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| April 1, 2024 SGS eNews! comes out the first of every month. contact eNews! | |
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SGS OFFERS THREE-PART DNA CLASS
Want to get into using DNA in your tree but don’t know where to start? SGS is offering a three-part class over three weeks to give you the knowledge you need to get going.
Week 1:
Why use DNA?
Types of DNA
Types of tests and what you can learn from each
Week 2:
Deeper dive into autosomal DNA
Introduction to third-party tools
Week 3:
Deeper dive on mitochondrial and Y-DNA
Resources for continuing your learning
Classes are April 3, 10, and 17. Each 90-minute sessions will be conducted via Zoom. The cost is $80 (SGS members $65). Max enrollment is set to 20, so sign up soon.
AMBASSADOR TO SHARE WHAT’S NEW IN FTM 2024
Family Tree Maker is hitting the road as it prepares to launch its newest release. FTM Ambassador, Mark Olsen, will be stopping at the Good Shepherd Center in Seattle to demonstrate the new features of FTM 2024 as well as teach all things related to the software and its partner products. There will be two opportunities to attend the session: one during the day (11 a.m.-2 p.m.) and another in the evening (5:30-8:30 p.m.).
The event will be in Room 202, a larger meeting room at the Good Shepherd Center. Seating is limited to 50 people. Please arrive early. Registration link coming soon.
GET A GUIDED TOUR OF SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY’S GENEALOGICAL RESOURCES
SGS has a long history of collaboration with the Seattle Public Library (SPL). Join us for a guided tour of SPL’s genealogical resources with SPL’s own genealogical librarian. This event is limited to 20 people, so sign up today!
The Seattle Room on the 10th floor of the Central Library is open to researchers by appointment only. It holds more than 50,000 items documenting and exploring the culture and history of Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. Get a glimpse behind the scenes and learn about resource that can aid your study of the Seattle area and its people.
The Genealogy Department on the 9th floor originally housed many books donated by SGS researchers of 100 years ago and now holds some SGS archival materials. Check the SGS catalog for resources that were transferred to SPL when SGS vacated the Sand Point facility.
Following the morning tour, consider breaking for lunch with others or conducting your personal research. The library is open until 6pm.
NEW PACIFIC NORTHWEST SIG ANNOUNCED
Seattle Genealogical Society is delighted to announce a new special interest group (SIG) focused on Pacific Northwest genealogical research. This SIG will meet via Zoom on the first Wednesday of each month at 6:30PM Pacific, 9:30PM Eastern. SGS membership is encouraged but not required. More information at the SGS website. Inaugural meeting May 1st.
NEW RECORDS ON FOLD3
Fold3 has added a new collection of records for Black and Indigenous Soldiers who served in the Revolutionary War. The records are primarily manuscripts dating from 1775-1783 and include muster rolls, pay vouchers and enlistment records. The records are varied, but may contain information such as: the name of the solider, the unit, regiment and rank. They can also include birthdate and place of birth, occupation, date and place of enlistment and further military history or history of enslavement.SGS SURVEY EXTENDED TO SUNDAY APRIL 7TH
If you have not yet submitted your SGS Survey for the future now is your chance. And now, no sign-in is required!
SAVE THE DATESpring Virtual Classes
Fiske Genealogical Library
Wednesdays 10:00 am-noon
Join the Fiske’s free virtual classes.
For further information see the Fiske website.
“Discover the Power of Your DNA”
San Mateo County Genealogical Society
Saturday April 13, 2024, 9:00 am-2:00 pm
Learn the Fundamentals of DNA. Find more information and register.
“How to Write a Family Portrait”
Eastside Genealogical Society
April 18, 2023, 6:00 pm-7:00 pm
In this hour-long, free generative writing workshop, essayist Kristen Millares Young will use guided prompts and discussions to help you plan, write, and revise your family stories. For more information and to register.
Tacoma-Pierce County Spring Seminar with Cyndi Ingle and Cari A. Taplin
Tacoma-Pierce County Genealogical Society
Saturday April 27, 2024, 8:45 am-3:15 pm
for more information and to register, visit the Tacoma-Pierce County Genealogical Society website.
SGS CALENDAR OF EVENTSGood Shepherd Center, Suite 302
4649 Sunnyside Ave N
Seattle, WA 98103
206 522-8658Hours : Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday
** 10:00 am – 3:00 pm ** Always check the SGS Website Calendar of Events for the meeting links, registration, or for last minute updates or changes to the schedule. Be advised you may need to register in advance to join a meeting. All times listed are Pacific Time unless otherwise notedMonday, April 1, 2024, 10:00 am-11:30 am, Brags & Bricks Social Interest Group (Virtual), Join us for an informal social gathering. Share your recent genealogical successes and challenges, or just come to hang out with other genealogists.
