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Genealogy Resources
Genealogical Stories
The path to our ancestors is often fraught with brick walls and misleading information. But occasionally we get a break, like Michelle Obama. Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak, the speaker at last months Washington State Genealogy Conference, recently tracked Mrs. Obama’s family back to 1844, during a time of inequality and racial tension. Mrs. Obama’s great-great-great grandmother was a slave. And her son was biracial, born of a black mother and a white father. Mrs. Obama is an ancestor of a woman who survived some of the worst things life can throw at you and survived. Her descendants were carpenters and painters and civil rights activists and the first lady of the United States. Stories are waiting to be told and, while we may not have a Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak to help us, the excitement is in the discovery and the stories that are waiting to be told. For more on the search of Mrs. Obama’s ancestors you can read the New York Times story.
EWGS 2009 Calendar of Events:
September 11-13, 2009 - Washington State Genealogical Society 2009 State Conference
Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak will be the featured speaker at the Davenport Hotel.
October 3, 2009 - Welcoming The New Family Search, How Is It Different
Donna Potter Phillips will broaden our horizons.
November 7, 2009 - Online Record Keeping
Miriam Midkiff will present this "new" medium of keeping our records.
See also their list of Genealogy computer classes.
The Eastern Washington Genealogical Society is here to help you! Volunteers are on duty every Tuesday 10 AM - 4 PM in the Genealogy Area to answer questions and assist researchers. Beginning researchers are encouraged to visit. Please call ahead (509-444-5357) if you are coming from out of town or to make sure that a genealogist is on hand to assist you.
Check flyers posted in the Genealogy Area for information on workshops, beginner classes, luncheons and other activities. Please feel free to attend all functions...and you are also invited to join the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society.
The Downtown branch of the Spokane Public Library houses a growing collection of genealogical resources, with special emphasis on Spokane, Eastern Washington and the surrounding states.
Resources housed in the Genealogy Area on the Third Floor include a collection of Spokane city directories, Spokane newspapers obituary indexes, census microfilm, periodicals, family histories, vertical files and much more.
Other resources of interest to genealogy researchers, such as the county plat maps, Sanborn fire maps, early Spokane newspaper indexes, etc are located in the Northwest History Room on the Second Floor.
Spokane Newspapers from 1882 to 1894 are on microfilm in the Northwest Room and from 1895 to present are on the Third Floor.
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