Update on Grays Harbor Gen Soc Research Library

by Roxanne Lowe

The GHGS Research Library was housed in the Aberdeen Armory Building, built in 1922. Photo by Bonnie Johannes.

Members of the Grays Harbor Genealogical Society are slowly coming to grips with the fiery loss of their research library. The library was housed in the Aberdeen Armory which also included the Aberdeen Museum of History, Coastal Community Action Program and the Aberdeen Senior Center. The June 9 fire gutted the first and second floors of the building. Amazingly (and thankfully) some of the Aberdeen Museum’s photographs, documents and artifacts were rescued from the basement which was filled with four feet of water. The fire is still under investigation and may be for at least a couple more weeks.

While there is nothing left of the research library, short-term storage has been secured as the society begins to rebuild its holdings and collections. A plea for financial help and Grays Harbor County (and its predecessor Chehalis County) research materials has been sent from GHGS President Gary Parfitt. Financial donations or gift cards (Staples, Amazon, Costco, etc.) are most easily used to avoid duplication, over-supply and will be used when society members can begin researching again.

In addition to financial help, the society is asking for Grays Harbor-related research materials to restore their collections. Suggestions include Polk Directories, telephone books, obituaries, funeral records, identified photographs or family histories (with ties to Grays Harbor or Chehalis Counties). Anyone with materials to donate or reproduce can contact Gary Parfitt at gjparfitt@msn.com.

Financial donations can be sent to the society’s Research Library Go Fund Me page or directly to the Grays Harbor Genealogical Society, P.O. Box 916, Aberdeen, WA 98520.

Wednesday Nostalgia

by Charles Hansen

One more tidbit about World War I. While on that trip to Vancouver, and at that WWI museum exhibit, I met author Diane Green-Hartley and bought her book, “Lillie’s Jasper: The 1930 Pilgrimage of a Gold Star Mother.”

For openers, did you realize that after WWI many of the bereaved mothers formed into chapters of Gold Star Mothers and between May 1930 and August 1933 a total of 6,654 of these mothers traveled to Europe at U.S. government expense, to visit the graves of their sons or daughters who died in the war. Diane’s book is the journal kept by her great-grandmother, Lillie Green, when she made this trip to visit the grave of her son Jasper (who had died in 1918).

This was a very moving read; I recommend it to you. The book is available at Amazon.

Tuesday Trivia

by Charles Hansen

Find-A-Grave tidbit:  Did you realize this? When you go out and volunteer to photograph a gravemarker and upload it to Find-A-Grave, YOU are the “owner” of said photo even though likely you don’t really have a personal interest in that person or their marker.

BUT if a person who does have a personal interest in that person or marker, they may (they should) ask YOU to either add some biographical information to the page or ask your permission to do it. If such a person/request surfaces regarding a photo you’ve uploaded to Find-A-Grave, you can ask that person (who is likely a descendant) if they want to assume management of that page??

Right along with that, if you want to take over the management of the Find-A-grave page for your ancestor, ASK. Fully 95% of the time the owner (who has no real personal interest, remember) will say yes. I did not know those details.

Monday’s Mystery

by Charles Hansen

Today’s “mystery” is really no mystery. It’s a question: Why don’t folks more quickly and more generously step up to the plate to help out when monetary help is needed for a cause in which they already do passionately believe???

I’m talking about the terrible fire that has destroyed the Gray’s Harbor Genealogical Society Library. They put out a call for on-site help but most of us live too far away to help that way. But how about monetarily? Here was a plea from their president:

Anyone wishing to make financial donation is encouraged to use our Go Fund Me campaign or direct to the Grays Harbor Genealogical Society, P.O. Box 916, Aberdeen, WA 98520.

If you would like more information or have questions, please contact me at gjparfitt@msn.com.

Gary Parfitt, President, Grays Harbor Genealogical Society

Think about this; you can help solve this “mystery.”

