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WSGS State Conference: Day Three, by Miriam

EWGS team blogger Charles Hansen shared his excellent summaries of the conference held September 11 - 13th at the Davenport Hotel in Spokane here, here, and here with posts of photos here and here. I thought I'd share mine as well, and we welcome any of our readers who attended to share theirs in the comments at the end of this post.

EWGS members enjoy breakfast in the Elizabethan room at the WSGS state conference

On Sunday, I was able to sleep in a bit before heading back to the Davenport for breakfast and the last presentation by Megan. Breakfast was held in the Elizabethan Room, so called because of its beautifully ornate medieval-style wood carvings all around the room. The meal was a delicious buffet of freshly-baked muffins and sweet breads, fresh fruits, oatmeal, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, quiche, yogurt, coffee, tea, milk, and fruit juices. Megan and I had been meaning to get a photo taken together all weekend, but had both been too busy to do so. I had bought fresh batteries for my camera the previous afternoon, so was able to get a photo taken. Megan took one on her iPhone and posted it on Facebook and Twitter with a caption, "Guess who?", hoping one of the many geneabloggers would respond.

Miriam Robbins Midkiff and Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak
(Megan is very tall and was wearing heels, and I am very short and was wearing flats!)

We held the last drawing for door, table, and raffle prizes, and then listened to Megan speak on "Newspaper Research Online." She highlighted some of the best known and largest collections, but also mentioned some of the smaller and specialized ones. She also spoke about obituary websites, since they tie in so well to newspaper sites, but cautioned that while many of our ancestors may not have had a regular obituary, it may be possible to find out about their deaths from regular newspaper articles written about them, especially if they died in an accident. The main thing I learned is that many of the large subscription websites, such as Ancestry, have contracts with newspaper sites that provide digitized issues for certain time periods that fluctuate instead of remain static. So if you find an article about an ancestor or relative, copy or download it while you can. Six months down the road, the coverage for those years may no longer be available through that subscription website. The advantage is, if you can't find articles for your family now, you may be able to find them at a later date when different years of issues are made available.

Megan takes questions from the audience after her presentation

All too soon, the conference had come to a close. But the day wasn't over yet! I met with some of my fellow conference committee members for coffee at a nearby mall to kill some time before lunch. We mulled over our successes and challenges at the conference, and even started planning for an event for Family History Month in October! Then we walked across the Spokane River to Anthony's Home Port restaurant to confirm our reservations. The others remained while Donna Potter Phillips and I returned to the Davenport, visiting the whole way and then met Megan, asking if she would rather walk or ride to the restaurant. She preferred walking, so the three of us had a pleasant stroll and chat back to the restaurant, while Donna pointed out historical points of interest along the way.

At Anthony's, we had a nice luncheon (I picked my favorite dish, a crab salad) with Megan and about ten of us who had served on the conference committee present. It was nice to just relax and "let our hair down." We wondered why none of the geneabloggers had commented on the photo Megan had posted to Facebook; Megan asked if maybe Thomas had organized the bloggers for some event that had kept them away! Finally, Bill Hire, EWGS president, got out his iPhone and posted a caption identifying Megan and myself. :-)

After lunch, Donna, Megan, and I strolled back to the Davenport and then said our farewells. After all our hard work, I think we all felt like the conference had been a roaring success! In many ways, it was hard to return to work the next day; transitioning from my genealogy life to my family and work life was a challenge! I am very proud of the work our committee did and look forward to attending future state conferences. The 2010 Washington State Genealogical Society's state conference will be hosted by the Lewis County Genealogical Society. Stay tuned to their website to keep updated on this event!

Wordless Wednesday

 

Looking north from genealogy reference desk.

WSGS State Conference: Day Two, by Miriam

EWGS team blogger Charles Hansen shared his excellent summaries of the conference this weekend here, here, and here with posts of photos here and here. I thought I'd share mine as well, and we welcome any of our readers who attended to share theirs in the comments at the end of this post.

After four-and-a-half hours of sleep(!), I arrived at the Davenport at 7:00 AM to meet vendors who still needed to set up for the day. We had quite a well-rounded selection of vendors, all of whom were featured in posts on the EWGS blog: the U.S. Census Bureau, the National Archives in Seattle, the Washington State Digital Archives/Eastern Regional Archives of Washington State, MaKaNcy (the retro card ladies!), the DAR and SAR, the Northwest Chapter of the Oregon-California Trails Association, Creative Memories, Susan Faulkner (author of Finding Pasco), the Puget Sound Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists, RootsMagic, Generation Maps, Eastern Washington Genealogical Society, and the Washington State Genealogical Society. Megan sold her books in the dining rooms after the meals and sold out all she brought. Unfortunately, with my responsibilities to the vendors and at our own EWGS vendor table, I didn't get an opportunity to purchase any of her books. :-(

A continental breakfast was set up buffet-style in the Marie Antoinette Room, and like dinner the night before, we had more attendees than expected. I ended up sitting in the balcony because all the tables on the main floor were full (I hadn't been able to get in at the start of breakfast to get a "good seat" since I was working with the vendors to get set up). The meal consisted of croissants and a variety of sweet breads and muffins (including gluten-free ones), as well as fruit platters of melon, berries, and grapes. Fruit juices, coffee, and tea were also available. Since I had a great view of the room from the balcony, I took out my camera with the newly-charged batteries...and it didn't work. I quickly figured out that my charger was the culprit and realized I would have to snag photos from other EWGS members to share on my blog. I didn't have long to sit and stew about the matter, because there were door and raffle prizes to hand out (another one of my duties at each meal) and then Megan began her presentation on "Reverse Genealogy: Finding Your Lost Loved Ones."

