** EWGS President, Patricia Bayonne-Johnson’s Story

** Paula Stuart-Warren’s Quotes from TPCGS Conference

** Ten Calorie Candy??

** James Tanner on Social Media

** Canadian Research Websites

** Crazy Names…Not Just for Movie Stars

Patricia Bayonne-Johnson, president of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society, and her team of helpers have been working on a monumental project. Pat’s ancestors were sold as slaves in 1838 by the Jesuits in Maryland to Louisiana to help finance Georgetown University. The president of Georgetown University came to Spokane last month to meet with Pat! Here’s the link to the story:

http://www.thehoya.com/in-a-first-degioia-meets-with-descendant-of-slaves-sold-by-georgetown-in-1838/

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I was privileged to be in the audience learning from Paula Stuart-Warren last month at the Tacoma-Pierce County Genealogical Society’s conference. She taught us so much and I could fill up this entire post with her pearls. But I will limit myself to four wonderful quotes from Paula:

1. “Not everything in a book is correct and not all books are digitized; we DO still need libraries, so GO to your library!”
2. “Which is more important, preservation or sharing? Which deserves your best effort?” Paula was speaking here about how to organize your family history and what to do with all that information and “stuff.”
3. “If you don’t belong to a local genealogical society where you live, you’re missing out on the best help there is.”
4. “How much time do you spend RE-searching….chasing “shiny objects or looking at the same record over and over….because you are un-organized??”

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Thorp Grist Mill, Ellensburg

Shadow Box Memorial

Old B&W Unknown Photo Wants a Home

Mary Ellen’s Story

Thomas MacEntee’s Fairy Grants

We zoom east to west and back again on I-90 and sometimes we stop at “Thorpe.” That be the antique/fruit stand just west of Ellensburg. It is, admittedly, a super rest stop. But have you ever taken time to drive the 1.8 miles down the road to see the Thorpe Mill??

Built between 1880 and 1883, the Thorp Grist Mill “is the only remaining mill in Washington state that made the transition from stone buhr to modern rollers. The mill has been lovingly restored and maintained so that visitors can catch a glimpse of history back to the early days of settlement in the state.” (Quote from their website.) It’s free to go inside and take the guided tour (Wednesday through Friday, 12:00-4:00 and Saturday/Sunday, 11:00-4:00.) Tiz a fascinating historical stop. The website is www.thorp.org.

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Counties of Washington

Ethic Population Density in Pre-1850 America

Black Sheep in YOUR Family?

Cold Case: Timothy H. Martin, 1835-1902

Heritage of Pierce County, Washington

Scottish Ancestors from the Lowlands

Of course you know that there are 39 counties in the Evergreen State but can you name them? And do you know the logistical history of them (when formed, etc.)? I didn’t either and so Googled “List of counties in Washington State” and good-old Wikipedia came to the rescue. The largest (in population) county is King; the smallest is Garfield. The largest in area is Okanogan and the smallest is San Juan. Any idea where each of our counties got their name? Each of those 39 counties has a county seat…… how many can you name? That Wikipedia article will teach you!  I found it most interesting.

By the by, in Washington it’s Okanogan (as in the county or the lake). But just across the border into Canada it’s Okanagan. How did that happen??

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Want to know how many English and Welsh folks lived in the U.S. in 1790? How about Germans in 1790? Or slaves in 1810? An interactive map series on the Ancestors website will show you. Remember the Ancestors shows on public TV?  The show was produced by Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and is still airing (check with YOUR local station). Click to their website, www.byub.org/ancestors  (yes, a second “b”) and on the left you’ll see a list of topics which, when clicked, will take you to an episode where that topic was addressed. You’ll find those ethnocentric maps under “Online Tools,” and then “Maps.”

Where, in 1790, would you have guessed that most of the Scottish immigrants settled? Would you have guessed central and western Pennsylvania?

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“A Brief History of Port Angeles” Booklet

Twin Rivers Gen Society’s Cemetery Walking Tour on July 4^th

Jigsaw Puzzles: Pastime or Obsession?

TAG (Ancestry Users Group) In Spokane

Five-Generation Pictures

Did you have ancestors who lived in Port Angeles? I’m giving away a 24-page booklet, “A Brief History of Port Angeles” by William Welsh, 1941. Yes, I have checked with the Clallam County Historical Society and they tell me that they have several copies. So I’ll send this one to the first requester! (Donna243@gmail.com)

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The Twin Rivers Genealogical Society, in Lewiston, Idaho, is having a fun activity on July 4^th. They are doing a Cemetery Walk! They have picked out six historical graves and starting at 9:00am they will offer several 45-minute tours. Locale is Normal Hill Cemetery, 7^th Street & 15^th Avenue in Lewiston, south of Lewis Clark State College. Did you know that Walt Disney’s wife, Lillian’s, parents are buried in this cemetery? (They spotlighted her last year.) For more information contact Patricia VanBuren, patriciavanburen@lewiston.com

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Dutch Are Still With Us; They Gave Us Cookies!

