Category Archives: Special Events

Sharon Neem Celebration of Life

by Charles Hansen

My dear friend Sharon Neem passed away on Wed. April 19, 2023 from heart disease.

There will be a celebration of life for Sharon on Saturday, May 20 at 11:00am in Stanwood at the 

Floyd Norgaard Cultural Center

27130 102nd Street 
Stanwood, WA 98292

Website: thefloydnorgaard.weebly.com

For more details you may contact her son Brian Ferguson:  brian.s.ferguson@gmail.com

Sharon was active in the Chief Whatcom Chapter of the D.A.R. and served in numerous leadership roles over the years and promoted the DAR with tremendous enthusiasm.

Sharon moved to Blaine, WA in the early 1990s. She immediately became active in the Blaine Senior Center and spearheaded

many activities to benefit seniors in the community. She was the essence of a positive, can-do attitude. 

She was also a former president of the Whatcom Genealogical Society and enjoyed serving as the society’s newsletter editor before moving to Stanwood in 2022.

Sharon was the first person I met when I moved to Skagit County in 1987. We quickly became close friends, celebrating weddings, birthdays, anniversaries and travels to the LDS Library in Salt Lake City for genealogy conferences, etc. Sharon got me interested in genealogy and also sparked my interest in reactivating my membership with the DAR.  I will miss her deeply in my life. Sharon celebrated her 82 birthday on March 1, 2023…the last time I spoke with her. 

Her sons asked that anyone who has connections with the organizations Sharon enjoyed being involved in to help by notifying them of her passing. Thank you.

With sadness,

Margie

Free Program on How to Become a Certified Genealogist

by Charles Hansen


We all share a passion about tracing our ancestors.

Over seven years ago I decided to work to attain the credential of Certified Genealogist from the Board for Certification of Genealogists. It wasn’t easy but in January 2017 I achieved my goal. At that time there was one other person with the credential in the entire state of Washington. Washington now has 7 certified genealogists! However, all of them are from western Washington.

I know there are very competent genealogists in Washington; I know there are many who would like to improve their genealogical skills and to see if they are doing it “right.” Perhaps they haven’t heard of the program or perhaps they have heard about it and dismissed it.

I would like to offer to your society to give (yes, free) a presentation to your membership about certification and why it might benefit them. Certainly, armed with knowledge they could decide not to pursue the credential. That is fine. It is not the goal to turn everyone into a CG; it is the goal to make sure everyone makes a knowledgeable decision.

Yes, I run the Certification Discussion Group series out of Seattle GS and it is a resource some might find helpful, but it is certainly not a requirement for applying as two of the seven can attest.

If you are interested in a free presentation on certification to your group, please contact me at jkmorelli@gmail.com so we can find a mutually convenient time.

I hope to hear from you soon.

This offer is made to any genealogical society who would like to know more about certification.

Jill

MyHeritage Free Irish Records Access till March 19

by Charles Hansen

I’m excited to share that in honor of St. Patrick’s Day this year, we are making all 106 of our Irish record collections available to search for free from now until March 19, 2023!

The MyHeritage Irish collections include Irish birth, marriage, death, census, wills, atlases, directories, calendars, historical books, registers, passenger lists, prisoner, and registration records. Many of the collections also include images.

St. Patrick's Day free record

This is a fantastic opportunity for anyone interested in learning more about their Irish roots! As an added bonus, we’re running a special sale on MyHeritage DNA for St. Patrick’s Day as well.

Read more on our blog, and feel free to use the attached graphic when spreading the word.

Enjoy,

Daniel Horowitz

Genealogy Expert

MyHeritage Ltd., P.O.Box 50, 3 Ariel Sharon Blvd., Or Yehuda, Israel 6037606, Israel, +972-3-6280000

Seattle Genealogical Society Save Access to Immigration Records!

by Charles Hansen
Genealogists and family historians, your help is needed to save access to historical immigration records! 

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has proposed a substantial fee hike to access millions of historical immigration records held exclusively by its genealogy program. This could effect you so it is really important that you post your comments and write to your Senators and Representative. 

The comment deadline is now March 13th so please submit your comments by then. Please share this deadline with your networks, too. Encourage them to comment and contact their Senators and Representative. If genealogists don’t comment, USCIS will think we don’t care how long it takes to get records or how much it costs. 

