Outstanding Volunteer Nominations Due May 1, 2022

by Roxanne Lowe

Do you have a few questions about the Outstanding Volunteer/Team Awards? We’ve put together a list of FAQs to help you.

  1. Who can nominate an Outstanding Volunteer or Team? Any local genealogical society or organization in Washington State can participate in the Outstanding Volunteer or Team program.
  2. Does my society have to be a member of WSGS to nominate someone? Actually, all local genealogical societies are complimentary members of WSGS. If, however, you’d like to become a paid member (only $12/year!), we’d love it. To become a paid organization, click here.
  3. Does our nominee have to be a member of WSGS? No, your nominee does not have to be a member of WSGS.
  4. Does WSGS choose the Outstanding Volunteer or Team from all the nominees? No. This program is not a competition among the nominees or societies.  WSGS honors every individual and team who is identified by their local genealogical organization for exceptional efforts. This is a means for local society and groups to give widespread recognition to their top volunteers.
  5. How many nominees can my society submit? We know there are a lot of your members who have worked hard since 2018 (the last year we made the awards), so in 2022 you can nominate up to four individuals or two teams.
  6. What does my nominee or team get for being an Outstanding Volunteer or Team? Each nominee will receive a personalized certificate outlining why they were nominated by their local society. He/she/they will also be featured on the WSGS Blog. It is also our hope that the nominating society will honor their volunteer at an upcoming meeting or event.
  7. Can we nominate someone who has been an Outstanding Volunteer before? Absolutely! More than 50 people have been honored more than once since the program’s inception in 2003.
  8. How can I see who my society has nominated in the past? Click here to see a cumulative index of all 1,400 names since 2003, listed by society and by individual name.
  9. Can we nominate someone posthumously? Yes. What a wonderful way show his/her family that you valued their late family member’s achievements.
  10. What if we want the nomination to be a surprise? We love surprises (and keeping secrets!) Just check the box on the nomination form to let us know you want to keep this under wraps until the “big announcement.”
  11. How do we nominate someone? We’ve made it pretty easy. The deadline is May 1 when we’ll need the easy-to-complete form and a photo. After that, you’ll get a chance to review and approve the certificate before it’s announced.
  12. When will the announcements be made? We’re still working out the details, but an announcement will be made on June 1, 2022.
  13. Where is the nomination form? Click here to download the form.
  14. Need more information? Email Info@wasgs.org if you’ve got question we haven’t covered.

Remember: the deadline is May 1, 2022!

Clark County Genealogical Society April Programs

by Charles Hansen

Wednesday, April 6, 2022 – 11 a.m.

THE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO DNA TESTING FOR GENEALOGY WEBINAR

This free Legacy Family Tree Webinar presentation will give an overview of the three main types of DNA tests available for family history purposes. It will explain how Y-DNA, Mitochondrial DNA and Autosomal DNA are inherited and how to use your DNA results to verify the accuracy of your family tree, connect with new cousins, break down brick walls and solve mysteries. You’ll receive practical advice, hints and tips on the best steps to take to succeed and demonstrate what can be achieved using success stories.

Wednesday, April 20, 2022: 11:00 AM

UNLOCKING STORIES OF FEMALE ANCESTORS THROUGH EFFECTIVE RESEARCH WEBINAR

This Legacy Family Tree Webinar will explore implementation of standard research methodology that may unlock previously “hidden” evidence of female ancestors’ stories. Today’s discussion includes two case studies of females born in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. An exploration of sources, beyond census and marriage records, was required to enhance their life stories. One subject was born into an affluent family who settled in north central Tennessee, and the second was enslaved from birth until Emancipation in western Kentucky.

Wednesday, April 27, 2022: 11:00 AM

WRINGING EVERY DROP OUT OF MITOCHONDRIAL DNA WEBINAR

You will learn step by step how to utilize mitochondrial DNA testing at Family Tree DNA to get the most out of your results. We’ll look at little known methods to obtain information, even if your match doesn’t have a tree. In this Legacy Family Tree Webinar, we’ll discuss using resources such as Geni, WikiTree and others to break down mitochondrial brick walls. Last, there will be discussion of projects and using mitochondrial DNA in conjunction with autosomal DNA for a slam-dunk.

Heritage Quest Research Library April Seminars

by Charles Hansen

Steven Waltz Morrison, MPA, is the past president of the Puget Sound Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists and the Olympia Genealogical Society. He holds an undergraduate degree from Western Washington University, and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Evergreen State College where he taught for seven years as an adjunct faculty. Recipient of 2016 Scholar Award from the American Society of Genealogists.

