Clark County Genealogical Society September Programs

by Charles Hansen

WHAT’S BEEN DONE: USING SOMEONE ELSE’S GENEALOGY RESEARCH WEBINAR

Wed, Sept 5, 2018, 11 am-12:30 pm

CCGS Education Center

Whether you are new to genealogy or you’ve been working on your family history for years, incorporating the research of others can always be tricky. Here’s how to develop a proven strategy to benefit from the work of other genealogists. This Legacy Family Tree webinar is presented by Thomas MacEntee, a genealogy professional, blogger, educator, author, and social media connector.

 

Unfocused Genealogy Discussion Group

Thu, Sep 6, 2018: 1-3 pm

CCGS Education Center

There’s no meeting agenda, no special topic, just a group of curious people bringing genealogy research notes, questions, brick walls, etc. to share with the group. Get ideas for the next steps you should take in your research.

 

SCANDINAVIAN ROOTS FOCUS GROUP

Thu, Sep 13, 2018: 10-11:30am

CCGS Education Center

If you want to discover your Scandinavian roots, attend this monthly meeting and learn how to conduct your research. Meet with other like-minded individuals who have discovered their ancestors going back many generations. Geographic areas include Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands. This group meets regularly on the second Thursday of the month, September-May. Members and non-members are welcome.

 

GETTING STARTED TRACING YOUR FAMILY ROOTS CLASS

Tues, Sep 18, 2018: 10 am-12 noon – Free Class

CCGS Education Center

Are you clueless about unraveling the mysteries in your family tree? This class will get you started with a begin at the beginning strategy. Topics include collecting information from the family, family group sheets, pedigree charts, genealogy database programs and best practices for research. This free introductory class is taught by CCGS president and expert genealogist, Brian Runyan.

 

25 SIMPLE RESEARCH HACKS EVERY GENEALOGIST SHOULD KNOW WEBINAR

Wed, Sept 19. 2018, 11 am – 12:30 pm

CCGS Education Center

Whether you are searching online databases, trying to obtain information from an uncooperative cousin, or need to streamline your research workflow, this webinar will outline 25 simple hacks you can use to get more genealogy done in less time! This Legacy Family Tree webinar is taught by Lisa Alzo, MFA, who is an internationally recognized lecturer and author.

 

THIRD THURSDAY EVENING HOURS

Thurs, Sep 20, 2018: 6-9 pm

CCGS Library

Do you find it hard to get to the Clark County Genealogical Library during daytime hours? Come in on Third Thursday to tap into our richest resource: knowledgeable librarians who can help you with your family history search. We won’t do it for you, but we will provide guidance. One librarian has Scandinavian research expertise. The library has over 10,000 books and resources, and free access on our computers to Ancestry.com and AmericanAncestors.com. Bring your own computer and use our free wifi.

 

LOCAL HISTORIES AND PUBLISHED RESOURCES GENEALOGY CLASS

Tues, Sep 25, 2018; 10 am-12 noon

CCGS Education Center

Published resources such as local or county histories as well as family histories are now available in printed and digital electronic formats. This class will explain the what, when, where and how-to of published resources and is an updated version of Larry Dean’s popular and extensive 2006 class outline. Our CCGS Library shelves are such a great starting point – we have books! Learn useful tips for researching these sources from expert genealogist and Education Director, Marcia Grubb. Classes are $12 for CCGS members and $15 for non-members. To register in advance call the CCGS library, 360-750-5688. (Classes with insufficient registration may be cancelled.)

 

General Membership Meeting FOR GENEALOGY ENTHUSIASTS

Tues, Sept. 25, 2018, 7-9pm

Presentation: Tracing Ancestors through Slavery and Freedom: Two Cases from Indian Ocean Islands

Researching slave ancestors overseas can be challenging due to naming and record-keeping practices. Professor Sue Peabody at Washington State University Vancouver will discuss two projects: 1) her recent prize-winning book, Madeleine’s Children: Family, Freedom, Secrets, and Lies in France’s Indian Ocean Colonies (Oxford, 2017), and 2) her new project: The Failure of the Succès: Anatomy of a Slave Smuggling Voyage. Both projects involve the careful reconstruction of families in France’s Indian Ocean Colonies of Réunion and Mauritius (with asides to Bengal and Mozambique) in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries using online databases and digital civil status records.

 

 

“The good things you do and throw in the river of life, will be returned to you in the desert of life.” Sa’adi

Tuesday Trivia

by Charles Hansen

Do you, like me, enjoy stopping to explore ghost towns in your travels? Did you know there are 52+ ghost town sites in Washington??

This is the map from www.ghosttownsofwashington.com. (Note: two “Ts”)

Click to this website, and then to the county you want to explore, and wow yourself with history trivia….. and a possible stop on your next trip.