Megan explained how she uses reverse genealogy to track down living relatives of the military deceased in her job with the U.S. Army, and how these steps can be used to find missing relatives or friends, find other genealogy "playmates", attract reunion attendees, find DNA study participants, locate--or return--family heirlooms, photos and Bibles, and save lives by finding donors or warning relatives about disease predispositions. The sound system was working better in this room and we didn't have the hearing difficulties we did the evening before.

After a 15 minute break, Session A began. I chose Pat Bayonne-Johnson's African American Genealogy presentation. I had heard her presentation to EWGS in the past about her search for her roots in Louisiana, but I enjoyed being in a smaller group where we had more opportunities for Q & A. She has some great resources in the syllabus, and I was sorry more people didn't attend this session. Too many European Americans out there don't realize that in order to get past your brick walls, you must study the research strategies of those who have huge challenges from the get-go in their searches due to a dearth or the destruction of records: African-American, Jewish, Eastern European, and Native American. People with these roots are constantly having to think outside the box, use alternate sources, find unusual repositories, wade through oral histories to find nuggets of truth, learn genealogical terms in foreign languages and alphabets, and use DNA in their research; and those of us without these ethnic roots can learn so much from them!

After Session A, I had to answer some questions for some vendors. I was running late for Session B anyway, and was still pretty tired from the lack of sleep the night before. Also, not being a morning person and always needing some time to get my bearings together over a cup of coffee, I felt it would be to my advantage to just sit out that session instead of feeling frazzled all day. Originally, I had planned to attend the session on NEHGS Databases, because at that time, I did not have a membership, was curious about the website, and felt the presentation might be a good introduction. Between signing up for the session last spring and the conference opening, I had joined NEHGS on a summer special deal and am now familiar with their online databases, so I felt I could safely skip that session. I asked a couple of people afterward about it and they both said it was a fine presentation and that the syllabus had a good outline. Meanwhile, I chatted with vendors, including Carol Buswell of the National Archives in Seattle, who told me about free classes NARA offers on their virtual academy (I'll write a post on this later)!

Following Session B, we had lunch, again in the Marie Antoinette Room. This meal was also done buffet-style, and I had to admit, I was a little disappointed by the selection. It featured the same chicken, salad, and rolls we had had the evening before, with orzo instead of sticky rice. There was also some nice salmon, but since a lot of attendees probably felt the same way I did about the chicken, most of it was gone by the time I came along at the end. I was able to snag a seat near the front of the room this time, which made it much easier for me to get up to hand out prizes. Before Megan's next presentation, we had the WSGS Annual Meeting, with the appropriate society representatives standing to be acknowledged, as well as various reports being read. Then each society honored one or two volunteers, and I was honored, along with Cecily Cone Kelly, Conference Committee Chairperson, as a EWGS Volunteer of the Year.

Megan's mid-day presentation was "Trace Your Roots with DNA". She explained the different kinds of tests (Y-DNA, mtDNA, SNP, ethnic, etc.), and also shared the story of figuring out whether she was related to her husband (both her maiden and married names are Smolenyak). She also talked about the various companies that provide DNA testing, the best-known, the lesser known, and some of the "new kids on the block."

After lunch were two more sessions. I attended Bruce Buzbee's "RootsMagic Genealogy Program", and even though I'm a long-time user of RootsMagic and am familiar with the newest version (RootsMagic 4), I am glad I attended, since I learned some new things. I think it's great when you can sit down and listen to a presentation of software by the developer, because you get some real insight into the nitty-gritty of the details. RootsMagic is such a user-friendly program, and I was able to obtain a copy of the brand-new user's manual.

For Session D, I chose Steve Baylor's "Drawing and Keeping Society Members in an Internet Environment." Rather than being presented in lecture-style, it was held in a group-setting, with contributions expected from each participant! We had to introduce ourselves, tell what society we belonged to, and describe our roles within that society. Steve drew heavily on the book Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam, a sociologist, explaining how genealogy societies are not alone in loss of members. Nearly every social group out there, from lodges to bowling leagues to civic organizations has seen a loss of membership since their peak during the post-World War II years. We learned how society as a whole has become less civic-minded over the years and how the media (television, internet, etc.) has also left its impact. We discussed how as societies, we must learn to use social media in order to stay viable. We must also understand the personality types of individuals (machers [go-getters] vs. schmoozers [social butterflies]) who join our societies--and their strengths and weaknesses. By avoiding personal agendas, encouraging respectful dialogue, using common group wisdom, having clear goals and a common consensus on projects, societies can remain viable and even have growth. I was very impressed by this presentation.

By the end of the day, I was very weary and my mind was quite full! Dinner was to be "on your own" and although I was invited to out to dinner with the WSGS Board and EWGS Conference Committee, I declined and opted to go home and get some rest after making sure the vendors had been able to break down and clear up.

So ended Day Two!

