Evolution of SoKingNews, SKCGS Newsletter

-
By MaryLynn Strickland

How to begin a story or an article is usually the first thought for a writer.  The overall temper of the article may be set with specific facts or points of interest in mind, but that crucial opening sentence or paragraph can be difficult to phrase.

So too in this article but there is another element—how to close.  This is the last issue of SoKingNews as we have come to know it.  No longer will the quarterly collection of articles and notices about interest groups be emailed to members and interested societies with whom we have exchanged information.  But this is not a sad event because SKCGS has been transitioning to a new format—the weekly blog!

Since September society members have been contributing articles to the weekly blog.  If you have been following you may have enjoyed learning about the Black Diamond Historical Museum or Fiske Genealogical Library.  Maybe you got some new tips about using genealogical software or technology.  The article about Italian Migration was like a private lesson in history, straight from the presenter to you.

Members are sharing stories from their family trees such as Grandma Worked on the Railroad.  The articles about Franklin, the Company Coal Mining Town were the result of research begun several years ago.  It took this new format to be able to present them properly.

Contributors to the blog are your fellow society members, sharing their thoughts and experiences.  This is an opportunity for each of you to express your stories, tell of a humorous ancestor or a tragic event.  If it is of interest to you, it will probably be of interest to many others and should be told.  Readers may gain insight about history, geography, social dynamics and just plain nostalgia.  Please contact Barbara Mattoon to share your story.

So, on a day with achy joints, blurry eyesight and mixed emotions, I put this final issue “to bed,” the media’s jargon for finishing an issue.  It has been my honor to present SoKingNews through its evolution these past years.  And it is with joyous anticipation that I look forward to reading the wealth of stories you, the members of this society, have to contribute to the further evolution of our news media.

MaryLynn Strickland

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Looking for a Needle in a Haystack? GAME CHANGER at FamilySearch

-
Image
Generated with Bing ImageCreator (AI), March 13, 2024 Where is YOUR Needle, Your Missing Record? Genealogical Proof Standard When we use the GPS (Genealogical Proof Standard) as our guide, we all know that "exhaustive research" can be both tedious and exhausting. Is life long enough to search page by page through all the counties where all the members of a family might have lived, paid taxes, bought, leased or sold property, made a will or died intestate? It is possible that the new Full Text Search at FamilySearch will  eventually  allow us to do just that. It has been estimated that 75% or more of the records at FamilySearch were browsable but not searchable; the only indexes those found in the records themselves. Those records are certainly attainable by using those indexes and browsing to the record of interest, but the process is tedious, often frustrating, and slow. And once found, the record must be read and transcribed to be useful. This new Full Text Search tackles a
Read more

What's the Question?

-
Image
We genealogists are often told by experienced researchers how important it is to begin with a research question. I resisted doing this for a long time, but now that I use a series of questions to guide my research, the search is more focused and actually finds more of the history of the family I'm investigating. I use a Google Doc as the  research proceeds, where I keep the question(s), the plan, timelines, checklist of resources to search, etc. all in one place. I've seen others use spreadsheets in the same way, perhaps splitting up things in tabs (Excel or Google Sheets). I prefer a document because I add source citations as I find them and I can begin writing up the case right there in the doc as the hypotheses are proven. Specific Questions in Previous Successes As beginners we often have no clue how much and what details we already know about a person, event or relationship, so it's hard to specify what we want to know. But when looking back at successful research, it
Read more

Help Save This Abused and Neglected Cemetery

-
Image
Screen capture from Google Maps History In an exchange of emails this past week in both the main SKCGS group, and in the Washington-State-Genealogy group, many facts were revealed about the history of the I.O.O.F. Comet Lodge Cemetery, also known as the Old Burying Ground, the Georgetown Cemetery, the Graham Street Burying Ground and maybe more.  FindAGrave sums it up this way: "Since it was established in 1881, the Comet Lodge cemetery site has been whittled away to less than half its original 5 acres. Records are sketchy but it's safe to say that some 500 pioneers were buried here, atop unknown numbers of native Duwamish people. New burials ended in the 1930s. Since then, homes and streets were built on top of many of the plots as the neighborhood around the cemetery grew.  "Upkeep and ownership of the cemetery bounced between the city, civic groups, relatives of Comet Lodge residents, and nearby neighbors. For years, much of the property was allowed to deteriorate int
Read more