It is the time of year when we think about setting goals for the New Year.   How many timeshave we resolved to lose weight, go to the gym regularly, call Mom every week, or any number of other things.   I always have a goal of reading 50 books a year.   Some years I do better than others.   This year looks like it will be about 31 or 32.   Not too bad, but I could do better.   I listed 19 things that I wanted to accomplish in 2019, and I must admit that I did not do very well.   As I reflect on this performance, or lack of same, I have resolved to take a different approach in 2020.   After setting my overall goals for 2020, I am going to break them into monthly goals and do a monthly review, so that I do not get so hopelessly behind that I just give up. I’m particularly thinking about my genealogy goals for 2020.   Many of you know that I want to become a Certified Genealogist.   Before the end of 2020, I will “go on the ...

South King County Genealogical Society September Happenings Welcome back to a new program year! The Society has been so busy adopting new Bylaws and Standing Rules this summer that it does not feel as though we have been away. I am excited to begin working with the new governance structure developed by our hard-working Bylaws Committee. Dorothy Pretare, Marilyn Schunke, and Valorie Zimmerman have devoted countless hours during the past eleven months to bring the structure of our Society up-to-date. Please say “thank you” to each one of them when you see them. The Standing Rules were adopted at a Special Meeting of the Board of Directors, Monday, August 19. The President’s recommendations to fill the four Directors of Standing Committees were approved by the Board, and we now have a complete slate of Directors. Thank you to those who have agreed to serve: Education – Janet Camarata, Publicity – Valorie Zimmerman, Outreach – Rich Thayer, and Resource Management – Mari...

                     August Society News and Activities It has not been a “lazy” summer for hard-working Society volunteers.  At a Special Membership Meeting, July 13, at the Black Diamond Library, the Bylaws Committee presented proposed new Bylaws for the Society.  Over the past year, the Bylaws Committee ably led by Dorothy Pretare with Marilyn Schunke and Valorie Zimmerman devoted countless hours of study and thought into developing a completely new governing document for our Society.  The members present adopted them after an active question and discussion period.   The next step is the adoption of Standing Rules at the Board Retreat on August 24th.  The proposed new structure will require many new volunteers to distribute the work required to achieve our mission of furthering genealogical research and promoting interest in family and local history.  Please say yes when I call you to reque...

1 While unofficially marking the start of summer, Memorial Day is a national holiday devoted to honoring American war dead in all conflicts.  Many of us will remember and honor other loved ones.  What could be a more important day for genealogists? I had the privilege of visiting Arlington National Cemetery last weekend.  Nearly 5000 people are expected to visit on Memorial Day.   American flags will decorate the graves and niches of the 400,000 fallen heroes and their family members resting there.  Local ceremonies will be held on Monday at Tahoma National Cemetery at 1 pm, at Renton Memorial Park at 1 pm, and at the Auburn Veteran’s Memorial at 11 am. The Kent Historical Society will be open 12:00 – 4:00 pm Monday for a special observance of Memorial Day. ------------------------ Reminder:  Military records on My Heritage.com and Fold 3 are free to research today. I am pleased to announce that MaryLynn Strickland has accepted the posi...

While you are enjoying the beautiful May flowers, take some time to advance your genealogy skills and research. The Family Tree Maker Users Group will meet on Saturday, May 4 , from 10:15 – 11:45 at the Auburn Public Library.  Contact Winona Laird, education@skcgs.org or Dave Liesse, at ftm-group@skcgs.org for more information. The excellent attendance at the April General Meeting featuring a program on DNA shows that there is a lot of interest among our members in this topic.  To learn more, consider attending the Genetic Genealogy/DNA Interest Group on Monday, May 13 , from 1:00 – 3:00 pm at WAPI, 28815 Pacific Highway South, Suite 7A, Federal Way .  The topic is “GEDmatch Analysis: One-to-One and One-to-Many DNA Comparison Tools”. For more information go to the GG/DNA tab under Interest Groups at skcgs.org. Have you ever done research with a group of genie friends?  It’s fun! Try it at the Research Group, Friday, May 17 , from 1 – 3 pm at the Kent Family...

