Monthly meeting December 10 with Susan Davis Faulkner as the speaker.

Wednesday, December 10, 2014 Susan Davis Faulkner will be talking about using indirect evidence in her presentation titled “Indirectly Speaking” this Wednesday night at Clover Island Inn.

 Indirect evidence is a method of research that is usually explained by using case studies to break down brick walls created by the lack of easy to locate records. Land records, probate records, maps, and tax rolls typically enhance these case studies and make the typical genealogist’s head swirl. Susan will teach how to use indirect evidence by using contemporary records all found online to show just how easy it is to master this mode of thinking.

Susan has been out of the state for several months and looks forward to seeing you for dinner at 5:30 at the Clover Island Inn. If you don’t come for dinner, come for the presentation which is scheduled to start at 7:00 pm.

An additional item of interest at the meeting will be a raffle of genealogical-related items.

TCGS November Bulletin

The November Bulletin for TCGS has been placed on our website in the Members Only section for reading.  The bulletin contains the following articles and much more.

• SOME MEMORIES OF THE COVEY CHRISTMASES 
• LIST of 5-GENERATION ARTICLES in the Tri-City Herald
• Article on Writing an Interesting Family Story
• Listing of obituaries from the Files of the Yakima Valley Genealogical Society covering
• Larson, Clifford to McGhuey, Grace
• List of Births (1903-1907) from the Card Files of the Yakima Valley (WA) Genealogical Society
• Golden Wedding Anniversaries (or greater) published in the Tri-City Herald, Tri-Cities, WA

If you are interested in some of these articles then go to the TCGS website at http://www.tricitygenealogicalsociety.org/wiki/doku.php/tcgs:join and join the society.

French Canadians in Walla Walla area

On Thursday Margie Belden, Education Chair gave a talk on KONA radio Time Capsule about French-Canadian history particularly dealing with Frenchtown near Walla Walla.  The history of Frenchtown and the area goes back to the early 1800’s.  While doing her research for the talk Margie told me that she saw some French-Canadian surnames that might be distant cousins.  There is a Frenchtown Historic Site that is now open 8 miles west of Walla Walla on old Highway 12.  This is maintained by the Frenchtown Historical Foundation. 

Among things to see

Restoration of oldest existing cabin in Washington State Cabin was probably built for Pierre pambrun, chief trader at the Hudson’s Bay Co. at Fort Walla Walla in about 1837. Built as a peace offering for the Prince of the Cayuse village. Documentation from Narcissa Whitman dated 1844 and other independent documentation establish that the cabin was built on the Umatilla River in 1837 for Young Chief, another Cayuse headman

St Rose of Lima Mission Cemetery and associated markers

Interpretive shelter

Interpretive trails

The following timeline is from the Frenchtown Historical Foundation website

1818 – The Canadian Northwest Company establishes Fort Nez Perces at was now Wallula, this was the first trading post in the area.

1821 – The Canadian Northwest Company and the Hudson’s Bay Company merge and the trading post is rebuilt as Fort Walla Walla.

1824 - Near the mouth of Walla Walla River the first cabin was built by Joseph LaRocque and his wife Lizette Walla Walla.

1836 – The Whitmans establish mission; dozen of families were already living in the area.

1841-45 - The Oregon Trail emigrants begin parading through Frenchtown on their way to the south bank of Columbia River to Willamette Valley, OR

1847 - Catholic St. Anne Mission established on Umatilla River but vacated same year as Whitman massacre

1848-1850 - Cayuse Indian War

1853 - St Rose of the Cayouse Mission and Cemetery established on Yellowhawk Creek (in Walla Walla) but burned in 1855 during Yakama War.

1855 - 7-10 December: Battle of Walla Walla or The Battle of Frenchtown this was the longest battle in the history of the Washington Territory . 350 Oregon mounted volunteers versus 1000 Walla Walla, Cayuse, Palouse and Yakama warriors

Chief Peopeomoxmox tried to establish a truce but after battle was again begun, he and four others were executed

Cabins of Jean LaRocque and Louis Tellier were totally involved in the conflict

1859 - Indian lands opened to white settlement; Walla Walla established

1863 –Catholic Chapel erected in the area and a cemetery established

1870 - Log school house was built

1876-1893 - St Rose of Lima Mission Church and Cemetery (from river cemetery) were mainly French Canadian of the Hudson Bay Co., their Indian, French and Métis wives and their descendants

1912 - Final burial at Frenchtown cemetery

If you get a chance go see the Frenchtown Historic Site and learn more about Frenchtown at their web site. frenchtownpartners.org

Members Guided thru Google.com

Mikal McKinnon, our TCGS Past President, Assistant Family History Center Director and Washington State Genealogical Society President, took our TCGS members through a tour of Google.com. The outline for the class can be found online at:  https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Google_Commands:_How_to_Search_More_Effectively. This was the basis Mike used to help the TCGS members learn the ins and outs of searching with Google.  When I peeked in on the class, they were all glued to their monitors finding interesting things on their families.  The final tip was a place to have google help you search for your genealogy online: http://www.genealogy-search-help.com/.

I believe the final conclusion would be that everyone got something out of Mike’s presentation. I know of one person who was going home to continue her search. I’d bet the others were anxious to get home and continue their searches as well.

Thanks Mike for a great presentation. 

March’s Two Worthwhile Presentations

This month we were lucky to have two presentations by Renée Petersen, TCGS Monthly Bulletin Editor and the Director of the Kennewick Stake Family History Center.

At our general meeting, Renée showed us how we can enjoy quality education right in our homes. She explained that webinars and podcasts are available all over the internet, most of them for free. These webinars and podcasts generally are created by professional genealogists who tackle a different topic each month in the case of podcasts. One of the best known places to enjoy webinars is at Legacy Family Tree.

  The next opportunity we had to enjoy learning from Renée was the next Wednesday where she introduced us to the Family History Center Portals: subscription databases that are free to use at our local family history centers. Ancestry.com is amongst those databases and probably the most well-known; the others include 19th Century British Library Newspaper Digital Archive, Alexander Street Press--The American Civil War, Find My Past, Fold3, Godfrey Memorial Library, Historic Maps, Paper Trail and more.

It was obvious that Renée had spent a good amount of time reviewing the databases before her presentation because she was well-informed about the databases and excited by the amount of information she had found and that got us excited too.

Thanks to Renée for a great introduction to the Family History Center Portals and to the Richland Family History Center for allowing us to use the Computer Hall for our hands-on classes.

"Leaving a Legacy" Class Success

Once again, Susan Faulkner shows us why we are so lucky to have her as one of our members. Susan's TCGS' Members' Only class, Leaving a Legacy, was not only well organized and interesting but a real hands-on class even though we were not sitting in front of computers (well, most of us were not!)

Nice things were heard from the 13 people who showed up to learn how they could write their own legacy so their grandchildren and beyond could know something about life in the 20th-21st centuries. No one walked away without learning something about setting writing goals, learning their writing styles, or even learning where to find the best "free" pens in the Tri-Cities.

We have more great classes coming up. Next month, Renée Petersen, TCGS' Monthly Update Editor and Kennewick Family History Center Director, will be showing how valuable the local Family History Center Portal is to our research (and it's FREE!)

For other upcoming classes, please sign onto the TCGS website at: http://www.tricitygenealogicalsociety.org/wiki/doku.php then click on Education > Classes.