Volume XXXVIII, Number 6 Salem, Oregon June 2016

President: Elizabeth Tice—503-363-0880—email: eliztice@comcast.net

Newsletter Editor: Elizabeth Tice—503-363-0880—email: willvgs@yahoo.com

WVGS Web Site http://www.wvgsor.org

WILLAMETTE VALLEY GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

WVGS ACTIVITIES—SALEM

June 9th, Thursday 11:30 am to 1:30 pm WVGS Executive Board Meeting. We will meet at the Broadway Commons in an upstairs room. The Broad-way Commons is at 1300 Broadway Street NE, Salem. Board meetings are open to all members.

June 11, 2016 Saturday Salem Public Library Central Library 585 Liberty St SE Salem, OR 97301

Anderson Room A, Lower Level

10:30 am – 11:45 am General Membership Meeting . A business meeting will be held to conduct society business. 12:00 noon to 1 pm Program: “Voting Records: Genealogy’s Best Kept Secret”

Presenter: Pam Vestal

Looking for a date of birth? The date and court of naturalization? Where your ancestor disappeared to, or

where he came from? His political outlook? Even what kind of house he lived in? Voting records may have

the answer. These often-overlooked gems can be packed with genealogical information, and you won’t be-

lieve what they can tell us about our ancestors!

Pam Vestal is a professional genealogist, wr iter , and speaker from West Linn, Oregon, and the owner of

Generations Genealogy, LLC. Her lectures and webinars take her up and down the West Coast, and her arti-

cles have been published in the Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly. Recent appearances in-

clude the Genealogical Forum of Oregon, the Oregon City Public Library, the Washington County, Oregon

Genealogical Society, and Rootsquest 2016 in Forest Grove, Oregon. Upcoming events include the Southern

California Genealogical Society Jamboree in Burbank, California and the Genealogical Council of Oregon’s

Summer Genealogy Fest in Eugene. When she isn’t giving presentations or researching on behalf of her cli-

ents, she offers private training to those seeking to improve their research skills.

Our program is open to the public—please join us.

(WVGS Member Kerry Wymetalek’s presentation on Ireland has been re-scheduled for November).

Upcoming Programs July 9th –Fritz Juengling “German Researching” August 13th— Don Anderson “From Native American To Scottish - The Journey to find my First Parents” September 10th– Family History Day with Salem Public Library 1pm to 4 pm October 8th—Mindy Lampert- “A Library Intern’s Journey into Genealogy” November 12th—Kerry Wymetalek “A Trip to Ireland” December 10th—Annual Potluck and Auction

2016 Meeting Dates All in Anderson A/B at Salem Public Library January 9 July 9 February 13 August 13 March 12 (Heritage Room) September 10 April 9 (Heritage Room) October 8 May 14 November 12 June 11 December 10

WVGS Information

WVGS Officers for 2016 Elected Officers

President: Elizabeth Tice 1st Vice-President (Program): John Cochran 2nd Vice-President (Membership): Suzan Rempel Recording Secretary: Barbara Foster Corresponding Secretary: Tony Hoff Treasurer: Lauren Teubner

Appointed Positions Newsletter Editor: Elizabeth Tice Beaver Brief Editor: Susan Bell Librarians: Jim Willhite and Deanne Smith Volunteer Coordinator: Craig Smith Publicity: George Cropsey Webmaster: Dennis Hill Periodicals: Dee Iltis

NORPAC Label Redemption Program This money-making program is just to cut out the UPC code on FLAV-R-PAC, Santiam, and WESTPAC products and turn them in to WVGS. We turned in labels on March 31st for a total refund of $10.90. Labels can be turned in at any Saturday WVGS meet-ing or mailed to WVGS.

Page 2—June 2016 WVGS Newsletter

MEMBERSHIP REPORT By Suzan Rempel Membership for April 2016 was 18 Life Members, 66 single memberships, 10 family memberships (20 individuals), and 3 Historical/Genealogical Societies for a total of 107 members.

Newsletter We send newsletters to our members and ex-change societies by email from our Yahoo email account (willvgs@yahoo.com). If any member would prefer a hard copy, please let me know. Or if we don’t have your e-mail and you’re willing to get your newsletter by e-mail, let me know your e-mail address. The same is true for our exchange societies and com-plimentary newsletters. We also are emailing the Beaver Briefs to members. If you want a hard copy, the cost is still an additional $6.50 for postage. Beaver Briefs can be accessed by members on our web-site under Member Page with a password. If you need your password, contact Liz Tice.