Seattle Genealogical Society Programs

by Charles Hansen

PROGRAMS AT THE SGS LIBRARY THIS WEEKEND   

This coming Saturday, June 23, the SGS Membership Meeting will be held at the SGS library from 1:00 pm-2:30 pm. A short SGS business meeting will be followed with  a presentation by Claudia C Breland, professional genealogist and author.  Many individuals researching genealogy feel that everything is online now. That is far from the truth. Claudia found some amazing records that are not online, and may never be online. She wants to share her insight with you in this lecture,  “Beyond the Internet: Finding Family History Records That Are Not Online”.
Then on Sunday, June 24, from 1:00 pm-3:00 pm, SGS president, Jill Morelli will present “FamilySearch: The Other 70%”. Did you know that when you do a surname search in FamilySearch you are only accessing 30% of the digitized records? FamilySearch is putting records online faster than they are indexing. Learn how to find the other 70% of valuable online records. This skill has become even more important since FamilySearch discontinued their microfiche film loan program last year.
Hope to see you at the SGS library Saturday and Sunday!
ABERDEEN ARMORY FIRE RECOVERY EFFORTS
You may have heard the Aberdeen Museum of History suffered a major disaster and they need help in their recovery efforts; lots and lots of help. We received the plea below by email. If you can lend assistance, contact Lupita Lopez of the Washington State Archives directly via the phone number or email she provided.

Subject: Emergency Salvage Effort

Please excuse the second e-mail from the Heritage League today, but as you may have heard the Aberdeen Museum of History suffered a major disaster and needs our help!

You might have heard about the fire on Saturday that destroyed the Aberdeen Armory, which housed the Aberdeen Museum of History.  Our Archives Division is working with the local historical society to assist in salvaging efforts.  Steve and his team brought back dozens of boxes today filled with waterlogged photos, documents and film.  They are in need of “volunteers” from across our office the next couple of days to help sort this material.

We are in the need of volunteers and putting the message out with the historical society will help.  The plan is to continue working on Saturday & Sunday, plus next week until all the boxes are done.  There may be possible traffic issues on the weekend due to Olympia Air Show.

Volunteers can contact me by email or phone and I provide more information.

Pictures:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/wastatearchives/sets/72157697959172845

Thank you for your help,

Lupita Lopez
Washington State Archives
Research Services
1129 Washington St. SE
PO Box 40238
Olympia, WA 98504
360.586.1492
llopez@secstate.wa.gov

http://www.sos.wa.gov/archives/
Business Hours: Monday to Friday 8:30AM to 4:30PM

Grays Harbor Genealogical Society Fire Help

by Charles Hansen

Dear Local Society,

 

As you may have already heard, the Grays Harbor Genealogical Society’s Research Library, housed in the Aberdeen Museum of History, was one of the victims of a devastating fire on Saturday, June 9, 2018. The 3-alarm fire destroyed most of the first and second floors of the historic Armory Building, which was built in 1922.

The Grays Harbor Genealogical Society’s Research Library was housed on the 1st floor of the Amory Building.

Investigators are still determining the cause of the fire so we are unable to get inside the building, but are preparing for the worst: the loss of our entire library holdings.  We had recently completed a conversion of the library to emphasize Grays Harbor County (and its predecessor Chehalis County), and were enormously proud of our extensive collection of now-defunct Whiteside and Elerding funeral records and obituary records, dating back as far as the late 1800s.

 

I am asking for your help.  We are scrambling to find another location and have begun the task of re-gathering our collections. While many of our holdings were digitized or are available in other locations, we are still looking to gather Grays Harbor-related records, photographs, documents, maps, and books. If you or your society have any Grays Harbor-related materials, we would love to have copies or donation. We are hoping to rebuild our holdings to be the “go-to shop” for family researchers in Grays Harbor.

 

Alternatively, anyone wishing to make financial donation is encouraged to use our Go Fund Me campaign or direct to the Grays Harbor Genealogical Society, P.O. Box 916, Aberdeen, WA 98520.

Bonnie Johannes added: I have done researches for people from other WA State societies who had family members/ancestors here at some period of time. We would like copy of what was sent to them, if possible. Thank you.

 

If you would like more information or have questions, please contact me at gjparfitt@msn.com.

 

Gary Parfitt, President

Grays Harbor Genealogical Society

Seattle Genealogical Society Tip of the Week

by Charles Hansen

TIP OF THE WEEK –

1937-1972 Property Record Cards

If you are doing genealogical research of ancestors in the Puget Sound area, check out the kind of records available to you at the Puget Sound Regional Branch of the Washington State Archives in Bellevue, WA.  From King, Kitsap, and Pierce counties, there are dozens of different kinds of records available; some quite unique.

One of the most popular record sets is the King County 1937-1972 property record cards for historical house photographs and property records.

The Puget Sound Regional Branch is open Wednesday through Friday, and by appointment only. They do welcome voice mail and email requests, and that may be all you need. They will send, or email, the documents they located for you. The records accompanying the photograph will include some ownership information, generally back to 1937, sometimes further back.  If you would like earlier information, it might be possible to schedule a time for you to view the earlier tax records.

