Washington Pioneer Pursuit
Calling all genealogists and genealogical societies!
The Washington State Genealogical Society invites all genealogical societies, historical societies and individuals to research and document every Pioneer who resided here on or before November 11, 1889, and two subsequent generations of their descendants.
Join in this project to document family histories for every person who lived in Washington Territory on or before Statehood was declared on November 11, 1889. Prizes will be awarded to individuals and to societies submitting the most entries. Everyone who participates will receive a one-year membership to WASGS. The contest runs from November 1, 2022 to October 31, 2023. Contest rules, submission forms and information are available below or at www.WASGS.org/PioneerPursuit .
EGS will be participating in this special project. If you have family who might have lived in the WA Territory in 1889 or are just interested in documenting a pioneer, join us to collaborate and discuss your research. Email Celia McNay for more information and to be on the email distribution list. We will begin meeting monthly to help each other starting in January 2023. Date, time, and place TBA.
At the Centennial anniversary in 1889, over 4,500 names of head of households were submitted as pioneers living in the territory. Household information was indexed and saved behind the firewall of WASGS’s website for about 30,000 – 40,000 individuals here at the time of statehood. However, there were almost 350,000 individuals living here so this database is needing an update. Two volumes were published with pioneer names, but not all of the family members were included. These are among the names that could be submitted now. We are encouraged to include special populations such as indigenous people, people of color, women, and children in the research.
The following links will be helpful to you:
Submission Rules https://www.wasgs.org/upload/files/Pioneer_Pursuit/Pioneer_Pursuit_Instructions.pdf
Submission Form https://www.wasgs.org/upload/files/Pioneer_Pursuit/Pioneer_Pursuit_Submission_Form.pdf
Submission Example
Frequently Asked Questions https://www.wasgs.org/upload/files/Pioneer_Pursuit/Pioneer_Pursuit_FAQ.pdf
Contest Rules https://www.wasgs.org/cpage.php?pt=99
Hints and Helps for Researchers https://www.wasgs.org/upload/files/Pioneer_Pursuit/Pioneer_Pursuit_Hints_and_Help.pdf
If you are new to genealogy, we have a Beginner’s section on our Resources page.
Library Helpers available online via Zoom Cloud Meetings.
With the library closed, the Board members have been working behind the scenes to provide programs for our members and the general public virtually. We are excited to let you know that the Genealogy Helpers will be available thru a Zoom meeting, one-on-one. For starters, we will have sign-ups for appointments for Wednesday afternoons, 1pm and 2pm slots. Use the link below or go to the kcls.org website and look under Events for Wednesdays. Our talented Library Volunteers will be hosting the help sessions.
https://kcls.bibliocommons.com/events/search/q=genealogy
You will need to download Zoom onto your phone or visit Zoom.com on your computer. You need a microphone and a camera on your computer.
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Did You Know?
Did you know that Eastside Genealogical Society has donated over 860 books to the Bellevue Regional Library? Here is a list of topics for your review. There is something there for almost everybody. Perhaps you will find your next big breakthrough in one of the books we donated.
| Topics | # of books |
| African Americans | 8 |
| Alabama | 2 |
| Alaska | 2 |
| Arkansas | 1 |
| Asia | 1 |
| Australia | 2 |
| Australia, Irish migration to | 1 |
| Austria | 1 |
| Belgium | 1 |
| Bibliography | 4 |
| British Americans | 1 |
| California | 7 |
| Canada | 8 |
| Canada, Alberta | 1 |
| Canada, Atlantic Provinces | 2 |
| Canada, British Columbia | 1 |
| Canada, Census | 1 |
| Canada, French | 1 |
| Canada, Immigration | 1 |
| Canada, Manitoba, Metis | 1 |
| Canada, New Brunswick | 1 |
| Canada, Newfoundland & Labrador | 1 |
| Canada, Ontario | 2 |
| Canada, Passports | 1 |
| Canada, Quebec | 2 |
| Census, U. S. | 4 |
| Census, U.S. | 4 |
| China | 1 |
| Church records, baptismal | 1 |
| Church records, Baptist | 1 |
| Church records, Catholic | 1 |
| Church records, Catholic (Nebraska & Iowa) | 1 |
| Church records, Catholic (Pacific Northwest) | 3 |
| Church records, Methodist | 1 |
| Civil War | 5 |
| Civil War, Confederate | 1 |
| Civil War, Union | 4 |
| Colonial America | 9 |
| Colorado | 1 |
| Connecticut | 10 |
| Czech Americans | 6 |
| Danish Americans | 1 |
| DAR | 1 |
| DAR Library | 1 |
| Delaware | 4 |
| Delaware River Valley | 1 |
| Denmark | 1 |
| District of Columbia | 1 |