I clicked to Wahkiakum County (we don’t hear much about or from Wahkiakum County, do we?) and found two ghost towns listed.

Altoona was built on the north shore of the Columbia River in the 1850s by the Hudson’s Bay Company as a fish receiving station.

Deep River was built on pilings (due to the tides) on the Columbia River in 1875 and was settled by Finnish immigrants.

Both these towns were visited by the angels who maintain the website and there are photos!! Wow.

 

Eastside Genealogical Society September Workshop

by Charles Hansen

Maureen Taylor, the nationally known “Photo Detective”,

is coming to Bellevue on September 15, 2018.

 

 “Finding Family History in Your Picture Mysteries”

 

Her Three Presentations:

 

  • 10 Easy Steps to Identify & Date Those Pictures in the Shoeboxes
  • Google Images and Beyond
  • Genealogical Clues in Family Photos

 

This event will be held on September 15, 2018 at the Vasa Park Ballroom, 3560 W Lake Sammamish Road SE, Bellevue, WA  98008.  Doors open at 9 am with presentations from 9:30 am to 2 pm.

 

Private consultations with her are available afterwards at an additional cost.

 

This event is part of the Eastside Genealogical Society’s 40th Anniversary celebration. Thus, EGS members, who register before September 1st, will have free admission.

 

Boxed lunches are available for $15, if ordered by September 1st.

 

Non-EGS Members and everyone after September 1st will be charged $25 admission.

 

For more details about the presentations and lunch, see our website (Also, there are links to the digital files for the Color Poster and the Registration Flyer.) Of course, you can register for the event using our website.

 

Come and bring your friends for a fun day!

Monday Mystery

by Charles Hansen

Got a real stumper for you today….. and will just have to give you the answer for nobody will know what/where this is (most likely).

 

See the sweet doggy face? This appears on the Hwy 25 bridge at the confluence of the Spokane River with the Columbia River…… north from Davenport (off Hwy 2)….

We so enjoy taking our little 18-foot (30 year old) boat out for a day on Lake Roosevelt (which, in case you don’t realize, is the dammed-up Columbia River behind Grand Coulee Dam). Going to and from the boat launch, we pass under this bridge……… and I wonder about the doggie.

Was it a light colored blob and somebody added the features? Was it all deliberately painted?

Looks like a labrador to me. You?

Day 2 at the Northwest Genealogy Conference

by Roxanne Lowe

One of the most entertaining features of the Northwest Genealogy Conference is the “Dress Like Your Ancestor Day.” It was so fun to see attendees dressed as their Salem Witch ancestor (complete with noose), Norwegian (or German or New England or Irish or…other parts of the globe) ancestor. We all love to talk about our ancestors and today it was so fun to see them walking around the conference.

Peggy Lauritzen was our keynote speaker today. Her presentations ranged from migrations into the Shenandoah Valley to the Amish and Mennonites to researching school records. She’s always entertaining and certainly “delivered the goods” today!

My two “extra” classes today were Katherine Willson’s “40+ Sources for Finding Females’ Maiden Names” and “Coming to Your Census: Using State Census Records” with Daniel Earl. Really good stuff! I’m excited to use the tips and resources they shared.

The evening closed with the annual banquet at the Gleneagle Golf Course. CeCe Moore once again entertained the sold-out crowd with stirring stories of reuniting families, healing old wounds and solving criminal cases using genetic genealogy. We are so lucky to have her at the Northwest Genealogy Conference as her travels and professional demands are mounting. Lucky us!

Tomorrow’s the last day of the conference, but a full one. Besides hearing three plenary sessions with keynoter Beth Foulk and two other classes, I need to make sure I visit the vendors, including the Heritage Quest Research Library book sale. So much to pack in!

Friday Serendipity

by Charles Hansen

Ever heard of “mug books?” These were commercial enterprises, and comprise the earliest histories written about a county. They are so called because individuals paid a fee to have their biographical sketches and photographs included in such books…….. and so of course the biographies in these books were often embroidered histories and compiled with laudatory language. Ever man was a pillar of society, sober and kind, a great husband and father, and dealt fairly with every man. Sure.

But such books also provide fairly accurate information about occupations, family origins and backgrounds, descendants and the dates people moved into an area. So despite the biased personal slants, these Mug Books contained important information on events, transportation, agriculture, commercial enterprises and population.

Think “county history” and you’ll have a pretty good idea of what a mug book was. And we’ve all used them, right?

 

Day 1 at the Northwest Genealogy Conference

by Roxanne Lowe

Sue Walde, Helen Eliason and Joanne Wetmore pose proudly with their recently published book, “Early Stillaguamish Schools.” For sale at the conference.

More than 300 of us were treated to a full day of everything genealogy — from DNA to Catholics and coroners (no, not together — separate classes!). We were all over the map, including learning about historical maps, Swedish, Maryland and Michigan research. Oh, the places we went together!

