Tacoma Pierce County Genealogical Society will be the host for the 2016 conference It will be June 18th. 2016 and held at the La Quinta Inn in Tacoma. The speaker will be Paula Warren. Watch the blog for more details.
Tag Archives: Washington State Genealogical Society
DNA Dominates the Day at NW Genealogy Conference
The second day of the Northwest Genealogy Conference in Arlington was all about DNA and genetic genealogy, featuring CeCe Moore, one of the nation’s foremost professional genetic genealogists. You may have seen her on TV in “Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr.” Well…it’s even cooler to see and hear her in person! She held our interest for four plenary sessions, explaining the intricacies of everything from alleles to Y-chromosomes. Can’t wait to relook at all the results from those DNA tests I bought and didn’t understand!
We ended our day with a great banquet. Many kudos were extended, including to the Stillaguamish Valley GS 2014 WSGS Conference Planning Team and Larry Taylor who were recognized as WSGS Outstanding Volunteers. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, we were entertained by Judy Russell, the Legal Genealogist, and her version of Alphabet Soup. (Thanks for today’s shout-out on your blog about the County Resource Guides on our WSGS website, Judy!!) Can’t wait to hear Judy again tomorrow!
Blog Banner Photo Challenge Continues
Photo by Roger Newman, Shelton
Photo taken by Roger Newman, Shelton
Did you notice the latest photos in our Blog banner? They’re part of a rotation of photos submitted by you — our enthusiastic readers.
Roger Newman from Shelton submitted a beautiful photo of Coast Rhododendrons taken near Walker Mountain near Quilcene. The Coast Rhododendron (Rhododendron macrophyllum) is our state flower.
His other submission is one of Native American Racing Canoes — so sleek and fast. Can’t you imagine them gliding swiftly across the water?
Both of Roger’s photos were part of our Blog Banner Photo Challenge — photos you’ve taken of scenes in our great state of Washington. There’s still plenty of time to send us your favorite photo for the Blog banner. For more details, read the 08 July 2015 blog post or enter “Blog Banner” in the search bar on the right.
We hope to see your photo soon!
Blog Banner Photos Coming In
Have you noticed the different photos in our Blog banner each time you visit? They’re the first batch of photos submitted by Blog readers in our “Blog Banner Photo Challenge” (see the 08 Jul 2015 Blog post for details).
- Steamboat Rock near Banks Lake. Photo taken by Donna Potter Phillips, Spokane
- Spokane Falls – Charles Hansen, Spokane
- Block 72 of the Evergreen Cemetery in Everett (Does anyone know Russian???) – Larry Taylor, Arlington
- Wild Horses Monument near Vantage – Charles Hansen, Spokane
- Whitestone Rock in Lake Roosevelt – Donna Potter Phillips, Spokane
- Snoqualmie Falls – Donna Potter Phillips, Spokane
Where’s YOUR photo? There’s still plenty of time to submit your photo (jpg only, please) to WSGSBlog@wasgs.org. Read more about the Blog Banner Photo Challenge here. If you’ve still got questions, email the blog team at WSGSBlog@wasgs.org.
Innovative Grant Awards Announced
WSGS President Mikal McKinnon has announced the local society projects that received Innovative Grants at last month’s state conference. The Innovative Grant Program, awarding financial awards up to $100, was created to support the inventive and creative efforts of WSGS-member societies and organizations. The successfully funded projects, which include matching funds from the local society, are:
- Chelan Valley Genealogical Society – Purchase of a computer, solely for genealogical research, at the Chelan Public Library. The computer will have access to Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org.
- Northeast Washington Genealogical Society – Removal of trees that are endangering the safety of people and protection of grave markers at the Evergreen Cemetery, a local cemetery near Colville. Until NWGS began caring for this long-neglected cemetery, vandalism and lack of care had left its mark on many of the headstones and gravesites. Today, the cemetery looks like an old, but loved, pioneer cemetery.
- Skagit Valley Genealogical Society – Purchase of a new laptop computer to be used for society presentations and transcription of documents from the Northwest Regional Archives in Bellingham.
- Tri-City Genealogical Society – Funds will support the society’s “Archived Records Contest” which encourages individuals to share records they have obtained by various means other than just downloading an image from the Internet. Click here for more about the Archived Records Contest.
- Wenatchee Area Genealogical Society – Specialized computer software to enable more than one volunteer to enter data related to local obituaries, cemetery records, World War I records and more. The software purchase will enable WAGS members to add to their extensive genealogical holdings of more than 394,000 records and 90 databases.
Announcements for the 2016 grant cycle will be posted on the Blog in Spring 2016. For more information about the Innovative Grant Program, contact Roxanne Lowe, WSGS Recognition Chair.
