Join SVGS Saturday, November 8, 2025, 1pm at the Burlington Public Library for “Beyond the Brick Wall: Strategies for Pre-1850 U.S. Research” with Julie Anderson. Julie is a U.S./Canada Research Specialist at the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City. Come learn what resources and research techniques are available to help you locate your ancestors in records before the 1850 Census. Can’t make it to the Burlington Library, request a zoom link by emailing info@skagitvalleygenealogy.org.
| DATE: TIME: TOPIC: PRESENTER: November 15, 2025 1:30 PM (PST) How Italian Migration Laws Affected Our Ancestors Victoria Calabrese, PhD |
| Description: How easy was it to emigrate from Italy? What was the process like after one made the decision to leave? This presentation will discuss Italian emigration laws regarding migration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and how these laws influenced our ancestors’ lives. The talk will cover topics such as who could and could not emigrate (and why), what was needed to get a passport, how to buy tickets, and travelling to the port of departure. |
 Speaker Bio: Victoria Calabrese received her Ph.D. in modern European history from the Graduate Center at the City University of New York. Her research focuses on modern Italian history, gender, migration, and nation building. Her book, Italian Women in Basilicata: Staying Behind but Moving Forward during the Age of Mass Emigration, 1876–1914, was published by Lexington Books in 2022. The book examines women in the southern Italian region of Basilicata and the many ways their lives changed when their husbands emigrated. In addition to the women who remained behind, she has written articles on honor and infanticide, and on traveling child musicians. Victoria is an avid genealogist, focusing on southern Italian genealogy research. She is currently an adjunct professor at Lehman College, teaching courses in early modern and modern European history |
| COUNTDOWN TO THE MEETING: |
 Days Hours Minutes Seconds |
| Eastside Genealogical Society – Italian Interest Group P.O. Box 374 Bellevue, WA 98009-0374 |
Edward S. Curtis, a renowned American photographer and ethnologist, dedicated over three decades of his life to documenting the cultures, traditions, and daily lives of Native American tribes through his monumental work, The North American Indian. Beginning in the late 19th century, Curtis captured over 40,000 photographs and extensive ethnographic records of more than 80 tribes, creating an unparalleled visual and cultural archive that preserves the heritage of Indigenous peoples facing rapid cultural change. His work, characterized by its artistic sensitivity and anthropological depth, remains a vital resource for understanding Native American history and identity. The Curtis Legacy Foundation, established to honor and extend Curtis’s mission, promotes the preservation, study, and appreciation of his photographic and ethnographic contributions, ensuring that his legacy continues to educate and inspire future generations about the rich diversity of Native American cultures.
This presentation covers life stories and photos from his private studio in Seattle and the on going preservation of this renowned photographer and historian through the Curtis Legacy Foundation. The foundation is presently involved with two projects, the Unpublished Series of books which have been released for sale and the Descendants Project that is being conducted with cooperation of native tribes in the Northwest and Southwest. Program facilitator is Georga Foster.
Register at https://gorgegen.blogspot.com/
Join us for this all-day, online event!
Federal records are invaluable tools for genealogists because they often preserve detailed, first-person data that may not appear in local or family-held sources. These records — ranging from pension applications and service records to land bounty files and employment records can reveal not only dates and locations but also personal experiences, physical descriptions, family relationships, and even financial or medical hardships. They provide context to an ancestor’s life by situating them within national events such as wars, migrations, or public service, often uncovering stories of resilience, sacrifice, or opportunity that enrich the broader family narrative. Our speaker will focus on several historical periods that affect a wide range of the U.S. population.
The seminar will take place via Zoom.
Saturday, November 8
9:00 am – 10:15 am – Fighting on the Frontier: Researching the Indian Wars
10:30 am – 11:30 am – That Splendid Little War: Researching the Spanish-American War
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm – Enemy Aliens: Registering Our Immigrant Forebears
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Federal Taxes and the Genealogical Records They Created
3:00 pm – 3:15 pm – Closing, including door prizes and final words
Pricing: $70 (members $55)
Registration: gfo.org/seminar
Meet Our Speaker:
Our speaker, Michael L. Strauss, AG®, is an Accredited Genealogist and forensic investigator. He holds a BA in History and is a United States Coast Guard veteran. He is a licensed Private Investigator and qualified expert witness in Surrogate Court and Circuit Court in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Virginia.
He is best known in the genealogical community as an expert on military and federal records, and is a national genealogical lecturer and instructor for military courses at the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR).
