As  we know, early pioneers come west in covered wagons, or even on foot! But did you know that because the intercontinental railroad was a reality soon after the end of the Civil War, [1 ] many also came to the Washington Territory on trains or ships. Fortunately there are records for these pioneers, and although many were single, families also came here and are named in both the 1880 US Census and the many Territorial Census. If you want to submit some pioneers, be sure to start by bookmarking the  Hints and Help page on the Pioneer Pursuit contest section of the Washington State Genealogical Society website. vecteezy.com/free-vector/sailing-ship">Sailing Ship Vectors by Vecteezy You may have some pioneers in your tree   already e ven if they are not ancestors; so you may have most of the research you need to submit one or more pioneers. We would like to document every person  who was here on or before November 11, 1889, whether they were born here or arrived just in time

By Valorie Zimmerman This is not April Fools joke! A few years back, my husband was walking through the forest near our cabin outside Mt. Rainier National Park when he came across a grave for a Civil War soldier. Henry C Allen grave site Astonished, he took us there to honor the soldier and find more about him. Just a hundred feet or so off Highway 410, we saw a beautiful grave site with a headstone of marble, covered with flags and other remembrances. Reading part of his story on signs at the site was fascinating, and Bob created a web page about the site and the man:  http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~bobofwa/family/HCAllen_grave.htm Henry C. Allen, 16 Wis. Inf. 1848-1896 Last year there was a notice in the Washington State Genealogy Blog about a group gathering information about all Civil War soldiers buried in Washington State , so I wrote to report this grave site in case they had not heard of it. They had not, and asked me to find out more about this veteran.