Category Archives: Z-2017 Past Meetings & Seminars

Volga German Event at Leavenworth Washington

by Charles Hansen

For Immediate Release    Contact: Tanya Bushnell
tbushnell@cu-portland.edu
503.493.6369

Celebrating 250 Years of Volga German Heritage
Seminar Series on April 26 – 28

Portland, Oregon (17 March 2017) – From 1764 to 1772, there were 106 German colonies established along the Volga River on the barren Russian steppe.  To celebrate the 250th Anniversary (1766-2016) of the establishment of the colonies of Frank, Hussenbach, Kautz, Kolb, Norka, Walter, and Yagodnaya Polyana in Russia; the Center for Volga German Studies at Concordia University is hosting a seminar at The Icicle Village Resort, in Leavenworth, Washington on April 26-28, 2017. Registration is $165 per person, which includes all programs and two banquets. The public is invited to attend.
Sessions will focus on the founding of the Volga German colonies, location of the German origins of our ancestors, demonstration of an old Volga German dialect, churches of the Volga German villages, rural life of the colonies, the events that led to emigration to North and South America and a session showing what exists of the colonies today.  Featured presenters include: Steve Schreiber, Director of the Center for Volga German Studies and Village Coordinator for Norka; Maggie Hein, Genealogist and Village Coordinator for the colonies of Frank and Kolb; Jean Roth, Village Coordinator for the colony of Walter; Michael Frank, Village Coordinator for the colony of Kautz; Mike Lust, teacher; Reuben Miller, descendant of the colony of Norka; and Dr. Richard Scheuerman, of Seattle Pacific University and descendant of the colony of Yagodnaya Polyana.  Seminar sessions begin on Wednesday, April 26, at 12:45pm and end on Friday April 28, at 10:30am.
For more information about the event, please visit the website at: http://cvgs.cu-portland.edu/events/2017Apr26.cfm or contact Valerie at highlife56.vm@gmail.com.

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Kittitas County Genealogical Society April Meeting

by Charles Hansen

 

Monday Apr 3, 2017 KCGenealogical Soc meeting

7 PM at 413 N. Main St, Suite L, Ellensburg WA

 

Warren Street of CWU will tell us stories of His Grandfather in Kansas, gleaned from diary entries

 

refreshments will be provided by Jenny Jones and Ruth Miller.

 

In addition, any members who have not had a chance to share their new year’s genealogy resolutions will have an opportunity to do so.

Eastside Genealogical Society April Meeting

by Charles Hansen

 

The Eastside Genealogical Society will meet on Thursday, April 13, 2017 in the Bellevue Regional Library (Room 1), 1111 – 110th Ave NE, Bellevue, WA 98004 at 7 pm, with doors opening at 6:30 pm for networking.

 

Topic:

“Is Great-Grandma Really Native American” – Many families have the oral history that an ancestor was Native American. How do you discover if this is true? What federal, state and tribal records are available? Local genealogist Janice Lovelace, Ph. D., will guide you through these specialized resources.

 

Also see our website for FREE genealogical help and other Special Interest Group meetings. Visitors are always welcome at all meetings. www.eastsidegenealogicalsociety.com

 

Dorothy Pretare

EGS Publicity Chairperson

Eastside Genealogical Society German Interest Group

by Charles Hansen

 

The German Interest Group of The Eastside Genealogical Society will meet on Friday, April 7, 2017, from 1 to 3 pm in the Relief Society Room of the LDS Church at 10675 NE 20thSt, Bellevue, WA 98004 with doors opening at 12:45 pm for networking. Visitors are always welcome at our meetings.

 

“Newspaper Research: What’s Available and How to Find Scanned Images”: Newspaper research can provide clues to birthplaces, keys to finding relatives and adding local flavor to our ancestor’s lives. Finding the newspaper in the area of research and during a specific time frame can be challenging. Three web sites will be shared to help discover the names of the newspapers available, the time frames they were published and major sources of online images.  This includes all English newspapers as well as foreign language newspapers, including German, available in America, plus a world map of historical newspapers.

 

Speaker: Janet O’Conor Camarata, as a genealogist, has researched her own family history for over 25 years. She is a seminar presenter and trainer in a variety of genealogy subjects to societies and libraries across Washington; a newsletter editor of the Kittitas County Genealogy Society (KCGS); a publicity chairman and past-president of South King County Genealogical Society (SKCGS).   She is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists and is a graduate of the University of Washington Genealogy and Family History program

For more information, kindly visit our website at https://egsgermangroup.wordpress.com/  .

