A Message from the WSGS President

by Roxanne Lowe

2018 is quickly drawing to a close.  Year’s end is always a good time for retrospection and planning for next year and years to come.  Each year I evaluate my genealogical successes, failures and unfulfilled plans. I use this information to prioritize my to-do lists and come up with a new research plan for the next year.  We are doing a similar process at WSGS.

WSGS President Ginny Majewski

As genealogists, you are aware of all the changes which have come about in our industry.  Some of those changes have drastically changed the way we do business, the way we work, the way we communicate, the way we educate and so much more.  What societies did for years, no longer works as well today.  This means WSGS must continue to change if we wish to remain alive and relevant. 

Several years ago, WSGS began an evaluation of itself by looking at what we were doing well and what we weren’t doing so well.  As a result, we began making changes in the Society. Our first changes were to improve the WSGS website and the Blog. Next, improvements were made to the Recognition and Awards program. We initiated the Innovative Grant program to help societies with special projects and educational events.  For the most part, these endeavors have been successful. 

This past year, we focused on making further improvements to the website.  Our goal was to provide better access to resources for genealogists and for genealogical societies. Information on each genealogical society in Washington was updated and expanded, including info on special collections held by societies. Information on museums in Washington was added to the website. We began revitalizing the Speakers’ Directory. In addition, for the second year in a row, WSGS provided Society Management classes at the Northwest Genealogy Conference in Arlington. We are working on a collaborative relationship with the owners of the Civil War Veterans Buried in Washington State website.

The WSGS Board will be holding a two-day retreat this spring to bring forth new ideas, evaluate, plan and move WSGS forward.  Board meetings are open to the membership.  I welcome any thoughts you have on WSGS.  Just drop me an email at geneahunter@gmail.com. 

Wishing you all peace, hope and joy in the New Year.

Ginny Majewski, President

Happy New Year

by Charles Hansen

I want to wish all our readers a Happy New Year, and hope you have a Wonderful New Year.

Charles Hansen Blogmaster

This is a copy of a postcard to my grandmother in Sebeka, Minnesota. I could not read the date on the postmark, but my grandparents moved to Columbus Montana in the summer of 1910. The postmark is from Columbus Montana and came from my grandmother’s first cousin Minerva Eddy. Minerva’s mom Abigail (Hellenbolt) Eddy also lived in Columbus Montana. My grandmother Anna (Dillingham) Hansen’s mother Eliza Minerva (Hellenbolt) Dillingham was a sister of Abigail. I always wondered why my grandparents left Minnesota and four other Hansen brothers to move to Montana. I was pretty sure it was not because it was warmer like my uncle Ralph Hansen wrote in his memoir. So my grandmother had family in Columbus Montana.


Wednesday Nostalgia

by Charles Hansen

Many of you……. well several of you…….. actually two of you have asked about SCRIBE. So I shall explain. If you’re a working genealogist, and you care to make a difference in the field, then SCRIBE is for you. Go: www.scribe.digitalarchives.wa.gov  and set up an account. This is to you/they can send records back and forth. Then pick the group of records you’d like to see/index. Here is a sample:

It’s a school census record from 1929 for Island County and yes, it is faint but the handwriting is darn clear. The image comes and to the right are the boxes/lines where you type in your transcription from the record. One image is a “batch” and when you get to the bottom of the page, you click FINISH and the page sails into the ethernet on its way to the digital archives and you can download a new batch/page. Really, it’s pretty straight forward and quite easy.

One thing I learned the hard way: When you fill in the blanks on the right side of the screen, and click enter, you then need to click APPEND on the top to bring up a new box on the right. You’d think it would say ADD but nope, it says Append.

It just feels good to use an otherwise empty few minutes to do some “scribe-ing.” I 100% recommend it to you!

WSGS Blog Year in Review

by Charles Hansen

Since we are in the United States most of the people reading the blog are from the United States. Most of the hits from France was from them checking to see if we were following the new privacy rules the European Union put in this year.

Seattle has always had the top readers of the blog. New York, Ashburn and Boston seem to be locations of Bots since nearly all their sessions are 100% bounce rate (means they only look at one item then leave). The city that amazes me is Wenatchee, which has came close to the top of the list starting in the middle of the year. Notice Paris number five, they are checking on us for the European Union rules.

This is the list of most read blog posts for the year. Number 3 on the list is from 2015! Number 8 on the list is from 2016! I also notice several are found by using the categories to find blog posts. I was amazed that at least some people have found the tags we use for most posts even though we do not have them very easy to find. (They are at the bottom of each post).

It has been a good year and I want to thank all the local genealogical societies that have sent me their information for their seminars and monthly meetings, you can see that they are being read by a lot of people and so hopefully a few will come to your meetings or seminars.

2019 German Genealogy Conference

by Charles Hansen

**For Immediate Release**
PRESENT AND ACCOUNTED FOR!  It’s rare that any genealogy conference is able to pull together speakers from around the world, but our roll call of 47 genealogy experts from five continents will descend upon Sacramento, California, in June 2019 for the International German Genealogy Conference – “STRIKE IT RICH! with CONNECTIONS 2 DISCOVERIES”.
This conference will feature three full days of German-centric presentations in multiple tracks – Geographic, Technology, Advancing Your Research, and more. Our all-star cast of presenters will share its expertise in German genealogical research techniques, tools, and more. Many of our scheduled speakers, including Ute Brandenburg, pictured here, have prepared short video previews of their presentations, which are available now on our website’s Conference page – https://iggpartner.org.

With an expected attendance of 750-1000, this conference is a must-attend event for anyone interested in, or deeply involved with, researching the lives of German ancestors. Conference registration opened November 1. Discounted early registration fees are available through January 15, 2019. Join others from around the world who will be rushing to Sacramento, 2019 Conference Presenter: Ute Brandenburg California, for a stake in some German genealogy gold.

This conference is hosted by the Sacramento German Genealogy Society (SGGS) and supported by a consortium of German genealogy societies across the Golden State. The International German Genealogy Partnership (IGGP) comprises more than 100 organizations around the world. IGGP’s mission is ” … to facilitate German genealogy research globally as the internationally-recognized federation of German genealogy organizations.”

Contact:  Bill Cole, 2019 IGGS Co-Chair     Phone:  916-853-8562     Email: conference@iggpartner.org   SGGS is a registered California 501 (c) (3) Non-profit Corporation. Donations eligible for tax deductions as allowable by law.
Checks payable to SGGS @ 2019 IGGC, 11230 Gold Express Dr. #310-415, Gold River, CA 95670-4484
Your hosts, the Sacramento German Genealogy Society and the International German Genealogy Partnership, encourage you to learn more about the products and services offered by conference sponsors.
We thank them for their support.

GENEALOGICAL FORUM’s Thursday Evening E-News

by Charles Hansen

THE GENEALOGICAL FORUM’s Thursday Evening E-News Edition December 20, 2018
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
Happy Holidays from the GFO
So Close…
The Finish Line is in Sight! We are so grateful for your support. Donations fuel our very operations.
Member dues don’t come close to covering our budget.
This once-a-year appeal for contributions makes all the difference in our being able to keep the library open every day. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our Annual Appeal!
We need to raise $25,000 and we are 85% of the way there! We’re confident you can help us make it to the finish line. Please make your tax deductible donation to the GFO today!
Give Today
The GFO belongs to the Oregon Cultural Trust.
We have a Silver Star rating on GuideStar.
Please check with your employer on possible matching donations, especially through Benevity. Thanks for all you do to keep GFO going strong!
A Serendipity Moment!
Recently, the Oregon State Regent for Daughters of the American Revolution, Rebecca Taylor, came into the GFO to pick up some books that we were clearing from our shelves. She is not a genealogist.

