Friday Serendipity

by Charles Hansen

 

****Ever seen or snacked upon a Donut Peach??  Spotted this in a little market near the Fiske Library in Seattle. They were delicious….but yes, a funny shape.

**** Know what triggers the leaves to change color? When a hot, dry summer is followed by a hot, dry fall, this allows the leaves to continue making chlorophyll that keeps them green. But chlorophyll productions finally slows and stops in the fall. And without chlorophyll, the yellow and orange pigments of the leaves become dominant, resulting in the many beautiful colors of fall. (This is my Japanese Maple.)

****Do you enjoy the History channel on TV? They have a new thing…. “American history streaming live…series, documentaries, all commercial free!” This is only for Apple/iPad/iPhone products and subscription is $50 a year. But think of all the good-better TV you’d be able to watch! Click to www.historyvault.com/american

**** Know what a rhumb line is? Washington is a maritime state so thought you’d like to know this new-to-me term. “A rhumb line is a line on the earth’s surface which intersects all meridians and parallels of latitude at the same angle. A line of constant course is a rhumb line.” Now a picture is definitely worth a thousand words here:

**** Want to know more about DNA….using it, understanding it, etc? Just like with any other new-to-you-thing, you need to go back to school, so to speak. In this case, just Google the words “understanding DNA” or some such and you’ll have more watching and reading to do than you have time for!  I recommend (1) www.youtube.com and the DNA subject/channel; (2) Diane Southard’s www.yourdnaguide.com; (3) Ancestry Academy and their lessons on DNA. It’s up to you and me; if we really apply ourselves, we can and will understand something about DNA. BUT BUT BUT please know, too, that you never have to know it all! Just enough for your purposes.

Eastern Washington Genealogical Society November Meeting

by Charles Hansen

 

Georgetown Memory Project
Saturday, November 4
Georgetown Memory Project (EWGS Meetings)
12:30 pm to 3:00 pm
Spokane Public Library Auditorium, Downtown Spokane

Due to the snowstorm in February 2017 the Georgetown Memory Project presentation was cancelled. It has been rescheduled for the November program.

The Butler Slave Research Team will make a presentation of the research we did to locate Pat Bayonne-Johnson’s ancestors who were enslaved by the Jesuits of Georgetown and sold in 1838 to two plantation owners in Louisiana. The presentation will include traditional research methods as well as those that are unique to African American research.

Butler Team Members: Carol Anderson, Pat Ayers, Pat Bayonne-Johnson, Janette Birch, Barbara Brazington, Mary Holcomb, Juanita McBride and Dolly Webb.

Cookies & Social Time: 12:30 PM
Meeting starts at 1:00 PM

Tuesday Trivia

by Charles Hansen

 

This maybe is kinda silly/crazy, but my eyes popped when I saw it.

Alaska Airlines is the only airlines with a “salmon” plane….. and I spotted it in Seattle. Would it fly differently….wiggling its tail?  Ha!

Monday’s Mystery

by Charles Hansen

Coming to you LIVE from Spokane today, dear friends. Had a wonderful time in Maine, New Hampshire and New Brunswick and happy to be home and with you all!

So many comments while I was gone! Thank you to everybody who took the time to add a comment or make a guess. Back on Sept 18th, the answer was crepe myrtle. On Sept 25th, the answer was FDR’s wheel chair which he used in 1937 at the dedication of Grand Coulee Dam and I spotted in the Visitors’ Center. The Oct 2nd answer was Sam Hill who built Maryhill and it was Portuguese workers that he imported to work the place…..and they quickly went elsewhere when the job was done. Who wants to live there? The Oct 9th answer was George, Washington, population under 500 in 2016. The Oct 16th answer was……… and I really stumped you this time! It’s a tatting ball! Your answers were close, and kind-of right but if you could have felt/seen that very fine thread you’d have known.

Today’s mystery is this: Which photo of clouds are Massachusetts clouds  and which one is of Washington clouds ??? Answer thusly: “Top is ____.”


THE GENEALOGICAL FORUM’s Wednesday Evening E-News

by Charles Hansen

 

THE GENEALOGICAL FORUM’s
Wednesday Evening
E-News
18 October 2017

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 October 2017, you’re in luck because we saved you a copy HERE. NOTE: The Insider issues are now located under the “Learn” > “Our Publications” menu at www.gfo.org.
Curious about the status of your GFO Membership?? We’d love to have you as a GFO Member!
***

Saturday, Oct 21st at 2pm

You’ve been meaning to write up your family history stories and findings, but with several thousand people on your tree, the task is overwhelming. Never fear, though, because help is here! The GFO’s own Marti Dell, Co-Editor of The Bulletin, can help you identify just one thing you really need to share with others, then write it up! Does anyone else know how your grandma and grandpa met? Why are so many of your female relatives named “Oney”? Some day your 9-year-old grandson will want to know about your family history trip to Sweden. You won’t get everything written until you get one thing written.

