More than 150 people attended Olympia Genealogical Society‘s sold-out Spring Seminar on Saturday, March 30, 2019. Everyone left heap full of DNA-rich information and resources after hearing renowned DNA expert and author Blaine Bettinger. His topics included:
Blaine Bettinger autographing his book, “Genetic Genealogy in Practice.”
Using Autosomal DNA for 18th and 19th Century Mysteries
Using Third Party Tools to Analyze Your Autosomal DNA
The Danger of Distant Matches
Mapping Your Chromosomes Using DNA Painter
Always a first-rate affair, Olympia’s Spring Seminar also included book sales, non-profit organizations’ information tables and fabulous raffle baskets. It was also a great opportunity to welcome and network with fellow genealogists from the area.
Societies: If you’d like to promote your workshop or seminar on the WSGS Blog, send a flyer or paragraph to WSGSBlog@wasgs.org. We’d love to share it with our readers!
Pamela Boyer Sayre was a speaker at the 2018 Montana State Genealogical Society conference held in Great Falls. One of her topics was “Our National Treasure: The Library of Congress.”
She began with “even if you never visit Washington, DC, you should explore the holdings of the Library of Congress.” She continued saying that “the LofC is your library too, so use it!”
“The Library of Congress has diverse collections such as digital items, prints and photographs, sound recordings, manuscripts, maps, historic newspapers and much more…beyond just books.” And many of these items are available online. For free. Click to www.loc.gov and check it out for yourself.
So far, the resource from the Library of Congress that I have used most is the newspaper site, Chronicling America (www.chroniclingamerica.loc.gov). This site provides FREE access to millions of pages of America’s newspapers.
Register by April 15 for the Northwest Genealogy Conference to receive the Early Bird Discount. Held August 14 – 17 in Arlington, WA, this is the region’s premier genealogical conference. Keynote speakers include Thomas MacEntee, Angie Bush and Michael Strauss.
And while you’re at it, don’t forget to make your room reservations. Hotels fill up fast!
See www.nwgc.org for more information on the conference, discounted hotel rooms and to register. You don’t want to miss this great event!
Some of the happy attendees at the 2018 conference.
Senate Bill 5332 limiting access to vital records passed the House Health Care and Wellness Committee on April 2nd. On April 3rd it was referred to the Appropriations Committee and then on to the full House for debate and a vote. If it passes the House it will go to the governor for his signature or veto. Click here for the schedule for Senate Bill 5332
Just
a reminder that our Spring seminar is just around the corner . . . have
you registered yet? If you haven’t, time is running out!
On Friday, April 26th and Saturday, April 27th the
Tacoma Pierce County Genealogical Society will be holding its annual
Spring Seminar. This year we have invited the professional genealogist,
Michael D. Lacopo, D.V.M. to be our speaker.
Friday evening’s topic is:
TOP TEN THINGS I HAVE LEARNED IN OVER THREE DECADES OF GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH Join
your speaker on a trip down Memory Lane and share his tales of
serendipity, woe, discovery, and frustration… with a touch of humor.
Put away your notebooks and prepare to nod in agreement at things only
fellow genealogists would understand!
Saturday’s topics are:
MORE THAN THE CENSUS – OUR FAMILIES DID EXIST WITHIN THOSE TEN-YEAR INTERVALS! This
lecture will show the researcher that it is important to identify our
ancestors’ whereabouts in as many local records as possible. A lot can
happen in ten years! If you don’t look harder, you won’t find them.
GERMAN GENEALOGY ON THE INTERNET: BEYOND THE BASICS The
Internet age has brought genealogy to our fingertips over the last two
decades, and subsequently we can find our German ancestors easier. But
it still takes some digging and some know-how. This lecture will discuss
some online sites that all German genealogists should be aware of.
American sites will be covered, but a strong concentration on lesser
used German sites will be discussed, as we are missing vital clues by
not being truly “international” in our Internet research endeavors!
INCORPORATING SOCIAL HISTORY INTO YOUR RESEARCH Family
history should be more than names and dates. What motivated our
ancestors? Why did they migrate? Who did they interact with? How do
social customs of another era affect our research? Social history and
its bearing on genealogical research will be covered and a “must-read”
bibliography for serious researchers will be discussed.
