Still Time to Register for NWGC Advanced Classes

There are still a few openings in the advanced workshops at next month’s Northwest Genealogy Conference. There was a little hiccup at the beginning of the registration period, but everything’s working fine now, so jump on this opportunity.

Open to fully paid, full conference registrants, the class options include:

  • Connecting Your Matches With AncestryDNA with Angie Bush, $40 (class is nearly full, so hurry up & register!)
  • Schivener for Easier Family History Writing Projects with Lisa Alzo, $30
  • Disaster Proofing Your Research with Sara Cochran, $30

The Northwest Genealogy Conference is August 14 – 17, 2019 at the Byrnes Performing Arts Center in Arlington, Washington.

FGS Society Tables

  Reminder: Introduce your society to the nation at our Society Showcase
Act now to get your preferred table! FGS invites its members to set up tables at our 2019 Conference Society Showcase in Washington D.C., August 21-24. In addition to regular Exhibit Hall booths, Society Showcase tables are gathered in one area near the Exhibit Hall for the great price of $50. Handouts may be offered, but no sales are permitted. All Society Showcase participants will be featured in conference promotional material, especially the Onsite Conference Guide and the Conference Voice blog. Conference details are available on the FGS Voice blog and on our website at https://fgs.org/annual-conference/. In the meantime, if you have a question, please contact the Society Showcase Chair at societyshowcase@fgs.org or visit https://fgs.org/conferences/society-showcase/ for more details. Win! Decorate your table with an attractive theme to be eligible to win a one-year FREE membership in FGS for your organization. Tables will be judged and winner announced by Friday afternoon. Door Prizes: Societies are encouraged to offer door prizes. Door prize winner names should be given to the Exhibit Hall Co-chairs daily by 4:30 pm Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and by 1:00 pm Saturday. Winners will be posted on the bulletin board located near the Society Showcase area or at the FGS booth. Lecture Breaks: Thirty minute breaks are scheduled between lectures, plus more than two hours for lunch each day (12:15-2:30 pm) so attendees have ample time to visit the exhibit hall and Society Showcase area each day. Exhibit Hall Schedule: Wednesday, 21 August: 9:30 am to 5:00 pm
Thursday, 22 August: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Friday, 23 August: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Saturday, 24 August: 9:00 am to 3:00 pm FGS Website: Visit https://fgs.org/annual-conference/ to view full program and registration materials, the Exhibit Hall Map, and click here to go directly to the Society Showcase form: https://fgs.org/conferences/society-showcase-registration/.

Heritage Quest Research Library Upcoming Seminars

Autumn Quest Seminar, Registrations
Get your registrations in early

Registration Fees Early Bird seminar fee (by July 1) is: $65 per person for HQRL members $75 Non  Members. Lunch is included. After July 1 HQRL Members $75 Non members $85. Lunch is included. Register at Door $95 Space and Lunch not guaranteed.  
Dee Fournier Presents:
Social Media: Facebook & Pinterest for Genealogy Tuesday, July 9, 2019
1:00 to 3:00 PM Social Media is one of the fastest growing resources for discovering your family history.  It allows you to connect with family, friends and colleagues online, as well as meet people with similar interests and hobbies.  This class will focus on Facebook, including how to protect your privacy, and Pinterest.
$20.00 members / $25.00 non-members
Janet O’Conor Camarata
Wednesday, July 24
1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Making Sense of Supplemental Censuses
Besides the Federal Population Census, the U. S Government also collected non-population, special supplemental censuses: territorial data, agriculture, manufacturing, slave schedules, state, veterans, social statistics, and mortality (cause of death) schedules.  Learn how to build a personal guidebook for help in reading and understanding each census.  Learn what’s available and where to find them in Ancestry, FamilySearch and the National Archives.

$20.00 members / $25.00 non-members
PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL CLASSES ARE HELD IN THE LIBRARY UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE. 
If you have already registered for a class and are unable to attend, please give us a call so that we may remove your name from the list.

Heritage Quest Research Library Autumn Quest

Early bird dates for Autumn Quest are fast approaching. Be sure to get your registration in before July 1, 2019 to Register for the Early Bird price of $65.00 Members, $75.00 Non-Members.  Lunch is included.
 
After July 1, $75.00 Members, $85.00 Non-members.  Lunch is included.

Register at the door price is $95.00.  Space and lunch are not guaranteed.

We look forward to seeing all of you on October 12, 2019 at the Emerald Queen Conference Center in Fife, Washington as we welcome speaker Dave Obee.
 

Eastern Washington Genealogical Society had a great Spring Seminar

Our speaker was Sunny McClellan Morton from Ohio. Photos courtesy of Sonji Ruttan the EWGS Secretary, Thanks Sonji.

Her first section was comparing the four major genealogical databases, Ancestry, Family Search, FindMyPast and MyHeritage. Next Section on PERSI, then lunch. Church records after lunch and finally a section on Find My Past.

Sign in table
Sharlee Mikelson our Hospitality Volunteer
Prince of Peace Kitchen
Seminar Attendee
Raffle Winner
Raffle Winner
EWGS Blogger Janice Moerschel
Harold Young Raffle Winner
Elizabeth Culver Raffle Winner
EWGS President Dolly Webb Raffle Winner & Lynn Krogh from Ways & Means
Debbie Golding Ways & Means
My sister won a Raffle Prize while she was in the restroom

International German Genealogy Conference

**For Immediate Release**
FINAL PLANNING, FINAL CHANCE FOR DISCOUNT This year April 15 is not just the deadline to file U.S. taxes: It’s also the last chance to get a discounted registration price for the 2019 International German Genealogy Conference, “STRIKE IT RICH! with CONNECTIONS 2 DISCOVERIES.”
Hundreds of people with German ancestry will be coming to the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Sacramento, CA, from June 15-17. Hosted by the Sacramento German Genealogy Society, conference information and registration can be accessed through the International German Genealogy Partnership website.

