GENEALOGICAL FORUM’s Thursday Evening E-News

by Charles Hansen

THE GENEALOGICAL FORUM’s

Thursday Evening

E-News, Edition

14 June 2018

For more information visit www.gfo.org, contact us at info@gfo.org, or call our library at 503-963-1932. We love hearing from you!

For a complete GFO CALENDAR click here.

Also, if you missed your free copy of our monthly Insider for May 2018, you’re in luck because we saved you a copy HERE. Simply scroll down at THIS page and click on the Insider 2018 May issue.

Curious about the status of your GFO Membership? We’d love to have you as a GFO Member!
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Italians, Annual Meeting, GPS, and Family Photos!
Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon 2

Saturday, June 16th, at GFO is Jam Packed!

“Elementary, my dear Watson!” Genealogy Problem Solvers (GPS) Takes a Case 9:30 – 11:30am

The Challenges: (1) Discover who were the parents and paternal grandparents of Riley Hash, the father of William M. Hash (1876–1937). (2) Is there a connection between Riley Hash and the Revolutionary War veteran William Horton Hash Sr.?

The primary geographical focus: Grayson County, Virginia, and Ashe County, North Carolina.

The resolution to Darrell Gulstrom’s questions will take a most unexpected turn. After resolving the parents and paternal grandparents of Riley Hash, one of his lines will be traced back to a surprising ancestor and the earliest days of settlement in North Carolina and Virginia.

~

Continue reading →

Grays Harbor Research Library Destroyed by Fire

by Roxanne Lowe

Full disclaimer: The author of this post is a long-time member of the Grays Harbor Genealogical Society and totally devastated by this loss.

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

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 massive fire destroyed most of the first and second floors of the historic Armory Building, which was built in 1922. The building was home to the priceless Museum of History, Coastal Community Action Program, the Aberdeen Senior Center, and the Grays Harbor Genealogical Society research library. Investigators are still determining the cause of the fire that raged out of control for hours, drawing fire departments from the whole county and parts of Thurston County.

Representatives from the State Archives were on the scene to offer assistance with recovery and restoration of any surviving historic photos, documents, artifacts — some of which were in the basement of the concrete building. Ironically, Tracy Rebstock, Southwest Regional Archivist with the State Archives was the featured speaker at the GHGS meeting that day, speaking on disaster preparedness and preserving historic documents and heirlooms. Her assurances to shocked GHGS members was much appreciated as she talked about how to recover from this disaster. Servpro of Grays Harbor and Pacific Counties, a fire disaster recovery company, is also helping with recovery efforts.

The GHGS Research Library was housed on the first floor of the building which was destroyed with temperatures reported to exceed 2,000 degrees. All is a loss. Members of the small society are meeting to find another location and begin re-gathering local records, documents and books. The society had recently completed a conversion of the library to emphasize Grays Harbor County (and its predecessor Chehalis County). The research library was known for its extensive collection of now-defunct Whiteside and Elerding funeral records and obituary records, dating back as far as the late 1800s. While some of the records were digitized, others were in hard copy only. The society’s research chairman Bonnie Johannes said much of what they had was permanently lost. “We must’ve had at least 25,000 hard copies (of obituaries), so it’s a tremendous loss.”

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

Wednesday’s Nostalgia

by Charles Hansen

How many of us have a nice hanging rack over our stove where we hang our utensils and perhaps pots and pans? This is not a new idea. People who cook have always wanted their utensils handy.

I took this photo in the cooking building at Fort Vancouver National Park in Vancouver, Washington. Notice the variety of things…. big pans, little pans, ladles, hooks, cups, forks, lifters….. all with L-O-N-G handles for reaching into the fire. Notice the in-fireplace racks on the right? For baking?

Does this kitchen look anything like YOUR kitchen??

** I always think: how did they keep the ash out of their food?

Tri-City Genealogical Society June Meeting

by Charles Hansen

I hope you are planning on attending our June 13th meeting which is sponsored by Washington Humanities.  Our speaker will be John Jensen who will be giving a presentation on:
Hollywood and the Homefront:Tinsel Town’s Contribution to World War II 
 
Date: Wednesday, June 13th
 
Time: 7:00 p.m.
 
Place: Benton PUD Auditorium (Corner of Hwy 395 and 10th street in Kennewick)
 
Also, don’t forget to take advantage of our Beginning Genealogy Class on June 13th. The topic for this class will be:
Hidden Treasures of Ancestry.com
 
The Beginning Genealogy Class starts at 6:15 p.m. and ends at 6:45 p.m.
We will also have our monthly Genealogy Book Sale too. So, we are looking forward to seeing you this Wednesday. If you have any questions, please call 943-9322 and as always, please invite someone.  Thank you. (see enclosed attachment)

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Change Is In the Air at WSGS

by Roxanne Lowe

Please join me in welcoming Heather Murphy as our new Web Manager. Heather is a WSGS member from the Tri-Cities area. She will be transitioning to the position in the next few weeks. Welcome, Heather!

A huge debt of gratitude goes to our outgoing Web Manager, Roxanne Lowe. She has made many improvements to the WSGS website over the past couple of years. We are sorry to see her go, but family obligations come first!

Please consider how you might contribute to our genealogical community. We are still looking for someone to take over the Recognition and Awards Program. If you are interested, please contact me.

Virginia Majewski, President

ginnym51@msn.com

Kelowna & District Genealogical Society September Conference

by Charles Hansen

 

 

Guess Who’s Coming to the Conference? …Louis Kessler!

