Ancestors Plus Offers Genealogists Plenty

There is a new genealogy store in north Spokane - have you been there yet?

Lou and Ann Hemmert are gradually turning their LaDecor gift shop into Ancestors Plus at the corner of Wellesley and Alberta in the Shadle Shopping Center.

Hemmert says they will have an assortment of genealogical forms, books, maps and novelties like sweat shirts, pins and tote bags.

They will also have heraldry information and a coat of arms for nearly any family surname. Phone orders are welcome - (509) 328-6558 - and they will accept all credit cards.

Since we are all still in the “Beginning of the New Year mode,” I’d like to share some “bits and pieces” of “this and that.”

A public kudo to the new board of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society: president, Bette Butcher Topp; vice presidents Marveline Roach Carney, Rosemary Hoffman Braun and Juanita McBride; secretaries Lola King McCreary and Dean Clay; treasurer Betty Ruth Deesten; librarians Marie Nelson and Sue Miller; and board members Naomi Dow Sullivan, Don Fairburn, Lois Adams Bender and Nancy Haskin Edwards.

These folks not only keep the society going, but work closely with the Spokane Public Library to maintain the Genealogy Section and plan monthly meetings to teach genealogy to any interested area genealogists.

Thanks to them all - and ask any one for more about EWGS or how to begin your family history.

Melode Hall is now a full-time consultant with Creative Memories and is available anytime to help you turn family mementos, photos and letters into beautiful scrapbooks. She loves to bring supplies and conduct workshops for any age or size group. Call her at (509) 328-3942.

Nancy Bunker heads a committee to research the history of the Great Northern School, a small rural school west of Spokane. Does anyone have old photos, newspaper clippings or memories concerning this school? If so, please contact her at 466-5772 or P.O. Box 28968, Spokane, WA 99228-8968.

I have shown the wonderfully entertaining video ” Out Of Your Tree! Crazy About Genealogy” in many of my classes, and it is always well received (which means folks learn genealogy while chuckling over Robert Burns’ teaching antics). If you would like a copy of this video, send $39.95 to Cinetex, Inc., P.O. Box 549, Austin, Texas 78767, or call (800) 445-7792. Give yourself some worthwhile entertainment to finish off the dark days of winter.

If you regularly travel around Washington and would enjoy visiting with other genealogy groups and attend their workshops or seminars, then you should belong to the Washington State Genealogical Society. Membership also brings you a discount to attend the annual WSGS conference (to be held in Yakima next May; stay tuned for details). Send your check for $7.50 for a years’ membership to WSGS, P.O. Box 1422, Olympia, WA 98507-1422.

Have you called for your 1995 catalog from Picton Press (800) 742-8667? They specialize in New England books. How about Genealogical Publishing (800) 296-6687? Or Everton Publishers (800) 443-6325? Everton publishes the Helper and “The Handy Book.” Ancestry, Inc. (800) 262-3787 offers a super newsletter and a line of genealogy help books. The updated version of “The Source” is now available from Ancestry, and their brand new book, “U.S. Military Records, A Guide to Federal and State Sources - Colonial America to the Present” is also available. One last company offering a bi-monthly book catalogue is Heritage Books, Inc. (800) 398-7709.

Remember the mantra I teach in my classes: “If it’s free, take two!”

Coming full circle back to the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society: it has published a supplement to the “Holdings Book.” That book, published in 1991, needed a nearly 50-page supplement to print the corrections and additions. These books are invaluable to the local genealogist who uses the downtown library’s Genealogy Section. They enable you to look up and list the books you might want to check before arriving at the the library in your search for genealogical answers. The price is $7.50 for the supplement, $16 for the 1991 “Holdings Book,” or $20 for both. You may buy them from a society volunteer in the Genealogy Section any Thursday or order them from EWGS, P.O. Box 1826, Spokane, WA 99201.

Here’s an update to the Thanksgiving column. Carol Leithead from Colville, Wash., wrote to say that “mangoes” in 1796 were “probably red and green peppers stuffed with chopped cabbage and spices with the top sewed shut and covered with vinegar in a crock for three weeks.”

So says a 1936 Ball canning book for “mangoes,” and Leithead adds, “that’s all I knew existed until I was grown.”

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