We are thrilled to announce that the King County Library System is collaborating with the South King County Genealogical Society to present professional genealogist Winona Laird for a series of programs to help you along on your genealogical journey.  The series begins this Wednesday evening at 7 Pacific. Register on the KCLS website ; space is limited. You will be emailed a link no later than 24 hours before the program start time. If you do not see an email, check your Junk or Spam folder. July 12:  Starting your Genealogy Journey August 16: Vital Records, Birth, Marriage, Death and Adoption September 13: Searching the U.S. Population Census Records October 18: Supplemental Census Records November 15: Using Timelines in your Genealogy December 20: Research Techniques   Register in advance; space is limited

  Look around you, it's summer and flowers are blooming everywhere.  Some of those flowers have some fascinating stories. From Wyoming The other day I was preparing a presentation for Understanding Migration.  We, as genealogists, think of Migration as our ancestors, after arriving from their homeland in search of a new life, crossing the country from the East coast to areas across our country.  In my search I had found migrating animals and plants, not exactly what I was looking for; I was thinking more like wagon trains. Then a couple days later I was on a virtual meeting with members of the South King County Genealogy Society when we were asked to turn in stories of flowers for the Societies Blog. Of course, flowers , just read about plant migration in my research for the presentation.  “I have a Migrating Rose” Well, here’s the story.  We lived in Casper, Wyoming in 1961. My husband, Norv, worked for Supreme Bakers and delivered crackers and co...

  New Eclectic History of United States, 1890 Mary Elsie Thalheimer Eleanor Carothers Wilson--North Carolina I am very proud to count a woman of singular energy of mind and courage, Eleanor Carothers Wilson of Steele Creek, Mecklenburg Co., North Carolina as my 5th great grandmother. A native of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, she was the wife of Robert “Old Robin” Wilson, and they moved their growing family to North Carolina about 1760. By the time of the American Revolution, this whole family was devoted to securing our liberty, with 7 of their 11 sons serving in various campaigns of the war. Two had earlier been captured at Charleston and later paroled, including my ancestor, Robert, Jr., and later Robert, Sr. and another son, carrying supplies to General Sumter at Camden, South Carolina, were also captured. While they were still in British hands, Cornwallis moved into the Charlotte area to forage and plunder the surrounding farms, taking control of the Wilson’s farm a...

Who Does Your DNA Think You Are? Save the Date! And get involved with the preparations! We've got a tremendous seminar coming up next June and the Seminar Committee members, headed by Winona Laird, are already working hard to make this a success.  Valorie Zimmerman is in charge of publicity.  Last May we mailed "Save the Date" postcards to nearly 100 genealogy societies, historical societies and other organizations. Linda Blais is in charge of the Silent Auction and Raffle.  She has a list of items she plans to put in baskets and bundles for either the auction or raffle.  You may have one of the items you would be happy to donate or procure.  Linda would love to hear from you. The flyer above is available on our website  skcgs.org   Please download it, print a few copies to hand out or email it to friends.    The seminar is eight months away but it will go quickly.   Between now and next June there will ...

By  Winona Laird Family History isn’t about just gathering names and dates of our ancestors.  It’s about learning about our ancestors, where they lived, why did they live in that certain area was it because of their occupations.  Maybe it was because family before them lived in the area. What ever the answers are, research your family member or members for their story. Good stories don't just happen.  You have to find the Story and tell it. I became interested in family history when I was 11 years old in a church class. We had to gather the information about ourselves and our parents and grandparents. We also had to have our parents and grandparents write a short life story about themselves. My mother and father wrote their story and just my grandmother my mother's mother side wrote her story for me. The stories were only about a page long. Years later when my grandmother passed away my aunt found a box with notes that my grandmother had written about different ...