Saturday, April 1, 2024, 10:15 am-12:15 pm, FamilySearch SIG (Virtual), with Lou Daly. Discover many ways to use the FamilySearch website in your research. Meeting includes instruction and time for Q&A. Email Lou to get on the email list: loudaly@nwlink.comSunday, April 7, 2024, 1:00 pm-3:00 pm, DNA Workshop, with Cary Bright and Craig Gowens. To participate you need to be on the SGS DNA Interest Group email list. Contact Cary Bright at SGSDNASIG@gmail.com to join.Monday, April 8, 2024, 10:00 am-11:30 am, Brags & Bricks Social Interest Group (Virtual), Join us for an informal social gathering. Share your recent genealogical successes and challenges, or just come to hang out with other genealogists.
Monday, April 8, 2024, 6:00 pm-7:30 pm, Write It Up! SIG (Virtual), Join this group to share and discuss writing projects, resources, and ideas. To join or learn more, contact Alaine Keisling at keisling@gmail.com.
Tuesday, April 9, 2024, 10:00 am-11:00 am, Tech Tuesday (Virtual), informal consultation time on DNA, genealogy software, or genealogy-related technical issues. All are welcome. No appointment necessary. Bring us your problem; we’ll try to help.
Sunday, April 14 2024, 1:00 am-3:00 pm, Scandinavian Interest Group (Virtual), “Indexed vs Non-indexed searches for Norway and Sweden” hosts Karen Knudson and Kathi M. Share information and discuss Scandinavian ancestral research.
Monday, April 15, 2024, 10:00 am-11:30 am, Brags & Bricks Social Interest Group (Virtual), Join us for an informal social gathering. Share your recent genealogical successes and challenges, or just come to hang out with other genealogists.Tuesday, April 16, 2024, 1:00 pm-3:00 pm, “Pass It On” Writers’ Group (Social Interest Group), Create your family history and share with others in an effort to improve your writing. Please note: The Writers’ Group is at the maximum number of participants and is not currently accepting any new members.Friday, April 19, 2024, 10:00 am-12:30 pm, Seattle Public Library Tour (Special Events), at Seattle Central Library, 1000 Fourth Ave., Seattle. SGS has a long history of collaboration with the Seattle Public Library (SPL). Join us for a guided tour of SPL’s genealogical resources. LIMITED TO 20 PEOPLE. Reserve your spot today.
Saturday, April 20, 2024, 10:00 am-noon, Irish SIG (Virtual), with Susan McKee. Share information and discuss Irish ancestral research. See the SGS website Calendar of Events for further information.
Saturday, April 20, 2024, 1:00 pm-3:00 pm, German SIG (Virtual),
Our speaker for April, Merv Weiss, will be exploring the topic of learning about his German-ness with his talk, “Growing Up German Without Realizing It.” Register on the SGS website.
Monday, April 22, 2024, 10:00 am-11:30 am, Brags & Bricks Social Interest Group (Virtual), Join us for an informal social gathering. Share your recent genealogical successes and challenges, or just come to hang out with other genealogists.
Tuesday, April 23, 2024, 10:00 am-11:00 am, Tech Tuesday (Virtual), informal consultation time on DNA, genealogy software, or genealogy-related technical issues. All are welcome. No appointment necessary. Bring us your problem; we’ll try to help. Thursday, April 25, 2024, two times: 11:00 am-1:00 pm, AND 5:30 pm-8:30 pm, Family Tree Maker Tour (Special Events), Family Tree Maker Ambassador, Mark Olsen, will be hat the Good Shepherd Center in Seattle to demonstrate the new features of FTM 2024.Monday, April 29, 2024, 10:00 am-11:30 am, Brags & Bricks Social Interest Group (Virtual), Join us for an informal social gathering. Share your recent genealogical successes and challenges, or just come to hang out with other genealogists.
Monday, May 1, 2024, 6:30 pm-7:30 pm, Pacific Northwest Interest Group (Virtual) (Special Interest Groups), Topics this month: 1. Short history of Oregon Territory, 2. Oregon and Washington State Archives, 3. Oregon and Washington State Libraries.
Register on the SGS website.
