The next time you come to the Forum for some research, you'll notice another computer in the working and reading area. It's on a table by the first post in the room, and it has a connection ... To The INTERNET! AND, not only is it connected to the Internet, but it's a high speed DSL connection! AND, we also have a wireless connection, which you can use with your laptop! AND, we have a email account (through Google Gmail) which you can use to send or receive email at the Forum! We will initially sign up users for half hour time slots on the computer. Call or come by and put your name on the list, and if no one is using it or signed up, sit down and play! The rules are pretty simple: respect copyrights, use the computer for genealogy, please allow the receptionist to break in for a short time to help another patron, let some one else have the computer after a half hour, use floppy discs purchased from the forum, do NOT purchase or subscribe to or download any program or service, or obligate the Forum under any contract, and, since the hard drive is very small, don't store anything on the computer. One exception: please "bookmark" any genealogy site of general interest. On rare occasions, we will try to sort and organize the bookmarks, and if you give the bookmark a descriptive name when you save it, it will be more useful for others and easier to sort. For you wireless users, we have posted a "WEP" encryption key on signs in the library, so you can securely connect. You will know you have found our wireless connection, because it will identify itself as FINDOURANCESTOR. We do NOT have wireless "cards" so you will have to own or buy one that fits your laptop computer. If you are interested in finding out more about wireless, check out http://computer.howstuffworks.com/wireless-network.htm or http://www.vicomsoft.com/knowledge/reference/wireless1.html If you find a digital resource you want to refer to at home, you can use the newly created Google email account to email it from the Forum to yourself or someone else. There is a link on the computer desktop that will open a window for you, and you can compose and email relatively large files. If you want to have a piece of information available while at the Forum, you can email it to [email protected] and then open the document while you are at the Forum facility. Of course, anyone can read these emails, so be circumspect about what you write. If you have questions or requests, simply reply to this email and I will respond, either through the ORFORUM list, or privately, as you wish. Thanks, Rex

Hi, Many thanks to all who responded to my Asylum question. I really appreciate it. I feel much smarter now with all the info I received on that subject. :-] I will go down there when I get time and will know a little better now who to ask for what and where. Thanks, Nathan

Nathan, You are right....it wasn't only the insane who were confined in the Oregon State Hospital. I had two great-grandfathers there. One had senile dementia and had gone back to his Civil War days. He went on "marches" and built a campfire fire in his daughter-in-law's bedroom. They called him "Corporal" at the hospital and he returned their salutes as he marched down the halls. He lived his last two years there. The other great-grandpa Jesse Cook had brain damage from a snowplow accident years before and was sent there to be cared for when his elderly wife died. About 10 years ago I was able to look through the admittance and discharge books mentioned by cousin Sheri. They gave information about how the patient arrived at the hospital and who sent them. With the death of Gr-grandpa Thomas, it gave the name and address of where the death notice was sent, to whom it was sent, and where the body was sent. There may be more or less information on other patients.

I have seen the registry of patients at the State Archives in Salem. It gave some information, such as the diagnosis. It also gave some incoming symptoms. My great uncle's symptoms, given by his mother were that he walked the roads at night and smoked cigarettes. Also relatives have been able to get the records of patients, but I don't know what the process is. Jane ----- Original Message ----- From: "Nathan Haines Sr." <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, February 07, 2005 12:17 PM Subject: [GFO] Assylum question > Hi all, > Does anyone know anything about the Insane Asylum > in Salem? A cousin in Los Angeles told me that she > found a relative of hers that was on the 1910 census > in an "Insane Asylum" in OR. > I found him and his name was Mike Kearns and he > was in Salem in what the census said was an Asylum. > The census does not say it was an Insane Asylum, just > an Asylum. > It seems that in past research I found indication > that Asylum did not necessarily mean that it was just > for the insane. It appeared that people who were very > sick as well as people who were "Insane" were all in > the same place. Is this right? > I believe that the State Archives have the old > Insane Asylum records? I do not believe that they will > let just anyone have access to any of those records > either. Does anyone know if it is possible for anyone > to get access to any of those old records. A close > family relative for instance? > Does any other place have any old records of that > nature? Maybe some or a lot of those old records got > thrown away by now? > Thanks, > Nathan > > > ==== ORFORUM Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe, send a message to [email protected] that > contains (in the body of the message) only the single word: unsubscribe > > ============================== > New! Family Tree Maker 2005. Build your tree and search for your ancestors > at the same time. Share your tree with family and friends. Learn more: > http://landing.ancestry.com/familytreemaker/2005/tour.aspx?sourceid=14599&targetid=5429