WSGS 2009 State Conference: Day One, by Miriam

EWGS team blogger Charles Hansen shared his excellent summaries of the conference this weekend here, here, and here with posts of photos here and here. I thought I'd share mine as well, and we welcome any of our readers who attended to share theirs in the comments at the end of this post.

I arrived at the Davenport Friday afternoon around 12:30. People had already been picking up their registration packets on the mezzanine, and the tours were leaving from the lobby at one. Like Charles, I had chosen the Eastern Regional Branch of the Washington State Archives tour, mainly because every time I've seen a tour organized for it, it's been during the work day. I don't have ancestors from this area, but knowing how an archive "works" and what it contains is knowledge that can be applied to any ancestral location. We left with Dick Jensen of Inland Empire Tours on a tour bus for a 20-minute ride southwest to Cheney where the archives is located on the campus of Eastern Washington University.

Inside the tour bus

The lobby at the archives

One view of the reading room

Another view of the reading room

When we arrived at the archives, we were met by Jeff Creighton who took us first into the reading room, where patrons wait to have records brought out to them. (For those who are unaware of the differences between libraries and archives, the main one is that in a library, you can access the holdings yourself, whereas in an archive, you request items from the collection and they are brought out for you to examine). Then he took us back to the stacks, something patrons would not normally have access to. Here, the paper records of the 11 eastern counties of Washington are kept, records the county clerks need to archive. Each county decides what it wants to store at the regional archives, so what is available varies. At this point, my batteries went out on my camera, and I replaced them only to discover my backup ones hadn't charged up. I was frustrated, but figured I would just charge everything up at home that night.

The group heading from the reading room back to the stacks

Jeff Creighton (facing camera) explaining the records in the stacks

Next, we went upstairs, where we were met by a Ms. Kaiser [sorry, I didn't catch her first name] who took us through the Digital Archives area. This is where paper archives and photographs are scanned and put into digital format to be placed online at the Digital Archives website. Also, the electronic records of the state--everything from the data that's on the digital archives website to the archived former governors' websites--is stored, backed up, and protected at this location. They also back up many local governments' data, such as police and fire departments' electronic data from around the state, as a protective measure. Additionally, they keep backups offsite. We got to look at their numerous computers which are huge, both physically and in storage capacity. Their newest computer can store up to 200 TB of data!

Washington has pioneered the state digital archives program not only in the U.S., but globally as well. Representatives of state and national governments have visited the archives and some have found that it would be more economical to have our digital archives digitize their records for them. There are already twelve states contracted to have the WSDA digitize their documents through a Library of Congress grant: Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, and Texas.

Last, we watched a video about the Digital Archives that was made several years ago. Then we returned to our tour bus, where Dick Jensen told us about his book, Set in Stone. It's about the monuments in and around Spokane County, and sounds very interesting. On the way back to Spokane, Dick stopped at the Battle of Four Lakes historical marker and told about the history it represented. The inscription is incorrect; the number of Native Americans who participated in this battle was actually about 500; there probably wasn't 5,000 total in the area.

After we returned to the Davenport, I ran into Barbara Brazington, society librarian, who told me that the free beginning genealogy classes by Shirley Penna-Oakes (filling in for Susan DeChant) that had been held earlier in the day at the downtown branch of Spokane Public Library had been a roaring success. Forty-five turned out for the morning session and 30 attended the afternoon one! Barbara and Juanita McBride had been kept very busy after the classes helping the attendees with their research in EWGS's genealogy collection on the third floor. Several people signed up to attend the conference after the classes, and others signed up to become society members!

I returned to the mezzanine to prepare for the vendors that were supposed to be arriving soon and setting up, and noticed two women chatting. One I recognized immediately as Janet Hovorka (a.k.a. The Chart Chick) of Generation Maps and the other turned out to be Laurie Buzbee, wife of Bruce Buzbee of RootsMagic. I soon met Bruce, and Janet's husband Kim. It was so nice to meet everyone that I "knew" from the blogs and Facebook, and I was sorry my camera wasn't working and that I was so busy we never had a chance to get some photos together.

After getting the vendors organized, it was time for dinner in the Isabella Room, with Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak as our speaker. I was at the back of the room, which was a boon, because after the head table was served, the servers started from the back and worked their way to the front. There was a delicious salad which included dried cranberries, lemon pepper chicken with soy bean garnish, sticky rice, rolls, and apple torte for dessert. Besides water, tea, and coffee being served by our waitstaff, there was also a no-host bar.

After dinner, Megan spoke on the topic "Cases that Made My Brain Hurt." The acoustics in the room were not very good (this was an uncarpeted ballroom, remember), and it was difficult to hear her at the back of the room; nevertheless, the cases she presented were interesting and were delivered with humor. When the presentation was over, many attendees went to their luxurious rooms in the floors above, but I went home to be greeted by a houseful of company. My husband's sister and brother-in-law were traveling through and had stopped by to visit. My husband's brother and nephew who live here in town had also dropped in, and so did my daughter after her work shift. It was good to visit with everyone, but after they all left, it took me quite a while to wind down and it was around 1:00 AM before I was able to fall asleep...with a planned wake up time of 5:30 AM!

WSGS Conference Photos

Miriam Midkiff at the raffle table. Miriam was in charge of all the vendors at the conference.

 

The DAR-SAR vendor table at the conference.

