Gabrielle Hillgrove – Sno-Isle Genealogical Society

Author: Gabrielle Hillgrove

Stay Home – Stay Healthy

Posted on March 24, 2020March 24, 2020 by Gabrielle Hillgrove

In accordance with the directive to Stay Home-Stay Healthy, the Sno-Isle Genealogical Society library will be closed through at least April 25th.

If you were scheduled for the German/Scandinavian consultation or a Brick Wall consultation you should have been contacted to get those rescheduled.

Have a question about Genealogy? Leave it on our Facebook page and we’ll try to help.

We look forward to seeing you all soon.

Free Beginning Genealogy Class at NWGC

Posted on April 17, 2019April 15, 2019 by Gabrielle Hillgrove

The Stillaguamish Valley Genealogical Society is offering a free Beginning Genealogy Class on August 14th from 1:00pm to 4:30pm.

From the website:

If you are intrigued by your family history either because you’ve watched those Ancestry ads on television or perhaps you’ve inherited years of research from another relative, Beginning Genealogy will get you started on the road to success! You’ll learn the basics of family history research, develop strong research habits, discover tips and tricks for Ancestry, FamilySearch and other websites, and then take the next steps to continue your genealogy journey!

Presenter: Thomas MacEntee

Registration is required.

https://stillygen.org/aem.php?eid=18

Northwest Genealogy Conference

Posted on April 15, 2019April 15, 2019 by Gabrielle Hillgrove

The Stillaguamish Valley Genealogical Society is holding the 2019 Northwest Genealogy Conference on August 14 – 17 at the Byrnes Performing Arts Center in Arlington.

Early Bird registration discount ends on April 15th.

This multi-day conference features speakers from around the country covering topics from the modern, using DNA, to the traditional, how newspapers can help with your research.

Visit https://stillygen.org/cpage.php?pt=115 to learn more about this fun and exciting conference.

Announcing the DNA Learning Series

Posted on March 23, 2019March 23, 2019 by Gabrielle Hillgrove

Seattle and Sno-Isle Genealogical Societies are co-sponsoring a monthly, seven class DNA Learning Series. The class will be held at Mountlake Terrace Sno-Isle Library, from 6:00-7:45pm, starting the third Thursday, on April 18, 2019. The series builds slowly, workshop style using your own computer and has homework assignments. Due to the venue, participation is limited to 45 society members with advanced registration.

Classes include: Intro to DNA testing [who, what and where to test]; yDNA & Mitochondrial DNA testing and results; Test Results are in… Now what [what to look for, analysis and organization of your results]; Autosomal DNA Ethnicity and inheritance & X Chromosome; Using Gedmatch/Genesis and 3^rd Party Tools [learn about tools online to assist you in DNA analysis]; Special DNA tools at Ancestry & MyHeritage [and online tools that mimic those]; and the last class covers Advanced Techniques. Instructors are Craig K. Gowen and Cary Bright.

For questions and to register send an email to sgsdnasig@gmail.com

This is a free offering to members of Seattle or Sno-Isle Genealogical Societies.

Visit our event calendar for dates.

Voice Your Opinion on the Proposed Vital Records Access Restrictions

Posted on January 30, 2019 by Gabrielle Hillgrove

The easiest way to submit comments on the proposed vital records access changes is on the legislative website (https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=5332&year-2019&Initiative=False).

It’s pretty intuitive since it automatically comes up with the number of the bill, but for anyone who would like a bit of help with it here’s a pdf with step-by-step instructions.

https://snoislegen.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Instructions_for_WA_Vital_Rcds_Comments_-.pdf

Proposed Changes to Vital Records Access

Posted on January 30, 2019 by Gabrielle Hillgrove

ALERT to proposed changes to access to Vital Records
in the State of Washington, SB 5332-2019-20.

Currently, Washington is an open records state. Change has been proposed by the Dept. of Health to restrict access to Vital Records in our state. DOH is proposing changes based on a “best practices” in vital records control and recommendations from the Federal Government, citing privacy concerns and identity theft. These changes will affect all genealogists!

