| THE GENEALOGICAL FORUM’s Thursday Evening E-News Edition May 30, 2019 |
| Curious about the status of your GFO Membership? We’d love to have you as a GFO Member! |
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gfo.org | 503-963-1932 | info@gfo.org Be sure to check the complete GFO CALENDAR. Also, don’t miss the current issue of The Forum Insider |
| Late Hours Now Permanent on Free First Mondays! |
| We began an experiment this spring by offering late hours, until 8:00 p.m., on our first Monday of the month. These are popular days because the GFO is free to everyone; no membership required. Enough of you enjoyed this feature that we’re now making this part of our regular schedule. The library’s next Free First Monday is coming right up on June 3. We hope we’ll see you. Special Note: If you arrive after 7:00 p.m., the door to the Ford Building may be locked. Call us at 503-963-1932 and we’ll come right up to let you in. |
| Cancellations make 5 seats available for June 10th Beginners’ Boot Camp! |
| Register Now |
| Half-Day Workshop: Adding Historical Context |
| Registration now Open! Adding Historical Context: A Hands-On Approach Join GFO’s Kate Eakman for a half-day of learning about how to add historical context to your genealogical research to make it richer and more interesting. In this workshop you will: ▪ Practice identifying items, events, and topics ripe for historical research. ▪ Once the questions have been asked, learn how to find the answers. ▪ Discuss how to add this new-found information to one’s family’s history. Take advantage of Early Bird pricing. Register by June 30 and save $5.00! |
| Register Here |
| Deadline Looms for Genealogy Scholarship |
| Have you ever wanted to study at the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy? Now is your chance to land a scholarship. The Laura Prescott SLIG Scholarship covers tuition in the course of your choice, plus six nights at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Salt Lake City. You can be a beginner or professional, young or old but you must exhibit a passion for genealogy. The deadline is days away: June 1. Click here to learn more if you’d like to apply. |
| GFO still needs a Webmaster! |
| If you are looking for a way to volunteer, this may be the job for you! Our volunteer webmaster is leaving, and we are looking for someone to take her place. Web design skills are not needed since our website provider has a template we follow. We offer many indexes and resources and our site needs updating when our volunteers finish each new project. Please contact president@gfo.org if you have any questions or wish to volunteer. Thank you. |
| Advanced Notice of GSHA Annual Business Meeting and Conference |
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The
Annual Business Meeting and Conference of the Genealogical Society of
Hispanic American will be held in Pueblo, Colorado, August 16-18. The
host hotel will once again be the Marriott Hotel located about five
minutes from the Rawlings Library and El Pueblo Museum where most of our
activities are planned. The discounted rate is $119 plus tax. Call
(719) 542-3200 and make sure you tell them you are with the Genealogical
Society of Hispanic America to get the discounted rate. Please go to our website for updated information . Online registration is available thru PayPal here. |
| Surplus Book of the Week: Guidebook to Historic Germantown |
| Our featured book this week is The Guidebook to Historic Germantown: Prepared for the Site & Relic Society by Charles F. Jenkins and printed in Germantown (Philadelphia, PA) in 1902. It is inscribed on the flyleaf, “Bought at Relic Show, Germantown Alumni Hall, June 12, 1902.” |
| There are three news clippings glued to the inside covers and back flyleaf, and one of them is about the Relic Show itself! It’s a sweet little book, filled with illustrations, and there’s even a fold-out map. It has a few little scuffs on the cover—but wouldn’t you, too, if you were born in 1902? Otherwise, it is in absolutely fabulous condition. Pick it up at the GFO for $25 or have it mailed to you for $30. Contact booksales@gfo.org for more information. |
| Survey Results: Your DNA Experience |
| We received 82 responses to our survey asking whether your DNA results were surprising or not. There were a lot more surprises than we expected, 35 (42.7%), while 47 (57.3%) reported ho hum results. One participant said, “I was hoping for something more exotic, but no.” The reasons for the surprises were varied and interesting. Respondents could select more than one answer. |
| ▪ Confirming an ancestor in question: 15.8% ▪ Ethnicities you weren’t expecting: 23.7% ▪ Unknown parentage of you or an ancestor: 23.7% ▪ Family members with unexpected parentage: 21.1% ▪ Health issues: 5.2% ▪ Other included Y-DNA matches have not revealed anyone with the same surname; Identified two brick wall great-grandfathers; Descendants of relatives I was not aware of; and What I already knew. We invited participants to tell us more if they wanted to share. Click here to see all the comments. |
| New Survey: Has DNA testing helped you break through a Brick Wall? |
| Genealogists often hit “brick walls,” a dead end in their research of a specific ancestor. We’d like to know if DNA has helped you solve any of yours. And for those of you bored with all the DNA questions, we have a query just for you. |
| Take the Survey |
| This week at GFO … Saturday, June 1st Virginia Group 9:00 a.m.- 12:00 p.m. Pirates or Privateers – What’s in a Name? Did your ancestors have contact with pirates or privateers? If they lived anyplace along the Eastern Seaboard, from Canada through New England and the southern colonies, all the way to the Caribbean, their lives were likely affected. Trade routes and the safe exchange of goods was essential for survival, as was security in times of war – Revolutionary, 1812, and the Civil war. Join the Virginia Group to learn a little about this history and its role in the political, social, and economic development of the modern world. Did you know Sir Walter Raleigh was a privateer? Join us to explore this exciting history. For more information see our blog: Virginia Roots and Vines. You can also reach this group’s leaders, Judi Scott and Carol Currency, at virginia@gfo.org. Sunday, June 2nd Library Work Party – Manuscripts 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. 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, June 3rd GFO Free Monday 9:30 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. GFO open for free to non-members. Wednesday, June 5th Learn and Chat 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. At Learn & Chat some of the learning comes from speakers with particular expertise but most of it comes from the sharing of experiences and knowledge of attendees who have developed methods that work for them. And if you have been doing genealogy for any length time you have likely experienced the wonderful moments of exhilaration, the successes that you then share with others and that drive you to continue researching. Unfortunately those times can be few and far between. Join us to talk about your genealogy questions and help provide support to others. Facilitated by Jeanne Quan. DNA Q&A 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. Lisa McCullough will be available to help answer your DNA questions, whether you are new and just getting started or have more involved questions. You may contact Lisa if you want more information. dna_qa@gfo.org |