 

Upper Spokane Falls part of the view of the river from Anthony's. This picture was taken on the foot bridge close to the falls looking east.

 

This picture was taken from the foot bridge looking west. Anthony's is on right, Post Street bridge on left, and if you look real close you will see bicycle riders on the Post Street bridge. Second annual SpokeFest started Sunday morning and about 1600 riders took part. Post Street bridge and Post Street blocked off for the SpokeFest. Anthony's is where the volunteers had a leisurely lunch with Megan Smolenyak after the conference and where the photo of Cecily Kelly, Megan Smolenyak and Bill Hire was taken in the first WSGS Conference Photos post.

 

Free Genealogy Seminar in Hayden, Idaho on Saturday

The Family History Center (FHC) in Hayden, Idaho announces a free seminar this Saturday, September 19th from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM.

To get to the FHC from the west (Spokane), go east on I-90, take the Northwest Blvd exit (first Coeur d'Alene exit) and go north on Ramsey Road. Turn left at Hanley and go 1/2 mile to the traffic circle. The building is on the northwest corner of that intersection.

Check in begins at 9:30. A variety of soups and sandwiches will be served from 12:00 to 1:00 PM, but please register no later than Thursday, September17th. Call 208-765-0150 through Thursday 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM or e-mail joannefaye21@msn.com.

Here are the choices of classes being offered:

FIRST SESSION – 10:10 to 11:00
 1. German Research – Diane Kamphaus
 2. Internet Genealogy – Karen Bennett
 3. History & Genealogy – Joe Mitchell
 4. Hidden Sources – Sunny Webb

SECOND SESSION – 11:10 to 12:00
 5. New Family Search & Family Insight – Connie Godak
 6. Photoshop – David Van Etten
 7. Locating Ancestral Land Using Google Maps, Google Earth, and GPS Units – Joe Mitchell
 8. Publishing Their Stories – Teresa Olson

THIRD SESSION – 1:00 to 1:50
 9. FH Center Resources You Might Have Missed – Connie Godak
 10. Old Photo Analysis – Sandy Simon
 11. Gadgets, Gifts from Cyberspace, Computer Savvy – Jeshua Barlow
 12. Scotology 101 (Customs, Clans, Gaelic, & Geography in Scotland up to 1745) – Sandy Doutre

FOURTH SESSION – 2:00 to 3:00
 13. PAF: Slideshows & Scrapbooks – Connie Godak
 14. Family History Software Comparisons – Diane Kamphaus
 15. Scandinavian Research – Sharon Gibson
 16. Scotology 102 (American & Canadian Immigration, 1620-1850) – Sandy Doutre

WSGS Conference Pictures

 

Megan Smolenyak and her first talk.

 

the line at the Saturday breakfast buffet

 

Donna Potter Phillips and Megan conferring before Megan's talk after breakfast

 

Final goodbyes Cecily Kelly Conference Chair, Megan Smolenyak and Bill Hire EWGS President

WSGS Conference Third and Last Day

Got to sleep in some this morning, then headed for the Davenport to hear Megan Smolenyak talk on online newspapers. As the researcher for EWGS I spend a lot of time in the local newspapers looking up a lot of obits and a few other stories in the microfilm of the newspapers at the library. Megan talked and showed examples about the online collections of Genealogy Bank, Ancestry, Newspaper Archive, Google newspaper archive, and a few other websites that have newspapers online. Excellent talk, and then after two years of planning and preparation it was over. We said our goodbye's and left. At 1:30 the planning group and Megan went to Anthony's Home Port restaurant for a leisurely dinner, and a little gab fest. I have a few pictures and will post them in the next few days.

WSGS Conference Second Day

Wow the second day started early, as a night owl getting up a 5 am to check my Google Reader and E-Mail and head for the breakfast that started at 7 am after not getting to bed before midnight Friday. Glad I got there early as the line for the breakfast buffet was very long and I got there fairly early and did not have to spent a long time in the line. Excellent food and I really love a the fruit in the morning. Megan's second topic was Reverse Genealogy: Techniques For Finding Your Lost Loved Ones. Very interesting topic on finding living relatives that may have clues for your research and techniques for finding them. After Megan was done we had two break out sessions they called them, each session had 4 topics you could pick. Session A-1 was Dale Soden with Scenes from Washington ; Session A2 was Margie Beldin on Family Search Just Got Better. This was the Session I went to, and Margie did an excellent job showing the new features of Family Search, Family Search Labs and Pilot Family Search. Session A-3 was Pat Bayonne-Johnson African American Genealogy, and the last of the A sessions was A-4 by Jerri McCoy on Online Query Databases, this looked like an good session in the syllabus as she listed good and bad queries and how to post a good query. The next group of sessions were B-1 Dale Soden CCC in the Pacific Northwest, this was the session I went to, but I was ready to flip a coin over session B-4, Dale is a history professor at Whitworth University here in Spokane. While he said he was no expert on the CCC or C's at they called themselves, he found a group of men that had been in the CCC having a weekly gathering at a local restaurant and asked a few to help with a public radio program on the CCC. He played a tape of the broadcast then showed several slides on CCC camps in this area and projects they did in this area in the national forests around here. Session B-2 was done by Gordon Struve Traveling with an iPaq, session B-3 was Scandinavian Research in the Pacific Northwest, session B-4 was Sue Richart NEHGS Databases, this was the other session this hour I wanted to go to, but the coin flipped the wrong way. Then lunch and the salmon and deserts were excellent. Megan did her third talk, Trace Your Roots With DNA, I have not done anything with DNA for a couple of reasons, one I have my paternal line back the the early 1600 in Denmark. My grandfather came in 1887 and once I found the parish he was from (Humble Parish in Svendborg county) Danish records are wonderful. I was able to go back about 5 generations in Danish records as it was pretty easy to find my grandfathers father and mother in the birth record of my grandfather and it listed the names of his parents (wives kept their maiden names then) their ages and places of birth. I did most of this research at the Family History Library and getting another roll of microfilm was just a short stroll to the microfilm cabinets. The second reason was most DNA projects are for a specific surname, but my Hansen line is very short, my great grandfather was Hans Mikkelsen, his father was Mikkel Madsen and so on back, so which surname project do I join? Hansen, Mikkelsen, Madsen or one of the other surnames? Megan said I might have to start a SEN DNA project to sort out the SON-SEN surnames from Scandinavia.

