Tacoma-Pierce County Genealogical Society Genealogy Chat
Tuesday May 16th from 7:00 to 8:30 PM Pacific Time
Do you have thoughts, ideas, questions, or comments about anything related to genealogy? Then this is for you. Please plan to attend, share, and expand your knowledge of all thing’s genealogy from the comfort of your own home.
We look forward to seeing and chatting with you!
Virtual via Zoom
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.
May 20, 2023 10:00am Pacific Time is our Annual Membership Meeting held online via Zoom. During the business portion of the meeting, SKCGS will hold its annual election for the positions of President and Treasurer.
Our last Beginning Genealogy Class with instructor Winona Laird will be Monday, June 5, 11:00am PT. The topic is “Citing your Sources.” It’s free for SKCGS members and $20 for non-members. More information at https://www.skcgs.org/meetings-events/classes.
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PROGRAM UPDATES
All meetings are online via Zoom except the in-person Research Group and Genealogy Help at the Auburn Library
Live transcription (captioning) is available during our Zoom meetings by request
Online meeting participants need to register for SKCGS Zoom meetings.Register at our website skcgs.org or use links below. Upon registration, Zoom will send a confirmation email with instructions on joining the meeting.
MAY – EARLY JUNE 2023 MEETINGS & EVENTS
Friday, May 5, 2023, 12:30 – 2:30 pm PT EGS German Interest Group (online) “19th Century Germany” Presenter Richard Haberstroh will discuss geography, politics, and religion in the context of how they affect the genealogist’s search for family information. Visitors welcome and more information at https://egsgermangroup.wordpress.com
Saturday, May 6, 2023, 10:00am – 12:00pm PT Family Tree Maker Users Group (online) Question & Answer. Each month, we will learn about using the features of FTM. Register in advance for this Zoom meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYsdu6uqzgiGdDn7eCsOAgkvdOXktX127sz After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Subscribe to the free SKCGS FTM email list for meeting reminders and discussion: https://skcgs.groups.io/g/FTMUG
Monday, May 8, 2023 ⋅ 1:00pm – 3:00pm PT Genetic Genealogy/DNA Interest Group (online) “Advances in Y & Mitochondrial testing for Genealogy” Watch in advance: https://www.familysearch.org/rootstech/session/familytreedna-sponsor-highlight Register in advance for this meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIucuCvqTsqHNcN7wBEC0fB_3-TRYD1rZLm After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Subscribe to the free SKCGS Genetic-Genealogy email list for meeting reminders and discussion: https://skcgs.groups.io/g/Genetic-Genealogy Monday, May 15, 2023 ⋅ 1:00pm – 3:00pm PT Technical User Group (online) “Beyond the Records: Analyzing and Charting Your Family Tree” After researching for awhile, maybe it’s time to analyze your tree. Doing so will help you find context, which will help you understand why your family developed as it did. We’ll also dig into how tree display and other charting methods can help you explore your family beyond the records. Bring your questions and experience to share!
Register in advance for this meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAucuigqj4uH92bWWD2uycX9Z1uSsRLY4K6 After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Subscribe to the free SKCGS Tech User Group email list for meeting invitations and discussion: https://skcgs.groups.io/g/TUG Wednesday, May 17, 2023, 6:00pm-7:00pm PT Airtable as Research Log, FAN Club & DNA Match Tracker (online) We’ll demonstrate Airtable (https://www.airtable.com/) in action, based on Nicole Dyer’s Airtable Universe bases. As you log your research, effortlessly connect the FAN Club members you find in each record. As you work your DNA matches, log your findings and communications with each match. Register in advance for this meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAvduugrj4sHdbPy_xK3mOmzAxYHCZ65gO9 After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Friday, May 19, 2023, 1:00pm – 3:00pm PT Research Workshop (in-person) For SKCGS members Kent FamilySearch Center 12817 SE 256th St., Kent, WA Seating is limited RSVP REQUIRED to Winona at w.laird@skcgs.org Saturday, May 20, 2023, 9:30am PT social time; 10:00am – 11:30am PT program SKCGS Annual Membership Meeting (online) Election of officers and budget approval followed by Curt Witcher “Using Periodicals and PERSI to Take Your Research to the Next Level” Register in advance for this meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIpce2tqzIoHtdSuKWLOihH6XB-osShEUYP After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. This meeting will be recorded for playback by members. Extremely significant quantities of family and local history data are published in the newsletters, journals, quarterlies, and magazines of the world’s historical and genealogical societies. Yet, so many genealogists leave periodical literature untouched when conducting their research and investigating secondary sources of data. This presentation identifies the major types of periodical literature, what indices are available and how they can be most effectively used, and where one can find specific publications. Special attention is given to the Periodical Source Index as the largest and most comprehensive subject index in the genealogical field, and now freely available from the Genealogy Center’s webpage at GenealogyCenter.org.
