Eastern Washington Genealogical Society May Meeting

by Charles Hansen

Saturday, May 5
The 1883 Gold Rush – The Inland Northwest’s Best Kept Secret  (EWGS Meetings)
12:30 pm to 3:00 pm
Spokane Public Library Auditorium, Downtown Spokane
 
Presenters – Tony and Suzanne Bamonte.
Tony and Suzanne Bamonte will be speaking on the 1883 gold rush, which drew thousands of fortune seekers to the confluence of Prichard and Eagle creeks in the remote Coeur d’Alene National Forest of northern Idaho. The gold seekers were met with excitement, disappointment, success, and failure, but the impact of the gold rush extended far beyond the initial hysteria. It marked the origin of the internationally renowned Coeur d’Alene Mining District (known locally as the Silver Valley), the mineral wealth from which became the economic backbone of the Inland Northwest. The initial impact transformed Spokane from a barely surviving to a thriving community, whose population simply exploded. It also gave rise to other Inland Northwest towns and supporting industries. We will touch on some of the people who brought their newfound wealth from the Silver Valley to Spokane and built numerous mansions and stately commercial buildings that still exist today. The program will include historical images to help tell the story.
Cookies & Social Time: 12:30 PM
Meeting starts at 1:00 PM

Rootsweb Lists Spring Back to Life!

by Charles Hansen

Rootsweb Lists Spring Back to Life!

Rootsweb was offline for some months, and is now coming back online,one piece at a time. First to return was World Connect:
https://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ and t he Message Boards have continued to work and were not offline.
http://boards.rootsweb.ancestry.com/

Now lists have been upgraded and restored, and the archives are being re-filled from backups. Find your way here:
https://mailinglists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/listindexes/. Create a new login here: https://mailinglists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/lists/setupmail. Once you have set up your account, you will be able to control list mail and how you receive it. Remember to link older email accounts as well.

Washington State lists are here:
https://mailinglists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/listindexes/USA/Washington/ — including the WSGS lists.

If you would like to support this effort, why not become a listowner?
Create a login: https://mailinglists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/lists/setupadmin and then head over to http://home.rootsweb.ancestry.com/lists/orphanedlists to adopt one. There is even a list for new listowners: https://mailinglists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/listindexes/search/NEWBIE-LISTOWNER

Once lists are working perfectly, the websites will return too!

Olympia Gen Soc Hosts Successful Seminar

by Roxanne Lowe

Keynote speaker Lisa Alzo and OGS President Nancy Neville Cordell

It comes as no surprise that the Olympia Genealogical Society‘s Spring Seminar was a resounding success. Lisa Alzo, professional writer, lecturer and genealogist rolled into one terrific presenter, entertained and educated more than 110 attendees on Saturday, April 7, 2018. Her topics included:

  • Immigrant Cluster Communities: Past, Present and Future
  • Silent Voices: Telling the Stories of Your Female Immigrant Ancestors
  • Diseases, Disasters and Distress: Bad for Your Ancestors, Good for Genealogy
  • Murder, Mayhem and Town Tragedy Making Those Skeletons Dance: Exploring Your Family’s Dark Side

Roger Newman from Shelton won one of the raffles. Photo by Patty Olsen.

Always a first-rate affair, Olympia’s Spring Seminar also included book sales and fabulous raffle baskets. It was also a great opportunity to welcome and network with fellow genealogists from the area.

There are a number of upcoming seminars in the region. Check out this blog post for a list.

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!

John Jay Winsor Awarded 2017 Outstanding Volunteer Honor

by Roxanne Lowe

Since 2003, the Washington State Genealogical Society has recognized over 500 outstanding volunteers and teams, nominated by their local society or genealogical organization for their service and dedication. These volunteers are the backbone of their local society, giving their time and expertise, to the organization and the field of genealogy. In the coming weeks, you will be introduced to each of the 2017 award recipients and learn why they received the 2017 WSGS Outstanding Volunteer and Team Award.

John Jay Winsor

Today we’re introducing John Jay Winsor of Marysville, Washington, who was nominated by the Stillaguamish Valley Genealogical Society (SVGS). He was recognized for his dedicated volunteerism at SVGS for the many years he was a member of the society.

Always greeting everyone with a pleasant smile and good cheer, Mr. Winsor’s willingness to pitch in with any manual labor that the society was in need of will never be surpassed. The society’s only regret is that this award must be given posthumously, due to his sudden passing January 28, 2017.

Mr. Winsor was truly a humble and wise man who quietly donated to the Northwest Genealogy Conference scholarship program. Members of the SVGS are grateful for the time they had with him.

His dedication and willingness to help where needed illustrate why he richly deserved being a recipient of a 2017 WSGS Outstanding Volunteer Award.

For more information on the WSGS Outstanding Volunteer Award program, visit the Recognition page of the WSGS website or contact Roxanne Lowe, Interim Recognition Chair, at Roxanne@thekeeffes.com.

Wednesday Nostalgia

by Charles Hansen

My daughter, Jane, has a thriving re-purposing business. She hunts up rusty old discards, buys them, changes them a bit and resells them. Like tiered locker baskets from a high school gym….. folks love those for sorting kids’ toys or for a mud room.

