Darn, nobody posted an answer to the last Mystery posting…the apparent WW II landing craft beached on the western shore of the Columbia River across from where the Spokane River merges. I even asked Google; nada. Ohwell, the answer is out there………….somewhere.
Here’s today’s mystery: What sort of bush/tree is this? I photo’d it growing in the Madison neighborhood on Lake Washington north of the U of W campus. Brought back memories of another place we lived. Ideas?
I met with the dedicated and eager bunch of the Okanogan Genealogy Society members in early September. President Noma Wyllson arranged a lasagna dinner for the board (and me) at her home.
The youngsters at either end, Camden and Shaelyn Irwin, are grandchildren of a missing Board member, Peggy Oliver. Others are, L to R: Peggy Murray, Maggie Mitschelen, Phil Brown, Karyl Hubbard, and president Noma, seated. (Two young people! How lucky that society is!)
The ginormous project the group has embarked upon is to created an online database of all the Okanogan County cemeteries (and Okanogan County is the biggest county in Washington), with the names and GPS locations of the burials. They are gleaning this information from a dozen sources. Ultimately, they would like to include a complete biography on each person and an interactive map on their website where you can click on an arrow for that cemetery. Talk about ambition!
As we chatted (and as a representative of the Washington State Genealogical Society), I also asked about the problems the society was having. Noma quickly quipped: “We were adrift and going nowhere and so I became president and took charge!” We agreed that a big project, like their cemetery project, would do wonders for the morale and growth of the society. Other “problems” were the usual ones: what’s the best day/time for the meetings and how to attract and keep members.
Sharon Liebert, of Wenatchee, is the WSGS Rep for Region 8, which includes this society and will be working to help them in any way she can.
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TIP OF THE WEEK –
MISSOURI DEATH CERTIFICATES, 1910-1966
Scanned images of Missouri death certificates from 1910 through 1966 are now available online for free! An index of the Missouri death certificates can be found here:
https://s1.sos.mo.gov/records/Archives/ArchivesMvc/DeathCertificates#searchDB
Their search engine is very comprehensive. The database can be searched by first, middle, and/or last name, county, year and month, or many combinations of these parameters. Digitized images of the original death certificates are linked to the search results, and may be viewed or downloaded at no charge.
This site will be very valuable to people with ancestors who died in Missouri within this time period.
ELIZABETH HOWIE,
VOLUNTEER OF SUMMER QUARTER
Elizabeth Howie, who was selected to be SGS Volunteer of the Summer Quarter, has been an active member of SGS for many years. Currently she is the Front Desk Volunteer Coordinator, a role she has filled twice in the past.
Responsible for recruiting and training new front desk volunteers, and for coordinating the schedule of volunteers for the desk, Elizabeth makes sure there is always an able and experienced volunteer on site to greet patrons and help them with their research.
Elizabeth has many genealogical interests that keep her busy when she isn’t wrangling front desk volunteers. Past research trips include journeys to Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. These trips didn’t lead to much in the way of genealogical discoveries, as the countries were so beautiful she didn’t want to be indoors with books and papers! She had fun visiting the library in Salt Lake City and hopes to return there for more fun.
Art Loh, who was Elizabeth’s beloved companion, was an electrician who worked and set up the printers for the patrons and volunteers. Sadly, he passed away in 2011.
Thank you, Elizabeth, for your years of service. SGS couldn’t survive without the help of wonderful volunteers like you.
NEW SGS VICE PRESIDENT, GARY EPPERLEY
Congratulations to Gary Epperley! The Board approved the appointment of Gary to the position of Vice President of the Seattle Genealogical Society, which has been operating without a VP for quite a while.
In addition to his regular vice presidential duties, Gary has agreed to assume some responsibilities for the maintenance of our technology and the transference to the new website.
SGS is very happy to have Gary on board!
KICKOFF FOR THE NEW
“SECOND SATURDAY SPEAKER SERIES”
Hope you were able to catch the debut of our new program, “Second Saturday Speaker Series”, last weekend at the SGS Library. We were lucky enough to have the founder of the renowned website Cyndi’s List as our first speaker. Not only is Cyndi Ingle a talented webmaster and speaker, she is pretty funny to boot.
As the name implies “Second Saturday Speaker Series” takes place on the second Saturday of the month from 1:00 pm-2:30 pm at the SGS Library. Each month will be a new speaker and a new topic. Here’s a preview of what’s in the pipeline.
