"Holiday Social" - Dec 8 Meeting
Relive the past tradition of our December meeting - it's really a holiday social! There won't be any refreshments, but you are welcome to attend with your favorite snacks at hand. Please bring your stories of this past summer's research/reunion trips (or of previous years), or any family photos, heirlooms/keepsakes, stories you'd like to share with us - even tall tales that have been handed down. Use the feature 'Share the Screen' if you'd like (or not); tech help will be available.
The program will begin with a a short presentation about the WSGS Pioneer Pursuit project concerning those Washington ancestors who lived in Washington when it was a territory. WSGS is hoping to raise interest and volunteers to work on the project.
"The Art of the Interview" - Nov 10 Meeting
“The Art of the Interview and How My Norwegian Family Research Turned into a Historical Novel” - Don (Jerry) Pugnetti Jr.
The ability to do a good interview is a key skill for genealogists. Career journalist, author and communications expert Don (Jerry) Pugnetti Jr. shared his thoughts on those skills in his presentation on “The Art of the Interview”. In February 2022 Mr. Pugnetti published his debut historical novel, A Coat Dyed Black, A Novel of the Norwegian Resistance, set in World War II. Mr. Pugnetti discussed the journey of his Norwegian family history research, and how it ultimately turned into a historical novel.
A recording of the Zoom meeting is available for OGS members. Log in to the website and click on left side banner Community Events / Recordings*.
"Roslyn Cemeteries" - Oct 13 Meeting
Tucked into the historical mining town of Roslyn, Washington, which was founded in 1886, the Roslyn Cemeteries are 26 distinct multi-ethnic cemeteries two hours away from Olympia. The operation of the cemeteries is overseen by the Roslyn Ronald Cle Elum Heritage Club’s Roslyn Cemetery Committee. Maria Adams, the Vice Chair of the Committee, and Lynda Solter, Committee Historian, shared history of the cemeteries and discuss ongoing innovative projects they are working on with local community partners, including Central Washington University.
A recording of the Zoom meeting is available for OGS members. Log in to the website and click on left side banner Community Events / Recordings*.
Links are posted for the Roslyn Cemeteries; Interactive kiosk; Roslyn, Ronald, Cle Elum Heritage Club website; and the CWU historical interviews. You do not need to be logged in to view! Enjoy!
Special Interest Groups (SIGs) updates for 2022-23
It’s that time of year again to start up SIGs for the year. Make this year the year to attend a SIG meeting or two! This is a great venue to get to know more about genealogy software, DNA, how to write your story or ethnic research. The plus side is getting to know fellow members in a small group setting. Special Interest Groups (SIGs) are a benefit of membership so make sure your membership status is updated to access this wonderful benefit. As we have been doing the last couple of years, the meetings will be held virtually. However, we are switching the platform for our meetings to Google Meet. Google Meet functions much like Zoom for the attendees. You’ll find similar buttons that Zoom has. The gain for changing over is that the SIG facilitator will be the one sending out invites and creating the meeting links. The links will still be found on the corresponding SIG webpage. If you would like to be on the SIG list, please send an email to the facilitator to be included on their list of members. You’ll find their email contact on the Membership List.
Feel free to contact the facilitator to learn more about a group. More information is shared on the SIG pages and the related Forums once you have logged onto the OGS website. Access to the SIGs and Forums is a benefit of membership; if you aren't a member yet, join up and start taking in all that OGS membership offers!!
Special Interest Groups and Facilitators:
- ANCESTRY - Greg Nordlund; meets 4th Saturday 11:00 am - 1:00 pm
- DNA - Nancy Cordell; meets 2nd Tuesday 6:30 pm
- FAMILY HISTORY WRITING - Laura Carroll meets 1st Monday 7:00 - 9:00 pm (note change in start time)
- FAMILY TREE MAKER - David Abernathy; meets 4th Thursday 10:00 am
- FAMILY SEARCH.org – Carolyn Gibbons; meets 4th Wednesday 6:00 - 8:00 pm
- GENEALOGY CHAT - Peggy Cooley; meets 3rd Wednesday 1:00 - 2:30 pm
- ITALIAN - Greg Nordlund; meets quarterly (Nov, Feb, May, Aug) 1st Saturday 11:00 am.
- LEGACY FAMILY TREE - Jerri McCoy; meets 3rd Saturday 1:00 pm
OGS is always interested in starting new SIGs, if you have a topic in mind please contact Kerry Upton. Every SIG needs a coordinator, please let Kerry know if you are willing to be a SIG coordinator. All SIG meetings will be hosted on Google Meet.
1950 U.S. Federal Census Data has been released!
Welcome to Our Website!
The Olympia Genealogical Society's website is designed to allow our members to engage with each other as they trace their ancestors, fill out their family trees, and discover their family histories. We want to make this site a dynamic experience where members can share with and learn from one another. 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 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.
OGS Newsletter
_Pugnetti_photo_for_Nov_2022_meeting.jpg)
