Sons of Union Veterans of CW Fort Walla Walla Camp 3

Sons of Union Veterans of CW. Fort Walla Walla Camp 3 to hold a quarterly meeting April 26 at Spokane Valley VFW 1435. Public welcome. Program by Mr Stan Wells-CW Flags. Details; at www.suvpnw.org Dept web site under FWW 3 events and info on the meeting. Time 11;30 to 3;00.

Thank you , Don Jameson Past Camp Commander, FWW 3 Cell phone if needed is 509 945 0549

Let’s Talk About: Eggs: Easter & Other


The traditional act of painting eggs is called Pysanka. A pysanka is a Ukrainian Easter egg, decorated using a batik method. Egg dyes were once made out of natural items such as onion peels, tree bark, flower petals and juice. Today we buy pellets! 
Bet you didn’t know that ostrich eggs with engraved decoration that are 60,000 years old have been found in Africa? That the Easter Egg Museum in Poland has over 1500 eggs on display? That the most popular chocolate egg in the world today is the Cadbury’s Creme Egg; if all of these made in a year were piled on top of each other, it would be ten times higher than Mt. Everest! The Annual White House Easter Egg Roll began with President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1878. The term Easter comes from Eastre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess who symbolized the hare and the egg. 

Bet you also didn’t know that the color of a chicken egg shell is primarily determined by the hen’s genetics and the pigments deposited on the shell during its formation, leading to a variety of colors like white, blue, brown and green. And that there are 200 different breeds of chickens? All eggs are the same inside: white and yellow. The egg carton was invented in 1911. 

Have you had your egg today? There are only 78 calories in a large boiled egg. 🙂 

Eastern Washington Genealogical Society Full Text Search

What in the World is “Full Text Search”

(Full-text search is a powerful technique that allows you to find specific information within a large collection of text by analyzing the content of the documents, rather than just matching keywords.)

Join us May 3rd to find out how this “magical” tool can help you!

Date: May 03, 2025

Time: 01:00 PM to 03:00 PM

Location: The Hive – 2904 E Sprague Ave, Spokane, WA 99202 Hybrid-Zoom meeting Doors open at 12:30 p.m.

Pam Duce will be presenting:

“Family Search Full-Text Search: Experimental to Essential”.

Artificial Intelligence has advanced access to handwritten, narrative records like wills, guardianships, and land records. 

Learn how to access and search these records through the FamilySearch Full-Text Search introduced at RootsTech 2024. 

 Examples showing the importance of these records and how you can help AI learn will also be shared.

Zoom link and Handouts will be available on the EWGSi.org website the day prior to this presentation. (please print your handouts at home.)

Cookies Coffee Free Table Raffles $50/50$

JCGS Research Center Named One of WSGS’s Outstanding Teams in 2024

Since 2003, the Washington State Genealogical Society has recognized over 600 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 2024 award recipients and learn why they received they received a WSGS Outstanding Volunteer and Team Award.

Today we’re introducing the JCGS Research Center who was selected by the Jefferson County Genealogical Society as their recipient of a WSGS Outstanding Team Award. The team is composed of Pam Wilson, Dave Sachi, Eileen Martin, Harlean Hamilton, Marge Samuelson, Mary Stolaas, Pam Stinson, Cathy Beatty-O’Shea, Kathie Wilkinson, Geri Eekhoff, Elaine Raymond, Ada Kornmeyer, Bobbee Davidson, Sue Atkin, Gene Nelson and Kathy Pool.

This group of volunteers remained actively staffing the JCGS research center in person throughout the COVID era from July 2021 thru January 2023. They have endured Zoom meetings, administrative changes in procedures, snafus with technology, and wearing masks while meeting researchers in person.

This group was formed by the JCGS board asking for volunteers to staff the research center. The project has been long-term, starting after the library re-opened to in-person research in July 2021 and especially through January 2023.

Most of this group is still currently staffing the research center.

For more information on the WSGS Outstanding Volunteer Award program, visit the Recognition page of the WSGS website or contact Info@wasgs.org. Please type “Volunteer Award” in the subject line.

Skagit Valley Genealogical Society Northern State Hospital Records

Please join the Skagit Valley Genealogical Society on Saturday, May 10, 2025, at 1pm for the second of our Spring Series, Finding Records of Family Members at Northern State Hospital with Northern State Hospital Researcher Amy Muia. Amy co-curated the Northern State Hospital exhibit at the Sedro-Woolley Museum, authored the Northern State Hospital Guidebook and served as the moderator at the Northern State Hospital Public History Days. Come learn the fascinating history of Northern State Hospital, the patients who lived and sometimes died there, and the community that cared for them. Can’t make it to the Burlington Library, request a zoom link by emailing genealogy0715@gmail.com.

