Bitesize Bits & Pieces

 

Saw a school bus last week bringing munchkins to the MAC. The bus was from Benge, Washington, and I had no clue where that was. (Do you?) Benge is a bitty farming town in Adams County named for Frank H. Benge who donated land for the town in 1907. He was the first representative from Adams County to the Washington State Legislature in 1904.

How about Larene, WA? Or Littlerock, WA? Our ancestors did not always live in places we can easily find on the maps.

EWGS President, Lynda Keenan, shared some Google tips with us at the April REFOCUS meeting. None of us present realized that Google offers 35 helps and all for free! Do check it out. 

She also shared a DNA spotlight:  You cannot pass on down what you did not get.

We might fuss about our cold winters here in the Spokane area but "it ain't nuttin' like it used to be." A bit in the Spokesman back in March 1921 reported that "more than 1,000,000 feet of logs enroute from pack River near Hope to the Beardmore mill in Priest River are frozen fast in the Pend Oreille River at LaClede with little prospects of moving them until warmer weather. The river at LaClede is frozen over with about three inches of ice and it is still freezing."  With no logs, the mill had to shut down..... many ancestors were out of work that cold, cold winter.

Tidbit from Donna's personal experience. Wanting to access a book written in 2013, The Chinese in Washington State, I scoured books stores both online and in person. Even Amazon was no help. As a last resort, I turned to our Spokane Public Library catalog and, as you quickly guessed, they do have a copy. DUH on me for sure. 

Library Card Collage

Do you have a current Spokane Public Library library card? If so, great! If not, why not? For we genealogists, libraries are still places where miracles happen. Even when the building is remodeled beyond belief. Think of your grandchildren. Take them to get their very own library card and you'll be doing them a humungous push towards their education.

I found it interesting that most all library cards here in Washington are green or brown. Why would you guess that is so???

Boxes Of Books: Goodbye To Our Books

Soon, very soon, we bit goodbye to our EWGS Genealogy Collection housed for over 80 years (since 1935 when EWGS was formed) at the downtown Spokane Public Library.

As you may or may not know, SPL is closing for a major remodel that will take two years. When reopened, the downtown SPL will be a Community Resource Center and not a "book library" like we oldsters remember and love. 

Some 85% of the books in all areas will be removed. Imagine that... of 100 books on the shelf, only 15 will be left. That, of course, includes the Genealogy Section. What few of our book SPL wants will be merged into the Northwest Room.

The rest of our genealogy resource library have been distributed to various places. The LARC Center on Whidbey Island took some 500 books. Members will be/have been invited to come pick. And the bulk of the collection will be happily given to the Family History Library in Salt Lake at their invitation. They are sending a truck on Monday, November 4th.

Now you know the rest of the story; rumors are true. Somewhat. 

Postal Forwarding Directories...... An Unique Resource for YOU?

EWGS has had in its collection in the downtown Spokane Public Library a most unique collection of books. Called Postal Forwarding Directories, they would remind you of a city directory. But they were created to help postmen deliver the mail. On the printed pages, name and addresses are listed.

What makes these volumes so unique is that every few pages there are some blank pages inserted where the postman could write in the new/forwarding address of a family on his route. 

Our collection spanned about 1903 to 1940 for Spokane but EWGS figures that other cities had such too. (Doing a Google search, I could find nothing pertinent to this topic.) EWGS has wanted for years to have these unique resources to be digitized and finally that time came and the digitization is in progress under the direction of Becky Menzel. Even with the 2-year hiatus before we get a new library, Becky will have an office at Gonzaga and (I'm told) will continue working on the project. 

Now what does this mean to YOUR genealogy? Well, imagine this: you know where your family was in 1905 and again in 1930 but where were they in between? Was there a Postal Forwarding Directory in that 1905 town that would hold a clue? The only way to know is to contact the public library, genealogy society and/or historical society in that place.

I thank Jeanne Coe for information on this project; she's been on the digitizing crew. 

May meeting: the future of our libraries and our genealogy society.

So what is the future of EWGS and the various Spokane Public Libraries? At the May 4th meeting, Barbara Brazington sat on her stool and explained the results of the members' "think tanking" as to what we wanted for the future of EWGS. Jason Johnson, a SPL librarian and one who is apparently heavily involved in the myriad details of the expansion planning for the Spokane libraries, had a slide show of "what it maybe will look like."

Jason went first; his slide show of drawing showed how the Hillyard, Eastside, Shadle and Downtown libraries will be improved upon (thanks to Spokane citizens passing the library bond issue. Shadle will be expanded but kept to one story. A new facility, the Libby Center, maybe (in two years) will be a place for EWGS to have our meetings "with plenty of free parking."

The Downtown main library was the big news. It's been decided that the library will be totally closed for at least 18 months  while all the remodeling takes place. Much easier to do this with people not underfoot! This construction is scheduled to begin in April 2020 and it means that for 18 months, our EWGS meetings will be moved elsewhere. As will the library holdings too. 

