| THE GENEALOGICAL FORUM’s Thursday Evening E-News Edition February 6, 2020 |
| 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 |
| We’d like to offer our deep thanks to Lynn Rossing for leading our Great Lakes Special Interest Group for several years. Lynn has now stepped down. The next meeting is this Saturday, Feb. 8, from 9:30 – 11:30 a.m., where guest speaker Dale Deatherage will discuss Taverns and Inns. He has found records for his ancestors by researching business licenses in the Great Lakes region, and will share his research journey so that we can all do the same. This is a topic with information that likely would be hard to find elsewhere. However, this will be the last meeting until someone steps up to help keep this group active. Would you be willing to facilitate this group dedicated to helping people find ancestors from the Great Lakes region? The group has met on the second Saturday of each month except in July, August, and December, but this can be changed. Please contact our president, Vince Patton, at president@gfo.org if you’d be willing to keep this group alive. |
| Join us for our 2020 Spring Seminar, “Solve Puzzles with DNA,” on April 4 & 5, to be presented by nationally-known genetic genealogy author and educator Karen Stanbary, CG®, MA, LCSW. |
| The Saturday, April 4 classes, will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.at Portland’s Center for Self Enhancement (SEI).
Karen will guide experienced beginners and above in learning how to
manage and interpret DNA evidence, then how to incorporate it into
existing documentary research and provide guidance on managing
conversations about unexpected DNA results. If you register now, the
cost for GFO members for this full day is just $45 and for non-members,
$50. The
Sunday half-day classes on April 5 will be held at the GFO from 9:30
a.m. – Noon. Deepen and expand your intermediate- to advanced-level
skills as Karen presents more complex genealogy puzzles requiring more
complex DNA evidence analysis. Early registration price for this
half-day is just $25 for GFO members and $30 for non-members. Download the Seminar Flyer for more details. Remember, we have Early-Bird Registration prices! On March 1, all prices will increase by $5. This is a great opportunity to learn more about solving those genealogy puzzles with the use of DNA. |
| From 9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, February 23, join BCG Certified Genealogist Mary Kircher Roddy as she presents a hands-on guide for the experienced spreadsheet user using Excel to gain perspective on and to further your genealogy research. For a more complete description, download the seminar flyer. Seating is limited to 30 people! Everyone gets a spot at a table. Participants should bring their (fully charged) laptops pre-loaded with Excel. Mary is an active member of Seattle Genealogical Society, the Genealogical Speakers Guild, the Association of Professional Genealogists, and the National Genealogical Society. She has published articles in Family Chronicle, Internet Genealogy, and the National Genealogical Society Quarterly. The fee is $35.00 for GFO Members and $40.00 for non-members. |
| It’s time for a genealogy conference in your backyard–one which doesn’t cost a dime! Save these dates for the 2020 GFO Genealogy Open House: March 13-22. Over these 10 days, the library is free to the public and everyone is invited to all classes. Of particular note, we have an Evening with Special Guest John Schmal on Mexican Ancestry, a Beginners Day, DNA Day, Software Day, and Irish Day. |
| Save your favorite classes on your calendar! No registration required for any events. 42 events in all! It’s like having a free genealogy conference in your own backyard. Join us! |
| News from the Library |
| New Books • An informal history of the German language: with chapters on Dutch and Afrikaans, Frisian and Yiddish • Cheapside before the Great Fire • Divorce records for Washington County, Indiana, 1814-1921 • Early marriages in Indiana • Historical Shaniko tales • History of the Sierra Nevada • Newport, Oregon: 1882-1982: centennial magazine • Pathways to Michigan’s Black heritage • Preceding the Mayflower: the Pilgrims in England and in the Netherlands • Searching for Black Confederates: the Civil War’s most persistent myth • Slavery remembered: a record of twentieth-century slave narratives • Textiles in America 1650-1870: A dictionary based on original documents, prints and paintings, commercial records, American merchants’ papers, shopkeepers’ advertisements, and pattern books with original swatches of cloth • The families of County Donegal, Ireland: over one thousand entries from the archives of the Irish Genealogical Foundation • The guarded gate: bigotry, eugenics, and the law that kept two generations of Jews, Italians, and other European immigrants out of America • The life of Mark Twain: the early years, 1835-1871 • The Minutemen and their world • Time on the cross: economics of American Negro slavery • Time on the cross: evidence and methods, a supplement • When women didn’t count: the chronic mismeasure and marginalization of American women in federal statistics New Digital Content • Bulletin of the California Central Coast Genealogical Society • Genealogical Goldmine (Paradise, California) • Quicksilver Diggin’s (Santa Clara County, California) • San Diego Leaves and Saplings • San Francisco Historical and Genealogy Bulletin • The Sonoma Searcher |
| U.S. is Hiring Census Workers |