Curt Witcher is the Director of Special Collections at the Allen County Public Library, managing the widely acclaimed Genealogy Center as well as the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection of Abraham Lincoln related research materials and the institution’s Fine Books Collection. He is a former president of both the Federation of Genealogical Societies and the National Genealogical Society, and the founding president of the Indiana Genealogical Society.
Monday, May 22, 2023 ⋅ 1:00pm – 3:00pm PT Genealogy Chat(online) Meet up and chat about genealogy subjects and topics. We have no agenda; we just like one another! Register in advance for this Zoom meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUud-uqpzoiGtEMxlqDBQ_fUeS8oZjScF71 After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Subscribe to the free SKCGS email list for meeting invitations and discussion: https://skcgs.groups.io/g/Society Thursday, May 25, 2023 ⋅ 11:00am – 1:00pm PT Genealogy Help with SKCGS at the Auburn Library(in-person) Genealogy questions? SKCGS offers one-on-one help with a volunteer 1102 Auburn Way S Auburn, WA 98002 Registration not required. In-person event. Safety guidelines and current protocols followed. More information at King County Library, email kcls-auburn@kcls.org Friday, June 2, 2023, 12:30 – 2:30 pm PT EGS German Interest Group (online) “Walking in the Footsteps of Your Ancestors” Presenter Carolyn Schott will discuss strategies for getting the most out of a visit to an ancestral town and making local contacts. Visitors welcome and more information at https://egsgermangroup.wordpress.com
Saturday, June 3, 2023, 10:00am – 12:00pm PT Family Tree Maker Users Group (online) Question & Answer. Each month, we will learn about using the features of FTM. Register in advance for this Zoom meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYsdu6uqzgiGdDn7eCsOAgkvdOXktX127sz After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Subscribe to the free SKCGS FTM email list for meeting reminders and discussion: https://skcgs.groups.io/g/FTMUG
Monday, June 5, 2023, 11:00am PT Beginning Genealogy Class: Citing Your Sources (online) More details at https://www.skcgs.org/meetings-events/classes Tuesday, June 6, 2023, 6:30pm PT SKCGS Board of Directors Meeting (online) All SKCGS members are invited to attend; only Officers and Directors may vote. Write to Board@skcgs.org for the meeting link.
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MEMBERSHIP: We welcome guests to our meetings and special interest groups, which are free. Naturally we hope that visitors will want to become members. Support like yours helps us to educate and engage with our community to foster interest in family and local history. Regarding our programs, even if and when we can meet again in person, we will continue with some virtual programs. You can find more information about membership at our website at https://www.skcgs.org/support-skcgs/membership.
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Randol B. Fletcher, the author of Hidden History of Civil War Oregon, will speak on the state of the U.S. military at the start of the Civil War, the formation of Oregon volunteer regiments that replaced the Federal troops withdrawn from Oregon. He will talk about Oregonians who served in the war including Sen. Edward D. Baker and a little known cavalry unit known as Olney’s 40 Thieves that patrolled the Columbia River Gorge. He will also be available for questions and answers.
