EWGS President Visits Georgetown University

EWGS President Patricia Bayonne-Johnson visits Georgetown University to see what Georgetown is doing to make amends for the sale of the 272 slaves. The article is here
Another Article Here

NPR Interviewed  Pat and John Degoia president of Georgetown University.

Kelowna & District Genealogical Society Genealogy Road Trip

Who’s Up For a Genealogy Road Trip?

September is the perfect time to travel – the tourists have mostly gone home, the roads are in good condition and the weather is perfect!  What could be better?  Well, how about a Genealogy Road Trip?

Why not get a few friends together and come to Kelowna for the “Harvest Your Family Tree” Genealogy Conference, taking place from Sept. 23-25, 2016?  Sharing the costs and enjoying the companionship of like-minded friends is a wonderful way to see the countryside.

The Kelowna Inn & Suites is offering an unbelievable rate of only $79 per night (plus taxes), including breakfast, to our Conference registrants.  This is definitely budget-friendly, especially if you share the room with a friend or two.  The hotel is nicely appointed, has an on-site restaurant and is very conveniently located along Hwy. 97 halfway between the Friday and Saturday Conference venues.  www.kelownainnandsuites.com; 1-800-667-6133 – be sure to tell them you are coming for the Genealogy Conference.  

While in Kelowna, enjoy our great shopping, many beautiful wineries, historic sites and get in some genealogy research at our KDGS Family & Local History Resource Centre and the other great archives and specialty libraries close-by.  Be sure to scoop up some freshly-picked apples to bring home, too!  Go to the Conference pages at www.KDGS.ca, then take a look at the “Staying in Kelowna” page for lots of great suggestions and website links.  You may also want to stay on a few days after the Conference to see the Royals:  Prince William, Duchess Kate and little George & Charlotte will be in Kelowna on Sept. 27^th!!!

Register for our Conference:  www.KDGS.ca.  Don’t delay too long as some workshops are filling up quickly!

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Besides all the great Conference news we have been sending you over the past months, we are very excited to announce that MY HERITAGE will have a booth in our Marketplace!  They have very generously come on-board as our main sponsor, supplying name-tag lanyards, beautiful conference bags, some fabulous door prizes and My Heritage software for each registrant.  We welcome them to our Marketplace and to Kelowna!  If you aren’t familiar with My Heritage, check out their website:  www.myheritage.com.

Claire Smith-Burns

Library & Public Education Committees

Chairperson, “Harvest Your Family Tree” Conference (Sept. 23-25, 2016)

Kelowna & District Genealogical Society

Kelowna, BC, Canada

Conference@KDGS.ca

Librarian@KDGS.ca

www.KDGS.ca

Tuesday Tip

Dick Eastman had an article on a FREE website to colorize your old black and white photos. It is available here for FREE.
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I tried a couple of my grand aunt Latisha Vanderpool's photos:

 Should we colorize our old photos? Do they look better?

Georgetown University President Meets with EWGS President Pat Bayonne-Johnson

Another great article on EWGS President Pat Bayonne-Johnson and the meeting with Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia at the Spokane Public Library June 13, 2016. This article tells about the cooperation between Georgetown and the genealogists tracing their ancestors back to the 272 slaves sold by Georgetown in 1838.
The earlier article is located here 

The EWGS group researching the Butler genealogy.

Georgetown University President John DeGioia meets Pat Bayonne-Johnson

EWGS President Patricia Bayonne-Johnson descendant of slaves that were sold by Georgetown University in 1838, meets with Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia at the Spokane Public Library. Read the article by Rachel L. Swarns of the New York Times. (https://goodblacknews.org/author/goodblacknews/ ) or the article in the Spokesman Review .
Here is some pictures of the meeting:

Pat and John DeGioia

Greeting the team of researchers.

Sitting down to talk about the research.

June 9th, A 2-Star Learning Day for EWGS

The Ancestry Users Group (TAG), honcho'd by Marge Mero, met at the Shadle Library at 12:30 on Thursday, June 9th. After introductions and welcomes (and donut bits!) the time was turned over to Doug Floyd for the lesson on understanding what probate is and finding probate records on Ancestry. 

Doug explained that probate means "the official proving of (as in a will)," or "establishing the validity of (as a will)."  He quoted the Legal Genealogist, Judy Russell, as saying that "probate records are the best records in genealogy." Doug explained the difference in some legal terms; testament refers to disposition of personal property while will spells out personal wishes and guardianship was not necessarily for the child but for the child's property. 

Doug directed us to the Ancestry Academy where there are two specific learning videos there for us to watch. Next he directed us to the Ancestry Card Catalog to look under the topic of "probate records" or jump to doing a locality search and see what Ancestry includes for probate records in your area of focus. 

The TAG meeting was followed by meeting #2 of the Genealogy Re-Focus group honcho'd by Teresa Smick, Liz Hawn and Sonji Ruttan. Teresa gave a most thorough lesson on finding and using the basic forms needed for genealogy, namely family group records/charts/forms.  Some 25 folks, eager for a basic-beginning-restart-focus attended. 

TAG will not meet in July or August. The Re-Focus group will meet the second Thursday, 12:30, Shadle Park Library and all are welcome. 

Check out their website:  www.genealoggyrefocus.wordpress.com 

Thursday, June 9th, was, indeed, a great learning day for EWGS. 

Spokane Valley Heritage Museum: Go Visit This Summer!

Spokane Valley Heritage Museum

Need an idea for a summer educational-staycation?  How about a visit to the Spokane Valley Heritage Museum where you can show your children how Grandma used to get water at her kitchen sink!

First it was the Opportunity Town Hall, built in 1912, and which is today on the Historic Landmarks Register. Since August 18, 2005, the historic building has been home to the Spokane Valley Heritage Museum. Jayne Singleton has been the motivating force behind the coming together of this museum and is currently the director.

The mission of the Spokane Valley Heritage Museum is “to collect, preserve and exhibit the history and culture of the Spokane Valley for the education and inspiration of the community.”

Collecting the history of an area bordered on four sides by Peone Prairie (north), Havana Street (west), Post Falls (east) and Rockford (south) has been no small undertaking. Today the collection includes 2245 items in house, which includes 1188 objects or artifacts, 903 photos and 497 items of reference in their archives.