Three BIGGEE events coming up..... are they on YOUR calendar?

What's in your genealogical tool chest this spring? Needing some new ideas, thoughts or knowledge to give your genealogy a jump start? If you are serious about finding ancestors, please make time to attend all these upcoming events:

Saturday, March 10:  This is the date for our EWGS meeting (NOT March 3, please remember) and it will be an all day, all things Irish and Scots-Irish, seminar presented by two fellows coming from Ireland to spend the day with us. Cost is $20 for EWGS members; $25 for non-members; please bring a bag lunch. For complete information, register and access the poster via our blog our our website (www.EWGSI.org).

Saturday, April 7:   This is our EWGS meeting date and will be a Welcome 1940 Census Birthday Party! Complete with balloons and cake, trained volunteers will be there to attempt to find your family on the newly-released 1940 census. I say "attempt," for that census will not be indexed by that date and you'll need to have a pretty good idea where your people lived to be able to find them and we'll be there to help you!    (As the year progresses, this census will be indexed by Ancestry and FamilySearch, but not by April 7th.) This is a free event.

Saturday, April 28: On this date the First Annual Family Search Symposium will be held at the West Spokane Stake & Family Search Center. This will be an all-day of learning and all FREE. There will be a Pulled Pork BBQ lunch, choice of 16 classes, one-on-one access to a Geek Team to better learn how to use the two major finding databases these days (Ancestry and Family Search) and opportunity to take a Test Drive Demo of six other helpful database/websites. You don't want to miss this! (This LDS meetinghouse is out on West Plains; take I-90 exit 272. Check their website:  www.rememberinggenerations.isod.com )

EWGS & NeWGS represented at RootsTech

I'm homewardbounding today from attending RootsTech and it was fun to share learning with friends from home. I shared time with Cecily Kelly, Margie Beldin, Janis Littlefield (TriCities GenSoc) and Karen and Gordy Struve. Other than Gordy's mishap pinching a finger in a folding chair, we had a fab time. The thing I learned that was most impressive to me was this: We can imagine gathering most all of the world's family history information into one place. (FamilySearch and Ancestry are trying to do just that.) What we don't understand is HOW those wonderful young teckie-geeks DO IT.......how they take those million bits of information and turned them into a bezillion bytes that we can access. That was the "Tech" part of RootsTech. And it's complicated beyond my understanding for sure although I did listen and try to "see."

What I do know is this, and our mutual friends agree:  The future of genealogy lies with the Internet. I did not say "on" the Internet, I said "with." The time is coming when you can sit in your 'jammies and either access the data directly or search card catalogs and contact repositories directly for more information or search genealogical society websites and then contact them directly for more information. I know it blows my mind to hear explained all the many, many ways to find answers via the Internet. (Again, I did not say ON the Internet.) I thank all those teckie-geeks for helping this to become a reality for us and I'm eager to learn how to fully appreciate and use all that is becoming available to me. I hope you are too.

RootsTech..... for me and YOU.

Yes, I'm off before sunrise tomorrow (Jan 31) to attend RootsTech in Salt Lake City (2-4 Feb). It's an exciting time of learning how technology can help us do better, safer and more efficient genealogy. But you can attend, too, virtually! Several of the sessions are being streamed live during those three days and all you have to do is sit at your computer and tune in.........here is the schedule and the link:

RootsTech Conference Will Broadcast Select Sessions Free Online

SALT LAKE CITY—RootsTech, a leading family history and technology conference held in Salt Lake City, Utah, February 2-4, 2012, announced today that fourteen of its popular sessions will be broadcasted live and complimentary over the Internet. The live broadcasts will give those unable to attend worldwide a sample of this year’s conference content. Interested viewers can watch the live presentations at RootsTech.org. The second-year conference has attracted over 3,000 registered attendees.

