GIVING TUESDAY WAS DECEMBER 1st
Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to support the Seattle Genealogical Society and Library during our Annual Appeal this December.
SGS 2020 Annual Appeal
Donate Now Online
If you have a Paypal account, you may donate to SGS via the Paypal Giving Fund. The transaction fee will be waived and your gift will be matched with an additional 1% by the fund. Go to:
Paypal Giving Fund – SGS Thank You!
FROM OUR SGS PRESIDENT
I am sorry to have to notify the membership that our Library Director, Sue Jensen, has told the Board that she needs to step down from that position effective immediately for health-related reasons. Sue has held that post since June 2018, and in a recent discussion had told me she hoped to stay on through May 2022 in order to help us continue our move to a more digital library. Unfortunately, her doctor felt otherwise. Sue has done an outstanding job as the Society’s Library Director, and filling her shoes will not be an easy task. Annie Wright, who was the Library Director from June 2015 through May 2018, has agreed to act as the interim director while we search for Sue’s replacement. She has been working closely with Sue as the Library Technician, so the transition should be smooth.
We all wish Sue the best, and with luck we may not have seen the last of her involvement in SGS. She hopes to be able to return at some point to continue running the new “Brag and Bricks” sessions that she has just initiated. That program has proven to be a popular one, and we are all hoping that she can return to host that program again.
Jim Secan
President, SGS Board of Directors
THE CERTIFICATION DISCUSSION GROUP
WITH JILL MORELLI
The sign up for the winter session of the popular online Certification Discussion Group (CDG), a review of the requirements for certification with the Board for Certification of Genealogists, is starting. If you are interested in signing up for the course, we urge you to do so now. SGS members are given preference.
To find out more and sign up for the waitlist, go to:
https://theCDGseries.wordpress.com
RESEARCH SERVICES AT
SEATTLE GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY (SGS)
SGS volunteers provide research services to members and non-members, utilizing our library holdings, SGS databases, and the Seattle Public Library holdings. After submitting your online research request, the researcher will search for information in the following record sets. We cannot provide images of certain records where we are prohibited from copying due to the owner’s Terms of Service. This primarily affects Family Search records. We cannot guarantee we will be successful in fulfilling your request; nevertheless, our fee will still be charged.
The fee for research services for non-members is $10.00 per hour per name, minimum of $7.50, except as noted above. For members, the first hour is free. If our research is expected to exceed one hour (including for members), our researcher will contact you with an estimate of the additional time it will take to complete the research before proceeding. Please be specific about who we should research, with dates and places for the relevant events. Include the specific resources you would like us to check. We charge for the time involved in searching for information, scanning documents and reporting the results of our research to you.
SAVE THE DATE
“Washington’s Undiscovered Feminists”,
with Mayumi Tsutakawa
Seattle Public Library/Humanities Washington
Saturday, December 5, 2020
11:00 AM PST
Join in remembering some of the remarkable, but often unsung, women of the Pacific Northwest. Please register online at The Seattle Public Library for the virtual meeting information. “Finding Your Roots: Using the Entire Genealogy Tool Box”,
Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State,
Bellevue, WA
Monday, December 14, 2020
7:00 PM PST
Coral Grant will be the presenter for this online, virtual meeting. The “room will open” at 7 PM and the meeting will begin at 7:15 PM. Visit their website for more info and the meeting id.
https://www.jgsws.org
RootsTech Connect 2021 (Virtual),
hosted by FamilySearch International
February 25-27, 2021
This 2021 virtual conference is free. They do ask that you register. Something for everyone, no matter your age or experience:
- Genealogy Classes
- Food and Cultural Demonstrations
- Mind-break Activities, Exercise and Relaxation
- Travel and World Heritage
Visit the website for more info and registration.
http://www.rootstech.org/?lang=eng
SGS CALENDAR OF EVENTS*
In consideration of COVID-19 social distancing recommendations, the SGS Library is closed until further notice and SGS in-person events have been replaced with online events.
** Go to the SGS Website Calendar of Events for the meeting links and for any last minute updates or changes to the schedule.
Wednesday, Dec 2, 2020, 11:00 am-12:30 pm, Brags & Bricks Social Interest Group (Virtual), With Sue Jensen, hostess/facilitator – Join us for an informal social gathering. Share your recent genealogical successes and challenges, or just come to hang out with other genealogists.
Saturday, Dec 5, 2020, 10:15 am – 12:15 pm, FamilySearch Interest Group, Discover the many ways to use Family Tree and FamilySearch. Featuring a different aspect of the website each meeting. There will be time for Q & A. Chaired by Lou Daly.
Tuesday, Dec 8, 2020, 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 welcomed. No appointment necessary. Visit www.seagensoc.org Calendar of Events for the Zoom meeting link.
Wednesday, Dec 9, 2020, 11:00 am-12:30 pm, Brags & Bricks Social Interest Group (Virtual), With Sue Jensen, hostess/facilitator – Join us for an informal social gathering. Share your recent genealogical successes and challenges, or just come to hang out with other genealogists.
Saturday, Dec 12, 2020, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm, SGS Holiday Celebration – Virtual, join us for our annual Holiday Gathering. This year it’s virtual. There will be a trivia contest with prizes. Share a favorite family recipe. Send it along now to library@seattlegenealogicalsociety.org and it will be compiled and shared on our website as well as at the party. Visit our website for the Zoom link to this celebration.
