Writing Your Family History
03/11/2006 - Meeting Recap
Thank you to those who were able to attend the Alumni Meeting Saturday, March 11, 2006 at the Redmond Regional Library. The turn out was phenomenal. Everyone enjoyed our guest speaker, Waverly Fitzgerald, who will be teaching the June UW Extension Workshop on “Writing Your Family History.” Waverly is one of our own, a graduate of the 1996 program. For those of you who were unable to attend, you missed an extremely interesting lecture on writing your family history.
Some of the areas Waverly discussed were determining your audience and writing for that audience as well as deciding on the structure of your project. This is just a taste of Waverly’s lecture. She gave us more tips, tricks, and devices than can be listed here. It was a wonderful lecture.
Waverly also recommended the following books for us to read with an eye toward how the authors structured them and how they made them come to life.
1) The Low Road: A Scottish Family Memoir by Valerie Miner.
2) Holy Land by D.J. Waldie
3) Prairie Reunion by Barbara J. Scott
We also discussed the very short time sequence that the UW Extension has given to the Writing Your Family History Workshop. They appear not to have any faith in the interest in such a workshop, but by constraining the time for the workshop they have made it even more difficult to attend and feel you are getting your money’s worth. Things can only change if we make our opinions know. We had a room full of people who were interested in this workshop. Support the things that matter to us all. Write Tony English and offer constructive criticism regarding this workshop. Tony English’s email address is tenglish@EXTN.washington.edu.
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Your Family History Published by the Allen County Public Library:
A very special thank you to Eleanor Widdice for bringing her beautiful bound family history produced by the Allen County Library for us to see. I went to their website this morning but it contained no information about that program, so I called them for the details.
You may send a hard copy to the library or a CD Rom with your project in Pdf format. It takes twelve weeks to produce the bound family history. The library makes a copy of the history to retain while the original is sent to the Heckman Bindery. It takes the bindery eight weeks to bind your document. One bound copy is sent to you free of charge and the library keeps one copy.
If you want extra copies you must order them at the time you submit your family history. The cost is $12.50 each.
Here is the address for sending your finished product:
Allen County Public Library
Genealogy Department
Attn: Steve Myers
200 East Berry Street
Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270
Phone: (260) 421-1200
Their only tip is that you include a title page with your name and address. The Library said they would love to have all our family histories submitted to them.
Eleanor thank you so much for sharing this with the association.
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Leslie Lynam also brought her project titled “A Smile To Treasure: The Story of Carl Bull” She had it bound and published by (ISBN 0-9767391-0-0 LOC 2004096183) who came and spoke to our class the last quarter.
I hope you got to see it, as it was a beautifully done family history.
Thank you Leslie.
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Andrea has uploaded the templates for the nametags to the www.gfhalumni.com website. There are two templates. One is a word document and can be found here. The other is a Pdf file that you can print out and write you name and year in with a marker rather than type in a word document. It can be found here.
One of our volunteers, Jan Campbell-Stout will bring some plastic holders to the next meeting. If you are unable to find them we will have a limited number available.
Glad you liked them - Enjoy!
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Congratulations to two of our association members who have recently been published.
Mary Roddy (Class of 2005), Seattle Genealogical Society, Bulletin Autumn 2005, Volume 55, No. 1, pp 5-23. Article: "The Ahern Family of Co. Cork: A Journey Across the Atlantic - and Beyond."
Tim Kane, (Class of 2005)
Irish Genealogical Society International (IGSI) magazine, The Septs, January 2006, pgs. 13-15. Article: "Other Roads Home: Census Substitutes in Irish Genealogical Research"
If you have recently been published please let us know so that we may acknowledge you on the Alumni Association website. You are an inspiration to us all.
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Local Genealogical Seminars
If your organization has a seminar it would like to announce please send it to Al Showalter for inclusion in the meetings.
----
SGS PROGRAM MEETING
Monday, 8 May 2006
At the SGS Library
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
"Research Using Old Photographs" Speaker: Marilyn Rose.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~waseags/program.html
----
May 13, 2006, (Saturday), 8:15 AM - 4:00 PM: Christine Rose , nationally known speaker and writer, at the South Whidbey Island Genealogical Society. Topics:
* Genealogical Proof Standard: Building a Solid Case
* Solving the Problem in 25 Hours or Less
* Transcribing and Abstracting: The Technique and Legalese
* Avoid the Crooked Path! Genealogical Problem Solving
http://www.rootsweb.com/~wabihs/
----
Fisk Genealogical Library
http://www.fiskelibrary.org/classes.htm
19 April
Doing Genealogy in Maine: Take a trip "Down East." Survey the genealogy landscape from Penobscot Bay to the Ketadhin Massif; from Prig, DeMonts & Popham to Statehood in 1820; from Abenaki Genealogy to Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness.
