Saturday, December 31, 2011

Happy New Year

This is a list of the top ten posts for 2011http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

1. Earthquake in Spokane? Yes Jan 25, 2011 230 page view
2. Roots Tech 2012 Mar 14, 2011 102 page views
3. Early Spokane Pictures online Jan 23, 2011 85 page views
4. Mozart Genealogy Jan 24, 2011 78 page views
5. EWGS Are you out there? Jan 16, 2011 71 page views
6. EWGSi Our new website explained Feb 7, 2011 71 page views
7. Walking with Ancestors 2011 Aug 27, 2011 58 page views
8. Images of America New Book Harrison, ID June 2, 2011 45 page views
9. Leonardo DaVinci at the Mac July 16, 2011 43 page views
10. 1940 Census more Details July 23, 2011 42 page views

Note None of these comes close to to most viewed post on the EWGS blog in 2011: Search Spokane Daily Chronicle July 2009 1839 page views (2011 count only)

Friday, December 30, 2011

New Year's Day Dinner in 1892 at the Davenport

In the wonderful book by Tony and Suzanne Bamonte, Spokane's Legendary Davenport Hotel, is a reproduced menu from the hotel for their 1892 New Year's Day dinner offering.  

COLD:  fresh crab, veal, turkey, mutton, corned beef, beef, pork, sugar cured ham, fresh lobsters, goose and boned turkey with aspect jelly

RELISHES:  Los Angeles comb honey;  California grapes, new celery, C.& B. chow chow, pitted olives, imported anchovies in oil, spiced chicken, hamburger aale, Caviara Russe, pickled eels in jelly, imported pate de poissons, Scotch kippered herrings.

SALADS:  chicken, potato, shrimp.

VEGETABLES:  asparagus on toast, Schnittohnen string beans, boiled-mashed-baked potatoes, potatoes in cream, beets, sugar corn, stewed parsnips, boiled rice, green peas, stewed tomatoes, mashed turnips, bowl of rice and milk, baked sweet potatoes, Lima beans, succotash, string beans.

PASTRY:  pies of all kinds,  jelly tarts,  homemade fruit cake,  chocolate-coconut-pound-sponge cake, cream tarts, lady fingers.

DESSERT:  English plum pudding with hard sauce,  vanilla ice cream,  strawberry or raspberry preserves, lemon ice, preserved pine apples, brandy peaches or cherries, peaches and cream, sliced pine apples and cream.

SOUP:  clam chowder,  macaroni.

FISH:  fried herring, tom cod, fried smelts, boiled sea bass with anchovy sauce, broiled fresh Spanish mackerel, broiled fresh shad.

BOILED:  capon with oyster sauce, turkey with egg cause, ox tongue with cream sauce, leg of mutton with caper sauce, brisket of beef with horse radish, sugar cured ham, pickled pigs head with sauerkraut, corned beef and cabbage.

ROAST:  stuffed turkey with cranberry cause, saddle of mutton, domestic goose and apple sauce, loin of pork, prime roast of beef with brown gravy, stuffed chicken, duck with currant jelly, lamb with mint sauce, suckling pig and apple sauce, saddle of venison, shoulder of veal with dressing.

ENTREES:  pillau of chicken a la creole, lobster cutlets a la Hollandaise, maccaroni a la cream, frog legs any style, pork chops breaded with sauce Robert, beef a la mode, tenderloin of beef larded with mushrooms, pate de foie gras aux truffles, venison steak with currant jelly, croquette of chicken aux petits pois, half grouse, fried calves brains with cream sauce, half pheasant, paupiette of veal with puree of asparagus, broiled quail on toast with bacon, pineapple fritters au rhum,  half spring chicken on toast, antelope chops with jelly sauce, eastern and Olympia oysters every style.

My first thought was how could one restaurant on one day offer such a wide variety in 1892? And my next thought was total aversion to some of the things listed (like fried calves brains with cream sauce?). But there was enough choice that I surely could have enjoyed a wonderful meal. How about you?

