THE GENEALOGICAL FORUM’s Thursday Evening E-News Edition January 3, 2019

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 503-963-1932. Be sure to check the complete GFO CALENDAR. Also, don’t miss the current issue of The Forum Insider

You’re Amazing!

We Made Our Fundraising Goal! We can’t thank you enough. The GFO needed big support, and you came through! We needed to raise $25,000, and you made it happen before the turn of the new year. Our costs continue to rise yet member dues cover only 24% of our budget. Donations literally make the difference in whether we can keep going. Thank you! Preserving and Sharing Heritage since 1946.

We Got the Gold!

We are pleased to report that the GFO has now achieved the Gold Seal of Transparency from GuideStar. GuideStar is the world’s largest source of information on nonprofit organizations. We are committed to transparency. By adding information about our goals, strategies, capabilities, achievements, and progress indicators, we are highlighting the difference we help to make in the world.

Mac Users Learn Your Apple Apps

The Portland Macintosh Users Group is excited to meet at the Genealogical Forum of Oregon LIbrary. Join us on Wednesday, January 9, 2019. The class will be about the trio of applications (Pages, Numbers, & Keynote) which are included on all current Apple operating systems. This class is FREE for PMUG members and GFO members who use Macintosh computers. • Learn how to use Apple’s free apps for creating written documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. • The Pages App is an easy-to- use word processor and comes with great-looking templates for creating business cards, flyers and newsletters. • Use the Numbers App to manage your information and perform automatic numeric calculations. • The Keynote App makes beautiful slideshows and many other kinds of presentations. • These apps also make it easy to export and share with others who use the Microsoft Office family of applications. To register: Call 503-228-1779 or email: college@pmug.org.

4 Speakers, 1 Conference, No Travel Needed

Would you like to attend a DNA Genealogy conference without the expense of travel? Family History Fanatics are offering a full-day Winter DNA eConference available online, including Tim Janzen, a familiar speaker at our GFO DNA Special Interest Groups. You’ll SEE the difference in this conference as your presenters will open the live chat throughout their sessions and turn on their cameras. Register by Jan. 18th for a discount.

Strike it Rich with Connections 2 Discoveries

The 2019 International German Genealogy Conference is a unique three-day event June 15-17 in Sacramento. Discounted conference registration ends in two weeks, after January 15, 2019. Details on the conference, online registration, and hotel accommodations are on the International German Genealogy Partnership website. An all-star cast of presenters from the United States, Germany, Austria, Australia, Israel, and Brazil will share their expertise in German genealogical research techniques, tools and more. This conference is hosted by the Sacramento German Genealogy Society (SGGS) and supported by a consortium of Germanic Genealogy Societies across the Golden State. The International German Genealogy Partnership (IGGP) comprises more than 100 organizations around the world. IGGP’s mission is “… to facilitate German genealogy research globally as the internationally-recognized federation of German genealogy organizations.”

A “living” German Guidebook

Here’s a great resource for German research. Under the title “Woher stammt meine Familie?” (English: Where does my family come from?) the Foundation Flucht, Vertreibung, Versöhnung in Berlin has published a German language PDF document as a guide to research that can be downloaded at their website. This “living” guidebook is in German, but it provides so many links to online sources, hints, current addresses, and so on—it should be on people’s radar. While the focus is on Germans displaced in the 1940s, the archives and resources provided may be useful to many.

This week at GFO …

SATURDAY, January 5th Virginia Group 10 a.m. – noon Land Records – Part II For this session, we will focus on deeds records and the benefits of using them for genealogy. We will discuss the types of deeds and the language of deeds. Over time, laws were enacted pertaining to real property and inheritance; knowing about those laws will help to interpret the deeds we find. We will discuss the value of using land records, and have many examples of how to use them for your research. For more information see our blog: “Virginia Roots and Vines”. Research in Virginia can be difficult, with the complication of burned counties, as well as the ordinary difficulties of using historical documents. But it is not impossible. We discuss the history of Virginia and explore various methods to do sound genealogy research. We hope to foster collaboration among our many Virginia researchers and work on our varied research problems, our brick walls, together. Each month we will have a discussion or presentation on a topic related to our research. There will also be time each meeting for discussion, suggestions, and perhaps research on individual research. We’ll also explore the settlement of Kentucky, the Carolinas and Tennessee. Facilitators: Judi Scott and Carol Surrency can be reached at Virginia@gfo.org. German Group 1 – 3 p.m. Topic: #1. Lew Ebner has a wonderful German video to show us along the Rhine River. Topic #2. It’s a new year. Think of one place you are researching, and let’s all help each other fill in the pieces or at least a piece of the puzzle. Hoffentlich! / Hopefully! The German Interest Group was formed in the spring of 2011. It is intended to be a source of information and inspiration for anyone with German speaking ancestors. One goal is to provide information on a variety of topics related to Germanic history and migration. We also will provide time for members to share their research journeys and connect with others who may be researching the same region or time period. The group meets at the GFO Library on the 1st Saturday of every month. Questions? Email the group facilitators at German@gfo.org. SUNDAY, January 6th Manuscripts Work Party 9 a.m. – noon Explore our manuscript, personal papers, and Bible collection while we organize, scan, and create finding aids. Drop by at the time that works for you. Questions? Send a note to manuscripts@gfo.org. MONDAY, January 7th Free First Monday! 9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. Come visit our research library each first Monday of every month and splurge on all GFO’s wonderful resources for FREE. Explore our online databases like Fold3, Ancestry World Library Edition, Newspapers.com, and many more. Our analog and microfilm collections total some 49,000 items. Don’t miss out! TUESDAY, January 8th Beginners’ Boot Camp 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. (Registration is now closed.) Laurel Smith leads a day of beginning genealogy. There will be sessions about the census, vital records, immigration and naturalization, discussions about genealogy software and database use, organizing your research and more — all geared toward beginners. WEDNESDAY, January 9th PMUG College 6 – 8 p.m. Apple Apps: Pages, Numbers & Keynote See all the details above for this week’s class! To register: Call 503-228-1779 or email: college@pmug.org. Bring your Mac to participate with instruction. If you would like additional information for attending this class, please email us at college@pmug.org. (Note, updates may be sent for interruption of services due to weather, etc.)