Session C-1 was Jerry Handfield the Washington State Archivist, The Revolt of the Genealogist: Records, Records, Records. another coin flip and Jerry lost, or maybe I lost. Session C-2 was Bruce Buzbee, CEO and programmer for RootsMagic Genealogy Program,he won the coin flip, I have been looking for a program that allows me to put more pictures in the notes section of a book printout, and RootsMagic right now still only allows one picture there, and the rest of the pictures you have for that person goes into a scrapbook for that person. Session C-3 was Barbara Brazington Eugenics: The Misuse of Genealogy?

And session C-4 was Carol Madeiros Creating a desktop Atlas. Session D-1 was Lee Pierce Washington's Paper Records, Lee is an archivist at the Washington State Digital Archives and I have seen him there and he is very knowledgeable on the paper records at the Digital Archives which are from the eleven counties in the far eastern part of Washington, so an excellent presentation. Session D-2 Karen Struve Finding Graves, Cemeteries and Burials, Session D-3 Steve Baylor Drawing and Keeping Society Members in an Internet Environment. The WSGS Board and EWGS volunteers were invited to Luigis for dinner and the WSGS board meeting.
Note if anyone did any of the sessions I mentioned but did not get to would like to write about them let me know and I will post about those sessions also.

WSGS Conference First Day

Hard to believe after two years of planning and work, that the WSGS conference has started. I did the name tags for everyone, lilac ones for EWGS members (we are the lilac city), yellow ones for the WSGS members, green ones for speakers, red ones for the vendors, and all the rest got white ones. They had two beginners classes at the library, both very full, and three Tours, one to the MAC the home of the Eastern Washington Historical Society, one a walking tour of the Bing Crosby, and Fox Theaters, both recently remodeled, and the third tour of the Washington State Digital Archives. I took the Digital Archives tour. This is the second time I took that tour, the first was when they had the grand opening there. The dinner Friday evening was grilled Lemon Pepper Chicken Breast/Risotto and Washington Apple Tart. We had a little problem there as they came out three dinners short, and my sister and I and one other gentleman on our table were the three without dinner. We had several servers, the head server all came and said it was their fault and would have our dinners out soon, we asked since they were out of chicken if we could order lobster, but they brought chicken, and more apologies for our late dinner. The meal was good. So before we finished dinner Megan started speaking, and her talk on Things that make my Brain Hurt was excellent. Got to get to bed now as breakfast is at 7am.

Be Sure to Bring the Following to the WSGS 2009 State Conference!

I got to thinking about some of the things I want to bring to the Washington State Genealogical Society's 2009 State Conference at The Davenport Hotel in Spokane this coming weekend, and I came up with the following list. If you can think of other items, go ahead and add them in the comments section by clicking on the "Post a Comment" link below (if you are reading this through a feed reader or your email, you'll want to go to the actual blog address for this part). Be sure not to click on the similar link that says "Post Comments (Atom)". Leave your comment, then choose an identity (if this is new for you, choose Name/URL and just leave your name in the box that will appear) and click "Publish Your Comment." You will then have to wait until one of us blog team members approves your comment...this is to protect our blog from those nasty spammers!

Here goes...

• comfortable, casual clothing, shoes, and sunglasses for warm weather. The weekend is expected to be in the mid-to-upper 80's
• more formal clothing for dinner Friday night at the Davenport and possibly for dinner Saturday night if you are expecting to eat in a nicer restaurant
• toiletries and medications
• water bottle with secure lid (again, warm temps expected this weekend!)
  
• change for tips, parking, and photocopies at Spokane Public Library if you plan to do research there on Friday, and raffle tickets!
  
• cell phone (be sure to turn it off or to silent during presentations) to stay in touch with family and friends during the conference, and also to Tweet conference highlights on Twitter!
  
• camera for taking photos of your favorite genealogists, bloggers, presenters, and new friends made at the conference, as well as the beautiful outdoor downtown Spokane scenery and Riverfront Park
• laptop or netbook with your genealogy software, especially RootsMagic, FamilyAtlas, Personal Historian, and/or Family Reunion Organizer...in case you have any questions about these for Bruce Buzbee of RootsMagic. You can take notes on your laptop during the presentations as well as access the Internet with The Davenport Hotel's free wifi (the library has it too)! Many of the presentations are on using technology with genealogy, and you'll probably want to be able to access websites during those sessions.
  
