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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Did you get the answers to my trivia-quiz?  The sun never sets in northern Norway from May 12 until August 1^st………….. no wonder one reason possibly why our Norwegian ancestors wanted to come to the sunny U.S. Midwest.  Robinson Caruso was the fictional character created by Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk.  And it was true, the Spanish Flu sprang to life at Fort Riley, Kansas, was carried over to Europe and then back to the U.S. Who guessed correctly?

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Few weeks back I explained a bit about burned counties. (From James Tanner’s Genealogy’s Star blog, Monday, March 7^th.) I referred you to the FamilySearch Research Wiki, article on “Burned Counties Research,” and the map that accompanied this Wiki article.  One thing we must realize is that a burned courthouse is not the end of the records or the research world. Tanner explained in that post that if/when you encounter a burned county, “look for records in adjoining counties and other jurisdictions….. here are some of the places you might start looking:”

• University libraries, especially special collections sections
• Local, county and state libraries
• Adjoining counties
• State and local archives
• Local and state historical societies

“Remember,” Tanner added, “that the same type of information you are searching for may also be in alternative records kept in another level of jurisdiction. A good place to start is a record selection table. See the FamilySearch.org Research Wiki, “United States Record Selection Table.”

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Blogger’s note: Donna’s still on vacation, but was organized enough to pass along her “valuable or pleasant things that are not looked for” (definition of serendipity). Enjoy!

In this edition of Serendipity:

• Downloaded Books at Your Fingertips
• Shutterfly Makes Life Easy
• Real Photo Postcards
• American Merchant Marines
• Warm Fuzzy Advice from a Friend

Downloaded Books — I keep a folder on my computer desktop labeled “Downloaded Books.” This is not a folder of my Kindle books, my evening-reading books. This is a folder for books to study, for educational books. Most of these were free-to-download books; many come from Ancestry, FamilyTree, or from Thomas MacEntee. Many were from library sources. For instance, here are some of the titles in my folder:

• All About Ancestry DNA
• Ancestry Toolkit
• 38 FamilySearch Tips
• 84 Best Tips, Tricks & Tools from Lisa Louise Cooke
• 23 Secrets to Organize Your Genealogy
• MyHeritage Users’ Guide to Family Tree Builder
• Free Online Educational Resources (MacEntee)
• The Password Trick, A Foolproof System (MacEntee)

I also have the 100-page guide to hostas from Naylor Nursery, and the User’s Guide to my Canon camera. And The Battle of the Alamo, a free download book from the Texas State Historical Association.

The beauty of having a folder of downloaded books on your desktop is that (1) they take up no shelf space; (2) they are available at your fingertips; (3) they are FREE (for the most part).

Dick Eastman, in his Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter back in March 2014, said it this way:

You can download 83,947 genealogy books free of charge. You can keep a huge genealogy library in your own home. You don’t need to purchase bookcases or build an addition onto the house. You can keep the entire collection in your computer or even in a handheld Kindle, iPad, or similar device. Actually, you don’t have to keep a local copy at all as the entire collection is available online, and you can retrieve the books of interest at any time.

My point with all this is that you could do the same thing as I have….. set up a folder on your desktop, label it “Downloaded Books” (or some such), start adding books into this folder as you discover them, and then, most important of all, READ AND STUDY THOSE BOOKS

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Blogger’s note: Donna’s on another exciting vacation, but she just couldn’t leave without passing on her musings. Enjoy!

In this edition of Serendipity:

• Facebook Likes Promote Society Pages
• Life is good for Seenagers!
• Why Search Engines Cannot Find All Your Online Genealogy Information
• Free new resource on WikiTree — Genealogist-to-Genealogist Q&A
• Google’s Boomerang Helps Schedule Emails

Just learned a great new thing! Does your society have a Facebook page? Have you encouraged your members to visit the page and LIKE the page? A member of the Clallam County Gen Society (where I visited last weekend) was explaining that we all need to visit the Facebook page of our favorite society and LIKE that page so as to help it come up in searches. Apparently, until a Facebook page gets 100 LIKES it does not come up. So, first, click on the Washington State Genealogical Society’s Facebook page and click LIKE and then visit your society’s page and follow suit. Great thing to do, eh?
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Subject: Life is good because I am finally a Seenager !! (Senior teenager)

I have everything that I wanted as a teenager, only 60 years later.
I don’t have to go to school or work.
I get an allowance every month.
I have my own pad.
I don’t have a curfew.
I have a driver’s license and my own car.
I have ID that gets me into bars and the whisky store.
The people I hang around with are not scared of getting pregnant.
And I don’t have acne.
Life is great.

