Tacoma Pierce County Genealogical Society Chat Meeting December 2025

Tacoma-Pierce County Genealogical Society Genealogy Chat Meeting
Tuesday, December 16, 2025, starting at 7:00 PM via Zoom

Please join us and let’s chat!

Discussion starter topic: What are some of your family’s holiday traditions, why and how are you preserving them for future generations?

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.

Meeting invite with links in file attached below.

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.
Monthly: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/tZMldOCprTsqGtSoVglOBTElUaBRgTq5IEgI/ics?icsToken=98tyKuGvpjgjG9eVsBmHRpwEGojCXevztmJfjbdukyniDw9xVib6A-NgALVLAY35

Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87839130000?pwd=dGdHY2wrZ0d1bDNRTEQ4Uk15OVk0Zz09
Meeting ID: 878 3913 0000
Passcode: 836216

One tap mobile:
+12532050468,,87839130000#,,,,*836216# US
+12532158782,,87839130000#,,,,*836216# US (Tacoma)

Dial by your location:
        +1 253 205 0468 US
        +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
Meeting ID: 878 3913 0000
Passcode: 836216

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdesX0el3t

Tacoma Pierce County Genealogical Society Mystery Book Club December 2025

Tacoma-Pierce County Genealogical Society Mystery Book Club
Saturday, December 20, starting at 4:00 pm via Zoom

Please join us as we discuss a fictional genealogical book, The Indelible Stain, the second book in the Esme Quentin series, by Wendy Percival..

More information at:
Amazon: The Indelible Stain
Kindle Unlimited: free

This book may also be available in print from various book stores or libraries.

TPCGS Book Club Zoom Meeting
Every month on the Third Sat beginning at 4:00 PM Pacific Time
Please download and import the following iCalendar (.ics) files to your calendar system.

Monthly: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/tZUkfuCqrzgsG9RrrhNAdU65Lz86P0s92mu1/ics?icsToken=98tyKuGppzIjGNWWthiHRpwcHYr4XerzmHZdjfpvjg3tLQFXV1WjGvgaZIIvA4GC

Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81999213610?pwd=Qkk2WFZTZ2Rzdzc1Z0szN1AzdEZCUT09
Meeting ID: 819 9921 3610
Passcode: 479394

One tap mobile:
+12532050468,,81999213610#,,,,*479394# US
+12532158782,,81999213610#,,,,*479394# US (Tacoma)

Dial by your location:
        +1 253 205 0468 US
        +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
Meeting ID: 819 9921 3610
Passcode: 479394

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/keibNHDdyf

Let’s Talk About: More Random Thoughts

“Speaking kindly to others can be a challenge if we are convinced that we can clean up the world with the mop and pail of our own knowledge and opinions.”  (unknown)

“Worry is a blob monster, slowly and relentlessly engulfing everything it touches.”  (Matthew 6:31)

“Money, even if it does not bring you happiness, will at least help you be miserable in comfort.”  (Helen Gurley Brown)

“The trick is to stop thinking of it as your money.”  (IRS auditor)

“A bank is a place that will lend you money if you an prove that you don’t need it.”  (Bob Hope)

“Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.”  (Oscar Wilde)

“If you think nobody cares if you’re alive, try missing a couple of payments.”  (Earl Wilson)

“A bargain is something you can’t use at a price you can’t resist.” (Franklin Jones)

“I have enough money to last me the rest of my life unless I buy something.”  (Jackie Mason)

“What is the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist takes only your skin.”  (Mark Twain)

And lastly, my favorite:  “Recognize and beware that our time is short and life has a way of consuming the time we have.”  (Ephesians 5:16)

Book Talk

A Pioneer’s Search for an Ideal Home

Phoebe Goodell Judson

This book presents selected entries from Phoebe Goodell Judson’s diary, chronicling her remarkable journey as a young bride traveling by covered wagon from Ohio in 1853 to her final home at the head of the Nooksak River in 1904. Rather than offering daily accounts, these excerpts provide readers with vivid glimpses into the realities of pioneer life. Like many women of her era, Phoebe gave birth to a child while journeying west, and she candidly describes the hardships faced along the way—scarcity of water and food for livestock, and encounters with local tribes that were sometimes fraught with tension.