They cannot look up records with only a street address. You will need the property tax ID number, or a legal description. Once I had no tax id to give them as the 1900 house and its address no longer exists (at some point in time it was replaced by a condo development), but I gave them a tax id of a house that I determined to be near by the old house, and the property legal description I found in the old Sanborn Insurance Maps at the downtown Seattle Public Library. They were able to find me photographs and pages of information on the original 1900 house.

You may contact Puget Sound Regional Branch Archives by voice mail at (425) 564-3940, or by email at PSBranchArchives@sos.wa.gov

Their website is :
https://www.sos.wa.gov/archives/archives_puget.aspx

Seattle Genealogical Society News

by Charles Hansen

MESSAGE FROM HEIDI MAIR,
​SGS DIRECTOR OF VOLUNTEERS

Welcome to all new and returning Seattle Genealogical Society Members!

SGS is a member-driven and volunteer-run organization. We could not succeed without the support of our members, and the talents and dedication of our volunteers. The benefits of volunteering include camaraderie with fellow genealogists, sharing genealogical tips, enhancing your current skills, or discovering skills you never knew you had!

The following are just some of the many tasks our dedicated volunteers do on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis:

  • Library Desk Volunteer –  desk volunteers keep our library open & running Tuesday – Sunday
  • Bulk mailings
  • Books sales
  • Community outreach
  • Plan and present educational programs
  • Event planning – including our twice-yearly seminars
  • Bookkeeping, auditing, grant-writing, fund-raising
  • Library work, including inventory, cataloging, indexing, archival work
  • Maintenance, facilities, technology
  • Write articles for the ENews! or Bulletin; keep our website & Facebook page current
  • Leadership – serve on a committee or as a board member
  • And much, much more!

If you would like to volunteer, please contact me, Heidi L Mair, Director of Volunteers, via email at volunteers@seattlegenealogicalsociety.org to set up a time to talk – in person or on the phone. I look forward to speaking with you. And be sure to mark your calendars now for the SGS Volunteer Appreciation Day on September 24th, 10 am – 7 pm at the SGS library. Watch for details!   

WRIGHT’S CREMATORIUM

INDEXING PROJECT
Many years ago, members of Seattle Genealogical Society transcribed, by hand, the records from Wright’s Crematorium in Seattle. These transcriptions are a list of remains cremated by Wright’s from September 1, 1905 thru December 31, 1915. In some cases these transcriptions have information not found elsewhere. For example, Henry Rea died in October of 1908 (as shown on his death certificate), but was not cremated until July 1910, and his ashes were sent to New York. Another example is that the remains of Tom Elgie, who died in March 1908, were scattered on a lawn.

SGS would like to make these handwritten transcriptions available to researchers. This requires indexing of names and death dates to establish a searchable database.
You all are invited to help us index this important project. It can be done from the comfort of your own home. Crowd Sourced Indexing (CSI) is an online indexing tool/application available to genealogical societies and other organizations for precisely this purpose.

Go to the Crowd Sourced Indexing website. If this is your first time, you will need to register and join the SGS Group. Then click on “View All Projects”, select Seattle in the drop down menu found under “Select a Geographical Location to Search”, and then below the title “Projects in Progress”, you’ll find Wrights Crematorium.
Please be sure to read the project instructions before starting on the project. This one is a little different than the Ballard VFW Project that was just completed.

Here’s the link to the Crowd Sourced Indexing website:
https://csindexing.com 

 

 

SGS NEEDS VOLUNTEERS FOR THE

72ND ANNUAL PACIFIC NORTHWEST

SCOTTISH HIGHLAND GAMES,

ENUMCLAW EXPO CENTER,

ENUMCLAW, WA 

SATURDAY, JULY 28 – SUNDAY, JULY 29 
Come Hear the Bagpipes – Watch the Dancers – Visit a Clan Booth
Help SGS Promote Genealogy

 

We need volunteers to help at the SGS booth during the Pacific Northwest Scottish Highland Games. We have been at this event for over 30 years and it is a great way to let the public know about SGS and to promote membership, seminars, and our classes. Our participation also gives us valuable community outreach credit for our grant applications with 4culture, which has given us thousands of dollars for our equipment and projects.
Game attendance is at about 30,000 for the weekend. Many of the people who attend are newly interested in their Scottish and Irish heritage and have done only limited research. They are primarily interested in knowing two things:

  • What clan do I belong to?
  • What tartan can I use?