I have more friends I should send this to, but right now I can’t remember their names.

My sister-in-law in Missouri shared this with me and I just had had had to share it with you.
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I just discovered a brand new (to me anyway) most interesting website:  www.curiositystream.com.  The home page for this site boasts:  “Watch 1000+ nonfiction programs to grow curious minds. There are Trending programs, Science programs, Technology programs, Human Spirit programs, and Civilization programs. Some programs are only a few minutes long, others nearly an hour. Some are offered in several episodes. I just watched Scribes of Ancient Egypt (55 minutes long) and it was great.  If you are among those with curious minds who want to know more, perhaps CuriosityStream would be a website that tweaks your beak. The only downer is that it does cost $2.99 per month……… for unlimited watching. Good deal if you ask me.

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Here is another recommended new-to-me-too website. If you use it, would you please provide some feedback to me??

Hi everyone:      I didn’t know who to send this to, but I’ve just discovered a site that is new to me, and had a tremendous response.  So I sent it to a few of you, and maybe you can pass it along to more.  Free, no sign up required.

  It is http://www.wikitree.com/g2g .  Very cool!  In just 20 minutes I have had more response to my genealogy query on this site, than I’ve had on the Rootsweb/Ancestry family message boards, ever.

  I’m excited! Happy ancestor hunting! Jo

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Spotted a new-to-me word at McDonald’s:  Thungry? Meaning, are you both thirsty and hungry, and of course McD’s to the rescue! Got to wondering if our ancestors made up words like we do and my answer to myself was of course they did. Where did the regional pronunciations and definitions come from?? Time was when a Northerner could barely understand a Southerner. Is that still so?

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There was a most interesting article in the Church News  titled “FamilySearch 2015 in Review.”  Some highlights mentioned were:

• There are now 4891 Family History Centers in 129 countries.
• RootsTech 2015 attracted 300,000 attendees in person, online and through local post-Family Discovery Day events.
• On October 23^rd, FamilySearch celebrated the 30^th anniversary of the Family History Library in downtown Salt Lake City.
• There have been more than 120,000 new contributors added to Family Tree, making a total of 2.47 million trees with 1.1 billion
• FamilySearch launched 158 new historical collections bringing the total to 2049 and “hundreds of millions” of new published records.
• Around the world, 319 camera teams go quietly about their work and in 2015 digitally preserved over 122 million records in 45 countries.
• Online volunteers numbering 304,000 indexed 110 million
• At the end of 2015, FamilySearch.org had more than 5.31 billion searchable names in historical records.

There was more but you get the idea; if you are not taking advantage of what FamilySearch.org has to offer, I must ask: are you an ostrich???

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As we entered the RootsTech conference hall (with thousands of our genealogy friends), we were greeted by a surgical mask placed on every chair. Steve Rockwood’s keynote address that morning explained. “You are heart specialists for society and especially for your family. RootsTech is a gathering of thousands and thousands of heart doctors..…we will succeed in delivering medicine in a dose of fun to “fix” their hearts by starting small with stories…we will find ways to weave family history into everybody’s lives, including our families…all the learning of RootsTech is so YOU can become better heart doctors.”

Have you ever thought of yourself as your family’s heart doctor? But we family historians have the power to heal our family’s wounded hearts, don’t we?

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James Tanner’s blog, Genealogy’s Star, is a super good, almost-daily, read. On March 7^th, he wrote about “Record Loss: Alternative Jurisdictions when Records Are Lost.”  Mid-way though the article was the best news:  “It is rare that the loss of the records in one particular courthouse completely prevents a researcher from finding a family.” So often we genealogists moan and groan about “the courthouse burned,” but in reality there are viable options.

Tanner counsels that we need to understand the concept of jurisdiction. The definition he is referring to in this blog post is “applied to a specific geographic or other legally defined area where particular records are kept.” He makes the points that jurisdictions overlap and that jurisdictions can change over time.  As jurisdictions have changed over time, there are four possibilities pertaining to the records you seek:

• The records stayed in the originating jurisdiction.
• The records were moved to the newly created jurisdiction.
• The records were sent to the state archives or other repository.
• The records were lost.

In the Wiki at FamilySearch.org, if you type in “burned counties research,” up will pop a map of the burned counties in the U.S. with record loss………. Way cool.

I do suggest that you click to www.genealogysstar.blogspot.com and read James Tanner’s post for March 7^th…….. and perhaps subscribe while you’re there?

