Whidbey Island Genealogical Searchers How DNA Results can Help Your Research
2022 Outstanding Volunteers and Team Announced
Congratulations to all the amazing individuals and team who contributed mightily to their local societies! After a three-year hiatus to WSGS’s Outstanding Volunteer Recognition Program and a global pandemic, it’s time to honor those who kept our local societies together and moving forward.
Bainbridge Island Genealogical Society
- Andrea Hoskins
- Larry Noedel
Clallam County Genealogical Society
- Genealogy Center Art Committee (Carol Foss, Roberta Griset, Linda Hindes, Consuelo White)
Eastern Washington Genealogical Society
- Audio/Visual Team (Julie Rosenoff, David Luders, Harold Young, John Wilson, Duane Beck)
- EWGS Zoom Meetings Team (John Wilson, Carol Anderson)
- Jennilyn Weight
Eastside Genealogical Society
- Celia McNay
- Dorothy Pretare
- Janet Stroebel
Grays Harbor Genealogical Society
- Lee Thomasson
Genealogical Society of South Whidbey Island
- Stephanie Rodden
Jefferson County Genealogical Society
- Ann McCreery
Lower Columbia Genealogical Society
- Teresa “Terry” Mattison
Mason County Genealogical Society
- Cemetery and Obituary Project (Susie Graham, Elizebeth Lawson, Albert Conklin, Roger Newman, Barbara Moore, Stan Graham, Sue Sheldon)
- Carolyn Gibbons
- Pat Tostevin (postumous)
Northeast Washington Genealogical Society
- Evergreen Cemetery Team (Jayne Evans, Lora Rose, Jim Witham)
- Barbara McGill
- Jim Witham
Olympia Genealogical Society
- Eileen Dodge
- Norman Dodge
- Kathy Erlandson
Puget Sound Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists
- Bylaws Revision Committee (Nancy Neville Cordell, Karin Coppernoll)
Seattle Genealogical Society
- Cary Lynn Bright
- Library Relocation and Refocus (Kathi McGinnes, Rob Sexton)
- Christine Schomaker
Skagit Valley Genealogical Society
- Karen Strelow
South King County Genealogical Society
- Going Virtual Team (MaryLynn Strickland, Valorie Zimmerman)
- Tina Lawson
Stillaguamish Valley Genealogical Society
- Ruth Caesar
- Elizabeth Dalton
- Historic Newspapers Digitization Team (Sue Walde, Michele Heiderer, Suzanne Brown, Karen Looney, Sue McNeill, Ruth Caesar)
- Lynn Clarke Kennedy
- LeeRoy Kind
- SVGS Zoom Team (Karen Looney, Susanne Brown, Dana Carney, Flynn Kennedy, Pam Shoberg)
Wenatchee Area Genealogical Society
- Diane Gundersen
- Hank LuBean
Yakima Valley Genealogical Society
- Richard Adams
- Cynthia “Cindy” L. Fuerst
- Florance Irene McDonald Nelson
- YVGS Team Website (Judy Jones Schuster, Richard Kyle)
Congratulations to all!!
2021 and 2022 President’s Awards for Outstanding Achievement Announced
WSGS President Kathleen Sizer is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2021 and 2022 Outstanding Achievement Award:
- 2021 — Helen McGreer Lewis, Renton, 1923 – 2017
- 2022 — Jill Morelli, Seattle
Created in 2015, the President’s Award for Outstanding Achievement is designed to single out that rare individual, society or organization who has demonstrated exemplary service above and beyond expectations. The award is not given every year as it is based on merit and accomplishments, as you’ll see from reading about the recipients below.
Helen Lewis
Helen Lewis’s final years of service to genealogy and family history were not only unfailing but critical to the success of archives and genealogy groups in Washington state and beyond. She not only volunteered in her local societies including South King County Genealogical Society (SKCGS) and DAR, but also indexed public records for the Washington State Archives as a volunteer for over 25 years. Her work lives on through the Washington State Digital Archives.
