Chapter News

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December 10, 2011
Our Annual Holiday Photo

Standing: Trish Hackett Nicola, Janice Blackhurst, Steven Morrison, Rachelle Joy, David Liesse, Alan McCool, Jim Hohnson, Bonnie Jean MacDonald.
Seated: Claudia Breland, Winona Laird, Becky Logan, Lois Gumz-Calisal.

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On Saturday, November 5, 2011, PS-APG was present with a conference table at the Family History Expo 2011. This Expo has gotten so big they had to move it to another stake (Bellevue South Stake Center) located behind the big Temple in Bellevue. PS-APG's table was hosted by Bonnie Jean MacDonald, Program Coordinator and Historian, Amy Toney, Claudia Breland, Secretary and Alan McCool, President. Claudia also presented a lecture on "Podcasts, Webinars and Blogs," which Bonnie and Jean Yager attended. Janice Blackhurst and Eric Stroschein also presented lectures. Here is a link to the brochure. It was an excellent Expo and as usual the seminar organizers did a great job. Bonnie also had a table for the Washington State Genealogical Society next to the PS-APG table which was also a success! PS-APG has been hosting a table at this Expo since 2005.

Lunch time at the Expo; Alan and Claudia assist a visitor; Claudia greets her lecture guests.

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Heritage Quest Research Library kindly sponsored PS-APG's presentation of "Citing Your Sources," by PS-APG Member Jean Yager. HQRL has moved to a new location just down the street from their former home. They are located right on Main Street in Sumner with their library and book store. On Saturday, October 1, 2011 PS-APG hosted the presentation on "Citing Your Sources," with a wonderful lunch with goodies and a big pot of Chili provided by our President, Alan McCool. The meeting room was filled to capacity. This presentation was one of many educational opportunities hosted by PS-APG (Puget Sound Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists) at their meetings which are open to the public. The next PS-APG meeting will be our Annual Holiday Potluck at the NARA branch location in Seattle, WA on December 10, 2011. Check out our meeting schedule on this website, click on Meetings to the right.
Jim Johnson, Director HQRL and Jean Yager presenter; HQRL new Meeting Room

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PS-APG participated in and attended the Washington State Genealogical Society (WSGS Conference in Richland, Washington on September 16th and 17th, 2011. This WSGS event was sponsored by the Tri-Cities Genealogical Society located in Richland. Bonnie Jean MacDonald (Program Coordinator), Steven Morrison (Treasurer), Alan McCool (President) and Eric Stroschein (Member) attended and hosted the PS-APG table. It was a great conference with Paul Walls Stamm, CG, CGL as the featured speaker and many other talented lecturers. Here is the link to the Tri-Cities WSGS Conference website. Bonnie Jean MacDonald and her husband Alan Rowberg took advantage of the Reactor B tour which is now a historic site. It took a 45 minute bus ride out to the site on the Hanford Reserve. It is an amazing story how the Reactor B was build and function within two years back in the 1940's. There was a whole community of people involved. Of course it meant removal of settlers already established and that is still an ongoing story. Congratulations to Tri-Cities for a job well done.

Steven, Bonnie and Eric; Susan Faulkner President of Tri-Cities and Paula Walls Stamm; and Eric explaining APG

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On Thursday, May 5, 2011 the PS-APG Chapter gathered at the Meeker Mansion in Puyallup for a tea and a tour. The occasion was to celebrate the visit of Laura Prescott, President of the Association of Professional Genealogists. We were also lucky to have Cyndi Howells of Cyndi’s List present. She was escorting Laura and they were touring various locations like the Space Needle and more. Laura was in the Pacific Northwest to present a seminar for the Tacoma-Pierce County Genealogical Society’s Spring Seminar on Saturday, May 7, 2011 in Tacoma.

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~watpcgs/2011Prescottflier.pdf

The afternoon started with a tea on the lower floor in one of the lovely rooms of the Meeker Mansion. The room was filled with lively chatter from those who attended. Laura gave a brief speech about the Chapters role in APG. Later we heard about the history of the Meeker Mansion and the efforts to restore the home. The tour of the mansion was conducted by a lovely lady dressed in period clothing. They talked about the restoration process of the mansion and one could see evidence of the work being done. It was well attended and PS-APG gained one more new member. It was a great day for all!!

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PS-APG participated in the Family History Expo held in Bellevue, WA on November 6, 2010. It was a great success. Steven Morrison gave several lectures. Claudia Breland helped out at the conference table. Alan McCool came by to see what was happening and also helped at the conference table. Bonnie gave several lectures as well. There are lots of changes coming to the Family History Library. Next year they will be in Redmond unless they have to move to a larger location.

