image credit: bunditinay -stock.adobe.com My 2024 Genealogy Resolutions For many people, year-end is a time of reflection on the past year and looking ahead to how we hope the next year will unfold. As I have worked on my genealogy development activities for my Kinship Determination Project during the past few days, I have thought about how I can be more effective going forward. Making genealogy resolutions for 2024 is a result of that thought. First: I will write a Research Plan for each project or new phase of a project. No longer will I just dive into acquiring names, dates, or facts in a haphazard fashion, hoping to emerge with a finished Research Report. (More on that later.) Second: I will create a complete citation for every date, fact, or other piece of information that is not general knowledge when I find it. I will not allow myself to think, “Oh, I’ll remember where I saw that.” Third: I will consult the original record whenever I can possibly find it. An abstract ...

(Continued from SKCGS Blog, December 7, 2020 ) Then I heard our inadequate anti-aircraft go into action. A figure leaped over the edge of the depression and slid down almost against me. In the split second that I glimpsed him against the sky, I recognized him as one of the kids of our outfit. I called my name and he answered, giving his own. “Listen, Hearn,” I said, “Doctor Land was on that Higgins boat with us coming in. I talked to him a little. You’ve got to get him and bring him here or this person will die.” “The Hell I will,” growled Hearn: “I’m gonna stay right here in this hole.” I was about to curse him but I stopped myself before the words came. I hit him from another angle. “Hearn,” I said, “I have often heard that this business of war was quick to separate the men from the boys. Your mother back in Kansas still thinks of you as her little boy, but deep down inside her heart she knows that she has a man out here fighting for her. If you are not too scar...

  Image from Facebook Last February, what seems like eons ago, a weekly blog started with the following: Year of Anniversaries 2020--Have you noticed that there are some momentous anniversaries this year?  The  Mayflower landed at Plymouth in 1620--400 years ago !  Do you have Mayflower ancestors?  Are you planning to attend any Mayflower celebrations? A bit closer to present day is the  100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment--Women's Suffrage .  Did you have an ancestor involved with that struggle for equality? There are many other anniversaries this year-- 75 years from the end of World War II ,  40 years after the eruption of Mt. St. Helens,   You can probably name many more and please do! Opportunity Knocks There followed a challenge, an opportunity for people to write stories. A few weeks later the world that we knew came to a screeching halt due to Covid 19. Fortunately, we learned how to have virtual meetings and in early April we w...

Was Sampson Caudill (1784 – 1863) the father of Hugh Caudle(1812--1859)? Genealogists and family historians have long speculated about the identity of the father of Hugh Caudle (1812 – 1859).   Clayton Cox, the genealogist and long-time authority on the Caudill family, never provided an answer. [1] An article in Cordell Clippings , the newsletter of the Cordell Family Association (now inactive) No.10, January 1994, may be the source of the many assertions that Hugh was the son of Sampson Caudle. [2] The Caudills (Caudles, Caddells, Coddles, Cordels, Codills, and many other spellings) are a large and well-documented family.   The first documentation of a Caudle in America is a Virginia Land Grant to Stephen “Cawdle” from King George of England in 1731. [3] By the time of the Revolutionary War, the family had migrated to North Carolina. [4] The family had begun migrating to eastern Kentucky by 1789. [5] TRACKING THE MIGRATION OF TWO FAMILIES In 1820, Sa...

SOCIETY ACTIVITIES The September General Meeting featured the presentation of a Washington State Genealogical Society Outstanding Volunteer award to our long-time member, Katie Hanzeli.  The award highlighted the many areas in which she has served and continues to serve SKCGS.  Lori Lee Sauber presented a method of organizing genealogical research using project management methodology.   The advantage of this method of organization is that it is easily customized to meet the needs of any researcher.   She urged using a version of this method to avoid “abandoned” genealogy projects   It also helps keep the researcher on track to complete a project by a self-imposed or outside imposed deadline.   As a result of her presentation, I have revisited Trello.   It is easy to set up the project board. You receive positive reinforcement when you move the task card to the “Completed” column. We welcomed one returning member, Pat Noecker, and three ...

By Barbara Boye Mattoon Trees The longer I live on this planet we call Earth, the more concerned I become about how we are treating it.  I have always been aware of Earth Day but have never participated in activities surrounding it.  This year I began to think about how Earth Day relates to genealogy, and that train of thought led me to trees. Why are trees important to the inhabitants of planet Earth?  Here are just a few of the reasons: Trees take in carbon dioxide and produce oxygen for us to breathe. Trees take in dust and other pollutants. Wood was the first fuel and is still used by about half the world’s population for heat and cooking. 2 Trees provide wood for building, furniture, sports equipment, and wood pulp for making paper. Quinine, aspirin and other drugs are derived from tree bark. Oranges, apples, nuts and a myriad of other foods are provided by trees. The USDA, Forest Service states that trees properly placed around a building can reduc...