Upcoming Monthly Meetings
Monthly OGS general meetings will be "hybrid" (in-person at Westminster Presbyterian Church and also available via Zoom) during non-winter months. Meetings will be Zoom-only during the winter months (Nov, Jan, Feb).
In-person meetings are held at:
Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1925 Boulevard Rd SE, Olympia.
In preparation for the meeting please download and print out a copy of the speakers' program. Link will be posted on the day of the general membership meeting. If attending in person at the church, you may want to bring a clipboard to write on. Tables are not always set up,
| Date |
Speaker |
Presentation |
Speaker Location |
Audience Location |
| Dec 13 |
none |
Holiday Party: Saturday 13th from 1:00 to 3:00 pm.
Capital Vision Christian Church is at 1775 Yew Ave NE, Olympia.
|
none |
Capital Vision
Christian Church
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| Jan 8 |
J. Mark Lowe |
Finding Uncle John's Grist Mill, His Neighbors and That Cemetery Using Maps, Records and Stories |
Zoom |
Zoom |
Transcribing My Father-in-law’s Journals - Nov 13
 Helen Edwards presented "Transcribing My Father-in-law’s Naval Journals". Helen Edwards is a historian, author, and speaker with lifelong roots in Victoria, BC. With decades of experience in family history research, she has extensively explored her own heritage as well as that of her late husband's family. Helen is passionate about sharing her knowledge through public speaking engagements and has mentored numerous emerging researchers and authors. She is the author of six books and is currently working on her autobiography.
Helen's first book, "Dutchy’s Diaries," is a transcription of journals her father-in-law kept daily up to 1929, providing a compelling first-person perspective on life as a young naval officer and offering valuable insights into naval operations of that era. This book received The Keith Matthews Award from the Canadian Nautical Research Society in 2021, marking it as the first self-published work to be honored with this distinction.
A recording of this presentation will be available in the near future under Community Events / Recordings for OGS members who log in to this website.
The Skeletons in Your Family Closet - Oct 9
 "Even in the Best Families: How to Research and Share the Skeletons in Your Family Closet" was presented by Karen Wallace Steely at our October general meeting. You may remember Karen from our September 2024 meeting when she spoke about using photographs in your research.
Finding skeletons in your family history may be disconcerting but can also provide an opportunity to uncover new information about your ancestors. We discussed a variety of less common record sources which may be created when an ancestor behaves badly, as well as the challenges of deciding how to handle those skeletons in family histories and research reports. Three short case studies were included, highlighting specific strategies that can be used to uncover and use these uncommon records.
Karen is the principal genealogist for The Past Matters ® LLC (www.ThePastMatters.com) and specializes in researching old photographs. She has served on the board of directors for the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) and the Genealogical Speakers Guild, and is a member of the Daguerreian Society and the DAR. Karen lives in Vancouver, Washington with her husband and three cats.
A recording and handout of the meeting is now available to OGS members, log onto website; see Community Events / Recordings*. Corresponding handout is available by clicking on Publications/Files; Downloadable Files; Program Materials - OGS Only*; Steely. Handout and Recording are available through 18 November 2025
Researching Oregon Trail Ancestors - Sep 11
 Dawn Carlile presented "Researching Oregon Trail Ancestors" at our September 11 general meeting. The Oregon Trail extended approximately 2,000 miles from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon City, Oregon, from 1840 to 1869. More than 50,000 people traveled to Oregon, and a great number died on the journey. This talk covered resources for researching people and their lives along the trail.
Dawn Carlile is a professional genealogist, educator, and lecturer who enjoys teaching others about researching their families as much as she does about researching for her own family and the families of others. She has completed 15 institute courses at Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy, Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh, Institute of Genealogical and Historical Research, and Genealogical Institute on Federal Records. She is currently the president and an instructor for the Oregon Genealogical Society.
After many years of helping others with their research, Dawn started Genealogy Roots and Branches in 2021.
A recording and handout of the meeting is was available to OGS members through 16 October 2025.
Welcome to Our Website!
The OGS website is designed to allow our members to engage with each other as they trace their ancestors and discover their family histories. We want to make this site a dynamic experience. Here are just a few ways to engage on this site today:
If you aren’t already an OGS member, please consider joining and engaging with our community. To do so, see Membership in the menu in the left column.
OGS Needs You!
Fellow OGS Members, as we begin our 50th year as a group with the special interest of family history, we are looking to reconnect with the community at large while serving our membership's continued interest in all things genealogy! With this end goal in mind, we are in need of more members to become involved to helping out. Listed below are various opportunities to help. Take a look, see what you can contribute to help grow and keep OGS vital for the next 50 years!
- DIG Virtually - There is interest in having a group to help out members in the community like we have done in the past at the Olympia Library, but to do this virtually. Virtual meeting times may be a couple of times a month, perhaps a week day and a Saturday for a couple of hours. If we were to have 6-10 members volunteer, there could be a rotating schedule. Schedule would depend on how many members volunteer. Training will be provided. Send an email to Info@olygensoc.org if you have an interest in participating in this outreach opportunity.
- Meeting Tech Team - We have a location secured with all of the needed equipment for hybrid general membership meetings, but we need one or preferably two people who can help with the tech setup at the in-person site for each meeting. Set up is pretty simple. You would be bringing the OGS laptop to each meeting and making the connections; much easier than when we met at the courthouse!! Orientation/training will be provided. If you are interested, send an email to webmaster@olygensoc.org.
- Speakers Bureau team - From time to time we receive requests for a member from our organization to come and speak to a group about genealogy and OGS. It would be great to have a few members who would like to speak for 30-45 minutes about genealogy to a neighborhood group, classroom full of kids, or service organization. Opportunities for this maybe once or twice a year depending on how many setup to represent OGS. Great outreach opportunities to grow our organization. Send an email to Info@olygensoc.org if you have an interest!
2025-26 Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
OGS members, consider joining a Special Interest Group if you haven't done so. This is a great venue to learn more and get to know fellow members in a small group setting. SIGs are a benefit of membership so make sure your membership status is updated to access this wonderful benefit. SIG meetings will continue to be held virtually using Google Meet, except for the FTM SIG which will use Zoom, and Genealogy Chat which is in-person. See the SIGs page for a list of our SIGs, coordinators, meeting times, etc.
OGS Surname Database
OGS provides a searchable public database to which an OGS member can add the surnames of their ancestors. At this writing, the database includes 348 entries. See OGS Surname Database for more information.
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November 18
Monthly Board Meeting
OGS members in good standing are welcome to attend board meetings as observers only. Meetings are held monthly August through June on the third ...
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February 7
2026 Seminar
Cyndi Ingle will present a program of four one-hour presentations on Technology Tools.
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WSGS Calendar
Washington State Genealogical Society calendar
Web Tips
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