Saturday, March 23, 2024, 1:00 pm-3:00 pm, DNA Workshop SIG, Message SGSDNASIG@gmail.com to join.Monday, May 6, 2024, 10:00 am-11:30 am, Brags & Bricks Social Interest Group (Virtual), Join us for an informal social gathering. Share your recent genealogical successes and challenges, or just come to hang out with other genealogists.
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. Over the past year, were were introduced to each of the 2023 award recipients and learned why they received the 2023 WSGS Outstanding Volunteer and Team Award.
Today we’re introducing the SVGS’s Hybrid Meeting Research Team who were selected by the Skagit Valley Genealogical Society (SVGS) as their recipient of a WSGS Outstanding Team Award. The team is composed of Bill Radock, Bob Hendricks, George Ridgeway, Stephen Hutchens, Linda Duffield, Alice Bowden, Rene Vance, Margie Wilson and Rachel Lunden.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, SVGS attracted many new members far beyond their region due to moving their meetings to Zoom. It became apparent that SVGS needed to move to a hybrid meeting experience post-pandemic so no members would be excluded. This was the society’s way of continuing to engage and educate both local and remote members, so they were equally honored as members.
How to accomplish creating these meetings and overcoming the complexities of the technology involved the creation of a “Think Tank” to come up with a solution. Thanks to this team of volunteers SVGS has moved to a hybrid-meeting format, retained its remote members, brought back local “non-Zoom” members, and continued to attract new members. SVGS’s survival and continued ability to provide access to educational and enriching programs is due to the Hybrid Meeting Research Team’s dedicated efforts and vision for a positive and productive future of SVGS.
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.
Today dinner time often means sharing a pizza……. at the table or in front of the TV or computer. But it was NOT like that in the olden days.
An old Miss Manners newspaper column gives the courses, and the order of these courses, for a 19th century dinner……. all served with different and appropriate dishes, silverware and wine:
“Never fear, “Miss Manners touted “these were times when thinness was considered not chic, but pitiful. But even then, guests were not supposed to et everything. It was like an entire (menu) from which to pick and choose.”Keep in mind, that at these L-O-N-G dinners, you’re wearing heavy, formal attire (corsets, full skirts, sleeves) and there was no AC in summer and it was considered bad manners to absent yourself from the table. If invited, would you attend???
Puget Sound Genealogical Society kicks off Map Month with a class on Saturday, April 6 at 10:30am. This will be a hybrid class.
Mapping An Ancestor with Janet Camarata. Geography is a discipline closely related to genealogy and an untapped resource for learning more about our ancestors. Using geography and maps in research provides visual clues to help answer questions about where, how far, and what is nearby. Learn about the George E. Curry family of Ohio and Kansas and how maps focused the research, located property, identified lost place names, solved a family mystery and identified jurisdictions to write for records
Saturday, May 11th at 9:30 am, the Clallam County Genealogical Society (CCGS) will host Mike Karsen and his presentation: The Musical Chicago, and all that Genealogical Jazz.
The Broadway musical and Hollywood movie CHICAGO was based on the stories of two real-life women by the name of Belva and Beulah. Just as in the show and movie, these women killed their lovers. By collecting standard genealogical documents Mike Karsen pieces together their lives, and puts their tales into context relating to Chicago history.
A professional speaker from Chicago, Mike Karsen has spoken on family legacy topics locally and nationally, has presented at conferences and authored genealogy articles. He is back with us at Clallam County by popular demand. His approach to genealogy is unique and entertaining as well.
All are invited to hear his presentation via Zoom or by coming to the CCGS Research Center located at 403 E. 8th Street in Port Angeles, WA. To join us with Zoom, contact the Society to obtain the Zoom Meeting number and passcode. Our phone number is 360-417-5000. Our web address is askus@clallamcogs.org. The Research Center is open Tuesday – Friday 10am – 4pm and on Saturdays noon to 4pm.
There is no cost to attending his wonderful presentation.
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 2023 award recipients and learn why they received the 2023 WSGS Outstanding Volunteer and Team Award.
Today we’re introducing Beth Snyder of Bellevue, Washington, who were nominated by the Eastside Genealogical Society (EGS).
Beth joined EGS in 2015. In 2016, she was named the SIG coordinator and joined the EGS board. She immediately focused on improving communications between the individual SIGs, the board and the general membership.
In 2019 as co-chair of the program committee, Beth worked to find new program topics and coordinated closely with the Bellevue Regional Library (BRL), our partner organization, to find program topics that would be of interest to EGS members as well as supporting existing library themes. In 2020 as EGS transitioned to using Zoom for its meetings, Beth quickly capitalized on Zoom’s greatly expanded inventory of available program topics that were less expensive and offered more flexible scheduling than in-person presentations.
