Trivia Time!

 

* We here in the Pacific Northwest do love our often-immense Douglas Fir trees. Did you know that this tree was named for David Douglas, born in Scone, Scotland, in 1799? This famous botanist arrived at the mouth of the Columbia River in April 1825 and during the next two years he traveled up the Columbia, Snake and Okanogan rivers, some 4000 miles. Why? He was noting, comparing, gathering and preparing specimens for shipments back to London. In July 1834 he was on the island of Hawaii, planning to walk the 100 miles to Hilo. He met his death on July 12th by falling into a rock-walled pit, built to trap wild bulls. Unfortunately there was also in the pit an angry bull. There is a small monument on the spot but today it is rather inaccessible.

* Did your ancestors come from Alsace-Lorraine? Where is this, Germany or France? Alsace-Lorraine is a region in the northeastern part of France, located on the border with Germany. The small area covers only about 12,000 square miles of territory. Switzerland lies to the south and Luxembourg to the north. For hundreds of years, the inhabitants of this territory have been part German and part French. The area has seen wars of conquest many times beginning about 300A.D. Both France and Germany sparred over ownership of the area but after World War II the region became part of France.

* Ever been to a podunk  town? A common implication of Podunk is that it's a place so dreary and remote that it's not even worth situating on a map. One of the most famous people to refer to Podunk was Mark Twain, who in 1869 wrote that a certain fact was known even "in Podunk, wherever that may be." Would you guess that there was a town originally known as Podunk in Washington? Yepper, tiz so. On the Lewis River, sixteen miles north of Vancouver is the bitsy town of LaCenter. John Pollock claimed a homestead there in 1865 and folks have lived there ever since. Early on, the only access to the town was via the river for there were no roads. Do you know anybody from Podunk? (There are also towns by that name in Connecticut, Michigan, Vermont, Massachusetts, Nebraska and New York. Now you're ready for Jeopardy!)

Future Proofing Your Genealogy Research

 

Thomas MacEntee is a wonderful genealogy resource and has been for several years now. On his website, genealogybargains.com he offers many of his resources for free.  

For instance, here's the link to the above 26-page book:  https://genealogybargains.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/EBOOK-After-Youre-Gone.pdf

I urge you to download this resource and read it and heed it! To help ensure you do (smile), I'll only list the highlights of the book:

* Know the perils of inaction: lost genealogy. I could chill your bones with stories of things I've seen of boxes of family heirlooms tossed into the weeds by the side of the road (YES!) and in thrift stores:

* Create an inventory of your research so you know what you have that merits saving.

* Create a list of websites where you posted your tree, or anything about your family, online.

* Realize that you cannot plan just to leave your stuff to your kids, your local genealogy society or library (even the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City). They do not want your unorganized boxes of stuff and will not accept such. 

Thomas also includes in his book a list of "Best Practices for Genealogy Future Proofing." 

I might add my two cents worth to this: I've long preached the importance of "Leaving A Legacy & Not A Mess." YOU gathered all the stuff; it's totally up to YOU to leave it in an organized, worthwhile fashion. 

Northwest Passage: The Great Columbia River

 

May I share a book review with you all today? I just finished reading this book, Northwest Passage: The Great Columbia River, by William Dietrich, 1995 (my book says that; Amazon description has later dates).  Since all Washingtonians are in some fashion connected to this mighty river, I do recommend the book to you, all 400 pages.

Chapters in the book span the early history of mankind's contact with the river, and how it was "in the beginning," to how mankind tamed and changed the river to his liking. With easy to read prose, Dietrich explains how using the river changed settlers and settling over the decades. He describes the plight of the salmon, the poisoned ground of Hanford and how, thanks to dams, electricity from the river changed lives. The first chapters explain the geology of the entire area and how the river was ultimately formed. 

Readers are introduced to "Suzy the Chinook" as she makes her migratory journey to the sea and back. Several pages detail why most do not make it. Why? Suzy's body begins to change to adapt to salt water as she begins her down stream journey which used to take 20 to 30 days to reach the ocean and now, because of all the "lakes" behind the dams, the journey takes 2 to 3  months. See the problem?

Why did the government pick the Columbia River community of Hanford to build the nuclear reactors? The area was along the Columbia and plenty of cold water was needed.  I quote:  "B Reactor was deliberately built in what was considered the middle of nowhere in 1943: the sagebrush desert there was a remote location ensuring  that if anything went wrong , a minimum number of people would be killed. Engineers looked for an empty 'hazardous manufacturing area' of at least 12 by 16 miles for plutonium production. The 'gawd-awful' waste in the rain shadow of the Cascade Mountains fit that bill."  One Army lieutenant was quoted to say, upon surveying the area, "It is a desolation where even the most hopeful can find nothing in its future prospects to cheer." 