Mr. Strauss has worked on identifying MIA remains from WWII and the Korean and Vietnam wars, and was the film historian for the 2015 Academy Award nominated movie “Finding Vivian Maier”.
Coffin nails
Little white slavers
Dope sticks
Devil’s toothpicks
Satan sticks
Coffin pills
Little white devils.
These are names for cigarettes in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Residents of Washington State were so opposed to cigarettes that they passed a law, in March of 1893, prohibiting any person to “buy, sell, give away, or manufacture cigarettes or cigarette paper.”
This law, a first of its kind in the country, was struck down in the Federal Court four months later. The Federal Court declared it unconstitutional on the grounds that it improperly restrained interstate trade.
The anti-cigarette lobby did not give up – they got another prohibition bill introduced in the State Legislature in 1907 and that law passed as well. Two years later the Legislature enacted an even more draconian law banning the mere possession of cigarettes and cigarette paper.
Washington State was not, however, alone in its concern for this unhealthy substance. Fifteen states passed laws prohibiting sale and manufacture of cigarettes in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Even if they did not get a law passed, many other States, debated the topic.
The Seattle P-I ran a satirical piece – an interview with Mr. Cigarette (“the attenuated friend of the undertaker”). The cigarette was quoted as saying: “I have learned to love the Puget Sound country. I have many close friends in Seattle. It is sad to part with them. I have become attached to scores of them, and it is a consolation to me to know that they will miss me.”
After it became clear that the law could not be enforced – too many violators – it was repealed in 1911. That was the end of cigarette prohibition.
To put this in context of the ‘Prohibition” that we are more familiar with – prohibition on alcohol –
Washington State passed a law prohibiting the sale and consumption of alcohol in 1916. The rest of the country caught up with Washington State by passing the 18th Amendment to the Constitution which prohibited the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcohol in 1920.
(Photo: Prohibition Agents destroying barrels of whiskey – Wikimedia Commons)
The 18th Amendment was repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933.
SOURCE:
Cigarette Prohibition in Washington, 1893-1911 – HistoryLink.org
Karen Treiger is the author of the new book – Standing on the Crack: The Legacy of Five Jewish Families from Seattle’s Gilded Age.
Website: Homepage – Karen Treiger – Author
Her weekly blog about the history of Seattle and stories about her ancestors can be found here: Ancestry, Genealogy, Legacy, History: Stories of Five Jewish Families in Seattle
Zoom Registration required: https://tinyurl.com/3ffspkt7
More information: Visitors are always welcome. Our website is
John Denver (real name Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr.) was and will always be my favorite musical artist. Sorry; had to start this post with something. 🙂
There are nearly 20 sources that will furnish family searchers with death information for an ancestor:
** A burial-transit permit, also known as a removal permit, is a legal document required to transport a deceased person’s body, especially across state lines. It essentially serves as permission to move the body to its final destination for burial or cremation. A death certificate must be completed before the burial-transit permit can be issued.
So if you cannot find great-grandpa’s death documentation, you might try these ideas to dig a little deeper.
My son recently confessed to me. Back in about 1977, he stole some of the Spokane Carrousel rings and kept this one all these years. What was I to do but smile and grab the camera!
Our Spokane merry-go-round opened in 1909. Besides riding round-and-round-and-up-and-down in wooden animals, a rider could stretch and reach for a ring with each circuit. If you got The Gold Ring, you won a free ride! If you plucked a dull-metal one, you tossed it into the clown’s face and tried with the next go-round. If your aim was good and you got it into the clown’s mouth, a bell would ring!
Did you know that about 200 American towns have carrousels? The significant ones are listed in the National Register of Historic Places…. as is our Spokane Looff Carrousel. Binghamton, New York, is billed as the Carrousel Capitol of the World because they have SIX working wooden carrousels.
There are still rings to grab for but nowadays they’re plastic (much safer for tossing) and are often colored for the season.
Want to know more? Click to www.carrousels.org.
Do you remember reaching for a gold ring on the Spokane carrousel? I’d love to hear your story!
As for my son and his ring; he’s put it safely in his keepsake box of treasures. Rightly so.
Siblings, Friends & Enemies: Collateral Research
Presented by Pamela Bell Dallas
Pamela will teach us some proven techniques for successful collateral research.
Date: Saturday November 01, 2025
Time: 12:30 PM to 03:00 PM
Location: The Hive (Door Code: 985426#)
Zoom link and Handouts for this presentation will be on the website the day prior.
at EWGSi.org
Please print your handouts at home.
Cookies and Coffee
Free Table
Raffles
$50/50$
