On Monday, April 11 at 2 pm The Whatcom Genealogical Society will host Janice Lovelace, who is a genealogical researcher, educator, author, and lecturer with over thirty years of experience. Her topic will be “Special Collections Repositories. Finding Women’s Stories and Voices.”
We meet at the Pioneer Pavilion, 2007 Cherry Street, Ferndale, WA. Please join us.
EASTERN EUROPEAN GENEALOGY
Pam Vestal,
professional Genealogical speaker, writer, and biographer from Oregon, has chosen this topic for the April 14th Zoom program for the meeting of the Lower Columbia Genealogical Society.
The meeting opens at 6:30 pm for announcements and visiting.
The program starts at 7:00 pm. The public is welcome to attend. Contact lcgsgen@yahoo.com to request a link to the
Zoom meeting.
TIP OF THE WEEK –
MARYLAND LAND RECORDS
Here’s a tip came from a fellow SGS member for everyone interested in land records of Maryland.
All land records for Maryland are available online from the Maryland State Archives at this URL: http://www.mdlandrec.net
Use of this site is free, but you will need to create an account. Here’s the blurb from their main home page expressing their intent:
“The Maryland Judiciary, the 24 elected Court Clerks of Maryland and the Maryland State Archives have joined in partnership to provide up to date access to all verified land record instruments in Maryland. This service is currently being provided free to all those interested in testing the system. Users are encouraged to provide feedback and inform the Maryland State Archives of any problems encountered.”
Once you have arrived at the home page, use the drop-down menu in the upper left part of the page to select your county of interested, and you’re off and running.
While these same land records are available via FamilySearch, most of them fall under that “restricted access” requiring you to be at a FHC or affiliated library to access the image. From the MDLANDREC website, you can view and download Maryland land records from the comfort of your home.
| SECOND SATURDAY: EXPANDING GERMAN RESEARCH BEYOND ANCESTRY & FAMILY SEARCH SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 2022 1:00 PM-2:30 PM VIA ZOOM Our presenter at the Second Saturday event coming up will be Carolyn Schott. Carolyn is the new chairperson for our SGS German Interest Group that meets on the 3rd Saturday of each month from 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm via Zoom. Carolyn has been researching her German ancestors for more than 20 years, following their wanderings through Eastern Europe before arriving in America. She is a former board member of the Germans from Russia Heritage Society (GRHS), a founder of the Black Sea German Research Community, and author of the book “Visiting Your Ancestral Town”. Her writing has received several awards from the International Society of Family History Writers and Editors. The presentation on April 9 will help German researchers learn about some powerful resources beyond the “standards.” These include the online Meyers Gazetteer, Archion, Matricula, and Compgen.de. Each resource will be discussed and attendees will be instructed on how to navigate them even if you don’t speak German. If you plan to attend, please pre-register. If you can’t make the Second Saturday presentation, you can still meet Carolyn the next Saturday, April 16. She will be leading the SGS German Interest Group. SGS LIBRARY DESK VOLUNTEERS DESPERATELY NEEDED Now that we have moved into our beautiful new space, we are anxious to have members and visitors come see and use our facility. Unfortunately, we are seriously short of volunteers to man the front desk. Desk Volunteer duties are simple—you open the SGS library at 10:00 AM, tend the till, greet guests, and give tours. Then you close the Library at 3:00 PM. In-depth knowledge of genealogy is not necessary. As a benefit, you will be able to use the Library’s resources, such as subscriptions to Ancestry, Fold3, Newspapers.com, American Ancestors, the FamilySearch affiliate library capacity, books, journals, etc. Work on your own genealogy while you are there. Volunteering in this capacity usually requires minimal effort, while it is a very important contribution. Please consider our desperate plea. If you can help, contact Amanda Bennett at desk@seagensoc.org. Thank you very much. P.S. Beginning in May, we plan to have the Library open on Wednesday. With that, our hours will be Monday – Friday, 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM. SAVE THE DATE Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State, 2nd Monday meetings