Past Meetings:

May 9th, 2019

On May 9th we will have the second half of our presentation “Expanding your Research, Beyond the Big Three Databases”. This will delve into ways to find more records about your ancestors.

The slides can be found at this link: Expanding Your Research v2.

Slides for part 2 can be found here. Expanding Your Research Part 2

April 11th

  • Eastside Genealogical Society’s April 11th General Meeting:  A New Country with New Lands – Early United States migration patterns.  If you have ancestors who were in the US in 1776, they often spread out after the Revolutionary War to populate this new country.  Certain migration patterns were established due to bounty lands, government programs, and patriotism.  As you work backward on your family line, these common pathways will guide you to their early homes.  ​
  • Speaker: Larry Thompson, retired History teacher, and genealogy enthusiast will present us with historical context for the early migration patterns.  This will be the ‘history’ of Family History, which is so important to give us an understanding of our family’s comings and goings during the early years of our nation.​
  • Following are the references used for this presentation

    • Billington, Ray Allen, Westward Expansion, New York: Macmillian Co., 1949. (Subsequent editions)

      Bragdon, Henry W., Samuel P. McClutchen, History of a Free People, New York: Macmillian Co., 1961.

      Kerrigan, William, Johnny Appleseed And The American Orchard, Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2012.

      Philbrick, Nathaniel, Mayflower, A Story of Courage, Community, and War, New York; Viking Press, 2006.

      Waitley, Douglas, Roads 0f Destiny, New York: Robert B. Luce, Inc., 1970

      Illustrations

          Billington, Ray Allen, Westward Expansion, New York: Macmillan Co., 1949

          American History Atlas, New Jersey: C.S. Hammond & Co., 1968

March 14th, 2019 meeting

  • Topic: Beyond the Big 3 Websites – How to use Facebook, YouTube, Google Books, Wikipedia, Blogs, and Podcasts to Enhance your Genealogical Research.  We will present a panel discussion on these and other social media goldmines for networking, learning, and expanding your family history.
  • Link to slide presentation and notes.  Press here.  Expanding Your Research v2

February 21st meeting

  • The topic will be “Using the ideaX Makerspace for Genealogy”​
  • The Makerspace on the first floor of the Bellevue Library (1111 110th Ave NE, Bellevue) has been reserved for the EGS members and guests.  What can you do there?​
  •                 Digitize your VHS films​
  •                 Record a family story​
  •                 Upload digitized oral histories to your preferred websites​
  •                 Use the databases of the library system on computers in the Makerspace​

November 8th, 2018

Heritage Night 

at EGS

Nov 8th   7 pm, Bellevue Library

It’s Our Family’s Past That Will
Strengthen Our Family Today.
Bring an artifact, a story, or a tasty treat to share.
After a short video, we will have plenty of time to
Look, Listen, and Eat!
Wear ethnic clothes, if you have them!!!!
Please RSVP to Celia McNay so we can know how many will be bringing things.  cmcnay@gmail.com

October 11th, 2018

“Legaleze if you Please”

The October general meeting of EGS will feature Jason Quackenbush, Attorney at Law, who will discuss how to read historical legal documents in order to get the most information possible from them. If you have historical legal documents you would like him to review, you can email an image of the document to: jfquackenbush@gmail.com in advance of the meeting.

June 14, 2018

The Eastside Genealogical Society will meet on Thursday, June 14th, 2018 in the Bellevue Regional Library (Room 1), 1111 – 110th Ave NE, Bellevue, WA 98004 at 7 pm, with doors opening at 6:30 pm for networking.

Two events:  1) “Preparing to Visit an Archive”, including Fiske Genealogical Library, NARA in Seattle, and the Family History Library in Salt Lake City will be presented by Celia McNay, President of EGS.  Now that the rain has stopped, are you ready to be out and search for records???  Preparing in advance for an archive visit will better enable you to be successful.  Are there special collections?  Is there someone to assist with resources?  When is the best time to go?  This and more will be covered so when you visit a library or archive this summer, you won’t come home empty-handed!

2) Honoring past EGS Presidents and serving refreshments, as part of the commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of EGS.  Come learn, mingle, and celebrate 40 years of finding ancestors!

Presenter:  Celia McNay did her first family history project when she was 16 years old and has been doing genealogy, preserving family stories, and searching out relatives ever since.  She has a bachelor’s degree in Family History and enjoys teaching others about genealogy. Celia is the current president of Eastside Genealogical Society, a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, and is a Family History consultant for the LDS Church.  She taught for the Bellevue Regional Library in their ‘Genealogy Boot Camp’ workshops in 2013, 2014, and 2016 and in the Family History Fair for four years.

May 10th

Topic: : ‘How do I Know That’s Right?’, presented by Mary Katherine Kozy. Come and get hints about how to assess whether or not the information you’ve found is accurate.”

April 12, 2018

The Eastside Genealogical Society will meet on Thursday, April 12, 2018 in the Bellevue Regional Library (Room 1), 1111 – 110th Ave NE, Bellevue, WA 98004 at 7 pm, with doors opening at 6:30 pm for networking.

Topic: A panel of experienced researchers will help people break down their family research brick walls.  Come learn their tips.

Also see our website for FREE genealogical help and other Special Interest Group meetings. Visitors are always welcome at all meetings.  https://eastsidegenealogicalsociety.com/

September 14th

Celia McNay will present a class on using the FamilySearch Research Wiki.

May 11, 7 pm

The representative from Gorham Printing is coming to talk to us about self-publishing our family histories and memoirs; a great idea as a gift or for the summer family reunion.

April 13, 7 pm

Janice Lovelace, “Is Great-Grandmother Really Native American? An introduction to Native American Genealogical Research”

Many families have the oral history that an ancestor was Native American. How does a family researcher begin to discover if this is true? What federal, state and tribal records are available? the presenter will guide you through these specialized resources.

March 9th

Mary Kircher Roddy – The Westward Migration

February 9th meeting

The Eastside Genealogical Society will meet on Thursday, February 9, 2017 in the Bellevue Regional Library (Room 1), 1111 – 110th Ave NE, Bellevue, WA 98004 at 7 pm, with doors opening at 6:30 pm for networking.

Topic:  WikiTree is a free, shared social networking genealogy website that allows users individually to research and contribute to their own personal family trees, while building and collaborating on a singular worldwide family tree within the same system.  Come learn about this useful website.

January 12th meeting:

Topic:  Maps and Genealogy

Genealogists have many tools to describe what our ancestors did. Maps allow us to describe where they did it. This presentation will demonstrate how to build a custom ancestral map in Google Earth.  Resources to build a custom map, like the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries and U.S. Geological Survey, will be discussed. Other online mapping resources, some directly applicable to Google Earth and some not, will also be discussed.

Presenter:  Joe Flint

Joe has been doing Genealogy for about 16 years.  He is a retired computer programmer and has a Bachelor degree in History from the University of Washington. (Go Dawgs!)  He has been fascinated with maps since childhood and is eager to share the wonders of Maps and Genealogy.