Happy 40th Anniversary!

-

Do you remember 40 years ago? Our SKCGS newsletter does! 

  South King County Genealogical Society Newsletter, V. 1, No. 1

Above is the top of Volume 1, Number 1 of the Newsletter, which later became SoKingNews. Thank you to Katie Hanzeli who scanned these newsletters from her own collection, Rich Thayer who kept our digital files safe, Michele Mattoon who uploaded them, and Tina Lawson who has been getting them onto our website. 

SKCGS incorporated in September 1984 and put out the first newsletter one year later. Amazing to look at that old tech - remember typing mimeograph "masters?" not a fun job. 

What fun that they were celebrating their first picnic! We've been searching for creative ways to celebrate our 40th anniversary, and a picnic this summer would be lovely. We just need someone to volunteer to organize it. 

You can see MaryLynn's contribution of the top image in this post, and in our new blog header, at https://skcgs.blogspot.com/. 

Ten years later, there was still celebration: 🎉

The SoKING Newsletter, September 1994, Vol. 10, No. 1

Don't you love this? These days, we have no physical meeting place, so serving cake would be difficult! Zoom has lots of features, but cake is not one of them. 

So, what is your idea of a great way to celebrate? How would YOU like to participate? The Board is gathering ideas and volunteers, so please talk to us!

Screenshot of Variety's
Actors on Actors (Youtube)

One of MaryLynn's ideas was interviews with some of the long-time members. Do you have someone you would love to interview, either in person or via Zoom. Or, something like "Variety Studio: Actors on Actors" where two people interview one another. If you are a long-time member, who would YOU like to interview? Recorded interviews would be great! As would even interviews by phone or email. Set your imagination free!


Now that we have this wonderful trove of SKCGS history, we hope to bring you more delightful tidbits from the 35 years of newletters, and perhaps revisit a few of the past 5 years here on Blogger. 


Valorie Zimmerman







Comments

  1. MaryLynn StricklandJanuary 15, 2024 at 11:14 AM

    Here is a suggested question for an interview--"If you could get advice from any person, who would you choose? What would you ask?"

    ReplyDelete

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