WVGS and Salem Public Library The Willamette Valley Genealogical Society col-lection of books, CDs and microfilm/microfiche is housed at Salem Public Library, 585 Liberty St SE Salem, Oregon. Our collection is online through the Chemeketa Cooperative Regional Library Ser-vice. The catalog for Salem Public Library can be searched at https://catalog.ccrls.org/client/en_US/spl/?dt=list

Parking at Salem Public Library The Library Parkade is metered parking at $.75 an hour. Parking is free after 6 pm. The Pringle Parkade is free on week-ends and after 6 pm. Oth-erwise you will have to find street parking in the residential areas. Volunteer Hours at Salem Public Library: Mon. Closed Tuesday - Saturday 11:00 am - 5:00 pm Sunday 1 pm to 4 pm Tuesday Evening: 5 pm to 8 pm Last Thursday of each month 5 to 7 pm DNA Help

Fred Meyer Community Rewards

Willamette Valley Genealogical Society has signed up with Fred Meyer Community Rewards as a

non-profit. If you shop at Fred Meyer and use your Rewards Card, it also helps us.

Sign up for the Community Rewards program by linking your Fred Meyer Rewards Card to

Willamette Valley Genealogical Society. You can do this on our website under Help.

Then, every time you shop and use your Rewards Card, you are helping WVGS earn a donation!

You still earn your Rewards Points, Fuel Points, and Rebates, just as you do today. Thank you!

Questions about Autosomal DNA? Denise Sproed, member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, will be available to an-swer your questions about Autosomal DNA testing on Thursday, June 30th from 5 pm to 7 pm at the Genealogy Desk at Salem Public Library.

WVGS News

WVGS Newsletter June 2016—Page 3

May Program Our speakers for May were Christopher Rumbaugh, Adult Services Manager at Salem Public Library and Doug Crosby, WVGS member and genealogy volunteer, talking about genealogy programs RootsMagic and Legacy. Liz Tice showed how to access Salem Public Library’s WiFi on your laptop and downloaded free versions of both pro-grams. You can do this at home to try both programs before purchasing. Doug showed a comparison of genealogy software programs from Wikipedia. He then went through the features of Legacy such as ethnicity reports, sources, printing, maps and many other features. Legacy interfaces with Family Search. Christopher started with PAF program many years ago. He has gone through many genealogy software programs and now uses RootsMagic. Exporting from one program to another, by using GEDCOM files he has never had to re-enter information. RootsMagic has similar features. Both have more features than you can really use. This was a very helpful program, especially for those needing to upgrade and update and are now hesitant to use Family Tree Maker. Thank you Chris-topher and Doug for a great program!

WVGS Constitution Revision

Members should have received a copy of the proposed changes to our constitution along with a letter of explanation (below). The proposed draft is on our website for members. We will dis-cuss and vote on the proposed changes at the June meeting. We formed a Constitution Revision Committee to update our constitution and standing rules. The proposed changes are to be sent to members by May 18th, 2016, either by email in PDF format or by USPS if we cannot email the document to you. If you received a copy by email in PDF format, red italics indicates new language. Deleted content has a strikethrough. If you received a copy in the US mail, new language is in italics. Deleted content has a strikethrough. A discussion and vote will be taken at the General Business meeting on June 11th, 2016 when we meet at Salem Public Library. If you cannot attend the meeting, you can submit comments to WVGS Constitution Revision Committee at willvgs@yahoo.com Committee Members: Doug Crosby, Barbara Foster, Deanne Smith, Elizabeth Tice, Jim Willhite

Help! WVGS needs our members’ help: We need an editor for Beaver Briefs. Thanks to

Sue Bell and Sherrill Hochspeier we have issues for 2016. Craig Smith will be Interim Editor and is doing a great job on organizing and lining up contributors but we need someone with comput-er skills to put it all together. Please contact an officer if you would like to jump in (or if you know of someone who would take this job on).

WVGS will have booth in the Kids’ Court at the Salem Art Fair on July 15-17th this year. Trina Brown has activities worked out, but we will need help at the booth. This a money-making activity (hopefully!). If you can help, let us know.