The Judson family initially settled in Ground Mound, Thurston County, near Phoebe’s parents. However, the discovery of gold near Fort Colville in 1855 brought dramatic changes. Discontent among Eastern Washington tribes over treaty terms led to attacks on prospectors and government troops, and the resulting unrest soon spread to the western side of the mountains, creating an atmosphere of uncertainty and fear.

In 1858, following her husband’s election to the state legislature, the family moved to Olympia. Through Phoebe’s eyes, readers gain insight into the early history of this developing town. Yet the search for an ideal home continued, and the family eventually relocated to the headwaters of the Nooksak River—a remote and uncharted region, far from other white settlers. For a time, Phoebe was the only white woman north of Bellingham Bay. It was here that she overcame her fear of Indigenous peoples and earned their respect and friendship.

This is the story of a woman who exercised her right to vote in territorial elections from 1883 to 1887, witnessed Washington’s transformation from a new territory to statehood in 1889, and whose son George, a graduate of the Territorial University in Seattle, helped lay out the town of Lyden. More than just the personal account of Phoebe Judson, this narrative offers a unique perspective on the history and development of western Washington. 

Available at Amazon in hardback, paperback and on Kindle

Let’s Talk About: Random Thoughtful Thoughts

“If you aren’t where you are, you are no place.”  (Col. Potter, M*A*S*H)

From Henry David Thoreau:

  • The universe is wider than our views of it
  • It’s not worthwhile to go round the world to count cats in Zanzibar
  • Things do not change; we change
  • Money is not required to buy the necessities of the soul
  • Why should we live with such hurry and waste of life?

“The counsel of fools is all the more dangerous the more of them there are.” (King Olaf of Norway, 938-1006 AD)
“Never suppress a generous thought.”  (Camilla Kimball, 1894-1987)
“Too often we hear what we want to hear instead of what we should have heard.”  (Brent L. Top, author)
“Disappointment comes to visit on occasion but should never be allowed to stay.”  (Richard Norby, author)
“The defects of great men are the consolation of the dunces.”  (Benjamin Disraeli, 1804-1881, British Prime Minister)
“Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.”  (Chief Seattle)
“They were such seriously futile people that she found herself wanting to cry out against their ready-made justifications for pointless lives.”  (Frank Herbert, Children of Dune)


You may quote any of these, anytime and to anybody. (smile)

Clark County Genealogical Society Black Friday Book Sale Continues

Clark County Genealogical Society

Black Friday Book Sale Continues!

All CCGS Publications and Surplus Books are 40% off!

Now through December 10

CCGS Publications

View the inventory and buy directly from ourwebsite. They are 40% using the code blackfriday25, plus sales tax, and USPS postage (if applicable).

Some books are available for immediate delivery as a pdf. Shipping for bound books is extra and is displayed on the checkout page.

Surplus Books

All prices for surplus books include the sales tax.

View and download the inventory from ourwebsite.

Buy in person at the CCGS library with cash or a check.

Buy by mail by contacting Denise at denisee@ccgswa.org to determine book availability, and total cost (book + USPS postage). Payment by check only.

Clark County Genealogical Society

3205 NE 52nd St.

Vancouver, WA 98663

360.750.5688

info@ccgswa.org

www.ccgs-wa.org

GFO Open House: Call for Presentations

GFO Open House: Call for Presentations

Call for PresentationsMarch 2026 marks the 80th anniversary of the Genealogical Forum of Oregon! We welcome everyone to join us at our annual Open House where we will mark this milestone among others. As in past years, this year’s Open House will feature a week of free presentations at GFO’s regional genealogical library, and online.

Open House takes place March 15-21.  Presentations are provided free of charge as a service to the genealogical community.  
We invite speakers and groups to provide a presentation, panel or workshop on any subject of genealogical interest. We are particularly interested in talks that highlight resources available in the Pacific Northwest, “getting-started” talks aimed at novices embarking on a new locale or ethnicity, and lectures on methodology.

