In February, 2023, we were blessed to be in Maui, Hawaii. Walking in downtown Lahaina, I spotted this memorial stone-marker. It really made me pause and think. I knew about Roosevelt’s WPA projects, and the CCC corps, but only thought of it within the 48 states. But no, there were projects in all 50 states!

In Lahaina, it was a WPA project to develop the downtown Banyan Tree Park. Other Maui projects were Lahaina’s  Sea Wall, the highway between Lahaina and Wailuku (and the airport) and the Hala Pa’ahao Prison……. which was first built in the 1850s and restored several times since as a historic site in Lahaina. 

A project many of you will recognize, having driven it perhaps more than once, is the Haleakala Road, built as a WPA project between 1933-1944 at a cost of nearly $500,000 (nearly $12 billion today). This is was a ten-year project as Haleakala summit lies at 10,000 feet and is about a15-mile very serpentine road. 

As you probably know, there were WPA/CCC programs and projects in all 50 states, and it was YOUR ancestors (as young men) who were involved in those programs and projects. Records of the many and various work camps in each state are available; ask Google.

I think most every county in Washington has a genealogical society; some have more than one. Each one of these groups was established for two reasons: to help members with finding their family history, and to keep a library or collection of local resources with which to offer that help.  Do not overlook what can be found locally in a smaller, local society. 

Burlington, in Skagit County, Washington, began as a logging camp in 1882 and was officially incorporated in 1902. That’s a long-time history! The city sits near the Skagit River, which has a history of flooding, but the city bounced back after a terrible flood in 1909 and is a sweet little place to visit today. When I visited with this group, several members told me the stories of how their recent ancestors had moved there from the midwest, lured by lumbering jobs. 

The Skagit Valley Genealogical Society was established in 1987 “to promote and preserve family history,” especially in their area. SVGS maintains an extensive collection of genealogy reference books in the Burlington Public Library. Are you needing research help in Skagit County? Do contact the Skagit Valley Genealogical Society. As a bonus, Burlington is just a tad north of the Skagit Valley tulip explosion; time your trip to enjoy the blooms and visit Burlington and other nearby places in Skagit County. 

After my time with the SVGS group, I took the ferry to Port Angeles to visit family. Thinking of small places as I drove west,  I saw two place-name signs I’d never seen before. One directed folks to turn left for the town of Big….. could find nothing for that town but Big Lake is a designated place in Skagit County. Big, Washington; interesting designation.

Beaver is an unincorporated community in Clallam County on the Olympic Peninsula, settled in the early 1900s. Wikipedia designated it as “one of the wettest places in the contiguous U.S. with an annual rainfall of 121 inches.” Yikes.  Anybody’s ancestor from Beaver, Washington?? I wonder why they left? (smile)
I’ve been to Joyce, in Clallam County. This townlet was founded in 1913 by Joseph Joyce and is 16 miles west of Port Angeles. The historic general store there opened n 1911 and is still offering refreshments to travelers today. Interesting trivia: as there is only one road into town, residents are very aware of  the possibility of a catastrophic earthquake happening (the town sits on the Cascadia subducton zone) and have extensive emergency and survival planning in place. Good for them! 

 The historic wooden-hulled, three-masted frigate, was built in Boston and launched in 1797. Did you know it is still a commissioned vessel of the modern U.S. Navy? 

Named by President George Washington, the Constitution is most famour for her actions against the British Navy during the War of 1812. She earned the nickname “Old Ironsides” in an engagement with the HMS Guerriere when her thick, oak hull sustained relatively minor damage from the Guerrier’s  cannon balls. 

You can read six pages of history on this great old ship on www.historylink.org (our Washington State history site). 

“On May 31, 1933, the historic frigate USS Constitution arrived at the Port of Seattle. After making a grand circuit of Elliott Bay, “Old Ironsides” was moored at Pier 41 in Smith Cove. This was part of a three-year tour around the United States, a public “thank you” to everyone who, from 1925 to 1930, helped raise almost $1 million ($18 billion today) to completely restore the deteriorating vessel.” Some 84,000 people toured the ship in Seattle.
She then made her way up the Washington coast, stopping in Bremerton, Tacoma, Everett, Bellingham, Anacortes, Port Angeles and Port Townsend before heading south for stops along the California coast. She wintered in San Diego before heading back to Boston where she now is permanently moored. As a still-commissioned vessel, she floats IN the bay, not stuck in a concrete bay. 

