SGS Library Researchers
Pat Rongey recently enjoyed a rewarding experience with providing research help to a woman at the library.  The woman was so grateful, she invited Pat to her home for tea.  Pat says, “you just never know when you make a difference”.

Portugal is a Wonderful Country To Visit
From a recent walkabout in Portugal, SGS member Merilee Mulvey shares “a photo of a typical hill in the Duaro Valley in the northern third of Portugal.  These terraced hills have been kept up by local farming families for hundreds of years; it is their heritage and their livelihood from general to generation.  The Duaro Valley around Porto is famous for growing grapes to make Port wine . . . sort of like the Champagne region of France where authentic Champagne grapes are grown.”

“In this photo you can see this particular hill has scrub forest at the top, mature grape vines next, new grape vines next, then mature olive trees, then more scrub forest near the river’s edge.  A typical terrace goes all the way to the top of a hill and each ring is about 8 feet wide with hand stacked granite stone walls to hold the ring if needed.  Port wine grapes, olive trees for olives and olive oil.”

Early Census Takers – more from Merilee Mulvey
Merilee thought SGS members might be interested in reading a bit of history on early ‘Instructions to Census Takers’. The article can be found at Dick Eastman’s Genealogy blog.

Power of Florence
The Siuslaw Genealogy Society will again be participating in the Power of Florence event on July 18^th at the Grocery Outlet parking lot. Pat Rongey will be at a booth displaying our Recycle project and distributing SGS information.  View more information.