“Batty Brock and the Research Plan: The Search for the Marriage Record for Charles Beverly Brock Raymond and Marie Marguerite Richards” as inspired by Thomas W. Jones, PhD, CGL, FASG, FUGA, FNGS      My fifth cousin, Carol, is in the process of identifying all the descendants of her ancestors, Azariah Perkins and his wife, Elizabeth Moss, of New Brunswick, Canada, of which she and I are two.   She inherited the project from her mother.   In the midst of her research, she saw my query asking about another descendant, my great-grandfather William Samuel Winslow Raymond, also of New Brunswick.   Her question, “How are you related to William?   He never married and had no children” and my answer, “He did marry in Boston in 1902 and had seven children and I’m the granddaughter of the eldest!” sent us on a merry chase, which included much sharing of information, photos and more research.   I’m happy to say that it also led to a wonderful frie...

The Northwest Genealogy Conference  is the largest annual genealogy and family history event in Washington, and Arlington is not a long drive for us south King people. Some SKCGS members have been attending for years, but this was the first year for me, Valorie Zimmerman . I was excited to see that Janet Camarata had volunteered to teach the free beginner class, open to all. I really loved how she organized the material, drawing in beginners and showing them how to do quality research and documentation *from the beginning* -- which all of us wished we had done. Following the Genealogical Proof Standard from day one will save time in the end, since you can always consult your notes. There were three other attendees from our SKCGS membership and I asked each for their thoughts, takeaways and memories -- in a few sentences. My own takeaway is that I need to up my game! I have the evidence, often, but I need to write it up more often. That last step in the GPS seems diffi...

By Kathleen MacLeod Hanzeli On 23 April 1991, my father in law, Victor E. L. Hanzeli, died.  He was 65.  He was born in Budapest, Hungary on 21 October 1925, an only child.  He lived through the Nazi occupation and the siege of Budapest, which was the second longest of World War II (102 days.)  He had been a seminary student in Vienna, but due to the war he wasn’t able to complete his studies there.  Instead, he returned to Budapest, met my mother in law, escaped (with accompanying stories the likes of which movies are made!) with her and her parents and sister to the West in 1947, moved to New York City via Salzburg and Paris and eventually settled in Bloomington, Indiana, where my husband and his sister were born.  Later they came to Seattle, where they contributed three more children to the good of society.  Victor completed his studies, earning his Ph.D in Romance Languages and Linguistics at Indiana University in Bloomington and became a pr...

Can you identify the men in this photo? This photograph was taken sometime in the 1920’s or 1930’s in Franklin, King County, Washington. It is of two men who are probably not miners, due to the style of their dress. The standing man is simply in trousers and no particular footwear, meaning he and probably the second man were visitors to the mine. Perhaps they were businessmen or engineers come to visit to see if the mine was worth keeping open. The mine entrance is to the “Gem Mine #3”, the third mine of this name. The first one was the biggest and was on the Green River. The second was a bit further down river and this one, the third, was the smallest and was above the river, between it and the railroad tracks, below the present-day track to the Franklin Cemetery. This photo is part of a larger photo, the rest of which is trees and background, and which hangs in the Black Diamond Historical Museum . The “gas” sign was often posted even if there was no danger of gas as it sc...

by Kathleen (Katie) MacLeod Hanzeli Mose’s Signature I had the privilege of visiting Boston and went to the Massachusetts State Archives to do research.  I worked on finding information about my great-great-great-great grandfather, Moses Jennerson, who was born in Shirley, Middlesex, Massachusetts on or about 17 November 1755.  A note in the town records said he was “a waif cast in here” which means they have no clue where he came from - or how to spell his name.  Seth Chandler in his History of Shirley, claimed that there were only two spellings of the name.  He was mistaken as I’ve found four different spellings for Moses alone.  Later in life, his wife, Sarah taught him to read and write.  Until then, he skipped the spelling problems and simply made his mark. Moses’ name in the book of Revolutionary War soldiers. I have learned over the years of researching my family history, that you cannot depend on name spelling, especially the further ...