Barbara began with announcing that "EWGS is ready to re-brand itself" with a new name and new logo. She announced a contest for members to submit their ideas and/or suggestions for a new name and/or logo. (Send your idea to askEWGSI@EWGSI.org) Barb then went over the results of what we members had indicated that we wanted: more education, more social time, more real mentoring. 

"But what do you mean by 'mentoring,'" Barb asked? A couple dozen idea balloons went up from the group. "That must be addressed first," she stressed. "What do you want? Where will you help??" 

To my ears, retired professional librarian Barbara stressed more member involvement. "We are in this society to help each other. That is the only real and main key to our future." I concur 100%.

With her customary big smile, Barb did reassure us that "EWGS is alive and well!" That was really good news. Here's to our future!

Genealogy Collection Moved to Second Floor of Library

The Spokane library has been working on moving different collections to different places. We knew they wanted to move the genealogy collection from the third floor to the second floor, close to the northwest room. They cut down the space we had so many of the books were put in storage in the first floor. Problem with that is out of sight few people will know to ask. The genealogy desk and the file cabinet that was close to the genealogy desk are in the southwest corner of the second floor. They are still without power or phone connection, but that is supposed to be coming soon.
They have moved the newspapers and the microfilm readers by the stairs to the third floor, newspaper microfilm in the cabinet on left of photo.

 Microfilm readers for the newspapers.

 The Tuesday volunteers getting ready to work on collection.

They are going to make the north side of the third floor an area for meetings in front of the wonderful windows overlooking the Spokane River Falls, but right now it overlooks the construction

of the Combined Sewer Overflow tank.

Library Construction Update

Stopped by the library today to take some pictures of the construction detours.

Looking north on Lincoln they have closed the crosswalk in front of the library across Main. You need to cross Lincoln first then Main and Lincoln again.

Cars heading north on Lincoln by the library, There is two lanes from Spokane Falls Boulevard to Main.

Looking South on Lincoln, notice right lane right only heading to Monroe, left lane either right to Monroe or left on Main.

Here is the new driveway on the right side of Lincoln that goes to the library parking lot.

This is from the second floor of the library showing the ramps to the parking garage and the lanes leading to Lincoln.

Here is a car leaving the garage and waiting for a hole in the  traffic to exit onto Lincoln.

They have closed the sidewalk heading north along Lincoln past the library book drop, so you can not walk to the garage ramps now. They have also removed all the parking along Lincoln so the traffic can move  efficiently.

This is the sidewalk along Main heading towards Monroe, it is closed just past the bike racks. The sidewalk on the south side of Main is still open, but a miserable way to get to it, across Lincoln to the east, south across Main then west across Lincoln again.

Ancestry Users Group (TAG) has a great meeting!

The Ancestry Users Group (TAG) met again on May 12th at 12:30 at the Shadle Park Library. About 25 folks came to increase their understanding of Ancestry and learn how to better use that wonderful website. If you are nibbling around the edges of wanting to know more about using Ancestry.com, then YOU are invited to join TAG! Our next meeting is Thursday, June 9th, 12:30-2:15, at the Shadle Park Library.

At the May gathering, Oweta gave a good lesson on Finding and Using the City Directories on Ancestry. Did you know that Ancestry has city directories dating back to 1822? Not for all cities, of course, but for many. Spokane, for instance. Ancestry has city directories from 1889 to 1960 for Spokane! (Disclosure: the actual city directory books for these years are on the shelves of the downtown Spokane public library.) 

Oweta explained that city directories were the phone books of their day. (The first telephone book was published in 1878.) With a city directory, you could look up people, businesses, neighbors, and sometimes even find ads for your ancestor's businesses or a map of that city. 

To learn more about TAG, contact Marge Mero, coordinator (pink shirt/purple vest) at margemero@yahoo.com. 

Cheers to the Library Volunteers

This is a copy of the Cheers article in the Inlander newspaper July 24, 2014 page 60, thanking Eastern Washington Genealogical Society library helpers by the Spokane Firefighters Memorial Project. They are putting a memorial in the sidewalk close to where each Spokane Firefighter died. I know the volunteers will appreciate the thanks.

What You Missed May 4, 2013 EWGS Meeting

Well today I got the pleasure of giving the gift EWGS got for the retiring Spokane Public Library director Pat Partovi. It was a travel diary and a card signed by several of us from EWGS. I also gave her the picture from the EWGS scrapbook showing the first day of the new Spokane Public Library as people made a human chain to pass books from the temporary library location in the old Pennys building to the new library. This was Pat's first day of work at the Spokane Library. The picture showed EWGS members Melody Hall and Donna Potter-Phillips passing books and the new building in the background.
 

This picture was Pat thanking EWGS for our help with the library over the years, and Mary Holcomb our vice president looking on. We will miss you Pat, but happy retirement.