And since you’re writing up just one thing anyway, consider sending a copy to The Bulletin for publication. We have editors and proofreaders who will make sure your commas are in the right place and your source citations are formatted properly. What we don’t have, but need, is your story.

This event is FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. So really, there’s no excuse.
***
Lineage Societies List – Shout out if you know any!

Find GFO’s current list HERE. But do you know others??

Our Research Assistants (RA’s) are compiling a list of various Lineage Societies to have available for our researchers both online and at the GFO’s front desk.

Colonial Dames, Children of the American Revolution, Daughters of the American Colonists, and more!

If you have suggestions of other societies that should go on our current list, please email volunteer@gfo.org now…right now!
***
Genealogical Problem Solvers to the Rescue…

Saturday, Oct 21st, 9:30 – 11:30am

SPECIAL TREAT THIS WEEK: The group will spend the first five minutes or so of the meeting brainstorming about a problem presented by an attendee chosen at random. So come on by and bring a puzzle for our problem masters!

This week’s GPS problem: To find any additional information on the subject’s siblings or ancestors in central New York or Iowa.

The research team of Harold Hinds, Tom O’Brien, and/or Duane Funk will review basic resources that are available for the subject’s two main research locations. They will also reveal the significant differences between the two locations for the benefit of the group.

Don’t miss this session, even if you don’t have ancestors in Iowa or New York. Many of the techniques used are completely applicable wherever you may be doing research.
This meeting (like all our interest groups) is free and open to the public!
***
Goin’ for the Gold! Help us reach 1,000 Likes on Facebook…

We need your input and we need your love!

And it only takes a couple of clicks…honest.
To like us:

Step One Log into your Facebook page.
Step Two Go to the GFO’s Facebook page from your Facebook page.
Step Three Click the thumbs-up “Like” button in the top left hand corner of the page.
To write us a review:

Step One Log into your Facebook page.
Step Two Go to the GFO’s Facebook page from your Facebook page.
Step Three Click Reviews on the left vertical menu, then click the “Tell People What You Think” link at the top of the feed.
Step Four Click on the star rating of your choice (five! oh please pick five stars!!).
Step Five Type a review in the pop-up box.

It’s that easy. This is a great way to help others find out about the GFO, which will let us continue providing all the great genealogical programs and services you already enjoy so much!
Thank you, as always, for all you do for the GFO.
***
Are you ready for the Columbia Gorge Jamboree??
Columbia Gorge Genealogical Society Logo

The Columbia Gorge Genealogical Society’s Genealogy Jamboree, will be this Saturday,
Oct 21st, at the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center, 10am – 4pm.
The Jamboree takes place in the downstairs conference room.

The GFO will have an interactive info table with our website and some of our manuscripts material to peruse.

If you can spare a couple hours to visit, we’d be oh so happy to see you at this special event!
More info at the Society’s blog (scroll down to the 3rd entry) HERE.
***
What’s hot in genealogy, archives, and beyond all October?? Get involved, learn stuff, and do better!

Multnomah County Properties Resource

Interested in the history of properties in the area?

Be sure to visit this website, presented by Restore Oregon.
National Archives Hosts Virtual Free Genealogy Fair Oct 25th, 10am – 4pm EST

The National Archives will host a live, virtual Genealogy Fair via webcast on YouTube. Participate in our biggest genealogy event of the year! Sessions offer advice on family history research for all skill levels. See the full schedule and get ready to click the play button on Oct 25th at 10am HERE.
Lend a helping “hand”…with your voice!

The Pacific International Academy needs English speaking volunteers! The GFO periodically has international interns helping out at our library from this organization. Check out how an hour of your week can make all the difference! Get more info and sign-up HERE.
Jewish Genealogical Society Meeting, Nov 13th

You are invited to attend our upcoming free genealogy event, on Monday evening, Nov 13th. Hear all about the new records access activist group, Reclaim the Records! Doors at 6:30pm, presentation starts at 7:15pm. Located at the LDS Factoria Building, 4200 124th Ave SE, Bellevue, WA 98006.
***
This Week at the GFO…

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21st

Genealogical Problem Solvers, GPS 9:30 – 11:30am

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.