Visit the site below to learn more and make your voice heard in 3 easy steps! Thank you.  https://www.recordsnotrevenue.com/

    


  Check the Calendar of Events for upcoming programs from SGS.
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Related Faces at RootsTech

by Charles Hansen

I am kindly asking you to extend an invitation to any of your group’s members who are attending RootsTech to please stop by our booth, #1216, and say “Hi” during the conference. At RootsTech we’ll be:

  • Giving away our signature notebooks and other swag
  • Offering daily chances to win a 6-month subscription to Related Faces.
  • If they have a couple of photos they would like us to use as demonstration, bring along digital copies. We will help as many people as time allows.
  • Saturday March 4, we will be playing a little game to let attendees test their skills at identifying people in old photos. Their tally sheet is also an entry form to win a free 6-month subscription.
  • Plus, conference attendees will be receiving a special discount coupon.

For those who are not able to attend RootsTech, we don’t want them to miss out, so we are offering 10% Off their first Related Faces subscription, either 6 months or 1 year. Use code RFVFYBVM89 through 3/31/23when signing up at https://RelatedFaces.com. We will also be exhibiting at the NGS conference in Virginia at the end of May. We will have similar give-a-ways and activities there as well. So, that will be a second opportunity to stop by and meet us! If you are looking for speakers for your group meetings, I offer a free virtual class on identifying unknown people in photos. It’s called “Connecting Faces Through Time.” Please, email me @ tina@relatedfaces.com if you would like to know more. Thank you to all of you who have already hosted a class! Thank you for passing along my invitation, and I hope to see you during 2023!

Tina Tina LaFreniere, Founder

Related Faces

GFO Open House Celebrating 77th Anniversary

by Charles Hansen

GFO To Hold Open House Celebrating 77th Anniversary

The Genealogical Forum of Oregon is pleased to announce that its 2023 Open House will take place March 11-19.

This year’s annual event celebrates GFO’s 77th anniversary, and features 27 speakers and 29 classes for researchers at all levels. All classes will be offered online.

In addition, the research library in the historic Ford Building in Portland’s east side, 2505 SE 11th Avenue, will be open Sunday through Friday. We invite anyone to use the library’s resources for research during this event. We will also offer tours and beginning research help each afternoon.

All classes and research library activities are free and open to the public for this nine-day event.

For more details and registration, visit our website at gfo.org/openhouse.

Tribute to Ron Sailer

by Charles Hansen

How Fleeting Life Can Be By Valorie

Early in our virtual meeting experiences of 2020 we began attracting visitors from around Washington State as well as other parts of the United States.  Among our visitors was Ron Sailer, a neighbor from the Sno-Isle Genealogical Society in Lynnwood, just north of Seattle.

Ron shared information that his great grandfather was buried in the pioneer cemetery here in Auburn and gave us information regarding research that had been done.

http://www.auburnpioneercemetery.net/biographies/hopkins.php#.YA9Id-hKiUl. 

In February, 2021, we did a blog about the research that had been done, quite extensively, and that more newspaper articles had become available thus showing the progress of research possibilities.

https://skcgs.blogspot.com/2021/02/newspaper-research-progress.html

A few months ago MaryLynn made contact with Ron again when she found a common link at WikiTree.  Small world!

Valorie received The StillyGen newsletter [1] in early January 2023, and read with shock:  

Sno- Isle Genealogical Society Mourns

Recently, news came from Sno-Isle G. S. of Lynnwood that a serious auto accident took the life of their greatly admired President, Ronald Sailer; on November 15th. Everyone who had the pleasure of meeting Ron thought of him as “one of the good guys”. His kind and thoughtful demeanor made all who knew him look forward to the next time they’d run into him. It was obvious to any genealogist who met Ron that genealogy was a true passion for him. I was privileged to have the opportunity to interact with Ron, and I was always pleased when he would phone me and say, “Hello cousin”. It was an honor to be “family” in his eyes. We were only “cousins”, many, many times removed, on our Comstock line as I recall, but I thought very dearly of him and know that those of us who were lucky enough to have made his acquaintance will miss him and deeply feel his loss.

[unsigned article]

Valorie searched for a news story or obituary but found none. Sno-Isle GS’s website shows the office of President vacant.  

On Facebook, the following information can be found at the Bethlehem Lutheran Church – Marysville page:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/143910528983490/

Memorial service: Thursday, December 1, 2pm

Bethlehem Lutheran Church – Marysville

7215 51st Ave NE, Marysville, WA 98270

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to his passion, Sno-isle Genealogical Society in Lynnwood, Washington

Children: Gretchen Sailer Hulitt, Tony Sailer

Hearing of Ron’s death on this first day of 2023 reminds us of how fleeting life can be. Give everyone you love a hug and a kiss whenever you can; you never know if it will be the last time.

1. Stillaguamish Valley Genealogical Society, The Stillaguamish Star, Volume 35 No 1, Jan/Feb 2023, page 9 (Arlington, Washington : www.stillygen.org). 

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