THE GENEALOGICAL FORUM’sThursday EveningE-News EditionNovember 8, 2018 |
Curious about the status of your GFO Membership?We’d love to have you as a GFO Member! |
|
For more information visit www.gfo.org, contact us at info@gfo.org, or call our library at 503-963-1932. Be sure to check the complete GFO CALENDAR. |
 |
Cyndi Ingle Rocks, Attracts Record GFO Audience! |
|
Wow! That’s the easiest way to say it. We can’t thank you enough for making the GFO Fall Seminar a record-setter. More than 200 people came on Saturday and more than 100 on Sunday to hear Cyndi Ingle, the creator of the comprehensive genealogy website, Cyndi’s List. We also sold a record number of raffle tickets, a great way to help us pay our rising bills. Special thanks to these sponsors for donating valuable prizes: Southern California Genealogical Society, Find my past, Fold3, Family Tree DNA, History Geo, and Newspapers.com. And our biggest thanks go to Cyndi herself. If you made it to the seminar you know how engaging, informative, entertaining, and funny she can be. |
|
|
GFO Becomes FamilySearch Affiliate Library |
|
|
We’ve got great news! The GFO is now an official FamilySearch Affiliate Library. This grants you access to many FamilySearch records not available when you search their site from home. FamilySearch has billions of records online and adds another 300 million free genealogical records and images online every year. Access to FamilySearch computers at the GFO will be free to anyone. GFO membership or payment of day-use fees will be required to use the other resources in our library. |
|
|
|
|
The job of the journalist and that of the genealogist are surprisingly similar: we both research the facts and the context of people to tell their stories. Genealogists tend to focus more on the research, but journalists must do both. Pulitzer Prize winner Tom Hallman, Jr., of The Oregonian knows a thing or two about journalism, and he is coming to the GFO to share his insights with us. Join us for our next GenTalk at the GFO Saturday, November 17 at 2 p.m. This talk is free and open to the public. |
|
|
The next meeting of the African American Special Interest Group (SIG) is scheduled for Saturday, November 24, from 12:30 – 2:30 p.m. Our meetings are regularly held on the fourth Saturday of the month. We recently realized that for November this is the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend. Because we figure many people will be spending time with family instead of other family historians, rather than have a speaker and program, we will be holding an open-ended Help Session for this month’s meeting. If you’re stuck in your research, want some advice, or just want to share your family history stories with fellow researchers, come on by! SIG coordinator Janice Sellers will be there for the entire time and will be happy to talk with you. Questions? Comments? Send Janice a note at African_American@gfo.org. |
|
|
Ever wondered what it would be like to have New York’s State Archives at your finger tips?Well, wonder no more! The National Park Service and the Institute of Museum and Library Services granted $125,000 last month to the New York State Archives and the Archives Partnership Trust to allow them to digitize and post historical documents from the Revolutionary War era to the State Archives’ website. The archivists began their work on November 1st, so keep an eye out for updates as they make progress on this amazing accessibility project. Access to our history is always a revolution in and of itself! |
|
|
FRIDAY, November 9thMexican Ancestry Group 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Finding your Hispanic ancestors from Mexico, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California! This Special Interest Group (SIG) pertains specifically to Mexican ancestors from Mexico and the American Southwest (New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and California). Beginning and intermediate researchers are welcome. Some subjects will include online parish records, Hispanic genealogy societies, Family History Library/FamilySearch.org. Ancestry.com, solving genealogical problems, methodology of organizing your research, etc. Of course this group will also be about sharing our research experiences, and having fun. If you know of any other people interested in Hispanic genealogy tell them about the up and coming group. They don’t have to be a GFO member to participate. SATURDAY, November 10thGreat Lakes Region 9:30 – 11:30 a.m. Duane Funk will talk about the War of 1812, and in particular its effects on the Great Lakes region and our research there. Also, we will check in with our database. After that we will have time for sharing research and brainstorming some possible solutions to your genealogy questions. Interest in the Great Lakes Region can be broad and diverse, as some ancestors settled and remained there for generations, while others spent a short time there before moving on. The group’s interests include migration, travel, trade, historical events, and research techniques specific to the area. For more information contact Lynn Rossing at GreatLakes@gfo.org. Writers’ Forum 1 – 3 p.m. Purpose: This is a peer group of genealogists, who meet to learn about writing and to share our writing with each other. Peggy Baldwin facilitates this group and can be reached at writers@gfo.org or 503-916-9410. Book we are using: Roy Peter Clark’s Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer published by Little, Brown and Company in 2006. Each month we cover a tool. To see what tool we are covering at a particular meeting, please visit our web page here. SUNDAY, November 11thLibrary Work 9:00 a.m. – noon There’s another work party at the GFO library today for those of you who can come. There’s lots to do and we’d love to have your help. Doors open at 9 and work usually wraps up around noon. Some people come for just an hour or so; others work the full time. You are welcome to do either. Any time you can share is valuable. Hope to see you there. |
