Since its launch last year, the WSGS Pioneer Pursuit project has been a huge success, adding 3,696 pioneers to our index at the end of the contest (31 Oct 2023), and another 120 more names since then. Now, let us try to reach a goal of 5,000 names by November 11, 2024! 

We’re encouraging everyone, whether you’re a WSGS member or not, to submit a three-generation genealogy (with sources) for every man, woman and child who lived in Washington Territory on or before November 11, 1889 when we became the 42nd state. We want to have 5,000 names in our free public index — and we need your help!

We’ve made it easy to submit Pioneer Pursuit genealogies. First, check both the Pioneer Pursuit index and the Pioneer Certificate Project index to see if a family or individual is already listed. If you find a name in the Pioneer Certificate Project index, your work is almost done — just include the name(s) on the Submittal Form and we’ll pull the information from the Certificate Project to Pioneer Pursuit.

If you’re new to Pioneer Pursuit, there are lots of resources on our website. To learn more about Pioneer Pursuit, from the WSGS Home Page‘s left navigation bar, select Washington Pioneer Pursuit. Check the Submission Instructions, Submission Example and Frequently Asked Questions to see how to type up your genealogy and add your source materials. The last step is to complete the Submittal Form (available in PDF and Word) and send it to wapioneerpursuit@gmail.com or mail it to Washington State Genealogical Society, Pioneer Pursuit, 1901 S. 12th Ave, Union Gap, WA 98903.

REMEMBER, YOU DON’T HAVE TO RESEARCH YOUR FAMILY – we want to document everyone who was in Washington Territory on or before November 11, 1889. Let’s work together to add additional names. We ONLY NEED about 1,200 more names to meet our goal!