By Barbara Mattoon Longer, lighter days beckon us outside to enjoy spring flowers, sunshine and warm breezes, but there are still many opportunities to advance our genealogy knowledge and practice.  March 31 is World Backup Day.  One small accident or failure could destroy all your important stuff, including your genealogy research.  Genealogy pundits recommend backing up three ways.  There is plenty of information online on how to do it. Watch for Valorie Zimmerman’s April 1 blog post titled Civil War Veteran Found in the Woods.  Is it an April Fools’ joke? The Board of Directors will meet Tuesday, April 2, at the Valley Regional Fire Authority, 1101 D St. NE, Auburn, at 7:00 pm.  It will be preceded by  a 2020 Seminar Committee meeting at 6:00 pm.  All members are encouraged to attend both meetings.  There are several open committee assignments for the seminar. Saturday, April 6, Winona Laird will present Family Tree Maker’s new ...

By Barbara Mattoon The Society offers many opportunities to learn and develop genealogy skills in both large and small groups. We endeavor to offer activities at times and locations that will allow the largest number of members to participate.  March will  kick-off with the F amily T ree M aker U sers G roup meeting on Saturday March 2, at the Auburn Library from 10:15 – 11:45.  Winona Laird will teach us how to use Error Reports in FTM.  Please RSVP to Dave Liesse at ftm-group@skcgs.org as soon as you know you can attend.  We are outgrowing our space at the Auburn Library and may have to find an alternate location.  If that happens, we want to be able to let you know where to find us. ANNOUNCEMENT                          ANNOUNCEMENT                       ANNOUNCEMENT   Our long-awaited DNA Special Interest Group...

By Valorie Zimmerman 2018 was a great year for South King County Genealogical Society, and we anticipate 2019 will be even better. We began the year by launching our new website at http://skcgs.org . Our mail list at Rootsweb was down for awhile, but is back. Our Seminar was tremendous, and we're planning another for 2020. We have had some great speakers at our regular meetings, we've placed for our formerly traveling library at the Kent Family History Center , have renewed our contract with the King County Library System to present our book collection to south King County at the Auburn Library , and have many thriving special interest groups. We had a very successful Intermediate Genealogy class following our 2018 meetings, taught by Winona Baird. Winona also began offering our Research Workshops in 2018. Our Board of Directors meets monthly at the Auburn Fire Station; all meetings are open to SKCGS members. Volunteers staff Genealogy Help tables monthly at three so...

By  Barbara Mattoon Dave Liesse presented “Lesser Known Features of Family Tree Maker” at the Family Tree Maker Users Group November 3.  It was a fast paced, fact-filled presentation.  Dave has agreed to write it as a blog post to be published December 17, 2018. The Board of Directors held its regular meeting November 6.  In addition to regular business we held a round-robin discussion on how each of us could personally recruit and retain members.  Everyone made a commitment to an action that they would personally take.  You will notice that the loop is now on our web page.  Those who staff Library Help Desks committed to write personal notes to those they helped, and the President committed to write personal notes to guests attending the general meeting.  Both of these actions have been effective. Publicity Chair, Cheri Sayer and President Barbara Mattoon attended a Media Strategy Workshop presented by SoCo Culture on November 14.  T...

By Barbara Mattoon To communicate with our members more frequently than a quarterly newsletter, the Board of Directors has decided to initiate a weekly blog post.  The blog will contain: Society news and announcements as well as current news items of interest to genealogists, Book reviews, interviews, suggestions for research, Articles about local locations of interest to those studying family history and Stories from our members and other Washington State Societies.   Most of you have already learned the benefits of belonging to a local society (or more than one).   However, I am sure that when you talk with others about the Society, they say “Why would I want to join the South King County Genealogical Society?   My family is not from this area”.   Here are a few things you could share to convince them to join: One of the most important reasons to join is to draw on the knowledge of a group of experienced genealogists.    I...