Award Giving Summer Social

Members of the TriCity Genealogical Society met at the home of Anne Nolan and John Covey for an evening of social interaction on Wednesday, August 10^th. Many favorite potluck dishes were shared and enjoyed. John fired up the grill and offered sausage to anyone interested. President Walt Wood and his wife brought the final touch, homemade pies.

Easy conversation was the sweetest dish however. When a group of genealogists gets together topics are endless. Successes from recent research trips were interwoven with stories about grandchildren. Medical issues past and current, including archaic terms and definitions, surfaced and disappeared at will. There was seldom a moment with nothing to say or a repeated story to enjoy.

There was a little official business. President Walt Wood presented the Outstanding Volunteer of the Year Awards which were originally presented in June at the Washington State Genealogical Society Conference in Tacoma. This year’s winners were Bill Floberg and John Covey. The following was not only printed on their certificates but read to those attending the social

Bill Floberg, of Kennewick, Washington, is recognized for his many years of support,

encouragement and assistance to the society. Mr. Floberg is one who is always working quietly in the background tending to the less than glamorous, but absolutely necessary, things that make a society successful. He can always be counted on to help whenever help is needed. For example, he manned the bookstore at the TCGS “Traveling Through Time” seminar in the fall of 2015. Had he not volunteered, there might not have been a bookstore. At present, Mr. Floberg is serving as vice-president of TCGS. He has also served as the membership chair for the last four years and chair of the judging committee for the year-long TCGS Archived Document Contest. Mr. Floberg is the definition of the word volunteer and richly deserves this recognition.

John Covey, of Richland, Washington, is recognized for his leadership and guidance through

challenging times. He was nominated by the Tri-City Genealogical Society (TCGS). Mr. Covey has served two terms as TCGS President. During his extended tenure, he led without hesitancy and he never lost his focus on successfully leading the society during and through difficult times. For many years Mr. Covey has coordinated week-long trips to the Family History Center in Salt Lake City. He has also chaired the 2015 TCGS fall seminar “Traveling Through Time” with William Dollarhide as the featured presenter. Mr. Covey’s dedication to the preservation and success of TCGS makes him richly deserving of this award.

The TriCity Genealogical Society is honored to have this caliber of leadership guide the way. Bill Floberg and John Covey are in good company of Outstanding Volunteers awarded to other genealogical societies in the state of Washington. To read about the recognition given to other society volunteers access the Washington State Genealogical Society website’s article “Outstanding Volunteers and Teams – 2016”.

Selecting Records to Research, Part 2

By TCGS Member, Connie Estep

John Covey taught the June genealogy class continuing the subject of record selection. He

John Covey practicing what he teaches

started the class with “guessing games”, discussing the need for educated guesses as to places, dates, and name variations. He also talked about the advantages of learning the history and geography of areas people lived, especially as these can affect why they moved.  He provided a four page handout to accompany his talk. The handout is available on the TriCity Genealogical Society website under the Education tab, or by clicking here.

Selection criteria for choosing a record includes content (does it have the kind of information you are looking for), location and time period. Remember location boundaries can change (as did our own Benton County). Learning about the history of an area can save research time in cases of jurisdiction changes. Access can be another issue, so check to make sure you are allowed to visit the repository and can get copies of records. Reading records can be a problem when there are language differences or hard to read handwritten documents. Another challenge can be a very common family name; knowing at least a given name, and hopefully a middle name will help. The more you know about the person, the easier the research. John also recommends following hunches in choosing records.

John discussed research logs in detail. The most important reason for keeping research logs is that they provide a place to cite data sources. They can also help with search organization to know what has and has not been found. I often have periods of time between research sessions and find it easy to forget what I’ve done and what the next step is. This can solve that problem. He covered specific elements to record and a FamilySearch web address for a blank log. This blank Research Log can be filled out and printed from your computer. It can also be printed out blank and entries can be made by hand while researching.

 The next class in this series is September 14; we will learn about the Soundex system from Susan Davis Faulkner. Classes will continue through December before monthly TCGS general meetings from 6:15-6:45 p.m. This class was attended by 22 people.

Selecting Records to Research

By TCGS Member, Connie Estep

John Covey taught the May genealogy class which covered selecting records for your search. The first step is choosing a category of sources. The two main types are original sources (examples: birth certificates, city indexes, census) and compiled sources (examples: published family histories, periodicals). John provided a four page handout with many examples of original and compiled records. Click here to download a copy of the handout.

The next decision is to select the type of record. The handout has a list of different kinds of information with the types of records to search. From these select specific records, as you review them, make your notes on a research log.

