Tacoma Pierce County Genealogical Society Legacy Family Tree SIG Legacy 9 Unlocked

by Charles Hansen

Tacoma-Pierce County Genealogical Society Legacy Family Tree SIG Meeting
Tuesday, January 7, 2025, from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm virtual via Zoom

This month we will continue reviewing the free Legacy Family Tree software videos hosted by Geoff Rasmussen. Our next video in this series will be “Legacy 9 Unlocked (part 2): Adding an Online Document” it is a longer video so we will be breaking it up and watching the first half Jan 7 and finishing it next month on Feb 4. Even though Legacy 10 was just released in Jun 2024, almost all the features shown in this video are still in the current program.  If you are thinking about trying Legacy or are currently using it, this video can teach or remind you how to properly use the software and be successful with your research. If you have any suggestions for future topics, please send them in.

Meeting Invite with Links in file attached below:

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Let’s Talk About: Live, Learn & Pass It On

by Donna Phillips

That’s the title of a wonderfully inspirational little book. As the final blog for 2024, may I share some “good stuff?”

I’ve learned that having a baby doesn’t solve marital problems.

I’ve learned that the best thing about growing older is that now I don’t feel the need to impress anyone.

I’ve learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.

I’ve learned that anger manages everything poorly.

I’ve learned that there is no substitute for good manners

I’ve learned that it’s better not to wait for a crisis to discover what’s important in life.

I’ve learned that it’s easier to stay out of trouble than to get out of trouble.

I’ve learned that days are long but life is short.

I’ve learned that successful living is like playing a violin…it must be practiced daily. 

That’s the title of a wonderfully inspirational little book. As the final blog for 2024, may I share some “good stuff?”

I’ve learned that having a baby doesn’t solve marital problems.

I’ve learned that the best thing about growing older is that now I don’t feel the need to impress anyone.

I’ve learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.

I’ve learned that anger manages everything poorly.

I’ve learned that there is no substitute for good manners

I’ve learned that it’s better not to 

I’ve learned that young people need old people’s love, respect and knowledge of life, and that old people need the love, respect and strength of young people.

I’ve learned that an expensive new blouse is always a spaghetti sauce magnet. 

And finally,

I’ve learned that if you smile at people, they almost always will smile back. 

Happy New Year to all my friends!!!

Donna

Heritage Quest Research Library New Year Presentations

by Charles Hansen
Welcome in the New Year with a presentation about German Genealogy
Over 40 million Americans have German ancestors, comprising 10 to 15% of the population and forming the largest single ethnic group in the U.S. When researching your German American family history, you will inevitably reach the point where your ancestors crossed the Atlantic. Many people stop when they get to this stage, unsure how to continue researching in Europe.  However, this is not where your journey has to end. We will show you how to continue tracing your family’s history using German sources, enabling you to track your lineage one or two centuries further back. Our presentation is designed as a starting point for researching your German ancestors and provides an overview of German genealogy.  We begin with a brief history of German immigration to the US, covering routes, numbers and time frames.  Following that, I will guide you through the various sources available in Germany, both primary and secondary, demonstrating how to access and utilize them effectively. This includes passenger lists, censuses, church records, administrative documents, personal registers, and more. One of the most challenging aspects of German American genealogy is pinpointing the exact hometown in Germany from which your ancestor emigrated.  We will share strategies to help you overcome this hurdle, even when American records lack this crucial information. Additionally, I am happy to answer any questions you may have after the presentation. Till Fehmer  Co-founder Fehmer Genealogy (2024)
Research Assistant for Professor Andrew Moravcsik at Princeton University (2021-2022)
MSc “European and International Public Policy” at the London School of Economics (LSE) (2020-2021)
Trainee at the European Commission (2022- 2023)  When: Thursday January 2, 2025

Time:   11:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Where: ZOOM & limited in-person (8)

Cost:   $20 members,
            $25 non-members,  Sign-up and Payment:
ZOOM
Go to HQRL Store at hqrl.com (sign in as a member to get the discount)
In-Person (8 only):
Call: 253-863-1806 or
Come into the library at
2102 E Main Ave. Ste 105
Puyallup, WA 98372 HAVE YOU HEARD?

Dear MYRTLE will be joining us on January 16, 2025, to guide us through the “7 – Habits of Highly Effective Genealogists.”
Mark your calendars and get your research ready to tackle the common pitfalls every genealogist encounters. 

More coming soon!
Copyright © 2024 Heritage Quest Research Library, All rights reserved.
You have told us that you want to receive our news and updates from our library.

