GSSWI Programs for 2014 - 2015

Click HERE to display programs presented during the

previous society year.

Monday September 8th: Monthly Program, 1:00 p.m.

Speaker:  Society Board Members
Program:  Introduction to the coming GSSWI Year

Meet your fellow members and learn about ongoing research. 

The Board of Directors and the new society structure will  be introduced.  In addition,  Coffee and cookies will be consumed and the upcoming society year will be discussed.  Come, visit and learn.

Monday October 13th: Monthly Program, 1:00 p.m.

Speaker:  Becky Hanich
Program: Using Family Search.org

Becky has been doing Family History for about 40 years and has spent many hours researching both her family and her extended family.  Most of her research time has been spent in the US and in England.  She served a Family History support Mission for the LDS church and trained LDS personnel how to use and work in FamilySearch.org.  She has also worked extensively in the Family Tree portion of familysearch.org and has taught many classes on using the Family Tree. She loves to help others find out to whom they might be related and she feels that Family Tree allows a unique opportunity to work together to find our common
ancestors.

Since there have been many questions from our membership on the proper use of FamilySearch.org and about the new Family Tree portion of the site, this should be an extremely educational and useful program.

Monday November 10th: Monthly Program, 1:00 p.m.

Speakers:  Winona Laird and Janet Camerata
Program:  Discover Your Ancestor's Story in Their Records

Family members frequently don't care about the latest land patent or census record found. What they enjoy is a good story. In this workshop, we will examine a set of birth, baptism, marriage, census and death records - and together we will extract the stories waiting to be discovered and/or investigated further.

Winona Laird has been doing genealogy for over 60 years. Her specialties are Teaching and Lecturing on genealogy.  She is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, Puget Sound Chapter, the National Genealogical Society and the Federation of Genealogy Societies. In addition, she is past President and current Education Chairman of the South King County Genealogical Society. She is one of the Founders of the Genealogy Training Center LLC. Website- www.lairdsfamilyfinders.com. She is also associated with the Genealogy Training Center LLC website www.genealogyintodaysworld.com.

Janet Camerata  has researched her own family history for over 25 years.  She is a seminar presenter and trainer in genealogy societies across Washington.  She has also been a newsletter editor, program coordinator and currently, President of the South King County Genealogical Society (SKCGS). She is also a founding member of the Genealogy Training Center LLC in Kent,  a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists and of the Washington State Genealogy Society.

Monday December 8th, Holiday Program, 1:00 p.m.

Program:  Annual Holiday Potluck and Personal Research Review

Come prepared to present a few words on an interesting aspect of your current research, an interesting book you've found or anything else notable you've discovered.  Family artifacts are also appropriate.

This will be our annual Holiday potluck luncheon.  Please bring a salad, entree or dessert sufficient to serve eight people.

Monday January 12th: Monthly Program, 1:00 p.m.

Speaker:  Philip Simon
Program:  History of Langley Harbor Through the Eyes of Phil Simon

Phil Simon, the husband of the GSSWI secretary, Judy Simon, was born in Seattle (Swedish Hospital) in June of 1947. Raised in south Seattle, Medina and north Kirkland, he Spent as much time as possible at his grandfather's house on the Langley waterfront. Both his mother and father were born on Whidbey Island in the 1920's.  His dad was born in Langley in 1923. His grandfather was born in Ohio, raised on a farm near Longbranch (Key peninsula) and his grandmother was born in Tacoma.  Philip's mother was born in 1922 on Skarberg lane near Deer Lake Clinton and her dad was born in Sweden and her Mom in Minnesota.
 
Philip worked his way through the U of W in the late 1960's finally earning a degree in Electrical Engineering. He spent 43 years as a corrosion control engineer (electro-chemistry) preventing leaks on pipelines, buried tanks and marine structures. This work took him around the world but he can guarantee that there is no place in the world he would rather live than here in Puget Sound on Whidbey Island. 

Given the current interest in Langley Harbor and the Simon genealogy associated with it, this should be a very interesting program!

Monday February 9th: Monthly Program, 1:00 p.m.

