Mij Woodward organizes a group for those interested in learning genealogy.
Mij Woodward comes by her passion honestly, when you look at her family tree.
She’s a writer and a storyteller. And, using investigative reporting skills passed down from her parents – the late, legendary Bainbridge Review publishers Walt and Mildred Logg Woodward – she’s uncovered some fascinating tales about an eclectic bunch: her own ancestors.
“It takes a strange one to be so interested in the dead,” Woodward laughed, adding that she adores old graveyards. “But I find it fascinating, and I have since my 20s, when my mother gave me a lot of material” on her forebears.
Along the way, she’s run into many islanders on similar quests to unearth their family’s past, including Arlene Hetherington, whom she met one day at the library. Together, they decided it was time to form an island genealogy group, which will meet for the first time in January.
“I just can’t get enough of the old island history,” said Woodward, whose father’s kin came from Scotland, and her mother’s from Sweden.
Anyone who has come across Logg Road or Woodward Middle School knows her family’s roots run deep on the island. She grew up on Wing Point, with relatives at Fletcher Bay and Rolling Bay.
Her mother was born near Wilkes School and, after the couple settled here and bought the local newspaper in 1940, they made history by being the only West Coast editors to take a stand against the internment of Japanese American residents during World War II.
But that’s fairly modern history. Mij Woodward has explored the lives of relatives stretching back hundreds of years.
The amateur genealogist’s historical research has turned up juicy tales of love, heroism and tragedy as riveting as any fiction.
But these are stories being written as quarterly journals for the family, her six children in particular.
“It’s a gift to them, and a gift to me,” said the expressive Woodward, who lives at an Eagle Harbor marina with her husband, Orville Eide. “I love finding out about my ancestors and I am so interested in my roots.”
The journal due out in spring is about relatives involved in the Salem witch trials – including one poor soul who was hung. A future volume will detail the foibles of randy clan members, including a Massachusetts fellow who was sentenced to a whipping in Springfield’s town square, more than once, for his libidinous exploits. Future writings may focus on the family activists, such as the member of Vermont’s underground railroad who helped slaves to freedom; or on the family’s women, one of whom ran a ferry service all by herself after her husband passed away.
It’s plain that Woodward delights in her findings; the stories spring to life as she tells them.
With her six children now grown, she has more time to dig for nuggets of family history in libraries and through historical documents, such as Confederate and Scandinavian records.
She has bumped into many Bainbridge genealogy enthusiasts at the local and Seattle libraries, which got her to thinking: Why not start a genealogy group on the island? Why not help each other, share resources, swap tales?
“It’s fun, and I’d like to get to know others on the island doing this work,” she said, noting that there will be so much to share, “it might be hard to get a word in edgewise.”
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The Bainbridge genealogy group’s first meeting will be at 10 a.m. Jan. 21 at the Bainbridge Island library. Organizer Mij Woodward says the group will share information about writing and researching methods; make trips to the National Archives and other genealogy libraries in the area; and host guest speakers. Those wanting more information can call her at 855-2897, or email mijwoodward8@hotmail.com.