| Genealogists depend on the census. Some of our ancestors were census enumerators, collecting the information we value so much. Now you can do the same. The Census Bureau is hiring through the first week of March. They are seeking census takers to work flexible hours, earn $18-$20 per hour, and receive paid training. Apply Online: 2020census.gov/jobs For more information or help applying, call 1-855-JOB-2020. |
| Will You Be Our Valentine? |
| Shop at smile.amazon.com and AmazonSmile donates to Genealogical Forum Of Oregon at no cost to you! |
| Take a step back in time to 1866 and see what Muskingum County, Ohio looked like 154 years ago. The GFO library is retiring this reprint from 1973 as a nicer copy was donated. Its full title is Atlas of Muskingum Co., Ohio From actual Surveys by and under the direction of F. W. Beers, assisted by Beach Nichols and others. It was published by Beers, Soule & Co. of New York. |
| As a library copy, it has library marks inside the front and back covers and a label on the spine. Otherwise, it is in excellent condition. Its 48 pages include maps of townships and cities, and it includes some illustrations of prominent buildings at that time. |
| As an atlas, it’s large, measuring 14“ by 14″. Our price to pickup at the GFO: $28 Price to ship to you: $38 If you’d like to buy it, please email booksales@gfo.org. |
| Survey Results: Vintage Family Photos |
| Here are the results of our question about old photos in your collection. Twenty-five percent report having photos that are pre 1860, and 34.4% have photos that date from 1850 to 1860. |
| We also asked how you dated your photo. Many reported that the images they had were wedding photos—and they had the marriage date. Some used hairstyles and clothing styles, some used children in the image, and others knew the date of death. Here are just a few of the many replies: |
| •
My third great grandmother – a young woman with hair and dress from
1860s. She was born in 1827 and drowned crossing a river in 1883. • It is a photo of my third great-grandfather Ishmael G Smith, taken in Joliet, IL about 1865. The date is from a tax stamp on back of the photo. |
| Tintype image courtesy of Laurel Smith •
I have a Daguerreotype in a metal frame, of a young woman in period
dress. With technology available at the time and clothing and hairstyle I
estimate this dates to 1860s, Civil War era. I do not know who it is,
but am working on it. • Approximately 1857/58. Ambrotype of my 2nd great-grandparents, James and Martha Smalley, holding their first born, Edna, my great-grandmother, born 1 May 1857. Edna looks to be between 6 and 9 months old in the photo, helping me date it. • Civil War soldier, a great-great-uncle, Andy Miller. A book on the GFO library about his unit noted his death and included a section on the unique uniforms his unit had which matched the photo and help identify him. Photo before July 1863 when he died at Gettysburg. • My oldest photo is of my husband’s grandmother in 1905, age 5. She wrote the date on the back. • Likely early 1860s. Two photos on glass in gold frames, handed down through the family, show my great-great-great aunt and her husband. These are ambrotypes, a form of photography that only lasted one decade into the early 1860s. |
| General James S. Jackson, photo dated 31 Dec 1861, image credit: Wikipedia • The
photo is from Dec 31, 1861. It is of my great-great-grandfather,
General James S. Jackson. He was a general on the Union side of the
Civil War. He was killed in 1862 in the battle of Gettysburg. I have his
actual photo, but there is a copy on Wikipedia. • About 1890. My great-great-grandparents and their first child. I identified my great-great-grandmother because of her uncanny resemblance to one of her daughters and then extrapolated the rest. It also helped that the photo frame indicated it was taken in Kamenets Podolsky, Russia. • I have several daguerreotypes from the 1850s to 1860s of my great-great-grandparents who lived in Massachusetts. They are in the little books and are identified by name, date and place. One is of my great-great-grandmother, Betsy Anne Richmond, who died in 1852. • The oldest photo I have is hand dated on the back from the 1850s of a 3rd great-grandfather, James M Hassler. I also checked the photographer’s insignia on the paper frame with information online showing that photographer was working in the same city and time of this ancestor’s dated photo._ |
| New Survey: Free Genealogy Websites We all love free genealogy websites—what’s your favorite? |
| Saturday, February 8th Great Lakes Interest Group 9:30 – 11:30 a.m. Guest speaker Dale Deatherage will discuss Taverns and Inns. He has found records for his ancestors by researching business licenses in the Great Lakes region, and will share his research journey so that we can all do the same. For more information contact Lynn Rossing at GreatLakes@gfo.org. Writers’ Forum 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. Join this peer group of genealogists, who meet to learn about writing and to share their writing with each other. Peggy Baldwin facilitates this group and can be reached at writers@gfo.org. Sunday, February 9th Library Work Party 9:00 a.m. – noon Prepping periodicals for scanning is on the agenda, and we sure could use 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. Research Assistant Training 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. Training for GFO volunteer research assistants focused on procedures, OPALS, and Q&A. Wednesday, February 12th PMUG College: Browsers and Email 6:00-7:55 p.m. To register: Call 503-228-1779; Email: college@pmug.org. Bring your Mac/iPad to participate with instruction. If you would like additional info for attending this class, please email us. Free to GFO and PMUG members. GFO Library Open Late to 8:00 p.m. |