Looking Again At USGenWeb

 

Sunny Jane Morton taught us this is the March-April 2021 issue of Family Tree Magazine:

"The USGenWeb Project has been a valuable online genealogy community for nearly 25 years. USGenWeb is a website of national scope and a portal to websites for all 50 states, which in turn are gateways to county-level websites. All of thes sites are run by volunteers who have interest in those places and are dedicated to putting as much free local genealogy research and resources online as possible. Today, USGenWeb sites number in the thousands, all interconnected and free to use."

Sunny then invites all readers to go take a quick tour of the site and once you do, you'll quickly realize how valuable it is.

Perhaps you don't have need for Spokane County resources, but do realize that all 50 states and 300-some counties have similar pages with lists of available, FREE to use, resources. 

Do take some hot-summer-indoor-days to check this out. You'll be glad you did! 

Polices Of A Medical Examiner's Office

 Thanks to long time and past EWGS president, Jeanne Coe, who worked for Spokane County for decades, she shared some interesting trivia with us about this office and its duties.

Think you might want to get a DNA sample of a relative who ends up in the county medical examiner's office? Think again...

Policy:  "All records and reports of examinations or autopsies.....are confidential by law and will only be disclosed ......as allowed by law.. all death investigation case information ..... is to be kept confidential...except as exempted in..... Medical Examiner Office policies." 

All that being said, "individuals as defined by law can obtain autopsy reports (and) complete case files.." after the necessary forms and fees have been obtained. And "Medical Examiners are available to discuss autopsies and policies and practices with individuals that have an interest in a particular case." 

In the 15-pages of information that Jeanne shared, there was no mention of DNA, so we cannot say for sure that such a request would be either approved or rejected. 

So if you learn that your estranged cousin was found dead, and you jump on a potential opportunity to get that long-wanted DNA sample, you may or may not do so. Now you know. 

Think All County Boundaries Are Long Finalized?

 

We genealogists learned long ago that the early Colonial Americans sometimes measured land by chains...... can you imagine hauling and stringing out heavy chains up and down the Appalachian Mountains? 

Well, that's why a 16-mile stretch of the boundary between what is now West Virginia and Virginia was never properly surveyed. Lying atop the crest of the Blue Ridge, it was just too rugged a terrain to measure and besides, "everybody knew where it was."

Thanks to an article in a 1997 National Geographic magazine, I learned that this particular stretch was at long last and finally surveyed in 1996. 

Why did this finally matter so much? "People were moving into the area, sending their children to school, and expecting fire and police protection from "their" state," so which one was it???

Bet you thought you knew that answer, right? :-) 

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. 

Yes, we are most surely blowing our own horn today! 

Friday, April 29th, was a Red Letter Day for a group of EWGS worker-bees for that day signaled the end of a 3-year project to index all the obituaries found in the 25 drawers of biography files at the MAC plus other newspaper databases. Three years and the project was DONE! We could hardly believe it ourselves.

Big thanks to Duane Beck, Donna Phillips, Linda/Ted Morgan, Lynn Krogh, Patricia Flint and Jeanne Coe. Thanks too but not present that day were Charles Hansen, Sandi Gaffney and Sonji Rutan. 

See what "big good" can be done by a small group????

Libraries Are A Treasure

 The Great Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world. It is unknown precisely how many such scrolls were housed at any given time, but estimates range from 40,000 to 400,000 at its height.  (Wikipedia)  

Would you have enjoyed research time in this ancient library? Likely not a one of us could read a one of those scrolls............ but still. 

Spokane just broke ground for a new Spokane Valley Library which is delightful news for library afficionados living in the valley. Here is a quote, appearing  in our Spokesman newspaper, March 31st, from Patrick Roewe, Executive Director of the Spokane County Library District:  "The library is not a warehouse for books. It is a hub for the exchange of knowledge." 

To us old-time library users, this new concept is giving us pause. But I think we'll all get used to the new idea and nod our heads in agreement. 

Have you visited the new Shadle Park Library? Good example. It's a wonderful place to go for the exchange of knowledge.

Here's a quote from Star Trek from Mr. Spock:  "After all, a library serves no purpose unless someone is using it."

 

Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist In Spokane

 

It was on a tour led by Richard Sola where I learned that the Old Testament prophet was bald!  This stunning stained glass window in Spokane's very own Episcopal Cathedral portrays "Jsaiahs" as an elderly bald man. I've no problem with this; it's very likely. But I'd just never thought of it. 

This magnificent Gothic architecture building was begun in 1925 and completed in less than a generation. The exterior stone was quarried near Tacoma with the interior sandstone sourced in Idaho.

 Even though it was dedicated on October 29, 1929, construction lagged during the Great Depression and then World War II. Even today, ongoing restoration and adding windows goes on. 

Free tours are offered as are organ concerts. Do check it out.