Czech-Slovak Interest Group of Eastside Genealogical Society: Meeting Reports - 22 September 2018

Czech-Slovak Interest Group
Meeting Report for
22 September 2018

Group Chairs: Jo Herber and Norb Ziegler

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Welcome to our newest members: Franta (Dennis), John & Barbara, Igor and Daniela!

Remember that our next meeting will be our annual Thanksgiving Potluck lunch. This year's date is Saturday, November 3 at 12:30 pm at our usual meeting place. Bring some Czech or Slovak food to share along with a copy of the recipe for it. We will try to compile a booklet of recipes for the group. Here are the dates for the 2019 meetings:

  • Saturday, February 2, 9:30am
  • Saturday, April 6, 9:30am
  • Saturday, June 1, 9:30am
  • Saturday, September 7, 9:30am
  • Saturday, November 16, 12:30pm (Potluck)

We are pleased to note that our website is back up and running. Mike, Norb and Mary Kathryn are our web "connections" and will be updating the info on the website. Check it out at https://sites.rootsweb.com/~wacsig/.

We started with a round of sharing recent research and other items of interest. JoAnn brought several articles about DNA, notably that Ancestry had recently updated its results and had changed findings of national origin for its users. She had an obituary for Milos Forman, a prominent movie director, noting that he had directed the movie Amadeus, which was filmed in Prague. She suggested viewing the film again if you haven't seen it recently.

Another note: Kusak Glass in Seattle is closing and will be missed. Finally, she circulated a brochure from the Ethnic Heritage Council of the Pacific Northwest, which seeks to share and preserve ethnic heritage to advance mutual understanding and suggested that the Czech/Slovak group investigate connections with the Council.

Franta (Dennis) brought news of a concert of Czech music and celebration of the centennial of Czech/Slovak independence to be held at Ballard High School on November 18. He suggested that members of the group could bring baked good and snacks to sell at the event, thus earning money for our group treasury to help finance group activities. Contact Rose Gresser or Dennis Williams) if you need more information. He shared a large document illustrating his family tree.

Mike will be giving a short talk on his Slovak roots to a group of associates. He is trying to "recruit" a Slovak friend with whom he walks to join the genealogy group. And he is researching his great-great grandfather's emigration to Pennsylvania.

John and Barbara were welcomed to the meeting. John noted that his wife Barbara was his inspiration to research is Slovak roots. He had done some research a few years ago while living in Ohio; now living in Redmond, he's getting back to research again. The group members had several suggestions for resources: military records, Google maps, etc.

A Google Maps tip: Try researching your ancestral village by inputting the name of the village and CZ or SK. After finding the proper site, then click on images and more photos and other information will show.

George shared an interesting story about his godmother who had been in the Russian army. He noted that his 82-year-old cousin from Florida intends to visit Slovakia soon. Also, he wondered if anyone was interested in going to Obec Brewery in Fremont, a recent addition to the Fremont brewery scene.

Rose shared that her parents were born in Vrchno and she has Konicek cousins who live there still, although the old family house has been replaced with a modern one. She spoke about making and serving knedlicky-and will bring some to the Thanksgiving Potluck lunch.

Carol has completed her family story and shared a link where others can read it. Her family arrived in 1900 and were coal miners in Roslyn. She is finished with her Slovak research and is in the process of writing stories of her four grandparents. Her DNA results were recalibrated by Ancestry and she is now considered to be half German and a quarter each British and East European.

The genealogy group has previously discussed concerns about DNA testing and privacy. Carol says that her 21-year-old grandson shrugs off those concerns, noting that with Facebook and other social media, millennials don't worry about privacy.

Here are the research links she suggests:
"I was asked to send you the web site for the book I wrote about my Slovak family. Central Washington University, Special Collections put it on the web for me. Here is the address: http://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/local_authors/2/. Slovakia Genealogy Research Strategies: http://www.iabsi.com/gen/public/table_of_contents.htm You could spend a lifetime looking at all the information on this site.

Another site that I like very much is a site that asks and then answers general questions about Slovakia. Martin Votruba who answers the questions is a professor at the University of Pittsburgh. http://www.pitt.edu/~votruba/qsonhist/qsonhist.html"

Helen noted that she had done a new diagnostic test through Color.com for various genetic diseases. She was relieved to find that she does not have the gene for the cancer from which her grandmother died. She noted that the test costs $149 and must be done through a person's physician and the University of Washington.

Igor joined the group and noted that he had emigrated in 1985 from the Kosice area and Bratislava.

Jo shared that she had attended the EGS-sponsored seminar on photo identification techniques. Maureen Taylor calls herself "The Photo Detective" and can use her knowledge of clothing, furniture and other details to identify clues in old photos. She has a blog with lots of information about identifying photos, interpreting and organizing them, and will, for a fee, help clients with photo mysteries. Her website: maureentaylor.com.

Norb sent a link to an article about Bratislava.

Hope to see you at the November 2 lunch potluck!

Jo Herber

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