This is Kathy Gold from the Puget Sound APG group. She talked about "The Methodology of a Reasonable Exhaustive Search". She was expecting a small group and so the large group that showed up was a surprise, and she is a good speaker, and impressed with our collection.

 

Library Snapshot Day

Today April 16, 2013 is Library Snapshot Day so here is a snapshot of the genealogy section of the Spokane Public Library.

Wordless Wednesday Spokane Public Library Signs

Can anyone guess where these signs are in the Spokane Public Library?

Wordless Wednesday New Look at Library

New look in the genealogy section of the library, three of the broken microfilm readers have been removed, then they swung the vertical file around where a couple of microfilm readers were before.

Wordless Wednesday EWGS Programs & Classes

New Spokane Public Library Signs

Thanks Eva, Steve and the maintenance people that made the stands for the signs.

Wordless Wednesday

Early Spokane Pictures Online at Northwest Room

The Northwest Room Blog posted an article on the pictures that they have posted on the internet and plans to add many more.

Larry Cebula comments on the pictures at his Northwest History Blog

I am working on an upcoming project where I needed some early pictures of Trent/Front Avenue in downtown Spokane and I found a couple there that really show what I was looking for.
Note: Trent in downtown Spokane is now named Spokane Falls Boulevard, but it was still Trent when the pictures I was looking for were taken.

They have posted pictures of Spokane Streets, Spokane Homes, Spokane Parks, Spokane Bridges, the Spokane Fire, Spokane River and Spokane Views.

New Titles in the Genealogy Room: Land Patent Books

EWGS librarian Juanita McBride announced that the society recently purchased five volumes of the Family Maps series of land patent books with the 2009 Memorial Book fund. These include all the volumes currently available for Washington and Idaho:

• Spokane County - WA
  
• Whitman County - WA
• Walla Walla County - WA
• Asotin County - WA
• Kootenai County - ID
  
• Latah County - ID

The following is a description of these volumes from the publisher's website and author, Gregory A. Boyd:

The Family Maps series of Land Patent Books are published county by county, state by state, for original settlers whose purchases are indexed in the U.S. Bureau of Land Management database. For the first time, you can locate your ancestor's federal land purchase by simply finding them in a surname index, then an all-name index, which directs you to a map of first-land-owners. And now you can learn who your ancestors' neighbors were! The Family Maps books are a helpful visual reference tool that make your federal lands research easier than ever.

Each Township has a Patent Map, Patent Index, Road Map, and a Map we call an Historical Map, which includes Waterways, Watercourses & Railroads. The Road and Historical Maps also include the City-centers and cemeteries that can be found at NationalAtlas.gov. There is also a Surname/Patent Index and a Surname/Township Index to help you dive into the right area of the County. Included Appendices identify multi-Patentee buying groups and also list the numerous Aliquot (section) parts you might find.

Attorney, genealogist, and software engineer, Gregory A. Boyd, has mapped the federal land patents (original land-owners) contained in the indexes of the Bureau of Land Management and Arphax Publishing brings you the resultant new books each week. Each volume provides you maps of indexed federal land patents for a county, with one map per Congressional township. Also included are two additional maps per township that geo-reference the land-tracts to existing roads, waterways, communities, cemeteries, railroads, etc. The Patent Maps are essentially plat-maps, but contain first land-owners, no matter what year they acquired the tract.

This series provides the best tool ever for re-constructing frontier neighborhoods, migration-patterns, and devising maiden-name possibilities. Many "burned" counties magically become researchable, thanks to these tools being generated from Federal records.

These titles are held in the Genealogy Room on the third floor of the Downtown Branch of the Spokane Public Library at 906 W. Main Avenue. With the branch now being open on Mondays, you will have even more opportunities to utilize the many genealogical resources there!

Downtown Library Reopens on Monday

From the City of Spokane News Release:

Spokane Public Library’s Downtown branch will resume offering Monday open hours starting Monday, January 25. The branch will be open 10:00 am – 6:00 pm; the Northwest Room will not be available on Mondays.

The Downtown Library has been closed on Mondays since the beginning of 2005 when severe budget cuts caused hours reductions at all library branches. Library customers have been unhappy about the lack of Monday hours since then and the Library’s administrative staff and board have been diligently working to restore hours at all branches. Last year, Monday hours were added to the busiest branches: South Hill and Shadle. Downtown follows suit this year.
The Library is able to add the Monday hours Downtown with no additional funding.

Reallocation of staff and greater use of self-service options by customers make this addition of eight hours weekly possible.

New England Historical Society databases

Eastern Washington Genealogical Society is proud to announce the addition of the New England Historical Genealogical Society to the list of available online databases. This database covers much of the northeastern United States, with heavy emphasis on Massachusetts and Rhode Island. As of right now, the records in Massachusetts are complete to 1910 and they are daily adding records to 1915. If you are new to the site I would recommend checking out Getting Started . This resource is only available in the Spokane library buildings, but could be the breakthrough you need to move further back in your family’s history. So check it out and let EWGS know what you think!