Friday Serendipity

by Charles Hansen

There are several pioneer associations and groups in our state. Perhaps you already belong to one or more of them?

There is the Daughters of the Washington Pioneers.  The Clark County Genealogical Society (Vancouver, WA) has two filing cabinets or their materials including membership applications. Membership in this group has declined and they are on the brink of big change, Lethene Parks, Librarian of CCGS told me. Her group has plans to work with the group and hopefully digitize and post online an index to those files.

There is the Pioneer Association of the State of Washington. Organized in 1871, this group is headquartered in the Fiske Library building and maintains its reference library there. Contact www.wapioneers.org for more information.

And there is the Sons and Daughters of the Oregon Pioneers, which, since Washington was part of Oregon Territory, this can include Washingtonians. To be eligible to join this group, your ancestor must have arrived into the Oregon Territory before statehood on 14 Feb 1859. (That’s 30 years before Washington statehood.) Google it for more information.

Lastly, WSGS offers Pioneer Certificates and First Citizen certificates and recognition.  Click to www.wasgs.org that information.

Lower Columbia Genealogical Society March Meeting

by Charles Hansen

 

I’VE HAD MY DNA TESTED….

………….NOW WHAT???

LISA MC COLLOUGH is a DNA Specialist and a professional genealogist, who began studying DNA after she submitted her first DNA test about five years ago. She now leads a bi-monthly group discussion at the Genealogical Forum of Oregon, and has agreed to share her experiences at our March meeting.

Mark your calendar!!!

LOWER COLUMBIA GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY

SOMERSET RETIREMENT APARTMENTS

2025 TIBBETTS DRIVE, LONGVIEW

DINING ROOM 7:00 PM

MARCH 8, 2018

VISITORS ARE WELCOME AND ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND

Mary Kathryn Kozy 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 months, you will be introduced to each of the 2017 award recipients and learn why they received the 2017 WSGS Outstanding Volunteer and Team Award.

Mary Kathryn (Crews) Kozy

Today we’re introducing Mary Kathryn Kozy of Kent, Washington, who was nominated by the Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State (JGSWS). She was recognized for her exceptional leadership and consistent support of the JGSWS.

Ms. Kozy has been an active member of the JGSWS for nine years. She has enthusiastically served on the society’s board for the past seven years, holding various board and volunteer positions, including president and secretary. She currently serves as the membership chair. Ms. Kozy is always quick to help society members with their research questions and has presented a number of programs to the society, particularly on DNA topics. She has been involved in many genealogical projects over the years including FamilySearch indexing, maintaining USGenWeb websites, records transcription projects, lecturing and teaching. She currently serves as an LDS Family History Missionary.

Ms. Kozy is a respected, dedicated member of the JGSWS, and 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.

Eastside Genealogical Society March Meeting

by Charles Hansen

The Eastside Genealogical Society will meet on Thursday, March 8, 2018 in the Bellevue Regional Library (Room 1), 1111 – 110th Ave NE, Bellevue, WA 98004 at 7 pm, with doors opening at 6:30 pm for networking.

 

Topic: This meeting will feature the streaming video from RootsTech 2018’s keynote speaker, Henry Louis Gates, Jr.  He is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University. Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, literary scholar, journalist, cultural critic, and institution builder, Professor Gates has authored or co-authored twenty-two books and created eighteen documentary films, including Wonders of the African World, African American Lives, Faces of America, Black in Latin America, Black America since MLK: And Still I Rise, Africa’s Great Civilizations, and Finding Your Roots, his groundbreaking genealogy series now in its fourth season on PBS. His six-part PBS documentary series, The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross (2013), which he wrote, executive produced, and hosted, earned the Emmy Award for Outstanding Historical Program—Long Form, as well as the Peabody Award, Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, and NAACP Image Award.

 

See our website for FREE genealogical help and other Special Interest Group meetings. Visitors are always welcome at all meetings.