This is a great opportunity to publicize your genealogical or historical group, or introduce the genealogical community to an under-appreciated resource.
Please submit a proposed title and/or brief description to openhouse@gfo.org

Eastern Washington Genealogical Society Holiday Customs Around the World

EWGS Holiday Customs Around the World

Date: December 6th, 2025

Time: 12:30-3:00

Location: The Hive (Door Code for the Hive: 985426#)

Zoom Link will be available on the website the day of the event. (EWGSi.org)

Our members will present the customs of: 

Kwanza, Jewish, Luxembourg, Germany, Belgium

Wear your best Holiday Outfit

Bring an unwrapped toy for the Toy Drive

You can still drop off toys by contacting:

Carol Anderson, Lynn Krogh, Lola McCreary, Jennilyn Weight

Bring a couple dozen cookies to share and bring your recipe too!

Your will head home with some delicious new recipes and treats.

Zip Locks will be provided by Dianne and her team.

Bring Cash for $50/50$ and for raffles

Be sure to bring some new items for the Genealogy Free Table 

Y’All Better Be Good Before our Special Guest Arrives!

Tacoma Pierce County Genealogical Society Monthly Education Meeting December 2025

Tacoma Pierce County Genealogical Society Monthly Educational Meeting
Tuesday, December 9, 2025, starting at 6:00 pm

This month’s presentation: Translating, Transcribing and Summarizing Documents Using AI By Thomas MacEntee (one of his last live presentations before he retires at the end of this year).
Learn how to harness the power of artificial intelligence to assist in translating, transcribing, and summarizing a variety of genealogy records. A handwritten baptismal record from the 1800s? No problem. A faded newspaper obituary? No problem. We’ll cover the best AI platforms as well as how to craft a solid prompt to get you the results you need.

This meeting will be hybrid and we encourage everyone who is able to attend in person at our new meeting location:

University Place Library
3609 Market PL W.
University Place, WA 98466
and via Zoom for those unable to attend in person.

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.
Monthly: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/tZIqduGpqjgsHtBNs9zc8CGna6R-KHlcz5so/ics?icsToken=98tyKuGuqToiG9CWth2DRpwAB4j4WevwiHZdgrd_sgy8GSMLQST4N7Rwf5lXHNvK

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86718143644?pwd=S0FjYU5acVVKbDEyamdXWWZVekFjdz09
Meeting ID: 867 1814 3644
Passcode: 630507

One tap mobile
+12532050468,,86718143644#,,,,*630507# US
+12532158782,,86718143644#,,,,*630507# US (Tacoma)
Dial by your location

        +1 253 205 0468 US
        +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
Meeting ID: 867 1814 3644
Passcode: 630507

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcFbCNTY39

Tacoma Pierce County Genealogical Society Writing Family History December 2025

Tacoma-Pierce County Genealogical Society Writing Family History
Wednesday, December 10, 2025, starting at 7:00 PM via Zoom

The Writing Family History Special Interest Group (WFH-SIG) supports TPCGS members in documenting, writing, and preserving their family histories—formally or informally. Monthly meetings will provide a mix of presentations, writing exercises, and peer reviews to help members make progress in their projects.

Meeting invite with links in file attached below

Date & Time: Every month on the Second Wednesday, starting at 7:00 PM Pacific Time

Please download and import the following iCalendar (.ics) files to your calendar system.

Monthly: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/tZMoc-2qqDMjHNXnACfWJ0dop_pMeQXMRoYM/ics?icsToken=98tyKuGvqz8uGNKduR-GRpwEGY-gLOrwplxEgo1lkj7GBRd5Mgf5Jt1SH7dOKPXi

Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87544268961?pwd=oNtdztP51tePuSn3bt45J3wuxnGXzl.1
Meeting ID: 875 4426 8961
Passcode: 328639

One tap mobile:
+12532158782,,87544268961#,,,,*328639# US (Tacoma)
+12532050468,,87544268961#,,,,*328639# US

Dial by your location:
• +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
• +1 253 205 0468 US
Meeting ID: 875 4426 8961
Passcode: 328639

Find your local number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kclCP1SsOV