Public Libraries: Worth Investigating

Southerners Who Went To Brazil After the Civil War

Uploading & Downloading GEDCOM Files on Ancestry

Do You Believe in Dowsing Rods?

Just finished studying (cannot say “reading” for it is a study book!) The Island at the Center of the World, the Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America, by Russell Shorto, 2005.  U.S. history classes seem to gloss over the 150 years when the Dutch founded and shaped Manhattan and this history brings that period to life. Just for fun: on page 269 I learned that “the typical Dutch word for master—baas—would take on a different connotation in the New World and an Americanism came into being: the Boss.”  On page 270:  “In October of 1661 there was a grain shortage in the city and the municipal government issued an order to the bakers of the town to restrict themselves to baking bread and not “to bake any more koeckjes, jumbles or sweet cake.” “ This Dutch word is pronounced “cook-yehs,” which morphed into our word: cookies. Koolsla, or cabbage salad, is our modern cole slaw.  There are more “Dutch-isms” in our everyday language:  Dutch treat, Dutch courage, Double Dutch, Dutch bargain, Going Dutch, Dutch comfort……… which were all considered derogatory at the time (17^th century)!  If you’ve ancestors living in the New York City area during the Dutch times, this is a great read for you. (You can buy a copy via Amazon.com starting at 76-cents for a used copy!)

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Good Reason to Connect with Cousins

MyHeritage Releases Book Matching Technology

Genealogy Road Show, New Season on PBS

Accessing American Ancestors for Free

How Many of You Are There? Try Find My Name

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Last week, I drove from Spokane down to Kennewick to spend time with hubby’s cousin, Cathy. We spent a delightful afternoon talking family and working on our common Ancestry tree. She showed me all the “stuff” (read: family artifacts) around her house that belonged to her and John’s common grandmother. That was wonderful enough, but the “frosting on the cupcake” was that she gave me a start of the flowering plant that Grandma Ethel had brought all the way from Illinois when she was married in 1911 and came to Spokane. Now we have it growing in our garden and I will share with my children. It’s important to pass along more than facts and photos. (Anybody tell me what it is? She didn’t know.)

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Maybe we all ought to consider exploring/using MyHeritage….. This website has risen to be right up there with Ancestry and FamilySearch.

MyHeritage Releases Exclusive Book Matching Technology for Family History

MyHeritage users to automatically receive relevant excerpts from digitized books that reveal information about their ancestors and relatives

TEL AVIV, Israel & LEHI, Utah, April 7, 2016 — MyHeritage, the fastest-growing destination for discovering, preserving and sharing family history, has launched today a revolutionary addition to its suite of technologies: Book Matching. This innovation automatically researches users’ family trees in historical books with high precision.

In April 2012 MyHeritage launched SuperSearch™, a search engine for historical records, which has since then grown to include 6.6 billion historical records, including birth, marriage, death and census records. By implementing its vision of enhancing genealogy with technology, MyHeritage then developed a line of unique and sophisticated technologies that automatically match the records from the search engine to the 32 million family trees uploaded by its users.

In December 2015, MyHeritage expanded its data collections to include digitized historical books, with an initial corpus of 150,000 books of high genealogical value. This collection was tripled last week to 450,000 books with 91 million pages. With a team of more than 50 dedicated curators, MyHeritage aims to add hundreds of millions of pages of digitized books to the collection each year.

As of today, MyHeritage users will receive matches between profiles in their family trees and the books from this collection. The Book Matching technology analyzes the book texts semantically, understanding complex narrative that describes people, and matches it to the 2 billion individuals in MyHeritage family trees with extremely high accuracy. This breakthrough technology is the first of its kind, and is exclusive to MyHeritage.

Book Matching has produced more than 80 million matches, and this number will continue to grow as the collection grows and as the family trees on MyHeritage continue to expand. Book Matching is currently available for English books, and the technology is being enhanced to cover additional languages. In addition, de-duplication technology is being added in the next few weeks to remove duplicate books that have been scanned and OCRed more than once by different sources.

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“Hidden Gems,” President Sue Kreikemeier’s Message to the WSGS

 Northwest Carriage Museum in Raymond, Washington

 Newspaper: “Insect Bite Ends Man’s Life”

 Carnegie Libraries—2609 of them…even in South Africa!