Take this old bedsprings I spotted in a salvage yard in Tacoma. “Carman’s Guaranteed for 20 years” with Carman Manufacturing Company in Tacoma, Spokane, Portland and Seattle. WELL! Spotting this was cool enough but then I Googled those words……… and found out that back on 12 June 1907 in the San Francisco Call (newspaper) a headline screamed: “Portland Furniture Magnates Plead Guilty!” The “Carman Manufacturing Company of Tacoma” was one of 20 members of the furniture trust who appeared in court charged with conspiracy to monopolize trade.

There is history everywhere!!  Even in salvage yards in Tacoma!

And why was this notice in a San Francisco paper, I wondered?

 

 

Tuesday Trivia

by Charles Hansen

This is Part 1 of three parts of my article to summarize the presentation from Carol Buswell to my gene soceity, EWGS, last 7 April 2018;

Carol Buswell, from the National Archives at Seattle, was our afternoon speaker at our recent EWGS Spring Seminar. She was invited to teach us about the archives and how to find wanted records there.

Right off the bat she wanted us to know that “most generally, you do not search for a name in an archives; you search for a group of records pertaining to either the time period your person lived there, a geographic location,  or, perhaps to a government project or program he was involved with.” She really wanted us to realize that!

First off she asked did we know what a primary source was? We agreed that such are mostly documents created at or near the time of the event. “Well, she said, “ primary sources are what the archives collect.”  Such archives can be on the national, state, county or city level or they can be from companies, schools, historical societies, religious denominations, etc. But she was quick to point out the difference between public and private records and the National Archives collects only Federal Government-related, public records.

One slide Carol showed helped us to better understand:

Federal Agency Records are in the National Archives

State Agency Records are in the State Archives

County Agency Records are in the County Archives

City/Town Agency Records are in the City/Town Municipal Archives

A further explanation would be (hypothetically) rather like this, Carol explained. “Each agency holds records created since the inception of that agency.”

 *XYZ statehood date was 2 July 1820 so that state hold records FROM that date

  • ABC county was set off on 15 Sep 1824 so that county holds records FROM that date
  • EFG county was set off from ABC on 4 Mar 1830 so their records are FROM that date
  • CITY-A was created on 22 Dec 1844 so their records are FROM that date
  • CITY-B was set off from City-A on 5 Oct 1850 so their records are FROM that date

“Does that make sense to you?” Carol asked. “You cannot expect to find archival records from a time period when they did not have legal jurisdiction to gather records.”

 

NOTE: Please stay tuned for Parts 2 and 3 of my summary-article on Carol Buswell’s presentation to EWGS.

 

Spotlight on Whitman County Gen Society

by Charles Hansen

This is the hard-working board of the Whitman County Genealogical Society. From R to L:  Luke Sprague (webmanager), Sue Rogers Kreikemeier (president), Janet Margolis Damm (librarian), Monica Bartlett Peters (research chair), Judy Standar McMurray (newsletter editor), Corinne Lyle (recording secretary), and Margery Rounds Muir (vice-president). Missing was Judy Rice (treasurer).

Did you notice the plaque they show displaying the WSGS awards made to their members??? They proudly display this in their library and at meetings.

I was privileged to attend their seminar-meeting on April 21 and it was a cracker-jack morning. Two speakers, Horace Alexander Young and Father Mike Savelesky, taught us all “great stuff.” (Which I will summarize in future blog posts.)

Want to know more about this most-southeasternly genealogical society in Washington? Click to www.whitmancgs.org. You’ll be amazed at what a little group has accomplished.

Monday Mystery

by Charles Hansen

Thanks to you all who took the time to take me (and my book) to task for that too-old list of Washington passes….. Fran and Patty added Sherman Pass, Chinook Pass and the Hwy 20 North Creek Pass. Whoops.

Today’s Mystery: Know where this is?

This Sol Duc Falls, one of THE most photographed waterfalls in our state. The falls are located up a .8 mile trail just off Hwy 101 west of Port Angeles. The falls flow over four channels with a 37-foot drop with an 11-foot flume drop.

So how did that name come about?

Before 1992, it was “Soleduck,” a Quileute name meaning “magic water” or “sparkling water.” These falls flow down and mix with hot springs forming theraputic pools known to local Indian tribes way before the first white settlers came in the 1880s. A huge 4-story resort was built there in 1912 to lure tourists from Seattle. What an adventure they had getting there! First by boat from Seattle to Port Crescent (now Joyce), then by auto to Lake Crescent, then by boat across the lake and then up the Soleduck River by horse carriage. (Would it have been worth that effort to you to soak in a hot pool…that I’m sure did not look anything like they are today!)

Was privileged to take that hike and soak with my son and daughter last week. Lucky me.

Puget Sound Genealogical Society April Meeting

by Charles Hansen

Puget Sound Genealogical Society

Saturday, April 28 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Class will be held at: Kitsap Regional Library 1301 Sylvan Way, Bremerton
WEBINAR: DID I GET EVERYTHING: CREATING A
CHECKLIST FOR GENEALOGY RESEARCH
with Thomas MacEntee: Learn how to assemble a genealogy research
checklist to take your genealogy to the next level.
Registration required. Call Genealogical Center
Jackie Horton, Publicity Chairperson