City Directory Don’ts…. from St.Louis, MO, 1936

by Charles Hansen

Below is something I found in a 1936 St. Louis, Missouri, City Directory. I was browsing through this directory online at Ancestry and spotted this page and just had  to share it with all my genealogy friends:

City Directory Don’ts

DON’T put your Directory in an out-of-the-way place, but keep it where

your customers can see and use it without stopping some one to find it.

DON’T think that a Directory is paying for itself unless you use it any more

than an idle clerk can make you money.

DON’T look mad when a customer asks to look at your Directory.

DON’T look happy when a neighbor wants to borrow your Directory,

for if you do, he will borrow it again, and if all were borrowers,

when would the next Directory be published?

DON’T forget that an up-to-date city must have a Directory;

and a merchant that has no Directory is what?

DON’T forget that a Directory borrower today will forget to return it

tomorrow and you will call him what?

DON’T forget that the man who has a Directory pays for it and the borrower

gets for nothing what another man pays for. What do you call him?

We think of a City Directory as a past-tense resource. But to the merchants and civil servants of the day it was a valuable day-to-day “now” resource………. and one that was obtained only by paying a fee. 

Victoria Genealogical Society October Seminar

by Charles Hansen

The Victoria Genealogical Society is proud to report that our 2015 Annual Seminar Program is now finalized for October 24th at Victoria, BC, CAN.

We have an impressive lineup of speakers to address this year’s theme, “Creating Connections Through DNA: Genetic Genealogy in the Digital Age“.  More info at http://www.victoriags.org/seminar.php

I wanted to let you know with the hope that you would pass this information to your members and followers. Some may like the idea of combining a visit to Victoria with genealogy……a great little get-a-way.

Whitman County Gen Society Newsflash

by Charles Hansen

The dedicated-but-small membership of the Whitman County Genealogical Society in Pullman, WA, just went on their annual “picnic.” This is really an annual outing and since I am a member I joined them this time. The group rendezvoused in Pullman early on a Friday morning and drove the 90 minutes southeast to the town of Pomeroy and a great lunch at the being-restored Pataha Flour Mill. Here are Mary, Janet, Marge and Luke at the entrance…. old vintage “stuff” was everywhere! (Monica and Don not shown.)

P1120148 (640x480)

 

P1120157 (480x640)

 

Continue reading →

Tip of the Week FGS Webinars

by Charles Hansen

FGS is restarting their Webinar Series again and the first one will be how to keep your Volunteers Happy, Helpful and Engaged. This one will be on June 23, 2015 at 8 p.m. Eastern and then will be available for 30 days and then moved to the member only site. For More Information go here .

Seattle Genealogical Society Bonus Tip of the Week

by Charles Hansen
BONUS TIP OF THE WEEK –
MOCAVO NOW PROVIDES ALL U.S. CENSUS INDEXES AND IMAGES FOR FREE
Mocavo recently announced that the indexes and images for all United States Federal Censuses are now available for free to everyone on their web site.  See their full announcement at http://blog.mocavo.com/2015/05/u-s-federal-census-images-viewer-now-free-for-everyone for details.

Seattle Genealogical Society Tip of the Week

by Charles Hansen
TIP OF THE WEEK – FIFTEEN FREE WEBINARS FOR BEGINNING AND INTERMEDIATE GENEALOGISTS
The Family History Library and the Research Specialists of the United States and Canada Reference team are offering a free, never before offered, week-long seminar in October of 2015 in Salt Lake City. The focus will be exclusively U.S. research. The sessions will be ideal for beginning and intermediate genealogists interested in learning about U.S. records, FamilySearch resources, and Family History Library collections.  The seminar is now full for anyone wishing to attend in person. However, fifteen of the thirty classes will be broadcast via webinar. For more information please see the following: https://familysearch.org/blog/en/united-states-research-seminarTo attend one or more of these webinars, just click on their links below to attend.
ALL TIMES LISTED BELOW ARE MOUNTAIN DAYLIGHT TIME; SUBTRACT ONE HOUR FOR PACIFIC DAYLIGHT TIME.  You can join the webinar up to 30 minutes prior to each start time; just go to the link below, and click on JOIN.

