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.blogs...

The Blackwell's Kinfolk Family Tree highlights two prominent members. Arthur Ashe Jr.'s name is in gold, right. Family genealogist Thelma Short Doswell is highlighted in yellow, left .  Photo from Library of Congress, blog September 28, 2023 Have you checked out "our" library recently? By "our" library, I don't mean the library branch in your neighborhood, although it is definitely a place that should be very familiar to you. I mean the library that belongs to all of us--the Library of Congress.   At our fingertips we have the ability to  search millions of items in many formats and languages; to explore a growing treasury of digitized materials .  This is one of the most valuable resources available for enhancing our knowledge and understanding of the lives of our ancestors.  It's very easy to remember the URL--loc.gov.    Library of Congress Blogs | Blogs from the Library of Congress (loc.gov) And the collections and exhibits are constantly expa...

 In a recent email conversation with a new member, I was reminded of the wealth of information and assistance that is available to genealogists of all levels of experience; if we only knew where to look.  And, with the usual websites constantly adding new material, even the most veteran researcher may miss some information. Social media such as Facebook and Twitter help spread new discoveries as well respected leaders post information.  Blogs and newsletters are a great source as well.   This weekly newsletter arrives in my inbox every Saturday morning.  Among its regular features are updates from their favorite bloggers and "What's New at the Big 4", a review of Ancestry, My Heritage, FamilySearch and Find My Past.   This is just one example of what is available.   My Heritage Recently I received an email from the MyHeritage Knowledge Base suggesting a video I might watch, " How to Use the 4 Family Tree Views on MyHeritage".  Inter...