usually 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM PST JGSWS meets on the second Monday of each month, from Sept-June. Doors open at 6:30 PM unless noted otherwise. Watch their website for details on the next meeting. The next regular meeting presentation will be on Monday, Apr 11, at 7:00 pm, “Getting Ready for the 1950 Census: Searching With and Without a Name Index” with Stephen Morse. Visit their website for more information. http://www.jgsws.org/meetings.php Olympia Genealogical Society, “DNA: Today’s Matchmaker” with Diahan Southard, Saturday, April 9, 2022 8:30 am – 3:30 pm PDT Diahan will speak on issues like : Making sense of your DNA results What to do if your matches don’t have family trees Organizing your matches Using female DNA to answer questions For full details, visit: http://olygensoc.org SGS 2022 Spring Seminar, Virtual, “Lands and Maps and Deeds, Oh My!” Friday-Sunday, June 3-5, 2022 The schedule: Friday, 5:00 PM, keynote with Cyndi Ingle, “Pin Your Ancestors Down with Google Maps and Google Earth” Saturday, 9:00 AM – noon Angela Packer McGhie, CG “Land Entry Files and Tract Books” Rebecca Whitman Koford, CG, CGL “Military Bounty Lands: Revolution to Mexican War” Sunday, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM Melinda Kashuba, PhD “Using Migration Maps in Genealogical Research” Kimberly T Powell “Deed Book Indexing Systems” Registration opens April 15. SGS CALENDAR OF EVENTS Good Shepherd Center, Suite 302 4649 Sunnyside Ave N Seattle, WA 98103 206 522-8658 Hours : Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday 10:00 am – 3:00 pm Masks are not required inside the Good Shepherd Center, SGS does encourage you to wear one in our library.. Due to COVID the events listed below continue to be virtual, online via Zoom. 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. NOTICE: SGS has imposed more security on our Zoom meetings. Some meetings will begin with a waiting room. The host must take action to let people into each meeting. The host will try to open the waiting room about 10 minutes ahead of time. Please be patient. All times listed are Pacific Time unless otherwise noted Saturday, Apr 2, 2022, 10:15 am-12:15 pm, FamilySearch Interest Group with Lou Daly (Virtual), Discover the many ways to use FamilySearch. At each meeting a different aspect of the website will be featured. There will be time for Q & A. Want to be included on the mail listing? Email Lou: loudaly@nwlink.com Sunday, Apr 3, 2022, 1:00 pm-3:00 pm, DNA WORKSHOP (Virtual), with Cary Bright and Craig Gowens. To participate you must be on the DNA SIG email list. Contact Cary at sgsdnasig@gmail.com to join. Wednesday, Apr 6, 2022, 10:00 am-11:30 am, 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. Saturday, Apr 9, 2022, 1:00 pm-2:30 pm, Second Saturday Speaker Series: Expanding Your German Research Beyond Ancestry and FamilySearch with Carolyn Schott. Sunday, Apr 10, 2022, 1:00 pm-3:00 pm, Scandinavian Interest Group with Karen Knudson. Tuesday, Apr 12, 2022, 10:00 am-11:00 am, Tech Tuesday (Virtual), back by popular demand, the informal consultation time on DNA, genealogy software, or genealogy-related technical issues. All are welcome. No appointment necessary. Wednesday, Apr 13, 2022, 10:00 am-11:30 am, 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. Saturday, Apr 16, 2022, 10:00 am- 12:00 pm, Irish SIG is back! With Susan McKee and Jim Ryan. See the SGS website Calendar of Events for further information. Saturday, Apr 16, 2022, 1:00 pm-3:00 pm, German SIG is back! With Carolyn Schott. See the SGS website Calendar of Events for further information. Wednesday, Apr 20, 2022, 10:00 am-11:30 am, 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. Sunday, Apr 24, 2022, 1:00 pm, Japanese American SIG, with Caitlin Oiye Coon. This is the third meeting of our new SIG. Please sign up if you would like to attend; send an email to family.history@densho.org Tuesday, Apr 26, 2022, 10:00 am-11:00 am, Tech Tuesday (Virtual), back by popular demand, the informal consultation time on DNA, genealogy software, or genealogy-related technical issues. All are welcome. No appointment necessary. Wednesday, Apr 27, 2022, 10:00 am-11:30 am, 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. Saturday, Apr 30, 2022, 10:00 am- 12:30 pm, DNA SIG with Cary Bright and Craig Gowens.To participate you must be on the DNA SIG email list. Contact Cary at sgsdnasig@gmail.com to join. |
Last call to speak your mind in the SKCGS Five-Year Planning Survey
The survey is open through this coming Sunday, April 3. We would love to hear from you.