DIGGING UP NEW DIRT – Unearthing the REAL New England Immigrant
Beginner

Do you believe that family associations know everything about their early New England ancestors? Well, guess again! 
Learn what nuggets you can uncover by rediscovering original records.
So, with some surprising facts, sound analysis and a little historical context you may just uncover the real secret about your elusive ancestor. 

When: April 7, 2022 – 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Where: ZOOM
Cost: Members $20 – Non-Members $25
Sign up & Pay: Come into HQRL at 1007 Main Street, Sumner,WA 98390
or Call 253-863-1806
OR go to hqrl.com and sign up online.

Members must log in to the members page and go the hqrl store in order to obtain the discount.

Jennifer Warner has worked in both public and special libraries since 1990, most recently as a reference librarian.  Her genealogy research roots began with her mother’s stories about family and where they immigrated from.  Jennifer has been the editor of a Civil War Roundtable Newsletter for over 12 years.  She is the President of the DuPage County Genealogical Society and is a member of 14 lineage societies.  Researching Pennsylvania Ancestors
Do you or your spouse have Pennsylvania ancestors and don’t know where to start?
Pennsylvania has many resources available to you. We will go over how to start your research in Pennsylvania.  We will discuss the many resources available to you online and in paper form.

WHEN:  April 21, 2022, 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM 
WHERE:  ZOOM
COST:  Members $20 – Non-members $25
Sign up & Pay:  Come into HQRL at 1007 Main Street, Sumner, WA 98390 or Call: 253-863-1806  
OR go to hqrl.com and sign up online.

Members must log in to the members page and go to the hqrl store in order to obtain the discount.

Yakima Valley Genealogical Society April Meeting

by Charles Hansen

Yakima Valley Genealogical Society  

General Meeting – April 2, 2022, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM (in person), 1901 S 12th Ave, Union Gap, WA  

 Program – Allen County Public Library Genealogical Center and the Periodical Source Index  Presenter – Richard Kyle    The Allen County Public Library (ACPL) is the second largest genealogical library in the country with over 1,000,000 items on the shelf. The APCL website offers research help and digital access to an extremely large amount of records and books that may not be readily available anywhere else. It also houses a huge collection of genealogical periodicals, newsletters and bulletins, some dating back into the 1800’s. The Periodical Source Index (PERSI) is an article index to this MASSIVE collection. PERSI used to be on a pay site. It has moved home and is now free to use. Come and learn how to use these resources.  

Mason County Genealogical Society Meetings

by Charles Hansen

General Meetings – year-round – 1st Thursday 7:00 pm – Zoom

We usually have a speaker who will begin at 7:15 pm.  Our business is then conducted after the speaker is finished.

Hands-On Training – year-round – 3rd Thursday 7:00 pm – Zoom

This is where we all get hands-on experience doing whatever we learned at our General Meeting.  
We are all logged in on our own computers and can help each other out - sort of like study buddies.

3-Ply Thursday – year-round – 4th Thursday 7:00 pm – Zoom

This is a tech support type of meeting.  If anyone has questions on 1) Ancestry 2) FamilyTreeMaker or 3) RootsMagic - we will work on those.  
We are also available to answer other types of tech questions like backups, scanning, cell phone or tablet apps, etc.

Email masoncountygenealogy@gmail.com for Zoom link
Our website Events page: https://www.wamcgs.org/upcoming-events.html

Everyone is welcome.

Take care,
Sue..

Sue Sheldon, President
Mason County Genealogical Society
PO Box 1366
Shelton, WA 98584
(360) 427-3119
(360) 490-5925 text
https://www.wamcgs.org/
“Always Digging!”
Zoom – Join – 713 559 4880

South King County Genealogical Society Planning for the next Five Years

by Charles Hansen

The Board of Directors of the South King County Genealogical Society (Washington State) invites you to take part in forming our five-year plan as we evaluate the ways we serve you and our communities.  Both members and non-members are welcome to participate.

  • Just click the link included at the end of this email to open and then fill out the survey.
  • If you have problems with the survey, please let us know by sending a note to this email box.
  • This survey is anonymous unless you choose to add your name or contact information at the end of the survey.

Thank you for your participation.

The SKCGS 5-Year Planning Committee
Survey link:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdYDFqKnyIfzbULfx_RQ93nsyPMw0qTGrrXV0CEWXTtlFIaYw/viewform?usp=sf_link

MyHeritage LiveStories Contest

by Charles Hansen

As you probably remember, we released LiveStory, an incredible new feature that makes your photos speak, at RootsTech. The response has been enthusiastic: in the first two weeks, over a quarter of a million LiveStories were created by MyHeritage users. People are just loving this new feature and can’t get over how incredible it is to witness their ancestors and historical figures telling their stories!

