Meet the Board: Melonie Liening

Dec21 by Roxanne Lowe

Do you know who’s running the show at the Washington State Genealogical Society? Did you know we have an Executive Committee, six standing committee chairs and three appointed non-elected officers? Who are all these people? In the coming months, we’ll introduce them to you, so you can say “hi” the next time you see them.

Melonie Liening

In today’s “Meet the Board” series, we’re introducing you to Melonie Liening from Tacoma. Melonie is the Regional Representative for Region 2 which includes King and Pierce Counties. She has been a member of WSGS since 2014.

Melonie Ann Sackman was born in Sedro Woolley, Washington to Leroy and Mollie Sackman. Her roots run deep in Skagit County as both of her parents were from Sedro Woolley, too.

Melonie and her husband Ralph celebrated their 40^th wedding anniversary in June and have four grown children: three sons and a daughter. While they don’t have any grandchildren yet, they do have a “granddog” and “grandcat.”

Melonie’s grandparents Gottlieb Sackman and Katherine Kreis

Melonie has been doing genealogical research for 35 years, mostly Germans from Russia which includes her Dad‘s and husband’s sides of the family. She became interested in her German family around age 12 when her uncle gave her a very rough sketch of their Sackman family on a scrap of paper — just names, no places or dates, but mentioned the family was from Russia. Her love of genealogy began to grow in her 20’s as a night out for herself when her children were young. She would go to the local Family History Center about once a week to do a bit of research after her husband got home from work. Since those early years, her passion has evolved far more than she ever could have imagined with several filing cabinets, many books, etc. as well as trips to Europe to visit homeland villages, relatives she initially met via the mail or email and appreciation of the life and struggles of her ancestors as well as a greater understanding of history. Melonie taught herself to read the German and Polish records — but draws the line at learning Russian! Most recently, Melonie has been working with the American lines on her mother’s side which include seven patriot ancestors!

Melonie in her DAR dress

Melonie has traveled to Poland, Ukraine, Germany and New England in search of ancestral records. One of her most exciting finds was seeing an original 1726 tax book with her Georg Dammel ancestor listed and the amount of money paid. The tax book was in the private home of a woman living in the village of Grötzingen, Germany. The woman’s father was a former mayor of the village and had kept the tax books all these years in his home.

Besides being a proud member of WSGS, Melonie is a member of the Mary Ball Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) in Tacoma, Tacoma-Pierce County Genealogical Society, The Society of German Genealogy in Eastern Europe where she has been a board member for 2-1/2 years, currently serving as secretary as well as a member of the International German Genealogical Partnership, a new group that is planning an outstanding conference for all things German this summer in Minneapolis. (For more information on the International Germanic Genealogy Conference, click here.)

A few other interesting tidbits about Melonie:

Her favorite color is pink.
Her favorite dessert is Angel Food Cake.
Besides genealogy, her favorite hobbies are related to history and children.
She particularly recommends the Society for German Genealogy in Eastern Europe (SGGEE) website for those interested in genealogy of Germans from Russian Poland and Volhynia.

Now you know a little more about one of the WSGS Board members. The next time you see Melonie, say hello and thank her for her service to the WSGS.

Meet the Board: Sue Ericksen

Nov7 by Roxanne Lowe

Sue Ericksen

In today’s “Meet the Board” series, we’re introducing you to Sue Ericksen from Zillah in Yakima County. Sue is WSGS’s Treasurer, but her involvement has been longstanding: WSGS’s President from 2009 – 2012, membership chair, web manager and Region 5 representative.

In addition to her WSGS dedication, Sue is an active member of the Yakima Valley Genealogical Society, currently serving as its vice president and web manager. She was also a major player in YVGS’s recent acquisition of the massive Yakima Family History library collection that used to be housed in the LDS Yakima Family History library (approximately 6,000 microfilm and 6,000 microfiche). You can also add presenter to Sue’s long list of credentials. She will be presenting a talk on “Copyright vs. Plagiarism” at the February 4, 2017 YVGS meeting.

Susan Bernice Semenza was born to Norman and Sallie (Gallupe) Semenza in National City, California, not far from San Diego. Sue has researched her family lines for many, many years, following their migrations and journeys through Germany, Italy, England and Canada. When she does find time to do her research, she often uses Ancestry.com.

Sue married William Leroy Ericksen on 18 Sept 1965 in Wapato (Yakima County). They celebrated 50 years of marriage before his passing earlier this year. Together, they were successful orchardists in the fertile Zillah area, growing apples, peaches and pears. They are the parents of three children and grandparents of five.

A few other tidbits about Sue:
• Hobbies besides genealogy – reading, bird watching
• Favorite color – yellow
• Favorite dessert – cherry pie
• Word that best describes her – busy!

Now you know a little more about one of the WSGS Board members. The next time you see Sue, say hello and thank her for her service to the WSGS.

Meet the Board: Charles Hansen

Oct9 by Roxanne Lowe

Web Blog Manager Charles Hansen

In our new “Meet the Board” series, we’re introducing you to Charles Hansen from Spokane. Charles is WSGS’s Blog Master, as well as chair of the Resource Guide Project. He is a longtime member of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society where he serves as their Registered Agent, email chair, chief researcher (since 1998), head of library volunteers and one of their bloggers.

We know him as Charles, but he was born Charles Michael Hansen and called “Mike” by his family for as long as he can remember – probably to avoid confusion with his maternal grandfather Charles Rupert Kelly after whom he was named. His middle name honored his paternal grandfather Anton Mikkel Hansen.

Born in Spokane, Charles graduated from Washington State University in Pullman in 1971. For many years, he’s been an “Enrolled Agent,” someone considered by the IRS to be the equivalent of a CPA – able to do examinations, collections and appeals. In case you were wondering, the name Enrolled Agent came about soon after the Civil War when Enrolled Agents were authorized by the government to fill out paperwork for the veterans and families of the veterans for benefits provided by the government.