She authored a number of books for which she gained no income; she assigned the proceeds to the South King County Genealogical Society. In her DAR work, she helped countless others as they worked to solidify their connection to American Patriots. She also served as liaison between the SKCGS and the DAR.
Jill Morelli
Jill is a self-described member of the “Roots” generation of genealogists. From that spark, Jill has grown into a veritable wildfire of action within the genealogical community at many levels. She is a writer, lecturer and researcher specializing in U.S. Midwestern, Scandinavian and northern German genealogy.
Jill was president (2012 – 2015), then publications director (2017 – 2020) of the Seattle Genealogical Society (SGS). She continues to provide her insights and energy to SGS as past president and co-chair of the SGS 100th anniversary committee.
Jill is also program director for the local chapter of the Association for Professional Genealogists. On the wider stage of national and international genealogy, Jill lectures nationally and has been successfully published in many journals, including the National Genealogical Society Quarterly and the Swedish American Genealogist.
In 2017, Jill founded the highly successful online Certification Discussion Group (CDG) which draws students from all over the globe. She is also a founding partner of the Applied Genealogy Institute, providing online practicum-based education for advanced genealogists.
More about the award
If you want to know more about the qualities needed for this prestigious award, click here. Previous recipients are listed here.
Let’s Talk About: Census WOW Tidbits
If you but really look, the census records reveal some astounding factoids. Take this example:
The year was 1860 and the place the Western Rural District of North Carolina. I was helping a friend with her CHEEK family research and went WOW when I found her family………. but not for just the discovering of the Cheek family. Yes, F.J. Cheek and his wife Frances L., and children Margarett B., Willis P., Emmett and Sarah J. were her family but look what it says for 15-year-old Margarett: Wayne F. Colledge.
I first took that for a husband? employer? But then bells began ringing! I’d bet pennies that young Miss Margarett was attending the Fort Wayne Women’s College, a division of the Conference of the Methodist Church. (Now Taylor University, located in Upland, Indiana, it’s still a thriving institution.) The college was established in 1855………. the census year was 1860, making Margarett one of the first students. Wow.
Questions kept coming: how did Margarett travel from rural western North Carolina to Fort Wayne, Indiana? Wagon? Railroad? All by her 15-year-old self? How did her farmer/seamstress parents afford her tuition and why was that important to them? How did Margarett’s college education enrich her life??
Sidebar Question: Do you think Frances L., wife of F.J. Cheek, the mother of ALL four of those children? Did you see the gap between Willis, age 14, and Emmett, age 6? Doesn’t this ring a bell to you? Likely Father Cheek had two wives is what it speaks to me.
Let’s Talk About: Tom Jones & Puzzles
Most genealogists know who Tom Jones is, genealogist extraordinaire with decades of credibility and standing. The Eastern Washington Genealogical Society was privileged to have him teach us for our May society meeting.
His presentation title was Building A Credible Lineage Despite Multiple Research Barriers and he took us through a case study step-by-step. Here are my summary notes from that class:
- To solve a research problem, you have to define, outline and dissect the problem and the research steps to solve said problem. “The scatter-shot approach to research using your mouse is easy to do but with that approach you likely will not solve the problem.” he said.
- “You must search ALL the pieces from ALL the pertinent sources, pull out appropriate pieces (facts) and study out how they fit together,” he said next.
- “And how to know when you have enough information?” Tom quizzed us, and pointing to a zigzag puzzle, answered, “If you have enough pieces to show what the puzzle IS, then you don’t have to have every single pieces.”
Tom Jones was teaching some 60 members of the EWGS that while it’s good to strive to have every single puzzle piece, and every single genealogical fact, know that you will not be able to find every single fact you seek due to a large variety of reasons.
