Genealogical Forum of Oregon Wednesday News

by Charles Hansen

GenForum

THE GENEALOGICAL FORUM OF OREGON Wednesday Evening E-News 30 December 2015

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 go to www.gfo.org/calendar.htm.

Also, if you missed your free copy of our monthly Insider, you’re in luck because we saved you a copy at http://www.gfo.org/insider/16-Jan.pdf.

Monthly Program and January’s Seminar

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2015-12-30

Monthly Program on Saturday, January 16th, 2pm – 4pm

Come spend the afternoon with us as we indulge in a talk by fellow genealogist and author, Stephen Hanks, who spent over 10 years tracing his paternal African American family line. He will be discussing the research behind his most recent book, Akee Tree, A Descendant’s Quest For His Slave Ancestors on the Eskridge Plantations.

House Histories Seminar, Sunday, January 31st, 9:30am – noon

Come hear our very own Connie Lenzen, author, researcher and board-certified genealogist, teach about the fascinating histories of houses. Don’t forget to register early, as this session is limited to 50 attendees! Click here for a registration form.

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Janette and Tony Named Outstanding Volunteers in 2015

by Roxanne Lowe

Since 2003, the Washington State Genealogical Society has recognized more than 450 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 2015 award recipients and learn why they received the 2015 WSGS Outstanding Volunteer and Team Award.

Today we’re introducing Janette and Tony Birch of Cheney, Washington, who were nominated by the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society (EWGS). They were recognized, among other contributions, for their commitment to make new society members feel welcome and part of the group.

Janette and Tony Birch

Janette and Tony Birch

This dynamic duo has been members of EWGS for nine years, and have been “The Greeters” at society meetings for more than three years. Besides producing tags for new members, they help people find their name tags, answer any general questions, help enroll new members, assist newcomers find a person who can answer questions, and point out who the officers are. Sometimes they are affectionately called “The Information Station.”

Besides their welcoming role, the Birch’s wrote an article about Theodore Roosevelt and his 1903 Washington State train tour for the EWGS online Digital Digest. When the EWGS surname database was first started, they helped create and maintain the online database of members’ ancestor surnames which can be found on the EWGS website.

Mr. and Mrs. Birch are a treasured team at the EWGS, and demonstrate that they richly deserved being recipients of WSGS Outstanding Volunteer Awards.

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

Happy New Year

by Charles Hansen

Happy New Year

This has been a learning year for me, Charles Hansen and the WSGS team of bloggers, Donna Potter-Phillips, Roxanne Lowe and Susan Faulkner. Word Press is a lot different than blogger and so we were feeling our way around the WSGS blog for months, tweaking and adding plug ins to make it work better and easier for everyone.

Our top ten articles for 2015 were:
1. Seattle Genealogical Society Tip of the Week
2. Northwest Genealogical Conference August 2015
3. 2015 Seminars
4. Subscribe to Blog Updates
5. Oregon Burial Site Guide for just the Cost of Shipping
6. 2015 WSGS Annual Conference
7. Do Records Matter?
8. Veronica Anguiano Honored as 2015 Outstanding Volunteer
9. WSGS Blog Promoting the Preservation of, and Access to, Genealogical information in Washington State.
10. Seattle Genealogical Society

Many others were popular also, which one was your favorite.

One of the best part of blogging is reading the comments, but we get so few comments, so I guess we are doing a great job? Anything we can do better in 2016?

Happy Year End & Happy New Year

by Charles Hansen

How many times have we said, “Oh, what I’d give for one diary entry….one letter…one card…one page….written by my great-great grandmother!!”

I have a great-grandchild due in June 2016. It’s not likely that in 2036 (when he/she is 20) that I’ll be up to telling stories about my life. 

Permission to speak boldly? NEITHER WILL YOU.

But today I can write those stories about my life and by so doing will be leaving a real legacy for her/him. 

Permission to speak boldly? PERHAPS YOU DON’T CARE WHETHER YOUR GREAT-GREAT GRANDCHILDREN KNOW WHO YOU WERE?? It’s your decision. 

Perhaps your New Year’s Resolution or New Year’s Goal might-oughta-should be to start writing the history of you…..for them?

Here’s a great list of ideas to get you started…thinking back across the year 2015:

1.  What did you do this year that you had never done before?
2.  What was the smartest decision you made this year?
3.  What was the biggest risk you took?
4.  What new things did you discover about yourself?
5.  What are you most grateful for this past year?
6.  What was your biggest achievement of the year?
7.  What do you wish you had done more of?
8.  What do you wish you had done less of?
Happy Year End & Happy New Year from Donna. 

Yakima Valley Gen Society News Flash

by Charles Hansen

If you need yet another good reason to visit the stupendous genealogy library housed in the Yakima Valley Genealogical Society headquarters building, here it is!  Better make travel reservations at a local hotel for one day in this library (just like potato chips) is not nearly enough!

