PO Box 374 • Bellevue, Washington 98009-0374
Eastside Genealogical Society invites you to attend an event or become a member.
The Eastside Genealogical Society’s Book Club will meet June 13th at 10 AM PT via Zoom.
The book for this month is I Know Who You Are by Barbara Rae Venter.
Email Kimberly Nichols at vicepresident@eastsidegenealogicalsociety.org to request a zoom link and be added to the email list.
How to Reopen and Work a Genealogical Cold Case
Our speaker: Lisa Louise Cooke
Thursday, June 12, 2025
Networking and announcements at 6:30 pm Pacific; program at 7:00 pm
Via Zoom
About our speaker: Lisa Louise Cooke is the author of several books including The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox, 3rd edition. She produces and hosts the popular Genealogy Gems Podcast (founded in 2007) and publishes weekly videos at the Genealogy Gems YouTube channel. She offers on-demand genealogy education. And she writes a regular column for Family Tree Magazine and produces the Family Tree Magazine Podcast.
About our program: Become a genealogical detective in this vital session. You’ll learn to track ancestors like a criminal cold case detective, sniffing out holes in your research and getting missing information on the record with cutting edge technology.
Everyone is welcome—we hope you will join us.
For more information about EGS, visit our website at eastsidegenealogicalsociety.org
*The Zoom link will be sent to members, otherwise check the website close to the program date.
SHARING TIME
Share Your Italian Family Artifact, Document or Photo
Description: At our May meeting we invite you to share something related to your Italian family history or research. Perhaps you have an interesting family artifact or a photo from long ago. Or you may have found documents relating to your family’s past in Italy. Even if you don’t have keepsakes from your ancestors, you may wish to show us their Ellis Island passenger manifest or a photo of the Italian town where they lived. Feel free to be creative. We will all learn from this experience. Please share your item and tell us a little about the person it relates to, or how you discovered it, and what it means to your Italian family history.
ZOOM Meeting
When: 17-May-2025, Saturday
Time: 1:30 PM (PDT)
If you aren’t a registered member, you must request meeting access. Below is the button to request a meeting invitation.
Eastside Genealogical Society presents:
Scandinavian Church Records
Our speaker: Jenny Hansen
Thursday, May 8, 2025
Networking and announcements at 6:30 pm Pacific; program at 7:00 pm
Via Zoom—watch for the link*
About our speaker:
Jenny Hansen is currently a free-lance researcher and instructor, specializing in all things Scandinavia. She has a degree in Family History and Genealogy, is an Accredited Genealogist® (Danish research) and is also an Accredited Genealogist Lecturer™. Jenny serves as a commissioner for The International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICAPGen). Her hobbies include reading, finding old churches and cemeteries, and doing anything outdoors with her family. She blogs at www.MyFavoriteAncestor.com.
About our program: Church records are the backbone of Scandinavian research. After a parish of origin has been determined, these records provide the majority of the information needed to extend the pedigree of one’s family. This class will discuss the information found in church records and explain why these records are so important for family research. We will look at the layout of the records and explain record accessibility.
Everyone is welcome—we hope you will join us. Via this Zoom link
For more information about EGS, visit our website at eastsidegenealogicalsociety.org
Presenter:
Dana Palmer, CG®, CGL(SM) Dana specializes in lineage society applications, publishing family books, and Midwestern research – specifically Ohio. In addition to her client work, she is part of the Mayflower Silver Books team, and lectures at RootsTech and the National Genealogical Society (NGS) conferences.
When: Friday, 2nd of May, 2025 from 12:30 to 2:30 pm PDT
Zoom Registration Required: https://tinyurl.com/n92u343h
Topic: Tools for Reading German Handwriting
Understanding what is in your German records can be invaluable. Learn how to decipher the records using a variety of tools available. We’ll discuss handwriting changes over time, some tricks to reading the letters, and other helpful resources found in the FamilySearch Wiki, sütterlin schrift website, the handschrift script generator, the BYU script tutorial. We’ll also discuss using the German Genealogy Record Transcription Closed Facebook group, the German Genealogy Family Search Community Group, Google Translate, and the Google Translate App, and others.