Planning for the conference is nearly complete. It will include speakers from around the world and has drawn sponsorship from the major organizations in the larger genealogy world, including titans Ancestry and FamilySearch as well as MyHeritage and FamilyTreeDNA.

Reservations after April 15 will be accepted only on a space-available basis.

Likewise, special events such as a Friday night trip to a Biergarten, daily luncheons with marquee presenters, and a Sunday night banquet are also only being offered until they are sold out.



Join others from around the world who will be rushing to California in June 2019 for German genealogy gold.

REGISTER NOW! Contact: Bill Cole, 2019 IGGC Co-Chair 916-853-8562 email: conference@iggpartner.org

SGGS is a registered California 501(c)(3) Non-profit Corporation – Donations eligible for tax deductions as allowable by law. Checks payable to SGGS @ 2019 IGGC, 11230 Gold Express Dr. #310-415, Gold River, CA 95670-4484

Olympia Gen Soc Hosts Successful Spring Seminar

More than 150 people attended Olympia Genealogical Society‘s sold-out Spring Seminar on Saturday, March 30, 2019. Everyone left heap full of DNA-rich information and resources after hearing renowned DNA expert and author Blaine Bettinger. His topics included:

Blaine Bettinger autographing his book, “Genetic Genealogy in Practice.”
  • Using Autosomal DNA for 18th and 19th Century Mysteries
  • Using Third Party Tools to Analyze Your Autosomal DNA
  • The Danger of Distant Matches
  • Mapping Your Chromosomes Using DNA Painter

Always a first-rate affair, Olympia’s Spring Seminar also included book sales, non-profit organizations’ information tables and fabulous raffle baskets. It was also a great opportunity to welcome and network with fellow genealogists from the area.

Societies: If you’d like to promote your workshop or seminar on the WSGS Blog, send a flyer or paragraph to WSGSBlog@wasgs.org. We’d love to share it with our readers!

Northwest Genealogy Conference — Early Bird Discount Flying Away Soon

Register by April 15 for the Northwest Genealogy Conference to receive the Early Bird Discount. Held August 14 – 17 in Arlington, WA, this is the region’s premier genealogical conference. Keynote speakers include Thomas MacEntee, Angie Bush and Michael Strauss. 

And while you’re at it, don’t forget to make your room reservations. Hotels fill up fast!

See www.nwgc.org for more information on the conference, discounted hotel rooms and to register. You don’t want to miss this great event!

Some of the happy attendees at the 2018 conference.

Tacoma Pierce County Genealogical Society Spring Seminar

Just a reminder that our Spring seminar is just around the corner . . . have you registered yet?  If you haven’t, time is running out!

On Friday, April 26th and Saturday, April 27th the Tacoma Pierce County Genealogical Society will be holding its annual Spring Seminar.  This year we have invited the professional genealogist, Michael D. Lacopo, D.V.M. to be our speaker. 

Friday evening’s topic is:

TOP TEN THINGS I HAVE LEARNED IN OVER THREE DECADES OF GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH
Join your speaker on a trip down Memory Lane and share his tales of serendipity, woe, discovery, and frustration… with a touch of humor. Put away your notebooks and prepare to nod in agreement at things only fellow genealogists would understand!

Saturday’s topics are:

MORE THAN THE CENSUS – OUR FAMILIES DID EXIST WITHIN THOSE TEN-YEAR INTERVALS!
This lecture will show the researcher that it is important to identify our ancestors’ whereabouts in as many local records as possible. A lot can happen in ten years! If you don’t look harder, you won’t find them. 

GERMAN GENEALOGY ON THE INTERNET: BEYOND THE BASICS
The Internet age has brought genealogy to our fingertips over the last two decades, and subsequently we can find our German ancestors easier. But it still takes some digging and some know-how. This lecture will discuss some online sites that all German genealogists should be aware of. American sites will be covered, but a strong concentration on lesser used German sites will be discussed, as we are missing vital clues by not being truly “international” in our Internet research endeavors! 

INCORPORATING SOCIAL HISTORY INTO YOUR RESEARCH 
Family history should be more than names and dates. What motivated our ancestors? Why did they migrate? Who did they interact with? How do social customs of another era affect our research? Social history and its bearing on genealogical research will be covered and a “must-read” bibliography for serious researchers will be discussed. 

“SHE CAME FROM NOWHERE . . .” – A CASE STUDY APPROACH TO A DIFFICULT GENEALOGICAL PROBLEM
This lecture illustrates the joys and pitfalls of Virginia research as well as employing a problem-solving approach utilizing social history, female research and family analysis to identify the parents of Elizabeth Stith, the ancestor “from nowhere.” One need not have Virginia ancestors to see the Genealogical Proof Standard at work! 

As usual, we will be having our used book sale.  This year, we were lucky to receive a large donation of books from private libraries.  I understand there is quite the selection of books on just about any topic you can think of. And best of all, they are priced to sell!

The Spring Seminar will again be held at the La Quinta Inn and Suites in Tacoma (253-383-0146).  If you would like to stay at the La Quinta a limited number of rooms will be made available at the discounted price.  Please note, this offer is only available until April 5th and only through the above phone number.  Also be sure to identify yourself as a conference attendee when reserving a room.

Jane Irish Nelson, TPCGS Seminar Co-Chair