Italian Interest Group Noon – 2pm

Tips for Determining Your Immigrant Ancestor’s Place of Origin – Learn what records are available in the United States that can provide you with the place of nativity of your immigrant ancestor. This will be interactive, learn by doing. Bring your laptop computer. Facilitated by Keith Pyeatt.

GenTalk: Write It Up! 2 – 3pm

Presenter: Marti Dell, Co-Editor of the GFO Bulletin

Come learn how YOU can write and submit an article to be published in GFO’s quarterly publication The Bulletin. We have editors and proofreaders who will make sure your commas are in the right place and your source citations are formatted properly. What we don’t have, but need, is your story!
All of these events are FREE and open to the public.

Seattle Genealogical Society Tip of the Week

by Charles Hansen

TIP OF THE WEEK – IRISH SOLDIERS PENSIONS

If you have ancestors from Ireland who received an army pension between 1724 and 1924, explore Fold3’s collection of Royal Hospital Kilmainham Pensioner Discharge Documents.

There are two types of documents in this collection, Pension Admissions and Pension Discharge Documents. Information found in these registers can include name, regiment, rank, length of service, illness or disability, birthplace, occupation, physical description, and more. These records are typically arranged by dates so finding what you are looking for might be a little difficult, but the wealth of information may well be worth the effort.

If you are not a Fold3 subscriber, or don’t have access to it through your Ancestry membership, remember you can always access Ancestry, Fold3, and Newspapers.com on the computers in the SGS Library.

Seattle Genealogical Society News

by Charles Hansen

500th ANNIVERSARY OF THE REFORMATION

This month, the world acknowledges the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation. On October 17, 1517, an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther nailed his “95 Theses”, or complaints against the Catholic Church, to the door of the cathedral in Wittenberg, Germany. His main concern was the selling of indulgences, or pardons, to raise money to build St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. His challenge to the Pope would spark the Protestant Reformation in Western Europe, splinter religious beliefs, and incite war.

 

Notice that the word Protestant contains the word “protest” and that reformation contains the word “reform”. Luther was gravely concerned about the way in which getting into heaven was connected with a financial transaction, but this was not his only disagreement with the Catholic Church.

Come learn more about it.

On Sunday, October 29 at the SGS Halloween Open House, there will be treats as well as an audio visual program on “The 500th Anniversary of Martin Luther’s Protestant Revolution” presented by Jean Roth, chair of the SGS German Interest Group.

The prior day, Saturday, October 28, at the Irish and German Special Interest Groups, Jean will feature “Using Church Records for Research”. Church records are important as one of the main sources we, as family historians, use in our genealogical research.

Hope to see you there.

Continue reading →

George Washington in Centralia….did you know?

by Charles Hansen

Centralia has a most unusual founding story. A black man, George Washington, born a slave in 1817 in Virginia, is given the credit for founding of Centralia. This Lewis County town claims the distinction of being the only town in the west founded by a person of color. George’s story was highlighted in 2017, the 200th anniversary of his birth and when he was remembered as a leading African American pioneer in the Pacific Northwest.

George was born to a white English woman but his father was a slave that was sold away when George was an infant. His mother, wanting her child to be free, gave him to her friends, James and Anna Cochran, to raise. The Cochrans were good, honorable people, and took George with them as they migrated to Ohio and then Missouri. There, in 1843, George became a “free and legal citizen” of Missouri by a special act of the Missouri legislature. Even with this document, fearing he might lose his freedom after the passage of the Compromise of 1850, George and the Cochrans took the famous trail to Oregon. Once there, and even then, he could not establish a land claim for himself when the family settled near the confluence of the Chehalis and Skookumchuck rivers and the Cochrans claimed land in 1852. When Washington Territory was split from Oregon Territory in 1853, the new territory’s laws did not preclude Negroes from owning land and the Cochrans sold their land to him. George cared for his adoptive parents the rest of their lives.

Anticipating the arrival of the Northern Pacific railroad in 1872, George platted the city of Centerville (now Centralia) on his land, naming the streets after Biblical references and setting aside land for a park and churches of many denominations. Centerville/Centralia was incorporated in 1886.

Despite facing some racial prejudice at the hands of newcomers…many of whom migrated from the segregated post-Civil War south), George supported the town in all ways clear until his death in 1905.

It is right and fitting that Lewis County, and certainly Centralia, celebrated George Washington, the founder of their town.

 

References:  Patty Olsen, who lives in Centralia, first shared news of this story with me and sent me several copied references. Thanks, Patty!