Clallam County Genealogical Society Spring Seminar

by Charles Hansen

Genealogical Spring Seminar featuring Janet O’Conor Camarata

Janet O’Conor Camarata will be the featured speaker at a Spring Seminar March 10th entitled Location, Location, Location!  hosted by the Genealogical Society of Clallam County.

 

She is a popular speaker much in demand for her remarkable presentations.  She has not only provided many seminars , but has also been a presenter at the Northwest Genealogy Conference, the Washington State Conference, and at other prominent events.  Her presentations are well organized, and enjoyable.

 

The program consists of four different sessions.  The morning session will include her lectures Beyond Maps: Location in Context, and Discover County Histories and the Family Stories They Tell.  In the afternoon she will explain how to understand and make the most of Survey Systems and General Land Office Records. 

 

Participants are asked to bring a sack lunch, however,  beverage and munchies will be served during the registration period and breaks.

 

The Seminar will be held at the Dungeness Valley Lutheran Church, 925 N. Sequim Ave. in Sequim.

Registration will begin at 8:30am and the program will end at 3:00 pm.

 

The cost of the seminar will be $35 for CCGS Members, $40 for non-members and registrants after Tuesday, March 6th and at the door.

 

Registrations are presently being accepted.  One can send in their check payable to CCGS, 402 E. Lauridsen Blvd., Port Angeles, WA 98382.  To pay by credit card go to the CCGS Website and follow the directions for using Paypal. 

 

For more information call the Society Tuesday through Friday from 10am to 4pm:  360-681-0962, or visit the website, www.clallamcogs.org.

 

Heritage Quest Booksellers will also be in attendance.

 

 

 

 

Your WSGS Board at Work

by Charles Hansen

February 10th the WSGS board met at the Yakima Valley Genealogical Society library in Union Gap, Washington.

The board meets four times a year to discuss genealogical matters important to everyone in the State of Washington. Besides the officers at the meeting, committee chairs are asked to attend. Any WSGS member can attend also. Usually the night before most of the attendees go to a no host dinner at the Sea Galley Restaurant to get to know each other. First order of business at the board meeting was to swear in the recently elected board members and regional reps. All the officers are listed here  WSGS President Ginny Majewsky was checking the wording of the oath.

Region 7 (Spokane, Stevens and Pend Oreille counties) is looking for a rep. We are also looking for a Historian and an Awards Chairman, so if you know someone that would be interested please contact Ginny Majewski.

Probably the biggest change to come from this board meeting is the change in the dues for 2019. The dues will be $12 for members, families, and societies. You can still pay with your local society so you only need to write one check, but no discount that way, still $12, and the society will not get any of the $12 for handling the paperwork.

Wednesday Nostalgia

by Charles Hansen

Did you realize that there was a German POW camp in Washington state? It was in the way northeast, at Sullivan Lake. Can’t say that this is a correct picture but it looks likely:

According to The Northest Legacy: Magazine of Local History, March 1977, article by Faith Wentz,  “in 1944 America had been at war for three years. The farms and processing plants faced a great labor shortage during the war due to the fact that most able-bodied men were wearing a uniform and doing their part in the war effort.”

“At that same time, six million POWs were in Allied hands; many of these POWs were brought to the U.S. to help in the harvesting of the crops necessary to sustain the soldiers fighting on the front lines. For this reason several POW camps were established in the Northwest.”

One camp in the Chelan area helped with the apple harvest. Most likely the Sullivan Lake camp helped with lumbering. These ex-German soldiers helps with the corn and sugar beet harvests.

“Not all Americans were happy with this situation….. of having around 2500 German POWs in their midst. But no serious incidents were ever recorded.

“Apparently the prisoners were glad to be in America and away from the war. They were unfamiliar with the work they were asked to do but were eager learners; they were paid in script they could use to purchase such things as cigarettes and candy. Most of them had never eaten corn before and when they were given corn on the cob “they became Americanized.”