Here is a brief summary of the proposed changes:
Placing restrictions on release of records to the public:

100 years for live birth and fetal death
50 years for death, marriage, divorce, annulment, legal separation and dissolution of domestic partnerships

Placing restrictions on who certified copies of Vital Records (birth, death, marriage, and divorce) may be released to:

Birth Certificates will only be released to the “subject of the record” (yourself), the subject’s spouse or domestic partner, child, parent, step-parent, sibling, grandparent, legal guardian, legal representative or authorized representative before the 100 year embargo.
Death Certificates will be released to the decedent’s spouse or domestic partner, child, parent, step-parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, legal guardian immediately prior to death, legal representative, authorized representative or next of kin as specified in RCW 11.28.120 before the 50 year embargo.
Certificate of Fetal Death will be released to a parent, a parent’s legal representative, an authorized representative, sibling or a grandparent before the 100 year embargo.

New Provisions:

The State may issue an informational copy to a vital record to anyone. Informational copies must contain only the information “allowed by rule”.
Informational death copies will not include information related to the cause of death and manner of death.
“Authorized representative” will include genealogists. This will require a notarized letter of permission from next of kin and personal identification.
Applicants will be required to provide identification and proof of relationship to obtain certified copies of vital records.

WSGS has been working with the Records Preservation and Access Committee of the Federation of Genealogical Societies, the National Genealogical Society and the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies on this issue.
WSGS has taken the position that:

Vital Records are the backbone of our profession and hobby. Access to these records is essential to our work and embargo periods to records are unnecessarily restrictive.
We support keeping all Vital Records open. Access to vital records has not been demonstrated to increase the risk of identity theft. We believe that keeping birth, marriage, divorce and death records open does more to prevent identity theft.
Keeping the cause of death on Informational Death Records is essential to genetic and forensic genealogists.
We support proposed changes to cover the cost for providing access to Vital Records.
Redaction of Social Security numbers on an Informational Copies of Vital Records is supported.

We are asking all of you to please contact your local Senator, the members of the Senate Law and Justice Committee and the sponsors of the bill; Sen. Jamie Pederson, Sen. Ann Rivers, Sen. Claire Wilson, Sen. Maureen Walsh, Sen. Emily Randall, Sen. Annette Cleveland and Sen. Marko Liias. This bill is scheduled for a hearing before the Senate Law and Justice Committee on Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019 at 10am. Please submit your comments before Thursday!
The proposed changes to the Vital Records Initiative, SB 5332 – 2019 – 20, can be read in its entirety at the link below. You use this link to access a copy of the bill and/or make comments.
https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=5332&year-2019&Initiative=False

Thank you for your attention. Sincerely,
Virginia Majewski, President, Washington State Genealogical Society

A Winter of DNA eConference

Posted on January 21, 2019January 19, 2019 by Gabrielle Hillgrove

Another exciting opportunity to learn more information on what your DNA test can do for you and how best to utilize the information. Register for the A Winter of DNA eConference by Family History Fanatics.

The cost of the conference is $24.99 and it is held on January 26, 2019.

The conference will cover the following topics

Washington Digital Newspapers Program

Posted on January 19, 2019 by Gabrielle Hillgrove

The following announcement was written by the Washington State Library:

The Washington State Library, a division of the Office of Secretary of State, has launched a new website for the Washington Digital Newspapers program: Washingtondigitalnewspapers.org.

The site features new titles in the State Library’s digital newspaper collection, with full-text article search of more than 400,000 pages from the State Library’s collection of historic Washington newspapers. Visitors can interact with the site with the help of text correction features to improve search results on dark or damaged pages, by attaching subject tags to articles, and saving their search history for larger research projects.

“This new resource provides students and other researchers with access to a rich trove of publications across decades of Washington history,” State Librarian Cindy Aden said. “Through viewing these historic digitized newspapers, it’s possible to understand important Washington experiences as they were viewed by the people who lived them.”

