GENEALOGICAL FORUM’s Thursday E-News

THE GENEALOGICAL FORUM’s Thursday Evening E-News Edition April 25, 2019
Curious about the status of your GFO Membership? We’d love to have you as a GFO Member!
For more information visit www.gfo.org.
Contact us at info@gfo.org or 503-963-1932.
Be sure to check the complete GFO CALENDAR.
Also, don’t miss the current issue of The Forum Insider
GFO Library Closed Saturday, April 27th
Please remember that we will be closed all day as we host the GFO’s Spring Seminar offsite. We will reopen for our regular hours on Sunday, April 28th, from 12:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Seats Available for this Weekend’s Spring Seminar
Tony Burroughs’ Lessons Can Apply to Everyone Tony Burroughs is one of the top experts in African American genealogy, but everyone, regardless of ethnic heritage, will find valuable lessons in his seminars. Do you have southern roots? Your ancestors may well have interacted with African Americans and landed in records detailing both.
Do you have early colonial roots? Slavery existed in the north on a wider scale than many realize. This weekend, April 27 and 28, the GFO is proud to bring Tony Burroughs to town.
Register Now
Burroughs is bringing six lessons to the GFO Spring Seminar from which anyone can learn. Burroughs told Portland’s The Skanner newspaper, “People need to understand, ‘What is fundamental genealogy? What are the methods of genealogical research?'” Come learn from the founder and CEO of the Center for Black Genealogy. We have cut our usual seminar price in half for this event, thanks to generous support from The Skanner Foundation. Sign up now!
More Great Reasons to Attend Spring Seminar!
If great genealogy lessons are not enough incentive, here are more benefits you can get from attending this weekend’s Spring Seminar: New Members Special: 1-year membership gets 2 extra months free. 2-year membership gets 4 extra months free. Available only to attendees. Our Raffle has GREAT prizes! Here’s just some of what we have:
* Roots Magic software – 2 copies
* Family Tree Maker software – 2 copies
* Free One-on-One Lesson in Family Tree Maker with Laurel Smith
* History Geo – 3 months access – 2 subscriptions
* Newspapers.com – 1 Year Access
* Fold 3 – 1 Year Access
* Virtual Genealogical Association – 1 Year Membership – 2 copies
* GFO Membership – 1 Year
* GFO Fall Seminar with Fritz Juengling – 1 Free Registration
* Sons and Daughters of Oregon Pioneers – 1 Free Membership Raffle tickets cost $1 for 1 ticket or $5 for 6 tickets. Books for Sale! The GFO will have surplus books on deep discount. Heritage Quest will bring their large library of genealogy books for sale, too. Bring a little extra cash and see what you go home with!
Just For Fun Survey Results: You’ve Got Deep Oregon Roots!
We had a great response to last week’s survey and boy were we suprised! 64.3% had ancestors who arrived in Oregon before 1899.
33.3% had 4th or 5th great-grandparents who were the first to come to the state. See the breakdowns below.
New Survey: Your Immigrants
This week’s survey asks: When did your first known immigrant ancestor arrive in North America?**
Take Survey
Columbia Gorge Genealogical Society Spring Workshop
The Columbia Gorge Genealogical Society is sponsoring a Spring Workshop with Pam Vestal on Saturday, May 18th, at the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center. Sign-in is at 10:00 a.m., and the workshop lectures begin at 11:00 a.m. The workshop is $40.00 without lunch and $52.50 with lunch (soup, salad, roll, cookie, and beverage). Pam’s topics: ▪ Finding What You Need and Using What You FindFilling in the Stories of Our Female AncestorsWhy They Left, Where They Went, Journey Tales For more information, see the full seminar description. You can also download a registration form. Or contact Georga at 541-296-2882 or georga.foster@gmail.com
GFO’s Book of the Week: First 300 Years of Trinity College, Dublin
Feature of the Week: The Book of Trinity College, Dublin, 1591-1891 Irish researchers take heed! This surplus book was printed in 1892 in Belfast, Ireland, to celebrate the 300th anniversary of Trinity College in Dublin. It includes illustrations of Queen Elizabeth, buildings on campus, and even a fold-out map of the college. Overall, this book is in average condition. Its pages are in fine shape, text and illustrations are immaculate, and are all still bound together securely. However, the cover is attached at the back, but not on the spine. The edges of the cover also show wear. This is a former library book which shows stamps inside and a library label on its spine.
The Book of Trinity College, Dublin, 1591-1891 was published by Marcus Ward & Co., Limited, Royal Ulster Works, London and New York. Our price:
$25 – Pick up at GFO
$35 – Shipped to you Contact booksales@gfo.org if you’d like to buy this piece of Irish history.
Please Help! We Need a Webmaster
Do you have any background in website management? Our talented volunteer webmaster is leaving, and we need someone to take her place. Web design skills are not needed since our website provider has a template we follow. But we do have hundreds of pages on our site since we offer so many indexes and resources. These need updating when our volunteers finish each project. Please contact president@gfo.org if you have any questions or wish to volunteer. Thank you.
This week at GFO …