12 October, Monday:

13 October, Tuesday:
14 October, Wednesday:
15 October, Thursday:
16 October, Friday:

 

Seattle Genealogical Society Upcoming Events

by Charles Hansen

 

SGS NEEDS VOLUNTEERS at the 2015 PACIFIC NORTHWEST SCOTTISH HIGHLAND GAMES
Saturday, July 25 & Sunday, July 26, 2015
Enumclaw Expo Center
COME LISTEN TO THE BAGPIPES – WATCH THE DANCERS – VISIT THE CLANS – AND HELP SGS PROMOTE GENEALOGY


We need volunteers to help at the Seattle Genealogical Society and Library booth during the Pacific Northwest Scottish Highland Games in Enumclaw next month. We have been participating for many years and it is a great way to let the public know about SGS and to promote membership. Our participation also gives us valuable community outreach credit for our grant applications with 4Culture. which has resulted in thousands of dollars for our equipment and projects. Game attendance is about 30,000 for the weekend. Most of the people who come to the SGS booth don’t have an understanding of their Scottish or Irish heritage and have not done any research. They primarily want to know two things:

1. “What clan do I belong to?”
2. “What tartan can I use?”

We will have a number of reference books available at the booth that help answer those questions. If you decide to help us that weekend – you will receive an e-mail attachment prior to the games that will give you a refresher course on Scottish and Celtic genealogy. There will also be a handout about SGS and other information. Highland Games material, maps and instructions will be sent out about 10 days before the games after we receive confirmation of our location and tickets.

Volunteers will cover a 2-hour shift each day.
We will supply you with a free ticket for the games. This will entitle you to enjoy the rest of the day at the Games. Parking will be at your own expense at $5.00 per day. We encourage carpooling.

Contact JEAN A. ROTH, SGS Director of Education at (206) 782-2629 or jeanaroth@juno.com by June 25, as I have to pre-order tickets to get SGS the best rate.  Please provide your name, email, phone contact, and if you are over 62 (to get Senior discount).

SGS CALENDAR OF EVENTS


All programs are at the SGS Library at 6200 Sand Point Way unless otherwise indicated. Please Check the SGS Web Site for additions, changes, and corrections. Programs may be postponed.

Sunday, June 21  FATHERS DAY – SGS Closed

Saturday, June 27, 10:00 am – 12:30 pm,
SGS DNA Interest Group   
Location change for this meeting only – Seattle Genealogical Society Library – 6200 Sand Point Way NE.  This meeting will review new discoveries in DNA testing and focus on learning to analyze your autosomal DNA testing results.  To be added to our email list, contact sgsdnasig@gmail.com

Saturday, June 27, 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm
ETHNIC SERIES: SCOTTISH and SCOTS-IRISH WORKSHOP
Leader: Patricia Younie, Clan coordinator and historian will discuss researching these two different groups from Scotland and Ireland that were important early settlers in North America.

JULY


Saturday July 4 and Sunday, July 5     SGS Closed for Holiday

Wednesday, July 8, 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm.
BRICK WALL PROBLEM SOLVING
DATE CHANGE – SEE JULY 22, BELOW

 Wednesday, July 15, 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm
PROGRAM MEETING: “ROUTES to OUR ROOTS”: EXPANSION WESTWARD FROM THE ATLANTIC
Our “Manifest Destiny” with Trails, Timelines, and Transportation. We’ll discuss North America’s major migration patterns and regional history.
Speaker: Jean A. Roth , SGS Director of Education

Saturday, July 18, 1:30 pm – 4:00 pm
BEGINNING GENEALOGY CLASS
An overview of basic genealogy techniques and resources. Advance registration requested – email SGSVicePresident@gmail.com.
Instructor: Janice Lovelace, SGS Vice President

Wednesday, July 22, 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm.
BRICK WALL PROBLEM SOLVING
Join SGS members for a problem-solving session.  This is an open forum format.
Leader: Jean A. Roth

Saturday, July 25 and Sunday, July 26
SCOTTISH HIGHLAND GAMES – Enumclaw.
SGS will have a booth and offer genealogical help. We need volunteers for both days and for two hour sessions. You will be provided with a ticket for the games.  Please contact Jean Roth at jeanaroth@juno.com or (206) 782-2629

Sunday, July 26, 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm      PROGRAM: “INSANITY IN THE 19th CENTURY: ONE FAMILY’S STORY”, Speaker: Jill Morelli.
We are told as children, “Shhh, don’t talk about Aunt Jane.” As genealogists, we may find that she was in an insane asylum or mental health hospital (depending on the era of the confinement). Explore the history of institutionalization and treatment of the insane from Bedlam to the 20th century with an in-depth look at the life of one man confined in Illinois in the 19th century. Records publically available will be compared with those accessible through the courts.

 

 

Printing A Booklet

by Charles Hansen

Printing the Membership Booklet

A while back Eastern Washington Genealogical Society decided due to cost of postage and printing to stop printing and mailing the membership list to our members. The membership list is on the society website and our webmaster set it up so you could download a PDF file of the membership list if you wanted a copy on your own computer, so I downloaded a copy for me. It was 22 pages long and included a nice cover page and the society by-laws just like the old copies we used to receive by mail.