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

2011: Some Highlights


If a picture is worth 1000 words, then these two pictures show 1000 times how vibrant EWGS was in 2011. The top one is a Jerry Johnson photo taken on our fabulous Walking with Ancestors Day and the lower one is from our day with Dr. George Schweitzer learning Civil War causes and history. See yourself in either one (or both) of these photos??? Thank you, EWGS members and friends, for making 2011 such a great year and we all surely look forward to a surpassingly greater 2012!  Honored to be your president,  Donna

Monday, December 19, 2011

January Luncheon & Dues are now payable online!

Our webmaster, Diane B., is doing a whiz-bang-great job with our  www.EWGSI.org website. Have you clicked there recently???  When you do, you're in for a visual and educational treat.

Now would be a good time to click to our site for you can pick two flowers with one snip of the clippers...... you can pay your 2012 dues and register for the January luncheon right from the website using our PayPal account. Couldn't be easier!

PayPal new to you? Click to www.paypal.com and set up a free account. This is a really good and really secure idea. You register your credit card ONE PLACE and any online shopping or organization dues paying you do PayPal will pay them and bill your card........... PayPal is the only "one" with your credit card information.

So to conduct that EWGS business I mentioned above, click to our EWGS website, click to where you can register for the January lunch and pay your dues via PayPal. You'll be prompted to sign in to YOUR PayPal account to authorize this payment by them to your credit card. Viola and it's done. As they say on TV, "try it you'll like it," I promise.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all.  Donna

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays from EWGS

In one week the day of the reason for the season will be upon us. To all who view this page, the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society wishes you warmth, comfort, security, health, happiness, family love and COOKIES wrapped and under your tree. 

Friday, December 16, 2011

1940 census..... good news as far as I'm concerned.

 

News Release

For Immediate Release

16 December 2011

Three Genealogy Powerhouses Join Forces to Publish 1940 US Census
 

SALT LAKE CITY—Three leading genealogy organizations, Archives.comFamilySearch International, and findmypast.com, announced today they are joining forces to launch the 1940 US Census Community Project. The ambitious project aims to engage online volunteers to quickly publish a searchable, high quality name index to the 1940 US Census after it is released in April 2012 by the National Archives and Record Administration of the United States (NARA). The highly anticipated 1940 US Census is expected to be the most popular US record collection released to date. Its completion will allow anyone to search the record collection by name for free online. Learn more about this exciting initiative or how to volunteer at www.the1940census.com.

The 1940 US Census Community Project is also receiving additional support from leading societal organizations like the Federation of Genealogical Societies, National Genealogical Society, and Ohio Genealogical Society.

The population of the US in 1940 was approximately 130 million. NARA’s census images will not have a searchable index. The goal of the 1940 US Census Community Project is to create a high quality index online linked to the complete set of census images as soon as possible. The index will allow the public to easily search every person found in the census and view digital images of the original census pages. The collection will be available online for free to the general public at Archives.com, FamilySearch.org, and findmypast.com, the sponsors of the community project. This new collection will open access to family history research like never before for this period in the US.

“The 1940 Census is attractive to both new and experienced researchers because most people in the US can remember a relative that was living in 1940. It will do more to connect living memory with historical records and families than any other collection previously made available,” said David Rencher, Chief Genealogical Officer for FamilySearch.

The collaborative project will also pool the collective resources, know-how, and marketing reach of Archives.com, FamilySearch, and findmypast.com to engage and coordinate the volunteer workforce needed to deliver the ambitious project. Additionally, Archives.com and findmypast.com will make substantial financial contributions to make the 1940 US Census online name index possible and work with nonprofit FamilySearch to bring additional new records collections online—making even more highly valued family history resources available to the entire genealogical community.

Archives.com launched in 2009 with a focus on making family history research simple and affordable. Archives.com was recently awarded the opportunity to host the 1940 census for the National Archives as part of a separate project. Its involvement with the collaborative 1940 US Census project reiterates its commitment to the genealogy community and leadership in the space.