26 April
Maritime Records at NARA Seattle: John Fitzgerald is the archivist at National Archives Pacific Alaska Region who is most knowledgeable about the maritime records held at Sand Point. Did one of your ancestors go to sea? Do you need to search logbooks or wreck reports?
3 May
Baptist Records: The history of Baptists in America and review of important archives for Baptist research.
Monday,
8 May 2006
Tour of Seattle School District Archives is on a MONDAY--space is limited. You must pre-register with Karl Kumm k.kumm@comcast.net or with desk at Fiske. If you want to look at transcripts of grades, you will need to bring proof of death. Come look at high school yearbooks, press clippings, photos of teachers, students, buildings and more.
17 May
Tracking Hessian: History and genealogical resources to help in your search.
24 May
How to get the most out of IGI and Ancestry: This class will help you use the IGI to access the originals of church records, create a decadency for all the immigrants of your surname and study the migration patterns found in the Ancestral File to pinpoint places to search records for your ancestors. ~Betty Kaye Anderson.
31 May
Research in Canadian Maritime Provinces: History of the Maritime Provinces, how that history created records, and how to move our research forward using the internet.
7 June
Names Have Families Too: Ida McCormick will take a linguistic approach to name changes and variants. Half the presentation will cover surname changes, the other half nicknames and given names. At the intersection of genealogy and linguistics, she promises "to try not to be too technical, but practical."
14 June
Iowa Research: The class will help you get the kernel of genealogical truth out of a pile of Iowa cornhusks.
----
NARA
Date: First Thursday Daytime Workshops: Time:
May 4 Beginning Computer Genealogy 1:30 PM to 4:00 PM
June 1 Citing and Recording Sources 1:30 PM to 4:00 PM
Date: Second Saturday Workshops: Time:
May 13 Using Maritime and Customs Records at NARA Pacific Alaska Region (Seattle) 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM
May 13 Introduction to Immigration and Naturalization Records1:30 PM to 4:00 PM
June 10 Using the Chinese Exclusion Act Case Files 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM
June 10 Pacific Northwest Native American Records 1:30 PM to 4:00 PM
July 8 Beginning Genealogy 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM
July 8 Beginning Computer Genealogy 1:30 PM to 4:00 PM
Date: "Brick Wall" Workshops (FREE) Time:
Thursday, May 11 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM
Thursday, June 8 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM
Thursday, July 13 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Put Your G&FH Project Online:
Having gotten inspiration from Susan Berghan, the Alumni Association is working to create an area where the memberships’ projects are available online.
An example of how we envision the page can be found at
Leaves From Our Family Trees. There is no access to this page from the alumni site and there will not be until it is ready for publication. Right now it is a dummy site, to determine feedback on readability, form, navigation, links, etc.
Those members whose projects were known are listed (just as examples). The links to the papers are not active. All other links are active.
If you already have your paper online or have created a website for your family history, a link can be posted, as was done with Susan and Andrea.
We have decided to post the projects as PDF files (so much more efficient. than writing all that code). If you do not have the ability to create a PDF file then you may email your project to Linda Palmer,
as a word document and she will create the PDF file.
Try all the links, look the planned site over and let us know what you think. Feedback on readability, form, navigation, links, etc. should be sent to Linda Palmer. Pages read differently in different browsers, so if you have a comment please include what browser was used.
(Example: IE4.0)
A copyright notice has been placed on the site. Examples of how to cite the works contained on the Alumni Association Project site are also included.
Now that Waverly has given us the inspiration to get those projects completed, let’s put them online.
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Use of the Website and Mailing Lists
Detailed instructions for the use of the Alumni Association
website and mailing lists at http://www.gfhalumni.com/. can be downloaded as a PDF file at
http://www.gfhalumni.com/attachments/jan2005/G&FH- You will need Adobe Acrobat to view.
If you have a suggestion for something you'd like to see on the website,,please post it here: http://www.gfhalumni.com/forum/index.php?c=6
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Lisa Marker will gladly accept items for the door prize portion of the meeting. If you have something to contribute please see Lisa at the door prize table before the meeting.
We have also added a magazine swap, so if you have any old genealogical magazines you no longer want please bring them to the meetings.
Thank you to all of those who volunteered before and during the meeting to set up chairs and tables and those who stayed after to take it all down. Thank you all.
Thank you to all those who have actively participated in making the Alumni Association a success. The meetings just get better and better.
Twenty of our members stayed for lunch after the meeting at the Claim Jumpers Restaurant. Lunch after the meeting has been such a success that we will continue the practice after every meeting.