The Washington Digital Newspapers program brings together the library’s earliest pioneer-era online collection with titles digitized as part of the National Digital Newspaper Program and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The State Library’s newspaper collection in Olympia contains more than 6,500 newspaper titles, including more than 50,000 reels of microfilm and newspapers in German, Vietnamese, Danish, and Greek. As a rich source of primary materials for teachers, students, genealogists, and professional researchers it’s one of the best “go-to” places to find Washington newspapers.

“The new site will make it easier for people to browse our historic newspaper collection on a stable platform that will make researching fun and informative,” said Shawn Schollmeyer, National Digital Newspaper Project director at Washington State Library. “This project has been a great way to learn about events and people in our state past and present, as well as meeting the people in our cities who are proud and passionate about their communities.”

Partnerships with museums, libraries, archives, and publishers from across the state allow the State Library to preserve newspapers and the cultural heritage of these communities. The collection’s newest titles, added just this year, are Anacortes American editions from 1890 to 1922 and the Catholic Northwest Progress from 1900 to 1945. A new partnership with the Cashmere Museum and NCW Media will bring archived issues from 1906 to 1940 of the Cashmere Valley Record to view later in the year. The program is scheduled to add approximately 100,000 new newspaper pages to the digital collection each year.

Washington’s Office of Secretary of State oversees a number of areas within state government, including managing state elections, registering corporations and charities, and governing the use of the state flag and state seal. The office also manages the State Archives and the State Library, documents extraordinary stories in Washington’s history through Legacy Washington, oversees the Combined Fund Drive for charitable giving by state employees, and administers the state’s Address Confidentiality Program to help protect survivors of crime.

Source: Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter, citing Washington State Library announcement

You can read the Washington State Library announcement, including information on getting an ecard, at https://blogs.sos.wa.gov/fromourcorner/index.php/2018/12/washington-state-library-brings-newsbank-access-to-home-users/

Washington State Genealogical Society Blog Items

Posted on December 5, 2018December 3, 2018 by Gabrielle Hillgrove

The Washington State Genealogical Society has posted new blog items which might be of interest.

* Wednesday Nostalgia
https://wasgs.org/blog/2018/11/14/wednesday-nostalgia-59/

* Tuesday Trivia
https://wasgs.org/blog/2018/11/13/tuesday-trivia-77/

* Monday Mystery
https://wasgs.org/blog/2018/11/12/monday-mystery-50/

* Lower Columbia Genealogical Society December Meeting
https://wasgs.org/blog/2018/11/09/lower-columbia-genealogical-society-december-meeting-2/

* Friday Serendipity
https://wasgs.org/blog/2018/11/09/friday-serendipity-60/

* GENEALOGICAL FORUM’s Thursday Evening E-News
https://wasgs.org/blog/2018/11/09/genealogical-forums-thursday-evening-e-news-40/

* Heritage Quest Research Library Developing Roadmap to Success
https://wasgs.org/blog/2018/11/08/heritage-quest-research-library-developing-roadmap-to-success/

Family History Center Holiday Break

Posted on December 3, 2018December 3, 2018 by Gabrielle Hillgrove

The Shoreline Family History Center (22015 48th Ave W, Mountlake Terrace, WA 98043) will be closed for the holidays starting Monday, 17 December and will reopen Wednesday, 2 January at 9 am.
The January SIGS General Meeting starts at 6:30 pm on Wednesday January 2nd.

The SIGS January General Meeting will feature Craig Gowans will be presenting on Melungeons.

DNA eWorkshop: After the Test

Posted on November 8, 2018November 3, 2018 by Gabrielle Hillgrove

For members that are interested, Family History Fanatics is conducting an online “DNA Workshop: After the Test” the evenings of Nov 9, Dec 6, and Dec 13. Participants will learn about what they can do with their DNA results after the test and how to start using this powerful genealogical tool.