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A good genealogy friend just alerted me to a database of information that I’d not heard of before, the National Jewish Welfare Board. Rather than explain it in my words, here is what Wikipedia  says:

National Jewish Welfare Board

Jewish Welfare Board poster, New York, 1918.

The National Jewish Welfare Board (JWB) was formed on April 9, 1917, three days after the United States declared war on Germany, in order to support Jewish soldiers in the U.S. military during World War I.^[1] The impetus for creating the organization stemmed from Secretary of War, Newton Baker and Secretary of Navy, Josephus Daniels.^[1] The organization was also charged with recruiting and training rabbis for military service, as well as providing support materials to these newly commissioned chaplains. The JWB also maintained oversight of Jewish chapel facilities at military installations.^[2]

Postcard, 1919

In 1921, several organizations merged with the JWB to become a national association of Jewish community centers around the country in order to integrate social activities, education, and active recreation. These merged organizations included the YWCA, YMCA, and the National Council of Young Men’s Hebrew and Kindred Association.^[2][3]

In 1941, in a response to a mandate from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, six private organizations – the YMCA, YWCA, the National Jewish Welfare Board, the Traveler’s Aid Association and the Salvation Army were challenged to handle the on-leave morale and recreational needs for members of the Armed Forces. The six organizations pooled their resources and the United Service Organizations, which quickly became known as the USO, was incorporated in New York on February 4, 1941.^[4]

In times of disaster and war, it is often the churches who supply aid and comfort. The Jewish Welfare Board was surely one of those church-organizations helping their own during and after WWII. The example my friend shared with me was a post that she found somewhere online and was from a Stuart Cohn in Indianapolis. Cohn shared the “wounded” card for his father “because he took two pieces of shrapnel during WWII.”

Do you have Jewish back ground, especially during the WWII era? Did you know about this?

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I shall wrap-up today with a warm-fuzzy quote that I heard at RootsTech:  “My body is the embodiment of my ancestors who came before me. Celebrate your roots across the generations.”

Few days ago, Cyndi’s List turned 20 years old! That’s a marvelous genealogy milepost…to think that all by herself Cyndi Ingle has created, maintained and updated this everybody-uses-it website for all to use FOR FREE.  For a birthday gift to Cyndi to mark this accomplishment, I proffer that it’s time to give her a gift………..I just made a donation to her website.  Click on the link below and read Judy Russell’s article and then (if you’re so moved) click on the DONATE link and (as Capt. Jean Luc Picard says) “Make it so!”  Here’s the link:

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/15342b6807d743fc

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While we were in Hawaii in February, on the Big Island, we visited a heiau or ancient sacred temple site of the Hawaiian people. At the Visitor’s Center, I met Nani, who explained to me that she was an ali’i, or royalty, and was a direct descendant of King Kamehameha. Wow. I asked if I could take her picture.

Upon returning to my own desk, I did some Googling. King Kamehameha V died a bachelor in 1872. So that nixes that. But there are surviving collateral lines, according to the websites I searched.  Here is a photo of the royal family:  King Kamehameha III is in the center; his wife is to his right; Kamehameha IV is to the left rear; Kamehameha V is to the right rear; their sister is to the lower right.

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I was fascinated by all the Hawaiian street names. Most were Hawaiian but I spotted these:  Pszyk, Peck, Oshiro, Volcano, and Pu’u O’o. I’d guess that 80% of street names were Hawaiian but these others reflect the mixture of cultures in these islands over the decades. Ever read Hawaii by James Michener? Great read.

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I was doing some FamilySearch Indexing the other evening. The batch was English Probates from 1936; easy to read for it was all printed! I could not help but smile as I spotted the stated professions, not of the deceased, but of the beneficiaries: Dental Surgeon,  Solicitor,  Cabinet Maker,  Farmer,  Surgical Appliance Maker,  Colliery Fitter (has to do with mining),  Butcher,  Poultry Keeper,  Licensed Victualler,  Chaplain H.M. forces,  Locomotive Engineer Driver,  Cloth Merchant,  Carpenter,  Marine Engineer,  Baker,  Coal Miner,  Wholesale Fruit Merchant and Ferry Employee.  I wondered just how many of those occupations would be listed as such today?  And back then, no TV Sportscaster, or Computer Tech. (And by the by, my total is nearly 12,000 records indexed. How about you?)

