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...

  Tucked away on the second floor of this unimposing building at 730 S 225 th Street in downtown Des Moines, WA,   is a treasure trove of South King County History. Historical Background It is believed that the Duwamish and Muckleshoot Native American peoples came to the present location of Des Moines to dig clams and spear salmon for their winter food supply, but that they did not have permanent camps at this location.  Captain George Vancouver passed by on May 26, 1792.  The next recorded discovery was made by explorers for the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1824. [1]  The Wilkes Expedition charted the coastline in the vicinity of the present site of Des Moines May 18, 1841. [2] The First Settlers John Moore probably arrived in the present location of Des Moines late in 1863, however, he failed to file for his Homestead Patent five years later. By mid-1872, he had filed and received his Patent.  It is thought that he was born about 1831 in Ireland and...

Greetings! This is my first blog post as President of the South King County Genealogical Society. I'm so honored that the Members entrusted this office to me. But let me share a secret with you: I made up my own job. I did the same with my previous job with SKCGS, as Vice President and before that, leading the new Publicity team.  Make Your Own Job As I've aged, I adopted this tactic more and more, and I will tell you, it's great! For one thing, you know yourself better than anyone else does, and so when you create your own job description, it fits you well. It is a wonderful way to be effective and collaborate with others who share your values and enthusiasms. Most of all, you can choose to do the things that make you happy, and work with those who are happy in their work as well. It is the best of all possible worlds. Freedom and Happiness When I read our SKCGS  Bylaws and Standing Rules , I saw in those job descriptions a lot of latitude to fill the some of the needs of...

Our thanks to Thomas MacEntee at    G E N E A L O G Y    B A R G A I N S    https://genealogybargains.com/                       for this week's blog information. Transcription, a skill you need! At some point, every genealogist needs to transcribe a  document. A one - of - a - kind document only accessible in - person at an archive . Or a document scanned as an imag e  but not converted into usable text. Here is an overview of how quickly and easily transcribe handwritten and difficult - to - read documents.                                                                                                             ...

"All work and no play make Jack a dull boy." I don't mean the technical volumes we rely on to keep us current in our genealogical craft. I mean works of fiction that take us to another time or another world. Some may be biographical or historic fiction; others may be cleverly written mysteries. I may be generalizing too much but I think that genealogists enjoy mysteries; why else do we seek answers for our own family history? Historical fiction and mysteries A relatively new twist in the mystery genre is the genealogist as a main character. Several authors are writing series of books with these story lines. Nathan Dylan Goodwin My introduction to this genre was a few years ago when, as SKCGS newsletter editor, I was offered a complimentary copy of Nathan Dylan Goodwin's   The America Ground .  Since it was his third book, I thought it would be a good idea to read his first two books as well.  I was hooked not only on his books but similar books by other authors. Mort...

Do you have a relative’s Dog Tags in your possession? Can you read the story they tell? Four U.S. Army Dog Tag types were issued during World War II. This set belonged to my father Alex Hacker. They were found in the house of his mother Maude Mayton Hacker in Harriman, TN after she died, by Cousin Sandra “Cookie” Giles Pride. Cookie gave them to me, Alex’s daughter Alexis. Originally this second iteration of WWII U.S. Army tags carried this information: The soldier’s name Soldier’s service/serial number Soldier’s emergency contact information, usually next of kin’s name Street Address  City and state 1941 Heralded New Medical Technology & a Dog Tag Update In November of 1941, tags began including medical information. The set shown above is of this time frame. November 1941 revision tags added space after the service number to include (a) the year of the wearer’s tetanus shot plus (b) their blood type. In 2021, it’s hard for us to appreciate how innovative the inclusion of medic...

diagram from http://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/sub_landing/files/10_4-Intro-to-triangulation-MEF_0.pdf From Known to Unknown Perhaps you think of geometry when you hear the word triangulation, because "triangulation is the process of determining the location of a point by forming triangles to the point from known points".   [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangulation ].  Data Triangulation Data scientists use the triangulation to describe using data from multiple unrelated sources in a single study, adding reliability to the findings. Is this beginning to sound familiar? We are often urged to search for multiple sources in order to reliably report precise dates, places and relationships in our research. Even within a data source such as a family Bible record of births, deaths, and marriages, if it is evident that one person noted most of the data on a page, it is less reliable than if the data was evidently recorded by many people close to the time of the events...