The State of the Society

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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 south King County libraries; Auburn, Covington, and Burien.

Our Program committee continues to find us compelling speakers, so join us Saturday mornings at 10 every third Saturday at Wesley Lea Hill, 32049 109th Pl SE, Auburn, WA 98092, 2nd floor Assembly Room. Our January speaker, Lisa Oberg, presented Calamity’s Wake: Natural Disasters Our Ancestors Experienced. 
Blizzards, earthquakes, fire, floods, hurricanes and more. Our ancestors faced many natural disasters which affected both their safety and livelihoods. Newspaper accounts offer important insight into these events, but there are many other sources that can help you understand these catastrophes and enrich your understanding of the social history of your ancestors, and the times in which they lived.
Join us next month!

This blog continues to get better! If you have missed some, go to https://skcgs.blogspot.com and catch up! Click at the top of any post to subscribe. We have both a Facebook page and a Twitter now. Please follow them!

The Technology User Group is dynamic! This past year they have found a spacious new meeting location: WAPI Community Services, 28815 Pacific Hwy S, Suite 7A, Federal Way. January's topic was Stephen Morse's One-Step Pages.

TUG next meets February 18; topic is What will Happen to Your Family History Stuff When You Downsize or Pass Away with Dorothy Pretare.

Our Research Workshops continue to be a wonderful opportunity to use the vast resources available at the Family History Center in Kent,  12817 SE 256th St, Kent. 
We next meet Friday, February 15, 2019 from 1:00 - 3:00 pm.

The Family Tree Maker User Group (FTMUG) meets the first Saturday of each month from 10:15 to 11:45 at the Auburn Library in the small room. The January topic was Adding Photos and Documents to FTM, and the Febuary topic will be FTM Data Base Structure. 

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On a somber note, Bob Sjolin, a long-time life member, passed 12 December 2018, age 79. Our condolences to his family.
His obituary: https://www.edline-yahn.com/notices/Robert-Sjolin

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Valorie Zimmerman

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