The Eastside Genealogical Society will meet on Thursday, April 12, 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: A panel of experienced researchers will help people break down their family research brick walls. Come learn their tips.
See our website for FREE genealogical help and other Special Interest Group meetings. Visitors are always welcome at all meetings. More Information click here
The German Interest Group of The Eastside Genealogical Society (EGS) will meet on Friday, April 6, 2018, from 1 to 3 pm in the Relief Society Room of the LDS Church at 10675 NE 20thSt, Bellevue, WA 98004 with doors opening at 12:45 pm for networking. Visitors are always welcome at our meetings.
Topic: “A travelogue through ancestral German homelands, with a little side trip into World War II France”
Join Jon and Marilyn Schunke as they travel through Germany discovering the origins of Jon Schunke’s paternal immigrant ancestors – Schunke in Sachen-Anhalt, and Himmelsbach and Stumpf in Bavaria. Along the way, you’ll see how using information at home led them to the correct research facilities in Germany to search for birth records and land locations.
Their study of maps, current and historical, was critical in finding the right locations…and oh the benefits of visiting the local Landeshaupt. Is it Bobbe and Wulfen or Bobbau and Wolfin? It makes a difference of 25 miles.
Discover why you should “like” Facebook pages and join Facebook groups. This led to learning about the recent discovery of the German origins of Jon’s maternal “Volga German” or “Germans from Russia” ancestors. The Conrad and Anna Margaretha “Reuswig” family emigrated to Norka, Russia, on the Volga River in 1766. See a “Pleve Chart” which shows their descendants down to the three generations of their “Reispich” descendants who immigrated to America in 1878. Jon’s “Reisbick” grandparents migrated to Portland, Oregon, by 1901. Prime example of why you can’t say spellings of names don’t change over time.
And finally, they’ll take a look at Marilyn’s most recent ancestor, her father, who landed on Omaha Beach 13 days after D-Day. They’ll journey through Normandy and along the Brittany coast. While retracing her dad’s footsteps, they discovered firsthand how the French have not forgotten the American servicemen.
Presenter: Marilyn A. Schunke has been researching her family for 20 years. She is a graduate of the University of Washington’s Genealogy and Family History Certificate Program. She is currently a member of the New York Genealogical Society, Washington State Genealogical Society, Eastside Genealogical Society (EGS), as well as South King County Genealogical Society (SKCGS). She has supported genealogy education in Puget Sound as Education Coordinator at Heritage Quest Research Library for several years and presenter of a Microsoft Windows 10 class. Marilyn is currently serving as co-leader of the EGS Legacy Special Interest and on the SKCGS Board as circulating librarian.
For more information, kindly visit our website
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.
German Interest Group
The German Interest Group of The Eastside Genealogical Society (EGS) will meet on Friday, March 2, 2018, from 1 to 3 pm in the Relief Society Room of the LDS Church at 10675 NE 20thSt, Bellevue, WA 98004 with doors opening at 12:45 pm for networking. Visitors are always welcome at our meetings.
Topic: Ken Passe’s Updated Windmill Story – While the story was the result of his research and travel up to that time, the larger family story has been updated and enhanced through use of new tools, technologies, information availability and some good luck. Ken will describe the various processes that he has used to expand his family tree, with the hope that GIG members might find some of the steps helpful for their own research.
Speaker: Ken Passé has been doing genealogy research for more than 20 years and has been fortunate to have visited his ancestral village in Germany several times. A self-professed maritime guy/waterfront rat, he has extended his research to touch upon shipboard travel from Europe to America.
For more information, kindly visit our website .
The Eastside Genealogical Society will meet on Thursday, February 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: “What I Wish I Had Known . . .” – This session is an interactive exchange of ideas, experience and recommendations by society members. The audience will share their experiences and lessons learned in researching their ancestors, citing their sources, the importance of locating original documentation, the confusion with multiple marriages, the importance of location, the need for continuous learning, researching extended family, the importance of law, the importance of technology and public or private sharing of our efforts Come learn from experienced genealogists sharing their adventures.
Speaker: Janet O’Conor Camarata is active in the South King County Genealogical Society as Technology User Group leader and publicity chairman and in the Eastside Genealogical Society as presenter and program chairman of the German Interest Group. She is also an instructor in a six-week course in genealogy and technology at Pierce College. She is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists and a graduate of the University of Washington Genealogy and Family History program. She is an experienced instructor who taught at the University of Phoenix and in The Boeing Company.
See our website for FREE genealogical help and other Special Interest Group meetings. Visitors are always welcome at all meetings. Here or here
The German Interest Group of The Eastside Genealogical Society (EGS) will meet on Friday, February 2, 2018, from 1 to 3 pm in the Relief Society Room of the LDS Church at 10675 NE 20thSt, Bellevue, WA 98004 with doors opening at 12:45 pm for networking. Visitors are always welcome at our meetings.
Topic: Learn about a major website used by genealogists in Germany — It has various databases and features but they were all originally written in the German language with a few English language options. There’s Historic Geo Information, some Local Heritage Books, Regional Portals, Meta search, User Contributed Family Trees, and much more. Come learn about this exciting website and the easiest ways to translate the German language on those web pages.
Speaker: Dorothy Pretare started collecting family history in 1995 and is active in 2 local genealogical societies, leader of the EGS German Interest Group and a member of 2 societies in Minnesota. In 2008, she visited her ancestral villages in old East Germany and present day Poland.