Don’t we just love our Washington State history tidbits???

Some short time back I was given three big boxes of the basic reference/resource books for New England research. Here in Spokane I’ve tried to find way for anybody interested to have access to these books and I have failed. Could lengthen the story but bottom line I have all these wonderful books that need a home. I’m posting here hoping that some one of you, dear readers, belongs to a genealogical society who has interest (and space!) to have these books available to your members. (EWGS no longer has a genealogy library; too long and too sad a story to share here.) For postage, or UPS charges, I’d be happy to ship these boxes to you………. just say the word. Here is the short history and the list of those books:

I have two “Xerox-size” boxes of books pertaining to early New England research. These books were discards from the Yakima Valley Genealogical Society library.  These are basic books for New England research. That’s not to say everything in each volume is correct; but the volumes do provide clues.

1.  Compendium of American Genealogy, First Families of America by Virkus, published 1926-1942; there are Volumes 2 – 3 – 4 – 6 – 7.
2. New England Marriages Prior to 1700, by Torrey, and Supplement
3. The Great Migration Begins, Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, by Anderson; 3 volumes,  A-F,  C-F,  G-H. (yes looks like a typed mistake but tiz not), published 1995. Likely there are more volumes to this series but my two boxes don’t contain them. J
4. The Great Migration, by Anderson, published between 1999 and 2011, 7 volumes, A-Z.
5. Genealogical Dictionary of First Settlers of New England, Three Generations prior to May 1692, by Savage; 4 volumes covering A-Z, originally published 1860-1862.
6. Digest of Early Connecticut Probate Records, by Manwaring, Vols 1-3 cover Hartford, 1635-1750.
7. Families of Ancient New Haven, by Jacobus, there are 3 compiled volumes only,  1-3, 4-6, and 7-8, first published 1922-1932
8. New England Historic Genealogical Society Register:
   1. 15 volumes from Fall 2019 to Winter 2022
   1. Bunch of old ones, Volumes 1-6,  15-26,  31-34, published between 1847 and 1881.

Email me directly, please: Donna243@gmail.com…. and ONLY if you’re interested in having the books. Please don’t just say “sorry we cannot.”

 Last March, several EWGS members had a Learning Day Out Road Trip! Jeanne Coe, Jennilyn Weight and me, were joined by Karen Lehfeldt and Janet Damm (of the Whitman Co Gen Soc), for a most fun day.

Janet is the Librarian for WCGS and since they are paring down their collection to keep mostly only Whitman County books, a long list of give-away-books enticed us to stop and load our tote bags. (Possibly they still are culling and giving away; contact them if you’re interested.) 

For years I’ve driven past this museum and today was the day to finally stop and learn. I had thought this breed of horse somehow originated with the Native Americans in the Palouse area, but no. There are ancient cave paintings depicting “spotted horses.”

And did you realize that Appaloosa horses, like many horse breeds, have recorded pedigrees? In the museum was a big thick book of Appaloosa Horse Pedigrees…..

Then we five had a fun lunch at Roosters in Clarkston and attended a local history talk in the Lewiston Public Library………. after a stop at the Lewiston County Historical Society Museum, of course!

There are soooooo many day trips to take in our wonderful Evergreen State! Gather up a car full and GO!

 Are you of Norwegian descent? Especially Norwegians who came to the Pacific Northwest? Are you aware of the fabulous National Nordic Museum in Seattle?? WOW, you say?

Located in NW Seattle, close to the water, this museum offers so much of interest to those of Nordic descent and those (like me) who are not. Here’s a snip from their website:

Five countries, twelve thousand years  —  At the Museum, you’ll visit five distinct galleries with selections from our permanent collection and more than 100 objects on loan from the national museums of all five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.) Whether you want to be transported to the Viking-era or explore twentieth-century modern design, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.