 Fiske Library in Northwest Seattle

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 This was Sue Kreikemeier’s President’s Message in the latest issue of the Newsletter of the Whitman County Genealogical Society (Pullman). It was titled “Hidden Gems.”  I share it with all of you because it clearly points up that wonderful hidden treasures are waiting to be found in small place where you might never think to look!

In my professional life, I do a fair amount of driving around Whitman County, and enjoy exploring along the way. I am drawn to small cemeteries and dirt roads, and, when my schedule allows, will take a short detour to explore those. (A favorite reference is “Reflections on the Road: A Journey Through Whitman County Past and Present” by Martha Mullen.)

For years, while driving through Oakesdale, the McCoy Museum located right downtown, just a stone’s throw from the old Barron Flour Mill, has intrigued me. However, it wasn’t until unexpected business took me to Oakesdale on a Sunday afternoon that I was able to explore the Museum. What a trove of little gems I discovered! Now, maybe you are already aware of the contents of the museum. But at the risk of delivering old news, I thought I’d share some of my “discoveries”.

As I entered the museum Gail Parsons, a longtime volunteer and supporter of the McCoy Museum, greeted me. Following introductions I was quickly drawn to a shelf containing several stacks of old, leather-bound record books. When he saw my eyes light up with interest he proceeded to pull volumes off the shelves and spread them out on tables for my perusal.

Here’s a brief sampling of some of the treasures I found:

1920 Oakesdale Census

Justice Dockets 1894-1940

Record of Licenses 1891-1938 (dog licenses, peddler licenses, pool room and card table licenses were common entries)

Town Accounts 1893-1915

Various election records, poll books, and tally sheets

Improvement Bonds records 1920-1991, including purchasers of bonds

What a plethora of names, dates, and details painting a picture of a small, vital community! One of the more intriguing entries I noted was a justice docket entry regarding a case of forgery…that might make for some interesting embellishment to one’s family tree!

Whether you have roots in Oakesdale or not, I recommend a stroll through the museum as a reminder of small town life, local history, and the many ways records can illuminate our family stories.

Happy Trails! Sue Rogers Kreikemeier, President, Whitman County Genealogical Society

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** Genealogy’s Star: A Must-Read Blog (in my opinion) & YouTube Channel

** Washington’s Colville Tribes Selected For The Next U.S. Census Test

**Insects: Future Or Past Food?

**How To Ensure All Will Be Lost

James Tanner crafts his Genealogy’s Star blog nearly two times per week and I read every post and learn something new each time. Back on 5 Mar 2016, he posted about the BYU Family History Library Channel on YouTube. He was discussing a new uploaded video titled, “Why You Can’t Trace Your Family Back To Adam.” Who would not want to view this video?? Here’s how: (1) Click to www.youtube.com;  (2) select the BYU Family History Library channel; (3) Chose what you want to view from the list of over 400 videos; and (4) Click the subscribe button to get notification of new videos as they’re uploaded.

May I, as your serendipity teacher today, give you two homework assignments today? First click to www.genealogysstar.blogspot.com (note the two “s”) and sign up for James Tanner’s blog. Next click to www.youtube.com and get going with your home learning from there!

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Today I would like to introduce a new feature for our WSGS blog…. a Washington Trivia feature which hopefully will appear every Wednesday.

I figure we all live, work and love in this wonderful state so perhaps we might want to, or ought to, know a tidbit or two more about Washington.

For openers:  Did you realize that Washington is the only state named after a U.S. president?

How many presidents have visited YOUR town?

Ancient Mohawk Cemetery in New York

Eight Critical Thinking Skills

Oregon-California Trails Association

Is there a book with my family mentioned?

Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia

Blurb in our daily paper explained that Spokane has been visited by a dozen U.S. presidents plus some VPs, wives and others. Our list is Taft, Harding, both Roosevelts, Truman, Carter, Nixon, Clinton, Reagan, Ford and GW Bush. How about your town? How many presidential visits do you mark?

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Cemeteries have always been of great interest to family historians. It’s always interesting to me to read about cemeteries of yore and of other cultures. In December 1634, three men set out from Fort Orange (now Albany) New York to make contact with the Mohawks to convince them that the Dutch made better trades than the French or English. They visited a series of villages, “surprising Harmen with their level of civilization. They encountered cemeteries, surrounded by palisades, ‘so neatly made that it was a wonder,’ and graves painted red, white and black. A chief’s tomb they found was large enough to have an entrance and was decorated with carvings and paintings of animals.” (From The Island at the Center of the World: Epic Story of Dutch in Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America, by Russell Shorto, 2005.)

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