RGS minutes 2001/2002

May, 2002

Rochester Genealogical Society
General Meeting
May 30, 2002
Asbury First Methodist Church, Rochester, NY

Business Meeting
Larry Schongar, Vice President for Programs, opened the meeting by introducing President Paul Blake who then conducted the election of officers. Paul first asked for nominations from the floor for the four offices being vacated. There were none so he presented the following slate determined by the Nominating Committee. Elected were:

Vice President for Programs: Jim Swarts
Treasurer: Marlene Davidson
Membership Chair: Pat Mims
Historian Genealogist: Marian Henry

Paul Blake then introduced all the officers and committee chairs of RGS.

He announced that the reports of the Corresponding Secretary (queries), the Treasurer, the Other Society Liaison and the Tape Librarian will be on a continuously running slide show during the break.
Bob Coomber announced that he is arranging another trip to Salt Lake City for April 6 - 13 2002. More information will be available in the Fall.
Roy Thurston announced that there is available at the Family History Library on Westfall Road the 1881 Canadian census, indexed.
Larry Schongar reminded everyone of the RGS picnic on June 15th at the Pultneyville Yacht Club.
Seven first-time visitors were welcomed.

Main Program
Larry Schongar introduced Dr. Colin Chapman, eminent British genealogist from Northamptonshire, England. Dr. Chapman began by discussing some British history outlining who was keeping records and why during various historical periods. He explained the structure of the Church before and after the Reformation and how people had to get married in the parish church regardless of their religion. This information provides an essential guide to finding the appropriate genealogical sources. Records exist concerning the Poor Law - those who paid in and those who drew out. Dr. Chapman's books are available on the Internet.

The meeting was well attended.

Marian Henry
in the absence of Kathryn Heintz, Recording Secretary

April, 2002

Rochester Genealogical Society
General Meeting
April 18, 2002
Asbury First United Methodist Church, Rochester, NY

This was the annual joint meeting with the Kodak Genealogical Society.

Mini-Workshop
Larry Schongar, Vice President for Programs, opened the meeting by introducing Mr. Steve Clarke, of the Sons of the American Revolution. Mr. Clarke discussed his trip to the National Archives in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Among the collections there are indexes to military records, World War 1 selective service draft records for New England and New York and naturalization records for New England.

Business Meeting

President Paul Blake introduced Ed Lyon, President of KGS, who conducted a brief business meeting for that organization.
Paul Blake then introduced all the officers and committee chairs of RGS. He announced that the reports of the Corresponding Secretary (queries), the Treasurer, the Other Society Liaison and the Tape Librarian will be on a continuously running slide show during the break.
Larry Blackman then presented the slate of officers developed by the Nominating Committee to be voted on at the May meeting. It is as follows:
- Vice President for Programs: Jim Swarts
- Treasurer: Marlene Davidson
- Membership Chair: Pat Mims
- Historian Genealogist: Marian Henry
There were no first time visitors.

Main program
The main program was presented by honorary RGS member, Gordon Remington, FUGA, FASG, whose topic was “A Spurious Odor: Case Studies in Genealogical Fraud.” He discussed the various reasons that genealogical records might be incorrect - fraud (eg. for financial gain or to cover up family scandal), or incompetence on the part of the researcher. Mr. Remington also cited some examples of “nuts” who put out inaccurate information for their own twisted reasons.

Kathryn D. Heintz
Recording Secretary

March, 2002

Rochester Genealogical Society
General Meeting
March 7, 2002
Asbury First United Methodist Church, Rochester, NY

Mini-Workshop
Larry Schongar, Vice President for Programs, opened the meeting by introducing Mr. Jeffrey Johnstone, Rochester attorney, who discussed Sir William Johnstone Pulteney, originally from Dumfreeshire, Scotland who was instrumental in the settling of parts of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase. Several communities in western New York were named for him.

Business Meeting
President Paul Blake opened the business meeting by introducing the Nominating Committee consisting of Larry Blackman, chair and Ruth Metzler and Bob Wambach. In response to some complaints about the meetings being too long, the reports of the Corresponding Secretary (queries), the Treasurer, the Other Society Liaison and the Tape Librarian will be on a continuously running slide show during the break.