 

The free online sessions include the keynote speakers and a sampling of technology and family history presentations. Following are the fourteen broadcasted sessions and speakers. All times are in Mountain Standard Time (MST):

 

Thursday, February 2

8:30-10:00 am, Inventing the Future, as a Community (Keynote Address) by Jay L. Verkler

11:00 am-12:00 pm, Do I Trust the Cloud? by D. Joshua Taylor  

1:45-2:45 pm, Effective Database Search Tactics by Kory Meyerink     

3:00-4:00 pm, Twitter – It’s Not Just “What I Had for Breakfast” Anymore by Thomas MacEntee  

4:15-5:15 pm, Eleven Layers of Online Searches by Barbara Renick     

 

Friday, February 3

8:30-9:30 am, Exabyte Social Clouds and Other Monstrosities (Keynote Address) by Josh Coates

9:45-10:45 am, Publish Your Genealogy Online by Laura G. Prescott     

11:00 am-12:00 pm, Optimize Your Site for Search Engines by Robert Gardner    

1:45-2:45 pm, Genealogists “Go Mobile” by Sandra Crowly  

3:00-4:00 pm, Google’s Toolbar and Genealogy by Dave Barney      

 

Saturday, February 4

8:30-9:30 am, Making the Most of Technology to Further the Family History Industry (Keynote Address) by Tim Sullivan and Ancestry.com Panel

9:45-10:45 am Genealogy Podcasts and Blogs 101 by Lisa Louise Cooke    

11:00 am-12:00 pm, Future of FamilySearch Family Tree by Ron Tanner

1:45-2:45 pm, Privacy in a Collaborative Environment by Noah Tatuk   


So in a sense, we can learn something together!!!  I shall miss the February meeting; see you in March.

Your Digital Digest committee works for YOU.

This is the editorial committee for the EWGS Digital Digest:  Gerry Gosche, Juanita McBride, Pat Bayonne-Johnson, Jeanne Coe, Diane Boyd (also our webmaster), Bill Hire (assistant webmaster), Bette Topp and Donna Phillips. We met on Tuesday, 17 January, to plan the next several issues of the Digest, working diligently to ensure that the content is of worth and interest to our members and to those living elsewhere coming to our website for their research needs. We work for YOU. All we ask is that you click to the www.EWGSI.orgwww.EWGSI.org  website and take the time with our new digital publication as you did with our paper publication. And most certainly, we would welcome input and participation from YOU.

March 10.......... Is Your Calendar Marked????

EWGS  SPRING  SEMINAR

10 March 2012

Spokane Public Library

We are very fortunate to have an All-day Seminar Featuring

THE   ULSTER  HISTORICAL  FOUNDATION

With

Fintan Mullan & Dr. Brian Trainor

From Ulster, Ireland

           Learn about Irish Emigration from Ireland to America

        Irish and Scots-Irish Family History Research

             Sources for Research by County

             Check-in time 8:30 a.m.

                       Seminar: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Your own brown bag lunch. Time for lunch break is 12:30–1:30

You may also choose from places

in  the Riverfront Park Food Court

$20.00 for EWGS Members                                              $25.00 for non-members

Number:______________                                                                            Number:______________

Dues are $25.00 __________

Total Payment: $_____________                    

                                                                                                                                                               Name:__________________________________

                                                                                                     Address_________________________________

Phone:_________________________________ 

Email:_________________________________

Mail to:  EWGS P. O. Box 1826, Spokane, WA 99210-1826

New Year's Resolutions???

This is one of my favorite pictures. It is a painting by Norman Rockwell and appeared as a Saturday Evening Post magazine cover in the 1950s. Since this piqued my interest way back then, and I'm still interested in family history today, I count myself lucky! But on to New Year's Resolutions......... why make them only to ignore or break them by the end of January? How about just look at and analyze your days and see where and upon what are you spending the majority of your time? Will that something matter in 100 years? The thrift shops are (unfortunately) full of quilts and crocheted items and painted china. A thoroughly cleaned house will be messy again within a week. Your family, your ancestors, were, are and will be of interest continuing forever so why not concentrate on your family and your family history??  EWGS stands ready and willing to assist you; wouldn't you like to know if there was a one-eyed pirate in your family tree?

What You Missed January 7, 2012 Luncheon

The January 7, 2012 luncheon started with the buffet line, good food.

After lunch the EWGS officers for the 2012 year were lined up so everyone can see them.

Announcements for the February, March and April meetings. The past presidents and distinguished service members were asked to stand, and then the speakers Doug Seibol and Mary Ellen Locke showed pictures of their trip to western Siberia to meet Doug's Seibol relatives that were still living in that area today. They had actually tracked him down as a Seibol uncle had migrated to Odessa, Washington in the early 1900s. Very interesting pictures.