| District of Columbia, libraries & archives | 1 |
| Draper Manuscripts | 1 |
| Dutch Americans | 1 |
| England | 6 |
| England, Gazetteer | 1 |
| Estonia | 1 |
| Europe, Eastern | 2 |
| European Americans | 2 |
| Female ancestors | 1 |
| Finland | 1 |
| Finnish Americans | 1 |
| Forensic genealogy | 1 |
| French Americans | 4 |
| French Canadians | 1 |
| Genealogical societies | 2 |
| Genealogy, dictionary | 2 |
| Genealogy, how-to | 17 |
| Genealogy, how-to, dates | 1 |
| Genealogy, medical terms | 2 |
| Genealogy, psychic aspects of | 1 |
| Genealogy, psychology | 1 |
| Genealogy, translation | 2 |
| Genealogy, writing and publishing | 5 |
| Genetics | 1 |
| Georgia | 7 |
| German & Swiss Americans | 1 |
| German Americans | 9 |
| German Americans, Iowa | 1 |
| German Americans, North Dakota | 1 |
| German Cooking | 1 |
| German, dictionary | 1 |
| Germans | 1 |
| Germans from Russia | 1 |
| Germany | 14 |
| Great Britain | 13 |
| Greece | 1 |
| Greek Americans | 2 |
| Handwriting, American | 2 |
| Handwriting, German | 1 |
| Heraldry, Irish | 1 |
| Hispanic Americans | 2 |
| Huguenots | 5 |
| Hungarian Americans | 1 |
| Hungary | 1 |
| Idaho | 3 |
| Illinois | 6 |
| Immigration | 7 |
| Immigration, passenger lists | 2 |
| Immigration, steamship lines | 1 |
| Indiana | 7 |
| Indiana, Quakers | 1 |
| Iowa | 3 |
| Ireland | 13 |
| Ireland, Cork | 1 |
| Ireland, Donegal | 1 |
| Ireland, Dublin | 1 |
| Ireland, Galway | 1 |
| Ireland, Gazetteer | 1 |
| Ireland, Londonderry | 1 |
| Ireland, Northern | 3 |
| Ireland, Palatines | 1 |
| Irish Americans | 12 |
| Italian Americans | 7 |
| Japan, heraldry | 1 |
| Japanese Americans | 1 |
| Jewish Cemeteries | 1 |
| Jews | 4 |
| Jews, Israel | 1 |
| Jews, Ukraine & Moldova | 1 |
| Kentuckians | 3 |
| Kentucky | 13 |
| King Philip’s War | 1 |
| Lineages | 1 |
| Louisiana | 3 |
| Loyalists | 2 |
| Loyalists, American | 3 |
| Loyalists, Canadian | 2 |
| Maine | 2 |
| Maine and New Hampshire | 1 |
| Maryland | 30 |
| Massachusetts | 25 |
| Michigan | 6 |
| Middle Atlantic States | 2 |
| Military Pensions | 1 |
| Minnesota | 4 |
| Mississippi | 3 |
| Missouri | 11 |
| Montana | 2 |
| Mormons | 1 |
| National Archives | 3 |
| National Archives, military records | 2 |
| National Archives, passenger lists | 1 |
| Native Americans | 5 |
| Naturalization | 1 |
| Naturalization records, U. S. | 2 |
| Nebraska | 5 |
| Netherlands | 1 |
| Nevada | 1 |
| New England | 19 |
| New England Historic Genealogical Society | 1 |
| New Jersey | 6 |
| New Mexico | 2 |
| New York | 35 |
| New York City | 13 |
| Newspapers | 2 |
| Newspapers, columns | 1 |
| Newspapers, missing persons | 1 |
| North and South Carolina | 3 |
| North Carolina | 12 |
| North Dakota | 1 |
| North Dakota and South Dakota | 1 |
| Norway | 1 |
| Norwegian Americans | 7 |
| Ohio | 13 |
| Ohio River Valley | 1 |
| Oklahoma | 3 |
| Oregon | 3 |
| Oregon, women pioneers | 1 |
| Pennsylvania | 41 |
| Periodicals | 1 |
| Photographs | 3 |
| Poland | 1 |
| Polish Americans | 5 |
| Quakers | 3 |
| Quakers, Ireland | 1 |
| Quakers, North Carolina | 1 |
| Quakers, Pennsylvania | 2 |
| Revolutionary War | 10 |
| Rhode Island | 3 |
| Romanian Americans | 1 |
| Russia | 1 |
| Scandinavia | 1 |
| Scandinavia, Denmark & Norway | 1 |
| Scandinavian Americans | 3 |
| Scotland | 5 |
| Scotland, Gazetteer | 1 |
| Scots-Irish | 8 |
| Scottish Americans | 16 |
| Sicily | 1 |
| Slovak Americans | 1 |
| Slovakia | 1 |
| South Carolina | 4 |
| Sweden | 3 |
| Swedish Americans | 6 |
| Switzerland | 1 |
| Tennessee | 10 |
| Texas | 4 |
| Tombstones | 1 |
| U.S. | 3 |
| U.S., atlases & gazetteers | 3 |
| U.S., court records | 1 |
| U.S., estate inventories | 1 |
| U.S., families of royal descent | 1 |
| U.S., fire insurance maps | 1 |
| U.S., land records | 3 |
| U.S., marriage notices | 1 |
| U.S., Midwest | 1 |
| U.S., migration routes | 2 |
| U.S., military | 2 |
| U.S., railroads | 1 |
| U.S., Southeast | 1 |
| U.S., tax lists | 2 |
| Ukraine | 2 |
| Vermont | 4 |
| Virginia | 34 |
| Virginia & West Virginia | 1 |
| Virginia, War of 1812 | 1 |
| Wales | 2 |
| Washington, archives and libraries | 5 |
| Washington, atlas | 1 |
| Washington, Bellevue | 4 |
| Washington, census | 1 |
| Washington, centennial | 1 |
| Washington, Island Co. | 1 |
| Washington, King Co. | 10 |
| Washington, King County | 2 |
| Washington, Kitsap Co. | 1 |
| Washington, Kittitas Co. | 6 |
| Washington, Lewis Co. | 1 |
| Washington, oral history | 1 |
| Washington, Pacific Co. | 1 |
| Washington, Pierce Co. | 2 |
| Washington, pioneers | 4 |
| Washington, Seattle | 10 |
| Washington, Skagit Co. | 10 |
| Washington, Snohomish and Island Co. | 1 |
| Washington, Snohomish Co. | 5 |
| Washington, Thurston Co. | 2 |
| Washington, Whatcom Co. | 1 |
| West Virginia | 4 |
| Wisconsin | 3 |
| World War I | 1 |
Eastside Genealogical Society 