Charles and his grandfather Charles Kelly, Aunt Mayme McMichael and his grandmother Cleo Kelly

Charles became interested in genealogy back in 1990 after he and his sister Jacque decided to hold a family reunion. They started looking for their Hansen relatives – not an easy task considering that Charles and Jacque have more than 100 second cousins! After corresponding with their Dad’s first cousin Lorraine Erickson, a Family History Center volunteer in Arizona, Lorraine sent them a group sheet — something Charles and Jacque had never seen before! Lorraine suggested they send blank group sheets with the reunion packets. Imagine their surprise when they got 350 family group sheets back! They dutifully typed the information into a program called the “Enhanced Family Tree” and printed a book for everyone that came to the reunion.

That started the ball rolling. Wanting to find out more about their family, they took a beginning genealogical course through the local community college taught by Donna Potter-Phillips, past president of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society — and WSGS Vice President. She encouraged Charles and Jacque to join EWGS and the rest is, well…history.

A tip from Charles: I didn’t record who sent me each group sheet, so for the first 500 names in my genealogical file today most have no sources, but I do have the hard copy group sheets. Also the Enhanced Family Tree program did not have the ability to save data as a GEDCOM so when I switched to a better program, I had to retype all the data I had.

Charles and Jacque recently returned from a road trip to visit family and the Montana State Genealogical Society conference in Missoula to hear Judy Russell and Amy Crow. Charles has also visited Minnesota where the five original Hansen brothers settled. He’s also got ancestors from Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, New England, Denmark, England, Scotland and Germany.

When Charles isn’t blogging on the WSGS Blog (or his own blog http://charles-mikkelshus.blogspot.com/), researching at the county courthouse, volunteering at EWGS or doing his own genealogy, he’s out in his garden puttering here and there.

More trivia about Charles:

His favorite color is blue.
His favorite dessert is ice cream.
His most used genealogy website is the Washington State Digital Archives – where he’s transcribed over 523,000 records!
He says the single word that best describes him is “introvert.”

Now you know a little more about one of the WSGS Board members. The next time you see Charles, say hello and thank him for his service to the WSGS.

Meet the Board: Mikal McKinnon

Aug31 by Roxanne Lowe

In the first of our new “Meet the Board” series, we’re fittingly introducing you to President Mikal A. McKinnon from Richland, Washington. Mike, as we all know him, has been the WSGS President since 01 Jan 2013. His second term ends 31 Dec 2016.

Mikal, age 3 in 1944

WSGS President Mikal McKinnon

Mike and his wife Janet (who you’ll meet later in the Meet the Board series) are the parents of five children: four sons and a daughter. They’re also the loving grandparents of 13. Mike and Janet met at Utah State University and have been married more than 50 years.

Mikal was born in Salt Lake City to Archivald Graham McKinnon and wife Julia Wahlstrom, both natives of the Beehive State. Mikal was named after his mother’s supervisor in nurses training Mrs. Mikals.

Mikal’s interest in genealogy began as a teenager when his father had him type family stories while learning to touch type on a typewriter. Today, Mikal has searched family lines from Pennsylvania and New Jersey to across the pond in Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales and Sweden. Most often using FamilySearch.org, Mikal once found land records containing a reference to a will that pushed the end of one family line back three generations — an exciting find!

December 1964

Prior to becoming WSGS President, Mikal served as the Region 5 Representative for two terms. He has been the Tri- City Genealogical Society‘s president, as well as the Richland Family History Center‘s Assistant Director and librarian. Mikal has served in many Latter Day Saints (LDS) Church leadership positions over the years, in addition to 50+ years in Boy Scouting. Currently he and Janet are serving in a volunteer position with Family Search supporting LDS Church leaders in western Washington State.

What does Mikal do when he’s not doing genealogy? He’s interested in lapidary, cutting and polishing rocks to make decorative items.

More trivia about Mikal:

His favorite color is blue.
His favorite dessert is apple pie.
He said the single word that describes best is “quiet.”

Now you know a little more about one of the WSGS Board members. The next time you see Mikal, say hello and thank him for his service to the WSGS.

Meet Your Blog Team

Jun17 by Roxanne Lowe

Have you ever wondered who’s behind the scenes of the WSGS Blog? The terrific trio of Charles Hansen, Roxanne Lowe and Donna Potter Phillips work together to bring you interesting articles, news and tidbits about genealogy and family history in Washington State and the Pacific Northwest. All three of them are at the WSGS Conference in Tacoma tomorrow (18 Jun 2016), so look for news and photos about what’s happening there.

WSGS Blog Team: Roxanne Lowe, Charles Hansen & Donna Potter Phillips

In the coming months, you’ll learn more about Charles, Roxanne and Donna, as well as the rest of the WSGS Board in a bi-weekly feature called “Meet the Board.”

In the meantime, if you’re looking to publicize your local event or workshop, have a feature story or update about your society, or other genealogical information that might be of interest to our many subscribers, just email a Word document, text file, PDF or graphic to WSGSBlog@wasgs.org and Charles, Roxanne and/or Donna will do the rest. The blog is a great way to reach hundreds of genealogists from around the state and beyond.

WSGS President (& First Lady) Mikal & Janet McKinnon

Jun4 by Charles Hansen

When we meet together for WSGS functions, we see one side of our president, Mikal McKinnon.

I recently was in Richland and made a surprise visit to a site of his more natural habitat, the Family History Center, where he is assistant director. And of course he could not do it without the help of his Janet!

Thought you all would enjoy seeing a different aspect of their life.

Washington State Genealogical Society Blog

Category Archives: Meet The Board