HCGS July, Aug, Sep 2021 Zoom Genealogy Meetings

 Honolulu County Genealogy Society

         July, August, September 2021    -  2nd Saturday 9 am

Our monthly meetings continue, on Zoom.  We have been having fun discussing genealogical topics and other things.  Contact Lenore or Trisha for the link and password of the Zoom meeting.

  Of special interest is the abundance of newspaper photos at the National Archives that we can now search by words in the captions of those photos.  It's especially great for finding things like baseball or railroad type photos, but Susan Victor has found a photo by using the name of her husband's uncle George Waikoli  from the Star Bulletin Newspaper of 1916.  Unfortunately the photo was very dark.  But with the magic of a internet download of paint.net I was able to lighten up the picture so a face was discernable.  

  Check out the before and after photos of the news clipping

          "George Wikoli:  Son of Mr. and Mrs. John Wikoli who reside at the junction of Fort street and Pauoa road.  George is a Hawaiian boy, 15 years old, and attends the Royal school, being in the eights grade.  He has been selling papers for the past three or four years and has a good many customers, who look for George at the corner of Fort and Beretania streets.  George's sales average over 50 papers per day."

      MINUTES FOR THE SEPTEMBER 11, 2021

MONTHLY ZOOM MEETING OF THE HONOLULU COUNTY GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY

      Present: Karin Jones, Stanley Jones, Sue Miller, Deborah Richards, Isabelle Rivera, Trisha Robertson, Ellen Schneider, Susan Victor and Donna Wendt

Meeting began at 9:18 a.m.

     OLD BUSINESS:

Potential future meeting locations are still being considered. Karin Jones will look into the possible use

of a meeting room located in the old American Savings building at the lower level of Pearlridge Center.

Donna Wendt mentioned that her Hawaii Kai building has a meeting room she could look into.

     MEMBER UPDATES:

   Karin and Stanley Jones are back from their 55-day trip. They visited family, attended conferences and toured Iceland.

   Donna Wendt is also home from her trip to Denver to visit family. She had a wonderful example how the “genealogy bug” is such a part of us. After returning home, she saw a new doctor. With a few conversational questions she learned that they had a Green Lake County, Wisconsin thread. Taking this thread she lengthened the rope as her research found information that their families resided in the same locales.

   Sue Miller was also on an extended trip to the Midwest which included a class reunion, visits to family members and successful genealogy research.

   Ellen Schneider has been busy volunteering with the Friends of the Library of Hawaii.

     PRESENTATION:

   The internet is an amazing source for collections of old and new video’s. YouTube is the most known provider with a huge selection of both new and old videos. Donna Wendt told us of a site, WayBack

Machine. WayBack Machine was founded by Internet Archive in 1996 and launched in 2001. It is a digital archive of the world wide web for the purpose “to see how websites looked in the past”.

Internet Archive is a “nonprofit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites and more”.

   For this morning’s meeting, Donna Wendt, shared a short 2007 video, “Flat Stanley’s Family Tree” by Roots Television. A popular book character, Flat Stanley, was first published in 1985. The author is Jeff Brown. In this video Flat Stanley, a paper doll, goes on a quick genealogy road trip to the National Archives, Colonial Williamsburg and San Francisco with genealogist Megan Smolenyak. Donna shared how she took her own Flat Stanley character on the road with her taking many photos of their

adventures together.

     PHOTOGRAPHS:

Deborah Richards brought up the topic of storing photographs.

FOREVER.com, represented by Karin Jones, is an excellent provider of a permanent and safe company to safeguard our precious media. All media you choose to store with them is kept in 3 separate locations always insuring that there are backups if one site should have an unforeseen disaster. All your information can be passed on to your designated heirs. If you wish to obtain more information on

FOREVER.com, please contact Karin.

   You can also store your photos digitally with your own equipment. Remember to have backups.

   Susan Victor shared that she had taken notes during a previous meeting and she went on a search into the National Archives for a photo which had a caption. She was looking for a photo of George Wikoli, her husband’s uncle. He was a 5-year old newsboy at the time. She found it! The photo was very dark, but the article was found. Afterwards, Donna used her photo enhancement tools, brightness and contrast, to “repair” the news photo and produced an improved image.     Using Paint.net – upload the photo (always use a copy to “repair”)> Tools>Image.  Remember to “Save As” – this will save the copy and leave the original “as is”.   When creating Files and Folders, create and label what makes sense to you.

     PROFESSIONAL GENEALOGISTS:

  If you are becoming frustrated with your brick walls, you may want to consider getting professional help to kick start your search.

FOREVER.com has a partnership with GenWard. There are different contracts to choose from, but a simple 1-hour consultation is $119.19. The genealogist may be able to provide advice for moving past your brick wall. She also has contacts around the world ready to help in your search. Karin added that this genealogist likes to look for the stories in your family tree, not just details.

  The Family History Library in Salt Lake City provides knowledgeable assistance with your research.  

  Susan Victor praised Alan Toft for helping her friend with her research in England and the British Isles.

  Members of the Honolulu County Genealogical Society are great resources and full of information to aid each of us as we continue our searches.

   Donna had partnered with a friend with a genealogy search. She recommends going with the free sources first. Then, if you need more help consider hiring a professional. Locally, Donna has been to the Honolulu State Archives, the State Library and the Bureau of Conveyances and commented that it is hard work being a professional, paid genealogist. It takes a lot of time and patience.         Translations are another hurdle. Translators can be found in Google and Facebook groups. Enter  “translation help” on your computer’s search engine.

     CALABASH BOWL :

  Sue Miller – the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana offers regular meetings on various topics. These meetings are free.

  Karin Jones – On a recent trip to Illinois, Karin visited the Decatur Public Library. A member of the History Room staff was able to provide contact with a classmate of Karin’s. This is another example of how valuable library staff can be.

   Donna recently downloaded and highly recommended an advanced search engine – "Master Seeker."

   Our meeting was adjourned at 11:30 a.m.

    (Emailed 10/08/2021 by Isabelle Rivera)

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