You just must visit their website to see what all the Nordic Museum offers:  www.nordicmuseum.org.  Right now, until June 30, there is a really special artwork display: “….an immersive artwork…. specifically crafter for the museum and illumimating the natural ocean connections between Seattle and its Nordic sister city, Reykjavik.” “To immerse guests into a marine atmosphere, the scent of seaweed harvested from the Pacific and North Atlantic oceans will be tinctured, distilled and dispersed through the room.”  I want to go!!

The Ellis Island tidbits come via a query posted to the Washington State Genealogical Society and from a lady in one of my classes: Steve asked “if 1st and 2nd class ships’ passengers to New York disembarked “at the pier” and the ship then went to Ellis Island to unload 3rd class passengers for screening…..what about the upper classes’ servants (nannies, maids, valets, wet nurses, etc)? Did they disembark with their employers? And would they be on the passenger lists?”  The answer to Steve was advising him to click to this site:http://immigrationinmy.weebly.com/the-experience-at-ellis-island.htmlI answered the other question, posed in my beginner’s class, that Ellis Island opened in 1892 and prior to that the records would be at Castle Garden. WELL!  This lady found her ancestor coming from France into Ellis Island in 1889! Doing some fact-checking for her, I found that yes, indeed, there were some immigrants who somehow came through Ellis Island prior to its official opening. 

Don’t we learn something every single day if we but keep our eyes and mind open??

 I purposely planned for a few library days after RootsTech and I’m so glad I did! Combining RootsTech learning with some new realizations was both wonderful and sobering.  Maybe you already realized these things…………

One good talk was on “Avoiding Ancestor Theft,” and how we must be SURE when we’re adding new people to our family tree. We cannot rely on same-name alone; all the factors must concur: name, date and place. Consider this image; is there such a bird? Or cat?

Sure looks real, doesn’t it. But is it?? This was the speaker’s example of how we add 2 + 2 and get 5. His point: just as there are such images posted online, there are fictional trees posted online too. (Woohoo, there is a posted online tree that has John Smith married to Pocahontas!! Do you think??) 

Another thing one of the RootsTech presenters pointed out is this: You are looking for a Robert Smith who married Mary Wilson. But you find an almost perfect match for Robert Smith but he’s married to Rebecca Thompson! Is is the right Robert Smith or not? In other words, don’t get hung up on one marriage; our ancestors were survivors and death came easily so often second and third marriages did happen. 

One last Golden Point I learned. The presenter asked bluntly, “What sources do you swallow as good and add them to your tree?” She was referring to online trees, especially the older ones like Pedigree Resource File, Ancestral File, the very ancient IGI. She cautioned us to note them as exactly what they are: tidbits that might be true or not. Mostly usually not. 

Trivia:  The presentations from 2023 RootsTech are and will be available online for at least a year. Google and learn!!

 First news of all is the name change: our favorite genealogy library is now the FamilySEARCH Library and new signs on the building proclaim that. Makes sense; FamilySearch is the “umbrella” program we all use. 

Second big change is the arrangement of each floor. The first floor is a welcome-and-entry-level-help with an army of smiling volunteers. They’ll give you an iPad and key to your tree on FamilySearch and you go to stations to learn things like what’s the origin of your surname, info on the place you were born, etc. Fun-fun-fun!

The second floor is totally different. The microfilm cabinets are still there but gone is that “dark alley” of big hooded film readers. Now there are table-stations, each with a film reader (foreground) and two screens….. you can view and print right from your chair.

Third floor still has all the US and Canada books; most family histories are digitally available through the catalog. And there are fewer tables but bigger stations with two computer screens. 

Not quite sure about B-1 and B-2; they’re still international but also have been re-arranged.

Trivia:  The Salt Lake airport is totally re-done also! It’s bigger, and (of course) more spread out. The Plaza hotel is still there (thankfully!) but as of this spring, there is no in-house restaurant. They tell me they have strong nibbles for one to come soon.  Temple Square is still under construction and we’ll have to walk around until 2026, I understand. The restaurants in the Joseph Smith Memorial Bldg are closed too. As you’d guess, this makes getting meals a bit more difficult but within two blocks is the Food Court and others. 

Don’t be shy about going to spend time in the FamilySearch Library! They’re eager to help us with any genealogical problem.