Our mailing address is:
Heritage Quest Research Library
2102 East Main Suite 105
Puyallup, WA98372-3205

Let’s Talk About: Remembering Christmas Stories

by Donna Phillips


Today I’d like to ask YOU, dear readers, to share your Christmas memories or stories. What was The Best gift you ever received? What year did you so-want something that you didn’t get? I do invite (and beg!) you to share your memories with me, Donna243@gmail.com.
I’ll start with mine.  The year was 1950, the place Fairfield, California, next to Travis Air Force Base where my dad was stationed. I recall being SO EXCITED to be invited to go with Mom and her friend on the train to Sacramento to go Christmas shopping in a big department store. Oh the joy!
I picked out Daisy……… life-size, soft-fleshed with curly red hair. Oh, she was wonderful. I was in heaven all the train ride home. I knew I’d not see her again until Christmas but that was not for lack of trying! Whenever the opportunity arose, I’d look into every closet, drawer and box but to no avail. Where was she?????
Christmas Day, there she was! In a white bassinette and with plenty of real baby clothes!  (My brother was born in Aug 1950…this had been his bed and some of his clothes.) So where had she been? My parents, knowing their daughter well, had secreted her in the neighbor’s shed!!! 
Here she is today in an outfit that was my daughter’s in 1963…

I have one granddaughter and six great-granddaughters. Who will love her next??????

Italian Interest Group of the Eastside Genealogical Society Multiple Lies and an Alias: Solving the Mystery

by Charles Hansen

Multiple Lies and an Alias:
Solving the Mystery of One Italian Immigrant
A search for any information on the biological father of an 83-year-old Italian man yields unexpected twists and turns. Leveraging a wide variety of records sets – some more obscure than others – this case study of an Italian immigrant in New York in the 1920s reveals many conflicts, scandal, and lies. It’s a case study about how documentary records, DNA, and oral tradition solved the mystery of this elusive man.
                          ZOOM Meeting When:           18-Jan-2025, Saturday
Time:             1:30 PM (PDT) Presenter:     Kerri Tannenbaum
Kerri Tannenbaum Kerri Tannenbaum is a professional genealogist and researcher who works with people looking to learn more about their family history. She specializes in New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Irish research. Kerri is a graduate of Boston University’s Certificate Program in Genealogical Research and the ProGen Peer Study Groups. She serves as contributing editor of the Irish Family History Forum newsletter, a recipient of many awards from the National Genealogical Society. She also serves as a guest lecturer and research consultant for several genealogy societies. Kerri founded her company Family Dot Connector LLC in 2018 and has served hundreds of clients since then. She lives on Long Island in New York with her husband and two daughters.
If you aren’t an active member, you must request meeting access. Below is the link to request a meeting invitation. Please send me an invitation link
COUNTDOWN TO THE MEETING:
Days Hours Minutes Seconds
Eastside Genealogical Society
– Italian Interest Group P.O. Box 374
Bellevue, WA 98009-0374

Tri-City Genealigical Society After You’re Gone Future Proofing Your Genealogy Research

by Charles Hansen

  Please join us for Tri-City Genealogical Society’s January General meeting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, January 8.  The presentation will be at the Richland FamilySearch Center located at 1314A Goethals Dr.  Entrance is down the ramp from the parking lot that is to the north of Dairy Queen.  The presentation will also be on Zoom so you can join in from the comfort of your own home.  See below for the Zoom link.

  The January presentation will be by Thomas MacEntee.  Thomas is a professional genealogist specializing in the use of technology and social media to improve genealogical research and as a means of interacting with others in the family history community.  A handout will be available upon request.

  The subject of the talk will be After You’re Gone: Future Proofing Your Genealogy Research

 Have you ever considered what will happen to your years of genealogy research once you’re gone? Learn how to ensure that your hard work carries on.  Through a combination of planning, common sense, and new technologies, we’ll review how to create an action plan for preserving your genealogy research.  Topics include

●       The Perils of Inaction: Lost Genealogy

●       Basic Planning and Data Successor ship

●       Working with Societies, Libraries and Archives

●       Technology to the Rescue

●       Best Practices for Genealogy Future Proofing

●       Resource List

  Thank you to everyone who has already joined TCGS for 2025.  For those who would like to join, the online application can be found at https://tricitygenealogicalsociety.org/q/join/join_renew/ and a printable application can be found at https://tricitygenealogicalsociety.org/q/wp-content/uploads/2023TCGSBrochure.pdf .

Time: Jan 8, 2025 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

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Passcode: 796386

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Happy New Year

by Charles Hansen

The back of this postcard just has the Address: Mrs. A. M. Hansen; Box 195; Sebeka, Minn. This was the address of Anton M. Hansen, my grandfather and his wife Anna (Dillingham) Hansen and their 4 children, my dad the youngest, till sometime in 1910 when they moved to Columbus Montana. Anna’s aunt was living in Columbus so I think that is why they moved to Montana.