Hello Nathan, I am thinking that when you say asylum in Salem, you are referring to the Oregon State Hospital. If this is the case the State Archives does have an admission book and a death book that you can look at. I have actually looked at the books myself. To see the actual records at the hospital you must have proof of relationship. I do not know what definition the hospital uses for relationship. Many places have a narrow definition of relationship such as Parents, children or spouse only. Sincerely Sheri

Hi all, Does anyone know anything about the Insane Asylum in Salem? A cousin in Los Angeles told me that she found a relative of hers that was on the 1910 census in an "Insane Asylum" in OR. I found him and his name was Mike Kearns and he was in Salem in what the census said was an Asylum. The census does not say it was an Insane Asylum, just an Asylum. It seems that in past research I found indication that Asylum did not necessarily mean that it was just for the insane. It appeared that people who were very sick as well as people who were "Insane" were all in the same place. Is this right? I believe that the State Archives have the old Insane Asylum records? I do not believe that they will let just anyone have access to any of those records either. Does anyone know if it is possible for anyone to get access to any of those old records. A close family relative for instance? Does any other place have any old records of that nature? Maybe some or a lot of those old records got thrown away by now? Thanks, Nathan

The Genealogical Forum of Oregon (GFO) needs a representative for the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS). This position is held for one calendar year or up to three years on GFO board approval. Responsibilities include: 1. Attending the 2005 FGS Conference held September 7-10 in Salt Lake City, including the Delegate Luncheon and any classes pertaining to societies and then reporting to the GFO. See the FGS site (<http://www.fgs.org>www.fgs.org) for future conference venues 2. Sharing the monthly FGS delegate report with GFO board and editors 3. Take GFO flyers to conferences 4. Updating the GFO web page at FGS site 5. Create a yearly report to the GFO Board after the yearly conference. To quote from the FGS web page, "Member societies have a Federation delegate responsible for electing the board members of the Federation as well as serving as an information conduit. The FGS Delegate receives the Delegate Digest, the source of information between the FGS board, the delegate, and the member society." Volunteer is responsible for all fees involved If you are interested in this position, please contact Leslie Lawson [email protected] or me before March 5th. David Morrisson Telephone: 503.397.0442 email: [email protected] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Where Speed & Service Have Always Mattered @ http://www.ados.com

"Preservation Issues" will be the topic of the Saturday, February 12, 2005 general membership meeting of the Genealogical Forum of Oregon, held at the Forum library, 2 pm. This has to be a topic dear to each of us - for me, I have baptism dresses, a child's apron made by my mother, 3 pieces of confederate paper money that I would like to not to have hidden, and much more. How do I make certain these precious items are well preserved for generations to come? Well, Jenny Cobb, our presenter, will answer those questions. So, be sure to plan for the February 12 meeting at 1505 SE Gideon St., Portland, GFO library at 2 pm. You will be glad you did. Patricia S. Burling Education Committee

The coming Illinois Interest Group meeting will be Saturday, February 12th. The topic for discussion is "Black Hawk," who was a well-known Native American in Illinois and Iowa. You will be surprised to hear about the advanced civilization that he belonged to and their farm along the Mississippi River. You'll find out what happened to that farm ... what Black Hawk did about that and why ... what the government of Illinois did in return ... and what effect Black Hawk and his people had on the settlement of northern Illinois. It's a far bigger story than most of us realize. We invite anyone who is interested in learning more about Black Hawk to join us in the Higgins Room at 9:30 a.m. We'll be finished by about 11:30 so that we'll have time for some friendly chat, and lunch, before the GFO monthly meeting begins. We hope to see you! Kristy (who will be there!) and Doreen

Just a reminder of the following class next Saturday: Sat. Feb. 5 “PowerPoint 2003” by Cindy Webb -1 pm - 3 pm Learn how to use this exciting program to put together first-class presentations. Bring questions and feel free to bring your laptop. $15 fee. Microsoft's PowerPoint presentation software is not new, but updated multimedia and online features are renewing interest in it. With sound, animation, video, and even hyperlinks to Web sites, your PowerPoint presentation will far outshine the overhead transparency and slide shows people have suffered through in the past. Knowing how to produce professional, dynamic presentations to persuade, inform, or entertain is no longer a nice-to-have skill -- it's a way to survive and advance in a competitive business world. We will cover 1998, 2003 and XP versions and resources available to help you learn at your own pace. Hope to see you Saturday. Cindy