Reference to research logs has come up in several of these classes. You can find a sample log at www.byub.org/ancestors/charts/pdf/researchlog.pdf. This one may be printed and filled in. There are several plusses to keeping a log. Most importantly, the log documents the source of the information. If you do not find the information you searched for in a source it’s a good idea to record that on your log also. By referring to your research log you can save valuable time in selecting records you have not looked at before.

Documents have different kinds of data. Usually a document will give the location of the event it is documenting. Depending on the event other information may also be on the document. My birth certificate gives my parents’ names, occupations, birthplaces, how many children my mother had before me and a reference to how many previous children of hers had died.

When beginning my family history search I started with Yakima city directories because a number of my relatives arrived in Yakima in the early 1900s. This let me gather the easiest information first. I didn’t keep a log, just made a list of my “hits”. Later I had to go through them again as I didn’t remember which names I had searched for unsuccessfully. The second time I took photos of each page with hits, and made notes of people I searched for unsuccessfully for each directory.  

For me this provided a great overview, including where family members lived, their jobs (and often employers), the names of their spouses, and sometimes if they paid county taxes. Since the directories often included county listings as well, I could see the ones farming in nearby communities.

The last section of this class was reference tools; this is a great section to review.  Political boundaries can change. A person born in our area in 1888 would have been an Oregon Territory resident, since Washington State wasn’t established until the next year. County boundaries can change as population fills in; Benton County was made from pieces of Yakima and Klickitat Counties in 1905. Gazetteers can help you find such changes. There are many other types of references listed as well.

The Beginning Genealogy classes are scheduled through December (except July and August) before monthly TCGS general meetings from 6:15-6:45 p.m. This third class was attended by 32 people and continues with a well thought out research plan.

We Are All Winners in the October Archived Document Contest

The Archived Document Contest is a monthly contest to showcase what can be found when we explore beyond what is available online. Those that enter the contest share what they have discovered, how they have discovered it, and how it relates to their family history research. In October we learned that there are methods to get information when the records are not available. We also got insight into fascinating aspects of some ancestor’s personalities that were revealed when researchers explored past indexes and transcriptions.

John Covey shared with us that his request for his aunt’s birth certificate was denied because he was not a direct descendant. What he received from the Tennessee Office of Vital Records instead of a birth certificate was an extraction of the information that the official document contained. This included the date, time, and location of his aunt’s birth along with detailed information about her parents and their background. We always want original records but when they are restricted there are often other ways to obtain juicy tidbits of information.

Linda Stephens provided a copy of her grandmother’s marriage certificate. The original document had holes in it caused by an eraser where the ages of the bride and groom were once recorded. By looking at the original document it was obvious that the 28-year age difference must have been a concern to someone.

Margie Stein Beldin entertained us with her story of her research trip to Scotland. After days of looking for information about her great-grandfather she hit a goldmine on the last day of her trip. She had poured through many collections at the UK National Archives before it was suggested that she visit the Scots Guard Barracks archivist. She was presented with a huge file folder of information pertaining to her great-grandfather. Included in the folder were his enlistment and discharge records which included his birth date and place, parents’ names, and religion. In addition to the information she expected to find she also was provided with his physical description, his health history, and reports of his drunken behavior.

Loren Schmid educated us with his research report disproving a family legend about his great-aunt’s father-in-law. This man was said to have been so tall that he hit his head on a barn while riding a horse and that he had sustained an injury that gave him a mental disorder. Searching through various Civil War military records, vital records, historical biographies, and even grave markers Loren ascertained that this man was actually 5 foot 2 inches and died of senility contributed to by arteriosclerosis.

We can all claim to be winners in this month’s contest. The examples and lessons learned provide us with an astounding amount of information to let us know that personalities of our ancestors are recorded and can be found when we leave the Informational Highway titled the Internet. The judges had plenty of material to consider before making the decision on which of the entries would win the TriCity Genealogical Society membership which was the prize for the October contest. They finally concurred that Loren Schmid and his discovery of his great-aunt’s height-challenged father-in-law was the winner. Loren was honored at the TriCity Genealogical Society Annual Meeting with a certificate stating that he had won an annual membership. Loren stated that since he had already paid his 2016 dues he would like for the money slated for the prize to be donated to the Wreaths Across America project. More information about this project can be found at www.wreathsacrossamerica.org

Loren Schmid accepting certificate for winning
October Archived Document Contest
 from John Covey, President

November’s contest is underway. Enter your story for an opportunity to win a free 2-hour consultation with Stories to Tell Books. Stories to Tell Books assist authors in any and all steps necessary to publish manuscripts.  Need some technical advice? Want an editor to look over your work? Check out Stories to Tell Books at www.storiestotellbooks.com.  Better yet, submit your entry to the November Archived Document Contest. Upload a family history related document to the TriCity Genealogical Society Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TriCityGenealogicalSociety Include how you obtained the document, which can be any method other than downloading from the Internet. Also explain how it pertains to your research. All monthly winners will be entered into a separate and special contest for the Annual Archived Document Contest with prizes to Ancestry.com and Findmypast.com

A List of Don'ts Revealed from August Archived Document Contest

For the August Archived Document Contest, John Covey shared much more than an amazing document that he acquired off-line. He showed that it is possible to find clues that may take his research back to the 1500s. By reviewing his entry we can determine some “Don’ts” regarding family history research.