THE GENEALOGICAL FORUM’s Thursday Evening E-News Edition November 12, 2020
Come meet Lisa, ask questions, and get two days of her popular “Gems” for yourself! Learn about reopening cold cases, handling common surnames, finding living relatives, and see how Google Earth Pro can help every genealogist.
We have a great opportunity to learn how to create a timeline with what you know, identify gaps, consult a genealogical research checklist for sources to fill those gaps, and record your queries on a correspondence research log.
On Tuesday, Nov. 24 at 6:30 p.m., Linda presents 
This online presentation will be held Saturday, November 21, 2020, from 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m (Pacific) and topics will include: Mayflower Sources, Resources for the New England Great Migration 1620-1640, Understanding New England Town and Vital Records, Using New England Court Records, and Using New England Land Records. Cost is $50 for non-members. Click 
The Data Extraction group is working to index GFO’s Bulletin quarterlies. Is this something you would like to do from home? If so, we can send the indexing rules, the Excel spreadsheet for the volume, and a digital copy of the volume for you to index.
As our library closure continues, we are featuring free online resources so you can reach out and connect, as well as continue to learn and build on your genealogy skills, from home.
Dorothy Spruill Redford spent ten years traveling down winding southern roads, through county courthouses and state archives, and onto the front porches of people willing to share tales handed down through generations, to trace the lives of the slaves and their descendants from Somerset Place, North Carolina. Her hard work created a homecoming of more than 2,000 descendants which attracted national publicity. And it marked the beginning of a campaign to turn Somerset Place into a remarkable resource for learning about the history of both African Americans and whites in the region.
Redford preserved this remarkable story in Somerset Homecoming – Recovering a Lost Heritage, published in 1989. This paperback copy is a first edition signed by the author. It is in good condition with a crunched right corner on the cover and the first few pages.
We find no marks inside (other than the author’s signature.) It includes an introduction by Alex Haley. Our price: $18, shipping included. Contact 
The Week Ahead: The GFO Research Library is closed, and all on-site groups, classes, and work parties are suspended. 
THE GENEALOGICAL FORUM’s Thursday Evening E-News Edition November 5, 2020 Curious about the status of your 
We’re Turning 75! Help Us Celebrate The GFO is about to hit a major milestone. In two months we turn 75 years old! Please help us celebrate.What are you favorite memories of the GFO? It could be a discovery, an event, or meaningful relationship. Perhaps someone helped you break a brick wall. Maybe you got to meet a star in the genealogy world. 
We’d like to share your stories with our members during our anniversary year. They might appear in the 
Now you can meet her, ask questions, and get two days of her popular “Gems” for yourself! Learn about reopening cold cases, handling common surnames, finding living relatives, and see how Google Earth Pro can help every genealogist. Lisa is an extremely popular international genealogy speaker, and the GFO is thrilled she will join us for our Fall Seminar, November 14 and 15, this year online. And everyone will get a great view of her presentations from the comfort of whatever seat they choose in their home.In addition, GFO members get big discounts at this seminar! $20 off the first day, $15 off the second.We are adding extra seats so everyone can attend. Please sign up now! 
Do you use Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram regularly? If you enjoy social media, the GFO could really use your help.We’d love to reach a broader, more diverse audience, especially on Instagram, which would be brand new to us.The GFO currently has only one person handling all 
We have a great opportunity to learn how to create a timeline with what you know, identify gaps, consult a genealogical research checklist for sources to fill those gaps, and record your queries on a correspondence research log. “Kathrine Willson is one of the most talented and engaging genealogy speakers I’ve heard. I’m thrilled she’s doing a GenTalk for the GFO.” — Laurel Smith, GFO Library Chair Katherine R. Willson will be our featured online GenTalk speaker for 
On Tuesday, Nov. 24 at 6:30 p.m., Linda presents 
Copyright © 2020 Adobe The GFO Library may be closed but there’s still plenty of work that can be done from home. We’re currently recruiting volunteers to help with these projects.We need volunteers to help with the PDF processing of digital scans. This requires the Adobe Acrobat Pro software. If you have this software already and would like to help, please contact Laurel Smith, 
• Family History Writing
As our library closure continues, we are featuring free online resources so you can reach out and connect, as well as continue to learn and build on your genealogy skills, from home. 
the book of sarahs; a family in parts, is her memoir as a biracial woman who was among the many children of color placed for adoption with white couples in the 1960s and 1970s.It may may include the first instance of a phrase we’ve not run across before: Afro-Saxon.Poet and author Hettie Jones wrote of McKinley’s book, “At once mystery and family history, Catherine McKinley’s story is a must-read for anyone – and that should be everyone – paying attention to race issues in our increasingly diverse, harder-to-categorize twenty-first-century America.” 
This memoir was published in 2002. This is a paperback copy in good condition. There are no marks of any kind on it, just some visible wear on the corners, and crease marks on the spine.Our price: $18, shipping included. Contact 
The Week Ahead:The GFO Research Library is closed, and all on-site groups, classes, and work parties are suspended.Saturday, November 7