A crowd waits patiently to talk to CeCe after her presentation.

CeCe Moore, today’s keynoter, took us on quite an adventure into the world of Autosomal DNA during three plenary sessions. She packed so much information into them, she ran over her scheduled time slot. Responding to the crowd’s cheers of “Keep going!,” she graciously complied. Her personal stories and case studies were particularly interesting and heartwarming, bringing home the importance of being on the cusp of this developing science. If you haven’t purchased a ticket to Friday night’s banquet, you’re out of luck unless the Help Desk has a few from those unable to attend. CeCe will be talking about “Making History with Genetic Genealogy.” She’ll share behind-the-scenes experiences and research in her role in using DNA to solve family mysteries.

In addition to today’s three main sessions with CeCe, we were able to choose an additional morning and afternoon class. It was difficult to choose from the array of topics, but I finally settled on Lisa Oberg‘s “Catholic Catechism: Researching Your Catholic Ancestors” and Michael Strauss‘s “Historical Maps: The World at Your Fingertips.” Great choices! Michael’s class was so popular, we had to move to a larger room to accommodate the crowd!

Tomorrow’s going to be great fun! It’s “Dress Like Your Ancestor” day. You can still register for the day. Doors open at 7:30 a.m. We’re waiting for you!

 

 

GENEALOGICAL FORUM’s Thursday Evening E-News

by Charles Hansen
GFO Logo Halo 2 Large

THE GENEALOGICAL FORUM’s

Thursday Evening

E-News, Edition

August 16, 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 call our library at 503-963-1932.

For a complete GFO CALENDAR click here. The current Insider newsletter awaits you HERE.
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Early Bird Registration Ends After October 8th!
Fall Seminar 2018 v2

You’ve probably heard of Cyndi Ingle and her invaluable website, Cyndi’s List.

Now come hear from the guru behind one of the most comprehensive reference lists there is online! GFO is proud to bring Cyndi Ingle in for our Fall Seminar November 3rd and 4th.

Topics include: Ten Resources I Use Every Day, Advanced Googling for Grandma, Unappreciated Treasures, Digital Research Plans, Google Maps & Google Earth and Online Resources for the Western U.S.

Register HERE now!
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Don’t Miss GFO’s Genealogy Problem Solvers & GenTalk This Saturday Afternoon
GPS Logo

Genealogy Problem Solvers: GFO’s Multipurpose Room, Saturday, August 18th, 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.

James Harvey Knapp was an educator who founded the Knapp School in Pettis County, Missouri, but who were his parents?

James’s census records say he was born in New York and family theory states he was abandoned, or perhaps became an orphan and was raised by a relative. So far, the records show that James was born in New York in 1826, married in Michigan in 1848, and buried in Missouri in 1883.

Join the Genealogy Problems Solvers on Saturday, August 19th, at 9:30 a.m. in GFO’s Multipurpose Room and learn the team’s skills at navigating multiple state records as they try to track down the elusive Knapp parents.
cemetery

GenTalk: GFO’s Multipurpose Room, Saturday, August 18th, 2 – 3 p.m.

Presenter: Leslie Brinkley Lawson

As genealogists, we love end-of-life records: death certificates, probate/estate paperwork, cemetery records, obituaries, etc. But in our personal lives, maybe we’re not so enthusiastic. Learn how to plan for the inevitable, for the sake of your genealogy research and for your loved ones. It doesn’t have to be expensive, and it doesn’t have to be difficult, let Leslie show you how.

Leslie Brinkley Lawson is a full-time professional genealogist, specializing in forensic genealogy (missing / unknown heirs, and probate research). She is credentialed by the Council for the Advancement of Forensic Genealogy (CAFG), and is a past president (2010-2015). She is the president of the Oregon Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG), and is a member of the GFO.

These monthly events are free and open to the public.
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Going to FGS Conference in Fort Wayne? Please Help Spread GFO’s Message
Rack Card web-1

We’d like to know if any of you are going to the big 2018 conference held by the Federation of Genealogical Societies August 22-25 in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

If you are, would you help share the GFOs new advertising card pictured above? This colorful new card offers visitors a discount to access GFO’s library. It also helps spread the word about our vast resources as the largest genealogy library in the Pacific Northwest.

If you are planning to attend the FGS meeting next week and would be willing to take some cards to the conference, please email us at president@gfo.org.

As always, thank you for your ongoing support of GFO!
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Genealogy in the news: Saving the World One Library at a Time

Councilman Wants To Eliminate All Funding For The Allen County Public Library

Proposed budget cuts would defund “the largest genealogy collection of any publicly-owned genealogy in the U.S.” Thousands of genealogists travel to this world famous genealogy collection every year, so this would affect local tourism earnings as well. Dick Eastman’s genealogy blog wrote about it HERE. You can see a response from the library director HERE. The $3.9 million budget cut plan comes from the same politician who believes that Amazon should replace public libraries.