The next CIG meeting on March 14, 2002 in Room 262 at Brighton High School will feature several presenters on useful websites. In April the presenter will be Paul Norder whose presentation will be computer security beyond the firewall.
A new Webmaster for the RGS website is needed. An important part of this job is to update the website monthly.
Membership Chairman Jim Hall will continue to report changes in membership in the Hear Ye Hear Ye.
Officers and Committee Chairs were introduced.
The Mt. Hope Project Volume III is 50% done and packets are available for volunteers to continue to work on them.
Ruth Metzler reported that the next NYSCOGO meeting will be on May 3rd and 4th.
There were no first time visitors.
Larry Schongar, Vice President for Programs, reviewed the programs for the rest of the year, including the date change for the May meeting to May 30th.

Main program
The main program was presented by RGS member, Alexander Wiebel. His hobby, the collection and reproduction of seals was the basis of his presentation, “Sphragistics: the Science of Seals on Documents.” He owns several thousand seals covering thousands of years and many areas of the Western world and he specializes in reproducing these seals.

Kathryn Heintz
Recording Secretary

February, 2002

Rochester Genealogical Society
General Meeting
February 21, 2002
Asbury First United Methodist Church, Rochester, NY

Mini-Workshop
Larry Schongar, Vice President for Programs, opened the meeting by introducing the “Ask The Experts” panel consisting of Ruth Metzler, Jim Swarts, Larry Naukam, Ozzie Salyards, Roy Thurston and Larry Blackman as moderator. The panel answered several questions concerning New York City records, immigration from Canada, census records, and they suggested many good resources. They recommended careful use of the internet as a starting point. Ozzie Salyards offered a list of good genealogical websites.

Business Meeting
Vice President Larry Schongar, in President Paul Blake's absence, announced that there have been several volunteers for officers and committee chairs for next year. Still to be filled is the Vice President for Program and the auditor. There have been some complaints about the meetings being too long and the officers and committee chairs have been asked to condense their reports.

The Treasurer's Report was given by Pat Southcombe and is attached to these minutes.
The next CIG meeting on March 14, 2002 in Room 262 at Brighton High School will feature Paul Blake speaking on the Ellis Island resources.
A new wireless mike has been purchased to alleviate some of the audio problems we have been experiencing at meetings.
RGS has purchased a new film cabinet for the Family History Center at Westfall Road. The films will be reorganized for better access.
The Historian-Genealogist, Corresponding Secretary, Membership Chair, Education Chair and the Tape Librarian were introduced.
The deadline for the next Hear Ye Hear Ye is March 10th. The editor is always in need of interesting articles.
Twelve people responded to the call for first time visitors.
In March the mini-workshop will be presented by Jeffrey Johnstone on “Sir William Johnstone Pulteney and the Scottish Origins of Western New York State.” The main program will be presented by Alexander Wiebel of RGS. His topic will be “Sphragistics: the Science of Seals on Documents.”

Main program
Ed Lyon, President of Kodak Genealogy Society, recounted his experiences searching for his ancestors, starting with very little family information. He used the resources at the Rundel library and he emphasized the value of the city directories and newspaper accounts in discovering clues to other resources.

Kathryn Heintz
Recording Secretary

January, 2002

Rochester Genealogical Society
General Meeting
January 17, 2002
Asbury First United Methodist Church, Rochester, NY

Mini-Workshop
Larry Schongar, Vice President for Programs, opened the meeting by introducing Dr. Marian Henry, who discussed reading old handwriting as a help in deciphering records. She emphasized the importance of knowing the correct formation of letters in the various systems in use in different historical periods.