 

Louis is a programmer and a genealogist and a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) and Genealogical Speakers Guild (GSG). He developed the genealogy software Behold and built the GenSoftReviews site where genealogists go to rate and review their software. In 2016, Louis got into DNA in a big way and developed his Double Match Triangulator program for autosomal DNA analysis. The program won third place at the 2017 RootsTech Innovator Showdown.

 

Louis lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba with his wife and two daughters. He has been the chair of the Archives Committee, leader of the Genealogical Institute, and a Board member and President of the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada. Louis is an active GeneaBlogger and participates in the genealogy communities on Twitter and Facebook.

 

Since Louis has registered for our Conference, we asked if he would give a talk in the late afternoon time period as Blaine Bettinger’s talk is now full. Louis has kindly agreed and will be talking on:

Using Double Match Triangulation to Find DNA Ancestors:  There’s more to a DNA segment match than you think. If the same segment is passed down from a common ancestor, it is called IBD (Identical by Descent). But matches can be by chance or false and you need to distinguish these. Find out what triangulation can and cannot be used for. Learn how to efficiently find all triangulations with double matching techniques and how to use triangulation groups to help you find your DNA ancestors. Level I-A.

 

Louis is also donating three licenses to his Double Match Triangulator software – two as door prizes and one to an attendee of his talk! We are very grateful for Louis’ generosity and look forward to having him at our Conference!

 

ARE YOU REGISTERED FOR THE CONFERENCE?

 

 

Claire Smith-Burns

Kelowna & District Genealogical Society

Director, KDGS Family & Local History Resource Centre, Librarian@KDGS.ca

“Harvest Your Family Tree” Conference 2018, Conference@KDGS.ca

www.KDGS.ca

 

Spotlight on Clark County Historical MUSEUM

by Charles Hansen

Danielle Utter is a ball of fire….fire for a good cause. She is the Education & Programs Manager for the Clark County Historical Museum in Vancouver. I was blessed to meet her at the Clark County Genealogical Society conference the end of last May.

I asked her to tell me more about the collections of the Museum. “How long do you have?” she prompted quipped back.  “We have 46,000 photos of Clark County history posted online; we have issues of the Vancouver Independent back to 1910; we have ‘rooms and rooms’ of boxes for artifacts; we have the local NAACP collection online; we have hundreds of oral history interviews all online and so much more!

Ginny Majewski  (president of the Washington State Genealogical Society) and I visited the museum together that day and were so very impressed by their library…… shelves and shelves of archival boxes of documents all labeled for ease of access and more shelves and shelves of books regarding local history.

Danielle explained that they do work on mail or email research requests for a per-hour fee, but it’s free to anyone to come use the library in person. “Most folks come looking for information on property, homes and people” of this area, she said.

The museum partners with other local smaller museums; they have a First Thursday speaker series; they offer periodic historical Walking Tours (like of the old City Cemetery) and they have changing exhibits. The next exhibit, “Music, Movement & Sound,” features the Cotington piano, the very first piano in the Northwest, Danielle happily explained.

Danielle Utter welcomes questions, especially questions about photos to donate. You can contact her via the museum website, www.cchmuseum.org.

Thanks, Danielle, for a lovely (and too short!) visit.

Tuesday’s Trivia

by Charles Hansen

 

In 2009, the City of Washougal endeavored to create a connection between the downtown district and the Columbia River.  The SR-14 Pedestrian Tunnel is now open.  This tunnel provides safe passage from Pendleton Way to Steamboat Landing, William Clark Regional Park, and the Steigerwald National Wildlife Refuge & footpath – all connected by the US Corps of Engineers 3-½ mile long levee trail.

(The words over the tunnel read Gateway to the Columbia. I stopped at the Pendleton Woolen Mills outlet and could walk right through this tunnel from the parking lot.)

The tunnel passage between downtown Washougal and the Columbia River takes visitors back into ancient times.  The City of Washougal created a “petro glyph design team” consisting of nine students from Washougal High school, several adults, and led by artist Rex Ziak.  The design team researched Columbia Basin rock “art” to develop concepts for seven hand etched basalt slabs.  Ziak designed the images and had them hand etched by local craftsmen.  The pieces provide glimpses into the ancient Columbia River Corridor.  It’s up to you to determine the story behind each petro glyph.  For more information on the “petro” team’s journey and to learn more about this ancient form of communication, log on to http://culturewatchnorthwest.blogspot.com/

(Info and quote from Google-search-website; photos from Donna.)

 

Monday’s Mystery

by Charles Hansen

Ah, got a good one for you today. What can you tell me about the connection between Washington, specifically Clark County, and prunes?

Yes, prunes……that yummy, sticky dried fruit that begins as juicy plums. Vancouver, in Clark County, was once the Prune Capital of the world. There were prune-themed everything including a parade and a Prune Princess! And wouldn’t you guess that Prune Wine would be delicious?

(Took this image and learned all about this at the Clark County Historical Society in Vancouver.)

Tacoma Pierce County Genealogical Society June Meeting

by Charles Hansen

TPCGS will hold our monthly meeting this Tuesday, June 12, at 6.30 pm, at Bates Community College.

Our Speaker will be Midori Okazaki  from the Washington State Archives.

From  6:30 to 7:00 she will explain how to become a Scribe for the Washington State Archives. Then after a short business meeting, she will also cover the Preservation of physical records.

Hope to see everyone there!

TPCGS monthly meetings are held September through May from 6 pm to 9 pm, usually at Bates Technical College, South Campus, Building E, 2201 South 78th St., Tacoma. Guests are always welcome, so bring a friend!  For more information check our website at www.tpcgs.org.