Our September 10th program will be a Family History Day with Salem Public Library. We need suggestions and help. Steve Holgate por-trayal as President Lincoln will be the featured program at 1 pm. Other suggestions have been to set up tables for German Ancestry, Irish An-cestry, Children’s Activities, Genealogy Volun-teers, Civil War Re-enactors and research, writ-ing your family history, using Ancestry.com, Ore-gon pioneers.

If you have any suggestions and can help with the program, again contact us.

Reminders— Signing up for Fred Meyer Rewards costs you nothing and benefits WVGS (we received $50 last quarter).

Instructions are on our website under Help. The next genealogy class at the Senior Center 50+ begins June 13th. $30 for 5 2-hour classes.

WVGS News

Page 4— June 2016 WVGS Newsletter

Genealogy Class The Center 50+ will have a Genealogy Class, "Internet Sources for Genealogy" in the Com-puter Lab at the Center 50+ in partnership with the Willamette Valley Genealogical Society. Learn how computers and the internet can aid your re-search into family history, using popular, mostly free resources. Basic computer skills are needed as you will work on the computer. When: Mondays, June 13th to July 18th, 2016 from 10 am – 12 noon (no class on July 4th) Where: Center 50+ 2615 Portland Rd NE Salem, OR 97301 Contact: Alvin Scott / 503-588-6303 / ascott@cityofsalem.net Information on Center 50+ classes: 503-588-6303, http://www.cityofsalem.net/Center50 Instructor: Elizabeth Tice, Willamette Valley Genea-logical Society President Cost: $30 for the 5-week course. Class is limited to 12 students plus 3 with their own laptops. Preregis-tration in the Computer Lab at the Center 50+ is re-quired. You must pay in advance to reserve a spot! No repeats for $5. Basic computer skills are needed Class 1: Basics of Genealogy Sources Basics of Genealogy Research, basic forms, genealogy programs, types of sources: Vital Records, Censuses, Military and Pension Records, Land Records, Naturalization records, Cemeteries & Obituaries, Maps & Gazetteers Class 2: Free Genealogy Sites Forms online, RootsWeb, USGenWeb, FamilySearch, genealogy book sites Class 3: Googling for Genealogy Google basics, translating, images, tips, how to search for vital records, military, land, maps, immigration, cemetery records, and people Class 4: Oregon, NARA, Immigration & Naturalization, Land, Native American Oregon records, National Archives, Washington State, Immigration & Naturalization, Land records, Native American, African American, DNA Class 5: Ancestry. Com: Largest Genealogy Site for a fee Ancestry.com: pros & cons, costs, using censuses, vital records, military, family trees, Ancestry catalog

Mayflower Collection The Oregon Society of Mayflower Descendants has donated another book to our collection. May-flower Families Through Five Generations Vol. 15 has now been added to our collection, but not yet catalogued. Thanks to the Oregon Society of May-flower Descendants we now have an almost com-plete collection. We’re still needing Volume 6, Ste-phen Hopkins. According to the Mayflower Society, "The May-flower Society publishes the majority of its books as a result of an ongoing program to identify the first five generations of Pilgrim descendants. This Five Generations Project involves the meticulous investi-gation of primary records that substantiate the iden-tity of, often obscure, individuals and families. The time period these books cover is usually from about the time of the Mayflower landing, in 1620, through the era of the American Revolution." The Genealogy Volunteers at Salem Public Li-brary have patrons come in saying their family story includes a Mayflower ancestor. Often the problem is in connecting their research to that 5th generation ancestor mentioned in a Mayflower Through Five Generations book. Two sites to help you: 1. General Society of Mayflower Descendants. This hereditary society is open to proven descend-ants of “Anyone who arrived in Plymouth as a pas-senger on the Mayflower.” Website highlights: list of the Pilgrims who sailed on the Mayflower, children who sailed on the Mayflower that have living de-scendants, notable descendants of Mayflower pas-sengers, tourist information about visiting Plymouth, and a membership form. The Society publishes vol-umes documenting five generations of descendants of Mayflower passengers.

2. MayflowerHistory.com. This website is for Mayflower researchers. It was built by Mayflower expert Caleb Johnson and includes a Mayflower passenger list accompanied by detailed biographies, sources, and tips for further research, a primary source archive where you can examine original doc-uments related to Mayflower families, as well as a research library of publications about Mayflower his-tory.

Divorced?

