Local Archives and Other Repositories After Saturday's inspiring panel discussion about how to find the majority of the genealogy and family history records which have been collected for research, we thought to consult our own repository: the  blog index  on our great website, skcgs.org .  Since the beginning, we have been visiting local area archives and museums and reporting back to you, our readers. Katie led us off with  Black Diamond, Washington  about the history of Black Diamond and the great Black Diamond Museum and Historical Society. More here  also her visit to the  New England Historical and Genealogical Society  in Boston. Cheri Sayer came to SKCGS from the Greater Kent Historical Societ y and she also visited the Highline Heritage Museum . Note: Highline Heritage has a new link .  Barbara Mattoon visited and wrote about the   Des Moines Museum ;  r ead on to see even more examples of local repositories. Nearly every c...

  Giving Thanks Those Who Served Ted Cowan 1926-2016 As I write, it is Veteran's Day, and also my mother's birthday. If she were alive, she would be 95. I'm thankful for her time on Earth, and that of my father, who served as a medic in the Pacific, WWII. I recently placed this photo of him at as a young recruit in the Veterans Legacy Memorial . Search for your ancestor, friend or relative here:  vlm.cem.va.gov/search .  Those Who Gave Their All John Franklin Zimmerman Jr 1908-1943 Th e database does not cover those buried overseas, such as my husband's uncle Frank, killed in action in Italy, and buried in the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, Nettuno, Italy. He had worked in the Post Office in California during the war, and when killed was Staff Sergeant of the Combat Organization: 2nd Army Post Office. He was killed the 7th of October 1943 and was awarded the Purple Heart.  https://www.abmc.gov / <- Search for overseas burials. Military Service Members I'...

Another Value of Records My Dad was listed at college in Eugene, Oregon. He had a part time job as a janitor for the Oregon State College of Education (U of Oregon now). It listed his address (College St) and his roommates and their part time jobs. The fun continues--I took pictures of what I found; I was doing the Family Review so I could see all of the fields! I sent pictures to my parents and went to visit them yesterday.   Art Sperber Dad remembered many things about that time and his time on the basketball team, cut short by the Korean War, his roommates (even his sister remembered his roommates) and that led into stories he remembered about his summer jobs; one playing as a pitcher for a logging mill baseball team, coupled with a job at the mill. But when the regular pitcher came home from National Guard and Dad felt really homesick for home cooking, he quit and went home to "the farm" in Tillamook for the rest of the summer.   My Dad is 93 and is sharp in some...

Stories Behind the Records Editor's note:  this week's blog contains stories of searches in the 1950 census.  What is your story?  Submit to m.strickland@skcgs.org Finding my parents in the 1950 Census I thought I was ready for release day. I had my parent’s address from 1949 in the Billings, MT, City Directory – 301 S. 32nd St. But when I searched that Enumeration District, the name didn’t show up. So I widened the area to Billings and put in his name again (Naylor). Now something came up – Maylor Thomas K. So clicking on that name took me to the Census page in a different ED and on that name I found my parents, Thomas K. Naylor and Merle R. Naylor. I was there too, but again a mistake. This mistake was in the first letter of my name. The census taker spelled it Sheri instead of Cheri. I was 2 years old. The address was 132-l/2 Terry Avenue. I remember the place through photographs but didn’t know the exact address. It was the back half of an older house. A good friend o...

 President's Report:  Where We've Been and Where We're Going 2021 is now in the rear-view window, and South King County Genealogical Society is looking forward to what we have planned for 2022.  You have seen what some of the teams are planning, last week: https://skcgs.blogspot.com/2022/01/2021-in-review.html .  Highlights of 2021-2022 as we fulfill our mission: furthering genealogical research and interest in family and local history . Communication and Social Media Groups.io We've grown! Although we're less chatty than we were last year, we now have 228 members at  https://skcgs.groups.io/g/Society . Blog: http://skcgs.org/blog.html Read all over the world! Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SKCGenealogy Washington State Genealogical Society Blog  https://wasgs.org/blog/ . If you aren't subscribed, you're missing out. We post at least monthly, and so do other societies and people. Keep up! Conference Keeper Most of our new attendees from outside of t...

Our thanks to Thomas MacEntee at    G E N E A L O G Y    B A R G A I N S    https://genealogybargains.com/                       for this week's blog information. Transcription, a skill you need! At some point, every genealogist needs to transcribe a  document. A one - of - a - kind document only accessible in - person at an archive . Or a document scanned as an imag e  but not converted into usable text. Here is an overview of how quickly and easily transcribe handwritten and difficult - to - read documents.                                                                                                             ...