Author Dietrich begins his book with this quote from Baba Dioum, Senegalese conservationist (born in 1937):  "In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand and we will understand only what we are taught."

If you want to "be taught" more about our magnificent and wonderful Columbia River, I do recommend this book as a great read. It is available on Amazon. 

Museums To Visit

 

We be well into summer and have you any travel plans? Why not visit a museum...... especially a weird museum. Guarantee you (and your kiddos) will enjoy such a visit. Except for the one in Iceland. 

*Mutter Museum in Philadelphia features anatomical specimens, including Einstein's brain and a cast of Chang and Eng, the famous Siamese Twins joined at the abdomen.

** International UFO Museum and Research Center in Roswell, NM, focuses on the 1947 Roswell UFO incident and alien lore. 

** SPAM museum in Austin, MN is dedicated entirely to the history and culture of the canned meat product. Great gift shop.

** National Mustard Museum in Middleton, WI, displays over 5000 types of mustard from around the world.

** Pizza Brain Museum in Philadelphia showcases the world's pizza culture and pizzeria.

** Devil's Rope Museum in McLean, TV, explores the history of barbed wire. 

** Museum of Salt & Pepper Shakers in Gatlinburg, TN, features thousands of sets of these.

** Lunchbox Museum in Columbus, GA, is the world's largest collected of lunchboxes featuring over 5000 vintage metal and plastic lunchboxes.

** Hammer Museum in Haines, AL, is dedicated to hammers; founded in 2002 it contains over 1400 hammers and related tools ranging from ancient times, through colonial days to the industrial age.

** Museum of Jurassic Technology in Los Angeles is a surreal institution blending fact and fiction.

** Probably not for children, the Penis Museum in Reykjavik, Iceland features "more than 200 penises and penile parts representing almost all Icelandic land and sea mammals."  (Yes, hubby and I visited this museum  in 2019 and it wasn't so bad.) 

Time for Funnies!

 

1910 swimming costumes

WikiTree & Geni: Have You Looked?

 

I heard a respected genealogy expert (Arlene Eakle) once say that you could and should check 50 sources to fully document any one family group. Bet we've not been doing that, right?

Two places we might look are places were family trees are posted and genealogists collaborate. WikiTree has been around since 2009, currently (as of March 2026) has 1,326,162 community members with 44,622,928 ancestors on trees. Geni offers 208,319,099 profiles connected in its trees. 

Both websites are free so why not check them out?

Wikitree Strong Points: strong focus on accuracy and sourcing; collaborative environment, free access and helpful community.  Potential Weaknesses:  relies on user input; potential for inaccuracies and unsourced claims, not a record repository and can be clunky and unintuitive.

Geni Strong Points:  collaborative world family tree; curator program, DNA features, GEDCOM support. Limitations: reliance on user-generated content; lack of internal record database and does offer subscription for premium features.

Recommendations: always verify information; focus on well-sourced profiles, consult original sources whenever possible, don't rely on any one tree for all your information; use these collaborative websites as starting points not definitive sources; always cite your sources. 

Money Laundering

No, not the illegal process of making large amounts of money generated by criminal activity. I'm talking about with-soap-and-water WASHING money. No, not in a wringer washing machine.

Spotting this tidbit in the March 19, 1910 issue of the Colville Examiner, I just had to share it with you:  "Representative Wiley of New Jersey has a bill before Congress providing that all paper money which reaches the treasury be burned and new clean currency furnished in lieu of it. In support of this measure he had a current $1 bill microscopically examined and the report on its condition laid before the house committee on banking and currency. The bill in question had on it 92,000 germs of different diseases and paper money generally has been found to carry germs of smallpox, scarlet fever, typhoid, tuberculosis and diphtheria.

"Desiring to aid in this crusade against diseased paper money, the Examiner hereby announces that anyone having dirty paper money in their possession may bring it to this office and receive in exchange a clean paper every week in the year. An editor takes so many chances in this world that a few million germs more will not make any great difference. It's the absence of these money germs that makes trouble for us."

This is a hoot!  I think the newspaper is saying "Baloney!" to the idea of "dirty money" and just telling folks to come in and subscribe to the paper......... bring your money to this office and exchange it for a clean paper every week????  Too funny. 

What is really too funny is that Spokane's historic Davenport Hotel, during this same time period, offered the service to its guests of washing their coins and pressing their currency as part of a high-end service idea. Supposedly this added to the prestige of the hotel.