We Washingtonians are so lucky…… we have 23 National Wildlife Refuges in our state! These are places dedicated to preserving, conserving and enhancing the flora and fauna of an area by means of managing the land and water for fish, wildlife and plants. And for we human visitors too!
The list below the image is probably too small for you to read, but just ask Google for “National Wildlife Refuges in Washington.” Then any time of year, put on your walking shoes, put a granola bar in your backpack along with your water bottle and camera and go out and explore your world.
Keep in mind that on these refuges you can better imagine what your ancestors first saw when they arrived into XXX place.
What are the benefits of a national wildlife refuge?Beyond their primary mission of conserving and enhancing land and water for fish, wildlife and plants, national wildlife refuges are important in other ways. They offer healthy, world-class outdoor recreation. They improve air and water quality across the nation.
Registration is Now Open for NGS’s 2024 Virtual Family History Conference and FOCUSNGS Organization Members Can Use Discount Offers
Dear NGS Organization Members, Administrators, and Delegates, Registration is open for the National Genealogical Society (NGS) 2024 Family History Conference, Expanding Possibilities, and the preconference FOCUS event for genealogy organizations. Both are virtual and discount offers are available for NGS member organizations. Make plans to sign up people from your organization and share the information outlined below and on the Organization Member Registration page with your leaders, volunteers, and members. Visit the Organization Member Registration PageFamily History Conference: Expanding PossibilitiesStarting on 16 May 2024, check out the Expo Hall and attend the SLAM! Idea Showcase. Join your fellow genealogists for two days of online education and live Q&A on 17-18 May. Choose from among fifty lectures, available to watch in the Whova app through 15 August 2024, with topics that include Records: Resources that Solve Problems and Help Determine Relationships Methodology: Planning Cluster Research, Proving Identity, Resolving Conflict, and more Artificial Intelligence: Newest Technology for Genealogy Writing and Analysis DNA: Beyond the Basics to Advanced Tools Ethnic and LGBTQIA+ Research: New Paths and Sources for Research Conference DiscountsNGS member organizations can register up to three leaders, volunteers, or employees to attend the 2024 Family History Conference at the individual membership per person rate ($225 through 31 January 2024) if those people are not individual members of NGS. Organization members must submit the 2024 Family History Conference form to use this offer. Once this form is received, NGS will invoice your organization for each name, up to three people, on the list.FOCUS on Genealogy OrganizationsThe 16 May 2024 FOCUS event features an inspiring keynote, to be announced soon, and nine breakout sessions highlighting examples of how organizations have incorporated public outreach and engagement into processes and programs or made outreach and engagement the purpose of an event. FOCUS sessions will be available in the Whova app through 15 August 2024 and will help you reach the public, motivate volunteers, and grow the genealogy and family history community.FOCUS DiscountsNGS member organizations with three or more people registering for the 2024 FOCUS event can do so at a discounted rate of $40 (a $10 savings) per person. The organization must submit the 2024 FOCUS form to use this offer. Once this form is received, NGS will invoice your organization for each name on the registration list.Expand the Possibilities for You and Your Organization. Register for the Virtual 2024 Family History Conference and FOCUS.Visit the Organization Member Registration Page
Bet you didn’t know that Washington State has its own tartan. The symbolic colors are: GREEN for our Evergreen State; BLUE for our rivers, lakes and the ocean; WHITE for snow capped mountains; RED for all the fruit; YELOW for all the grains; and BLACK for Mt.St.Helens. This tartan was adopted by the Washington State legislature in 1991. Now you know.
Here’s one for you geography buffs: How many state capitols are located west of Los Angeles?? (tiny answer at the bottom)
Ever watch the TV or YouTube show with Mike Rowe where he visits interesting places? In one video, Mike visited the Hair Museum in Independence, Missouri (near Kansas City). Museum owner and director, Leila, made Mark incredulously laugh many times. “Hair can be black, brown, red, blonde or white….there is no gray!” she quipped. The museum features hair pictures…. tableaus made from hair, often of a deceased loved one. “This custom dates back to the 12th century,” Leila said. One question on Mark’s mind was this: “Does human hair keep growing after death?” The answer? “No way!”
Tampa Bay Times, October 2022: “Florida lawyer who fought helmet laws died in motorcycle crash not wearing one.” Humm. Serves him right?