Dorothy Pretare

GIG Leader

GermanInterestGroupEGS@outlook.com

Seattle Genealogical Society News

by Charles Hansen


 ACCESS THEIR IRISH RECORDS FOR FREE
 MARCH 13-17

Here’s a St Patrick’s Day gift from findmypast.  Explore and access millions of Irish family history records for free from March 13 through 5:00 pm PDT on Friday, March 17. You will need to go through a simple registration process that merely entails providing an email address and setting up a password.

Census records, parish records, travel and migration records, and court registers are just some of the data available. findmypast has the largest collection of Irish records available anywhere online.

You might want to start by reading their blog article  “A Complete Beginner’s Guide to findmypast’s Irish Records”.  If you are interested, sign up for the free webinar with Irish genealogy expert, Fiona Fitzsimmons.  It’s scheduled for 9:00 am PDT on Thursday, March 16 and it includes a live question and answer session.

To get started here’s the url to findmypast :

http://www.findmypast.com/explore-your-irish-ancestry/

SPRING MEMBERSHIP MEETING

Remember the Spring Membership meeting is this Saturday, March 18, 1:30-3:00 pm. Hope to see you there. Following the business meeting, Lisa Oberg and Jill Morelli will present “Rootless: A Retrospective Look at America’s Fascination with its Ancestry”.

For new members or genealogy beginners, notice on Sunday, March 19 from 1:15pm-5:00 pm, a Beginning Genealogy Class will be led by Linda Fitzgerald, a Past President of SGS, and it is open to all.

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Olympia Genealogical Society Genealogy Cafe

by Charles Hansen

GENEALOGY CAFE  Meet with Olympia Genealogy Society members for FREE personal help with your family history research. Thursday March 16 and Saturday March 18 at Olympia Timberland Library, 313 8th AV SE from 1-3 pm. 360) 529-9813
Thank-you    JOYCE OGDEN, Publicity
=======================================================================                                                                  Joyce T. Ogden             jtogden@comcast.net

Heritage Quest Research Library Upcoming Classes

by Charles Hansen

Message Body

Saturday, March 11th 1:00 – 3:00 FREE “Beginning Family History Research” with Dee Haviland Fournier

Join Dee in this FREE class and learn how to begin the search for your family history. You will learn how to find and use birth, marriage, and death records, along with a discussion on how to use census records to further your research and some genealogy hints. Everyone is welcome and you may attend the class as many times as you like.

Saturday, April 1st – The ABC’s of DNA with Janet O’Conor Camarata. 1:00-3:00 $15.00

Due to popular demand, this class is being repeated. What is DNA? What types of DNA tests are used for genealogy? What are the strengths and weakness? How do I know which test to take? If you have asked yourself these questions, then this presentation is for you. This class is designed to answer questions using a non-technical genealogy-oriented approach.

 

Thursday, April 6th – Celebrate Tartan Day with Jo-Anne Huber as she talks to us about Scotland. 1:00 – 3:00 $15.00 More information will follow.

Thursday, April 13th – Two DNA Case Studies. 1:00 – 3:00 $15.00

  1. Going REALLY deep with Y-DNA Analysis: A Case Study with Dr. Laura Livingston. Now that you have your Y-DNA results and have figured out some family connections and ethnicity, how do you get to the deep understanding of the origins of your Y-DNA? Why do a BIG Y? What can you expect from the results of a BIG Y? Why should you spend the money for a BIG Y? What is the difference between Family Tree Y-DNA and Y-Full BIG Y results? What does it mean when you see family names that you have never heard of in the results? How do you research different clusters of families with different names?

Join us as we learn about Laura’s journey into the dizzying world of deep Y analysis and how she found out her family was a member of a unique cluster of families dating back thousands of years.

 

  1. Ricky Gerontis was adopted through a closed adoption. He did not have the original birth certificate, yet he was able to determine his biological parents. Join us and learn more about his story.

 

June 3rd, Saturday – Due to popular demand a repeat of our seminar. Understanding DNA Test Results & Connecting with Your Cousins with Janet O’Conor Camarata

9:00 – 3:00 $50.00 includes lunch

Registration is not open yet, but you may call and be placed on the waiting list.