• power cords or backup batteries to charge your cell phone, camera, laptop and other electronics; security cable for your laptop: WSGS, EWGS, and The Davenport Hotel are not responsible for lost or stolen items
  
• thumb drive or CD with your GEDCOM on it to give to Janet Hovorka of GenerationMaps to order a multigenerational family tree chart, and also to test out RootsMagic-to-go
• an iPAC, if you have one and you're planning to attend Gordon Struve's presentation
• notepaper and pen

What else do you suggest?

The WSGS 2009 State Conference: Prizes Galore!

We have an amazing array of door, table, and raffle prizes just waiting to be taken home by some lucky attendees of the Washington State Genealogical Society's 2009 state conference at The Davenport Hotel in Spokane this coming weekend! During the course of the conference, tickets will be drawn each day at various times.

All attendees will be given one blue door prize ticket upon signing in at the registration table on Friday or Saturday. Many of our vendors have donated some very nice door prizes, which we will acknowledge during the drawings. Additionally, we had some individuals and groups who could not be present at our conference donate the following:

• Michael Jon Neill donated a year's subscription to his membership website, Case File Clues - Genealogy How-tos.
• The Southern California Genealogical Society has donated a gift certificate entitling its winner to free registration at their 2010 Jamboree.

Red raffle tickets will be sold throughout the conference for $5 each. The cost of the tickets will help EWGS offset its costs to host the conference. Some of the prizes that will be available for raffle are:

• A lovely, cream-colored hand-knit afghan made and donated by EWGS member Doris Woodward.
• A basket of tea-making supplies and tea by Jody Hurd of Let's Do Tea. Jody also very generously donated tea bags for each of our goodie bags (free to every attendee) and table prizes!
• Miscellaneous genealogical supplies and home decor items donated by EWGS members Donna Potter Phillips, Cecily Kelly, Juanita McBride, and Pat Ewers.

Additionally, there will be table prizes awarded at every table at each of the conference meals at The Davenport over the course of the weekend. And don't forget that each attendee receives a goodie bag chock full of freebies generously donated by area and genealogical businesses and organizations!

If you have an item or service which you would like to donate as a door or raffle prize, please contact Miriam Robbins Midkiff.

Spokane Area Legacy Users Group to Meet Wednesday

If you are a Legacy Family Tree genealogy software user, or are simply curious about this genealogy software program, you may be interested in the Legacy Users Group (LUG), which will meet next Wednesday, September 16th, from 1:30 to 3:30 PM in the meeting room of the Shadle Park Branch of the Spokane Public Library at 2111 W. Wellesley. Regular attendees will take turns in the role of moderator for each meeting. If you have more questions, please contact Donna Potter Phillips here.

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Vendor Spotlight: Creative Memories

Melode Hall of Creative Memories will be hosting a vendor table at the Washington State Genealogical Society's 2009 state conference at The Davenport Hotel in Spokane this coming weekend.

Creative Memories is dedicated to preserving the stories of a lifetime in a way that brings people together to socialize, have fun and create their own masterpieces. Over the last 20 years they've earned the trust of people in nine countries around the world by helping them protect and celebrate their stories.

Not only is Melode a Creative Memories consultant, she is a member of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society and thus understands the importance of preserving one's heritage. If you're looking for quality archival supplies to protect and display your heritage and modern photographs and to enhance your family stories and traditions, you'll want to be sure to stop by and chat with Melode about your options.

Click on the link below to register.

Online Registration
(need help with the online registration? read our tutorial here)

Brochure and Saturday Schedule
(to help you choose your classes and activities)

Mail-in Registration Form
(for those who prefer registering offline - or you may prefer to fill out and use this form to register in person at the conference to ensure your registration is received before the conference begins)

If you are interested in being a vendor at the Washington State Genealogical Society's 2009 State Conference, would like to advertise in our syllabus, or if you have an item or service which you would like to donate as a door or raffle prize, please contact Miriam Robbins Midkiff.

Vendor Spotlight: U.S. Census Bureau

A representative from the U.S. Census Bureau will be hosting a vendor table at the Washington State Genealogical Society's 2009 state conference at The Davenport Hotel in Spokane this coming weekend. James Brewczynski will be on hand to answer questions about the 2010 U.S. Federal Census that will take place next April. Since genealogists know the historical value of the census, the Bureau is hoping to connect with the many genealogical societies on hand to assist them in getting out the word to the public about the importance of participating in the next census. WSGS and EWGS welcome the U.S. Census Bureau to the state conference!

Click on the link below to register.

Online Registration
(need help with the online registration? read our tutorial here)

Brochure and Saturday Schedule
(to help you choose your classes and activities)

Mail-in Registration Form
(for those who prefer registering offline - or you may prefer to fill out and use this form to register in person at the conference to ensure your registration is received before the conference begins)

If you are interested in being a vendor at the Washington State Genealogical Society's 2009 State Conference, would like to advertise in our syllabus, or if you have an item or service which you would like to donate as a door or raffle prize, please contact Miriam Robbins Midkiff.