Heritage Quest Research Library New Year German Genealogy Presentation

by Charles Hansen
Welcome in the New Year with a presentation about German Genealogy Over 40 million Americans have German ancestors, comprising 10 to 15% of the population and forming the largest single ethnic group in the U.S. When researching your German American family history, you will inevitably reach the point where your ancestors crossed the Atlantic. Many people stop when they get to this stage, unsure how to continue researching in Europe.  However, this is not where your journey has to end. We will show you how to continue tracing your family’s history using German sources, enabling you to track your lineage one or two centuries further back. Our presentation is designed as a starting point for researching your German ancestors and provides an overview of German genealogy.  We begin with a brief history of German immigration to the US, covering routes, numbers and time frames.  Following that, I will guide you through the various sources available in Germany, both primary and secondary, demonstrating how to access and utilize them effectively. This includes passenger lists, censuses, church records, administrative documents, personal registers, and more. One of the most challenging aspects of German American genealogy is pinpointing the exact hometown in Germany from which your ancestor emigrated.  We will share strategies to help you overcome this hurdle, even when American records lack this crucial information. Additionally, I am happy to answer any questions you may have after the presentation. Till Fehmer  Co-founder Fehmer Genealogy (2024)
Research Assistant for Professor Andrew Moravcsik at Princeton University (2021-2022)
MSc “European and International Public Policy” at the London School of Economics (LSE) (2020-2021)
Trainee at the European Commission (2022- 2023)  When: Thursday January 2, 2025

Time:   11:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Where: ZOOM & limited in-person (8)

Cost:   $20 members,
            $25 non-members,  Sign-up and Payment:
ZOOM
Go to HQRL Store at hqrl.com (sign in as a member to get the discount)
In-Person (8 only):
Call: 253-863-1806 or
Come into the library at
2102 E Main Ave. Ste 105
Puyallup, WA 98372
Copyright © 2024 Heritage Quest Research Library, All rights reserved.
You have told us that you want to receive our news and updates from our library.

Our mailing address is:
Heritage Quest Research Library
2102 East Main Suite 105
Puyallup, WA98372-3205

Let’s Talk About: Snoqualmie

by Donna Phillips

 First off, it’s Sno-qualmie’  not Sno-qual-A-mee. How often have we said it incorrectly?

While my family has lived in Spokane since 1955, and over those years have made hundreds of trips over Snoqualmie Pass, we never got to experience it as it was in those first early days. (Thank goodness.) But in all the years since 1955, I cannot recall one trip where there was NOT road construction. Can you???

In the beginning, the only way the first Oregon Trail wagons could get through the Cascades was via the Columbia River. The clamor for a road across the Cascades became increasingly persistent. Washington’s first governor, Isaac Stevens, back in 1853 was convinced that an old Indian trail over Snoqualmie Pass was the most feasible route. But nothing was immediately done due to Indian hostilities and lack of funds. In 1861, Congress voted $75,000 for a road but then the Civil War broke out and the funds were diverted. 

Tillman Houser was the first to get a wagon over the narrow winding trail through stands of giant Douglas Fir. In 1868 he left Tacoma in a wagon loaded with cargo, wife and 3 children and headed east. “After much exasperating toil…..” the family reached Snoqualmie summit. Once over the summit they built a raft, loaded the wagon onto it, and poled the 3 mile long Lake Keechelus “to more favorable slopes at its outlet.” The Houser family reached Ellensburg “only” after 3 weeks of travel, staked a homestead and stayed put. (Small wonder.)

The 1909 Seattle-Pacific-Yukon Exposition in Seattle created a big demand for road improvements as tourists flocked west. Finally in May 1915, a real road over the summit became a reality. It still took nearly a day to travel the short distance between Ellensburg and Seattle. But the primitive condition of both the road bed and the vehicles barely slowed the progress of east-west or west-east travel. 

If you’d care to read more, I recommend The Pacific Northwesterner, Vol. 21, Summer 1977, article by John Prentiss Thomson. 

We are now so blessed to have the WDOT live camera on the pass so we know to the minute what conditions are………… on the multi-lane paved highway. The only rocks being in sight are uphill!

Let’s Talk About: Galloping Gertie

by Donna Phillips

Still speaking of bridges (from last week), the demise on November 7,  1940, of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge was a “spectacular” collapse. Likely few of us were witness to this event but via the TV news we knew.

Construction began in September 1938. So the bridge was only four months old but from the time the deck was built, it began to move vertically in windy conditions and workers nicknamed it Galloping Gertie. Remedial efforts were made but to no avail. 

The bridge’s main span finally collapsed in the 40-MPH winds on that morning, as “the deck oscillated in an alternating twisting motion and gradually increased in amplitude until the deck tore apart.” 

The only fatality was a cocker spaniel named Tubby but people trying to rescue the dog or flee the bridge did sustain injuries.

Efforts to replace the bridge were delayed by U.S. involvement in World War II as well as engineering and finance issues. But in 1950, a new Tacoma Narrows Bridge opened in the same location. 

Why did Gertie Gallop? “Because planners expected fairly light traffic, the bridge was designed with two lanes and was only 39 feet wide. This was quite narrow, especially in comparison with its length of nearly 6000-feet (the third-longest suspension bridge in the world at the time).” The roadway plate girders were also shallow, another detrimental factor.

You can watch on YouTube a newsreel taken on the day of the collapse. It is a sobering sight. 

Source: Wikipedia