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We’ve been told by everybody who is anybody in the genealogy world, and many from other worlds, to have more than one good computer backup. Many, including Thomas MacEntee, recommend a 2TB portable hard drive (“buy the biggest one you can get!”). But what brand is the best?  A good, reliable, online backup service is Backblaze (www.backblaze.com) and their website offers a quarterly “Hard Drive Reliability Review.” You might consider using Backblaze ($5 per month) and for sure reading their advice about buying a reliable portable hard drive.

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How many of you did photobook projects with MyCanvas, a subsidiary of Ancestry? I had done four projects with MyCanvas myself.  So I was all eyes when reading a recent email from Ancestry:  “As of 4 April 2016, you will no longer have access to your original MyCanvas projects stored on Ancestry.com. Good news, you can transfer your projects to the new MyCanvas now owned by Alexander’s and continue working.”  Click to www.mycanvas.com and follow the links to transfer your projects. And better be doing it asap!

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Do you enjoy learning new words? I surely do.  My latest word is irenic. If used as an adjective it means “aiming or aimed at peace.”  If used as a noun it means “a part of Christian theology concerned with reconciling different denominations and sects.”   How would you use this word in a sentence?

I was blessed to travel to the Big Island of Hawaii in February. While visiting one of the ancient Hawaiian sacred sites, I met a lovely Hawaiian lady named Nani at the Visitor’s Center. She told me that she was an ali’i (or royal) and was a direct descendant of King Kamehameha.

Once home, I asked “Grandma Google” about the descendants of King Kamehameha and learned that Kamehameha V had died a bachelor in 1872, ending the royal line, and all descendants are through collateral lines. What might I have said to her had I known?? What would you have said?

Here is a photo of the royal family:  Kamehameha III is in the center, his wife on left; Kamehameha IV at left rear; Kamehameha V at right rear, and their sister on lower right:

The 33rd President of the United States, Harry S. Truman, moved into the White House in 1945. To his surprise and dismay, the house had serious problems. Not only was it drafty and creaky, it was downright unsafe. Chandeliers in the house were observed swaying for no apparent reason, and floors moved underneath people’s feet when stepped on. All of the above resulted in a structural investigation being conducted on the building, revealing haphazard retrofitting, fire hazards and a second floor that was on the verge of collapsing. What’s more is that the White House’s foundations were sinking, walls were peeling away and disused water and gas pipes were weighing down the building and making it unsustainable. The situation was so bad that, in June 1948, one of the legs of First Daughter Margaret Truman’s piano fell right through a floorboard of her second-floor sitting room.  This event, along with others,made the Presidential family and its aides realize that serious measures were required to save the historic building. In 1949, Congress approved a $5.4 million Project to gut the building in its entirety, replacing its interior while retaining its historic facade. Architects, engineers, and workers toiled for the next 22 months, trying to figure out how to remove unstable structural elements while somehow ensuring the exterior of the building remained intact. All of the construction equipment used on the site had to be carried inside in pieces, then re-assembled before being used in order to prevent exterior damage. The first and second floors were replaced, while several expansions and basement levels were added, including a bomb shelter that was capable of withstanding a nuclear attack. President Truman and his family returned to reside in the White House in 1952, with a small ceremony marking the occasion. The First Family received a gold key to its newly-refurbished residence. May 17, 1950: Bulldozers move earth around inside the gutted shell of the White House January 19, 1950: The East Room. February 6, 1950: View from the servants’ dining room. February 10, 1950: Workers dismantle a bathtub. February 14, 1950: Workers gut a lower corridor. February 20, 1950: The Blue Room. February 23, 1950: Workers remove the main staircase. March 1, 1950: The east wall of the state dining room. March 9, 1950: Men stand in the second floor Oval Study above the Blue Room. Unknown date in 1950. Unknown date in 1950. February 27, 1950: A crane lifts a 40-foot beam towards a second-floor window while workers load debris onto a truck. November 6, 1950: Workers lay concrete ceilings for basement rooms below the northeast corner of the White House. January 23, 1951: The Lincoln Room. June 21, 1951: The East Room. November 21, 1951: The state dining room. January 4, 1952: Workers install new steps on the South Portico. February 16, 1952: The South Portico with scaffolding removed. July 19, 1951: Workers inside massive ventilation ducts in the basement of the White House. December 4, 1951: A third floor corridor. January 23, 1952: The state dining room. March 24, 1952: Library of Congress employees place books on the shelves of the West Sitting Room. March 27, 1952: President Harry S. Truman and First Lady Bess Truman return to the White House after the renovation.

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