Tip of the Week
At the recent WSGS conference David Rencher said that Family Search was adding about a million new names, and I can not remember if that was a day or a week, but still it is a lot of new names to research, and to come back often to see if the name you are researching is there now. He also said he gets reports telling him what new data is being added, but how does the average genealogist find out what is being added? The answer is blogs! I know several of the blogs I read using Feedly list the updated list almost weekly. I will just list three here, the first one is a Washington resident Leland Meitzler in his GenaelogyBlog . The second is Randy Seaver with his GeneaMusings Blog. Randy also lists the new or updated lists on Ancestry. The last one is Renee Zamora, and she lists a lot of happenings at Family Search, like the call for 100,000 volunteers to index records or to beta test the new Family Search Home Page
Fred Pflugrath Receives President’s Award for Outstanding Achievement
WAGS President Lynda Pheasant accepts Fred Pflugrath’s President’s Award from Roxanne Lowe and Mike McKinnon
Fred Pflugrath was named the first recipient of the WSGS President’ Award for Outstanding Achievement at the WSGS Conference in Ellensburg last month. He was nominated by the Wenatchee Area Genealogical Society (WAGS).
Over the last dozen years, Fred has single-handedly identified, researched, and documented information about almost 2,500 Civil War veterans from all over Eastern Washington. Much of his research is available in 35 notebooks in the WAGS library with an index available online. Additionally, he has taken the extra step to submit the information to the National Grave Registration Project (part of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, SUVCW).
Fred has connected families with their Civil War ancestors, arranged for headstones and markers, and orchestrated dedication and memorial ceremonies. He has willingly shared information, resources and expertise with anyone wanting information, including those outside Chelan and Douglas counties.
As if that isn’t enough, Fred also gives tours of local cemeteries and has been the WAGS newsletter editor.
Skagit Valley GS Earns First Outstanding Project Award
Kris and Chris, proud Skagit Valley GS members, accepting the Outstanding Project Award
The inaugural WSGS Outstanding Project award was awarded at the WSGS Conference in Ellensburg last month to the Skagit Valley Genealogical Society (SVGS) for their “Making Connections Through Roots (Researching Our Origins Teens With Seniors)” project. This deserving effort was a community collaboration between SVGS, the Burlington Public Library and the Burlington-Edison Alternative High School. The purpose of the project was to teach 12th grade students who were at risk of dropping out of school basic researching methods by researching their own unique family histories. In addition to the dedication of many committed individuals, this innovative project received a $23,000 grant from the Paul G. Allen Foundation. The SVGS received a certificate and one-year membership to WSGS for their accomplishment.
Upon reviewing the ROOTS nomination, one reviewer commented,
“I can only find positive remarks to make about this marvelous project. It perfectly combines answers to various struggles that genealogical societies encounter. It embraces youth and validates them. It is an amazing tool for outreach…I applaud the mastermind that created a solution to address so many concerns. I also applaud each and every person that participated in this project. I would love to see this project duplicated by every genealogical society in every county of every state of this great country. Bravo!!”
If you would like to hear more about this outstanding project, contact John Hayes, SVGS President. In addition, the Washington State Library featured a recent First Tuesday webinar about the project. https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?sid=2008170&psid=2015-01-06.0907.M.51A1F6BD288768B43F3C46EBA9B642.vcr
Columbia Gorge GS Earns Outstanding Communication Award
The Columbia Gorge Genealogical Society’s “Tales and Trails” quarterly newsletter was awarded the 2015 Outstanding Communication Award at the WSGS Conference in Ellensburg last month. The society received a certificate and will have possession of the perpetual Outstanding Communication Plaque for the next year.
Besides news, reports and announcements that pertain to their 38-member society, the newsletter features interesting and useful information about genealogical research and family history. It’s no easy task for Editor Jim Bull to constantly be on the lookout for quality material. He has been the Editor in Chief since 2010.
Formerly “paper copy only,” the newsletter has now transitioned to an “on-line” edition that is available to society members, other genealogical societies, family history centers and libraries. Those without computer access still receive their copy in the mail. The change to electronic publication has resulted in a higher quality newsletter, which can be published at less expense.
Blog Banner Photo Challenge
Summer’s in full swing and that means many of us are on the road, in the air, or on a boat visiting people, places, and things. It also means you’re taking lots of photos. So…we’re sponsoring a Blog Banner Photo Challenge, looking for a few good photographs to highlight in our banner (replacing the Snoqualmie Falls photo above). The banner will feature a series of photos taken by you, our readers.
Rules are few:
- Landscapes, landmarks, and scenery photos are preferred. If, however, you have a perfect photo that includes people, please obtain their permission to post the photo.
- Photo must have been taken in Washington State (this is the Washington State Genealogical Society blog, after all!).
- Photo will be cropped to 1100 x 250 pixels, so keep that in mind.
- You may enter as many photos as you want.
- Final decisions on suitable photos will be made by the awesome WSGS Blog Team.
- There’s no prize if your photo is chosen – just the satisfaction that your photo is being showcased on a blog viewed by hundreds of enthusiastic genealogists.
- There’s no firm deadline to submit photos, just keep ‘em coming. We want to rotate lots of photos to keep the blog fresh.
- To submit your photo, please email the image (jpg only, please); what, where, when, and by whom the photo was taken to WSGSBlog@wasgs.org.
Got questions? Email the blog team at WSGSBlog@wasgs.org.