The Eastside Genealogical Society will meet on Thursday, March 8, 2018 in the Bellevue Regional Library (Room 1), 1111 – 110^th Ave NE, Bellevue, WA 98004 at 7 pm, with doors opening at 6:30 pm for networking.

Topic: This meeting will feature the streaming video from RootsTech 2018’s keynote speaker, Henry Louis Gates, Jr.  He is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University. Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, literary scholar, journalist, cultural critic, and institution builder, Professor Gates has authored or co-authored twenty-two books and created eighteen documentary films, including Wonders of the African World, African American Lives, Faces of America, Black in Latin America, Black America since MLK: And Still I Rise, Africa’s Great Civilizations, and Finding Your Roots, his groundbreaking genealogy series now in its fourth season on PBS. His six-part PBS documentary series, The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross (2013), which he wrote, executive produced, and hosted, earned the Emmy Award for Outstanding Historical Program—Long Form, as well as the Peabody Award, Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, and NAACP Image Award.

See our website for FREE genealogical help and other Special Interest Group meetings. Visitors are always welcome at all meetings.

German Interest Group

The German Interest Group of The Eastside Genealogical Society (EGS) will meet on Friday, March 2, 2018, from 1 to 3 pm in the Relief Society Room of the LDS Church at 10675 NE 20^thSt, Bellevue, WA 98004 with doors opening at 12:45 pm for networking. Visitors are always welcome at our meetings.       

Topic: Ken Passe’s Updated Windmill Story –  While the story was the result of his research and travel up to that time, the larger family story has been updated and enhanced through use of new tools, technologies, information availability and some good luck. Ken will describe the various processes that he has used to expand his family tree, with the hope that GIG members might find some of the steps helpful for their own research. 

Speaker: Ken Passé has been doing genealogy research for more than 20 years and has been fortunate to have visited his ancestral village in Germany several times. A self-professed maritime guy/waterfront rat, he has extended his research to touch upon shipboard travel from Europe to America.

For more information, kindly visit our website .  

The Eastside Genealogical Society will meet on Thursday, February 8, 2018 in the Bellevue Regional Library (Room 1), 1111 – 110^th Ave NE, Bellevue, WA 98004 at 7 pm, with doors opening at 6:30 pm for networking.

Topic: “What I Wish I Had Known . . .” – This session is an interactive exchange of ideas, experience and recommendations by society members. The audience will share their experiences and lessons learned in researching their ancestors, citing their sources, the importance of locating original documentation, the confusion with multiple marriages, the importance of location, the need for continuous learning, researching extended family, the importance of law, the importance of technology and public or private sharing of our efforts  Come learn from experienced genealogists sharing their adventures.

Speaker: Janet O’Conor Camarata is active in the South King County Genealogical Society as Technology User Group leader and publicity chairman and in the Eastside Genealogical Society as presenter and program chairman of the German Interest Group. She is also an instructor in a six-week course in genealogy and technology at Pierce College. She is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists and a graduate of the University of Washington Genealogy and Family History program.  She is an experienced instructor who taught at the University of Phoenix and in The Boeing Company.

See our website for FREE genealogical help and other Special Interest Group meetings. Visitors are always welcome at all meetings. Here    or here

The German Interest Group of The Eastside Genealogical Society (EGS) will meet on Friday, February 2, 2018, from 1 to 3 pm in the Relief Society Room of the LDS Church at 10675 NE 20^thSt, Bellevue, WA 98004 with doors opening at 12:45 pm for networking. Visitors are always welcome at our meetings.       

Topic: Learn about a major website used by genealogists in Germany —  It has various databases and features but they were all originally written in the German language with a few English language options. There’s Historic Geo Information, some Local Heritage Books, Regional Portals, Meta search, User Contributed Family Trees, and much more. Come learn about this exciting website and the easiest ways to translate the German language on those web pages.

Speaker: Dorothy Pretare started collecting family history in 1995 and is active in 2 local genealogical societies, leader of the EGS German Interest Group and a member of 2 societies in Minnesota.  In 2008, she visited her ancestral villages in old East Germany and present day Poland.

For more information, kindly visit our website here.  

The Eastside Genealogical Society will meet on Thursday, January 11, 2018 in the Emerald Heights Retirement Community (Emerald Room) at 10901 176^th Circle NE, Redmond, WA 98052 at 7 pm, with doors opening at 6:30 pm for networking. (See our website for Driving Instructions.)

Topic: Catching Your Ancestors in the Act, Using Newspapers to Track Your Ancestors in Time and Place —  The daily activities of our ancestors are often captured by the ubiquitous local newspapers, human interest, comedy, tragedy it is all there whether or not our ancestors wanted to appear in print or not. Even better the number of historic newspapers available for research just keeps growing and many are available online for free.  We will discuss both free and subscription sites as well as the many state archives and demonstrating the Chronicling America website through my favorite backdoor at Stanford University. Come, learn and have fun!

Speaker: Bob Barnes is a past president of the EGS and currently chairs it education program.  He teaches genealogy classes for the King County Library System and has been a genealogy instructor at the Bellevue College Telos Program for a number of years. He also provides genealogy assistance at both at the Bellevue Library and the Bellevue Family History Center.