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PS-APG had a vendor table in Chehalis on September 17th and 18th at the Washington State Genealogical Society Conference (WSGS). It was a great success with over 120+ people attending. Steven Morrison gave his talk Friday night on "Outlaw Genealogy" and it was an amazing journey of his attempt to find and track an outlaw family. The next day we had four great sessions with Diane Gagel. The first was on migration trails throughout the United States, next was women and the law which included African American women. The afternoon sessions covered caring for your photographs. Diane is a former archivist and she had some good points to make about preserving our photos. One idea was to use black and white film to take a photo and then use your digital camera. The other was to get archival quality DVD/CD's. The last session was on how to search for and find social history about our ancestors. Diane talked about this subject from the perspective of an historian and former professor. It was an excellent conference. The WSGS award 50+ outstanding volunteer awards this year which is beyond any other years. The WSGS had their board meeting on Friday and met for dinner that evening before Steven's talk. I had the good fortune to meet Steven Morrison the next day and he has asked to present for PS-APG next year. He is one of our newest members. Jim Johnson of Heritage Quest was there with tons of books. Jean Yager took the PS-APG conference table supplies with her to Puget Sound's Seminar next weekend. The Lewis County and Lower Columbia Genealogical Societies did a marvelous job on the conference. Congratulations on a job well done. Next year the conference will be in Tri-Cities area on September 16 and 17th, 2011.

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PS-APG traveled to Eugene, Oregon for the GCO Summer Fest on July 31, 2010. GCO stands for the Genealogical Council of Oregon http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~orgco2/ and they were the sponsors of the seminar which featured Elizabeth Shown Mills. Several PS-APGer's attended: Bonnie Jean MacDonald, Trish Nicola CG, Patricia Summers-Smith, Alan McCool, Jean Yager and Jim Johnson. Jim brought the Heritage Quest books and they had an huge display in the vendor area along with other great booths. The seminar attendance was 218 and the GCO was totally amazed that so many people responded. It was a great seminar. Elizabeth gave 4 lectures throughout the day. There were other great lectures by Beverly Rice's, Geoff Rassmusen, Connie Lenzen and more. The syllabi from the conference was also excellent. Here is a link to the seminar information:

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~orgco2/conf2010/register2010.pdf. Congratulations to the GCO for a wonderful seminar. Dinner with Elizabeth was at the Oregon Electric Station in Eugene. Bonnie and Patricia visited on Friday at the Oregon Genealogical Society which is based in Eugene, Oregon. They are in a building on the ground floor in the downtown area on Oak Alley Street west of Oak street and between E. 16th and E15th. Best to drive on Oak Street and park in the multi-level parking lot on the left. Beware some streets in Eugene are one way and Oak goes north. They are a little hard to find so give them a call before you go to get directions. Here is a link to their website and their wonderful library: http://www.oregongenealogicalsociety.org/

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Monday, May 24, 2010 was an exciting evening for PS-APG http://www.psapg.org/. We hosted Elissa Scalise Powell, CG. Elissa took time out to share with PS-APG members and other enthusiastic genealogists in the area. We met at the Greenwood Senior Center on 85th. Elissa talked about the Dreaded Research Report. Her method is to write the research report as she performs the research including the documents into her word processor. She uses templates for the report so she has some information already to go. She uses templates for sources that she uses frequently so she can just make simple changes. She explained the differences in compilations versus the research report. The research report is about the research only it is not a genealogy written for the family. Elissa feels that writing about the research is essential in understanding the research project and finding clues for further study. The next topic was a discussion about the Board for Certification of Genealogists http://www.bcgcertification.org/. Elissa encouraged the group to go to the BCG website where they will find all kinds of information to assist them in becoming certified. There are articles on various subjects to assist you in learning how to prepare as an example a transcript of a document or an abstract. I took a look around their website and was very impressed. There is a video by Elissa and Tom Jones that discusses the process of certification available for you to study. It is worth it to examine this website for it is packed with hints and help. She went over the certification process and the reasons you might want to become a certified genealogist. We are greatly indebted to Elissa for her time and thank her for coming and sharing her knowledge. The Seattle Genealogical Society seminar with Elissa the past Saturday was a great success you can learn more at the SGS President's blog http://seagensociety.blogspot.com/.