“SHE CAME FROM NOWHERE . . .” – A CASE STUDY APPROACH TO A DIFFICULT GENEALOGICAL PROBLEM This
lecture illustrates the joys and pitfalls of Virginia research as well
as employing a problem-solving approach utilizing social history, female
research and family analysis to identify the parents of Elizabeth
Stith, the ancestor “from nowhere.” One need not have Virginia ancestors
to see the Genealogical Proof Standard at work!
As
usual, we will be having our used book sale. This year, we were lucky
to receive a large donation of books from private libraries. I
understand there is quite the selection of books on just about any topic
you can think of. And best of all, they are priced to sell!
The
Spring Seminar will again be held at the La Quinta Inn and Suites in
Tacoma (253-383-0146). If you would like to stay at the La Quinta a
limited number of rooms will be made available at the discounted price.
Please note, this offer is only available until April 5th and only through the above phone number. Also be sure to identify yourself as a conference attendee when reserving a room.
Do you have ancestry back in Illinois? Do you like to write? Here’s an opportunity for you. The Illinois Genealogical Society’s Quarterly for Spring 2019 carried a plea from Richard R. Anderson, editor of the Quarterly. “We Need Your Stories!” he begs.
My ancestor, Matthew Potter, was quite the guy, apparently. He served in the Union Army during the Civil War from his home in Illinois. His is a pretty ordinary story until, I found, until I scanned the images from his Civil War Pension File. One last document, filed in 1922 by his last wife (yes, there’s a story) says she “divorced him on account of finding him in a vile act with a chicken.” Hummmm. Think that would make a good story for the Illinois State Genealogical Society’s Quarterly??
David Rencher, currently the Head Honcho of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, was the speaker at the 2015 conference of the Washington State Genealogical Society held that year in Ellensburg. David introduced us to the concept of framing the problem.
David began his presentation by showing three slides of the Golden Gate Bridge and explained, “If you’re driving on the bridge, you see the bridge from that angle. If you’re on a boat on the bay, looking up, you’ll see the bridge from that angle. And if you’re landing in a airplane in San Francisco, looking down,you’ll see the bridge from that angle.”
His point with this illustration was that the way you’re currently viewing your genealogy problem is only one way to view it. Right now that’s all you can see. You must “frame your picture differently” and then from that new angle you might see things that you did not see before.
David went on for an hour explaining how to do that but his words of counsel all boil down to this: LOOK-LEARN-DO.
He ended with his quip: “I know where lots of my ancestors aren’t because I’ve looked there.”
Thought you might like to read an article I wrote back in 1991 for Heritage Quest Magazine:
A short while back I visited my sis-in-law in Kansas City
and we visited the old Union Cemetery. This toppled-stone-not-well-cared-for
place has quite a history.
In the first half of the 1800s, Westport (8 miles from
Kansas City, Missouri) was “quite the metropolis. It was the final “civilized”
stop for those setting out on the Santa Fe Trail or the Oregon Trail.” As the
town grew, churches sprang up and with them, cemeteries. Soon it was apparent
that the church cemeteries would not suffice for burying grounds.
Meanwhile, north of Westport a settlement was growing where
river boats unloaded goods found for Westport. This little town grew and by
1840 the Town of Kansas (later to become Kansas City) had a population of
several hundred.
An event occurred in 1849 that changed both towns forever.
That spring, some 300 settlers arrived on a steamboat from New Orleans. That
steamboat also carried cholera; soon over 200 of the settlers had perished.
Union Cemetery was the answer. In 1857 it was so named from an amiable agreement between Westport and the Town of Kansas, not for anything connected to the Civil War. There are fifteen Confederate soldiers buried there in a mass grave who died as prisoners of war after the Battle of Westport in 1864.
One especially tender moment came when I spotted the grave marker for 8-year-old Little Miss Mata Erath who died in 1885. (I had a photo but dang! It won’t upload for me today. Bad computer!)
(Reference: Recent book compiled and published by the Union
Cemetery Historical Association.)
TIP OF THE WEEK – USING CONTROL F
You
have a powerful function at your disposal when you’re in a web browser
and want to search for a word or phrase. It’s called Control F, and very
often you will see it written and referred to as CTRL+F.
This performs the same way as the search function in many of the applications you use.
While
holding down the Control key (labeled CTRL), hit the F key. A search
box will pop up on your screen. In this search, or find box, enter the
word or phrase you want to locate.
This
function comes in particularly handy when you want to search long web
pages, blogs, or online books for something specific. I find it useful
in searching through family history books that are online at
archive.org.