I have an old studio photo of Zack Broiles, taken at Lantz Bros. Photographers in Woodburn, Marion County, Oregon. A little faded, but in good condition. The 1880 Census 0f Marion County lists: Broyles, James 40 b. KY Mary J. 36 b. IN Zacearah 13 b. OR William H. 12 b. OR Annetta B. 10 b. OR Mary A. 3 b. OR Are you related? Are you interested? Zack's photo needs a home. Jane Olsen

All GFO members and their friends are invited to attend a special slide show presentation in the Higgins Room at the Forum library on Thursday evening, Jan. 27th. The show will feature the 31 Period Rooms at the DAR Museum in Washington DC. This will be presented in two separate segments and you are welcome to come or leave at any time. Light refreshments will be served. 5:45 1st seminar showing some of the Period Rooms. 6:30 Social time and introductions 7:00 2nd seminar featuring different Period Rooms

This might be of interest to some of you ... I saw an article in the current (January 18, 2005) "Asian Reporter" about moves underway to create databases of people from India who migrated out of that country. It looks like it's just in the planning stages at this point, but if anyone is interested, you can go to the newspaper's website and download a PDF file of the issue at: http://www.asianreporter.com/completepaper.htm If downloading either the first 8 pages or the last 8 pages looks better to you ... the article is on page 3. Julie Kidd

Just a reminder that the Round Table will meet Monday evening, January 24th at the Forum Library, at 6:30pm. Julie Kidd

I am looking for people to help Vicki and I stuff envelopes from 11:30 -1:00 tomorrow, Saturday, January 22 at the Forum. The more, the merrier and faster we can finish! Cookies will be furnished for the "party" part. Thanks, Michele

The Canadian Special Interest Group will be meeting on Saturday, January 22 from 10-11:30 AM in the Higgins Room at the Forum. George Brown, an expert on French Canadian research, is our featured guest speaker. Please join us. Michele

Jan, There are not nearly enough parking spaces for the people that come to the forum especially if there is a class or meeting. Can we acquire more spaces? -------------- Original message -------------- > Hi All, > I just received a notice from the building and parking lot owners that > beginning next week those that are parked in the visitor section of the parking > lot will be towed if they do not have a visitor parking permit. Therefore, > please park in the parking spots that are reserved for the Forum. These parking > spaces are easy to find, as they are the spots with our logo on them. > > Jan, R-334 > > > ==== ORFORUM Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe, send a message to [email protected] that > contains (in the body of the message) only the single word: unsubscribe > > ============================== > Jumpstart your genealogy with OneWorldTree. Search not only for > ancestors, but entire generations. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13972/rd.ashx >

Hi All, I just received a notice from the building and parking lot owners that beginning next week those that are parked in the visitor section of the parking lot will be towed if they do not have a visitor parking permit. Therefore, please park in the parking spots that are reserved for the Forum. These parking spaces are easy to find, as they are the spots with our logo on them. Jan, R-334

I have often wondered about this same topic. Most of the ancestors I am researching did not read, or at least that is my assumption, based on the fact they signed their names with "X". Margaret Strueby ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Schira" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, January 14, 2005 8:25 PM Subject: [GFO] Re: ORFORUM-D Digest V05 #12 > > How did people keep track of the calendar on the > > frontiers of America? How did they know the date on > > which their baby was born? I have some folks who > > were always at the leading edge of the frontier so I > > can see why their ages would bounce around from one > > census to the next. They probably didn't have the > > foggiest idea the month let alone the date....or did > > they? > > > > Carole > > > Even Robinson Cruso knew what the date was. If > they were really out in the sticks, it was just a > matter of adding a day every time the sun came up, > then going to their notes of how many months had how > many days, and then adding a day in February, every > time the year could be divided by 4 -- easy really. > > Anyway, I don't believe any place was really out > in the sticks. Factually, there *were* frontier > newspapers; government or territorial officials always > had to know or keep track of the dates, as did > churches. If they were really lazy, they could have > just ordered a calendar from back east. (Even the > frontier had mail service, and when there's mail > service, one always knows the date, or can figure it > out fast enough.) > > Jim in Portland > > > > __________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Mail - now with 250MB free storage. Learn more. > http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250 > > > ==== ORFORUM Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe, send a message to [email protected] that > contains (in the body of the message) only the single word: unsubscribe > > ============================== > Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the > last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx > > >

The Computer Interest Group will meet on this Monday night, January 17th from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. at the Forum. The subject will be the LEGACY genealogy software program. Legacy is the program with the second most comprehensive set of features for tracking your genealogy. Our presenter, Peggy Baldwin, is also familiar with TMG. She will provide some comparisons of Legacy to The Master Genealogist for additional insight. Come on out and learn something. The ice has melted. Marty Krauter