Last-Minute Registration for the WSGS 2009 State Conference

With only four(!) more days until the Washington State Genealogical Society's 2009 state conference at The Davenport Hotel here in Spokane, we have some suggestions for those of you who have made a decision to register this week. Since registering by mail at this point may cause your registration form and payment to not be received at our post office box until the day the conference begins (or later!), we suggest you either 1) register online; or 2) register in person at the conference.

Here are some links to assist you:

Online Registration
(need help with the online registration? read our tutorial here)

Brochure and Saturday Schedule
(to help you choose your classes and activities - click here for more details on the conference, including descriptions of the speakers and their presentations)

Registration Form
(you may prefer to print up this form and fill out ahead of time, bringing it with you to register in person at the conference)

You can register for the conference in person for the whole weekend at 5:00 PM on Friday, September 11th at The Davenport Hotel. If you are only planning to attend Saturday's events, our registration table will be open from 7:0 0 - 8:00 AM. If you have any questions, please contact us.

Don't forget...The Davenport is offering special discounts on their rooms for the weekend. Call 509-344-8888 or toll free 800-899-1482 for reservations and mention WSGS for best rates.

Vendor Spotlight: National Archives in Seattle, Washington

The National Archives in Seattle will be a exhibitor at the Washington State Genealogical Society's 2009 State Conference at The Davenport Hotel in Spokane this coming weekend.

The National Archives offers insight into the lives of people, their families and our history. Because the records at the National Archives come from every branch of the Federal government, almost all Americans can find themselves, their ancestors, or their community in the archives. Knowing how a person interacted with the government is key to a successful search.

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)'s Pacific Alaska Region facility in Seattle has 83 record groups, representing Federal agencies, bureaus, or other administrative units including federal courts in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Carol Anne Buswell, Education Specialist for the National Archives in Seattle will be on hand at the state conference to answer questions about the records collections in Seattle and how to access them. If your ancestors lived in the Pacific Northwest, you will want to take advantage of this opportunity to learn more about the archives and how they can help you in your genealogical research. We look forward to having the National Archives in Seattle at our state conference!

Click on the link below to register.

Online Registration
(need help with the online registration? read our tutorial here)

Brochure and Saturday Schedule
(to help you choose your classes and activities)

Mail-in Registration Form
(for those who prefer registering offline - or you may prefer to fill out and use this form to register in person at the conference to ensure your registration is received before the conference begins)

If you are interested in being a vendor at the Washington State Genealogical Society's 2009 State Conference, would like to advertise in our syllabus, or if you have an item or service which you would like to donate as a door or raffle prize, please contact Miriam Robbins Midkiff.

Vendor Spotlight: The Northwest Chapter of the Oregon-California Trails Association

The Oregon-California Trails Association is a national membership organization, with 11 chapters in states or regions through which western emigrant trails passed. The Northwest Chapter is one of the larger and more active chapters of the national organization, with members primarily from Oregon and Washington.

The purposes of OCTA are to preserve what remains of the western emigrant trails, to interpret those trails to the public, and to educate people about the western emigrant trails and their historic importance. They do a lot of volunteer work mapping and marking trails, gathering information from contemporary diaries and journals, and other related activities. The national organization's website is: www.octa-trails.org. From this site there are links to chapter websites.

In the Northwest chapter, the big preservation issue at present is wind farms. In a number of places these pose a threat to remnants of the historic emigrant trails; the association tries to work with all parties concerned to come to solutions that everyone can live with. Because the Oregon and California Trails are National Historic Trails, administered by the National Park Service, the association works very closely with the NPS, at both the national and chapter level.

At the national level, OCTA publishes a scholarly quarterly journal and a member newsletter, as well as books. The Northwest chapter publishes a quarterly newsletter and sponsors outings and programs of various kinds throughout the year.

If your ancestors immigrated west on any of the western trails, or if you are interested in historic preservation, drop by this vendor table at the Washington State Genealogical Society's 2009 State Conference at The Davenport Hotel in Spokane this coming weekend. We look forward to having this organization at our conference.

Click on the link below to register.

Online Registration
(need help with the online registration? read our tutorial here)

Brochure and Saturday Schedule
(to help you choose your classes and activities)

Mail-in Registration Form
(for those who prefer registering offline - or you may prefer to fill out and use this form to register in person at the conference to ensure your registration is received before the conference begins)

If you are interested in being a vendor at the Washington State Genealogical Society's 2009 State Conference, would like to advertise in our syllabus, or if you have an item or service which you would like to donate as a door or raffle prize, please contact Miriam Robbins Midkiff.

Vendor Spotlight: Washington Secretary of State - Digital Archives

The Washington Secretary of State - Digital Archives will be exhibiting at the Washington State Genealogical Society's 2009 State Conference being held this coming weekend at The Davenport Hotel in Spokane.

The State Archives are under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of State, and the main physical archives housing the state's records collections are held in Olympia. In addition, there are five regional archives which house many of the county and local archival collections of their respective regions: Northwest, Southwest, Central, Eastern, and Puget Sound.

Furthermore, the state pioneered an award-winning digital archives project that has been a trailblazer and model for other states and even other nations. The purpose of the Digital Archives has been two-fold: to digitize physical records in the state's records collections and make them available online; and to preserve electronic state records (such as former governors' websites) for posterity. The Digital Archives is centered at the Eastern Washington State Regional Archives in Cheney and this facility is one of the tours being made available for the conference on Friday afternoon. Also, State Archivist Jerry Handfield and Assistant Archivist of the Eastern Washington State Regional Archives Lee Pierce will be making presentations on Saturday during the conference.