Speaker:  Nancy Adelson
Program:  How Do I Best Discover My Jewish Ancestors

Nancy Adelson is a founding member of the Jewish Genealogical Society  of Washington State and serves in several genealogical organizations. She  is a well known speaker and writer in many genealogical areas and holds numerous awards. Nancy has also been active in records preservation and is a tenured professor in Real Estate and Business at North Seattle College.

Learn about important Jewish customs and a little history to better research your possible Jewish ancestors from Eastern, Western and Southern Europe. Being Jewish was a way of life and not just a religion. Our Jewish ancestors were very rarely citizens of the countries or regions that they lived through the 1800’s. Therefore, there are some additional challenges when researching Jewish genealogy. You’ll discover Jewish naming traditions and tips that will help you trace your family tree. You’ll gain insights to outstanding resources and online databases that focus on Jewish genealogical research. You’ll also have a chance to look up your possibly Jewish surnames in the resource books (representing geographic areas like Poland, Russia, Lithuania, Germany, Spain, Turkey, etc.) that Nancy will bring from the JGSWS Library. Also, if you wish, you can buy valuable but hard to find guidebooks for Jewish genealogical research. This presentation is a “must see” for beginners to advance genealogists who think they might have Jewish ancestors or are simply interested in the conventions of Jewish genealogy! 

Monday March 9th: Monthly Program, 1:00 p.m.

Speaker: Doreen Johnson
Program:  The Research Process

Doreen Johnson is one of our most active and skilled members. 

She will present a program designed to assist researchers in organizing and executing genealogical research.

Be sure to attend this knowledge building program.  Doreen never disappoints!

Questions and answers will follow her program.

 

Monday April 13th: Monthly Program, 1:00 p.m.

Speaker:  Winona Laird
Program: Across The Pond to Scotland

Winona Laird has been doing genealogy for over 60 years. Her specialties are Teaching and Lecturing on genealogy.  She is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, Puget Sound Chapter, the National Genealogical Society and the Federation of Genealogy Societies. In addition, she is past President and current Education Chairman of the South King County Genealogical Society. She is one of the Founders of the Genealogy Training Center. URL - www.lairdsfamilyfinders.com. She is also associated with the Genealogy Training Center  website www.genealogyintodaysworld.com and she teaches in the continuing education department of Green River Community College.

The church, government and the wars all play a part in tracking  Scottish genealogy and Scottish migration to other countires. Included is the search for baptismal, marriage and death registers plus the census records of Scotland. In addition, the clans of Scotland, the structure  of family and kinship, are important in discovering Scottish genealogy.

Monday May 11th: Monthly Program, 1:00 p.m.

Speakers:  Godfrey and Merry Ellis (Two Presentations)
Program:  (1) Understanding the Present by Understanding the Past   
                   (2) Indexing

Dr. Godfrey Ellis is currently the Director of the Masters program in Counseling Psychology and Chair of the Department of Leadership and Counseling Psychology at St. Martin’s University in Lacey, WA, Dr. Ellis has been tracing his genealogy and English family roots, off and on, since adolescence. He and his wife, Merry, spend the majority of their free time engaged in the “addiction” we call family history. They have visited ancestral locations in England on several occasions.

Merry Ellis has been fascinated with her family history for many years. Related to the same Mayflower Pilgrim Fathers as Joseph Smith and Winston Churchill, she has lines extending to England, France, Germany, and French Canada. She has spent many days conducting research on these lines in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. she has  lectured on genealogy on cruise ships sailing to the Caribbean, up to Alaska and to Hawaii. They currently serve as Ward Family History Consultants and as Stake Indexing Directors in the Lacey, WA Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints.

Monday June 8th: Monthly Program, 1:15 p.m.

Speaker:  Gary Zimmerman
Program:  Using City Directories in your genealogical research

Gary Zimmerman, President of the Fiske Genealogy Library, will present the final program in this year's series. The presentation will focus on how to locate a relevant directory, how to glean better information from a directory when you have access to it, and how to complement your research efforts by using digital directories.

Gary's programs are always useful, entertaining and educational. Attend and learn from him.