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| Hello there, this is a simple reminder that you may now file your annual Form 990-N form for Your Genealogical Society |
 If you are not responsible for filing the Form 990-N for YOUR GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY, please forward this email to the appropriate party.  If you already filed, please disregard this email.  The IRS e-file system began processing business returns for the 2020 tax year on January 8th, 2021. |
Have you noticed the Blog banner changes every time you visit? The photos are submitted by readers like you — and Trish Hackett Nicola and Sue Schack Jensen and Jo-Anne Huber.
Thank you, Trish, Sue and Jo-Anne, for your contributions.
We’re always looking for scenic photos of our beautiful state for the rotating photo gallery on the blog banner.
Guidelines for the photos are few:
•Landscapes, landmarks, and scenery photos are preferred. If, however, you have a perfect photo that includes people, please obtain their permission to post the photo.
•Photo must have been taken in Washington State (this is the Washington State Genealogical Society blog, after all!).
•Photo will be cropped to 1100 x 250 pixels, so keep that in mind. If in doubt, send it to us & we’ll figure it out.
•You may submit as many photos as you want.
•Final decisions on suitable photos will be made by the awesome WSGS Blog Team.
•There’s no prize if your photo is chosen – just the satisfaction that your photo is being showcased on a blog viewed by hundreds of enthusiastic genealogists.
•There’s no firm deadline to submit photos, just keep ‘em coming. We want to rotate lots of photos to keep the blog fresh.
To submit your photo, please email the image (jpg only, please); what, where, when, and by whom the photo was taken to WSGSBlog@wasgs.org.
Got questions? Email the blog team at WSGSBlog@wasgs.org.
I want to compliment Charles Hansen on what a good job he has done of getting the WSGS Facebook page off the ground. Nice job.
Jill Morelli, Seattle
Note: If you haven’t “Liked” the WSGS Facebook page, we encourage you to click here.
Happy New Year
Been an interesting year, never had to post so many seminar and meeting cancellations, but eventually we learned to have our meetings online on Zoom, Web-ex, Google and even Facebook. That allowed us to join meetings in other states without travel, motels, parking and traffic. The only bad part was we all miss meeting our friends in person. Lets hope we can get back together in 2021, but still have the ability to listen in to seminars a long way from our homes. We are learning to work together in ways we never dreamed we could so lets expand that and help all the Washington genealogical societies. I also post a lot of seminars on the WSGS Facebook Page, because it goes out immediately not once a week like the WSGS Blog, check it out.
I have been asked how am I doing by a lot of people, and I am doing fine, I like peace and quiet and do not like crowds, my favorite volunteer job was doing research in a quiet archive, and I got to do that for eight years at the county courthouse in the auditors archives. That ended when all the records were digitized and the originals were moved to the Washington State Regional Archive in Cheney Washington. They then moved the Law Library in the space that used to have the auditors records.
I am also a volunteer with Scribe and by the end of the year I will have digitized 92,000 names in 2020 and 370,000 names since they started counting, but that was many years after I had started. At first we got a 3.5 inch floppy disk and paper copies to digitize records.
I want t wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Special thanks goes out to everyone that has kept sending me the information for monthly meetings, seminars, and general genealogical news.
Charles Hansen
You may have heard recently that the owner of Easy Net Sites (ENS), Tom Ryder, has been accused of serious crimes in Florida. He is currently being held without bail in the Hillsborough County Jail, awaiting a hearing on 21 Dec 2020.
I understand many of your concerns about the future of your website. In light of this unsettled time, I suggest you watch Thomas MacEntee’s free “Genealogy Society Town Hall” that was live on Monday, 14 Dec 2020, 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time. Thomas will discuss options available to you to move your society’s website host to a new host. He will cover all the options available (WordPress, Wix, Weebly, Wild Apricot). Current charges against Tom Ryder will not be discussed nor will comments about the charges be permitted. Thomas’s town hall is not an attempt to undermine another genealogy vendor’s business or to capitalize on an unfortunate situation. He is providing information so we (societies using ENS) can make informed decisions about our websites, and you can consult your board once you have options.
| MY APOLOGIES for those of you who could not get into the Genealogy Society Town Hall last evening! We had 776 registrants with what was supposed to be 500 participants but Zoom only set me up for 300! Please see the links below and PLEASE SHARE with your fellow gen soc board members and regular membership! Genealogy Society Town Hall December 14, 2020 HANDOUT Genealogy Society Town Hall December 14, 2020 VIDEO Genealogy Society Town Hall December 14, 2020 SLIDES |
Please thank Thomas MacEntee for the links.
Have you noticed the Blog banner changes every time you visit? The photos are submitted by readers like you — and Carol Norder Brumbaugh Ballard of Lacey and Sue Schack Jensen, Library Director at the Seattle Genealogical Society. Carol sent us a serene photo of Chambers Lake in Panorama in Lacey. Sue sent us six beautiful scenic photos of Seattle’s skyline and waterfront, including this Goose Parade near Issaquah. Watch the blog banner for all of these photos!
We’re always looking for scenic photos of our beautiful state for the rotating photo gallery on the blog banner. It’s easy — just send a Washington State jpg image to wsgsblog@wasgs.org with a description of the photo. The blog masters will take care of the rest!
I want to thank all the people that have subscribed to this blog, a few over 900 now, but the biggest thanks are those people that send me their upcoming programs so all 900 subscribers will be able to connect with a program that interests them.
This year with covid has made the societies jump into online presentations that makes it easy for someone to attend a meeting or a seminar without leaving their home, and even join a meeting clear across the country without the expense of travel or having to fight traffic and find parking. We do miss seeing our friends and so after we can get back together will we still meet remotely?
These three postcards are from my uncle Leigh Hansen’s postcard collection, most all are from before 1920.
Announcement from WA State Genealogical Society!!
Due to the Covid pandemic, many of our local genealogical societies are struggling! WSGS recognizes how difficult it is for local societies to keep in touch with members. To help and provide support to local societies, WSGS will be sending out a gift of $300 to each society. This money is intended to help cover the cost of a subscription for online meetings or webinars or any other means which could help keep in touch with members.