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The National Genealogical Conference took place in Salt Lake City at the Salt Palace Convention center. PS-APG was there. Bonnie Jean MacDonald PS-APG Chapter President arrived on Tuesday April 27th and found the Family History Library to be filled to the brim with busy genealogists researching their families. The conference officially began at 8 am at the Salt Palace on Wednesday April 28th. There were several wonderful videos about the work being done by the Family History Library to digitize their collection. They had figured out how to do that in 10 years rather than taking a century. The videos took us on a tour of the Vault in the mountains where they keep most of the collection. The doors to the Exhibit hall opened and the conference was officially on. We were all off to tour the Exhibit hall and get ready for our first lecture. Trish Hackett Nicola was also there she arrived Monday April 26th. Trish led the Gathering of the Chapters which took place on Thursday April 29th, at 4 pm. Bonnie attended as well and shared about the Scrapbook Project being added to our website in the next months. Trish told them about Elissa's visit on May 24th here in Seattle http://www.psapg.org/. The Oregon Chapter is looking forward to having PS-APG attend dinner after the GCO Conference in Eugene on July 31st http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~orgco2/conf2010/register2010.pdf. Friday, April 30th was the APG Luncheon and Trish, Bonnie and Claudia Breland, PS-APG Chapter Secretary attended this event. Friday evening was the NGS Banquet where everyone comes to enjoy the evening http://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/ and http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/conference_info. It too was filled with enthusiastic genealogists from around the world. Of course awards were given out. You can find out the news at the NGS website. On Saturday at 10:30 Bonnie and Trish helped out at the APG Booth and signed up one person as a new member. Mary Clement Douglas who has presented at Gen O Rama for South King County Genealogical Society several years ago. She was just finishing her shift at the APG Booth. Mary's website is at http://www.historical-matters.com/ She said she was off to give a talk in Montana soon. As Washington State Genealogical Society Newsletter Editor Bonnie was happy to see that this group was also represented at the conference. Sue Erickson, President, Ginny Majewski Vice President, Carole Medeiros, Treasurer and Ross Abbot, Region #3 Representative were all there. The Washington Genealogical Society website is at: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wasgs/index.htm We had lunch and dinner together sharing good stories about our genealogical finds. It was a great conference and Washington State was well represented.

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On Saturday, April 10, 2010 PS-APG sponsored a tour of the Northwest African American Museum in south Seattle. We were greeted by Wadiyah the Genealogy Center director. She took us to the center and explained their goals. They would like the Genealogy Center to be multi-ethnic. This is a brand new center for genealogical research. They have 4 computers with access to the internet. They have a small library and are willing to accept donations of genealogical books. They have volunteers that come at various times throughout the month who come from the Black Genealogy Research Group, the Family History Library and interested individuals. They provide volunteer training. For more information contact Wadiyah at this email: genealogy@naamnw.org. The next part of the tour was into the exhibit areas were we were introduced to a timeline for African American's migrating to the Pacific Northwest and their contributions to this area. The other exhibit is on Ethiopia and they are hoping to have many more. Here is the link to the NWAAMuseum http://naamnw.org/index.html. This is a great addition to the genealogical community so go and check it out.

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In March Trish Hackett Nicola, CG, was a judge for Washington History Day. This year’s students researched and wrote papers on the theme,” Innovation in History: Impact and Change.” Trish helped judge the second round of papers for the Puget Sound region. The papers will have one more judging at the local level. The top ranking papers will go on to the state level, and a few will make it to the final competition at the national level in June 2010.

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On March 11, 2010, Trish Hackett Nicola, CG, presented a paper, “The Halcyon: the Infamous Opium Smuggling Schooner,” at the Pacific Northwest Historians Guild Conference on Northwest Borderland at MOHAI.

The Halcyon was beautiful and fast. Her owners used her to smuggle Opium and Chinese into the United States in the late 1880s and early 1890s. The cargo came from China and was dropped off in Hawaii, Victoria, Vancouver, Port Townsend, and ports all the way down the coast to San Diego. The presentation gave background information on her owners and crew, the smugglers and their illegal cargo, the Halcyon’s evasion from Custom officials and how she was finally captured by authorities.

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On Saturday December 12th, 2009 PS-APG members and guests gathered at the National Archives in Seattle (NARA) to share special genealogical memories and finds.

Front to back and left to right: Claudia Breland, Evelyn Roehl, Bonnie Jean MacDonald, Alan McCool, Trish Nicola, Melonie Soper Ramsey, Jean Yager and Jim Johnson.

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On October 29, 2009 an additional tour was being offered and this was the Seattle Municipal Archives which is located on the 3rd floor of the new Seattle City Hall next door to the King County Administration Bldg which I visit a lot. The Seattle Municipal Archives had an open house 12 to 3 pm that day. I joined the tour about 12:15 pm. Patricia Summers-Smith was also in attendance. It is a little tricky to get to the 3rd floor if you come in on 4th avenue, you have to go to the Lobby and then up another set of elevators. Their offices are new and very nice. They have a storage facility on that level that is very large. There research room was a nice size but not huge. They have rooms where they work on video and audio, a area where they do the conservation work on documents like maps. They are striving to move photos to a digital format as well as preserve maps and other documents. I did not find their website as easy to get around http://www.cityofseattle.net/cityarchives/ as the KCA but they are putting photos and other information on line. They do have their collections listed by subject. The tour was a little crowded and the rooms were tight and was difficult to hear what was being said but it was good to see the rooms and of course the storage facilities. They took us to the basement where they had another huge storage room. The tour archivist said that they had planned the storage for 25 years but where filling up much faster than they had thought. The records at this archive has are more government oriented but they do have payroll records for various government organizations, municipal court records and maps. It will take a little more digging for genealogical gems due to a lack of indexes for a lot of the records.