Here’s
a sample exercise for you to try out. Click on the link at the bottom
of this article to go to an online version of “War and Peace” in text
format.
While
holding down the CTRL key, hit the F key. Now enter the word Nicholas
in the search box that appears, and hit enter. Nicholas occurs 631 times
in “War and Peace”. See the 1/631 in the search box? See the up and
down arrows in the search box? Using the up and down arrows you can rapidly jump through “War and Peace” to each mention of Nicholas.
https://archive.org/stream/warandpeace030164mbp/warandpeace030164mbp_djvu.txt
The
instructions and descriptions above are using the Chrome browser and a
PC. If you have a PC and are using Internet Explorer or another
browser, the find box may look and behave a little differently. If you
have a Mac, not a problem. It’s just Command F, instead of Control F.
Don’t miss our 2019 Spring Seminar, “Next
Steps for Your DNA Test Results”, featuring Diahan Southard. From
beginner to advanced genealogist, Diahan will help you understand and
help you organize your results to find those lost relatives.
Topics for the 4 workshops are:
Let Your DNA Tell Your Story
Me and My 1,000+ DNA 4th Cousins
Making YDNA and mtDNApart of Your Family History
Three Next Steps for Your DNA Test Results
Also look for the Special Workshops on Sunday morning, May 19: “Organizing Your DNA Results”.
For
more than 15 years, dedicated SGS volunteers have staffed a table at
the Irish Festival each March. This well-attended festival brings people
from all around Puget Sound to the Seattle Center to learn and
celebrate Irish culture, history, and music. SGS volunteers answered
questions about Irish genealogy to a steady stream of visitors. Some
stayed for long, in-depth conversations about their family histories and
roadblocks. Visitors to the SGS booth also learned about our library
and upcoming events including the Spring Seminar, “Next Steps for Your
DNA Results” with Diahan Southard on May 18th and 19th. Jean Roth’s
lectures on Saturday and Sunday, “Introduction to Irish Genealogy”, were
well attended.
A
big thank you to our Irish Festival volunteers: Jean Roth, Jim Ryan,
Donna Judd, Vern Judd, Ida McCormick, Jack Donahue, George Kulstad,
Annette Dwyer and Karen Portzer.
THE SPRING RAFFLE IS RAMPING UP!
We
are now accepting donations of goods or services for the Spring
Workshop raffle (May 18). In the past, we have gratefully received items
such as DNA kits, genealogy books, jewelry, ballet tickets, quilts, and
genealogy tools. Use your imagination. Proceeds from the raffle support
the SGS library, and donations are tax deductible. Donated items can
be sent or brought to the SGS library. Please also send an email message
to volunteers@seattlegenealogicalsociety.org telling us of your donation prior to mailing or delivering the item so we will be on the alert for its delivery. MEMBER MILESTONE
Karin Borgersen, member and friend of SGS, recently started a new position as
the program manager for the Genetic Counseling Graduate Program at
University of Washington. She’s excited to be working with a great team
to launch a program that she feels is going to be really fantastic. A
professional genealogist, Karin says she still will be taking clients at
her business, Borgersen Research, albeit on a reduced schedule.
SAVE THE DATE
Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State, “Breaking Down Brick Walls” with Mary Kathryn Kozy, LDS Factoria Church Building, 4200 124th Ave SE Bellevue, WA 98006 Monday, April 8, 2019
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Come early to network with other attendees. Presentation starts promptly at 7:15 p.m. Free WIFI, admission, and refreshmentsS
SGS CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Unless
otherwise indicated all programs will be at the SGS Library, 6200 Sand
Point Way NE, Seattle. Check the SGS Web Site for additions, changes,
and corrections. Programs may be canceled or postponed because of
inclement weather.
APRIL
Family Tree Interest Group,10:15 am – 12:15 pm,
Saturday, April 6, Lou Daly is leader of this special interest group exploring all the features of the tool Family Tree on FamilySearch.org Come learn about the proposed changes coming to Family Search and Family Tree.
Sunday, April 7, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm, DNA Workshop, with Cary Bright. Q&A first hour, while focus second hour in on Genome Mate Pro.
Saturday, April 13, 1:00 pm-3:00 pm, Second Saturday Speakers Series – “Using the Collections of NARA Seattle” with Trish Hackett Nicola
Sunday, April 14, 1:00 pm-3:00 pm, Scandinavian Special Interest Group, with Karen Knudson
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