Revisit Old Research   White Goose Flying - Royalty free from pickpic.com Why Rake Up Old Research?  There are lots of reasons to revisit old research. Perhaps: New DNA match New record  Questions from connections Or maybe questions you ask yourself based on new education, more experience and newly-found connections. No matter the reason, I have found that revisiting is more useful than a "do over. " We all learn as we gain experience, both in methodology and as we deepen our understanding of our families and their stories, migrations, and the places where they lived.  DNA Tools Give a Reason for a Fresh Look Recently I asked my cousin to generate a DNA cluster report for my McBee uncle, because he is one generation closer to our ancestors than any of us cousins are. If you have never seen an autocluster, see one here:  https://education.myheritage.com/article/autoclusters-for-dna-matches/ . It is fun to see the report take shape, and the groups are very useful....

  In Memory of Lauren Hubbard Richardson 1961-2023 President of South King County Genealogical Society June 2004 - May 2005 Her family posted an obituary : Lauren Hubbard Richardson, 62, of Seneca, SC passed away on Sunday, November 12, 2023 surrounded by her family. She was born in Seneca and has lived throughout the United States with her family, as far as Anchorage, Alaska. Yet she always managed to return home to South Carolina. Lauren served as President and CEO of Death Valley Towing for the past 6 years. Her true passion was serving her community and helping people through difficult times. She served as Executive Director for Our Daily Rest in Seneca for 7 years and continued to serve on the Board of Directors until her passing. She loved giving back to the community through her church, St. Mark UMC, and her work. She loved music, having served in many church choirs throughout her life, and instilled the same love of music into her children. She enjoyed the creativ...

  If this has not happened in your research yet, it will! I came across a name in a half-brother's obituary: Upton McBee. I'd been avoiding looking at this half-brother because the father is unknown, and I thought the research would be messy . But I waded in anyway because Hamiltons keep popping into my McBee families, and here was another.  Part of the obituary wouldn't fit in the screenshot. Here is the entire text:  GEORGE W. HAMILTON, one of our oldest and most highly respected citizens, died at the home of his son, George, Saturday morning January 21, 1928, after a comparatively short illness. He was born in Pleasanton, Iowa, January 9, 1853, and was 75 years and 12 days old at the time of his passing.  On December 31, 1874, he was united in marriage to Miss Lilly Jane Henderson. To this union nine children were born, of whom two sons and one daughter prceded the father to the Great Beyond. The faithful wife preceded him in death some 15 years ago.  He was ...

Image by orchidart on Freepik From 1988 to 2000, I was the Administrative Assistant at the Southeast Seattle Senior Center. In the early years, sometime around 1990, the seniors were offered a beginning genealogy class, taught by Sarah Little.  Sarah came once a month to teach the class and I would often help her make handout copies on our copy machine. As an employee, I was busy in my office and could not take the class; I wasn't very interested in taking a class anyway because my mother's cousin had done our family history back in 1960. He had traced us back to an ancestor born about 1800 in Vermont; it was all done, no need to do anything more. Ha! In early 2001 my cousins and I decided we should update that 1960, seven-page history and I offered to type it up once we added our spouses, children and grandchildren. In the meantime online, I found a 1634 Boston immigrant Stowe family with a descendent born in 1799 New Hampshire, same name as my 1800 Vermont ancestor. I was hoo...

Early in our virtual meeting experiences of 2020 we began attracting visitors from around Washington State as well as other parts of the United States.  Among our visitors was Ron Sailer, a neighbor from the Sno-Isle Genealogical Society in Lynnwood, just north of Seattle. Ron shared information that his great grandfather was buried in the pioneer cemetery here in Auburn and gave us information regarding research that had been done. http://www.auburnpioneercemetery.net/biographies/hopkins.php#.YA9Id-hKiUl .  In February, 2021, we did a blog about the research that had been done, quite extensively, and that more newspaper articles had become available thus showing the progress of research possibilities. https://skcgs.blogspot.com/2021/02/newspaper-research-progress.html A few months ago MaryLynn made contact with Ron again when she found a common link at WikiTree.  Small world! Valorie received The StillyGen newsletter [1] in early January 2023, and read with shock: ...

  2021 SKCGS in Review And What's Coming in 2022? At this time of year, as individuals we are reminded to reflect on our past year and make plans for the new year.  This is a good strategy for continued growth in every aspect of our lives. It is also a good strategy for organizations, presenting a fresh, dynamic approach to the new year.  South King County Genealogical Society is striving to maintain our purpose " educational in character and devoted exclusively to furthering genealogical research and interest in family and local history.” SKCGS has operated in the "virtual" world for nearly two years with tremendous growth in the organization in general and individuals specifically.  The efforts of society members who have contributed to this success may not have been obvious to people in the general public so we present here brief reviews and plans for the future. Education Committee The team is composed of the Director of Education Barbara Mattoon, Lola Weber, and...

  SUICE, SOOS, OR SUISE CREEK?   EARLY IMMIGRANTS   AND THEIR STORIES The Cemetery In 1988, Louise (Melin) Merritt began gathering records of those buried in the Suise Creek Cemetery in preparation for publication of an Obituary Book in cooperation with the South King County Genealogical Society. “The cemetery was originally located above Suise Creek on SE 240th” [ 1 ] “In 1903, bodies were moved by horse and wagon from the old to the new burial grounds . . ..” located at SE 256th and 132nd Ave SE. [ 2 ] “A few years later some sort of a dispute arose between the Finns and the other Scandinavians, and henceforth most of the Swedes and Norwegians took their business elsewhere. They are predominately buried in the old Meridian Cemetery or the Hillcrest Cemetery in Kent, Washington” [ 3 ] Finnish Immigrants As the project progressed, Mrs. Merritt decided to compile a his...