Hamilton tickets to help rebuild Loiza, Puerto Rico library.

A small library outside Boston wanted to help a library in Loiza, Puerto Rico, which suffered substantial damage during Hurricane Maria last September.

It hoped to land a pair of tickets to the musical Hamilton to promote their raffle and reached out to Hamilton’s creator Lin-Manuel Miranda.

They got their tickets and a whole lot more: a pledge to match donations up to $20,000. Read the full article HERE and find out how you can join this tremendous effort to help raise funds to repair Loiza’s library.
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This week at GFO…
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SATURDAY, August 18th

Genealogy Problem Solvers 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.

This month the GPS team tries to track down the founder of the Knapp School in Pettis County, Missouri. Records have not yet revealed the parents of James Harvey Knapp. He was born in New York in 1826, married in Michigan in 1848, and buried in Missouri in 1883. Learn about the team’s skills at navigating multiple state records.
GPS is a monthly support group where we help each other find information about a family line. We will learn to do a reasonably exhaustive search and develop research plans. The focus will shift depending on the needs of the group. Several experienced researchers have volunteered to help. Beginners and intermediate researchers are encouraged to submit problems to work on. For more information contact Katie Daly at GPS@gfo.org.

GenTalk: Getting Ready to Check Out 2 – 3 p.m.

Don’t let your family history disappear. As genealogists, we love end-of-life records: death certificates, probate/estate paperwork, cemetery records, obituaries, etc. But in our personal lives, maybe we’re not so enthusiastic. Learn how to plan for the inevitable, for the sake of your genealogy research and for your loved ones. It doesn’t have to be expensive, and it doesn’t have to be difficult, let Leslie Brinkley Lawson show you how.

SUNDAY, August 19th

Library Work Party 9 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.

Family Tree Users’ Group 1 – 3 p.m.

Join other users who want to work through the 2017 Companion Guide to Family TreeMaker. Bring your laptop with 2017 version of FTM installed and an empty USB thumb drive. Facilitated by Joyce Grant-Worley. FTM@gfo.org

Seattle Genealogical Society Tip of the Week

by Charles Hansen

TIP OF THE WEEK – AMERICAN ANCESTORS.ORG 

Ancestry, fold3, and Newspapers.com are not the only research database websites available for use on the computers in our SGS Library.

Founded in 1845, the NEHGS (New England Historic Genealogical Society) is a leading resource for family history research, with expertise ranging from 17th-century colonial New England through 20th-century immigration research. Their website, AmericanAncestors.org, is a online repository for more than 1 billion searchable names from America and beyond. SGS subscribes to AmericanAncestors.org and it is available for your use on the patron computers in the SGS Library. Come in to see what you can find.

Hours at the SGS Library are Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am to 3:00 pm.  and Sunday 1:00 pm to 5:00pm.

It’s Here! Northwest Genealogy Conference

by Roxanne Lowe

What a great way to start one of the region’s best learning and networking opportunities: a free day at the Northwest Genealogy Conference!

Almost 250 genealogists gathered at the Byrnes Performing Arts Center in Arlington to take part in pre-conference classes on Wednesday, August 15, 2018. Most attended the free beginning genealogy class “Let’s Start Off on the Right Foot!” with Amie Bowser Tennant. Even those of us oldies (but goodies) learned more than a few new tricks, resources and how-to’s.

There were also three specialized workshops available to attendees. Those lucky enough to get into CeCe Moore‘s “Digging Deeper With Autosomal DNA” (filled up online in just SEVEN minutes!), learned tools and steps to understand genetic genealogy. Janet Camarata taught a class in how to use Family Search more efficiently and effectively while Mary Kircher Roddy taught a class on how to use Excel for genealogy.

The evening closed with a “Meet and Greet” taco bar at the Gleneagle Golf Course. What a great way to see old friends and make new ones.

Tomorrow we’ll be treated to three plenary sessions with CeCe Moore. Did you see CeCe’s recent interview with Megyn Kelly on solving crime cases with DNA? Check it out here. So interesting! In addition to CeCe’s presentations, we’ll also have to choose just two classes from the ten offered — everything from Catholic ancestors and coroner’s records to historical maps and Swedish research. Combing through the 150+ page syllabus now. Will be hard to choose!

If you aren’t one of the 300+ people who have already registered for the conference, don’t despair! You can register at the door for one day, two days or all three! You can’t register online anymore, but show up at the door and the uber-efficient volunteers from conference host Stillaguamish Valley Genealogical Society will get you set up. Just show up early! Doors open at the Byrnes Performing Arts Center at 7:30 a.m.

More tomorrow…