See you at the next meeting!
Thank you to those who were able to attend the Alumni Meeting Saturday, March 11, 2006 at the Redmond Regional Library. The turn out was phenomenal. Everyone enjoyed our guest speaker, Waverly Fitzgerald, who will be teaching the June UW Extension Workshop on “Writing Your Family History.” Waverly is one of our own, a graduate of the 1996 program. For those of you who were unable to attend, you missed an extremely interesting lecture on writing your family history.
Some of the areas Waverly discussed were determining your audience and writing for that audience as well as deciding on the structure of your project. This is just a taste of Waverly’s lecture. She gave us more tips, tricks, and devices than can be listed here. It was a wonderful lecture.
Waverly also recommended the following books for us to read with an eye toward how the authors structured them and how they made them come to life.
1) The Low Road: A Scottish Family Memoir by Valerie Miner.
2) Holy Land by D.J. Waldie
3) Prairie Reunion by Barbara J. Scott
We also discussed the very short time sequence that the UW Extension has given to the Writing Your Family History Workshop. They appear not to have any faith in the interest in such a workshop, but by constraining the time for the workshop they have made it even more difficult to attend and feel you are getting your money’s worth. Things can only change if we make our opinions know. We had a room full of people who were interested in this workshop. Support the things that matter to us all. Write Tony English and offer constructive criticism regarding this workshop. Tony English’s email address is tenglish@EXTN.washington.edu.
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Your Family History Published by the Allen County Public Library:
A very special thank you to Eleanor Widdice for bringing her beautiful bound family history produced by the Allen County Library for us to see. I went to their website this morning but it contained no information about that program, so I called them for the details.
You may send a hard copy to the library or a CD Rom with your project in Pdf format. It takes twelve weeks to produce the bound family history. The library makes a copy of the history to retain while the original is sent to the Heckman Bindery. It takes the bindery eight weeks to bind your document. One bound copy is sent to you free of charge and the library keeps one copy.
If you want extra copies you must order them at the time you submit your family history. The cost is $12.50 each.
Here is the address for sending your finished product:
Allen County Public Library
Genealogy Department
Attn: Steve Myers
200 East Berry Street
Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270
Phone: (260) 421-1200
Their only tip is that you include a title page with your name and address. The Library said they would love to have all our family histories submitted to them.
Eleanor thank you so much for sharing this with the association.
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Leslie Lynam also brought her project titled “A Smile To Treasure: The Story of Carl Bull” She had it bound and published by (ISBN 0-9767391-0-0 LOC 2004096183) who came and spoke to our class the last quarter.
I hope you got to see it, as it was a beautifully done family history.
Thank you Leslie.
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Andrea has uploaded the templates for the nametags to the www.gfhalumni.com website. There are two templates. One is a word document and can be found here. The other is a Pdf file that you can print out and write you name and year in with a marker rather than type in a word document. It can be found here.
One of our volunteers, Jan Campbell-Stout will bring some plastic holders to the next meeting. If you are unable to find them we will have a limited number available.
Glad you liked them - Enjoy!
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Congratulations to two of our association members who have recently been published.
Mary Roddy (Class of 2005), Seattle Genealogical Society, Bulletin Autumn 2005, Volume 55, No. 1, pp 5-23. Article: "The Ahern Family of Co. Cork: A Journey Across the Atlantic - and Beyond."
Tim Kane, (Class of 2005)
Irish Genealogical Society International (IGSI) magazine, The Septs, January 2006, pgs. 13-15. Article: "Other Roads Home: Census Substitutes in Irish Genealogical Research"
If you have recently been published please let us know so that we may acknowledge you on the Alumni Association website. You are an inspiration to us all.
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Local Genealogical Seminars
If your organization has a seminar it would like to announce please send it to Al Showalter
----
SGS PROGRAM MEETING
Monday, 8 May 2006
At the SGS Library
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
"Research Using Old Photographs" Speaker: Marilyn Rose.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~waseags/program.html
----
May 13, 2006, (Saturday), 8:15 AM - 4:00 PM: Christine Rose , nationally known speaker and writer, at the South Whidbey Island Genealogical Society. Topics:
* Genealogical Proof Standard: Building a Solid Case
* Solving the Problem in 25 Hours or Less
* Transcribing and Abstracting: The Technique and Legalese
* Avoid the Crooked Path! Genealogical Problem Solving
http://www.rootsweb.com/~wabihs/
----
Fisk Genealogical Library
http://www.fiskelibrary.org/classes.htm
19 April
Doing Genealogy in Maine: Take a trip "Down East." Survey the genealogy landscape from Penobscot Bay to the Ketadhin Massif; from Prig, DeMonts & Popham to Statehood in 1820; from Abenaki Genealogy to Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness.
