| TIP OF THE WEEK – LEGALESE GOT YOU DOWN? ASK AI TO HELP Use AI to help you understand legal language in older document. If you are getting confused by the complex language of a legal document ask Chat GBT to help. Ask the AI to “summarize the following text” and type the text of the document and paste it into the chat GBT. This can’t account for specific legal rules of the past, but it should at least help you understand what the document actually says. | |
| November 1, 2023 | |
| TIP OF THE WEEK – REGISTRAR’S RECORDS …MORE THAN JUST DEEDS The county deed record books sometimes have record topics other than land. Be sure to check any miscellaneous books held by the office. I once found my great grandfather’s school graduation exam results in one. | |
| October 1, 2023 SGS eNews! comes out the first of every month. contact eNews! forward this email to a friend | |
| TIP OF THE WEEK – SEEK SCHOOL RECORDS Records kept by schools often list all the students attending the school and ages over time, as well as the parents names of each child. If you have a child in your tree whose death you can’t confirm — maybe they show up in one census and disappear in the next. You may be able to narrow down a likely year of death in school records. When did they disappear from the school attendance sheet? That may be the answer. These records can also paint a colorful picture of what the conditions in the school were like. If the teacher answered an annual survey question, ”What means of ventilation — good or bad?” by triple underlining her answer of “bad” year after year, that tells you a lot about your ancestor’s learning environment. | |
| September 1, 2023 SGS eNews! comes out the first of every month. contact eNews! forward this email to a friend | |
TIP OF THE WEEK –
NEED CONTEXT? TRY A NEWSPAPER
When you run into a word or term you don’t understand that you believe is related to the time and place your ancestors lived, but you can’t tell the meaning, try searching their local newspaper if it is available. Often some local terms, expressions and even details about policies don’t make it into history books or even Google. Here are a few examples of things that provide context that you can find in the local paper that may not be available elsewhere: the details of the state pension rules, usages of local expressions, when a community opened their poor farm, or the name of a school or church and when it opened.
| TIP OF THE WEEK – GET A FREE PASS TO BC GENEALOGICAL LIBRARY The BC Genealogical Society Library and Research Centre is offering a free library pass to SGS members interested in visiting their facility located in Surrey BC. It is one of the larger genealogical libraries in North America, with over 18,000 books, 2,000 maps, 6,000 films and microfiche, and 100,000+ newspaper clippings. More information can be found on their website https://www.bcgs.ca | |
| July 1, 2023 SGS eNews! comes out the first of every month. contact eNews! forward this email to a friend | |
TIP OF THE WEEK –
SEATTLE CENTER CULTURAL FESTIVALS
At Seattle Center, under the theme “Where the World Gathers”, 24 free cultural festivals are scheduled for 2023. A fun, learning experience for the entire family. Coming up in June and July are:
For a complete list of festivals and to learn more, visit:
https://seattlecenter.com/events/featured-events/festal
TIP OF THE WEEK –
SGS Book Procurement Program
When SGS moved to its new location in the Good Shepherd Center, a team of volunteers, led by the Library Trustees, curated our existing collection to focus on the Pacific Northwest. In that process they discovered that we had several incomplete sets of books and many underrepresented counties. The SGS Librarian submitted to the Board of Trustee’s a request for funding, which was granted. With a purchasing plan in place, the Trustees have been active in procuring these volumes as they become available.
If you would like to support this effort, please consider a donation to the Society. If you have book(s) in your personal library which might supplement our Pacific Northwest collection, please first contact Director of Library at library@seagensoc.org. Thanks!
TIP OF THE WEEK – DO YOU REMEMBER THIS ELEPHIND TIP?
Elephind, is a the Search Engine for Historical Newspapers. Many genealogist love the Library of Congress – Chronicling America – historical, digitized newspapers website, but have you heard of Elephind.com? Their goal is to search all the world’s digitized, historical newspapers from one place at one time; it’s similar to the idea behind Travelocity.com with the airline industry.
Elephind currently is at over 200 million items from over 4,300 newspaper titles worldwide. That is far more than what you will find at Chronicling America. In fact, Chronicling America is one of the sites Elephind has covered. Also like Chronicling America, Elephind is adding volume almost daily.
At the website for elephind, start with the Search Tips.
The “proximity search” is particularly useful. An example, using this syntax “Jane Doe”~4 in Search will find for you :
•Jane Doe
•Jane E Doe
•Jane Elizabeth Doe
•Elizabeth Jane Smith, nee Doe
But it will exclude something like “Jane and Sally found a young, frightened doe in the woods”.
Elephind.com will be a good addition to your arsenal of historical newspapers websites and someday it might become the only one you will ever need.
Visit: https://elephind.com
TIP OF THE WEEK –
THIS NEW BOOK IS GREAT!
By Lisa White, SGS Director of Publiations
Recently I had the pleasure of reading Generation by Generation: A Modern Approach to the Basics of Genealogy by Genealogy Guys Podcast co-host Drew Smith.Coincidently it came to me at a very appropriate time. Lately I have been involved in many discussions about how best to get started in genealogy. This book addresses this question wonderfully.
Directed towards beginning genealogists, this book provides an upbeat and clear guide to the steps involved in doing good genealogical research. The main focus is on United States records, but there is also a chapter devoted to research outside of the U.S. such as Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. The chapter on DNA testing is especially good as it provides the basics for understanding types of DNA and how testing can help us with our projects.
Even if you are a seasoned genealogist, I recommend that you read this book. In genealogy, as in most things, there is always something to learn, and I came away rejuvenated with so many ideas and insights. I can’t wait to put some of these suggestions to work, especially in regards to organizing my digital files. Some of the tips can even save you money!
To help start or boost your research, you can get your copy at:
https://www.genealogical.com
TIP OF THE WEEK –
THESE MAY INTEREST YOU
(PUN INTENDED)
The Eastern Washington Genealogical Society (EWGS) has a couple of special interest groups that should be of interest to a great number of people. These groups are for two icons of the genealogy world, Ancestry.com which obviously needs no introduction, and RootsMagic, a popular software program.
The Ancestry User Group meets on the 2nd Thursday of most months from 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm Pacific Time. It is a hybrid meeting; meaning you may attend in person or attend online, your choice.
The RootsMagic User Group meets the 3rd Monday of most months online via Zoom. Meeting time is 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm Pacific time.
You do not have to be a member of EWGS to attend these user groups. For more information and instructions for joining these interest groups, go to their website and as you scroll down you will see on the left a link to “Spec. Interest Groups”. Click that. Get to the EWGS website using the link below: