Wordless Wednesday Group Photo

Another photo from my grand aunt Latisha Vanderpool's photo album.

WSGS 2014 Conference Arlington, Washington Days 5, 6 and 7

Got up early and unhooked from the services, drove to the conference center early to find a level parking spot as the refrigerator got pretty warm the day before, then we had breakfast in the parking lot as it filled up. Watching all the volunteers was great also. Our cousin Ardys Vaughn parked right next to us and the Historical Records Project van was on the other side of us.
Josh Taylor was the first speaker on Saturday, his topic was Evaluating and Documenting Online Sources. His message was that URL's change so document the web site owner as this will not change.

 My next class was by Steven Morrison titled: Start Writing Your Ancestors Legacy Depends upon it. I have heard that many genealogists want to finish their research before they do the writing, but that might never happen. So start writing now.

Next was lunch a barbeque of hamburgers, potato salad and chips. It was interesting that we all picked the same chips on our table. They also had us tear our meal ticket in half, as the second half was for desert, an ice cream vendor set up his mobile pedal freezer in the parking lot and we got our choice of ice cream bars, ice cream sandwiches, ice cream cones or frozen bars.
Before lunch was a group picture of all the attendees in the hall by the auditorium.
After lunch was Josh again, his topic now was The Web, the World and YOU (Advanced Internet Researching), where he told about researching with his grandmother and finally finding his immigrant ancestor.
My next class was by Margie Beldin in the AHS Commons titled Anything but Genealogy: Non Genealogy Software for the Genealogist, and Margie is a wiz at showing these programs and how they can make your life easier.

In the Commons was this picture, and so I took a photo of it also.

Last session was Josh again titled Putting it Together: A Case Study, where he wrapped up all the research to finally find his immigrant ancestor.
Next the conference center emptied out very fast and we headed down the hill to a service station that had a big sign Propane as one of our tanks was empty, but got there too late for them to fill propane tanks, so off on I-5 on our way to Ocean Shores.  Saw the Space Needle on our way through Seattle.

Got into Ocean Shores about 10:30, hooked up electricity and went to bed. Got up next morning and got the propane tank filled, and back to our lot at Ocean Shores. The deer are very tame there (no shooting area).

We trimmed some of the limbs of the tree by the deer above and tied the big parts on the back of the mini-home. The brush we bagged up and hauled to the big trash bin the city has for people that do not have trash service. Did not stay too long at Ocean Shores, as I needed to be back home Tuesday evening. We left Monday morning, stopped in Wenatchee to see our cousin Clara. When we left Wenatchee we were looking for a fruit stand that had some peaches, and bought two boxes of Elberta Peaches, so tonight we are making peach syrup, tomorrow a couple of peach pies and can the rest.

WSGS 2014 Conference Arlington, Washington Day 3 and 4

My sister Jacque Lane and I were at a campground in the North Cascades National Park about 100 miles from Arlington, Washington, and we headed to Arlington after breakfast, cooler today than the day before in Wenatchee, Washington. We headed for the Smoky Point RV Park, and had lunch and took a shower before I went to the WSGS board meeting at the Quality Inn breakfast nook. After the meeting we went to the Skookum Brewery for dinner and to get our packets for the conference.

The photo above and below are the people filing into the Byrnes Performing Arts Auditorium.

Soon after this photo was taken Ruth Caesar, President of the Stillaguamish Valley Genealogical Society introduced the Mayor of Arlington, Washington to welcome us to Arlington, Washington. If you look close you can see Shirley Penna-Oakes and Delma McLean in the front of this photo.

Eric Strochein taught four classes in the auditorium: The Foundations of Genealogy: Using Direct Evidence, Using Direct and Indirect Evidence: The Importance of Methodical Evidence Evaluation, Using Direct and Indirect Evidence: Correlating and Analyzing Seemingly Unrelated Evidence, and Indirect and Negative Evidence Case Study. I only went to the first three and then I went to the Palatine Immigrants: Tracing and Locating 18th Century German Immigrants Online. by Luana Darby.

Lunch was after Eric's second class, a box lunch at the Arlington High School Commons. Look close and you can see Cindi of Cindi's List in purple just right of center.

This was Frank and Delma McLean manning the WSGS booth.

After the Palatine class we had about an hour to visit the vendors, or walk around to get out the kinks of sitting most of the day. I did visit the Historical Records Project and got to meet Amber Raney the person I have been E-Mailing for about a year about the Scribe program to index the millions of records on the Digital Archives. Next was the evening banquet and the WSGS Annual Meeting. They had a wonderful buffet dinner for us. Then Mike McKinnon took the podium to start the meeting. Roger Newman the WSGS Secretary read the minutes and Kathryn Bowen did the Treasurers report.

Roxanna Lowe Recognitions chairman handed out the volunteer awards.

Donna Potter Phillips from Eastern Washington Genealogical Society got one, as a surprise from the Tri Cities Genealogical Society.

Our two volunteer awards were for Lola McCreary who did not make it to Arlington and Shirley Penna-Oakes.

Although there was 38 volunteer awards only eight of the volunteers were there. Ruth Caesar the Stillaguamish Valley Genealogical Society was really surprised. Steve Morrison our EWGS speaker for our October Seminar was also honored along with Donna and Shirley.

Next was the award for the best Genealogical Society Website, won by the South King County Genealogical Society, presented by Virginia Majewski.

Next was Bonnie MacDonald our retiring newsletter editor, and Donna Potter Phillips and Charles Hansen the new WSGS Bloggers, that will try to do as good a job as Bonnie has done for the last four and a half years. We need help so we need more bloggers.

Next Ruth Caesar presented Eric and Karen Stroschein with awards for all the hard work they did in organizing this years WSGS conference.

Last was the Keynote speech by D. Joshua Taylor talking about how to get generation Y interested in Genealogy.

WSGS 2014 Conference Arlington, Washington Day 1 and 2

My sister Jacque Lane and I left for Arlington on the afternoon of August 12, 2014. We wanted to see our cousin Clara Watson in her assisted living home at Wenatchee, Washington. It was very hot when we got there and did not cool off much that night, but it did rain some.

We had decided to go over the North Cascade Pass, and Eric had assured us it would be open by then. When I signed up the pass was still closed for the winter. As the time drew close to head that way a lot of fires had crossed that area and many houses and a lot of grass, brush and trees had burnt.

There was still green areas, orchards had not caught fire, but a few were singed along the edges.

It was great to see so many houses had survived, and I bet it was due to the wonderful firefighters.

Don't think I ever heard of the town of Silver, Washington.

There was a mud slide that had closed a section of the road (remember the rain at Wenatchee) and they detoured us on a one lane road. Then as we started up the pass it started to rain and was cloudy so no pictures. Glad I had fixed the windshield wipers on the mini. They had stopped working on our last trip to the coast and it took a while to get the plastic grommets that had died after 37 years of age. We stayed at a campground on the west side of the pass and it had stopped raining by then and had cooled down a lot from the heat at Wenatchee. Here is a picture of a snow capped mountain on the way down from the campground.

Wordless Wednesday Mystery Building

Another photo from my grand aunt Latisha Vanderpool's photo album.

Anyone recognize this building?

Saturday Night Fun Elementary School Memories

Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!): 1) It's almost time for the new school year to start in the Northern hemisphere, and for most children that meant a new grade, a new teacher, and perhaps new friends.

2)  Tell us about some of your elementary school memories when you were a child.  What are your memories of starting school in a new year?  Who were your teachers?  How did you get to school?  Who were your best friends?  What subjects did you like best?  What extra-curricular activities did you participate in?  Make up your own questions if you'd like!

Well I went 6 grades at Whitman Elementary School, the year I was to start kindergarten our local school district eliminated kindergarten. They had too few classrooms and too few teachers so my parents and one neighbor that had a son the same age as me found a kindergarten at the church at Post and Wellesley.   Whitman school was two blocks north of home, downhill to the street the school was on , but the school was on a hill on the block, so actually higher than our house, so I walked to school.
I liked reading, math, science and social studies. The only teachers I remember are Mr. Meili and Mr. Anderson. Mr. Meili taught 5th grade but I was not in his 5th grade class, but he also taught a health class to the 5th grade boys and the girls got a separate class with one of the female teachers. We also had lunch in Mr. Meili's room if you brought your own lunch. Mr. Anderson was my 6th grade teacher.
I was smaller than most of my classmates so did not do any sports that required a big person, kind of liked softball till I got beaned in the eye.

In 1981 the old Whitman Elementary School was demolished and they built a new building. They said the old building was a fire hazard, but the old building was concrete with a brick on the outside, so it would never have caught fire, but the wiring was 1930s vintage and so that really needed an upgrade. The picture below is the addition they did to the old building and my first grade class was in the room with the big hole where the windows used to be. There was four first grades there two on ground floor and two on second floor.

Wordless Wednesday Nice House

Another photo from my grand aunt Latisha Vanderpool's photo album.

Saturday Night Fun Genealogy Survey

1) Answer these questions in my survey about genealogy resources and usage:

a)  Which genealogy software programs for your computer do you use (e.g., Family Tree Maker, Reunion, GRAMPS, etc.)?
I have Ancestral Quest since version 1, version 14 here now.

b)  Which online family trees have information submitted by you - in either a separate online tree (e.g., Ancestry Member Tree) or a universal (collaborative) online tree (e.g., WikiTree)?
The Family Tree on Rootsweb, which is also on Family Search today.

c)  For which subscription genealogy record providers (e.g., Ancestry) do you have a subscription?
World Vital Records

d)  Which FREE genealogy record providers (e.g., FamilySearch) do you use regularly?
Family Search, RootsWeb, and the Washington State Digital Archives a lot.

e)  How much time do you spend each week doing actual genealogy research online?  [Note:  not reading, or social networking, but actual searching in a record provider].  Estimate an average number of hours per week.
Probably an hour a week

f)  How much time do you spend each week doing actual genealogy research in a repository (e.g., library, archive, courthouse, etc.)?  Estimate an average number of hours per month over, say, a one year period.
Two to three hours a week at the library or courthouse.

g)  How much time do you spend each week adding information to your genealogy software program (either on your computer or online)?  Estimate an average number of hours per week over, say, a one month period.
probably about ten minutes a week on a  monthly average

h)  How much time do you spend each month at a genealogical society meeting, program or event (not a seminar or conference)?  Estimate an average number of hours per month over, say, a one year period.
About four hours a month (we do not meet in July or August so zero those months)

i)  How much time do you spend each month on genealogy education (e.g., reading books and periodicals, attending seminars, conferences, workshops, webinars, etc.)?   Estimate an average number of hours per month over, say, a one year period.
A couple of hours a month

j)  How much time do you spend each week reading, writing and commenting on genealogy blogs, websites, and social media?   Estimate an average number of hours per week over, say, a one month period.
Probably 3- 4 hours a week