2025: What Happened, and a peek into 2026 “Father Time” by Linnaea Mallette: Public Domain license In south King County, Washington, 2025 began with most folks still recovering from a major storm, a "bomb cyclone." Unfortunately, winter storms were punishing at the end of the year as well, with near-record flooding in much of western Washington. However, our society  handled disaster as our ancestors did: with courage, creativity and by working together. We had nine amazing speakers this year and were active weekly in small groups. Volunteers staff monthly Genealogy Help desks in three local libraries, and SKCGS publishes a weekly blog.  2025 Speaker Series January:  Dr. Carol Gorman Friedel "The Invisible Man—Moving Through a Pre-1840 Burned County Brick Wall" February:  Michael Strauss “The Road to Independence: Revolutionary War Research” March:  Amber Oldenburg " Women's Committee of the Council of National Defense Registration Cards: The Largest...

Reliable research begins with the  Genealogical Proof Standard   What's ahead for family history and genealogy work next year? And how best to prepare? One of my big goals has been finished, which is recent backup of online trees onto my own computer. Most of my work has been over the past years has been in Ancestry.com online trees. Now I want to learn how to back that clean tree up into the cloud, as well as onto some portable hard drives.  Also, I combined the two backed-up trees. Next, I need to find and merge any remaining duplicate profiles. While doing that work, I will try to apply "spit and polish" to each profile touched. Spit? Polish?  Merriam-Webster says it is in part: " attention to cleanliness, orderliness, smartness of appearance ."  Why bother with such nit-picking? I think that by making online profiles not only well-researched and attractive, we can draw others to the stories told on those profiles. This is why I've always worked in publ...

 MaryLynn recently wrote about piecing together snippets of information ; I came across some more recent history recently. By chance Ancestry.com landed me on the profile of my uncle Hollis McBee, and I noticed a couple of new newspaper article hints, which can be a rich source of information.  Calgary Herald, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Thursday 8 November 1945, page 8, column 3, news article "Trucks Damaged, Drivers Unhurt"  mentioning Hollis McBee; Newspapers.com : accessed 11December 2025.      At first  glance, the story reveals few facts, besides that Hollis was unhurt.  But it shows me what he was doing in 1945; which  was driving truck in Cochrane, Alberta, Canada, and that he had been in an accident.  The second article places him and his first family in Great Falls, Montana, 375 miles south:   Great Falls Tribune, Great Falls, Montana, Friday 31 October 1958, page 11, columns 4-5, "Nine Marriages Dissolved"  incl...

Mystery gift from afar It was an unexpected arrival – and as I strolled back from the mailbox I was full of anticipation at the surprise package from my father. Small, the size of a box full of checks, what on earth could this possibly contain – and why? It was between holidays – right after Thanksgiving and enough “before Christmas” not to be a Christmas gift. I smiled with delight. Packages from home and my parents were always fun. And in this case, somewhat mysterious, given the timing. In the house, I carefully cut through the layers of clear packing tape that encased the box. As I lifted the lid off, there was a note labelled in my father’s unmistakable handwriting: Care Package. Like any kid with a new toy, I laid the note aside (the adult kid did this very carefully) and then I just stared at the contents.    I took another look. Jumbled together in the bottom of the box were not quite a dozen crumpled red and silver foil balls, some with narrow wire sticking from...

During a recent presentation I reflected on the different research sources at which we find tidbits of information we might not have expected to find.  One case in point is my ancestor Jonathan Marney. A search for Jonathan Marney at the General Land Office, Bureau of Land Management website glorecords.blm.gov , shows that Jonathan made cash purchases in Missouri beginning in 1833 and as late as 1850 in Iowa.  In 1851 he received a warrant for land because of his service with the Virginia Volunteers during the War of 1812. Searches at Ancestry and Fold 3 for military files gave me Jonathan's service  records from March to October, 1813 and his marriage to Ann P. Oliver in Montgomery County, Tennessee June, 1817..  Jonathan died in Missouri, 1854 and his widow, Ann is active in land and pension files as late as 1878.  In one of the last documents in the pension file is a statement explaining why she had not signed with a clear signature as she had done previously...