See our website for Driving Instructions, FREE genealogical help and other Special Interest Group meetings. Visitors are always welcome at all meetings. www.eastsidegenealogicalsociety.com  or https://eastsidegenealogicalsociety.com/

The German Interest Group of The Eastside Genealogical Society (EGS) will meet on Friday, January 5, 2018, from 1 to 3 pm in the Relief Society Room of the LDS Church at 10675 NE 20^thSt, Bellevue, WA 98004 with doors opening at 12:45 pm for networking. Visitors are always welcome at our meetings.

Topic:  Using US Records to Search for an Immigrant Ancestor’s Village – Locating an immigrant ancestor’s village can be challenging.  Not all records are online or have the information being sought.  Three speakers will share their experiences using US records to find an ancestor’s Old World village.  They’ll discuss what they did, where they went and what they found.  Strategies and tips offered here can be modified to apply to any immigrant ancestor.

Speaker: Janet O’Conor Camarata, a member of Eastside Genealogical Society and South King County Genealogical Society, has over 25 years of experience in genealogy. She is an instructor in genealogy at Pierce College, a seminar presenter and trainer in genealogy societies across Washington, who takes advantage of the latest technology and staying mobile with the latest computing tools.

Speaker: Dorothy Pretare started collecting family history in 1995 and is active in 2 local genealogical societies, leader of the EGS German Interest Group and a member of 2 societies in Minnesota.  In 2008, she visited her ancestral villages in old East Germany and present day Poland.

Speaker: Melanie Matway was fortunate to have learned her immigrant ancestors’ villages first-hand with one exception.  The quest for a great-grandmother’s village of origin has taken her to Ohio and Pennsylvania and has been a learning experience utilizing a variety of records and non-familial sources of information.

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

The Eastside Genealogical Society will meet on Thursday, November 9, 2017 in the Bellevue Regional Library (Room 1), 1111 – 110^th Ave NE, Bellevue, WA 98004 at 7 pm, with doors opening at 6:30 pm for networking.

Topic: Adoptions and DNA – Finding Long Lost Family

We will . . .

. review two adoptee’s stories of how we found living biological relatives.

. learn about DNA basics, DNA search tips and understanding DNA testing results.

. learn how to build a DNA Match’s family tree with documented resources only to discover potential relatives.

. learn how to ask questions and find answers using on-line resources that will lead you to discovering your own family tree and finding remaining biological relatives.

There is enough content, technique and intrigue here to interest every family historian.

Speaker:  Leslie Edmunds is an expert-level family historian and consultant trainer. She has been developing skills over the last 40 years and enjoys sharing tips and techniques to mine a resource to its fullest potential. She is often heard saying” It’s crazy but true; when I look, I find.” Leslie is known for starting with the vaguest of clues to discover entire family lines for other people. Her regions of expertise include Canada, the US, the UK, Scandinavia, Germany, Luxembourg, Hungary, Slovakia and Northern Europe. Her time periods of expertise include 1940 to present, 1860 to 1940, and 1700 to 1860. Leslie has recently completed projects in compiling surname family units over three centuries in ancestral locations, finding living biological relatives of adoptees, creating biographical stories/timelines from newspapers, creating sourced only family trees, tracing Quaker immigrants, researching civil war participation and using government-sponsored digital archives and demographic databases to hone her skills and develop new resource knowledge. Leslie is all about doing family history on a budget and has an incredible arsenal of free on-line and off-line resources at her finger tips.

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

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

Topic: Applying for German Naturalization – Carol will share her experience applying for German naturalization, based on Article 116, paragraph 2 of the German Basic Law.  This law allows descendants of Germans, who lost their citizenship during the 1933 to 1945 time period, to receive German naturalization.  It is also a story of how a person’s birthplace can shape their life and that of their descendants.

Speaker: Carol Shafer is a first generation American on her mother’s side. Currently, she is an English as a Second Language teacher at City University in Seattle and has worked for the government, in the private sector and in education.

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

The Eastside Genealogical Society will meet on Thursday, October 12, 2017 in the LDS Bellevue South Stake Center, 15205 SE 28^th St,(Across 148^th Ave from Bellevue College, behind LDS Temple), Bellevue, WA 98007 at 7 pm, with doors opening at 6:30 pm for networking.

Topic: Go West, Young Man: Online Resources for the Western United States.   Cowboys, ranchers, miners, & pioneers with wanderlust led to colorful history and lifestyles. Learn about traditional & unique records found in the Wild West.

Speaker: Cyndi Ingle is owner & webmaster of Cyndi’s List, a categorized list of over 336,000 online genealogical resources.   She is also a seminar presenter & an author.

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

The German Interest Group of The Eastside Genealogical Society (EGS) will meet on Friday, October 6, 2017, from 1 to 3 pm in the Relief Society Room of the LDS Church at 10675 NE 20^thSt, Bellevue, WA 98004 with doors opening at 12:45 pm for networking. Visitors are always welcome at our meetings.

Topic:  German Village 1500-1850: Marriage, Religion & Inheritance – Have you ever wondered what life was like for your German ancestors? An overview of courtship, marriage, and religious differences impacting inheritance and family life.

Speaker: Janet O’Conor Camarata, a member of South King County Genealogical Society, has over 25 years of experience in genealogy. She is an instructor in genealogy at Pierce College, a seminar presenter and trainer in genealogy societies across Washington, who takes advantage of the latest technology and staying mobile with the latest computing tools.

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