Tacoma Pierce County Genealogical Society DNA SIG Y-DNA

Tacoma-Pierce County Genealogical Society DNA Special Interest Group Meeting
Tuesday, April 22, Starting at 7:00 pm via Zoom

We will discuss the Y-DNA offerings DNA company FamilyTreeDNA, their offerings, and take a virtual tour of the website.

Calendar reminder: TPCGS DNA Special Interest Group Meeting

Every month on the Fourth Tuesday beginning at 7:00 PM Pacific Time

Please download and import the following iCalendar (.ics) files to your calendar system.

Monthly: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/tZYqdeyrrz0iEtx-c_J3gNfcI8mebT1zajLo/ics?icsToken=98tyKuGqqTkvGdWTuBGPRpwQB4joZ-nzmCFHj7dF0RzaKXNUTAX1H7pPN7BLQcLR

Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82725316888?pwd=MDc3UEZrUVJNbmxmK2ZORmw5YzdDdz09

Meeting ID: 827 2531 6888
Passcode: 811780

One tap mobile:
+12532050468,,82725316888#,,,,*811780# US
+12532158782,,82725316888#,,,,*811780# US (Tacoma)

Dial by your location:
        +1 253 205 0468 US
        +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
Meeting ID: 827 2531 6888
Passcode: 811780

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kIKCyZLQy

Let’s Talk About: Colonial Home Life

This delightful 450-page book by Alice Morse Earle was a warm-fuzzy bookstore find. By the by, it’s still available via Amazon.

The entire book was a fascinating read but I’ll share this with you from the chapter titled, Meat and Drink.

“Potatoes were known to New Englanders but were rare and when referred to were probably sweet potatoes…but they were not immediately liked. A fashionable way of cooking them was with butter, sugar and grape juice, then mixed with dates, lemons and mace; then seasoned with cinnamon, nutmeg and pepper….and then frosted with sugar.”

“Apple Pie is used through the whole year and when fresh apples are no longer to be had, dried ones are used. It is the evening meal of children. House-pie, in country places, is made of apples neither peeled nor freed from their cores, and its crust is not broken if a wagon wheel goes over it.” 

“Milk became a very important part of the food of families in the 18th century. The usual breakfast and supper was bread and milk. As the family prospered, milk and hasty pudding, milk and stewed pumpkin, milk and baked apples, milk and berries were variations. It was said that children were usually very fond it this.”

“Housewives pickled samphire (asparagus like), fennel, purple cabbage, nasturtium buds, green walnuts, lemons, radish pods, barberries, parsley, mushrooms, asparagus, and many kinds of fish and fruit. They candied fruits and nuts and made many marmalades and a vast number of fruit wines and cordials.” 

“They collared and potted many kinds of fish and game. Salted meat was eaten and very little fresh meat for there was no means of keeping meat after it was killed. Every well-to-do family had a “powdering-tub” which was a tub in which meat was salted and pickled. Many families had a smoke house in which beef, ham and bacon were smoked.”

Let’s Talk About: Calgary, Alberta

Rummaging in a basket at a thrift store, I found a small tourist pamphlet dated 1902 touting Calgary. Published by the Board of Trade, City Council of Calgary, the little 30-page brochure was such a fun read!

“The country surrounding Calgary has been especially favored by nature in more ways than one.” Then all the wonders of nature were extolled. 

“It may be safely said, for the meterological records amply prove it, that there is no place in the western hemisphere that enjoys more bright sunshine the year around than Central and Southern Alberta.”

“Free homesteads may be secured within from 3 to 20 miles of the city, and improved farms and ranches can be purchased at reasonable prices.”

“The capitalist will find in Calgary an interesting and profitable field for investment; the existing channels for investment are legion.”

“The Calgary district offers high wages to good domestic servants. In the city of Calgary, $10 and $12 per month is the common wage for household work.”

“The invalid will find in Calgary a gracing and pleasant climate to recuperate his health. The virtues of its invigorating ozone and almost continual sunshine are becoming universally extolled.” 

Prices: “Butter, 18cents per pound; potatoes, 1penny per pound; eggs, 15cents per dozen; poultry, 12cents per pound; pork, 6cents per pound; beef, 2 cents per pound.” 

No wonder “936 homesteads were taken up and 41,000 acres of Canadian Pacific Railroad Lands purchased during the year of 1901.” (The land was purchased for $3.00 per acre.)

Did your ancestor settle permanently or temporarily in Calgary?? Sounds like a wonderful place, no? 

Skagit Valley Genealogical Society Diseases Our Ancestors Faced

“This Saturday April 12, 2025, tiptoe through the tulips in the Skagit Valley and then come join SVGS at 1pm at the Burlington Public Library for Diseases Our Ancestors Faced and How Those Illnesses Changed Our World with Gregory C. Gardner, MD, MACP. Can’t make it to the Burlington Library, request a zoom link by emailing genealogy0715@gmail.com.”