How do you feel about this? An original copy of the U.S. Constitution, one of only two known to be in private hands, will be auctioned off in December with bidding estimated to go as high as $30 million, Sotheby’s announced (in November 2022). 500 first printings were made of this historic document and were provided to participants at the 1787 Constitutional Convention. Nearly all have been lost to history; of the 13 known to have survived, 11 are owned by governments and institutions.
((Answer to above question: SIX!! Carson City, Nevada; Honolulu, Hawaii; Juneau, Alaska; Olympia, Washington; Sacramento, California; and Salem, Oregon. HOW MANY DID YOU GUESS?)
Rummaging through the wheeled racks of books at the Goodwill Outlet Store, I happened upon a slim little volume titled The History of Envelopes, by Robert H. Ramage, published by the Envelope Manufacturers Association of America in 1952.
Only a genealogist would think to grab up a book on the history of envelopes!
Author Ramage begins his book with this bit: “The little paper enclosure which we term “envelope” sustains such an important relation to our social, commercial, political, and moral world as to render it eminently worthy of notice a our hands. It has now become the vade mecum of thought transportation—-crossing seas, threading rivers, chasing up railways, exploring the solitary paths of the forest and plains, pursing expresses and telegraphic messengers; it is almost everywhere doing, for rich and poor alike, its good offices and trusty services.” Quote in Cosmopolitan Art Journal, 1860.
Remember that in 1860 there was no telephone and certainly no interest/email. Writing on paper and sent in envelopes was The Only way to communicate over distance.
Ramage continues: “No one will ever know who it was that first conceived the idea of cutting paper for envelopes …… but it was no doubt a stationer who sold paper and realized there was a need to be filled. ”
In 1635, King Charles I issued a proclamation establishing the first State Postal Service. One of the earliest envelopes on record is attached to a letter written on 16 May 1696 in England.
The early mail service (in England) was inadequate and expensive. Mail was sent collect with postage paid by the receiver which system was easy to defraud. This ultimately let to the better system of pre-paid postage, or postage stamps.
Further chapters in this 90-page book are: Envelopes in America; First Envelope Machines; Evolution in Envelope Manufacture; Early Type of Envelopes; Papeteries; Business Envelopes Become Specialized; Government Stamped Envelopes and the Industry Behind Envelopes. WHEW! Who knew there could be 90 pages of envelope history!
An envelope history would not be complete without mention of V-Mail, short for Victory Mail “which was a particular postal system put into place during the war (WWII) to drastically reduce the space needed to transport mail thus freeing up room for other valuable supplies. The V-Mail system was only used between June 1942 and November 1945 with over one billion items processed through these means.
If anybody would like to borrow and peruse this interesting history book, be happy to loan it to you. Just ask me.
The Clallam County Genealogical Society is beginning it’s Speaker’ Series Saturday, January 13 beginning at 10:10. Beth Swarz will present a lecture on DNA – Centi What; Morgan Who…Working with DNA Results.
Beth has specialized in helping solve unknown parent/family connections through DNA and creating, building & researching family trees.
She presently is President of Moreno Valley Genealogical Society; a member of the International Society of Genetic Genealogy; National Genealogical Society; and Family Search Center Staff and is involved in several other Societies.
All are invited to watch this interesting presentation, by either by coming to the CCGS Research Center or via Zoom. There is no cost to attend.
To obtain the Zoom meeting number and codes, email the Society at askus@clallamcogs.org or phone us at 360-417-5000. We are at the Research Center Tuesday-Friday, 10am to 4pm and on Saturdays noon to 4pm. The research center is located at 403 8th Street in Port Angeles, on the corner of 8th Street and Peabody.
Everyone is invited to visit and do research at our Research Center during open hours at no cost. We share our data bases, computers, and library materials with the public. If you visit Clallam County, do stop and see us.
Remember getting rope-burned-hands playing tug-o-war with a rope? And too often neither side “won,” and sometimes one side got pulled into the mud! Remember?
If there is a job to be done, isn’t it better to work together? Nobody’s hands get rope-burned that way! And the job gets done!!
I LIVE IN SPOKANE AND AM AN ACTIVE MEMBER OF EWGS……. AS YOU READ THIS POST, SUBSTITUTE YOUR SOCIETY’S NAME!!!!
