by Kathleen MacLeod Hanzeli What do Alec Baldwin and his brothers, Humphrey Bogart, Barbara Bush, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Chevy Chase, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Christopher Lloyd, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Sarah Palin, Edith Roosevelt (Mrs. Theodore), Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Lillian Russell, Joseph Smith and Dr. Benjamin Spock have in common?  They all descend from the same ancestor who landed on these shores on 6 September 1620, on the bark Mayflower.  Most of us can claim descent from a Mayflower traveler, but the above person is unique and I didn’t know he existed until one day recently, my eleven year old grandson said to me, “Nana, my friend from school’s ancestor fell off of the Mayflower!” My first instinct was to respond, “What?  No one fell off the Mayflower.  If he had, he’d be dead and have no descendants.”  But with a little research, I discovered that the story was true, and my grandson can claim a good friend as a descendent amo...

By Valorie Zimmerman 2018 was a great year for South King County Genealogical Society, and we anticipate 2019 will be even better. We began the year by launching our new website at http://skcgs.org . Our mail list at Rootsweb was down for awhile, but is back. Our Seminar was tremendous, and we're planning another for 2020. We have had some great speakers at our regular meetings, we've placed for our formerly traveling library at the Kent Family History Center , have renewed our contract with the King County Library System to present our book collection to south King County at the Auburn Library , and have many thriving special interest groups. We had a very successful Intermediate Genealogy class following our 2018 meetings, taught by Winona Baird. Winona also began offering our Research Workshops in 2018. Our Board of Directors meets monthly at the Auburn Fire Station; all meetings are open to SKCGS members. Volunteers staff Genealogy Help tables monthly at three so...

By Michele Norton Mattoon If you find enough rough evidence to suspect you might be able to gain entrance into The Society of Mayflower Descendants, prepare yourself – it is not a quick process, however, it is extremely rewarding and personally links you to the beginnings of our nation’s history. It will also take you longer than the actual journey! I had suspected for some time that I might be descended from William Brewster, Edward Fuller and John Billington as I had found information about their descendants that dovetailed into the information I had discovered from working backward from myself, but had done little or nothing to confirm that as I suspected, correctly, that the approval process is long and involved. In 2014, I attended RootsTech in Salt Lake City, and found representatives from the General Society of Mayflower Descendants; some dressed in period costume! Deciding that I really needed to find out the next steps in pursuing the project, I decided to talk to ...

By Valorie Zimmerman You can use Twitter to gather information, or to spread it. You can use it without an account. Naturally Twitter wants to sign you up, and it is free, but you can go to https://twitter.com/skcgs1 without an account. What will you see there that you won't find on http://skcgs.org ? You will find short bits of information, photos, diagrams and even short films all from the accounts that @skcgs1 "follows", what we post or "tweet," and what we "re-tweet." This is what you will see if you are not logged in:  https://twitter.com/skcgs1 - user not logged in What does "follow" mean? If you are logged in, you can see which accounts SKCGS follows on the Following tab. The accounts you follow are the ones that show up in your Home tab when you are logged in. This screenshot shows the what can be seen if you are logged in: @skcgs as seen by logged in Twitter user If you are just starting a new Twitter acc...

By Barbara Mattoon  Last week I discussed learning opportunities available through your local society, and Structured Learning opportunities available through academic institutions and Institutes.  This week I’ll explore Conferences and Seminars, Research Trips and Self-Guided Learning. Conferences and Seminars A myriad of conferences and seminars are available.  One of the largest is the National Genealogical Society Annual Family History Conference.  It features a different theme each year and is in a different location.  The 2019 Conference will be held 8 – 11 May in St. Charles, Missouri.  The Conference theme is “Journey of Discovery”, charting the course of American pioneers as they migrated to the Louisiana Purchase and the Northwest Territory.  It will feature 150 lectures and there will be opportunities to visit more than 80 exhibitors in the exhibit hall.  Hotel reservations opened August 15 and conference registration ope...