Business Meeting
President Paul Blake opened the business meeting by announcing that an RGS Mail list has been created on Rootsweb.com. To subscribe one must send an email message containing the word subscribe to NY-RGS-L-request@rootsweb.com

Paul also announced that one person has responded to his message in the Hear Ye Hear Ye about the need for volunteers for officers and Committee Chairs opening up next year.
The Treasurer's Report was given by Pat Southcombe and is attached to these minutes.
Roy Thurston, VP for CIG, announced that the next CIG meeting on February 14, 2002 in Room 262 at Brighton High School will feature Pat Uttaro, Director of the Ogden Library on the library's electronic holdings. CIG meeting notes are now on the website.
Historian-Genealogist Kevin Monaghan reported that the Genesee Country Family File has become unmanageable on the internet and the Board of Directors has decided to discontinue management of the file. It will henceforth be available through Ancestry.com.
New queries received by the Corresponding Secretary were displayed on slides for anyone who would care to respond to these correspondents.
Program topics for other genealogical and historical society meetings were also displayed on slides.
There is room for six more people on the Salt Lake City trip, planned for May, 2002.
Four people responded to the call for first time visitors.
SAR liaison Steve Clark reported that the SAR is looking for photos of gravestones of Revolutionary War veterans.
Ruth Metzler reported that the NYSCOGO Publications Committee is working on searching for North American ancestors in New York State.
In February the mini-workshop will be presented by an “Ask the Experts” panel. The main program will be presented by Ed Lyon, President of the Kodak Genealogy Society. His topic will be “What to Do When There Are No Family Resources”.

Main program
Dr. Larry Lee Blackman, past President of RGS gave a very thorough description of his experiences in researching, compiling, publishing and marketing his book tracing his maternal family lines. He discussed the need for persistence in gathering information, how he dealt with confidentiality issues and preponderance of evidence issues and finally the cost of the project.

Kathryn Heintz
Recording Secretary

November, 2001

Rochester Genealogical Society
General Meeting
November 15, 2001
Asbury First United Methodist Church, Rochester, NY

Mini-Workshop
Larry Schongar, Vice President for Programs, opened the meeting by introducing Stuart Campbell, Ph.D., the Archivist for the American Baptist Church records at the Colgate Rochester Crozier Divinity School. Dr. Campbell presented an orientation to the archives and noted that it is the individual church's choice whether to keep their own records or to put them in some other repository such as Colgate Rochester. He also noted that there are no Baptist infant baptism records.

Business Meeting
President Paul Blake opened the business meeting by explaining that the Genesee Country Family File has been on our website for some months to make those records available to more people. Kevin Monaghan, Historian-Genealogist has received a complaint about copyrighted entries. We are in need of some legal counsel concerning this.

Ancestry.com has images of all U.S. census records from 1790 -1920.
The Treasurer's Report was given by Pat Southcombe and is attached to these minutes.
Roy Thurston, VP for CIG, announced that the next CIG meeting would be on December 13, 2001 in Room 262 at Brighton High School and will feature a panel of experts on computing and genealogy software.
Membership Secretary, Jim Hall, announced that as of this time there are approximately 400 RGS members and 200 CIG members.
New queries received by the Corresponding Secretary were displayed on slides for anyone who would care to help the correspondents by researching these families.
Program topics for other genealogical and historical society meetings were also displayed.
There is room for four more people on the Salt Lake City trip, planned for May, 2002.
One person responded to the call for first time visitors.
Tape Librarian, Carter Livermore, announced the acquisition of four new tapes.
There are more packets available for Mt. Hope Project, Volume 3.
In January the mini-workshop will be presented by Marian Henry on “Reading Old Handwriting.”
The title of January's main program by Larry Blackman, Ph.D., is “How to (and How not to) Research, Compile, Publish, and Market a Book of Family History.”

Main program
Martha Kelly, owner of Gutenberg Books on Monroe Avenue, discussed finding genealogical resources, mentioning special collections at universities, atlases, county and city histories, church histories and the internet. She noted that it is sometimes possible to acquire used out-of-print books or photocopy facsimiles.

Kathryn Heintz
Recording Secretary

October, 2001

Rochester Genealogical Society
General Meeting
October 18, 2001
Asbury First United Methodist Church, Rochester, NY

Larry Schongar opened the meeting by announcing that Dr. Colin Chapman, British genealogist, will be available to speak to our group on May 30, 2002 as part of his tour of the United States. Therefore, the date of the May meeting will be changed to May 30.