Survey link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdYDFqKnyIfzbULfx_RQ93nsyPMw0qTGrrXV0CEWXTtlFIaYw/viewform?usp=sf_link
Board Nominations and Election
At the May General Membership Meeting, SKCGS will hold its annual election for the positions of Vice President and Secretary. Board members must be SKCGS members in good standing for one year prior to the election and agree to serve a two-year term starting June 1, 2022. Alexis Scholz is currently Vice President and has agreed to stand for election to the position. We want to thank Linda Blais, outgoing Secretary, for keeping us organized and taking meeting minutes the past two years. If you want to learn more about either position or have a nomination, please contact MaryLynn at m.strickland@skcgs.org.
APRIL – EARLY MAY 2022 MEETINGS & EVENTS
Be in the know! Receive notices for our virtual meetings, as well as the latest genealogy news and tips, by subscribing (free) to the online group at https://skcgs.groups.io
Skcgs.groups.io is the SKCGS online discussion and collaboration arena where:
PROGRAM UPDATES
Saturday, April 2, 2022, 10:00am – 12:00pm PT
Family Tree Maker Users Group (virtual)
Topic: adding and linking media and how it affects the space used on your computer. Go to https://skcgs.groups.io/g/FTMUG for meeting link, meeting reminders and discussion.
Tuesday, April 5, 2022, 6:30pm PT
SKCGS Board of Directors Meeting (virtual)
All SKCGS members are invited to attend; only Directors may vote. Write to Board@skcgs.org for the meeting link.
Monday, April 11, 2022 ⋅ 1:00pm – 3:00pm PT
Genetic Genealogy/DNA Interest Group (virtual)
Ancestry.com Thrulines
Let’s explore using Ancestry’s Thrulines strategically while avoiding the pitfalls. This group is for genealogists who use DNA data as part of their research. Join for meeting invitations and discussion: https://skcgs.groups.io/g/Genetic-Genealogy
Saturday, April 16, 2022, 9:30am PT social time; 10:00am – 11:30am PT program
SKCGS General Meeting (virtual)
Kate Eakman presents “Adding Historical Context to your Genealogy Research: A Hands-on Approach”
Adding historical context to our genealogical research makes it richer, more interesting, and helps to explain some of the changes in our families. But if you aren’t a historian how do you know when there is an opportunity for adding history to our research? And how do you find the answers? In this class, we will discuss how history and genealogy are the same things. We will learn how to ask the questions that lead to historical discoveries, and finally, we will discover how to find the answers to our questions.
Kate Eakman holds an MA in History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with additional graduate work in history and education. Before embarking on her career as a professional genealogist, Kate spent 20 years as a college history professor. Today she is the British Empire Team Manager and a Senior Genealogist for Salt Lake City-based Legacy Tree Genealogists. Kate lives in Gresham, Oregon. She and her husband have a retired racehorse named Leon and a mustang named Gwen. The four of them provide opportunities for disadvantaged children to experience a very large animal up close and in person.
REGISTER IN ADVANCE
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email from Zoom
Save the email – it contains your link to join the meeting
Link to register for this meeting:
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0qfu2ppz4iHtMYxNjHR2qTEWxEexYobly2
Monday, April 18, 2022 ⋅ 1:00pm – 3:00pm PT
Technical User Group (virtual)
WikiTree
This month we’ll learn about WikiTree. TUG is for sharing knowledge and learning about technology tools, media, apps and websites. Join for meeting invitations and discussion: https://skcgs.groups.io/g/TUG
Monday, April 25, 2022 ⋅ 1:00pm – 3:00pm PT
Genealogy Chat (virtual)
Meet up and chat about genealogy subjects and topics. We have no agenda; we just like one another! For meeting invitations and discussion, join https://skcgs.groups.io/g/Society
Tuesday, May 3, 2022, 6:30pm PT
SKCGS Board of Directors Meeting (virtual)
SKCGS Board Meeting. All SKCGS members are invited to attend; only Directors may vote. Write to Board@skcgs.org for the meeting link.
