New Society Board There To Help Members

Congratulations to the new board of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society! If you know any of these knowledgeable folks, feel free to ask them any genealogical question.

Dean Clay is president; John Zeimantz, Rosemary Braun and Kay Hale are vice-presidents; Melissa Siegel and Barbara Hensley are secretaries; Nancy Edwards is treasurer; Marie Nelson and Susan Miller are librarians; Constance Clay is member-at-large; and Bruce Austin, Marilu Sartain and Lois Bender are trustees.

Our thanks to Bette Topp as past president and to her entire board.

EWGS folks are continuing with projects to help all genealogists:

Microfilming records from Greenwood and Riverside cemeteries and make them available nationally. The committee included Jeanne Tomlin, Ann Hemmert, Rosemary Braun, Don Fairburn and Nancy Edwards.

EWGS and the Northeast Washington Genealogical Society in Colville, Wash., expect to soon publish Vol. 1 of members’ Bible Records.

Last August, a dozen society members under the direction of Mary Jean Freese manned shifts to sell coffee and cookies at the rest stop on the road to the Tri-Cities, and made a tidy sum for the book-buying fund.

On a whim, during their shift of handing out coffee and cookies, Bruce and Diane Austin posted their surnames next to the goody jar. One response actually led to a distant cousin who had information for them going back several generations.

But, Austin said, some of the information she received had come from the same town historian obtained by another cousin who shared it with her.

“Thinking I’d received all there was, I never wrote to the town historian again to ask about related families, or if there was any new information. But, this distant cousin did, and what a find - and do I feel dumb.

“Please tell your readers to write back to sources occasionally and ask if they have more or new information.”

This is good advice for all genealogists.

EWGS member Lorraine Cook White has had her third book, “The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records” published by Genealogical Publishing Co. of Baltimore, Md.

Records from the towns Andover through Bridgeport are now available in published form. The introduction to White’s books explains how Gen. Lucius Barnes Barbour headed a project between 1911 and 1934 to copy the vital records of Connecticut’s towns with records dating back to 1640. These books are absolutely essential to early Connecticut researchers, and may be ordered from the publishing company at (800) 296-6687.

The Genealogy Section in the downtown library has them on microfilm.

The latest issue of The Bulletin, the quarterly publication of EWGS, had a top-notch News Hotline section.

Editor Kathie MacGregor included information on a variety of libraries that will appeal to genealogists: the Virginia State Library, the Library of Congress, the Newberry Library, two Seattle-area libraries, the Heritage Quest Library and the Fiske Foundation Library.

There was also information on obtaining copies of U.S. passports, the new Filby Index, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Veteran’s Burial Location Assistance, indentured servants - plus 14 other topics.

I hope this makes you want to become a member of EWGS so that you will have all this good information at your fingertips. Send your $20 membership check to EWGS, PO Box 1826, Spokane, WA 99210-1826.

Reader Dave Perkins of Spokane wrote that he tried to access the Oklahoma Genealogical Research Group in Stigler, Okla., as per my column of March 19. He found this service has gone out of business. So cross that off your Oklahoma-resource list, and thanks, Dave, for the update.

Also referring to a previous column - this one concerning Roslyn, Wash., and its cluster of ethnic cemeteries, Kittitas County Genealogy Society member Marjorie Boles has completed an index to the book “Spawn of Coal,” the history of Roslyn covering the period 1886-1955, and published in 1955.

That society is also well into the project to publish all the cemetery records. Boles’ index is $4.75, postpaid, and may be ordered from the Kittitas group at PO Box 1342, Ellensburg, WA 98926.

There are also updates on two other resources previously mentioned in this column. The periodical Southern Queries has indexes for its first four years of publication. The index spanning May-June 1990 through March-April 1993 (the first 18 issues) costs $10 postpaid.

For this amount, you can have the index on either computer disk or in paper form. The fourth-year supplement, May-June 1993 through May-June 1994, is available only in paper and costs $2.50, postpaid (or $2 when ordered with the first index).

Southern Queries is a top-notch publication, carrying timely and helpful articles on Southern research as well as pages and pages of queries on Southern ancestors.

To subscribe, send $24 for one year or $42 for two years to PO Box 726, Durham, NC 27702-0726. Southern Queries is available in paper form or on microfiche for the same price. All back issues are available on microfiche.

“The Genealogist’s Video Research Guide, Part Four,” covering compiled sources, is now available. The sources include city directories, newspapers, cemetery and sexton records, fraternal organization and lineage society records, tax lists and biographical indexes.

Part Four joins the first three videos which explain all the getting-started resources for genealogists.

If you’d like to attend a really good class over and over from the comfort of your recliner, here’s your opportunity! Send your check for $29.95, postpaid, to Video Knowledge, 32 North 200 East, Suite 1, Spanish Fork, UT 84660; or call (800) 34-ROOTS.

These videos would be handy for genealogy societies to augment their program line-up. Or, give yourself an early Christmas present. You won’t be sorry.

Today’s tip: The newest and biggest genealogy shop in Spokane is Ancestors Plus in Shadle Center. Besides a wide variety of reference books from all major genealogical publishers, the shop carries genealogy magazines and a variety of beginners’ books. It also has a full line of Research Outlines from the Family History Library (50-cent pamphlets on each state, plus several research topics).

Ann and Lew Hemmert are the proprietors. Give them a call at 328-6558, or drop by their shop.

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The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Donna Potter Phillips The Spokesman-Review