SGS will have reference books available at the booth to help you answer those questions for them. There will also be a handout promoting SGS.
Information will be mailed out to volunteers about a week before the games. This year our booth is being sponsored by the Irish Heritage Club. We need at least two volunteers for each 2 hour shift and three people during the busiest afternoon sessions. We will supply each volunteer with an admission ticket for the games – a full day at the games for your own enjoyment. Parking will be at your own expense at $7.00. We encourage carpooling.
Jean needs to order tickets for the volunteers before July 1st,  so please respond to her by June 29th if you intend to volunteer.  Also let her know if you are over 62, as senior tickets are discounted. Her contact info is : Jean A. Roth (206) 782-2629 or jeanaroth@juno.com

 

SUMMER BREAK FOR THE SIGs
The Canadian SIG with David Robert  and the Family Tree Interest Group with Lou Daly will be taking a summer break. They will not meet in July, August, or September. They will resume meeting, same time, same place, in October.

The Family Tree Maker SIG with Reiley Kidd and Jess Ramey will not meet in July or August, nor will the Scandinavian SIG with Karin Knudson.

 

SAVE THE DATE

​​2018 Northwest Genealogy Conference,
Stillaguamish Valley Genealogical Society,
Byrnes Performing Arts Center,
18821 Crown Ridge Blvd,
Arlington, WA
August 15 – 18, 2018  

Keynote speakers will be Beth Foulk, CeCe Moore, Peggy Lauritzen, and Amie Bowser Tennant.

Days 2-4 will be packed full of lectures and activities, such as post a surname on the “Cousin Board”; have fun connecting with other attendees you may be related to. On Friday, participate in the optional  “Dress As Your Ancestor”  day to honor your heritage.

As usual, the first day of this four day conference is designed for beginners and is free (registration required).   .

For more details and to register, visit their website:
https://stillygen.org/cpage.php?pt=50
Unlock the Past in Seattle, the “land conference”
Seattle Public Library,
1000 4th Ave, Seattle, WA
Thursday, September 6, 2018

Have you heard of Unlock the Past Cruises, genealogy on the high seas? Their 14th conference cruise will be to Alaska, Sept 7-14, and sail out of Seattle. They have put together an all day, companion “land conference” for September 6. It will be held at the downtown Seattle Public Library and it is open to all  – whether on the cruise, or not. Blaine Bettinger, Maurice Gleeson, Cyndi Ingle, and Wayne Shepheard will be the presenters.

If you are interested, see their website :
https://www.unlockthepastcruises.com/

“A Day of Discovery with Lisa Louise Cooke”,
Puget Sound Genealogical Society,
4131 Pine Rd NE (at the Bremerton Elks),
Bremerton, WA
Saturday, September 22, 2018
8:30am – 3:30pm

Cost is $50 for PSGS members / $55 for non-members. Lunch is included and will catered by the Bremerton Elks. For  more information and the registration form see www.pusogensoc.org/psgs/seminar2018

​”Harvest Your Family Tree”,
The Kelowna & District Genealogical Society Conference 2018,
Kelowna, BC

Friday, September 28 – Sunday, September 30

 

There will be plenty to see and learn at one of Western Canada’s largest genealogy conferences – eleven speakers on 31 topics. Featuring Louis Kessler, programmer,
genealogist, member of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) and Genealogical Speakers Guild (GSG) will be speaking about Double Match Triangulation, the program he developed for autosomal DNA analysis. His program won third place at the 2017 RootsTech Innovator Showdown.

For more on this conference, visit their website :

https://kdgswix.wixsite.com/kdgs

 

 

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.

The SGS Library will be closed June 17, July 3, and July 4

JUNE

Saturday, June 16, 10:15am – 12:15pm, Irish SIG, with Jean A Roth
Saturday, June 16, 01:00pm – 3:00pm, German SIG, with Jean A Roth

Sunday, June 17, closed for Father’s Day

Saturday, June 23, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm,  SGS General Membership Meeting, speaker TBD
Saturday, June 30, 10:00 am – 12:30 pm,  DNA SIG,  this group meets at the Wedgwood Presbyterian Church, 8008 35th Ave NE, Seattle. Co-chaired by Cary Bright and Herb McDaniel. For more information contact SGSDNASIG@gmail

JULY

Sunday, July 1, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm, DNA Workshop, Led by Cary Bright with first hour on a specific topic, and the second hour open for sharing DNA issues with focus on GenomeMate Pro.

Saturday, July 21, 10:15am – 12:15pm, Irish SIG, with Jean A Roth
Saturday, July 21, 1:00pm – 3:00pm, German SIG, with Jean A Roth