More information: Visitors are always welcome. Our website is:
https://egsgermangroup.wordpress.com/
The Eastside Genealogical Society’s Book Club will meet May 9th at 10 AM PT via Zoom.
The book for this month is In The Blood by Steve Robinson.
Email Kimberly Nichols at vicepresident@eastsidegenealogicalsociety.org to request a zoom link and be added to the email list.
Italian Civil Registration – Other Documents: Diversi, Parte Due/Seconda & Cittadinanza
Description: Italian civil records provide great information – names, dates, parents, grandparents, and sometimes even addresses. But – have you ever ventured into those handwritten scary looking records at the end of the book? Parte 2, Diversi, and the Cittadinanza records offer up additional information – and sometimes quite colorful information. They are a window into the past. We will delve into each of these record types and discover some amazing stories and see the potential for help these records can provide when you find your ancestors within the pages.
Speaker Bio: Ruth Lapioli Merriman retired seven years ago after 35 years of working for FamilySearch. She worked cataloging Italian records and managing the International floor of the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City. She has lectured at national and international venues, at RootsTech and at various genealogical societies. She loves genealogy and all things Italian. She is a wife, a mother of four sons, and a grandmother of 6 of the best grandchildren ever.
If you aren’t a registered member, you must request meeting access. Below is the link to request a meeting invitation.
Meeting Friday April 18th, 2025
The Family Tree Maker SIG meets on the 3rd Friday of each month from 10:30AM to 12:30PM Pacific time via Zoom. (Check this website for information on each upcoming meeting date.) The next meeting will be on Friday, April 18, 2025. If you would like to attend and are not on the SIG e-mail distribution list, please send an e-mail to ftmsig@eastsidegenealogicalsociety.org to request the meeting link. The Family Tree Maker SIG will not meet in December.
There’s Gold in Federal Government Reports
Our speaker: Mark White
Thursday, April 10, 2025
Networking and announcements at 6:30 pm PT; program at 7:00 pm
About our speaker:
In 1991 Mark began researching his grandfather, who was orphaned at a young age, and his great-grandmother, finding his roots are mainly in New Jersey then back to Ireland. His wife also has the genealogy bug, and her research has taken them to many areas of the country. He has always had an interest in history, especially the Revolutionary War. Mark has been a member of the Monmouth County Genealogy Society since 1991 and President since 2017.
About our program:
This presentation covers obtaining records from 3 different federal agencies: the Railroad Retirement Board for employment records, with some medical records for anyone who worked for a railroad; Social Security to request a SS5 for a snapshot of a person’s life at the time of the application; and the National Personnel Records Center (part of the National Archives) for personnel-related records for both the military and civil services of the United States. How to navigate the online process of requesting records, fees and the email process of receiving the records will also be discussed.
Everyone is welcome—we hope you will join us.
For more information about EGS, visit our website at https://eastsidegenealogicalsociety.org
Presenter: Gail Blankenau
Gail Shaffer Blankenau is a historian, genealogist, speaker, and award-winning author. She serves on the boards of the Germanic Genealogy Society and Nebraska Historic Newspapers. Her history book, Journey to Freedom: Uncovering the Grayson Sisters’ Escape from Nebraska Territory, was released by the University of Nebraska Press in 2024.
When: Friday, 4th of April, 2025 from 12:30 to 2:30 pm Pacific Daylight Time (PDT)
Zoom Registration Required: https://tinyurl.com/5ab7ws8y
This presentation will NOT be recorded.
Topic: What’s in a Name? Deciphering German Given Names and Nicknames.
Genealogists often focus on surnames, but what happens when multiple ancestor candidates share the same name? German given names can be tricky—many individuals had multiple names but were known by a “Rufname” (call name).
Don’t let name confusion derail your research—discover strategies you need to ensure you’re barking up the right tree.
More information: Visitors are always welcome. Our website is:
https://egsgermangroup.wordpress.com/