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We looked at the mysteries that our family photographs hold and how we might unravel them. Our expert guest was Maggie Cogswell from the Washington State Archives. She covered the basics of what you might look for in these photos and offer tips and resources that may help us learn more about the people, dates and places in them. At the end of the program, we asked Maggie to take a look at a couple of member photos.

 

Resources for Photos mentioned in the presentation will be attached to recording link following the meeting.

 

Photo credit: Kerry McHugh Upton's collection, title: Rev Schubert's Funeral.  Location possibly, Adams Co, Illinois

Dues-paying OGS members (except those who joined after June 1 this year or who already have renewed) may renew on-line after logging in to this site. After logging in, please follow the directions to renew your membership. A link to the referenced "Member Profile" page can be found in the menu in the left column under "Members Login".

 

If you have any trouble logging in or renewing your membership, please contact us at membership@olygensoc.org.

Great News!  We have some updates to our SIGs for this coming year.  Laura Carroll has volunteered to facilitate the Family History Writing SIG this year. Meetings will resume September 6^th.  Log on and click on SIGs on left banner, select Family History Writing. You’ll be taken to a page with the Zoom link.  Meeting time is 6:00 pm September 6, 2021.

 

Along with this great news, Nancy Cordell will facilitate the DNA SIG this year.  The emphasis will be on SIG members leading portions of the meetings.  Because we are a Zoom platform, you can share your DNA results to have others help interpret your results and how to move forward with your research.

 

Nancy also generously has agreed to facilitate a SIG for MyHeritage as well.  The first meeting will be an organizational meeting to determine the needs and how members can contribute.  We are planning on it being held in October.

 

One group that I left off of the original post for a potential SIG is Legacy software.  We are in need of someone to facilitate that group as well.  I have an interest in this software so I could host the Zoom sessions if someone would like to step forward and facilitate this group.  Once again, since we would be meeting on the Zoom platform we can share our personal Legacy pages to have SIG members help each other with their research.  The facilitator does not need to be an expert in Legacy, this can be a joint effort to help each other in our own research, to learn how to use Legacy better.  This can be for beginner’s to expert users.  Please contact me if you have an interest in helping to get this group started.

 

Thanks all for stepping forward! This is what makes OGS a great group to belong to!  Members supporting each other through our own family research.

 

Looking forward to what this year has to offer for us!

Kerry

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Welcome Back!   With the start up of this year’s calendar, our SIGs (Special Interest Groups) are getting started back up as well.  This last summer several surveys were sent out to the membership to respond to.  One area that we were focusing on was the Special Interest Groups.  There continues to be interest in DNA, Writing your family story, Ancestry, Family Tree Maker, and Family Search.org.  Interest was also expressed by many members for SIGs covering Legacy Software, RootsMagic, Native American research, FindMyPast.com, and MyHeritage.  There is quite a bit of interest for these groups, we just need someone to step up to be the facilitator.  The facilitator does not need to be fluent or an expert in these areas, they just need to have an interest in the topic.  The facilitator typically will set a time for the meeting possibly monthly, bimonthly or quarterly.  A location isn’t needed since our SIGs will be via Zoom.  The facilitator should send out a reminder a day or two before the meeting to remind the regular attendees that it’s time for them meeting.  There will be someone from the Zoom team to assist you with running the meeting via Zoom, so no experience needed for Zoom.  Check over the list and let me know if you can be a facilitator for any of these groups!

 

We have a few changes to this year’s line-up, at present time, here is the line up of SIGs:

 

Special Interest Groups and Facilitators:

• ANCESTRY - Greg Nordlund; meets 4^th Saturday 11am – 1pm
• FAMILY TREE MAKER - David Abernathy; meets 4^th Thursday 10am
• FAMILY SEARCH - Carolyn Gibbons – starting in January 2022
• DNA – in need of a facilitator
• FAMILY HISTORY WRITING – in need of a facilitator
• ITALIAN – Greg Nordlund is interested in leading this group.  Please contact him if you are interested in attending.  He’ll form a group!
• Native American – in need of a facilitator
• Find My Past – in need of a facilitator
• MyHeritage.com – in need of a facilitator

 

Special Interest Groups are open to all current members.  Feel free to contact the facilitator to learn more about the group. More information is shared on the SIG Pages and the Forum page once you have logged onto the OGS website, Members Only section.  Access to the SIGs and Forums are a benefit of membership; if you aren't a member yet, join up and start taking in all that membership offers!

At our final meeting before the summer break, we spent the evening hearing members' stories from our own research and trees.

 

A recording of this presentation is available for OGS members who are logged in to this site. After logging in, see Community Events / Recordings*.

Maggie Cogswell from the Washington State Archives shared her adventures completing the massive, 11-year project of digitizing and cataloging photos of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). 

 

 

Photo: "Mopping Up," 1931-1937, State Parks and Recreation Commission, Photographs of Park Development, 1933-1938, SP10, Washington State Archives, Digital Archives, http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov, accessed 2 May 2021.

 

Our Spring Seminar

featuring Rick Sayre, CG^® 

was held Sat., April 24, 2021.

See Seminar 2021 details.

 

 

Important changes have been made to the ordering of birth and death certificates effective 1 Jan 2021 as a result of a new vital records law. See WA Dept. of Health FAQ web page for more info.

 

See the National Archives website for more information.

OGS Special Interest Groups (SIGs) are open only to OGS Members as a benefit of membership. For more information on the five current SIGs, please see SIGs.

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:

• Go to Members Login* in the main menu and log in.
• Review your Profile and provide any appropriate revisions to your Contact Info and Member Settings. Email a photo of yourself to Membership@OlyGenSoc.org for posting to the Membership List.
• Under the Surnames tab of your profile, add the names of your ancestors.
• Join one or more of the Special Interest Groups (SIGs).
• Contribute to one of the Forums.
• Submit feedback, topic ideas or tips to Webmaster@OlyGenSoc.org.

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.

See the current OGS Newsletter.

 

See the Newsletter Archives.