Since it was a PDF file I went to Adobe Reader to look at the file, and since I wanted a hard copy for a project I was doing I wanted to print a copy. When I went to the print box up came a list of ways to print the file, and one said print a booklet, so I hit that one and the printer started printing. What surprised me was it printed half size, so two pages on each sheet, and then it turned over the paper and printed on the back of the same sheet of paper. Out came 6 pages all in order and when folded in half I had the whole 22 pages printed.

Now I had bought a new printer a Brother all in in one, and it had duplex printing. I did not have a clue what that meant until I found out it will print on both sides of a sheet of paper which is a big paper saver. I also have an older Kodak printer and I did not know it had duplex printing also, but it does and will print booklets also. So do you have a duplex printer? Have you printed a booklet?

Help Reuniting Photo Album To Family????

by Charles Hansen
Skagit Valley Genealogical Society Seeks the Community’s Help in Finding an Orphaned Photo Album Its Loving Family

 MOUNT VERNON — The Skagit Valley Genealogical Society (SVGS) is seeking the community’s help in locating an orphaned photograph album’s loving family. The photograph album (see sample photographs below) contains personal family pictures circa the 1860s. Recently, the album was discarded and left in a box of used books donated to the Burlington Public Library. The reference librarian discovered the antique leather bound album and in-turn donated it to the Skagit Valley Genealogical Society, knowing that SVGS would value its contents and endeavor to find the best care-taker for the album.

“There are many reasons why this treasured family heirloom was originally discarded. Perhaps the owner is now deceased and left no surviving heirs? Perhaps an inheriting family member  could care less about family history? That part of the mystery may never be resolved. What is important now to SVGS, as family historians, is that such a valuable source of family history be re-united with a family member that truly will cherish it, not for its potential monetary value on eBay, but as a prized family heirloom to pass along to future generations. As hard it is for genealogist to imagine, not everyone is interested in family history. Believe it or not, old photographs and antiques are often viewed as just burdensome “old things.”  But, fortunately there is a growing counter-trend cross the country.  More and more genealogy societies and individual family historians are volunteering to help relocate abandoned or unwanted family heirlooms so they are reunited with appreciative and caring family members,” said Margie Wilson, SVGS Genealogy Librarian.

The names captioned with the photographs include:  Grandpa Robert Scott, Grandmother Marinda Scott, Grandpa James Dulin (no photograph), Grandmother Almira Dulin (no photograph), Two un-named Union Army Soldiers with full beards, Laura Dulin-Shipp, Kate Dulin-Hoefer, Maria Louisa Dulin-Zuggler, Scott Dulin, Dennis James Dulin, Cousin Allie Dulin, Uncle Edgar Scott, Uncle Franklin Scott, Aunty Mary Scott, Uncle Newton Scott, Cousin Edgar Scott, Aunt Emma Scott-Preston, Uncle Eleazer Dulin, Aunt Elizabeth Dulin-Condron, Aunt Eliza Scott-Poage, Grandson of Marinda Scott, Mother – Lydia Maria Scott-Dulin, Uncle Alfred Dulin, Cousin Grace Poage (no photograph), Cousin Edna Schwartz, Frank Hubert Shipp, Uncle Lucian’s Children, Nellie McKinney, Eralza Bennett – Maria Scott’s cousin, son of Eveline Earl Bennett, Erastus Bennett, Maria Scott’s cousin, Charles Dewey, Aunt Rosetta Scott-McKinstry, Uncle Lucian Scott, Uncle Alfred Scott, Uncle Newton Scott and wife Amy, Uncle Lucian Scott, Aunt Emma Scott-Preston, Aunt Clara Dulin Schwartz.  Photographer studios mentioned are S.D. Loveridge’s Photographic Rooms Newton, Iowa; Brandt Studios, Avoca, Iowa; E. Slade Photographer, Avoca, Iowa; W.H. Scribner Photographer, Newton, Iowa;

If you recognize any of the individuals, either by name or from the sample photographs please contact genealogy0715@gmail.com or leave a message on SVGS’ blog: skagitvalleygenealogy.org. If you wish to look at the photo album in person please email Margie Wilson at rootsproject@frontier.com to make possible arrangements. The potential recipients of the album will be interviewed by SVGS board members to ascertain that the new owner’s intentions are to be the long-term family custodians of this beautiful antique family heirloom and not to sell it or abandon this orphaned relic of family history once again.

Sample photographs from the album:

Two un-named Union Army Soldiers, possibly Dulin family members.

Photographs captions left page: Uncle Lucian Scott; right page: Aunt Emma Scott-Preston

Photograph caption left page: Grandpa Robert Scott; Right page: Grandmother Marinda Scott

*** CONTACT THE SOCIETY TO SEE THESE (AND MORE) PICTURES.