26 April
Maritime Records at NARA Seattle: John Fitzgerald is the archivist at National Archives Pacific Alaska Region who is most knowledgeable about the maritime records held at Sand Point. Did one of your ancestors go to sea? Do you need to search logbooks or wreck reports?
3 May
Baptist Records: The history of Baptists in America and review of important archives for Baptist research.
Monday,
8 May 2006
Tour of Seattle School District Archives is on a MONDAY--space is limited. You must pre-register with Karl Kumm k.kumm@comcast.net or with desk at Fiske. If you want to look at transcripts of grades, you will need to bring proof of death. Come look at high school yearbooks, press clippings, photos of teachers, students, buildings and more.
17 May
Tracking Hessian: History and genealogical resources to help in your search.
24 May
How to get the most out of IGI and Ancestry: This class will help you use the IGI to access the originals of church records, create a decadency for all the immigrants of your surname and study the migration patterns found in the Ancestral File to pinpoint places to search records for your ancestors. ~Betty Kaye Anderson.
31 May
Research in Canadian Maritime Provinces: History of the Maritime Provinces, how that history created records, and how to move our research forward using the internet.
7 June
Names Have Families Too: Ida McCormick will take a linguistic approach to name changes and variants. Half the presentation will cover surname changes, the other half nicknames and given names. At the intersection of genealogy and linguistics, she promises "to try not to be too technical, but practical."
14 June
Iowa Research: The class will help you get the kernel of genealogical truth out of a pile of Iowa cornhusks.
----
NARA
Date: First Thursday Daytime Workshops: Time:
May 4 Beginning Computer Genealogy 1:30 PM to 4:00 PM
June 1 Citing and Recording Sources 1:30 PM to 4:00 PM
Date: Second Saturday Workshops: Time:
May 13 Using Maritime and Customs Records at NARA Pacific Alaska Region (Seattle) 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM
May 13 Introduction to Immigration and Naturalization Records1:30 PM to 4:00 PM
June 10 Using the Chinese Exclusion Act Case Files 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM
June 10 Pacific Northwest Native American Records 1:30 PM to 4:00 PM
July 8 Beginning Genealogy 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM
July 8 Beginning Computer Genealogy 1:30 PM to 4:00 PM
Date: "Brick Wall" Workshops (FREE) Time:
Thursday, May 11 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM
Thursday, June 8 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM
Thursday, July 13 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Put Your G&FH Project Online:
Having gotten inspiration from Susan Berghan, the Alumni Association is working to create an area where the memberships’ projects are available online.
An example of how we envision the page can be found at
Leaves From Our Family Trees. There is no access to this page from the alumni site and there will not be until it is ready for publication. Right now it is a dummy site, to determine feedback on readability, form, navigation, links, etc.
Those members whose projects were known are listed (just as examples). The links to the papers are not active. All other links are active.
If you already have your paper online or have created a website for your family history, a link can be posted, as was done with Susan and Andrea.
We have decided to post the projects as PDF files (so much more efficient. than writing all that code). If you do not have the ability to create a PDF file then you may email your project to Linda Palmer,
as a word document and she will create the PDF file.
Try all the links, look the planned site over and let us know what you think. Feedback on readability, form, navigation, links, etc. should be sent to Linda Palmer. Pages read differently in different browsers, so if you have a comment please include what browser was used.
(Example: IE4.0)
A copyright notice has been placed on the site. Examples of how to cite the works contained on the Alumni Association Project site are also included.
Now that Waverly has given us the inspiration to get those projects completed, let’s put them online.
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Use of the Website and Mailing Lists
Detailed instructions for the use of the Alumni Association
website and mailing lists at http://www.gfhalumni.com/. can be downloaded as a PDF file at
http://www.gfhalumni.com/attachments/jan2005/G&FH- You will need Adobe Acrobat to view.
If you have a suggestion for something you'd like to see on the website,,please post it here: http://www.gfhalumni.com/forum/index.php?c=6
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Lisa Marker will gladly accept items for the door prize portion of the meeting. If you have something to contribute please see Lisa at the door prize table before the meeting.
We have also added a magazine swap, so if you have any old genealogical magazines you no longer want please bring them to the meetings.
Thank you to all of those who volunteered before and during the meeting to set up chairs and tables and those who stayed after to take it all down. Thank you all.
Thank you to all those who have actively participated in making the Alumni Association a success. The meetings just get better and better.
Twenty of our members stayed for lunch after the meeting at the Claim Jumpers Restaurant. Lunch after the meeting has been such a success that we will continue the practice after every meeting.
See you at the next meeting!
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