“In 1945 the war was over and the POWs left the valley………. ” I wonder what became of these nearly 2500 young German men?

What Your Treasurer Needs to Know

by Charles Hansen

With the start of the new year, there are two legal requirements that may be required for your local society. Below is more information.

 By now your society should have received the Annual Report form from the Secretary of State to list your officers and registered agent and pay the state the $10.00 annual fee. This annual registration can be done online. www.sos.wa.gov/corps

 

IRS Form 990 – Before May 15th, your Form 990 is due to be filed with the IRS if you are a Tax Exempt 501(C)(3) organization. (Note: if this has not been done in the last three years, your Tax Exempt status has expired.)  The IRS has three 990 forms: the regular 990 for organizations with over $200,000 annual income, the 990EZ for organizations with income between $50,000 and $200,000, and the 990-N (Postcard 990) if your income was less than $50,000, which I assume will cover nearly all the genealogy societies in the State of Washington. The form must be filed online at www.irs.gov where you are asked two questions: (1) are you still active, and (2) did you take in less than $50,000 last year. If yes to both questions, just fill in your genealogical society’s name, address and federal ID number (should be on last year’s return ##.#######), print out the form and confirmation and you are done.

Resources – You might consider signing up for the free IRS Exempt Organizations E-Mail newsletter (https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/current-edition-of-exempt-organizations-update).

There is also an E-Mail Newsletter from Washington Non Profits (https://washingtonnonprofits.org/membership/sign-up-for-our-email-list/). Fair warning: a lot of what is in this newsletter is for large nonprofits, but they do have seminars all over Washington State that may relate to your government filing and best practices for non-profits.

I got this Legal-checklist-1 from their latest newsletter, some parts do not apply to our small genealogy societies, but many do.

Any Questions? Please comment below.

 

 

Tuesday Trivia

by Charles Hansen

We do love to talk endlessly about the weather….. too rainy, too hot, too cold and definitely too snowy. How about two feet of snow in one month? In Western Washington!

This bit was from the Tacoma News Tribune for 9 Feb 1929 but hearkened back to “1834 Was Year Of Real Snow on Sound.”

Dupont, Wash……. Feb 9th….. Inhabitants of the Puget Sound county “haven’t seen anything yet,” in spite of the shattering of records during the present cold snap. If history repeats itself, look back to January, 1834, the first year of the Hudson’s Bay Trading Company. An old diary kept by the factor of the fort discloses that on January 14th, it “snowed heavily.” Then on the 15th it again “snowed heavily.” On the 16th, “it snowed much of the day and much during the night.” The snow was two feet deep on the 18th; the 19th and 20th were repetitions of the 18th. Snow and very cold weather prevailed for eight successive days.

Then came thawing and rains and wind which “all but wrecked the palisades and buildings of the fort.” This type of weather prevailed until Feb 16th when another foot of snow fell which was repeated on the 17th and 18th. It was impossible to continue any sort of work. Cutting firewood seemed to be the only occupation.

And we shut down with barely six inches of the white flakes! Were our ancestors hardier than us? I wonder……………

Upcoming Special Event: Camp Lewis and its Role in WWI

by Roxanne Lowe

The DuPont Historical Museum is sponsoring a special presentation called “Camp Lewis and Its Role in WWI” on Sunday, February 18 at 2:00 pm at the Presbyterian Church, 502 Barksdale Ave., DuPont, WA.

Join historian, author, and illustrator Alan H. Archambault as he discusses the fascinating and pivotal role the newly-formed Camp Lewis (now Joint Base Lewis-McChord) played in the events of World War I. Alan was the director of the Fort Lewis Military Museum, now the Lewis Army Museum, for over twenty years. He also writes, draws and paints historical illustrations for books, exhibits, and other venues. For more information, contact Carol at (253) 459-4339 or duponthistoricalmuseum@gmail.com.