Saturday, April, 27th
The GFO will be closed all day.
GFO Saturday Full-Day Spring Seminar 10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Featuring Tony Burroughs. Join us at the Center for Self Enhancement (SEI), 3920 N Kerby Ave, Portland, OR 97227, USA. Registration Required.
Sunday, April, 28th
GFO Sunday Half-Day Spring Seminar 9:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Featuring Tony Burroughs. This half-day will be held at the GFO. Registration Required.
The GFO will be open for it’s regular hours 12:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Wednesday, May, 1st
Learn and Chat 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
At Learn & Chat some of the learning comes from speakers with particular expertise but most of it comes from the sharing of experiences and knowledge of attendees who have developed methods that work for them. And if you have been doing genealogy for any length time, you have likely experienced the wonderful moments of exhilaration, the successes that you then share with others and that drive you to continue researching. Unfortunately those times can be few and far between. Join us to talk about your genealogy questions and help provide support to others. Facilitated by Jeanne Quan.
DNA Q&A 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Lisa McCullough will be available to help answer your DNA questions, whether you are new and just getting started or have more complicated inquiries. Questions? dna_qa@gfo.org
Open Late until 8:00 p.m.

Friday Serendipity

Next after U.S. Federal Census Records, I think that U.S. military records can furnish us much information from one source. Military records offer evidence of service rendered and family connections (pension collecting). Military records are most effective when correlated with other sources.

This was Rick Sayre’s advice for the final talk of the day at the 2018 Montana Genealogical Society’s conference in Great Falls. He stressed that we must (1) Know America’s wars; (2) Know the records; (3) Know the law (laws governing military service and pensions).

For a desktop visual aid to help keep the wars straight in your mind, here’s a help:

List of Major American Wars

  • The Revolutionary War (1775-1783)
  • War of 1812 (1812-1815)
  • Mexican – American War (1846-1848)
  • American Civil War (1861–1865)
  • Spanish-American War (1898)
  • World War I (1914-1918)
  • World War II (1939-1945)
  • Korean War (1950-1953)

There are many resources, both in books and online, to assist your personal education of the specific war your ancestor might have been involved in. You might start with the Wiki at FamilySearch: www.familysearch.org/wiki

Seattle Genealogical Society GiveBig Day

May 8th is a BIG day!

         The Seattle Genealogical Society is excited to be part of the           

2019 GiveBig campaign!

#GiveBIG2019                             What is GiveBig?
    A coalition of non-profits that come together for one day of giving for the
Seattle community. We need member support more than ever!
    Here’s how to show your support:

Donate
  Show your financial support by donating to the
Seattle Genealogical Society.
https://www.givebig2019.org/seattle-genealogical-society
  Follow us
  Help build the buzz by following us on Facebook
and sharing our posts.

  Spread the word
                Tap into your individual networks to share                 the work that we do at SGS.