Mini-Workshop
The mini-workshop was presented by Richard Ashworth, a professional photographer and owner of Nu Vision Images. Mr. Ashworth discussed the sources of defects in photographs, the various correction methods and the most modern of the remedial processes, digital image enhancement. More information is available at www.NuVisionImages.com.

Business Meeting
President Paul Blake opened the business meeting by noting that Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) had introduced legislation that officially commemorated October 2001 as Family History Month. The legislation had eighty four co-sponsors and was approved by unanimous consent.

Family Tree Maker 9.0 is shipping and Generations 10 is available.
There is still room on the Salt Lake City trip, planned for May, 2002.
An excellent tutorial available on Ancestry.com is “Finding Your Patriot: Basic Sources for Starting Revolutionary War Research” by Curt B. Witcher.
The Treasurer's Report was given by Pat Southcombe and is attached to these minutes.
Roy Thurston, VP for CIG, announced that the next CIG meeting would feature Bob Hesselberth on scanning and photo management.
Brief reports were given by Membership Secretary, Jim Hall and Education Committee chair, Ozzie Salyards. Bob Coomber, Corresponding Secretary and Dick Halsey, Hear Ye Hear Ye editor were introduced.
Other Society liaison, Gil Smith's report was done by a series of slides highlighting various programs of regional genealogy organizations.
Immediate Past President Larry Blackman announced the publication of his book, published by Gateway Press.
Tape Librarian, Carter Livermore, announced the acquisition of four new tapes.
Progress is being made on Mt. Hope Project Volume 3 and there are more packets available.
One person responded to the call for first time visitors.
Next month's programs will be Stuart Campbell on “The American Baptist Historical Society Archives” and Martha Kelly, owner of Gutenberg Books on Monroe Avenue, discussing “Another Source: Used and Rare Bookstores”.

Main program
Dr. Diane Burke of Keuka College titled her presentation “You Can Write a Book” and talked about her experiences compiling a book about her family starting with a collection of photographs and documents. She used a computer program called Generations Family Tree Grand Suite, which facilitated combining pictures, charts and text in an attractive format.

Kathryn Heintz
Recording Secretary

September, 2001

Rochester Genealogical Society
General Meeting
September 20, 2001
Asbury First United Methodist Church, Rochester, NY

Larry Schongar opened the meeting by asking for a moment of silence in memory of all those who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

Mini-Workshop
The mini-workshop entitled “From Stone to the Web” was a report by Dick Halsey on the work he has done copying records in many cemeteries in Monroe County. Dick has worked on this project for many years and cited problems in reading some tombstones, finding no tombstones for many graves and finding inadequate burial records.

Business Meeting
President Paul Blake opened the business meeting by recognizing his predecessor, Larry Blackman, for the fine job he did as President for the past two years.

RGS makes an annual contribution to the Rundel Library. It was announced that the RGS gift given this year was A Lexicon of German Reichs.
Paul Blake announced that several offices will open up at the end of this year and new officers will be needed to fill these positions.
The October and November CIG meetings will be held at the Family History Center on Westfall Road. The October speaker will be Paul Norder, the developer of the computer network at the FHC.
The Educator's Group reported that several genealogical programs will be presented in the community in the coming months.
The Membership Secretary, Jim Hall, reminded members to renew their memberships and to tell Jim if they want their email address in the membership listing.
Roy Thurston announced that new resources available at the FHC include the 1880 US census and the 1881 British census.
Gilbert Smith reviewed the programs of other area genealogical societies.
Jim Paprocki gave an update on the Mount Hope Cemetery project.
There were two responses to the call for first time visitors.
Next month's programs will be Richard Ashworth on restoring old pictures and Dr. Diane Burke of Keuka College on writing a genealogy using a particular computer program.

Main program
Dr. William Cook of SUNY Geneseo gave an entertaining and informative presentation on the writing of The Millennial History of Livingston County. Dr. Cook's anecdotes about the various town historians collaborating on the production made a most amusing tale.

Kathryn Heintz
Recording Secretary

Rochester Genealogical Society, Inc.

Minutes of RGS Meetings

2001/2002