Rebecca told us of a book about her family, LaFollette, and that she had not been able to locate a copy anywhere. Just for fun, our Research Assistant on duty checked the GFO Catalog and found L’histoire de la familie LaFollette en Amerique. This was the exact book she was looking for! Rebecca was ecstatic, thrilled to find the book and will be back one day soon to sit and browse through it. Check our catalog. You may find your family on our shelves, too.
We Smile When You smile.amazon.com
We’re smiling! Big thanks to all of you who do your online shopping through smile.amazon.com.
Each time you shop, we get a small donation – and it does not increase the prices you pay.
All you have to do is choose the Genealogical Forum of Oregon as your non-profit of choice to receive your benefits.
This week at GFO …
SUNDAY, December 23rd Library Work Party 9:00 a.m. – Noon There’s another work party at the GFO library today for those of you who can come. There’s lots to do and we’d love to have your help. Doors open at 9 and work usually wraps up around noon. Some people come for just an hour or so; others work the full time. You are welcome to do either. Any time you can share is valuable. Hope to see you there.
MONDAY, December 24th Library Closed
TUESDAY, December 25th Library Closed
WEDNESDAY, December 26th Library Open late to 8 p.m.

Legacy Family Tree Webinars for 2019

by Charles Hansen

Legacy Family Tree Webinars (https://familytreewebinars.com/ ) is offering a huge collection of webinars in 2019. See the attached webinar schedule.

Registration & watching the webinar live is free.  Typically the webinars are free for 7 days.

Other options for watching are a yearly subscription for $50, a monthly subscription for $10 or purchase a digital download for $10.

Enjoy.

Janis Littlefield

Publications Chair Tri-City Genealogical Society

New APG Officers Have Washington Ties

by Roxanne Lowe

The Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) recently announced the results of its election for new board and nominating committee members.

Washington is well-represented at APG:

Click here for a complete list of the APG’s at-large board and nominating committee members.

The Association of Professional Genealogists, established in 1979, represents more than 2,700 genealogists in various genealogy-related businesses. APG encourages genealogical excellence, ethical practice, mentoring, and education. The organization also supports the preservation and accessibility of records useful to the fields of genealogy and history. Its members come from all fifty U.S. states, Canada, and forty other countries.

Looking for a Last Minute Christmas Gift?

by Roxanne Lowe

Looking for that last minute Christmas gift for someone — or yourself? How about a WSGS membership? It’s only $12/year whether an individual or couple — only $1 a month! We need your membership support so we can continue sponsoring this WSGS Blog; promote local genealogical meetings, workshops and conferences; and — it’s the right thing to do to support statewide organizations like the Washington State Genealogical Society.

It’s easy to join (or renew). Just click here to join (new members) or here to renew (current members must log in). 

German Interest Group of The Eastside Genealogical Society Meeting

by Charles Hansen

The German Interest Group of The Eastside Genealogical Society (EGS) will meet on Friday, January 4, 2019, from 1 to 3 pm in the Relief Society Room of the Latter-day Saints Church at 10675 NE 20thSt, Bellevue, WA 98004 with doors opening at 12:45 pm for networking. Visitors are always welcome at our meetings.
Topic:  “A Research Experience in the Rheinpfalz region in Germany” – Carol Stromberg will share her research story in discovering more about her Schwarzwalder family, wine growers in Rheinpfalz region in southwestern Germany. She will share her approach to her research, her travel to Germany and include her experiences meeting with her cousins and fellow genealogy researchers, her visit to the regional archives and photos of her ancestor’s home and workplace.
Presenter:  Carol Stromberg is a local genealogist who has been a member of EGS for 10-15 years. She became interested in genealogy in 1996 when she was planning a trip to Germany. Starting with two pieces of paper containing family information, she wrote directly to Germany asking questions and requesting documents. She loves learning about her ancestors and their stories. Her presentation is the results of her latest trip to Germany in 2018.


For more information, kindly visit our website at https://egsgermangroup.wordpress.com/  .