If you have Washington State ancestors, you will definitely want to sign up for the above presentations and tour and make a stop at the Secretary of State - Digital Archives vendor table to obtain more information about how the archives can further your genealogical research. WSGS and EWGS welcome the Secretary of State - Digital Archives to our state conference!

Click on the link below to register.

Online Registration
(need help with the online registration? read our tutorial here)

Brochure and Saturday Schedule
(to help you choose your classes and activities)

Mail-in Registration Form
(for those who prefer registering offline - or you may prefer to fill out and use this form to register in person at the conference to ensure your registration is received before the conference begins)

If you are interested in being a vendor at the Washington State Genealogical Society's 2009 State Conference, would like to advertise in our syllabus, or if you have an item or service which you would like to donate as a door or raffle prize, please contact Miriam Robbins Midkiff.

3D Animated Flags--By 3DFlags.com

Spokane Library Genealogy Blog

City Directories
from Library Genealogy Blog by genealogy librarian

The genealogy Librarian recently was asked to find out who owned a certain property in Spokane in 1910. Her first thought was to go to the city directories, but these weren’t cross referenced by address until 1929. She knew the census would have the information but how was she supposed to find an address in the census?! She went back to the city directory and discovered that not only is there a listing for all Spokane Additions and their boundaries, there is an explanation of the five city wards in Spokane as well as their precincts. In 1910 there were sixty five precincts in Spokane, from Ada to Eve. The 1900 city directory also lists the wards and precincts in Spokane, but unfortunately the 1920 and 1930 do not. With the information from the 1910 directory she was able to find the owner of the property, searching about twenty pages of the census instead of the hundreds had she not known the ward and precinct. So if you know where your relative lived but can’t find the magic spelling to bring them up in the census, check the local city directory. You may discover a whole new search option at your fingertips.

This is a great tip, but before the 1910 census was indexed I made a map of the voting precincts and where to find them on the microfilm rolls of the 1910 census. Not all the precincts are put on the microfilm in alphabetical order. Notice she says the precincts are listed from Ada to Eve, in each ward they changed the first letter of the precinct names, Ada through Astor is Ward 1, Butler through Blake is Ward 2, Clay through Custer is Ward 3, Day through Dwight is Ward 4 and Earl through Eagle is Ward 5. The other fun thing that happened in Spokane during 1910 was a lot of Spokane streets were renamed, before that you could name the streets in your own development anything you wanted, and the neighboring development could name the streets in their development, so you could drive down a street and it might have three different names in the span of a dozen or more blocks. Notice the city changed the names in 1910, so on the census you can find people living right next door to each other with a different street name. The voting precincts are listed in the Spokane City Directories till about 1926 or 1927, I made a copy as I was assuming the 1930 census would again use the voting precincts, but they did not, so I downloaded the enumeration district boundaries from the internet and made a map for Spokane for 1930. That map is in the genealogy section of the library. So if your ancestor is not in the 1910 index check the actual census.

Some people saw I had a 1910 map of the precincts and street name changes and wanted a copy of that map, so I made a copy for the library and EWGS sells copies for $2.00 plus $3 postage and handling.

Local Paper Highlights WSGS State Conference and Whitman Massacre Survivor

Our local newspaper, the Spokesman-Review, features two articles of interest to genealogists. The first is a lengthy one highlighting the Washington State Genealogical Society's 2009 State Conference to be held September 11-13 at The Davenport Hotel, featuring principal speaker, Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak.

The second one is about Catherine Sager Pringle, author of Across the Plains in 1844, who as a young girl was orphaned twice, the second time during the infamous Whitman Massacre. Her simple grave lies at Fairmount Memorial Cemetery in Spokane, quietly belying her place in American history.

The Spokesman-Review archives its articles to its subscription area after only a couple of days, so you'll want to read these as soon as possible. Also, it's not too late to register for the conference. Click on the link below:

Online Registration
(need help with the online registration? read our tutorial here)

Brochure and Saturday Schedule
(to help you choose your classes and activities)

Mail-in Registration Form
(for those who prefer registering offline)

Wordless Wednesday

 

Reference desk genealogy department Spokane Public Library Downtown Branch

Vendor Spotlight: MaKaNcy

Those of us in EWGS who attended the Fall 2008 Seminar have fond memories of MaKaNcy (a.k.a. "The Card Ladies") as they were a favorite vendor there. MaKaNcy is a greeting card business made up of three ladies: Margaret Caldwell, her sister Kay, and their friend Nancy. But they're oh-so-much more than that! At the seminar, the ladies dressed in campy 1950's period outfits and added definite flair to their card making! An example of one of their greeting cards is below:

We very much look forward to having MaKaNcy as a vendor at our state conference!

It's not too late to register for this terrific conference! Click on the link below:

Online Registration
(need help with the online registration? read our tutorial here)

Brochure and Saturday Schedule
(to help you choose your classes and activities)

Mail-in Registration Form
(for those who prefer registering offline)

If you are interested in being a vendor at the Washington State Genealogical Society's 2009 State Conference, would like to advertise in our syllabus, or if you have an item or service which you would like to donate as a door or raffle prize, please contact Miriam Robbins Midkiff.