We all agreed; with the inspiration from Master Teacher Tom Jones, we just might complete our family history puzzle before we cross that bridge. Maybe.
Heritage Quest Research Library June Meeting Start Writing
Eastern Washington Genealogical Society June Meeting Finding Family in Western Canada
Please join us on Saturday June 4th for David Obee. You can attend either in-person at the Shadle library or by Zoom. Zoom link and syllabus will be posted on the website the morning of the presentation. Please remember to print your syllabus before you arrive. There will be door prizes!And a free table! You may bring any genealogy items that are no longer useful to you to add to the free table, but you must take home any items that are still there at the end of the day.
Saturday, June 4 EWGS General Meeting 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm A Hybrid Meeting at Shadle Public Library David Obee will present:“Finding Family in Western Canada”Odds are, you have cousins, if not ancestors, from Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan or Manitoba, the four western provinces of Canada. This presentation will cover the important sources that apply to all four provinces, some that are regional in nature, as well as ones unique to each province. It will include some geographic clues, and will note some major differences between research in this region and in the United States.
Tri City Genealogical Society Richland FHC Closing while Remodeling
The Richland Family History Center is going to be downsized. We will be closing the FHC on May 20st to allow the remodeling of the building.
On Saturday, May 21st starting at 9 AM, there will be a free Parking Lot giveaway of the excess equipment, furniture, shelving, and miscellaneous materials that we will no longer be able use or store in the Family History Center. There will be several boxes of duplicate books. Come see if you can find something to help in your family history research.
If you have any microfilm that you previously ordered and want to keep it available, please contact Wayne Ross (509-531-2728) before the 20th.
Most microfilm is now available online and most of our inventory will be returned to FamilySearch in Salt Lake by May 20th.
We don’t know when we will be able to reopen at this point.
German Interest Group of The Eastside Genealogical Society (EGS)meeting
The German Interest Group of The Eastside GenealogicalSociety (EGS)meeting
When: Friday, June 3, 2022 from 12:30 to 2:30 pm PT (Virtually)
Topic: “Mapping: Genealogy and Data Visualization, how to “see” your research roadblock with new eyes”
Come learn how to use maps and data visualization to better understand research obstacles and discover new strategies to answer those difficult questions. A case study will demonstrate how different “mapping” types can be employed to solve smaller data problems which are not readily visible. Sometimes, the problem is right in front of our eyes, and we can’t see it, because we don’t know to look for it. While this class is foundational, it may yield some new insights on how to look at a genealogical problem differently.
Presenter: Annette Adams
As a native German from Hamburg, Annette takes immense interest in German genealogy, emigration, and consulting others in discovering their German heritage. She is also currently a genealogy student at Brigham Young University Idaho and worked as a German and French research reference consultant with the German Slavic research team at the Salt Lake City, Family History Library.
More information: Visitors are always welcome and may request the Zoom link no later than June 1st at https://egsgermangroup.wordpress.com/contact/
Seattle Genealogical Society Tip of the Week Ask Your United States & Canada Research Questions
TIP OF THE WEEK – ASK YOUR UNITED STATES
AND CANADA RESEARCH QUESTIONS
FamilySearch holds several online classes/webinars each month to educate us. In this coming week alone, there are 3 on the schedule! As always the classes/webinars at FamilySearch are free, but you are asked to register in advance. Start time for each of these 3 webinars is 10:00 AM MDT; that is 9:00 AM PDT. It is recommended you enter the webinar 15-20 minutes before the start time.
- FamilySearch Family Tree: Overview & Navigation,Tues, May 17, 2022
- Research Process: The Ins & Outs, Wed, May 18, 2022
- Ask Your United States & Canada Research Question,
Thur, May 19, 2022
If you have a US or Canada research question, consider attending the webinar on Thursday. You will be invited to submit your question in advance when you register.
Here’s where you can check out what FamilySearch classes/webinars are coming up:
https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Family_History_Library_Classes_and_Webinars