Oct 14, 2017 “Trails West: Crossing the Continent 1840-1869” Mary Kircher Roddy
Nov 11, 2017 “Using social Media for Family History: Why Bother?” Mary Kathryn Kozy
Jan 13, 2018 “Chinese Exclusion Act Files – Original Documents at NARA” Trish Nicola
Feb 10, 2018 “Using Academic Libraries for Genealogy Research” Lisa Oberg
Mar 10, 2018 “Finding and Using Historic Newspapers” Claudia Breland
FREE DNA WEBINAR! Reveal Your Unique Story through DNA and Family History will be broadcast LIVE from New York City on Saturday, September 23rd, 11:00 am Eastern. Join Lisa Louise Cooke of Genealogy Gems and DNA expert Diahan Southard along with Beth Forrester of Animoto in this 90-minute webinar. Here’s what you’ll learn:
•Your DNA Guide will dispel the myth that there’s just on DNA test. There are more options, and possible outcomes, than you might think! Diahan will walk you through the choices.
•Creative ideas for filling in the gaps in your family’s story. Lisa will who you online tools for you that go well beyond names and dates. Then we’ll expand your story in unexpected ways by finding DNA connections.
•Share the story you’ve uncovered through awesome video. Lisa & Beth will show you how easy it is to tell your story like a pro!
Click HERE to register – via Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems
THE GENEALOGICAL FORUM’s
Wednesday Evening
E-News
13 September 2017
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!
Also, if you missed your free copy of our monthly Insider for August 2017, you’re in luck because we saved you a copy HERE. NOTE: The Insider issues are now located under the “Learn” > “Our Publications” menu at our new website (still gfo.org).
Curious about the status of your GFO Membership?? We’d love to have you as a GFO Member!
***
Calling all Members – Bulletin Editorial Group Meeting
Interested in helping to make sure the Bulletin can continue to thrive??
All GFO members interested in keeping the life-blood of the Bulletin pumping, are invited to attend next week’s BEG (Bulletin Editorial Group) meeting.
WHEN? Wed, Sept 20th, 3:30pm
WHERE? GFO Library
WHY? To discuss the current status of the Bulletin, especially its publishing and content needs.
WHO? Why the BEG and all interested GFO members of course!
Bottom-line is we need content content content, which means we need YOU, YOUR STORIES, YOUR INSIGHTS, YOUR PERSPECTIVES! Hope to see you there.
Continue reading
Saturday, 21 Oct 2017
Doors open at 8:00 a.m.
Welcome at 9:00 a.m
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9:15 Going Nearly Paperless
–
How to Get Started
This presentation will focus on organizing your genealogy materials in a manner to quickly and easily find your research notes, photocopies, pictures, and much more. These lessons presented will also apply to most other activities in life. This presentation will also discuss long – term preservation. Life without paper is great!
10:30 Break
11:00 Genealogy Searches on Google – extracting the most genealogy information possible from everyone’s favorite search engine.
NOTE: There will be no hand-outs for this talk. Audience members need only to remember one thing: up – to – date information is always available at http://www.google.com. The PowerPoint slides will be available online.
12:15 Lunch
1:15 The Organized Genealogist – A look at various methods of organizing record keeping by use of digital techniques. This talk focuses on converting paper – based record keeping to all digital records, and preserving the digital records for many more years than is possible with paper, and making sure that information in those publications can be easily searched and retrieved.
2:30 Break
2:45 Using Online Genealogy Programs – (The Next Generation, WebTrees, OneGreatFamily.com, Werelate.org, WikiTree, FamilySearch, etc.) instead of a program installed in your own computer.
4:00 Adjourn
Dick Eastman …. one of genealogy’s biggest names will be Seattle Genealogical Society’s featured speaker for our 2017 Fall Seminar.
Dick is the author of Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter, the leading newsletter for genealogy news and technology tips as well as an internationally renowned speaker on the broad array of topics he covers in his newsletter. “Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter” (EOGN) covers genealogy news, as well as issues of technology, privacy, digital rights, and access as they relate to genealogy. Through his newsletter, Dick share technology “finds” that can help both new and seasoned genealogists, as well as dethroning the scams and shams that can the unwary astray. Today more than 75,000 people read his newsletter and benefit from his reviews and tutorials.
Dick has been honing his vision of the future to improve our picture of the past for the last 35 years. In the mid-1980’s he proposed a genealogy forum: a move by which he built a community of family historians over the next 14 years. At the same time, he preached the
benefits of technology to an even wider audience of genealogists, including national and international genealogical organizations, and of course, GENTECH, an organization that helped him to spread his message. Dick’s dedication to clear writing and independent opinion has made him and his periodical a sought – after source of information, commentary, and discussion for twenty years.