John Covey has arranged the annual fieldtrip for members of the TriCity Genealogical Society to research in Salt Lake’s Family History Library for many years. He knows that the vast amount of holdings have information important to his research. Even though John has made this trip several times, he continues to take the trip each year.

In June 2015 John discovered the baptismal record of his 8^th great grandfather which was created in 1664. John did not arrive at the Family History Library expecting to locate this record, but rather found information leading to this record when he visited the basement of the library and researched German records. In this section of records he found a book that not only listed his 8^th great grandfather’s information, but information continuing back for about another hundred years. Being a seasoned genealogist, John admits that the clues were a great find but that they were not documented. This gave him ideas, but in and of itself it was not a solid record.

John shared the 1664 baptismal record and his explanation in this entry to the Archived Document Contest. 

“For my Archived Document Contest entry this week I have posted a copy of my 8th Great Grandfather Johann Martin Hartlieb's baptismal record from 1664 that I got at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City last June. His is the third from the bottom of the page. Until that trip I had not even heard of him until I found a book in the German section of the library which lists the Hartlieb's in that part of Germany from the early 1600's up to the late 1800's. Through this book I have traced some other parts of the maternal line back to the late 1500s but with the book not having sources more work needs to be done on my part. While looking at the document I noticed some symbols in the first column that I did not understand, after some research I found out they were astrological symbols used for the seven planets (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn). I found that astrology was being practiced in churches up until the late 1600's in some areas of Europe.”

Through John’s entry to the August Archived Document Contest we can all learn what not to do.

1.            Don’t be afraid of the basement. Many repositories store important records in basements. This keeps them out of the hustle and bustle of day-to-day activity. Basements can be easily overlooked yet may contain records or clues to additional information that is extremely important to our research advancement.

2.            Don’t disregard any set of records, but be cautious if the information is not sourced. John found a great deal of family history information in a book yet the information was not documented. John treated this unsourced book differently than he did the baptismal record that he found. He knew that the unsourced book provided clues which could be used to continue his research but he didn’t automatically adopt the information as fact. He used it as a launching pad to find the documented information that would make his research more accurate.

3.            Don’t overlook anything that you find in a record. Once John found the 1664 baptismal record of his 8^th great grandfather, he allowed his curiosity freedom. The baptismal record contained symbols that John did not understand. He discovered that astrology was practiced in churches up until the late 1600’s in some areas of Europe.

4.            Don’t assume that you need a detailed list of records created by hours of examining online catalogs in order to have a successful research trip. It is important to be prepared for research trips to any repository, but don’t let your list give you tunnel vision. New discoveries may very well lead to record sets that you had not previously considered.

5.            Don’t confine yourself to online research. The story that John shared gives us great examples of the type of records that are available beyond what the Internet has to offer.

John’s entry to the August Archived Document Contest won him an annual subscription to “Internet Genealogy.” “Internet Genealogy” is a genealogical magazine for people researching family trees, family history, their heritage and genealogy roots using the resources of the Internet. John is no foreigner to brick and mortar repositories but only because he knows how well these repositories fill out the research he is able to do online.

The winner of the September Archived Document Contest will win an annual subscription to Mocavo, which is a FindMyPast company. Mocavo has a highly sophisticated search engine bringing together vast amounts of indexes into one location. To enter the September contest simply share a digitized image of a record that you acquired in any method other than downloading from the Internet on the TriCity Genealogical Society Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/TriCityGenealogicalSociety. Explain how you acquired the record and how it ties into your family history research.

New Indexing Project

The TCGS meeting for the Washington State Archives Cemetery project will take place at 7pm  Thursday, 23 August 2012, at the Richland Family History Center.

Now that the 1940 U.S. Census indexing project has finished, John Covey, TCGS President, has found another wonderful indexing project for us. This one closer to home, we are indexing local cemeteries. Washington State Digital Archives, at the request of the Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed, is asking societies to index their local cemeteries for preservation in the digital archives.

Over the years, members of the society have been indexing the cemeteries but there is still plenty of indexing to do. If you are interested, please attend this meeting tomorrow evening.  If we all pitch in, we can get our cemeteries online and hope that others are indexing the cemeteries in the areas we are interested in researching. Let’s not let the enthusiasm from indexing the 1940 census die.