            Forward this information to your family and friends and share                 what you think is important about the SGS mission.

We are an all volunteer organization!

Volunteers maintain and update a 15,000 volume library that is open to the public. SGS offers a variety of services and databases for those researching ancestors from all over the world.  We have classes, seminars, publications, and knowledgeable volunteers to help in your genealogical journey.    

https://www.givebig2019.org/seattle-genealogical-society#GiveBIG2019


Make an IMPACT! Support us through GiveBIG, our community’s biggest day of giving of the year. Learn more at givebig.seattlefoundation.org 
 

Wednesday Nostalgia

For many women today, the United States Daughters of the American Revolution, or DAR, is still a viable and relevant organization. Besides monthly meetings these ladies contribute to service projects and honor and preserve the legacy of patriot ancestors.

American Spirit is the magazine published by the Daughters. In the Mar/Apr 2019, I gleaned these interesting tidbits about the organization.

There is a DAR Genealogy Preservation committee where volunteers categorize documents to make the retrieval process easier for documents submitted with applications.

The group offers helpful research publications such as: Massachusetts/Maine Revolutionary War Source Guide and North Carolina Revolutionary War Source Guide. You can order them in paper form or purchase them as a PDF download. Click to www.dar.org/darstore

American Spirit carries queries! Yes, they still do. The cost is $1.00 per word. Click the website (www.dar.org) for submitting information and any other information about this venerable patriotic organization.

Lower Columbia Genealogical Society May Meeting

Join us for our May meeting!!

Our speaker will be professional genealogist

STEVEN W. MORRISON,

presenting

ASSEMBLING YOUR PROOF…

HUNTING FOR HIGH QUALITY RESOURCES

LOWER COLUMBIA GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~walcolgs/

SOMERSET RETIREMENT APARTMENTS

2025 TIBBETTS DRIVE, LONGVIEW

DINING ROOM 7:00 PM

MAY 9, 2019

Visitors are welcome and encouraged to attend!!

Tuesday Trivia

Who doesn’t like a pretzel? Ever given a thought as to the origins of the humble pretzel? Well, it was in Germany…………..

“The earliest recorded evidence of pretzels is their appearance in the crest of the German bakers’ guild in the year 1111….. pretzels were deeply integrated in both religion and German culture. As a result, German immigrants brought pretzels with them when then came to the U.S. in the 1700s. They were a staple food of the Pennsylvania Dutch.”

Don’t have to be German to enjoy a fresh hot pretzel from a fair or mall vendor these days.

(Thanks to Der Ahnenforscher, newsletter of the German Genealogy Group, www.GGG.org, based on Long Island. This bit was quoting an article in The Week in Germany, March 2019.)

Monday Mystery

The construction of Grand Coulee Dam was a boon for Washington and the entire USA. No argument. But did you realize that many little settlements along the river were drowned and many, many cemeteries and grave sites were buried beneath the water…..forever?

Quoting from a Spokesman Review article from 25 March 1939:

“Undertakers of the state will vie with one another this spring for the biggest mass burial contract in the history of the state. Bids will be called soon for the removal of a thousand graves of Indians and whites within the area to be flooded by Columbia River backwater above Grand Coulee Dam.

“The plan calls for giving the contract to a licensed undertaker. He and a crew of men (preference is to be given to Indian workmen) will dig up the remains along the river shore. Most of the Indian remains will be taken to main Indian cemeteries at Keller and Inchelium. Heirs of white people…..have been notified of the removal plans. The bureau will re-bury their relatives in graves near by, or if it is desired to move the remains to burial grounds far away, will deliver the caskets to relatives.”

Eastern Washington Genealogical Society Meetings

Saturday, May 4 Results of EWGS – Future of the Society  (EWGS Meetings) 12:30 pm to 3:00 pm Spokane Public Library Auditorium – Downtown Spokane – Main Floor Barbara Brazzington will review the ideas that have been brought forward regarding our future as a Society. This will include things from meeting times to new ideas about the topics covered in our meetings.
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