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We are honored to share that the President of Eastern Washington Genealogical Society (EWGS), Pat Bayonne-Johnson, appeared in a story on the front page of the New York Times on Sunday, April 17. We hope you’ll find the story as interesting as we do. You can read the entire story here.
Bayonne-Johnson first learned her ancestors were reported to have been enslaved by the Jesuits of St. Mary’s Count, Maryland in 2004 while making plans for a family reunion. She sent documents to a genealogist in Baton Rouge for examination who discovered that Pat’s great-grandmother was born in Maryland. The rest might in fact be history but it’s a history worth uncovering.
In November 2015, Bayonne-Johnson formed the Butler Team at the library (pictured above) to continue to do research on her ancestors. Janette Birch (not pictured) is also a member of the team. Seated Pat Ayers, Pat Bayonne- Johnson, Dolly Webb. Standing Juanita McBride, Mary Holcomb, Carol Anderson and Barbara Brazington.
This is just one of many projects the genealogists are working on in any given week.
We invite you to stop by the downtown library on Tuesdays between 10 am and noon and 1 pm and 3 pm when volunteers are at the library to provide assistance to our customers on their own genealogical research. In addition to EWGS on Tuesdays (and some Thursdays—ask the downtown staff for more specifics on those dates), our reference librarian, Becky Menzel is our resident genealogist. She can assist you in getting started or answer any questions you might have while sending you in the right direction toward doing your own research.
The library also has a number of local history items as well as access to Family Search and American Ancestors, the New England Historic Genealogical Society’s database, which Becky can show you how to use.
More about the Eastern Washington Genealogy Society →
From the Spokane Public Library Newsletter copied with permission
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