EWGS Is Planning For A Great 2014

Did you know that it was in 1883 that the final "e" was added to our city's name, Spokane Falls? And that it was in 1891 that the "Falls" was dropped? Interesting trivia.

These two photos show some of the EWGS Board and Committee Chair members who attended our annual retreat last week. In our 3-hour meeting, we outlined the Internet/Computer classes for 2014 and we picked and planned the monthly program topics for 2014.......... plus two hours of other business. 

This is a hard-working group of folks dedicated to making EWGS be the best it can be and WHY do they do it? For you, the member. 

We thank Pat BJ for opening her home to us for the meeting........... and letting us "meet" the resident lady deer who regularly comes to eat the birdseed under her feeders!

Please be sure to visit (regularly!) our website, www.EWGSI.org , to stay tuned to what's going on with EWGS that's of interest and benefit to you. 

EWGS Members Attended the Symposium

The second annual FamilySearch Symposium (Saturday, April 27th) was a great success and several EWGS members attended......... I'd name them all but I'd be sure to overlook somebody.....there were so many!

It was good to see Sharon Larson again (our EWGS Librarian before Juanita McBride) sitting with Marge Mero.......... and our Elaine Anderson was the "senior-est" one there at age 89!

The date has already been established for the third annual FamilySearch Symposium:  26 April 2014.
For sure you will want to come again or to come if you missed it this year.

December 1st Meeting: A Book Auction!

Do not think EWGS will have this many books available at the book auction at the next meeting, Saturday, December 1st, 12:30pm, downtown Spokane Public Library. But I've seen the stacks that our librarians have been sorting and setting aside for this auction. And I know that many EWGS members have donated genealogy-related books that they are no longer using to this auction. So it promises to be a splendid day!  Hope you're there.

What You Missed: EWGSI - Our New Website Explained

What does this wonderful Norman Rockwell's painting from an old Saturday Evening Post cover have to do with our new EWGSI website? Nothing and everything.

Cecily Cone Kelly did a great job at the EWGS meeting on 5 Feb 2011 introducing and explaining our society's new website, EWGSI. I asked the folks, "what does the "I" stand for?" And they answered (correctly) for "incorporated." But not really, I said, "It stands for YOU-I-ME-EACH OF US as this website is unique and for each of us unique folks," just like those ancestors depicted in Rockwell's painting.

Our new website is designed and planned to give YOU, our EWGS members, more help, more answers and more information pointed towards doing more effective genealogy. Our EWGS-DD (catch that abbreviation for EWGS-Digital Digest) replaces our revered Bulletin and there will be a new "issue" posted quarterly.

And where will the information come from to be in the EWGS-DD? Just like always: FROM YOU. In the past you contributed stories, articles, and databases. We hope that you will continue doing this. Print-on-paper or print-on-digital, isn't it very much the same?? It is the content that matters. And our EWGS-DD and EWGSI website will have Gold-Plated, Wonderful content. Take a lookee for yourself.

Thank you, Cecily, for opening our eyes to the vast possibilities of www.EWGSI.org.

New Website for EWGS!

Have you heard? Eastern Washington Genealogical Society has a new website...a new address...and a new look! Check it out at http://www.ewgsi.org!

Our 3rd Vice President--and webmaster--Cecily Cone Kelly has done a wonderful job putting our content onto the new site, making it easy to use with a professional look. EWGS is using a customizable website shell built specifically for genealogy societies by EasyNetSites.com which takes a lot of the website building and design work off the webmaster, allowing him or her to concentrate on adding content and data instead.

At our general meeting on March 6th, Cecily demonstrated the great features of the site, including using the member area of the site. If you are a member of EWGS, your user name is the first letter of your first name, followed immediately by your last name. For instance, mine is MMidkiff.  The password is your five-digit ZIP code. After you log in, you can change your password to a secure one known only to yourself.

Cecily has agreed to highlight the website and personally walk you through the login process and membership area in next month's member computer class, on April 17th. You can sign up for this class by e-mailing me.

Our new website has content that is available and pertinent for anyone visiting it, whether or not they are a member of EWGS. Upcoming events, research tips, links, public downloads, a store where our publications can be purchased, library (links to our cataloged items in Spokane Public Library as well as a list of our uncatalogued items), and a surname list are all available now. Eventually, the Obituary Index will be placed on our site, and those who are researching ancestors who died in the Spokane area will be able to locate their names on it. A request for a copy of an obituary will be able to be made, with fees going to EWGS.

I encourage you to visit this site and let us know what you think!