June 2016–Page 5 WVGS Newsletter

Divorce Records in Oregon Divorce records are hard to find, besides the fact the in earlier years families didn’t talk about divorc-es. Divorce records contain information on family

members, their marital history (including mar-riage date and place), their property, residences, and dates of other important events such as the children's births. Divorce records are primary source records for the information on property, living children, age of husband and wife and date of divorce and secondary source records for in-formation on the marriage, birth dates of chil-dren, etc. Divorces are administered in the court systems, so the process of obtaining a divorce and the location of the ensuing records will vary by country.

The Oregon Center for Health Statistics can is-

sue certified copies of divorce certificates. The office has divorce certificates (not decrees) from 1925.

https://public.health.oregon.gov/ BirthDeathCertificates/GetVitalRecords/ pages/index.aspx#order Multnomah County Library has the Oregon Di-

vorce Index (1946-2008). Online, Ancestry has Oregon Divorce Records, 1961-1985.

If you need a copy of your own or an immediate family member’s divorce certificate, contact the Oregon Center for Health Statistics. If you need the full court record and divorce decree, you will need to contact the issuing court, usually the county circuit court.

Divorce records, including decrees, are found in the Circuit Court for the county where the di-vorce occurred. Some Circuit Courts have online access to court files where a search may be per-formed by party name. Oregon Courts (http://www.courtreference.com/Oregon-Courts.htm page at CourtReference.com has for help in lo-cating Oregon court cases.

For genealogists, anyone can request a divorce certificate more than 50 years old. If you’re look-ing for the court records, some counties have all of their circuit court records but others turned over their older documents to the Oregon State Archives.

Other sources for divorce information are church records, Bible records, newspapers and military records.

Divorce Records at the Oregon State Archives

Benton

Divorce Case Files (Circuit Court), 1853-1920 Clackamas Divorce Index, 1852-1920 (Circuit Court Cases) Clatsop Divorce Case Files (Circuit Court), 1861-1920 Reference Room Library publications: Divorce records, 1861-1869 Curry Divorce Index, 1866-1929, (Circuit Court Cases) Gilliam Divorce Case Files (Circuit Court), 1909-1924 Grant Divorce Case Files (Circuit Court), 1872-1922 Hood River Divorce Case Files (Circuit Court), 1890-1908 Jackson Divorce Case Files (Circuit Court), 1872-1922 Reference Room Library publications:

Divorce records, 1856-1949 (3 volumes) Lane Divorce Index, 1855-1900 (Circuit Court Cases) Marion Divorce index, 1852-1921 (Circuit Court Cases) Polk Divorce Index, 1854-1912 (Circuit Court Cases) Tillamook Divorce Index, 1875-1909 (Circuit Court Cases) Umatilla Divorce Case Files (Circuit Court), 1863-1942 Wasco Divorce Index, 1859-1916 (Circuit Court Cases) Washington Divorce Case Files (Circuit Court), 1863-1942 Yamhill Divorce Case Files (Circuit Court), 1857-1930

State Records Health Division Divorce index, Oregon, 1946-2008 (microfilm) Divorce returns, 1946-1964 Oregon Historical Records Index, Oregon State

Archives, includes births, deaths, marriages, naturalizations, probates, divorce

Research

Page 6– June 2016 WVGS Newsletter

Have you really checked all the sources?

Research Checklist Name ______________________________________ Birth ___________________________________ Marriage _________________________________ Death ____________________________________ Birth Record: Baptism__________________________________ Bible ____________________________________ Birth Certificate ____________________________ Delayed Birth Certificate_____________________ Death Record: Death Certificate___________________________ Cemetery _______________________________ Obituary__________________________________ Newspaper________________________________ Funeral Home_____________________________ Probate Records: Will______________________________________ Probate File_______________________________ Guardianship______________________________ Executors_________________________________ Military Records Branch of Service___________________________ Dates of Enlistment_________________________ Wars fought_______________________________ Veterans Pension___________________________ Widows Pension____________________________ Marriage: Marriage Certificate___________________ Divorce______________________________ Land Records: Deeds__________________________________ Tax Lists__________________________________ Land Grants & Homestead____________________