 “As a forward thinking company, we understand the critical importance the 1940 Census will have on US family history research. We are proud to be a primary sponsor of this community initiative, giving us another opportunity to take a leading role in the genealogy industry. We’d like to encourage and thank volunteers in advance for their essential contribution to this project,” said Matthew Monahan, CEO of Archives.com’s parent company, Inflection.

FamilySearch has developed an impressive global online community of volunteers over the past 5 years to help create free indexes to millions of the world’s historic records. The scope and size of the 1940 US Census Community Project will require tens of thousands of additional volunteers.

findmypast.com is one of a series of leading family history websites owned by the online publisher, brightsolid, which hosts over a billion records across its genealogy brands.   The company, which has been at the cutting edge of online family history since 2002, has a wealth of genealogy experience, including the recently digitized historic newspaper archive for the British Library (britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
), which is set to digitize up to 40 million pages over the next 10 years.

“By supporting this ground-breaking initiative, we hope to capture the imagination of the public to bring millions of people together to create this remarkable document of, and tribute to, the Greatest Generation.  At brightsolid we are committed to making family history accessible for all and believe access to these records will transform the family history market in the US,” said Chris van der Kuyl, CEO of findmypast.com’s parent company, brightsolid.


About Archives.com

Archives.com is a leading family history website that makes discovering family history simple and affordable. The company has assembled more than 1.5 billion U.S. and international historical records in a single location, including vital, census, newspaper, immigration, military, and more. Archives.com is free to try for seven days, allowing anyone to explore the benefits of membership without risk or obligation. Archives.com is owned and operated by Inflection, a fast-growing data commerce company, chosen by the National Archives to host the 1940 Census. Find more information at http://www.archives.com/1940census.

About FamilySearch

FamilySearch International is the largest genealogy organization in the world. FamilySearch is a nonprofit, volunteer–driven organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch and its predecessor organizations have been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. Patrons may access FamilySearch services and resources free online at FamilySearch.org or through over 4,600 family history centers in 132 countries, including the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

About brightsolid and findmypast.com

Since 1994, brightsolid group has been delivering online innovation and pioneering the expansion of the genealogy market with leading family history websites including the findmypast global network, ScotlandsPeople, GenesReunited, and britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk, together servicing over 18 million registered customers worldwide. The sites connect people via their innovative family tree software and deliver access to over a billion records dating as far back as 1200. Family historians can search for their ancestors among global collections, relating primarily to people with UK and Irish ancestry, of military records, census, migration, occupation directories, newspapers, as well as birth, marriage and death records.
 

Friday, December 9, 2011

News from Donna

I am in Salt Lake City attending the 27th annual Salt Lake Christmas Tour (where 93 folks from all over the U.S. have come to use this library) and have attended classes taught by "the" Thomas MacEntee and boy have I learned some pearls of wisdom.

Did you realize that you cannot (or should not) just grab and use images from Google because of copyright restrictions? But WikiMedia Commons is a site having millions of images that you can use without worrying about copyright.

Did you know about Blog Talk Radio? This is an every-Friday-night free genealogy radio talk show that you listen to via your computer. Thomas is the host and has various guests and topics. But since you might be sitting at your computer on Friday night anyway you might as well listen to this show...... http://www.blogtalkradio.com/

Did you know that to copy an entire sequential list you use SHIFT + your mouse to highlight the entire list. To copy only selected entries you use SHIFT + CTRL and select the ones you want. Does that make sense?  (I was doing it all wrong.)

Do you struggle to understand the online backup services? Click to Wikipedia and then "comparison of online backup services." This will take you to a chart comparing all the more popular ones. In the class, we all (including Thomas) pretty much agreed that Dropbox was our favorite.

Did you know that the heyday of city directories was 1840-1930, according to teacher Maureen MacDonald, "but the earliest one was in 1652 in New Amsterdam." Who would have guessed that?

Did you know, you MAC users, that Legacy says they are not and will never offer a MAC version of their program but RootsMagic developers are working on such a program??? Almost thou persuadest me to become a RM user........

Happy and Merry Christmas to you all and see you in January.   Donna