Randol B. Fletcher, a lifelong student of history, is a fifth-generation Oregonian born and raised in Albany. He graduated from the University of Oregon with degrees in history and political science. Fletcher has been Civil War reenacting since 2003 and is often joined on his adventures by his wife, Karen, and their children, Andrew and Allison. As a member, and past camp commander, of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Fletcher began researching the lives of Oregon Civil War soldiers while leading cemetery restoration projects in Eugene, Corvallis and Portland. His research led him to write a series of Civil War-themed articles for Oregon Magazine. Other publications where Fletcher’s work has appeared include Columbia Magazine and The Banner.
This free program will be in the downstairs classroom. The Cafe is not open at this time. The program is open to the public and there is no museum entrance fee for this event. A $1.00 donation is suggested to off set room rental.
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.”
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“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.
Tacoma Pierce County Genealogical Society Monthly Educational Meeting
Tuesday, May 9th from 6:15 pm to 8:00 pm
Zoom and In-Person, Parkland-Spanaway P.C. Library 138th and Pacific Ave S
Please join us for our monthly meeting. If you have ever been stumped by a word or phrase while doing research, you’ll want to hear our Speaker Dawn Carlile‘s presentation on Deciphering Old Handwriting. Dawn is a native of Oregon and has been doing genealogy research for more than 20 years.
Our meetings are held monthly except for July and August starting at 6:00 PM, Zoom comes live about 6:15 PM.
Attend in person at:
Parkland/Spanaway Branch of Pierce County Library
13718 Pacific Ave S.
Tacoma, WA 98444
Attend virtually via Zoom:
Tacoma-Pierce County Genealogical Society is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Please download and import the following iCalendar (.ics) files to your calendar system.
Intro to U.S. Church Records: Why We Care Where Grandma Went to Church.
U.S. church records of many denominations can reveal ancestors’ vital events, family relationships, overseas birthplaces and other residences and religious lives. From the co-author of the acclaimed book How to Find Your Family History in U.S. Church Records, learn what these records may look like, how to identify an ancestral church, locate extant records and access them.
Sunny Jane Morton is an internationally known genealogy speaker and award- winning writer and editor. She is a longtime Contributing Editor at Family Tree Magazine; Contributing Editor and Content Manager for YourDNAGuide.com; frequent contributor to FamilySearch’s blog; and past Editor of Ohio Genealogy News. She has twice received prestigious awards from the National Genealogical Society, most recently for her book How to Find Your Family History in U.S. Church Records, co-authored with Harold Henderson, CG. Her book, Story of My Life: A Workbook for Preserving Your Legacy, is now in its 2nd edition.
So, please join us on May 19th at 10AM on Zoom for this informative presentation. A Zoom link will be posted on our website the day before the event.
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.
TIP OF THE WEEK – DO YOU REMEMBER THIS ELEPHIND TIP?
Elephind, is a the Search Engine for Historical Newspapers. Many genealogist love the Library of Congress – Chronicling America – historical, digitized newspapers website, but have you heard of Elephind.com? Their goal is to search all the world’s digitized, historical newspapers from one place at one time; it’s similar to the idea behind Travelocity.com with the airline industry.
Elephind currently is at over 200 million items from over 4,300 newspaper titles worldwide. That is far more than what you will find at Chronicling America. In fact, Chronicling America is one of the sites Elephind has covered. Also like Chronicling America, Elephind is adding volume almost daily.
At the website for elephind, start with the Search Tips.
The “proximity search” is particularly useful. An example, using this syntax “Jane Doe”~4 in Search will find for you :
•Jane Doe •Jane E Doe •Jane Elizabeth Doe •Elizabeth Jane Smith, nee Doe
But it will exclude something like “Jane and Sally found a young, frightened doe in the woods”.
Elephind.com will be a good addition to your arsenal of historical newspapers websites and someday it might become the only one you will ever need.
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