Oregon, Washington, California, Minnesota, Wisconsin. The January issue of The Pine Cone and Tassel could be called “Where They Went.”

Meaning Mainers, of course. Many of us are aware the Washburns of Livermore sent several family members to Minnesota, but I’d be hard-pressed to think of many other transplants.

It turns out that a number of Minnesota towns were named for Maine towns, including Orono, Stillwater, Houlton and Bethel. My son, who lives in Minneapolis, likes to point out the communities with Maine connections.

But I’m sure he doesn’t realize that the city of St. Cloud, on the road to his wife’s family farm, was named by a Maine man, John L. Wilson of Columbia Falls, called “the father of St. Cloud.”

Soules from Brownville and Avon removed to Minnesota, as did my distant Keene cousins from Clinton.

Deborah E. Roberge frequently focuses on local resources by county in The Pine Cone and Tassel, but this 16-page issue certainly gives readers some jumping-off points for ancestors and cousins who settled elsewhere.

Roberge publishes six issues a year, which are available by yearly subscription only. The next volume covers May 2006 through March 2007 for $24. You also may order the current year and receive the five issues already published plus the coming March issue at the same price.

The address is The Pine Cone and Tassel, P.O. Box 533, Waterville 04903-0533. For information, e-mail pct@pineconeandtassle.com or visit the Web site at www.pineconeandtassle.com. Note the different spelling of tassel in the e-mail and Web addresses.

The Web site was selected as site of the week by Family Tree Magazine Jan. 9-15, 2004. The publication was reviewed in Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter on July 14, 2003. Check www.eogn.com.

I agree with Chuck Veeder, who a year ago reviewed Lisa Rogak’s “Stones and Bones of New England: A Guide to Unusual, Historic and Otherwise Notable Cemeteries,” published by the Globe Pequot Press.

It’s interesting to read about Mount Hope Cemetery in Bangor, Eastern Cemetery in Portland and Jonathan Buck’s mysterious gravestone in Bucksport, with its outline of a woman’s leg.

But the book I go back to, as Veeder suggests, is Trudy Scee’s “Mount Hope Cemetery: A Twentieth Century History.” It inspires me to look for interesting markers in this beautiful cemetery.

The Wassebec Genealogical Society will hold a “Bring & Share” meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 12, at Mayo Regional Hospital on Route 15 in Dover-Foxcroft.

Members and guests are encouraged to share their favorite resources and tips, as well as bring any problems they have, known fondly as “brick walls.”

For information or directions, e-mail wassebec@yahoo.com or call 564-3576.

Send genealogy queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402, or send e-mail to familyti@bangordailynews.net.