News & Notes

Our May meeting will be on Tuesday, May 14^th. Our own Cyndi Howells will be speaking on Evaluating Websites. This will be our last meeting before our annual summer break, the perfect time for genealogy trips and brickwall breakthroughs!

Thanks to everyone — volunteers, speakers, vendors, and especially all the attendees — who helped make our 2013 Spring Seminar a success! And now the planning starts for 2014.

Genealogy website Mocavo is reviving the spirit of the Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness (RAOGK) volunteer record lookup website in its Genealogy Karma website. Check it out — maybe you can find someone to help you with a brickwall, or volunteer to help others yourself.

The (PRONI) has released a new genealogy resource for Northern Ireland. , along with FamilySearch, has digitized the Valuation Revision Books, 1864-1933. These books contain a list of landholders and their property valuations in counties Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone. The records are handy for filling in gaps between Griffiths Valuation (which ends in 1864) and the 1901 census (the earliest surviving Irish census).

Even though RootsTech is now over, you can still view some sessions. Check it out at RootsTech. Just click on the one you would like to view.

Members should have recently received the latest issue of the Newsletter. Newsletters are now sent out by e-mail, and also posted on the website. Therefore the April/May issue is now available. And don't forget to submit your Queries for the Newsletter — they will also be posted on the website.

FamilySearch's long-awaited Family Tree is now available for everyone to use. According to their website "Family Tree is an updated approach to organizing and recording your genealogy online. It is free, available to everyone, and provides an easy way to share information, compare research, and go further faster by working together. Family Tree development is ongoing and aggressive, so you can expect frequent updates, including additional training materials."

From The Weekly Genealogist, the e-newsletter sent out by the New England Historic Genealogical Society: Researchers with New Hampshire ancestors can look forward to the launch of a major initiative by the New Hampshire Historical Society. The Society is working to create a new comprehensive online resource, NH History Online, which will include digital images of its collections, as well as transcriptions and interpretive information. The material to be digitized includes 31,000 objects, 200,000 photographs, and over two million manuscript pages.

NH History Online is modeled upon the nationally acclaimed Maine Memory Network, a project of the Maine Historical Society. The timeline calls for the creation of the final blueprint for the project over the next six months, with a fall implementation and a projected launch of NH History Online in late 2013/early 2014.

Have you ever wondered how long it took your ancestors to travel across the United States in the 1800s? Author Michael Graham Richard addresses that question in his article How fast could you travel across the U.S. in the 1800s? on Mother Nature Network.

New! Veterans Graves in Pierce County, WA — Extracted from a 1939 WPA project, this database consists of a name Index plus a further eight items extracted from the cards by society volunteers. These cards are in the holdings of the Northwest Room of the Tacoma Public Library. Contact the Library for additional information.

Arlington National Cemetery has unveiled a public database of the 400,000 burials there. Called ANC Explorer, the database is available online and as a Mobile app. You can search it to locate gravesites on a map; get details including birth, death and interment dates, and branch of service; generate front and back photos of a headstone or monument (where available); and get directions to those gravesites.

The National Archives has launched new online videos of its most popular genealogy “how to” workshops. These videos cover “hot topics” in genealogical research such as Civil War records, online resources and databases, and more. These workshops led by National Archives experts are available on the National Archives YouTube channel. The National Archives produced Know Your Records video shorts cover the creation, scope, content, and use of National Archives records for genealogical research.

Elizabeth Shown Mills, the universally-acknowledged expert in genealogy documention, has published a companion website to her book Evidence Explained. Explore this website and sheck out the Quick Lessons posted there.

Do you ever wonder what an immigrant's name may have been in their country of origin? Or what your name might be if you still lived in that country? Check out English Equivalents of Foreign Given Names to find out.

The Tacoma-Pierce County Genealogical Society is now offering a Tacoma Area Obituary Look Up Service. Due to cutbacks at the Tacoma Public Library they are no longer able to offer this service, so have asked the society if we would take it on.

Washington Digital Archives is a fabulous place to search for your Washington ancestors. Other states are also establishing digital archives, such as Michigan's Seeking Michigan. To find one for your state of interest try Googling the state name along with "digital archives" or check out Cyndi's List.

Older News

As news items on the Home Page are replaced by newer ones, those of lasting interest will be placed here.

Monthly Meetings:
Guests are always welcome at our meetings. Come meet other Pierce-County genealogists and listen to great speakers.

History of the Tacoma-Pierce County Genealogical Society:
The society was organized in the spring of 1961 and began with 6 members, ending its first full year with 54 members. There are currently more than 350 members in the society, many of whom live in the Tacoma-Pierce County area of Washington state, as well as many other areas of the United States.

Top

Links to Related Genealogical & Historical Resources Online:

Tacoma Public Library
- The Genealogy Collection at the TPL
  Be sure to see the listing for the Topical Shelf List of the Genealogical Collection at the Tacoma Public Library.
- Northwest Room & Special Collections
- Ships and Shipping Database
- Tacoma Obituary Database
- Washington Place Names
Pierce County Library System
Tacoma Historical Society
The Seattle Public Library Genealogy Collection
National Archives-Pacific Alaska Region (Seattle)
- National Archives Microfilm Collection in Seattle
  A list of 549 microfilm publications available at the regional branch of the National Archives in Seattle, Washington. Take a look to see what else they have to offer on microfilm besides copies of the U.S. Federal Census!
- Selected Finding Aids for Archival Holdings at NARA's Pacific Alaska Region (Seattle)
Puget Sound Genealogy Resources
A list of research libraries and institutions in the greater Puget Sound area.
Washington State Genealogical Society
Washington State Historical Society
The Washington USGenWeb Page
- The Pierce County USGenWeb Page
Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet
- Cyndi's List - Washington
TAPCUG - Tacoma Area PC Users Group

Top

Tacoma-Pierce County Genealogical Society PO Box 1952, Tacoma, Washington 98401, USA Updated Monday, 13 May 2013, 09:12:07 AM MDT Hosted by RootsWeb
Copyright © 1996-2013 by TPCGS. All rights reserved. This site may be freely linked to but not duplicated in any fashion without the consent of TPCGS. All graphics property of TPCGS.