THE GENEALOGICAL FORUM’s Thursday Evening E-News Edition June 20, 2019

Curious about the status of your GFO Membership? We’d love to have you as a GFO Member!

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

Nanci Remington Named to GFO Hall of Fame

This year, the board of directors is proud to name Nanci Remington as the GFO’s 2019 Hall of Fame honoree. We’ve almost lost track of all the hats Nanci Remington has worn during her decade of volunteering at the GFO. Nanci is more than just a Research Assistant. She has her own fan club. Patrons make a point of coming down on days they know she will be at the library.

GFO President Vince Patton presents the Hall of Fame Award to long time volunteer Nanci Remington.

Among her many other hats over the years: ▪ She goes above and behond answering emails sent to info@gfo.org. ▪ Served as Education Chair and headed the Open House for several years. ▪ Filled the gap when the Seminars Committee lost its co-chair and filled that role all on her own for several well-organized years. ▪ She founded the German Special Interest Group. ▪ She was also one of the key players in the predecessor or our current Problem Solvers Special Interest Group—the Hunting and Gathering SIG. ▪ Formed and still co-leads the Manuscripts Committee, helping to make the treasures within available to researchers worldwide. ▪ She’s been writing interesting articles for the Bulletin for ages, and most recently agreed to become its co-editor. ▪ Our good fortune seems to be that if she burns out of one role, she always pops up in another. For her true leadership, service, and accomplishments, we are proud to add the name of Nanci Remington to the GFO Hall of Fame.

Italian Ancestry Group Returns

We are pleased that the Italian Special Interest Group is returning from hiatus! It will meet on a new day, under the leadership of GFO member Nancy Matheny. Nancy has set up a series of topics to fill the rest of the year. ▪ Jul 2 – Lecture #1: Italian-Americans: Find your ancestral home in the old country ▪ Aug 6 – Lecture #2: Italian-Americans: Find your ancestor’s passenger list ▪ Sep 3 – Lecture #3: Italian-Americans: Find your ancestor’s naturalization records ▪ Oct 1 – Lecture #4: Italian-Americans: Find your ancestor’s Italian civil records ▪ Nov 5 – Lecture #5: Italian-Americans: Find your ancestor’s Italian church records ▪ Dec 3 – Lecture #6: Italian-Americans: Find your ancestor’s Italian military records The Italian group will meet on the 1st Tuesday of each month from 10 a.m. to Noon at the GFO Library. All meetings are free and open to the public. Questions? Contact Italian@gfo.org

Half-Day Workshop: Adding Historical Context

Adding Historical Context: A Hands-On Approach Join GFO’s Kate Eakman July 14 from 9:30 a.m. – Noon 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 Now

PMUG Clinic Debuts at the GFO

June 26th 6:00 – 7:45 p.m. in the GFO Classroom. If you missed our meeting on June 12th, Portland Macintosh Users Group will be repeating one of our most successful events at the GFO – the PMUG Clinic. The Clinic is a friendly place where you can bring in that Mac/iPad/iPhone that is giving you problem for free diagnostics, as well as help with many other issues. Some examples of how PMUG Clinic can help you include: • If you have questions on one of the basic Apple software apps, you don’t need to take a whole class to get your questions answered. • If you are having problems with your Mac/iPhone/iPad, you can bring it in for a free diagnostic. • If you want to find the best backup system for your genealogy archives, you can get a custom recommendation based your actual needs. No need to register, just show up during clinic hours: Bring your Mac or Apple mobile device. If you would like additional information for attending PMUG Clinic, please email us at college@pmug.org.

Help Us Finish the Year with a Cushion!

In our personal lives, June doesn’t typically trigger us think to think about the money we’re spending. At the GFO, this is the last month of our fiscal year. We see how some expenses rose more than we expected. In fact, we learned recently we must replace three computers which are on death’s door. This is an unexpected expense. We’re all volunteer. No one gets paid. Every dime of your support goes directly into the GFO’s operations. The GFO preserves heritage in our 50,000 holdings, and offers more than 180 classes during the year. Please make a gift today to help us fuel the lifelong learning genealogists enjoy.

Contribute now

FGS Family History Conference Early Registration closing soon

Federation of Genealogical Societies’ FGS 2019 Family History Conference is just two months away (August 21 – 24) in Washington, DC, and now is the time to lock in the advance registration discount rate while it lasts! Five Reasons to attend FGS 2019:

▪ Four full days of inclusive topics presented by the nation’s top family history experts with sessions aimed at strengthening your research skills regardless of your level or area of expertise. ▪ Pre-conference opportunities to visit and research at the National Archives, the Library of Congress, and the DAR Library. ▪ A variety of tracks such as American’s Resources, Mid-Atlantic Region, Colonial History and Settlement, Women’s studies, and three DNA tracks to cover DNA foundations, methods, and practice. ▪ Ten luncheons to network with fellow genealogists and enjoy lighter presentations from sponsoring organizations such as Family Search, My Heritage, and the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society. ▪ An Exhibit Hall featuring the latest software, books, maps, and gadgets for genealogists as well as information about genealogical organizations. When you register by June 30th you save $30 on full conference registration, or $10 on single day registration. Attendees who provide 8 hours or more of volunteer service during the conference are eligible for partial refunds of their registration fee!

Register Here

Surplus Book of the Week: Historical Atlas of Indiana

Here’s a treat for map lovers or anyone with Indiana roots. This week’s surplus book is the Illustrated Historical Atlas of Indiana. The maps are from 1876, depicting every county in the state at that time. It includes the plat of Indianapolis and a sampling of illustrations. This handsome, oversized volume measures 14 inches by 17 1/2 inches and is in perfect condition.

Note: This is a 1968 reproduction by the Indiana Historical Society of the original 1876 publication. We have found this atlas for sale online for $50 to $100. Our price: $30 if you pickup at the GFO. $37 if we mail it to you. Contact booksales@gfo.org if you’d like to buy it. (Please don’t just come to the library first to get it.)

Survey Results: Correcting Errors on Ancestry.com

Well done! Nearly 76% of our survey respondents know that it is possible to submit corrections to errors on Ancestry and they’ve done just that. 16% didn’t know, but say they’ll send in corrections now. 8% said they did know about the feature but have never submitted a fix.

New Survey:

Davy Crockett, George Washington, Queen Victoria … Do family stories say you are related to a famous person? Take our survey this week to tell us more.

Take the Survey

This week at GFO …

Sunday, June 23rd Library Work Party 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. 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. Wednesday, June 19th PMUG Clinic 6:00 – 7:45 p.m. For the month of June, the Portland Macintosh Users Group will bring one of our most successful events to the GFO – the PMUG Clinic. The Clinic is a friendly place where you can bring in that Mac/iPad/iPhone that you are having problems with for free diagnostics, as well as many other issues.