I’m aiming today to sorta follow-up on our EWGS January meeting….. dedicated to service…… service to EWGS. Are some of you still on the fence about stepping up to do something for EWGS?
WHY? WHY come/mix/join/support EWGS? Here’s why:
EWGS people are “your kind” of people and are your friends.
EWGS people will welcome…and listen to…. your discovery-stories!
EWGS people have years of combined research knowledge and are always willing to help you. (But you gotta ask.)
EWGS meetings are FUN….. prizes, contests, raffles and cookies!
EWGS meetings are INFORMATIVE….. the EWGS board strives most diligently to offer programs of worth and interest to us.
EWGS offers you a way to give back to the genealogy community through service…… through volunteering to help however you can. The definition of service is, simply put, HELPING.
In EWGS, sometimes you’re the helper and other times you’re the helpee. (Don’t look in the dictionary for that word; I made it up. 😌)
Please click to www.EWGSI.org, especially if you’ve not in a while, and check out all that’s offered to YOU. And know that EWGS needs you help, big or small. 😁
To let go is not to cut myself off; it’s realizing I can’t control another.
To let go is not to enable but to allow learning from natural consequences.
To let go is not to try to change or blame another; it’s to make the most of myself.
To let go is not to care FOR but to care ABOUT.
To let go is not to FIX but to be SUPPORTIVE.
To let go is not to judge others but to love them anyway.
To let go is not to DENY but to ACCEPT.
To let go is not to point out others’ faults but consider my own.
To let go is not to criticize others but just be the best I can be.
To let go is not to regret the past but to thankfully live for the future.
(Why this particular post today? It is the start of a new year and we all know there will be obstacles to over come so we must “let go” and be thankfully positive.)
The motor vessel Kalakala was a ferry that operated on Puget Sound from 1935 until her retirement in 1967. The MV Kalakala was notable for her unique streamlined superstructure, art deco styling and luxurious amenities. The vessel was a popular attraction for locals and tourists and was voted second only to the Space Needle in popularity among visitors to Seattle during the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair.
After retiring from passenger service in 1967, the ship was beached in Kodiak, Alaska, and converted into a shrimp cannery. In 1998, the ship was refloated and towed to Puget Sound with the owner hoping to restore the ship. During this time, the ship continued to deteriorate, with the Coast Guard decaling the ship a hazard to avigation in 2011. Unable to raise the funds required for restoration, the ship was scrapped in 2015.
The book, Weird Washington, explains the story and history of this once proud ferry boat……. that many of you might remember traveling aboard. Members of the Advanced Ghost Hunters of Seattle & Tacoma were most interested in the ship and the possibility that it might be haunted. Several members were aboard when she was towed from Alaska back to Puget Sound in 1998 and felt certain they documented “ghostly manifestations.” So goes another story of Washington’s history…..
(Big thanks to Wikipedia for the info and images.)
Tacoma-Pierce County Genealogical Society Genealogy Chat
Tuesday, December 19th starting at 7:00 PM via Zoom
Our conversation starter this month is “What did you enjoy accomplishing the most this year and what are you looking forward to doing in 2024?”
This is a monthly opportunity to connect with others and talk about anything and everything genealogical. The value of this meeting increases with the participation of each person that attends and contributes to the conversations. This is your chance to celebrate the breaking down of a brick wall in your research or ask questions of others that can help you find records or relatives. Everyone, members, and guests are welcome and encouraged to attend and participate.
Date & Time: Every month on the Third Tue, from 7:00 PM until 8:30 PM Pacific Time
Please download and import the following iCalendar (.ics) files to your calendar system.
Discover which are the best web sites for German genealogy and research!
Presenter: Dan Jungclas
With 35 plus years of experience, Dan began his genealogical journey at the young age of 26. Dan, quite an accomplished speaker, is an International Speaker and has spoken for the International German Genealogy Partnership (IGGP). Dan’s expertise offers incredible insight through comprehensive exploration, research & preservation. Knowledgeable of more than just the basics of genealogy, Dan is familiar with vital records (birth, marriage, and death), census records, church records, land records, tax records, emigration records, immigration records, & naturalization records. Dan specializes in a number of areas related to but not limited to Germany, Germanic Areas, Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio; Northern Kentucky, Illinois, Michigan and other areas of the USA as well as the National Archives (NARA), the Great Lakes, the Midwest, the US Civil War, WWI, WWII and German Genealogy.
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