How to help others is a live question on my mind, because my daughter's mother-in-law is in town, and is interested to learn more about her family. A few years back, I created a tree (in my own tree) for her son Jason, my son-in-law. We'll soon be meeting so she can see what I've found so far. Also, we had a very fun time at the Genealogy Help Desk last Thursday at the Auburn KCLS Library. If you would like to practice helping others and live close to Auburn, Federal Way or Renton,  please write to Outreach@skcgs.org to volunteer.  Libraries in those locations are asking for us to come help!! All Together Or Separate? Common question -- why make someone else's tree part of your own, as I did? Isn't it better to have separate trees? There are advantages either way, in my opinion. The most important factor I think of, is this from Family Tree Magazine,  " keep in mind that the further back in time you start splitting your files, the more likely it is that you’ll ...

Review and Improve the Index of the 1950 United States Census https://www.familysearch.org/en/info/1950-census-community-project This is going to be fun, and we want to be part of it. South King County Genealogical Society has applied to be part of the 1950 US Census Community Project. We hope as many of you as possible register to be part of the fun as well.  Not just fun, but also important It is important because states will be released as they are marked 100% complete, and we would love Washington to be one of the first! Which is why we're hoping that all the other Washington state genealogy societies get involved as well. And, we hope to show up as one of the most active, effective and involved societies in the state.  It is important because this is the first census to be completely indexed. Complete , meaning that every field is being indexed! Can you imagine how powerful search will be, when we can narrow the search by field?  It is important because the 1950 is a...

  Image by  Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke  from  Pixabay   There is no better feeling in genealogy research than breaking through! Especially when the "wall" has been standing for a long time. I've been working on my son-in-law's tree since he gave me the information I needed to begin. The White side of his family was reasonably easy, but the Black side was full of roadblocks, and not just the big one before the 1870 US Census: slavery and the dreaded tick marks. Courtesy https://thenounproject.com/   Fortunately, I'm stubborn! I'm part of the Wikitree US Black Heritage project, and every month they run a contest called the Connecting Challenge . This has been a spur to get those connections made! And I very much wanted to connect Jason to his great-grandmother.  I knew her name, Rosalie Dubuclet , the name of her first husband, Amadee Alexander , and when he died, 1920. I knew roughly when she was born in Louisiana, but who were her parents? Whil...

  I am grateful for many things. In the genealogical research sector of my life, I am especially grateful to be the the recipient of so much wonderful (and much of it FREE) on-line research material! After only availing myself of all of that information for a long while, I began to feel the need to give back to the entities that had given me so much. I have scratched that itch in the past and tried a few different projects, all different, and all quite satisfying. Now that we are staying home more than ever, I have had more time to think about where I would like to contribute my time and talent. Since I can’t currently visit my favorite physical archives right now, maybe I can assist in beefing up some digital ones that would make an impact for myself, my society and my fellow genealogists, after all, what I contributed before was all pre-COVID19. It’s time for me to get going again. Part of SKCGS’s Mission Statement states that we should be “Locating, preserving, and indexing pu...

Experienced researchers often urge us to use timelines but why are they worth the time and labor? Lisa Lisson says :  from https://lisalisson.com/organize-your-genealogy-using-a-timeline/ This post is based on my own experience and advice from more experienced researchers such as Lisa Lisson, Kimberly Powell, Diane Haddad, Gena Philibert-Ortega, Melissa Corn Finlay, Caleb Lee and the authors of the FamilySearch Wiki.  Timeline: Chronological Time and Place A basic timeline for your person will often yield insights before you add any extra information. You can also use maps old and new to find out about how they got from one place to another, and why they might have left the home place and moved elsewhere. Sometimes thinking about the travel will yield more clues, such as immigration documents, train or bus routes, or historic trails. Sometimes you will realize that the records you have found cannot possibly be for *your* person, but most be for another person wi...

Cleaning is work! Why bother? It's your tree, after all, and you can build it any way you want!  That's true, but most of us want to share our research with others and find cousins to collaborate with! And to do that successfully, we need to clear out duplicate people,  extraneous relationships (such as step-parents who didn't raise the children),  alternative facts (such as a vague "abt. 1882") when we have the precise date of birth, immigration, marriage, or death. Having accurate, clear facts and sources make it possible to tell the story of our ancestors better. And if you are working in an online genealogy site, a clean tree will allow their matching algorithms to get you the best hints to more sources, and more cousin  matches . Best Practices Be sure to list each woman with her birth surname; if you do not not know it, leave it blank. If you know only the married name, link her to a spouse with that surname and if you do not know his forename, lea...

In 2030 I'll turn 77, so it seems a good time to think ahead! Are you laying plans for the next decade? Please write about your plans in the comments. Barbara's challenge last week is what prompted this blog. Please read her blog if you haven't done so yet! Past I began asking family for information about their family and ancestors in the late Seventies. There were no private computers back then, and I doubt that the word "genealogy" was in my vocabulary. By the Eighties, I was writing letters to relatives and including a stamped, self-addressed envelope (remember those?) and Family Group Sheets. I still have many of those in my first genealogy notebook. A few lovely family members included money along with their answers! By the Nineties, I was online (sort of) and using genealogy lists such as Roots-L . I joined the South King County Genealogy Society sometime in the Nineties; unsure exactly when. The Society was meeting at the United Methodist churc...