Census Records: 1790______________________________ 1800______________________________ 1810______________________________ 1820______________________________ 1830______________________________ 1840______________________________ 1850______________________________ 1860______________________________ 1870______________________________ 1880______________________________ 1890______________________________ 1900______________________________ 1910______________________________ 1920______________________________ 1930______________________________ 1940______________________________ State Census Records: _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ Other: Occupation__________________________ School records_______________________ Adoptions___________________________ Organizations________________________ Voting records_______________________ Passenger lists_______________________ Immigration_________________________ Naturalization_______________________ Court Records_______________________ Newspapers_________________________ Town/County Histories________________ Books______________________________ Other______________________________ _______________________________

Mailing Address: Willamette Valley Genealogical Society

P. O. Box 2083 Salem, OR 97308-2083

Email: willvgs@yahoo.com For more information:

WVGS Web Site Address: http://www.wvgsor.org

Membership Application

Members will receive a monthly newsletter informing them of programs, activities, and genealogical news.

Members receive online access to Beaver Briefs, a quarterly bulletin featuring Marion County genealogy and history.

Members benefit from research assistance and monthly programs

Members have access to WVGS’s family histories, books, periodicals and CDs which may be checked out.

WVGS MEMBERSHIP FORM Please if this is a NEW or RENEWAL membership Name _____________________________________________________________________ Address____________________________________________________________________ City ____________________________ State _________________ Zip _______________ Phone ______________________ email: ___________________________________

The Willamette Valley Genealogical Society was orga-nized in December 1968, to create and foster the study of family history, to aid in the publication of local history, and to aid in the establishment of materials in local genealogi-cal library collections. It is an Oregon Non-Profit corpora-tion, and was determined by IRS to be a 501 (c) (3) organi-zation. Your donations may be federal tax-deductible.

See our website for information on Life Member-ship or pick up a Life Membership form from an officer.

Pro-rated Amounts for new members who join after March 31st:

SINGLE FAMILY Apr-Jun: $18.75 Apr-Jun: $22.50 Jul-Sept: $12.50 Jul-Sept: $15.00 Oct-Dec: $6.25 Oct-Dec: $7.50

Amount enclosed - $ ____________ for Annual Dues ($25 individual or $30 family membership), includes Beaver Briefs on-line $ ____________ for postage to receive copies of Beaver Briefs in the mail ($6.50) $ ____________ for one-time payment for Life Membership Under age 70 ($250) Age 70 or Over ($200) $ _____________ other (please identify) ________________________________________ $ ___________________TOTAL ENCLOSED Please make checks payable to WVGS.

Additional Donations

Patron $100 Sustainer $250 Benefactor $500 Corporate/Trust $1,000

SIGNATURE ___________________________________________________________________Date ______________________

WVGS Newsletter June 2016– Page 7

May WVGS include the following in our Members Only membership roster? (please check each box if OK).

YOUR ADDRESS YOUR TELEPHONE NUMBER YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS

NAME-ADDRESS-PHONE SUN MON TUES WED THURS FRI SAT Woodburn LDS Family History Center 1000 Country Club Rd. [back– ring bell] CLOSED 10 am— 7 pm- 4 pm - CLOSED CLOSED Woodburn, OR 97071 / 503-981-4731 2 pm 8:30 pm 8 pm Salem East LDS Family History Center

862 45th Ave NE CLOSED 9 am— 2 pm— CLOSED 9 am— CLOSED

Salem, OR 97301 / 503-371-0453 4 pm 9 pm 2 pm

Salem LDS Family History Center 4pm— CLOSED 9am— By 9 am— CLOSED 9 am- 4550 Lone Oak Rd SE 7pm 9pm Appt. 9pm 12 noon Salem, OR 97302 / 503-378-0383 ext 7

Oregon State Archives 800 Summer St NE CLOSED 8 am—12 am and 1 pm—4:45 pm CLOSED Salem, OR 97310 / 503-373-0701 (CLOSED State Holidays) Salem Public Library

585 Liberty St SE 1 pm– 5 pm CLOSED 10 am—9 pm 10 am—6 pm Salem, OR 97301 / 503-588-6052 (CLOSED City Holidays) Willamette Heritage Center

Research Library CLOSED

1313 Mill St SE CLOSED CLOSED 12 pm—4 pm Salem, OR 97301 / 503-585-7012

Page 8 June 2016 WVGS Newsletter Salem Area Research Facilities

June 2016 Newsletter

Willamette Valley Genealogical Society P. O. Box 2083 Salem, OR 97308-2083 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED