin, Debbie Smith (daughter of JoAnn Smith). The package that landed in Alvin Gauthier’s mail hamper hadn’t been properly sealed and many of the letters had spilled out. “Of course that’s what happened!” said Debbie Smith.

To end this tale, Gauthier made the 5-hour drive from Grand Prairie, Texas, to

Jacksonville, Arkansas, to meet the Smiths and hand deliver the precious letters. It was a very emotional meetings; they all shed tears as they hugged. 

If you wish to read the story in its entirety, just Google the particulars. Don’t we all just love a warm-fuzzy genealogy story????

Tacoma Pierce County Genealogical Society Legacy Family Tree SIG Meeting

by Charles Hansen

Tacoma-Pierce County Genealogical Society Legacy Family Tree SIG Meeting

Tuesday, August 6, 2024, from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm virtual via Zoom

This month we will continue reviewing the free Legacy Family Tree software videos hosted by Geoff Rasmussen. Our next video in this series will be “Discover The New Legacy Family Tree 9” . It is a longer video so we will be breaking it up and watching the first part Aug 6 and finishing it next month on Sep 3. While New is a relative term (this video was created in 2017 and Legacy 10 was just released in Jun 2024) almost all the features shown in this video are still in the current program.  If you are thinking about trying Legacy or are currently using it, this video can teach or remind you how to properly use the software and be successful with your research. If you have any suggestions for future topics, please send them in. 

This is our monthly meeting to share tips & tricks, problems & solutions. Sometimes we will watch videos or share our screens to aid in learning more about using Legacy Family Tree software.

Everyone is welcome to attend and participate in the learning. If you are just thinking about trying Legacy for the first time, you’ve been using it for a year or two or you are an old pro with many years of experience using Legacy this is the group for you.

We look forward to meeting with you, every month on the First Tuesday at 7:00 PM Pacific Time

Please download and import the following iCalendar (.ics) files to your calendar system.

Monthly Calendar Reminder: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/tZYpfuyuqDovHNwtBgxtQjWKOjDQ8k5Q9bPD/ics?icsToken=98tyKuGqqjIvHNKUtR-PRpwQBor4Z-7wpn5Ygo1KiD3iGzRiaDTdGehmA-p0RemJ

Join Zoom Meeting:

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Meeting ID: 824 9566 1568

Passcode: 715731

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Let’s Talk About: Oppossums

by Donna Phillips

 Most likely your colonial ancestors were familiar with opossums……….. perhaps they ate them too?  Sometimes in thinking about blog post topics that might interest you, I get to musing about things we know little about but what our ancestors might have been quite familiar with. Such as opossums. 

The word opossum is derived from the Powhatan language and was first recorded between 1607 and 1611 by John Smith. They were described as a “beast in bigness of a pig and in taste alike.”

While there are over 126 species of this marsupial, only the Virginia Opossum is found in the U.S. and Canada, and is commonly referred to as “possum.” 

Opossums are non-aggressive, never carry rabies and when threatened or harmed, they will “play possum” mimicking the appearance and smell of a sick or dead animal. 

Opossums are mainly found in the Eastern U.S. and along the Pacific Coast. They eat insects, rodents, birds, eggs, frogs, plants, fruit and grain. Female opossums can give birth up to twenty babies but depending on the mother’s number of teats, not all will survive.  A possum is a marsupial which means the joeys are born early and must make their way into the mother’s pouch; they are weaned at between 70-125 days when they detach from the mother’s pouch.  

 For a long time, there have been opossum jokes:

What do you call a possum laying in the middle of the road?

Obviously, it is a Himalayan possum.

You did find Himalayan in the middle of the road……………

Italian Interest Group of the Eastside Genealogical Society Getting the Most Out of Find A Grave

by Charles Hansen
Saturday, August 10
Getting the Most Out of Find A Grave (Classes)
1:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Zoom Meeting
ALL TIMES ARE MOUNTAIN TIME. THIS IS A ZOOM MEETING. Please set up your computer with the Zoom client app prior to the meeting, so that you are not delayed getting into the meeting. Set up is simple but is specific to the search engine you use – follow directions carefully. The ZOOM invite information and class materials will be sent to registered participants 1-2 days prior to the meeting.

Instructor: Elaine Fraser
Recommended Minimum Experience Level: Beginner
Class Size: Minimum 8
Restrictions: None. Open to the public.
Reservations: Required; Send your request to join this class to education@ppgs.org. Please include how you heard about the class. Registration closes August 8th at 5:00 pm, Mountain Time.

Find-A-Grave can be an invaluable tool for providing you with information and clues on your ancestors and their extended family. Think you already know Find-A-Grave? Perhaps not as well as you might believe. This class will cover all you need to know about Find-A-Grave from basic to advanced functions as well as how you can use Find-A-Grave to help others in their research.
Covered in the class will be:
Getting Started: Community rules, FAQ, support, other links, tutorials, how it works Basics: Searching memorials, creating an account, editing and linking memorials, messaging vs email Intermediate: Creating memorials, adding photos, requesting photos Advanced: Transferring memorials, merging memorials, cenotaphs, formatting entries, saving to Ancestry or FamilySearch Other: Leaving flowers, sponsoring a memorial, setting up favorite and virtual cemeteries, paying it forward
Eastside Genealogy Group – Italian Interest Group PO Box 374
Bellevue, Washington 98009-0374.