YVGS

Union Gap, WA. – The Yakima Valley Genealogical Society has recently been donated the Vernie Smith Bennett Collection, a major and significant collection of genealogical research material, by a benefactor in Texas. The collection consists of approximately 670 bound volumes of genealogical books and records. The donated material mainly covers the southern states (Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, North Carolina and Texas) but does include some books with records from the northern states. This is a major addition to the existing collection which already consists of over 18,000 bound volumes on the shelf, 6,000 microfilm and 6,000 microfiche. The Yakima Valley Genealogical Society operates a library in Union Gap, Washington. It is one of the largest genealogical libraries in the Pacific Northwest and is open to the public free of charge 6 days a week. For the catalogue of the society holdings, the library address and it’s hours of operation you can go to their website at yvgs.net.

Thank-you,
Susan J. Boatright, Publicity Chairperson, YVGS

Eastside Genealogical Society January Meeting

by Charles Hansen

EGS

 

The Eastside Genealogical Society will meet on Thursday, January 14, 2016 in the Bellevue Regional Library, Room 1, 1111 – 110th Ave NE, Bellevue 98004 at 7pm, with doors opening at 6:30 pm for networking.

Topic:  Darcy Brixey, Bellevue librarian, will present “Genealogy Gems from your Public Library”.  Come learn about the latest sources of research help in the Library, updates to the genealogy databases and how to use World Cat to find those limited edition family books. She will also demo the KCLS catalog and options within Bibliocommons.

Visitors are always welcome at our meetings.

 

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.

 

Thank you,

Dorothy Pretare

EGS Publicity Chairperson

dpgen@comcast.net

 

 

 

 

 

 

Genealogical Forum of Oregon Wishes you Merry Christmas

by Charles Hansen

Merry Christmas
The Genealogical Forum of Oregon would like to extend our warmest wishes to all our members, patrons and supporters for a safe and lovely Christmas holiday.

GFO’s Research Library will close at 5 p.m. today, December 23rd, and will be closed again from 1 p.m. on Thursday, December 24th, until 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, December 26th.

We will also be observing the world’s most recent revolution around the sun the last week of this month. In other words, the Library will be closed from 1 p.m. on Thursday, December 31st, until 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, January 2nd.

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Margie Beldin Named Outstanding Volunteer in 2015

by Roxanne Lowe

Since 2003, the Washington State Genealogical Society has recognized more than 450 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 2015 award recipients and learn why they received the 2015 WSGS Outstanding Volunteer and Team Award.

Today we’re introducing Margie Beldin of Richland, Washington, who was nominated by the Tri-City Genealogical Society (TCGS). She was recognized for her dedicated, enthusiastic efforts to educate members of her local Society.

Margie Beldin

Margie Beldin

Ms. Beldin has distinguished herself in untiring support of the TCGS as its Education Chair for many years. In that position, Ms. Beldin has made many classes on a wide variety of subjects available to the membership. Ms. Beldin has not only coordinated setting up classes and programs, she has taught numerous classes herself, as she actively increased her knowledge and capability through attendance at genealogical conferences and classes outside the TCGS. She is always willing to share the knowledge that she gets from these events.

Ms. Beldin is a valued and hard-working member of the TCGS, and illustrates that she richly deserved being a recipient of a 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, Recognition Chair, at Roxanne@thekeeffes.com.

Big Kudu for Washington from Genealogy’s Star James Tanner

by Charles Hansen

In case you missed this…………………

The Genealogical State of the States

Posted: 21 Nov 2015 06:24 AM PST

There is no real second place in the list of the genealogically valuable U.S. state websites. The Washington State Digital Archives wins hands down, no contest. Unfortunately, although there are some other notable collections, most of the states have a miserable level of digital offerings. Currently, the State of Washington has preserved 165,412,383 records and made 64,505,776 records available as of November, 2015. They have also added 2,638,172 records in the past month. At the other end of the spectrum, most of the states make no attempt to systematically digitize their records and what they have preserved online is usually in a “Memory Project.”

Jefferson County Gen Society News Flash

by Charles Hansen

images

 

JEFFERSON COUNTY GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY

PO Box 627

Port Townsend, WA 98368

 

Contact for this press release:  Judy Tough  385-3065 or tough@olympus.net

 

FOR RELEASE

INTERESTED IN GENEALOGY?  START THE NEW YEAR OFF RIGHT!

 

Jefferson County Genealogical Society (JCGS) invites the public to a special three-fold Seminar comprised of two professional one-and-a-half hour presentations, and a genealogy publications sale on Saturday, January 16, from 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Tri-Area Community Center located across the street from the Chimicum School campus, Bring your own lunch and $10 donation.

Master genealogist, Mary Kathryn Kozy, will make the two presentations. Her topics will cover: “Family Tree” and “Wiki and Unique Books to Peruse” all of which are found on the important, free, genealogy website Family Search. Mary Kathryn has been doing her own genealogy for over 35 years. That work has taken her geographically from the Midwest to the Deep South and to both Western and Eastern Europe. Mary Kathryn has served in multiple positions in several Seattle area genealogical societies as well as on the state level. She is the past-president of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State and has completed her second Bachelor’s Degree in Information Technology and Systems.

Mary KKozy

In addition, Heritage Quest booksellers will have a large display of books for genealogists that are helpful no matter what level of expertise you have. More information is available on <wajcgs.org>