In 2023 in addition to her role as program chair, Beth began publishing an electronic “Occasional Newsletter” which is intended to improve communications within EGS.
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.
This is Part 2, continued from Part 1 in the previous post.
Leaving time for the wagon trail was keyed to practicality: grass. Horses could bite short grass; cows and oxen could not. Horses eat by wrapping their tongues around longer grass. Journal entries spoke often of plants and grasses, which are remarkable considering they were seeing many new plants daily. The “tall grass prairies” had more feed than the “short grass prairies.” Many wagon trains began with a high number of wagons but this number was reduced enroute simply due to the available grass factor for the animals.
Pat Packard said she’d never found mention of their finding, picking and then cooking any kind of greens along the route. She did find mention of fruit (in late summer) such as chockcherries and currants. While the adults avoided unknown berries when they saw the red-berry smears on the faces and fingers of their children, they realized that berries weren’t poisonous. Packard did mention the finding of wild onions, at least on the plains, but not in the far west. Fear of “death camas” was real and the pioneers hadn’t the knowledge to see the difference between wild onion and death camas. Cactus was mentioned as bein new and so pretty but not to eat….and stepping on them was rarely mentioned.
On they they learned to make was “mincemeat” most likely of berries and chopped buffalo meat. This was a pemmican-like product that they learned about from the Indians.
By the time they reached the Rocky Mountains, they were hungry for fresh greens but none was to be had. They were still somewhat fearful of unknown berries and then they encountered the huckleberry! Again, their unafraid children showed them the way. By the time they reached the Rocky Mountains signs of scurvy were really showing up. The “bloom” of the trip had definitely worn off and also by this point “pretty plants” were seldom mentioned in the journals.
Also by this time the grain was gone as was the wild-grass-seed-grass so the horses were really in a bad way. This ongoing problem of feeding the animals dictated every decision made along the trail. Sometimes this led to making river crossings at dangerous fords (like the second crossing of the Snake in southern Idaho). They also had found that in the deserts of the West, everything “sticks, stings or stinks.” Ms. Packard got a big laugh at that one.
In 1852, some 72,000 people crossed the plains in more than 20,000 wagons. Imagine: 20,000 times four oxen or horses is a huge animal population needing feeding and leaving dung everywhere. No wonder the trail spread out with all those animals…and dust…. ahead of you. And remember that likely the children walked barefoot.
Ms. Packard also explained the physiology of why plants affected horses and oxen differently. Horses take the food straight down into their stomach, where any in-plant poisons could immediately affect the animal. Oxen would take the food down into their “holding tank” stomach where the poisons could be neutralized before the food passed into the digestive stomach.
TO BE CONTINUED…………………
(The above was snipped from The Historic New Orleans Collection; used with thanks. The map below was snipped from the website of the Laura Plantation; again with thanks. The bottom information was snipped from the website Explore Houma, Louisiana’s Bayou Country; with thanks.)
The term Creole can have many meanings, but during the early days of Louisiana, it meant that a person was born in the colony and was the descendant of French or Spanish parents. The term is a derivative of the word “criollo,” which means native or local, and was intended as a class distinction. In present Louisiana, Creole generally means a person or people of mixed colonial French, African American and Native American ancestry. The term Black Creole refers to freed slaves from Haiti and their descendants.
Still another class of Creole originates with the placage system in which white and creole men took on mixed-race mistresses in a lifelong arrangement, even if the men were married or married later. In this arrangement, the women had property, their children were educated and entitled to part of the man’s estate upon his death. In New Orleans, these people made up the artisan class and became wealthy and very influential.
“Cajun” is derived from “Acadian” which are the people the modern day Cajuns descend from. These were the French immigrants who were expelled from Nova Scotia, and eventually landed in Louisiana after decades of hardship and exile. Hearty folks from many backgrounds married into the culture, including Germans, Italians, Free People of Color, Cubans, Native Americans and Anglo-Americans. French or patois, a rural dialect, was always spoken. Due to the isolation of the group in the southern locations of Louisiana, they have retained a strong culture to this day.
ANY QUESTIONS? Ask Google!
It’s that time of year! Time for your society to honor your outstanding volunteers or teams with an Outstanding Volunteer or Team Award.
A few special notes:
Additional details and deadlines may be found at the WSGS website here.
Please contact Roxanne Lowe at Info@wasgs.org if you have questions or suggestions.