Friday, May 6, 2022, 12:30 – 2:30 pm PT
EGS German Interest Group: “Separating Same Name Ancestors with German Parish Records” by Carol Whitton CG®
Do parish records contain elements to help distinguish same name persons? These may include witnesses, occupations, parents’ names or a combination.
Visitors welcome and can request Zoom link no later than May 4th at https://egsgermangroup.wordpress.com/contact/
Saturday, May 7, 2022, 10:00am – 12:00pm PT
Family Tree Maker Users Group (virtual)
Question & Answer. Each month, we will learn about using the features of FTM. Go to https://skcgs.groups.io/g/FTMUG for meeting link, meeting reminders and discussion.
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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 http://skcgs.org/membership.
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SOUTH KING COUNTY GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY
PO BOX 582
AUBURN, WASHINGTON 98071-0582
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In case you haven’t heard (not sure how you missed the news!), the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is releasing the 1950 U.S. Census at midnight on 01 Apr 2022. NARA will provide free online access to the population schedules for U.S. states and territories, enumeration district maps, and enumeration district descriptions.
According to NARA’s website, they used Amazon Web Services’ artificial intelligence / optical character recognition (AI/OCR) Textract tool to extract the handwritten names from the digitized population schedules. Because the initial name index is built on optical character recognition (OCR) technology, it will not be 100-percent accurate. NARA, FamilySearch, Ancestry, and a host of others are calling for eager volunteers to help “check and correct” the census — not transcribe names like we’ve done in the past. FamilySearch published a great “how-to” video during RootsTech on how to get involved in their effort. The video is available here.
Even though an index won’t be available for a while (hopefully a short while), you can still find your people (or maybe even yourself!). Steve Morse has published an excellent article on getting ready, including how to find your all-important enumeration district.
Does your society have a member who has demonstrated long-term exemplary service above and beyond expectations? Someone who has really made a difference? Consider nominating him/her for the President’s Award for Outstanding Achievement. Previous awardees are shown here.
The ideal recipient of the President’s Award for Outstanding Achievement has:
• Exhibited long-term, consistent service in the field of genealogy, family or local history, the genealogical community, records preservation or made an important single contribution in those areas that will endure into the future.
• Demonstrated a high degree of energy, commitment, flexibility, and professional conduct.
• Provided significant support and impact to the local genealogical community time and time again.
• Exhibited personal influence and example to society members and/or the general public with their unselfish service.
• Supported or advanced local or statewide genealogical research.
Nominations may be submitted by any individual, local society or organization, regardless of WSGS membership. Nominees do not have to have been officers in their local societies.
Two letters of recommendation must be submitted with the nomination form. Additional documents may be attached, if relevant. Nominations are due May 1, 2022 to Info@wasgs.org.
Nominations will be reviewed by the WSGS Board of Directors, resulting in a recommendation to the WSGS President who will make a final decision.
The President’s Award will generally, but not necessarily, be awarded each year. The award will be announced June 1, 2022. The awardee will receive a commemorative gift and their name will be engraved on the perpetual plaque.
For more information, email Info@wasgs.org. Please put “President’s Award” in the Subject Line.
“If you talk to the animals, they will talk to you. And you will know each other. If you do not talk to them, you will not know them. And what you do not know, you will fear. What one fears, one destroys.”
Born Geswanouth Slahoot, known as Dan Slahoot, on 24 July 1899 in North Vancouver (Canada), the boy’s name was changed at age 5 when he entered a residential school. Dan George was well known for his poetic writing style and in 1974, George wrote My Hearts Soars followed by My Spirit Soars in 1983 (both available today as The Best of Chief Dan George). He was also an actor, appearing in several movies. Dan George was the band chief for a dozen years of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, whose Indian reserve is located on Burrard Inlet, North Vancouver. He died 23 September 1981.
Canadian actor Donald Sutherland narrated the following quote from his poem My Heart Soars in the opening ceremonies o the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver:
The beauty of the trees,
the softness of the air,
the fragrance of the grass,
speaks to me.
And my heart soars.
Why do I share this with you today??? We often hear quotes from Chief Seattle but other Pacific Northwest chiefs shared words of profound wisdom to teach us yet today.