For more information, kindly visit our website here.
The Eastside Genealogical Society will meet on Thursday, January 11, 2018 in the Emerald Heights Retirement Community (Emerald Room) at 10901 176th Circle NE, Redmond, WA 98052 at 7 pm, with doors opening at 6:30 pm for networking. (See our website for Driving Instructions.)
Topic: Catching Your Ancestors in the Act, Using Newspapers to Track Your Ancestors in Time and Place — The daily activities of our ancestors are often captured by the ubiquitous local newspapers, human interest, comedy, tragedy it is all there whether or not our ancestors wanted to appear in print or not. Even better the number of historic newspapers available for research just keeps growing and many are available online for free. We will discuss both free and subscription sites as well as the many state archives and demonstrating the Chronicling America website through my favorite backdoor at Stanford University. Come, learn and have fun!
Speaker: Bob Barnes is a past president of the EGS and currently chairs it education program. He teaches genealogy classes for the King County Library System and has been a genealogy instructor at the Bellevue College Telos Program for a number of years. He also provides genealogy assistance at both at the Bellevue Library and the Bellevue Family History Center.
See our website for Driving Instructions, FREE genealogical help and other Special Interest Group meetings. Visitors are always welcome at all meetings. www.eastsidegenealogicalsociety.com or https://eastsidegenealogicalsociety.com/
The German Interest Group of The Eastside Genealogical Society (EGS) will meet on Friday, January 5, 2018, from 1 to 3 pm in the Relief Society Room of the LDS Church at 10675 NE 20thSt, Bellevue, WA 98004 with doors opening at 12:45 pm for networking. Visitors are always welcome at our meetings.
Topic: Using US Records to Search for an Immigrant Ancestor’s Village – Locating an immigrant ancestor’s village can be challenging. Not all records are online or have the information being sought. Three speakers will share their experiences using US records to find an ancestor’s Old World village. They’ll discuss what they did, where they went and what they found. Strategies and tips offered here can be modified to apply to any immigrant ancestor.
Speaker: Janet O’Conor Camarata, a member of Eastside Genealogical Society and South King County Genealogical Society, has over 25 years of experience in genealogy. She is an instructor in genealogy at Pierce College, a seminar presenter and trainer in genealogy societies across Washington, who takes advantage of the latest technology and staying mobile with the latest computing tools.
Speaker: Dorothy Pretare started collecting family history in 1995 and is active in 2 local genealogical societies, leader of the EGS German Interest Group and a member of 2 societies in Minnesota. In 2008, she visited her ancestral villages in old East Germany and present day Poland.
Speaker: Melanie Matway was fortunate to have learned her immigrant ancestors’ villages first-hand with one exception. The quest for a great-grandmother’s village of origin has taken her to Ohio and Pennsylvania and has been a learning experience utilizing a variety of records and non-familial sources of information.
For more information, kindly visit our website at https://egsgermangroup.wordpress.com/ .
The Eastside Genealogical Society will meet on Thursday, November 9, 2017 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: Adoptions and DNA – Finding Long Lost Family
We will . . .
. review two adoptee’s stories of how we found living biological relatives.
. learn about DNA basics, DNA search tips and understanding DNA testing results.
. learn how to build a DNA Match’s family tree with documented resources only to discover potential relatives.
. learn how to ask questions and find answers using on-line resources that will lead you to discovering your own family tree and finding remaining biological relatives.
There is enough content, technique and intrigue here to interest every family historian.
Speaker: Leslie Edmunds is an expert-level family historian and consultant trainer. She has been developing skills over the last 40 years and enjoys sharing tips and techniques to mine a resource to its fullest potential. She is often heard saying” It’s crazy but true; when I look, I find.” Leslie is known for starting with the vaguest of clues to discover entire family lines for other people. Her regions of expertise include Canada, the US, the UK, Scandinavia, Germany, Luxembourg, Hungary, Slovakia and Northern Europe. Her time periods of expertise include 1940 to present, 1860 to 1940, and 1700 to 1860. Leslie has recently completed projects in compiling surname family units over three centuries in ancestral locations, finding living biological relatives of adoptees, creating biographical stories/timelines from newspapers, creating sourced only family trees, tracing Quaker immigrants, researching civil war participation and using government-sponsored digital archives and demographic databases to hone her skills and develop new resource knowledge. Leslie is all about doing family history on a budget and has an incredible arsenal of free on-line and off-line resources at her finger tips.
Also see our website for FREE genealogical help and other Special Interest Group meetings. Visitors are always welcome at all meetings. www.eastsidegenealogicalsociety.com
The German Interest Group of The Eastside Genealogical Society (EGS) will meet on Friday, November 3, 2017, from 1 to 3 pm in the Relief Society Room of the LDS Church at 10675 NE 20thSt, Bellevue, WA 98004 with doors opening at 12:45 pm for networking. Visitors are always welcome at our meetings.
Topic: Applying for German Naturalization – Carol will share her experience applying for German naturalization, based on Article 116, paragraph 2 of the German Basic Law. This law allows descendants of Germans, who lost their citizenship during the 1933 to 1945 time period, to receive German naturalization. It is also a story of how a person’s birthplace can shape their life and that of their descendants.
Speaker: Carol Shafer is a first generation American on her mother’s side. Currently, she is an English as a Second Language teacher at City University in Seattle and has worked for the government, in the private sector and in education.
For more information, kindly visit our website at https://egsgermangroup.wordpress.com/ .