We compiled some of our favorite responses — and some amazing examples of LiveStories — from social networks, blogs, and the media in this blog post. We also announced a competition inviting people to share their LiveStories for a chance to win a free MyHeritage Complete plan — details in the post. Be sure to let your friends and followers know so they can enter!

LiveStory

Have you created LiveStories for your own family members yet? Share them with us on social with the hashtag #mylivestory or by email to stories@myheritage.com.

Enjoy!

Daniel Horowitz Genealogy Expert

MyHeritage Ltd., P.O.Box 50, 3 Ariel Sharon Blvd., Or Yehuda, Israel 6037606, Israel, +972-3-6280000

1950 Census……….. Will You Help Indexing?

by Donna Phillips

Surely you know that the 1950 census will be released to us eager genealogists on April 1st. But if I understand correctly, the U.S. Census Bureau will then release just the IMAGES and it’s up to “we the people” to do the indexing so we can use this new resource. FamilySearch.org seems to be spearheading the indexing project (like they did for the 1940 census, remember?) and to that end they are inviting both individuals and groups/organizations to participate. Why not help with this “pay it forward” project? Click to www.familysearch.org/1950census to read how YOU can help.

I think perhaps we can work on indexing the place where our ancestor lived (or heck, where I lived, age 7 in Kalamazoo, Michigan!!!) or work on a state as a group………… why shouldn’t we Washingtonians “do” our state??? By genealogy society groups perhaps? I have already registered my group, the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society. We be ready to help!

Clallam County Genealogical Society Featuring Lisa Alzo

by Charles Hansen

Clallam County Genealogical Society

 Spring Seminar

Saturday, April 9, 2022

Featuring Lisa Alzo

Lisa Alzo, M.F.A. is an author of several genealogy Books and hundreds of Magazine articles. She is a contributing editor of Family Tree Magazine and a noted Webinar speaker. She has spoken at international conferences, webinars, historical and genealogical societies. An avid genealogist for more than 30 years, she specializes in Eastern European genealogical research, writing your family and using history to trace female and immigrant ancestors. This is a wonderful opportunity to listen to one of Americas leading genealogists.

Schedule and Topics:
9:15 am Registration
9:30 am Introductions, Announcements
9:45am Session I Crossing the Pond: Successful Strategies for Researching Eastern European Ancestors
11:00 am Session II Immigrant Cluster Communities: Past, Present and Future
12:45pm Session III Murder, Mayhem, and Town Tragedy

Cost:
$40 for CCGS members. $50 for non-members and at the door.
Registration closes Tuesday, April 5th.
Checks should be made out to CCGS and sent to the Research Center at 403 E. 8th Street, Port Angeles, WA 98362. One can use a credit card with the “Paypal” app available on our website, www.clallamcogs.org
The seminar will be a Zoom presentation. All are welcome to watch at the CCGS Research Center: 403 8th Street, Port Angeles, WA, or Zoom it at home. To Zoom it at home participants will need the meeting number and Zoom passcode.
The Passcode and Meeting Nos. will be sent out via Email upon receipt of funds.

For more information, call CCGS Tues-Fri:10am to 4pm or Saturday; noon to 4pm: 360-417-5000
or visit our website: www.clallamcogs.org

Blog Banner Photos Wanted

by Roxanne Lowe

Have you noticed the Blog banner changes every time you visit? The photos are submitted by readers like you. We’re always looking for scenic photos of our beautiful state for the rotating photo gallery on the blog banner.

Guidelines for the photos are few:
•Landscapes, landmarks, and scenery photos are preferred. If, however, you have a perfect photo that includes people, please obtain their permission to post the photo.
•Photo must have been taken in Washington State (this is the Washington State Genealogical Society blog, after all!).
•Photo will be cropped to 1100 x 250 pixels, so keep that in mind. If in doubt, send it to us & we’ll figure it out.
•You may submit as many photos as you want.
•Final decisions on suitable photos will be made by the awesome WSGS Blog Team.
•There’s no prize if your photo is chosen – just the satisfaction that your photo is being showcased on a blog viewed by hundreds of enthusiastic genealogists.
•There’s no firm deadline to submit photos, just keep ‘em coming. We want to rotate lots of photos to keep the blog fresh.

To submit your photo, please email the image (jpg only, please); what, where, when, and by whom the photo was taken to WSGSBlog@wasgs.org.

Got questions? Email the blog team at WSGSBlog@wasgs.org.