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

Bannner for  https://10millionnames.org/   Lately, American Ancestor's new project has been everywhere in the news, from  Michael Strahan  going to Shankleville on  Good Morning America , NPR's All Things Considered , to the Rev. Al Sharpton show on MSNBC.  Their mission: "10 Million Names is a collaborative project dedicated to recovering the names of the estimated 10 million men, women, and children of African descent who were enslaved in pre- and post-colonial America (specifically, the territory that would become the United States) between the 1500s and 1865." American Ancestors, who is spearheading this project, is also known as the New England Historic Genealogical Society, based on Boston, Massachusetts . FamilySearch says about them,  Founded in 1845, the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) is the oldest such society in the United States. They maintain an Internet database of over 100 million names, including vital records, compiled genealogie

Catoctin Furnace, Frederick County, Maryland   Catoctin Furnace operated in Maryland in the 18th and 19th centuries using both free and enslaved African American labor. Harney et al. analyzed DNA from 27 individuals from an African American cemetery that was excavated 40 years ago during highway construction (see the Perspective by Jackson). The authors found genetic evidence of biological family groups, modern-day African populations with whom they may have shared ancestry, and even possible distant relatives in the United States through identity-by-descent comparisons with consenting customers of 23andMe. This study demonstrates that when studied responsibly with input from stakeholders, long-buried DNA can be used to uncover obfuscated or forgotten histories of marginalized individuals.  Corinne Simonti wrote the above abstract of the study by Harney et al. which can be seen at  https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ade4995 .  "Despite the hardship evident in the remains,

  I have found a new "favorite" place for researching--the Digital Public Library of America  Digital Public Library of America (dp.la) .  It isn't a new place, its charter was established in 2012, but it is new to me and I am enjoying the different ways to explore the information available. "The Digital Public Library of America amplifies the value of libraries and cultural organizations as Americans’ most trusted sources of shared knowledge. We do this by collaborating with partners to accelerate innovative tools and ideas that empower and equip libraries to make information more accessible. "We work with a national network of partners to: Make millions of materials from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions across the country available to all in a one-stop discovery experience. Provide a library-controlled marketplace and platform for libraries to purchase, organize, and deliver ebooks and other e-content to their patrons. Convene libr

It's a blustery Autumn day as you wait with your friends for the morning school bus. You've tried to give extra care to your appearance today and your hair is just not at its best. Maybe you should have gotten a haircut last week--or maybe you shouldn't have gotten a haircut last week. On top of that, acne has erupted on your face and your favorite shirt didn't make it through the wash this week.  Of course. . . It's School Picture Day! Funny that decades later I remember that Freshman year picture day so well.  My only consolation was that most of us had similar experiences and a couple of months after the yearbook came out, no one remembered what you looked like the previous year anyway.   Wouldn't you love to find your parents or grandparents in a record of their school years? Who knew that school yearbooks would become another valuable resource for genealogical research? Use yearbooks:  to prove family relationships  to establish time and location  show pers

Study Group, courtesy of OpenClipart   Desperation drove me to my first study group at university. A fellow student invited me, and the group swapped ideas about how to remember the masses of information we were given in an early-morning class. It really helped all of us, I think, and I was grateful.  South King County Genealogical Society incorporated as "educational in character and devoted exclusively to furthering genealogical research and interest in family and local history." We offer lots of choices, and discuss other educational opportunities here in the blog. See Barbara Mattoon's series on "Your Genealogy Education Plan, Parts One and Two , "  along with many other discussions of podcasts, seminars, videos, books, conferences.  Copyright 2016 Blaine T. Bettinger Debbie Parker Wayne When some of us found Blaine Bettinger and Debbie Parker Wayne's book Genetic Genealogy in Practice and began discussing it in our Genetic Genealogy/DNA group , the i

City Vectors by Vecteezy How are city directories useful to us researchers? Aren't they just boring lines with a few names and sometimes, addresses?  They can be so much more, but even just the name and address, and sometimes job description and place of employment is by *year* and so if you have two people of the same name, you can follow them annually, and usually sort them out once you cross-check that data with census and other records. And don't forget to search for maps of the time so you can correlate the addresses to the house or apartment, and perhaps note the place of employment as well. Sanborn maps are particularly wonderful for this since it shows the layout of the house on the lot, and indicates how large it was, and how it was constructed.  However, noting just the bare minimum information misses the real value of city directories. After you gather all the information and write your citation, scan up and down the page, whether it is organized by address or alphab