Courtesy Wikimedia Commons In this season of celebration, I would like to celebrate piggy-back riding. We all do it, whether we know it or not! Every time we use a genealogy website with "hints," those hints are based on the work that other researchers have done, connecting images and records to families and individuals. Search algorithms are written by programmers who may know nothing about quality genealogical research, but do know how to code search parameters that will yield good results for us.  The image of riding piggy-back, or giving others a ride, perhaps came so strongly to mind this week, because out of the blue, I got an email from a researcher, Antoinette, who found one of the profiles I worked on years ago, in the family of my son-in-law Jason. His 2nd-great-grandmother, Martha Caroline Carter, was born in February 1856 in Wayne County, Missouri, and died after 1910 probably in Colorado.  The email revealed that Antoinette is descended from Martha's sister A

Winona Hahn Laird, SKCGS Volunteer of the Year Winona Hahn Laird is our Volunteer of the Year 2023. The Washington State Genealogical Society asks each member society to select one volunteer or team to honor, and in 2023 Winona was chosen unanimously by the South King County Genealogical Society Board.  ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ How it Started Winona has been doing genealogy for over 60 years.  She started as a young girl in a church class. One of the projects was to get her mother, father, and grandparents to write a one-page story of their lives and they all wrote their stories.  Some years later, after Winona’s grandmother had passed, the family found reams of paper among her possessions which contained notes and stories she had written. Winona used this information to write and publish a book about her grandmother,  "Have You Ever Lived in a Mining Town;" see on Amazon or her website store . Winona has researched most of her family lines back to the 16th and 17th centuries.  Marri

  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 creativity of sewing,

The Blackwell's Kinfolk Family Tree highlights two prominent members. Arthur Ashe Jr.'s name is in gold, right. Family genealogist Thelma Short Doswell is highlighted in yellow, left .  Photo from Library of Congress, blog September 28, 2023 Have you checked out "our" library recently? By "our" library, I don't mean the library branch in your neighborhood, although it is definitely a place that should be very familiar to you. I mean the library that belongs to all of us--the Library of Congress.   At our fingertips we have the ability to  search millions of items in many formats and languages; to explore a growing treasury of digitized materials .  This is one of the most valuable resources available for enhancing our knowledge and understanding of the lives of our ancestors.  It's very easy to remember the URL--loc.gov.    Library of Congress Blogs | Blogs from the Library of Congress (loc.gov) And the collections and exhibits are constantly expandi

  2023: Drawing to a Close Courtesy Picryl.com As we enter the holiday season, it felt like a good time to look back at the year.   Year of Collaboration In January, I said that for me, it would be the year of collaboration . In so many ways, it has turned out that way, both on a genealogy society level, personally and in my genealogy work.  Our society collaborated with Eastside Genealogical Society to sponsor two speakers, one ( Dr. Leah Larkin ) presented at one of their evening meetings, and one ( Angela Packer McGhie, CG ) will present at our general meeting in January. Both the Washington State Genealogical Society  and the Washington Presidents Council exist to promote and support local societies and rely on collaboration.  SKCGS is a member of the National Genealogical Society , which, since it merged with the Federation of Genealogical Societies a few years back recognized "the need to coordinate projects so societies, libraries, and archives would not duplicate the work

https://www.familysearch.org/en/centers/about Last week, we shared some reasons for gratitude. As I write, tomorrow, a blessing is offered to all SKCGS Members: the chance to come to our local FamilySearch Center with Winona Laird as our host and guide. We'll have the place all to ourselves. She is able to schedule this treat about ten times every year. Look for the announcement for 19 January 2024, and RSVP! Why is this so special? First, we have access in the FSC to almost all the "locked" files found in the FamilySearch Catalog .  The catalog is where you will find records from countries around the world, US states, counties and many other categories of records as well. Most are open to all, 24 hours a day, from anywhere, but some can only be used in FamilySearch Centers. There are a few to be used only in Salt Lake at the main FamilySearch Library .  The catalog is your way into the approximately 80% of the  records in FamilySearch which are not every-name searchable

  Giving Thanks Those Who Served Ted Cowan 1926-2016 As I write, it is Veteran's Day, and also my mother's birthday. If she were alive, she would be 95. I'm thankful for her time on Earth, and that of my father, who served as a medic in the Pacific, WWII. I recently placed this photo of him at as a young recruit in the Veterans Legacy Memorial . Search for your ancestor, friend or relative here:  vlm.cem.va.gov/search .  Those Who Gave Their All John Franklin Zimmerman Jr 1908-1943 Th e database does not cover those buried overseas, such as my husband's uncle Frank, killed in action in Italy, and buried in the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, Nettuno, Italy. He had worked in the Post Office in California during the war, and when killed was Staff Sergeant of the Combat Organization: 2nd Army Post Office. He was killed the 7th of October 1943 and was awarded the Purple Heart.  https://www.abmc.gov / <- Search for overseas burials. Military Service Members I'm gratefu